Paraphrase was created because perfume 
can be so much more than part of a wardrobe.



Exploring scent helps you to become more sensitive to the world around you. It helps you discover all the beautiful parts of you that have been hidden away.


Exploring how perfume makes you feel is like exploring all the parts of yourself. Confident, soft, and wonderful. Explore your own hazy daydreams, find space for all your personal fantasies.

Slowness is the start of enjoying more of everything.

I was lucky that I stumbled into scent. Scent gave me a clue to why I felt like I was in my life but not living it.

Studying perfume making forced me to slow down. Our noses are for the most part, out of practice. To smell accurately we really need to slow down, the details take time to notice. We need to explore our own senses to really feel them… and it’s the same for our feelings. The important ones can be subtle, more subtle than we expect. As soon as I started slowing down I noticed so much of what I was missing, right in front of me. 

I lit this up as a beacon for myself to follow. It’s easy to know it’s good to slow down but it is a challenge in a world built on fast. Libertine is everything I needed to hear and to remind myself of. 

Like a mantra.


Faster isn’t always better. Art and creativity are in our blood, they aren’t commodities. Finding ways of exploring yourself, those hidden quiet spaces, holds the secrets of your own heart.

Scents don't inherently have a gender. We feel marketing along gendered lines limited exploration. Our greatest hope is you approach our perfume to explore the scent itself and how it makes you feel. If it makes you feel stronger or prettier and that is how you want to feel, perfect. Approach scent with an open mind and you may be surprised with what you find.

Honestly, this is mostly just because we like the craft of it. We do these things because keeping close to the product, to the process feels nice. It feels like we are doing something bigger than business. It feels like creating connection between the scents that we love to make and the people who find they love to wear them.

Luckily most of the perfume in the world is vegan. There are many replacements for what was once animal based ingredients. We dedicate to always keep our products this way and avoid the few non vegan ingredients that are still out there.

We are also Leaping Bunny Certified, which means we do not and never will test on animals or use third party companies to test our products on animals. 

Through 1% for the planet we support the Canadian biosphere by supporting initiatives that are taking charge in regeneration and remediation of ecological damage. 

With our financial pledge we have chosen to donate to EcoTrust Canadawho works across Canada with rural, remote and Indigenous communities toward building an economy that provides for a healthy and resilient natural environment; sustainable and abundant energy, food, and housing; prosperous and meaningful livelihoods; and vibrant cultures and inclusive societies.

Paraphrase Perfume is an independent North American perfume house, blending, bottling & labelling perfumes by hand in Canada.

Scents for exploring yourself. Inspired by storytelling and of the contradictions of being human.

• Josh Founder 

Scents:

     Vanilla Virtu

Notes- Cumin, Nutmeg, Saffron ,Molasses, Bran, Tonka Bean, Vanilla, Cedar, Incense, Patchouli

Smells like...

Medieval vanilla, Strange spices and rich breads. Leather and warm bodies. Lead us not into temptation.

In other words...

Sweet and exquisite, a flavour unknown. We feast on cakes and delights from kingdoms afar. All new things arrive bright and brilliant. May we revel in the magnificence even once their presence is abundant. 

Fruit Thieves

Notes -Passion Fruit, Jasmine, Passion Fruit Vines

Smells like...

Overripe, sticky juices dripping down your forearms. Sour passionfruit and green vines calling out. Tastes like a tiny victory.

In other words...

Original sin. Long reach over a neighbor's fence. A reminder how little of all this anyone actually owns. We are part of it all too so let the sugars vibrate your bones and the sour pucker twist up your face. This is the bounty. The jewel in a beautiful living world.

Soft Woods

Notes Juniper, Black Pepper,Cedar, Balsam Fir, Delicate Green Undergrowth,Frankincense, Vanilla

 Smells like...

Hazy, midday sun warming roses and cedar, the warm smoke of incense curls around fir

In other words...

Bright morning light raked by tender green needles. A gradual warmth, an awakening. The speckled light of summer warms the forest anew.

 

Sex & Jasmine

Notes - Geranium, Jasmine Sambac,Jasmine Sambac, Neroli, Vanilla Absolute, Sandalwood, Patchouli, Ambergris

Smells like...

A heady, sensual cocktail of jasmine, vanilla bourbon, and sandalwood.

In other words...

The mask slips down unnoticed while the waves in our body grow. That sweet veneer which normally stays so well is washed away by salt and desire.

Ingredients: Alcohol (alcool), Fragrance (parfum), Coumarin, Benzyl Benzoate, Limonene, Benzyl salicylate, Linalool, Eugenol, Isoeugenol, Benzyl alcohol

All of our scents are vegan and cruelty free. We use a blend of natural and synthetic materials in our scents, especially where the natural equivalent faces sustainability or safety concerns.