Yes, they do!
Last week I had an occasion to discuss this topic with Pratiksha Acharya, a lovely and editor of GRAZIA INDIA. She mentioned my thoughts in her beautiful article “Smells like Nostalgia”:


You can read it more easily:
” In her laboratory in Amsterdam, an artisanal perfume composer, Francesca Bianchi crafts perfumes that she fondly describes as “liquid emotions”. Not a fan of market research and trends, Bianchi relies on her connection with fragrances to create scents that have the power to move someone. “I only create if I have a forceful, pre-potent inspiration, imbued by emotions. Sometimes I call my perfumes ‘Emotion Generator Machines’ as I truly conceive them as a medium to emotionally touch other human beings,” she says. “
Exactly! I use the sentence “liquid emotions” even in my packaging, to define my idea behind perfumes. Perfumes are a means to spark an emotion that can connect with your inner self.

I never put in place the creation of a perfume just because of some marketing research or trends, I only create if I have a forceful, prepotent inspiration, imbued by emotions.
Only thanks to this energetic trigger I can go through all the challenging phases of a creation.
By starting from my own emotion, I believe that some other human beings can be triggered by my perfumes and experience a similar feeling or state of mind.Only thanks to this energetic trigger I can go through all the challenging phases of a creation.

As per the “Emotion Generator Machines”, this is a surrealistic type of name, inspired by Duchamp’s machines. But I believe in it. The idea is to create a mechanism that is able to touch your sensitive points, sparkling an emotion, a feeling, and this happens before you even know it is happening.
DO PERFUMES HAVE THE POWER TO BRING BACK MEMORIES? YES, THEY DO.
I’ll put it in simple words: the olfactory stimulus goes in just a couple of synapses in the limbic system, an area of our brain also in charge of memories as well as emotions. This explains why our reaction to a specific smell is so intense and immediate and might bring back memories in a way that we simply cannot control consciously.
How magic is that!
This is probably why Perfumer Olivia Giacobetti said “Perfume is the language closest to the unconscious.”