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As you get older, nothing makes you feel more confident than dousing yourself in perfume to mask the stench of mortality. Granted I’m new to this and not an expert on fragrances, let alone “notes” and whatnot. But since newsletters are all about advising you on how to creatively spend your money, I’ll do my part and point you in the right direction. My go-to rotation at the moment is Serge Lutens Fille de Berlin, Olympic Orchids Ballets Rouges, and TRNP Bulgakov (Limited Edition *not* OG), which the manufacturer describes as smelling like “faded opulence.” Sometimes I like to wild out and layer them all on at once. Not everyone is blessed with healthy levels of narcissism. Perfume is a good way to stack the cards in your favor.
Aug 23, 2022
Related Recs
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Obsessed with perfume. For a while I was searching for a signature scent, but then the hunt just became too much fun, and now I’ve ended up with a full on vanity tray in my bathroom piled with a different smell for every mood. I used to wear only China Rain, a rollerball scent my mom got me in high school from a perfumery in LA called Spiritbody. I still have a bottle of that, but when I wear it I’m transported to a more insecure time lol. Right now I love Shadow in the Water from Diptyque for when I want to smell clean and romantic. I wear Smudge by Heretic almost every day because it’s colder out and it makes me feel so warm and cozy, like i’ve been sitting by a fire all day, and like I give good advice and paint landscapes. Perfume is definitely a splurge, but it lasts for so long, and I think it’s really special to have a beautiful scent that people can recognize you by. I am going to gatekeep my secret combination of Byredo perfumes that I wear constantly, and I’m sorry about that. It’s just too good and too me.
Dec 20, 2022
Although I have a pretty extensive perfume collection — around 200 bottles, plus hundreds of samples and decants — for the last several years I've only worn a handful of them on a regular basis. Lately I've found myself gravitating to older and vintage scents, particularly classic Guerlains (Jicky, Mitsouko, Shalimar) and Caron (Yatagan, Caron pour Homme). Often dismissed as "old lady perfumes" (which is both ageist and misogynist!) they're the best examples of perfumery as high art I know. There are decades-old vintage samples out there if you know where to look or get lucky at an estate sale, but even the contemporary reformulated versions are more interesting and intricate than 99% of what you'll find at Sephora or even a niche shop like Luckyscent. I'd much rather smell of something that would have been familiar to Proust (that would be Jicky, a spiced lavender-vanilla considered to be the first "modern" perfume and one that has been in continuous production since it was released in 1889) than Santal 33 or whatever Maison Francis Kurkdjian everyone else is wearing.
Apr 6, 2024
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I used to exclusively wear only one perfume at a time until the bottle ran out. This era I wore:
Misia - Chanel
Smells like a 1920s dressing room with powder and violets and roses everywhere
Red Roses - Jo Malone
Just the most beautiful rose smell. I would always get asked by taxi drivers what I was wearing when I had this on.
Now I've gotten into nicher perfumes that are more unisex and a bit weirder so I rotate them depending on season/occasion/time of day.
Current Spring rotation
For the office: Morning Chess - Vilhelm Parfumerie
It's woody and leathery but also very fresh and green. The creator says it was inspired by mornings in a cottage on the swedish coast. Smelling this at my desk makes me remember the world is a bigger place than emails.
For the evening: Mississippi Medicine - DS and Durga
Smells like old churches. Based on the rituals of a death cult from the 1200s. Heavy on incense, cedar and frankincense.
For walks outside: Sakura - Lush
Super clean and refreshing. Feel awake when I smell this. Smells like jasmine and orange blossom and salt. Like being near the sea but also delicate flowers.
I used to really love having one singular signature scent (whenever anybody would tell me I always smelled like roses I would reply "yes, so when I'm dead and you smell roses you'll think of me") but the older I get the more I feel like I have more facets of myself to perfume. I like that I can change my mood with fragrance or have some kind of escapism from reality with it.
Apr 6, 2024
Top Recs from @anna-khachiyan
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Easier said than done, especially if you suffer from learned helplessness and poverty mentality due to years of living like a dog. As with most habits that are worth investing in, this one’s a matter of going against your gut, at least initially. That’s fine because your gut is probably leaky and has a messed up microbiome. Only problem is once you break the seal, there’s no going back.
Aug 23, 2022
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Nothing feels as good as unsubscribing, but you’re gonna want to hold on to a physical subscription or two, if for no other reason then ambiance. Personally, I recommend American Affairs and The New Criterion, a couple of quality periodicals with good aesthetics that some may call “fascist,” but I call respectable. Reading magazines will help you improve your attention span and cut through the wasteland of takes. God knows we could all use some of that.
Aug 23, 2022
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I know this sounds redundant but slow your roll. If you’re like me and do a lot of traveling, you’ll want to keep a handful of sample sprays on you at all times. A quick, easy and low-cost way to feel refreshed after a long flight or between “meetings.”
Aug 23, 2022