While most fragrance brands chase market trends, NETTE founder Carol Han Pyle finds inspiration for her fragrance house in more unexpected places—like a pivotal scene from the 1990 film “Ghost.” While others might remember the iconic pottery wheel moment, Han Pyle was captivated by a different detail: a paper bag of Japanese pears, brought as a gift to a grieving Demi Moore in her clay-filled SoHo loft.
“I was thinking about that scene—it was so moody, she was grieving and there was this paper bag of juicy Asian pears. There was so much clay in the apartment because she was a sculptor in New York City in the ‘90s,” Han Pyle recalls. “I wondered what that whole moment smelled like.” That fleeting intersection of fruit, earth and emotion became the foundation for Pear Jam, one of NETTE’s most iconic fragrances, bursting with notes of bright Koji pear and soft rosewater.
The Clean Beauty Revolution
Launched in December 2020, NETTE has quietly revolutionized the luxury fragrance space by bridging what seemed like an impossible gap: creating products that are both impeccably clean and undeniably luxurious.
“When I launched the brand, there were so many amazing luxury brands like BYREDO, Diptyque and Maison Trudon, but none of them were very transparent about ingredients or formulations,” Han Pyle explains. “They were focused on their branding, their specific aesthetic. On the other hand, you had these clean, spa-like candles that were very one-note, with awful branding. I really didn’t feel compelled to buy any of those candles or put them in my home despite their supposedly cleaner formulations.”
That middle ground materialized in NETTE’s thoughtfully crafted collection, which began with four candles and has since expanded to include fine fragrances. “A lot of brands, including Diptyque, still use paraffin wax, which is petroleum-based. It’s not great for you to breathe in,” Han Pyle notes. “They call it ‘food-grade paraffin’ but it’s all just paraffin to me.”
Instead, NETTE uses an all-natural soy and coconut wax base, cotton wicks and perfume-grade ingredients. The brand works with master perfumers like Céline Barel, who had previously worked exclusively in fine fragrance. “Fortunately, Céline is such a master in all things fragrance that she was able to apply a lifetime of fine fragrance experience to the candle space with really fresh eyes. She always says that NETTE is the brand that made her fall in love with creating fragrance for candles.”
From Farm to Fragrance
The brand’s commitment to quality extends to every ingredient. “A lot of our ingredients come from Laboratoire Monique Rémy, which is known to be like the Hermès of the fragrance ingredient world,” Han Pyle shares. “They have super close relationships with all of their suppliers—they know the name of the farmer that grows their vanilla. Everything is grown and sourced with sustainability top of mind.”
Han Pyle is also quick to dispel myths about synthetic ingredients: “I think a lot of people get hung up on this idea that all synthetic fragrance is bad and endocrine disrupting. We use synthetic fragrances—I call them safe synthetics. Synthetics are often non-allergenic, and they add complexity to a fragrance formula that it could never have without them. But there’s nothing like using Jasmine grown in India during a particular season that has this very specific scent. It’s a marriage of both that makes a fragrance truly beautiful.”
Design With Purpose
The brand’s attention to detail extends to its packaging, with the candle’s design inspired by a specific ceramic cup Han Pyle fell in love with in a Sag Harbor boutique. “We ended up making a custom mold that was inspired by that original cup,” she shares, noting the candle vessels are “really cups first,” and are microwave and dishwasher safe. “They fit perfectly in your hand and make a lot of sense as a coffee, tea or drinking cup. I really wanted our consumers to actually use our candle vessels after the candle was done—it was the only way I could think of to encourage reuse as much as possible,” Han Pyle explains.
The perfume bottles, inspired by New York’s Breuer building, tell their own architectural story. “I really love brutalist architecture. It makes me feel really calm. There’s just something about the really blocky, simple lines of it that just makes me feel settled,” she says. “I really want that for people who use and buy NETTE.”
The Rise of a Fragrance House
The brand’s evolution has been swift and organic. “People really got to know us for our candles in the first two years,” Han Pyle reflects. After launching fragrance exclusively with Sephora in 2023, she was apprehensive. “I was nervous about how the Sephora audience would adopt fine fragrance, but it’s happening quickly. In 2023, our first year with fine fragrance, the DTC split was 90-10 in favor of candles. This year it’s more like 70-30 in favor of fine fragrance.”
The Science of Scent
NETTE’s success isn’t just about aesthetics—it’s rooted in science. “We work with our fragrance house IFF’s team of 60-plus people—data scientists, neuroscientists, perfumers, researchers—all solely dedicated to their Science of Wellness program,” Han Pyle explains. “They test the fragrances using AI and neuroscience, hooking people up to machines to see what parts of their brains light up when they smell these scents. It’s not just like, ‘this smell of lavender is relaxing.’ It’s done in a very scientific, very specific way.”
“If I were to distill the takeaway in really simple terms,” Han Pyle reflects, “it would be that NETTE is fragrance that makes you feel good, scientifically backed. The whole mission of the brand is to help people feel good, whether that’s more joyful, more confident, more mindful, through this beautiful art and science of fragrance. We call it the NETTE effect: smell good, feel good, and be good.”
In an industry often divided between clean and luxury, natural and synthetic, science and art, NETTE has found harmony in the in-between spaces, proving you don’t have to choose between complex fragrances and clean formulations—you just need to know where to look for inspiration, even if it’s in a 30-year-old movie scene.
