Here, you can listen to the award-winning podcast from Nicola Bonn and Suzy Nightingale, which is updated weekly. Explore the archive here, and watch this space for new episodes…
Nicola Bonn and Suzy Nightingale founded the ‘On The Scent’ podcast in 2021, and were named among The Sunday Times’s ‘Top British Scentfluencers.’ Nicola and Suzy love nothing better than sharing their passion for fragrance with the world, and their annual ‘On The Scent Live’ event is one of the most exciting date in the fragrance calendar. (Watch our EVENTS page for news of upcoming appearances by Nicola and Suzy.)
As one listener commented on Apple Podcasts about this five-star podcast, ‘Suzy and Nicola enchant and entice. They take you on perfumed journeys with their stories. Sensual, funny and sometimes sad stories that you will never want to stop… Beware, however: this is highly addictive stuff. You will want to smell every perfume they discuss and might become obsessed with seeking them out and buying them…’
Season 8 • Episode 10: Last of the Summer Scents? + Perfume Prescriptions
From latest launches helping us hang on to summer to those that feel a wisp of autumn in the air, Suzy and Nicola have so many scented suggestions for you to try – including a new niche house by a young perfumer who has both of our hosts incredibly excited. They also have answers for two listeners who wrote in with perfume prescriptions – one seeking a cold plunge into icy incense and swimming pool perfumes, and another searching for a scent to memorialise her memories of a book-loving best friend.
Season 8 • Episode 9: Correspondence Special – Finding Your Favourite New Fragrances
From a listener seeking a clean iris vibe replacement for a much-loved (and now discontinued) fragrance, to another searching for an emboldening scent to help her win a fight (literally!) there’s nothing Suzy and Nicola love more than receiving your questions and requests for ‘Perfume Prescriptions’.
It’s something they’ve always specialised in at On the Scent Podcast – it brings them such joy being able to match people to perfumes they’d perhaps never tried or even heard of). And my word, they get a LOT of DMs @onthescentpodcast on Instagram, and messages on the On the Scent Podcast Facebook group, and so it made sense they dedicate an entire episode to do a deep dive on these two fascinating fragrant conundrums...
Season 8 • Episode 8: Five Favourite Vanillas
Think you hate vanilla, or that you’ve tried every type? Think again! This week the award-winning perfume podcast host Suzy and Nicola rate and review five of their favourite vanilla fragrances (five each, that is). Encompassing hip-swivelling seduction, a stunning high street body butter, hugely powerful fragrant talismans, and summery every-day wearability, there’s also a truly affordable modern classic vanilla – created by a Master Perfumer who trained at Chanel, created scents for Frederic Malle, Guerlain, Gucci, Amouage and Atkinsons; but THIS one can be snapped up for under £32! It’s deliciously unexpected, why don’t you dive in…?
Season 8 • Episode 7: Alice du Parcq & The Philosophy of Perfume (her NEW BOOK!)
This week, hosts Suzy and Nicola welcome back dear perfume pal and friend of the pod (star of two previous episodes), the multi-award-winning fragrance writer, presenter, content creator and now AUTHOR, Alice du Parcq! Alice has always been ‘on a mission to decode perfume in a fun, relatable and objective way.’ Now, added to her perfumed portfolio will be an incredibly gift-able (to self or scent-loving friends) book, created in collaboration with none other than The British Library, called The Philosophy of Perfume.
Season 8 • Episode 6: Madcap sniffathon - new launches, exclusives & a dance of jasmine
This week is a truly madcap sniffathon encompassing [*takes a deep breath*] wild seascapes, fragrant ghosts and a notorious rake; a spicy summer scent to set your senses tingling; a fruity treat based on a perfumer’s favourite breakfast; a splendiferous peacock strutting its scented stuff; a stunning sueded rose; perfumes pulled straight from the vegetable patch; Harrods exclusives to swoon over; a seriously affordable new niche house; a mesmerising myrrh, and a sneak peek into Alice du Parcq’s book…
Season 8 • Episode 5: Through the Smoke with Beaufort London’s Leo Crabtree
From a single, hand-poured moustache wax to one of the world’s most daringly distinctive fragrance houses, BeauFort London’s story is as elemental as the scents themselves. Founded in 2013 by musician Leo Crabtree, the brand was born from salt-spray memories, naval histories and a fascination with the poetry of smoke — quite literally “per fumum” (‘through smoke’).
[AD: This episode is proud to be in partnership with BeauFort London - a house Suzy has championed from the start, spoken about passionately over the years, and continues to be excited by.]
Season 8 • Episode 4: Embracing the heat & leaning into ‘sunscreen scents’
Embracing the heat, and leaning into the ‘Sunscreen Scent’ perfume profile this week, the fragrant duo are following on from the BONUS episode available to Patreon subscribers in which they explored their favourite scented sunscreens. Flipping that fragrant theme on its head, this time it’s all about those solar, ‘holiday in a bottle’ type perfumes, and they find themselves particularly drawn to those with a vintage vibe.
Later in the episode, Nicola answers a listener question from someone who had fallen head over heels for spicy tonka / vanilla fragrances way out of her budget, and seeks affordable scents to satiate this new olfactory obsession…
Season 8 • Episode 3: Posh bananas, burning roses, & perfume blending
Talk about varied - this week’s episode goes from a ‘posh banana’ Brazilian carnival in a bottle Nicola experienced at a vibrantly fun perfume pop-up in Liberty, to an extraordinary, burning, bloodied rose Suzy’s entranced by (don’t worry - it’s not as scary as it sounds!)
The show also features two incredibly inspirational women - one who’s created her own fragrance brand to reflect a life lived in scent and adventure, and another who’s bringing the playfulness back into perfumery by allowing you (and your friends) to attend a blending workshop via Zoom - to create your own fragrance with her stunning and easy-to-use accords.
PLUS there’s all the new fragrances Suzy & Nicola are wearing, and a listener looking for the perfect (affordable) iris perfume…
Season 8 • Episode 2: Some of THE best affordable fragrances we’ve smelled + a listener prescription
Looking for some truly outstanding and very affordable fragrances? Have Suzy & Nicola got an episode for you! This week, as challenged by the podcast’s Instagram followers, they went on a scent safari sniffing their way around the new fragrances in one of the U.K’s most beloved high street shops. The results? Well, they were rather awe-struck with how wonderful they were, to be honest…
Season 8 • Episode 1: Bespoke Floris, Chanel’s Symbolism & What We’re Wearing
From a once-in-a-lifetime bespoke fragrance made for Nicola and her husband’s wedding anniversary at Floris London, to the secret symbolism infusing Chanel’s creations, right through to a mushroom scent Suzy’s obsessed by (yes, really!) and a round-up of other olfactive launches; it’s bumper first episode for the eighth season of this multi award-winning show!
Season 7 • Episode 41: On The Scent Re-visits Alice du Parcq (Part Two)
We’re re-visiting another classic podcast episode, and this week it’s amazing chat we had with none other than fragrance queen, Alice du Parcq. Indeed, Alice had SO MANY brilliant fragrances on her list to talk about, we had to split it into two parts! We know you’re going to love this soul-revealing journey…
Season 7 • Episode 40: On The Scent Re-visits Alice du Parcq (Part One)
We’re re-visiting another classic podcast episode, and this week it’s amazing chat we had with none other than fragrance queen, Alice du Parcq. Indeed, Alice had SO MANY brilliant fragrances on her list to talk about, we had to split it into two parts! We know you’re going to love this soul-revealing journey…
Season 7 • Episode 39: On The Scent Re-visits Sali Hughes
While Suzy and Nicola are on a short pod-pause (as Nicola’s been on holiday), we thought it would be the perfect opportunity to revisit one of our all-time classic episodes, with Sali Hughes - well known for her brilliant ‘Perfume Diaries’ series on Instagram, and for being a fellow fragrance fanatic. In this emotionally-revealing journey, we discover exactly where her love of perfume first began, and the signature scents she’ll never be without…
Season 7 • Episode 38: Barnes Fragrance Fair Recap and What We Can’t Stop Sniffing
Wowie! Suzy & Nicola have so many excellent fragrances to get their noses around in this episode, it was difficult to know where to begin. But with so many to explore they started with a recap of the recent barnstorming success of Barnes Fragrance Fair... Talking through Suzy’s choices for her sold-out talk with Alice du Parcq, Nicola also goes through the scents she’s wearing on repeat right now…
Season 7 • Episode 37: Hello sunshine & hope!
Currently, Suzy and Nicola are loving (and living for) those glorious moments of sunshine lifting our spirits. However, if you’re experiencing grey skies where you are (either metaphysically or meteorologically), they share some favourite fragrances to chase the blues away.
Season 7 • Episode 36: Classic Scents Remixed & Reinvented
This week, Suzy Nightingale and Nicola Bonn ask: have you noticed how new versions of classic perfumes are emerging – sometimes paying direct homage to the original with the OG DNA still very much present, but perhaps given a little twist? Other iterations may veer completely off the traditional path and take a whole new direction, garnering new fans who didn’t vibe with the initial scent, but adore the contemporary innovation...
Season 7 • Episode 35: Our Magazine Launch Party & What We’ve Been Wearing
Suzy and Nicola attended the most incredible party thrown for @onthescentmedia by Glorious Brands and Muse Communications - a room filled with movers and shakers of the scent scene, from press, PR and brands alike. All were there to celebrate the official launch of On The Scent Magazine - and somehow, with all their love and support - it suddenly felt real!
Season 7 • Episode 8: What Would Marie Antoinette Smell Like?
The Jasmine Award-winning episode in which Nicola Bonn and Suzy Nightingale interview Tasha Marks, the artist tasked with recreating the scents of Marie Antoinette’s reign, for the V&A’s blockbuster exhibition, ‘Marie Antoinette Style.’ And listen out for recommendations of fragrances the infamous queen might wear today…
Season 7 • Episode 33: Scenting Cosy Mysteries & Seeking Refillable Candles
From a listener’s mystery novel set in a perfume shop, refillable candles, a handsome man holding a bouquet by a fireside and where to find vintage fragrance posters — this episode is a veritably bulging postbag of perfume-matching pondering!
Season 7 • Episode 32: Finding Your Perfume Identity and Scenting a Wedding
How do you discover which fragrances evoke your personality, or find those perfumes that portray the character you’d like to be, rather than how you happen to feel that day? In this episode we reply to a listener’s email asking for help finding her perfect perfume(s), and discuss how we went about discovering our own perfume identities.
Then, Suzy Nightingale and Nicola Bonn answer another listener’s question about scenting a wedding (including how to find fragrances evoking the evening, and the practicalities of perfuming an event)…