About us

The name is a nerve

CN1 is the first cranial nerve — the olfactory nerve, the one that carries scent to the brain. It is the only sense wired directly to the parts of the brain that handle memory and emotion, with no relay in between. That is why a smell can return you somewhere before you have consciously placed it.

We named the company after it because that shortcut is the entire point of what we make.

Who we are

CN1 Fragrance is an independent fragrance house based in Dearborn, Michigan. We have been selling since 2024 and have shipped over 200,000 bottles.

We are not a reseller and we do not white-label. Our fragrances are blended in-house at our own facility in Michigan, from concentrates we select ourselves. That means we control what goes into a bottle and we can answer questions about it.

What we make

Two things. Impressions are our interpretations of designer fragrances — built from the same note structures, sold at a fraction of the price, and never passed off as the original. CN1 Originals are our own compositions, answerable to nobody else's brief.

Everything is eau de parfum concentration. Everything is formulated paraben-free and cruelty-free.

Why the price is what it is

A designer bottle carries costs that have nothing to do with what is inside it — licensing, celebrity endorsement, department store margin, national advertising. We carry none of those. We sell directly to you, and blending in-house removes another markup that most brands in this category pay to a third-party manufacturer.

That is the whole explanation. There is no trick to it.

How to find yours

Fragrance is personal and it behaves differently on different skin, so the honest advice is to try before committing. Browse by scent family if you already know what you like, or start with a set if you are still working it out.

If you know the designer scent you love, there is a good chance we have an impression of it.

Questions

Reach us at [email protected]. A person answers.