What's That Smell?

A new group of fragrance stores invites shoppers to take a whiff.

- BY FIORELLA VALDESOLO

WHILE SNIFFING via a screen is a technology yet to be cracked, the brick-and-mortar fragrance business is booming: 75 percent of fragrance sales in the U.S. happen in stores. And over the past year, it's seemed as if every other boutique opening in the city is a perfumer or a home-fragrance shop. At FF&E (109 Montrose Ave., Williamsburg), run by design firm Lichen and scent-maker Fragile Glass, shoppers have been particularly taken with its "earthcense"—incense that, according to Lichen's website, "smells like wet rocks, but in a good way." Naked Ghosts (66 Greenw