Perfume Room

If you’ve ever wondered about the path to becoming a perfumer, this episode is for you! ISIPCA Student Yousif Saleh is parlaying his chemistry degree, love of fragrance, and background as both a drag artist and sommelier into the most logical career: PERFUMERY. Halfway through ISIPCA’s curriculum, Yousif is *in the thick of it* and shares everything from daily life as a student in Paris, to the fr...

Very special episode today!! You often hear about the founder/perfumer collaboration process, but rarely do you get an inner-glimpse of it. Today, you do ! I am joined by the Founder AND the Perfumer of one of my favorite-ever brands: Ourside! (Yes, that brand I won't stop talking about...) Ourside is a small-batch, luxury, ingredient-conscious, Black-owned brand, and is one of the ONLY brands...

BDK Founder David Benedek is in the Perfume Room today! We chat about everything from the BDK Parfums signature—that common thread/secret note(s) you might find in every scent, to growing up in the fragrance world, to what’s most played on David’s Spotify right now. David discusses the journey/evolution of creating BDK and the friends and family that shaped him & the brand along the way. And o...

Oooo ooo ooo - it's an all new solo ep this week, and I am answering your burning Qs including: what I am wearing this spring niche fragrances exciting me right now April Smell Club deets! ‘funny’ stories from my childhood (that double as tRaUma) the conditioner that saved my hair the body oil I can't quit work scent etiquette and my work scent picks the weirdest fragrance I’ve smelled to...

Kelly Jones, Founder of Kelly + Jones fragrances, is in the Perfume Room today! We love a controversial perfume line and this one is no exception. While wine aficionados frown upon and often go as far as actually forbidding wearing fragrance in the tasting room, Kelly + Jones fragrances are specifically meant for exactly that! Each scent is inspired by the tasting notes of a different wine or spir...

The legendary Christopher Chong is in the Perfume Room today! Serving as Amouage’s Creative Director for over a decade (a role he assumed sans any prior fragrance knowledge or experience!), Christopher shocked/saddened the perfume world when he took a multi-year-long hiatus. Alas, we can finally rejoice; Christopher is back in the fragrance world, and this time, he's with the London-based perf...

FINALLY — a very *high requested* episode — I am sharing my top picks for designer fragrances currently on the market! And to give you an every bigger breadth of choices, I am doing so alongside my friend, fragrance collector, Olya Bar (last week’s guest). In order to give you our most up-to-date opinions, we traversed the streets of Herald Square, starting our journey first at Ulta and ending it...

Olya Bar is *Our Fragrance Keeper.* With a collection that runs 900 bottles deep —YES I SAID 900—she’s transcended being a collector, and at this point, is more of an archivist. Want to know how or if a bottle design has changed since it first launched? Olya can tell you. Which reformulation is the sweetest? Olya can tell you. In addition to being a lover/keeper/creator, she’s also an industry vet...

ARQUISTE® Founder Carlos Huber is in the Perfumer Room today! Carlos’ love of old cities led him to his first career as a Preservation Architect, but it was his fascination with how they smelled that led him to his second: as a fragrance developer and founder of an award-winning fragrance brand focused on preserving history and architecture through scent. You can also thank Carlos (as well as...

Liis Co-Founders Leslie Hendin and Alissa Sullivan are in the Perfume Room today! It seems like every day a new niche fragrance brand pops up, making it all too easy to get lost in the shuffle. Liis has been able to make waves and grow a cult following in the fragcomm because of their fragrances’ easy-to-wear, minimalist and ethereal-like qualities. Alissa and Leslie share how Liis came to be, dat...

Dana El Masri, Perfumer/Founder of Jazmin Saraï, is in the Perfume Room today! Trained at GIP, Dana combines her classical training, scent memories, love of music, and strong intermodal perception to create multi-sensorial fragrances and experiences. Today we chat about everything from woes and wins of perfumery school, channeling memories and music into scent, the content TikTok seems to think sh...

IT’S ME (!) coming to you with a quick solo ep. Here’s what I’m talking about this week: why you need to stop what you’re doing and get tix to Monster Jam (hehe lolol) my experience at the FragranceNet brick & mortar (/who knew there was one?) a BIG 2023 trend prediction a personal hot take that will leave you *shaking* And of course, I answer several of the burning Qs that you wrote in o...

ARE PHEROMONES PHER REAL ? CAN A SPECIFIC FRAGRANCE REALLY GET YOU LAID? ARE THERE ANY ACTUAL SCIENTIFICALLY-PROVEN APHRODISIACS? Why do we like one person’s natural scent and not someone else’s? If pheromones aren’t real, why do scientific studies that seemingly prove their validity exist? Are our scent preferences determined by nature or nurture? So many questions and today we cover them all wit...

Dawn Spencer Hurwitz, lovingly referred to as DSH by her customers/fanbase, is in the Perfume Room today! And here’s the thing: WE SIMPLY CANNOT DISCUSS THE AMERICAN INDIE/ARTISAN FRAGRANCE MOVEMENT WITHOUT DISCUSSING DAWN. DSH Perfumes, the brand she launched over 30 years ago, essentially laid the blueprint for all brands and perfumers that followed. Dawn is an absolute delight and we chat about...

Ever wonder how certain fragrances make their ways into different publications’ ‘Best Of’ lists or editorial roundups? Is it determined by the quality of the product OR perhaps just the quality of the PR team behind it? Today, Refinery29’s Sr. Beauty Editor Amanda Mitchell is answering all the hard questions. As a beauty editor, Amanda is not only constantly testing new products, she's also trying...

If you made potions with your parents' beauty products as a kid, congrats there is a 99.999% chance you are now a fraghead. Today's guest went one step further -- from potion-making to perfume-making.  Chronotope Founder and Perfumer Carter Weeks Maddox is in the Perfume Room today! Though Carter is an entirely self-taught perfumer, the lens through which he creates is backed by an MA in Crit...

You didn't think we were done yet, did you?! Please enjoy part 2 of the Black Girls Smell Good x Perfume Room Holiday Gift Guide episode!  Maiya shares her big announcement, we talk about our fav candles, lotions, gels, gift sets, AND we answer YOUR specific holiday gifting requests! FRAGS MENTIONED: JHAG Not A Perfume, Ellis Brooklyn Super Amber, Chris Collins Citrus Grandis, Montale So Inte...

Black Girls Smell Good Creator Maiya Nicole is BACK(!!!) in the Perfume Room today! With over 112K followers on TikTok, 54K on Instagram, and 45K on Twitter, @blackgirlssmellgood is beloved across platforms for her entertaining and incisive POV, impeccable production quality, and expertise. Maiya has remained one of your favorite guests of the pod, and she’s one of mine too… which is why I am so h...

Today we are joined by the one, the only, Ashley Benson! Actress/Tastemaker/Entrepreneur-extraordinaire, you might know her as Hanna Marin from Pretty Little Liars. Ashley further proves my theory that all the best celebs love perfume; she just launched her own line, Ash by Ashley Benson. We discuss the first two fragrance launches in the collection and the personal inspiration and stories behind...

Another *Perfume Room Required Listening* This week’s guest has not only authored Perfume Legends (vol I and II), he IS one. I am joined by the person responsible for the taxonomy of fragrance as we know it — Founder of Fragrances of the World, Inventor of the Fragrance Wheel(!) — Michael Edwards. It is because of Michael that we have universal and empirical language around perfume. We discuss eve...

There’s an Instagram account (consensually) sharing the highly coveted (and otherwise secret) formulas behind all your favorite scents; this week I am joined by its founder: Erik Constantin. If you’ve ever wanted to teach yourself how to be a perfumer, Erik’s account @fragrance.drama is a must-follow. Erik’s passion for fragrance extends beyond this account; by day, he is the main trainer on perfu...

Tracy Wan, AKA Invisible Stories on IG and TikTok is in the Perfume Room today! Tracy is a content creator and fragrance writer, and in fact, it was words — discovering the  language of fragrance through prominent industry voices like Luca Turin and Chandler Burr— that first propelled her down this scented path. Tracy's love for perfume runs deep; from taking a perfumery course in Grasse to t...

Meet the woman re-imagining what Langston Hughes' home would have smelled like. Teri Johnson, Founder of Harlem Candle Company pays homage to iconic figures and spaces of the Harlem Renaissance through her luxury candles and fragrances. To do this, she and the perfumers she works with become investigators, conducting hours of research to get every note just right. And lucky for us, Harlem Candle C...

Jorum Studio, one of my *new* fave-ever indie fragrance brands, is in the Perfume Room today! I chat with Co-Founders Euan McCall and Chloe Mullen about the perfume scene in Scotland, the irreverence of the brand not just in their actual fragrances, but in how they source inspiration, the fragrance oil house (Scotland's only one, btw) to fragrance brand pipeline, and why the best thing you can be...

*I'M BAAAAAACK* It's another palate cleanser, a little amuse-bouche if you will... This week, it's just me and here what's on deck: a particular niche fragrance house that is simply blowing my mind, some recent sniffs that I. just. can't. quit, why compliments on fragrances are not good barometers on whether they're 'good' (unless the compliment is coming from inside the house), my favorites from...