Have I told you about... Ffern
Ffern. Ffragrance. Yes, they're a fragrance brand. Small batch, natural, a new scent four times a year, one for each season. Sounds lovely, yes? It's clever too. Read on my friends.
Ffern.
I’ve had them on my list to tell you about for months now and can’t believe I haven’t mentioned them yet. If you haven’t heard about Ffern they’re a Somerset based seasonal, organic, natural fragrance maker. Four seasons means four new, limited edition, fragrances a year.
The business model is what first attracted me to become a Ffern-er (look at me and my business brain) - you have to sign up to wait for a place on their ledger to become available. You can’t simply just order. And you can’t order without being on the sacred ledger!
Obviously, I signed up and became obsessed waiting for my spot on the ledger (I’m guessing a spot always comes up, it took maybe three weeks until I was notified)…
There’s nothing like a waitlist to build demand / make a product more desirable.
Simple but it works (duh).
Once on the ledger they operate on a seasonal fragrance subscription model - one fragrance for each of the four seasons, named by the season and the year, for example Summer 25 (gives a cool apothecary feel to it. Just think if we were all named like this, I’d be Spring 88).
It’s £89 a bottle, which I don’t think is bad for the local small batch production, plus this includes postage / free returns and a sampling kit with mini scent (perfect tiny handbag size, which I enjoy / do take en route with me).
Now, I might not have loved two of the three fragrances I’ve had thus far, but everything is LOVELY. The packaging, the attention to detail, the added branding inserts, without feeling like “branding” - it’s very very well done.
Probably the best packaging / brand story / brand building I’ve seen in a long time.
How nice a gift would this make? So thoughtful, so considered. Something someone would always remember YOU for giving them…
… you know that episode of Friends were Joey argues with Phoebe that there’s no such thing as a selfless act. Good present giving is that, makes you feel great, doesn’t it? Ha-ha (evil cackle).
You can also return each one, or exchange for a different fragrance if they have it available in their archive. And you can cancel at anytime.
They do have a (beautiful) store in Soho (London - Beak Street) if you wanted to go and explore their archive fragrances, which you can sample and buy in store… but current season fragrances you can’t buy unless you’re on the ledger.
Cleverly (for them), if you wanted to return your seasonal bottle the £89 goes back into your account. So, if you want to continue with your subscription and wait for next season’s fragrance your next bottle comes out of this pot, so you’re not paying again, which makes it feel free (sort of… but it does, doesn’t it? My great girl math strikes again here).
But, what if you want your refund?
No problem, you can log into your Ffern account and transfer your refunded money back to yourself… the clever thing is this extra step means a certain % of people will never do this (which I imagine is quite a high %)… so they keep on coming back. And if you find that fragrance you love it’ll leave you wanting more.
Thus, you stay subscribed… you never know what the next season’s fragrance is going to be… FOMO!
And the fragrance I have loved and used daily throughout this spring, and summer so far, is Autumn 24 - a fresh, orchard scent. It really does smell like an apple tree but in a subtle earthy way. For context I hate fruity / sweet fragrances and usually always go for a more masculine scent.
For example, my other two favourite perfumes are D.S. & Durga’s Coriander (actually, just found it here much cheaper) and Jo Malone’s Oud & Bergamot, the latter me and my husband share (makes going on holiday easier as I can ensure he packs this and get’s blamed for the extra case weight, for once!).
And just so you know I’m not selling Ffern to you in any way, I’m in no way affiliated with them or getting paid for this (same with everything I share with you in here). I just genuinely enjoy the brand and what they’re doing.
Like I said I’m yet to decide if the natural fragrance’s are really for me, but based on the one I have loved I’m hanging in there… you never know if Autumn 25 is going to be ‘THE ONE’.
** And I shall add here that after going in store earlier in the year and discovering some of Ffern’s archive fragrances I’ve just swapped my third subscription bottle (Summer 25)… for Summer 24 (so last summer’s seasonal scent). It’s a cracker.
I hope you enjoyed! I loved writing about scent rather than style for a little change, and scent definitely is encapsulated with your style. Don’t scent’s always evoke a memory of a person? Same with an outfit for me.
Adore the Bill Nighy feature in the summer campaign!