The eccentric French indie perfumer talks her beginnings in opera, her cult-favorite scent Milky Dragon, and what happens when fragrances hold distant melodies.

In perfume, nostalgia tends to rule: sweet gourmands, memory-laden florals. But when fragrance borrows from the cerebral world of chess, it opens a stranger, more imaginative territory.

Some perfumes feel like déjà vu. Dandelion Butter, the latest from Chicago’s Clue Perfumery, is one of them: an olfactory whisper that tugs at a half-forgotten childhood memory.

The four perfumes — Mons Venus, Dauphine, Viva Maria, and Josephine in Furs — demonstrate a perfumer setting a dazzling precedent for an up-and-coming perfume house.