From Moustache Wax to Niche Perfume

The origin story is as unconventional as the brand itself. In 2013, Leo Crabtree is standing on a boat in a Norwegian fjord during a storm when his own moustache whips him in the face. He decides to make better moustache wax. The experiments with essential oils lead him somewhere unexpected - into the world of fragrance.

"I was trying to make the best moustache wax I could feasibly make, and I started to mess about with essential oils."

• Leo Crabtree, founder of BeauFort London

By 2015, moustache wax has become a full perfume collection. The debut trio - "Come Hell or High Water" - launches with Tonnerre (the Battle of Trafalgar), Vi et Armis (East India Company piracy), and Coeur de Noir (dark romanticism). There was no business plan, no investors, no industry connections.

"There's never been a plan, I never sat down with an accountant or a business advisor. I just enjoy - do something that you find interesting."

• Leo Crabtree

Per Fumum - Through Smoke

The Latin root of "perfume" - per fumum, through smoke - is more than etymology for BeauFort London. It's a creative philosophy. Smoke runs through virtually every composition: cade oil, birch tar, styrax, incense, lapsang souchong tea. Where most houses treat smoke as an accent, Crabtree makes it foundational.

"Perfume. 'Per fummum'. Through smoke. It makes sense to me."

• Leo Crabtree

The concentration matters too. At 30% fragrance oil, BeauFort London sits well above the typical Eau de Parfum range. These aren't fragrances that fade into the background after an hour. The briefs Crabtree gives his perfumers - primarily Julie Dunkley and Julie Marlowe - are based on historical events, paintings, and poems rather than mood boards or market research.

"The perfumers really enjoy working with me, because the briefs they get from me are not like anything they usually get."

• Leo Crabtree

Stories in Every Bottle

What sets BeauFort London apart isn't just the intensity - it's the narrative depth. Each fragrance is anchored in a specific moment from British history or literature.

Tonnerre recreates the gunpowder smoke of the Battle of Trafalgar. Fathom V takes its name from Shakespeare's The Tempest - "Full fathom five thy father lies." Lignum Vitae is about John Harrison's marine chronometer and the wood that made accurate navigation possible. Rake & Ruin channels William Hogarth's satirical paintings of gin-soaked 18th-century London.

The later "Revenants" collection explores ghosts and hauntings: Terror & Magnificence blends Egyptian mysticism with Gothic architecture, Acrasia conjures the seductress witch from Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene, and Absent Presence translates Sir Philip Sidney's spectral love sonnets into scent.

Behind all of it is something personal. Crabtree's father - a doctor and passionate sailor - filled his childhood with maritime stories and dark history.

"All these themes - the whole brand, really - are aspects of things he'd talked to me about or taught me."

• Leo Crabtree

Five BeauFort London Fragrances to Start With

The collection spans ten fragrances, all at 30% concentration. These five showcase the range - from the accessible to the deliberately confrontational.

Deliberately Polarising

BeauFort London doesn't aim for universal appeal. On Fragrantica and across fragrance communities, these fragrances split opinion sharply. Tonnerre's gunpowder smoke is either thrilling or unwearable. Fathom V's dark aquatic depth is either mesmerising or too intense.

That's the point. Crabtree creates for connection, not consensus. The brand attracts people who are tired of safe, market-tested compositions and want something with genuine substance - historical, emotional, and olfactory.

"Initially the collection was called 'Come Hell or High Water' simply because I like the phrase and it resonates. Then somehow it has lived up to the name! It's not very easy doing this and I have had plenty of things to learn, issues to overcome. It's a hard thing to do, very hard, but I am driven to do it."

• Leo Crabtree

Why Samples Make Sense with BeauFort London

More than with almost any other brand, testing on skin is essential here. The 30% concentration means these fragrances develop over hours, revealing layers that a quick spray on a test strip can't show. And the polarising nature means you genuinely don't know which ones will work for you until you've lived with them.

With the sample box, try the contrast between the accessible Coeur de Noir and the confrontational Tonnerre, or discover whether Fathom V's dark depths suit your skin chemistry.