Incense-scented air >Lauren Halsey describes as the home to her sculpture park, intentionally stylized as sister dreamer lauren halsey’s architectural ode to the surge n splurge of south central los angeles. It’s also the pheromones she bottled up into a new Byredo fragrance with the same name: Sister Dreamer. 

“I reached out to Byredo to partner on creating a scent that could hold the energy and affect my sculpture park,” Halsey tells ESSENCE. “It’s been a beautiful call n response with the Byredo team for the past couple years to bring the scent to life.” Having gone through nearly 30 bottles in her personal Byredo fragrance wardrobe, she says it’s one of the most natural collaborations she’s ever been apart of. 

“Scent is everything,” she says. Her family has called South Central home, so she’s long known her community carries its own distinct fragrance. Now, her sculpture park adds another layer. Between sculptures, collages, and installations sits a garden with hundreds of native plants, including guava, peaches, lilac, sage, and bay leaves, which inform Sister Dreamer’s limited-edition notes. 

“The scent itself is fruity, spiced, nuanced and light,” she describes. While effortless and dreamy, it took years to develop and a whirlwind of blank packaging and samples. “But honestly, when I received the first sample, it already felt perfect,” she says. “It captured everything I imagined my signature scent could be.” 

Pink pepper CO2, juniper berry oil, and olibanum are the first notes the fragrance exudes. But, at the heart, it’s the freesia accord, rose absolute, and geranium oil that tells the fragrance’s tender story. Meanwhile, the sensually woody base is the memory that lasts on your skin: sandalwood, healingwood, and amberwood.

“It feels like listening to Patrice Rushen or Maze n Frankie Beverly on a warm summer afternoon with a lavender lemonade and my lifelong friends,” Halsey dreams, which is a mood extended into the label she designed. Housed on Byredo’s signature glass bottle, the euphoric label is adorned with sphinxes, palm trees, and African figures. 

“I wanted the scent to be situated in an environmental context that’s romantic, pastel and fantastical,” she says. “There’s already such a rich aromatic context so creating a fragrance felt like a natural extension of the artwork.” When asked what she wanted the wearer to feel, her answer was simple: “Dreamy”.

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