Olymra Oreantheia by Oli

There was a distinct moment at the recent Niche Show (event report here) where I was no longer standing in a basement gallery in central London at 10:45am on a Friday morning. Olymra brand owner and fragrance scientist Frida Michailidou had just sprayed her perfume Oreantheia on the back of my hand and as I inhaled, I was stepping off a budget airline flight to Rhodes, into the haze of early afternoon heat. It’s so perfectly that blast of dry, overheated air that hits you in the face when you first step out of the cabin and onto the stairs; a little more mineral than here in the UK, it’s some parts scrub land, baked stone and orange blossom but it’s unmistakably Greek.

I’d love to say it was happenstance, but I know enough about my brain to put it down to the conversation we’d be having beforehand – about Frida’s Greek roots and the love for the native flora and fauna that spurred her on to becoming a scent scientist – that made the Grecian connection in my head. But, that said, there is something so perfectly Mediterranean about the perfumes she’s created that I knew there had to be something more to it. It felt far too specific to be accidental.

 Dr. Frida Michailidou, courtesy of the brand

As it turns out, Olymra is inspired – quite literally – by exactly this kind of geography. The brand name is a portmanteau of (Mount) ‘Olympus’ and ‘Aura’, as in, the perfumers are inspired by the physical nature present on Olympus (the highest mountain in Greece) and the myths and legends of the gods it inspired (it’s considered the throne of Zeus and home to the 12 Olympian gods).

In the summer of 2022, Frida led an expedition up Olympus and thanks to the advent of headspace technology – a method where a hollow dome is taken out into the field and used to form an airtight seal around a subject before inert gases are passed into the space containing the object or a vacuum is established such that the odor compounds are removed from the ‘headspace’ around the subject – she was able to capture the aromas of multiple plants across different times of day, over a small range of populations, locations and altitudes. After analysing the results of the odour molecules present in her samples she was able to physically transcribe the olfactory aura of the mountain’s endemic plants.

 

L-R: Frida in the field, Frida with local wildlife photographer and guide Lefteris Kipoupolos, the endemic achillea ambrosia in situ on Olympus, the only place on earth it grows.

“I’m a PhD chemist and a natural product biosynthesis specialist, but I’ve also been a hobbyist, self-taught perfumer since my undergraduate years in Greece,” she tells me a couple of weeks later over email. “Essentially Olymra combines my scientific background with a long-standing personal passion. I have a quirky and unique perspective coming from the sciences and not being trained in a traditional perfumery school so I feel that the formulas coming from me allows me to channel my own voice.”

Having a foot in each of these camps – the rigid analytical and the open ended artistic – lends her compositions a very distinct tone. Throughout her studies Frida developed an accord that she’s unassumingly dubbed the ‘Olymra Plant Accord”, a composite accord of molecules she found present across all of the plants she analysed. Subtly botanic, airy and mineral in nature, it makes her perfumes smell properly of the great outdoors and provides her a wholly unique tool to create with.

 

Olymra collection displayed at Niche 202 by Oli.

 Olmyra Oreantheia – my highlight of her collection – is like smelling a dapper, neroli focused cologne up at high altitude. There’s such a meticulous, seriousness about the core of orange blossom (she uses neroli, orange blossom, petitgrain, bitter orange and beeswax to paint every aspect of the flower) but there’s also so much environment encapsulated around it that you can virtually smell the wind as it whips over the jagged grey stone, through the pines and dry grasses up into the cool blue sky that peels on forever above it all.

The name Oreantheia is another portmanteau of the ‘Oreads’, who in Greek mythology were the nymphs and the guardians of the mountains, and ‘Antheia’ the goddess of flowers and blossoms. Frida describes the composition as “where mountain nymphs meet floral divinity” and it’s the perfect, succinct mixture of beauty and playfulness, hinting at the ethereal nature of the perfume whilst grounding it firmly in its flowers.

Olymra Oreantheia imagery courtesy of the brand.

The golden and bitter allure of neroli is one of my olfactory obsessions and frankly, I can’t say I’ve ever smelled it done like this: Olymra Oreantheia is so wide open, so ranging and just so evocative (of the mountain and of my memories of Greek holidays). It’s got multitudes that are carefully balanced but it’s still a little scruffy, in the best way. Just like in nature there are coarse parts, vegetal nuances and a bunch of contrasting factors present in natural aromas but the way they’re put together in this makes them beam like Mediterranean sunshine when sprayed on skin.

– Oli Marlow, Editor

Notes: neroli, bitter orange, petitgrain, pine, lavender, blue cypress, olympia plant accord, ambrette, musk accord, benzoin, beeswax, ho wood

Disclaimer: A sample set and bottle of Oreantheia was gifted by the brand for review.

All images by Oli unless otherwise noted.

Thanks to the generosity of Frida and Olmyra we have a discovery set (pictured above) available in the EU/UK/US only.  You must register or your entry will not count. To be eligible, please leave a comment saying what sparks your interest based on Oli’s review and where you live. Draw closes 5/18/2026

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