History

A couple years after completing her art degree at Brown University, Anne McClain started taking a perfume night class in New York City. It changed everything. She went on to graduate from the Grasse Institute, a celebrated perfumery school in southern France, and launch MCMC Fragrances in 2009. Now the Brooklyn-based fragrance maker produces small batch, hand-mixed, and hand-bottled fragrances for men and women.

Philosophy

MCMC Fragrances is about giving people what they want from fragrance by educating consumers about how to cut through marketing and get down to real scent preferences. The company even offers classes on fragrances in its Greenpoint, Brooklyn studio, during which MCMC founder Anne McClain offers tutorials as well as bespoke scents.

Birchbox Extra

Most of the fragrances in the collection are based on specific memories from McClain’s life—past experiences, people, and places serve as preliminary inspiration for her ingredient lists.