Now Arrived: Dilo, the Philadelphia Fragrance House That's Hard to Find in the UK
There are a handful of fragrance brands you keep hearing about long before you can actually buy them here — Dilo has been one of ours. Handmade in Philadelphia's Northern Liberties neighbourhood, the brand has built a devoted following in the US for incense cones and eau de parfums that smell nothing like the candle aisle. We're thrilled to say Haus is now stocking it — and it's still one of only a small handful of places in the UK where you'll find it.
Who is Dilo?
Dilo is a small, independent fragrance and design studio built and still based in Philadelphia. Everything is made by hand, by Philly locals, using globally sourced materials to a deliberately high standard — no animal testing, ethical production throughout. It's the kind of brand that grows by word of mouth rather than marketing budget, which is exactly why it's taken this long to properly land in the UK.
Their signature line, the elsewhere Collection, takes four scent stories — Desert Kush, Cactus Flower, Hinoki Sesame and Palo Santo — and carries each one across incense cones, candles and eau de parfum, so a room and the person in it can smell like the same idea without smelling identical. We've brought in three of the four to start: Desert Kush, Cactus Flower and Hinoki Sesame, across both incense cones and the 15ml eau de parfum travel sprayer.
The scents
Desert Kush Warm, resinous and a little rebellious. The incense cones open juicy — yuzu and grapefruit — before settling into what Dilo calls a "hempy, kushy pillow of smoky teakwood." The eau de parfum version builds the same idea with more depth: orange peel, bergamot and yuzu up top, grapefruit and smoke through the heart, finishing on amber, teakwood and musk. Green, a little smoky, genuinely unisex.
Cactus Flower The brightest of the three, and the one we think will surprise people. Agave, black pepper and citrus lead in, opening onto jasmine and cactus flower at the heart, before settling into redwood, moss and vetiver. Fresh without tipping into sweet — more desert bloom than florist's bouquet.
Hinoki Sesame Coastal and woody in equal measure — Dilo describes it as "coastal sea salt air rising through centuries-old Hinoki cypress trees," and it's an apt one. Bergamot, lemon peel and cedar leaf on top, sea salt, incense smoke and sesame seed through the middle, finishing on Hinoki wood, red cedar and musk. Clean, slightly smoky, the kind of scent that reads as considered rather than loud.
Incense cones or eau de parfum?
Both, honestly, but for different rooms of your life. The incense cones come in a tin of 25 and are the better way to properly scent a room — light and let the flame catch for 15–20 seconds before extinguishing, for a full, even burn. The 15ml travel sprayer is the personal-wear version: a genuine eau de parfum, not a room spray in disguise, and small enough to actually live in a bag rather than a bathroom shelf.
Why we brought Dilo in
We keep an eye on what's building a genuine following before it's everywhere — and Dilo is exactly that: small-batch, hard to find outside a short list of independent boutiques, and not yet stocked widely in the UK at all. If you've been searching for a UK stockist of Dilo's Desert Kush, Cactus Flower or Hinoki Sesame incense cones and perfume, this is it.
In stock at Haus, in-store and online, now. Incense cones from £22. Eau de parfum travel sprayer from £32.
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