Perfume Room

What's the actual best Britney fragrance? Who's the most underrated flanker of them all? Liz Renstrom (@basenote_bitch) is in the Perfume Room today and we're traveling deep into the multiverse that is: BRITNEY SPEARS FRAGRANCES to tackle all the hard questions. We've procured 12 of her 36 creations (including 6 Fantasy flankers, 3 Prerogative flankers, Believe, Cosmic Radiance, an...

Margaux Le Paih Geurin is a perfumer at boutique perfume house, Flair Paris. A team of just four perfumers with infinite niche perfume launches to their name, Flair is easily one of the best houses of our time, and Margaux is one to watch. In just a few years in the industry, Margaux has already seen several of her creations hit shelves, including 3 BORNTOSTANDOUT fragrances. We discuss valuable l...

We're celebrating Valentine's Day with Master Perfumer Honorine Blanc, a perfumer especially renowned for her sensual and addictive fragrances. In fact, as far as I'm concerned, modern perfumery has two eras: B.H. and A.H. (that is, before Honorine and After), because Honorine quite literally invented a texture in perfume that before her, didn't exist. We discuss what makes a scent...

A Third Culture Kid as she refers to herself, Phway Su Aye, Co-Founder and Creative Director of Gabar, has called many countries home. This week, she's in Perfume Room to talk about the one whose unforgettable aromas inspired her fragrance brand. Phway shares stories, rituals, and personal memories from her early childhood in Myanmar; she tells of a perfumery course that changed the trajectory...

Flower Shop Perfume Co’s Isaac Lekach and Lillian Shalom (also real-life husband and wife!) are in the Perfume Room today! We discuss: growing up in the industry (Isaac’s dad is former CEO of Parlux); celebrity perfume secrets; why the best perfumes are always a little bit controversial; the viral sensation that is Melanie Martinez’s Portals collection; a day in the life of a boutique fragrance ho...

Régime Des Fleurs Founder/Perfumer Alia Raza is in the Perfume Room today. We discuss everything from those absolutely perfect rococo bottles, to what it's like collaborating with THE Dominique Ropion, and you *know* I live-smell Nymphaea Caerulea—a perfume that at $990 for 8ML, earns the title of World's Most Expensive. SOTD: Fueguia Yakeñ & Chris Collins LUST | Oud Delice FRAGS MENTI...

NEW YEAR, NEW SOLO. SAME PERFUME ROOM. 2023: favorite launches, most-worn fragrances, and most exciting discoveries 2024: INs and OUTs, trend predictions, and *manifestations* for the year ahead! FRAGS MENTIONED: Versatile Paris Rital Date, Masque Milano Basilica, Dior Hypnotic Poison, Kerosene Unknown Pleasures, Versatile Paris: Dimanche Flemme, Culot Thé; Headspace: Absinthe, Myrrh, Tubereuse, S...

'Tis the season for my holiday gift guide! I share all the fragrance gifts I’m coveting including stocking stuffers, candles, other scented goodies, and answer a few gift-help requests!  Plus, A VERY SPECIAL GUEST make a very VERY SURPRISE appearance ;) ;) ;) SHOP MY HOLIDAY PACK: ⁠https://rb.gy/7arvgd⁠ Tune in to IG Live || Thurs 12/14 at 1P EST/10A PT (@perfumeroompod) MY HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE:...

Toskovat Founder and Perfume-Maker David-Lev Jipa-Slivinschi is in the Perfume Room today. With fragrance pyramids comprised of accords like credit card, dirty dollar, priest's clothes, blood, and plastic bag, Toskovat fragrances beg the question: are all perfumes meant to be worn?  FRAGS MENTIONED: Diptyque Benjoin Boheme, Serge Lutens Santal Majascule, Toskovat Age of Innocence, Givenchy Ver...

Longtime friends and tastemakers Marissa Zappas + Ruby McCollister are in the Perfume Room today discussing their latest collaboration: a fragrance called Tragedy. Marissa, the perfumer behind all the Internet’s cult-fav perfumes, & Ruby, an actress and comedian you may know from Search Party, High Maintenance and Curb Your Enthusiasm , have joined forces to create a fragrance inspired by Frac...

Internationally-known DJ, Entrepreneur, and now Fragrance Founder Zernell Gillie is in the Perfume Room! As a lifelong fragrance collector, in 2022, Zernell decided to combine his two greatest passions to launch an eponymous fragrance line. With extraits at a whopping 50% concentration, and fragrances all inspired by different genres of music, it's no wonder this new brand is already buzzing i...

You know naturals; you know synthetics; but do you know *bio-engineered materials?* Through her biotech fragrance brand, Future Society, Jasmina Aganovic (Founder & CEO) is resurrecting extinct smells through DNA sequencing, and introducing this novel 3rd category of fragrance materials into the conversation. FRAGS MENTIONED: MAISON d’ETTO: Rotano, Noisette, Canaan; Robert Piguet Fracas, Giorg...

The delightful Pissara Umavijani, Founder and Perfumer of Parfums Dusita, is in the Perfume Room today! Pissara discusses uprooting her life from Bangkok to Paris in pursuit of perfume, said pursuit of perfume [Pissara is self-taught!], and how, through Dusita, Pissara honors and bottles the smells of her father’s legacy, her Thai heritage, and classic French perfumery all at once. FRAGS MENTIONED...

What IS love and what does it smell like? Givaudan’s Head of Fine Fragrance North America, Matthieu Befve, and Perfumer Dana Schmitt join me in the Perfume Room today as we explore this very topic. Specifically, we discuss Givaudan’s most recent immersive fragrance experience— 'What Is love?’ — an olfactive exploration of love and seduction as experienced by Gen Z and as interpreted by Givauda...

MAISON d’ETTO Founder and Professional Horse Girl Brianna Lipovsky is in the Perfume Room today. Brianna and I chat everything from competing in Dressage at the Grand Prix level, channeling horse relationships into smells, a shamanic healing session in a Midtown office that changed the trajectory of her career, and a fragrance in her collection with an actual HORSE MOLECULE.  + REVIEWS OF: Officin...

Papillon Artisan Perfumes' Liz Moores is in the Perfume Room this week! We discuss: a perfume that smells post-coital, fragrance formulas that come in dreams, reading her own perfumes' Fragrantica reviews, the importance of sticking to a brief when no one else is watching/smelling, smells inspired by pets, and more! FRAGS MENTIONED: Diptyque Orpheon, Riddle Oil Poppy, Michael Kors EDP, Mar...

Olfactive Artist & Researcher M Dougherty is in the Perfume Room this week! M uses scent to explore communication, memory, and interaction, and has created bodies of work around everything from dog perfume, to olfactive concerts, to the fragrance wheel...of human body odors, to urban forest bathing via mycelium sculptures! FRAGS MENTIONED: Electimuss Vanilla Edesia, Outremer Vanille, Fischersu...

CALLER WHAT IS YOUR NAME AND WHERE ARE YOU CALLING FROM? Hear from FIVE fellow listeners today as I answer their biggest fragrance dilemmas ranging from the perfect scent to celebrate a new home, a perfume for *the stage,* scents that match songs, the floraliest floral for a non-floral lover, and that elusive perfect skin scent plus. Plus I review some recent PR! FRAGS MENTIONED: Narciso Rodriguez...

*SPECIAL NYFW REPORT* Highsnobiety Beauty Editor Alexandra Pauly is in the Perfume Room today to recap the biggest beauty and fashion trends from NYFW and discuss what it all means for… PERFUME! From everything from Barbiecore to Girlcore (note: they’re different), to mermaid hair and berry lips; with looks from Sandy Liang to Collina Strada, we're sharing all our favorite SS24 runway trends a...

Enjoy PART 2 of my conversation with Escentric Molecules’ Creator Geza Schoen where we talk about the fragrances he wears *off the clock,* making the leap from consumer to perfumer, his thoughts on people duping his creations, what different popular synthetics smell like, and a *very special* tradition he’s started for his daughter <3  FRAGS MENTIONED: Serge Lutens Miel de bois, Goop This Smell...

Escentric Molecules Founder Geza Schoen is in the Perfume Room this week (and next!)! More than an illustrious perfumer, Geza Schoen singlehandedly changed the way both the industry and consumers alike see/wear synthetic molecules. He’s responsible for an entirely new genre of fragrances: the non-perfume perfume! Here is part 1 of our conversation! FRAGS MENTIONED: Kelly + Jones Mezcal Flora, Lanc...

SOLO THIS WEEK with my reviews/[HOT] takes on the Le Labo City Exclusives, tips for picking a signature scents, how to identify notes in fragrances, some lesser known Hilde Soliani scents I am loving, and of course ANSWERING YOUR CALLS and doing listener scent consults! FRAGS MENTIONED: Le Labo: Gaiac 10, Bergamote 22; D’Orsay Nous Sommes Amants MD, Givenchy MMW, ERIS Parfums Scorpio Rising, Le La...

Alaska Thunderfuck (!!) and Fragrance Evaluator Travis Aikman are in the Perfume Room today discussing this making of Alaska's first (but likely not last) fragrance: Red For Filth. Plus, learn which Drake song inspired this scent (?!) as well as the perfumes your other fave Queens are wearing! FRAGS MENTIONED: Perris Montecarlo Cacao Azteque, ERIS Parfums Scorpio Rising, Atelier Jasmin Angeliq...

ERIS PARFUMS Founder Barbara Herman is in the Perfume Room today! Barbara is the author of " Scent and Subversion: Decoding a Century of Provocative Perfume" as well as the blogger behind the very popular 2010s vintage perfume blog, " Yesterday’s Perfume." With such a vast knowledge of vintage fragrances, Barbara founded ERIS to celebrate subversion and unconventional beauty in...

Universal Flowering Perfumer/Founder Courtney Rafuse is in the Perfume Room today! We discuss everything from her creative process, to why fragrance pyramids are gentle suggestions at best, to the vulnerability that comes with transforming intimate accounts of her personal life into fragrances meant for other bodies (and imaginations and memories). FRAGS MENTIONED: Diptyque Fleur de Peau, Glossier...