Best Perfumer

Yosh Han

www.eaudeyosh.com

After you smell Han's scents, you'll never go back to wearing department store perfume again. Unlike most mass-produced fragrances that chemically approximate aromas found in nature, Han's offerings use essences extracted from the actual plants and flowers. Some of her ingredients include oils made from Egyptian tuberose, pomegranate, Kenya lily, and white ginger. But it's the creative way Han combines them that makes each "parfum" irresistible. Some of her buccaneer-inspired scents, including Buxom and Siren, can be purchased at the Mission District pirate supply store at 826 Valencia. Gaia Tree on Hayes Street carries others. Han regularly conducts "fragrance flights" -- inspired by wine tastings -- at stores and festivals (check her Web site for the schedule). Or do like S.F. novelist JT LeRoy did and commission Han to create a custom aroma just for you.