The baptismal font represented in fragrant form, the combination of child-like purity with the church as backdrop.

Listed notes

Bergamot, ginger, verbena, jasmine, neroli, milk, incense, oakmoss, white musk.

Top notes

Baptisma by Chapel Factory opens with a lovely, cheerful brightness. The bergamot and verbena give a lovely lemony citrus lift, whilst the ginger adds a pleasant and welcome warmth. The whole effect is sunny and awakening but what is particularly nice here is that all the acidity and tartness of the citrus vibes is polished away and what we are left with is something smooth and sleek. At times, the verbena goes almost sherbet-like, with touches of a dry powderiness coming through but overall the start of the scent feels like waking up, totally refreshed on a bright but cool morning. The sunlight providing just enough heat to give comfort to the skin.

Baptisma draws inspiration from the embodiment of childhood as represented by the baptismal font and there is a really lovely sense of fresh, newness about the start of the scent. This would be a nice fragrance to wear when starting something new, turning over a new leaf or embarking on a new voyage. One of those scents which encapsulates beginnings rather well.

Heart notes

The citrus notes which start the story of Baptisma are smoothed and softened by a subtle milky accord as the scent progresses into the midst of a wear. One can’t help but feel that lemon and milk really shouldn’t go but they do, beautifully, with the milk acting as the thread which connects the top of the scent with the base.

That said, the milk is subtle, it just soothes and smoothes everything out and gives the whole fragrance a very easy to wear feeling. It is perhaps, in part, that Baptisma feels simple, but perhaps more influential is the sense of there being a gentleness flowing through the fragrance. This is the sort of scent which would work on those “self-care” days when you just need someone to be nice to you as you wear your snuggliest lounge wear and read your book.

The milkiness is joined with neroli and jasmine as the fragrance unfolds, which help to nudge the overall composition towards the more sophisticated side of things, and away from a gourmandy sweetness entirely, but still there is a youthful sugariness in there too, although it never becomes unbalanced.

Base notes

In the base of the scent, wisps of very delicate white smoke intertwine with pillowy white musks to make you feel as if you are cocooned in a cloud of very delicate, billowy and transparent loveliness. It’s somewhere between fresh, fluffy bedding, candy floss, and puffy clouds. There’s something about the scent which just makes muscles unknot a bit and pulse rates decrease in a relaxing, and effortless way.

The incense in the base is very light and diaphanous and doesn’t detract from the luminous translucency that the whole fragrance possesses. The incense whispers around the structure of the scent so you catch fleeting hints of it here and there but it never fully emerges into the foreground.

Baptisma, in total, is a very pretty, comforting, and transparent scent. It feels like it has room to breathe. The perfumer, Anais Biguine, has left plenty of breaks within the formula to allow everything to feel like it is floating and mingling but without it feeling cluttered or cramped. Baptisma is a very uplifting and gentle scent which is perfect for the dark days and troubled times we find ourselves in, with the added benefit that it works really nicely for those comfy, cosy days, so goes very well with loungewear and slippers.

The other stuff

Baptisma isn’t one of those loud fragrances with nuclear projection and the staying power of plastic waste, instead it is light, airy and behaves as such. The projection of the scent goes to around hugging distance, maybe slightly further. The longevity of the scent is similarly powered. We get about three to four hours of wear following an application, with the musky base lingering, albeit at a reduced volume, for a little longer.

The brand

Chapel Factory are a new brand, joining Gris Gris and Jardins d’Ecrivains in the stable of creator, Anais Biguine. The brand takes inspiration from incense fragrances, but the compositions they wrap around them have a clean, minimalist feel, meaning that the scents don’t feel heavy or old fashioned.

As with the composition, there is a clean simplicity about the clear bottles of Chapel Factory fragrances which are topped with a solid looking lid that is reminiscent of a full stop.

Buy it

Chapel Factory fragrances are available from Bloom Perfumery London, where Baptisma is priced at £90 for 100ml of EdP. Bloom very kindly supplied us with a no-strings-attached sample of this fragrance. Thanks to them for their generosity.

You can also buy Baptisma from the Chapel Factory web boutique.