A dreamy birthday cake and new smells
A collection of things that made me happy this month and a birthday giveaway for paid subscribers
I’ve failed miserably at my no-buy April—but in my defense, declaring a no-buy during my birthday month was kind of cruel. I’ll aim to do better next month... although Scent Week in LA is happening at the end of May, which I will be going to, so we’ll see.
Lately, I’ve been thinking about writing a post on the scents in my collection with the biggest dents—the ones I keep coming back to. I have so much already, and it feels like the right time to revisit and celebrate some old favorites.
As a little thank-you to paid subscribers, I’m hosting a giveaway. One winner will receive a discovery set from Gabar and five decants from my personal collection. If you're a paid subscriber, you're automatically in. I’ll choose someone at random and email them to ask about scent profile preferences so I can tailor the decants just for you. Anyone who upgrades to paid will be eligible too! I’ll pick a winner this Sunday.
Earlier this month, I threw a 70s-themed birthday party—and ordered a cake that brought me an absurd amount of joy. A lot of people asked if I’d designed the cake to match my nails, which, honestly, is a fair assumption. I’ve definitely had gold chrome nails with snakes more than once.
Look at this beauty! It was made by Butter & in San Francisco and was worth every penny. The flavors were vanilla with chocolate and hazelnut frosting and it tasted almost as good as it looked.
I got this amazing vintage dress at the most special vintage shop in North Beach called Via Margutta. The shop owner called this dress his Elizabeth Taylor and told me it had belonged to a friend of his who is a burlesque dancer. I don’t usually wear purple but this felt magical. It was a good birthday. I was delighted that many of my friends showed up in theme too.
It’s been a minute since I showed you my nails. The set I’m currently wearing (top in the photo) is getting replaced today, and honestly, it might be one of my all-time favorites. Just look at these tiny masterpieces. Kim is a genius.
People don’t gift me perfume much anymore—understandably—but that just makes it even more special when they do. André helped out so much with my birthday party prep and spoiled me with a handful of amazing perfume gifts.
A visit to the Ministry of Scent resulted in a few other new additions to my collection. One standout is Mimosa Supercritique by Les Eaux Primordiales, a soft, powdery white floral that’s musky, delicate, and incredibly wearable.
I also picked up my first perfume oil from Versatile Paris: Rital Date. If you haven’t explored that line yet, I highly recommend it—they have some really fun and unexpected scents. Rital Date is basically pesto perfume, which sounds weird, but somehow works. Think bright lemon, fennel, olive oil, oregano, cypress, and even a pistachio ice cream accord. It’s playful, unusual, and smells surprisingly good on skin.
I also picked up a bottle of Miss_U by Laboratorio Olfattivo, which is comfort in a bottle to me. I’ve been carrying some sadness lately, and something about Miss_U kind of hit that for me. Sometimes I want to just sit in my sadness, and I feel like perfume can help me do that. I also love a perfume name that lets me interpret it and doesn’t shout its scent profile at me. Miss_U is a spicy vanilla with more wood and patchouli than sweetness. I’m excited to have this one in my collection.
In other perfume store news, Stéle launched over 100 new fragrances in a single day. Stéle has the most amazing collection of hard-to-find fragrances, and this new launch just upped their game even more, which I didn’t think would be possible. Jake was kind enough to give me a virtual tour (ily Jake!), and below is a very brief overview of some stuff I recommend ordering samples of or smelling if you can visit in person. I have placed three orders already, and I’m impatiently awaiting their arrival.
I did get a bottle of Dante's Inferno Paradiso Eau de Parfum by Thai perfumer Tada Archawong. It’s still in transit, so I haven’t smelled it yet, but I fully trust Jake when he says I will love it and have to have it. This one is sold out and if you are interested in the others I might consider getting them as it sounds like these will take a little longer to restock.
I’ve been really curious about Tada Perfumer—another fragrance line by Tada Archawong—and ordered a bottle of Night Tempo. With notes of vinyl, suede, rose, oakmoss, and leather, it sounds like something I’ll love. I especially like that it’s inspired by a night out in Japan—moody, textured, and atmospheric.
A few others from the line I’m eager to smell include Tasogare, which blends plum blossom with incense, and Gyokuro, which some are calling the best matcha tea fragrance they have ever smelled.
Stéle is also carrying Toskovat now. A popular one is Forlorn Embers and Inexcusable Evil. But something about Last Birthday Cake is calling my name.
I’m super curious about L’Entropiste. I especially want to smell Dorian’s Spleen (whiskey, coffee, ashes).
I want Vyrao’s Witchy Woo for the bottle and name alone. It just looks like it belongs in my collection.
I am also very excited for my bottle of Viroopaksa by Siam to arrive (hurry up UPS!!). I saw these beautiful ceramic bottles on TikTok and was drawn to the graphics and shape. Yod Beer and Red Jungle also look like good ones in the collection.
And finally— Amphora releases Honeycakes today!! This is my favorite Amphora scent to date. It’s rich, sweet, syrupy, spicy, I love every layer of this one. It has coffee, honey, mulling spices, brigadeiro, sandalwood, dry patchouli, and so much more. It’s a limited edition, so snag one while you can.
I’ve been posting a lot more on TikTok these days. You can find me here. I’m sharing a lot of close-ups of my collection and fun days like this one:
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
I have so much more to share but I’ll save it for my next letter. Thanks for reading and remember to upgrade to paid if you want to be eligible to win the giveaway!
Loving that birthday dress!
Forever Mrs. Roper, and that cake 😍😍😍