What We Do Is Secret – What we do stays secret.
What We Do Is Secret began in New York in 2000, when Carlos K. started experimenting with a small circle of perfumers under the name S-Perfume – with the declared aim of being the "smallest perfume house in the world". The real breakthrough came in 2011 with L'Anonyme ou OP-1475-A, created together with Olivier Polge. From then on the house took a more professional shape, first as A Lab on Fire, with What We Do Is Secret as its unvarnished fragrance line.
At SNUD in Vienna's Josefstadt you can smell and test the fragrances and take a sample home with you.
What makes What We Do Is Secret special to us?
We love how honest these fragrances are – the name alone tells you how you'll feel wearing them. Messy Sexy Just Rolled Out of Bed is warm, creamy and a little sleepy, Covert Musk powdery and clean, Studio Particulier leathery and soft. With noses like Dominique Ropion behind them and everything in simple lab bottles, What We Do Is Secret is a lovely insider tip for us.
Who are What We Do Is Secret fragrances for?
For anyone looking for a scent that feels like themselves rather than a grand entrance. If you like sweet and creamy, start with Messy Sexy or What We Do In Paris Is Secret. If you'd rather wear something powdery, floral or leathery, try Covert Musk, Freckled And Beautiful or Studio Particulier.
Emotion over analysis
Growing since the early 2000s, What We Do Is Secret combines artistic ambition with modern fragrance culture. The compositions are pared back, precise and focused on the essentials: emotion instead of explanation.
Fewer notes, more feeling.
Less volume, more presence.
These fragrances aren't made to be analysed – they're made to be worn. Close to the skin, personal and always with a subtle tension between restraint and attraction.
That shows in the format too: most of the fragrances come as Extrait de Parfum, such as Messy Sexy Just Rolled Out of Bed, And The World Is Yours, Freckled And Beautiful, Studio Particulier and Covert Musk, alongside What We Do In Paris Is Secret and Paris*L.A. as Eau de Parfum.
Lab bottles and great noses
Instead of elaborate bottles or big campaigns, the house relies on simple lab bottles, a splash of black paint as the only decoration and names that don't sugarcoat anything. Behind the compositions are some of the best-known perfumers in the industry: Dominique Ropion created Messy Sexy Just Rolled Out of Bed, And The World Is Yours and What We Do In Paris Is Secret, Annick Ménardo Covert Musk, Laurent Le Guernec Paris*L.A., David Apel Freckled And Beautiful and Emilie Coppermann Studio Particulier. Olivier Polge, Alberto Morillas, Thierry Wasser, Maurice Roucel and Sophia Grojsman have also worked for the house.
Dominique Ropion shows just how broad a single signature can be: Messy Sexy is sweet, gourmand and creamy, And The World Is Yours floral, sweet and spicy, What We Do In Paris Is Secret sweet and powdery.
