Perfume recs from Fragheads, Vol. 1

What the people who obsess over fragrance are wearing, buying, and coveting.

A major highlight of 2024 for me was getting to know more people in the fragrance community. The people who inhabit this space are smart, creative, dreamy, and the kind of people I want to hang around. We connect on our shared love and obsession with fragrance, and we’re all hung up on nostalgia and the power of smell to evoke memories and transport us to another time and place. Perfumers are artists and fragrance fans, patrons of the arts. Or at least that’s what I tell myself to feel better about the money I spend each month. We know each bottle is a story that has the potential to make us feel something, and we’re always chasing the next feeling.

Instead of curating a holiday gift guide, I thought it would be fun to ask some of my favorite people in the fragrance community what scents they’re paying attention to. These are perfumers, fragrance writers, creators, and collectors. You won’t get better perfume insight and recommendations than these.

There were so many more people I could have added to this list (I’ve asked 12 people to participate), but I had to stop somewhere. This will be a series of posts, and I hope you find their answers as inspiring as I did.

Sable Yong

Sable Yong is a freelance writer and editor. She recently published a book of essays about the beauty industry called Die Hot with a Vengeance and released an accompanying fragrance of the same name. She co-hosts the podcast Smell Ya Later with Tynan Buck. And she also writes an excellent Substack, Hard Feelings. Die Hot with a Vengeance is a top fancy scent for me and one of my favorite perfume purchases of the year.

What's the fragrance you're secretly hoping someone gets you for the holidays?

Ooooh, I discovered this one fragrance at a shop called Madame Aucoin in New Orleans recently from The House Of Oud called White Pearl. It’s billed as a “salty iridescent,” which is intriguing — I love when brands invent their own olfactory categorization system. It is like a marine musk with softness and luminescence from some florals (iris, rose, ylang yang) and added depth and texture with tonka bean, pink peppercorn, and cardamom. It smells pretty zingy at first but then it dries down to a soft, musky ambergris that smells amazing. Anyway, it’s $270 lol.

What's the fragrance you wear when you want to feel fancy?

Usually anything by Matiere Premiere or Bond No.9. Both brands are “beast mode” scents in that every one projects far and wide to the whole kingdom and they LAST. But they also have really robust and unique scents that hit all the hot spots for scent profiles that people like, but with added textures and materials that are so unique to them. My go-tos are Matiere Premiere Crystal Saffron and French Flower, and Bond No.9 Chelsea Nights or Tribeca.

What's the fragrance or smell that most defines 2024 for you?

Honestly, the one I made for my book Die Hot With A Vengeance! (Same book title as perfume.) I had started working on it with Joey Rosin from Hoax Parfums around November 2023 and we were narrowing down the final mods around March 2024, so I was testing out a lot of versions that spring. I’d put the little sample vials in a cigarette case and bring them with me everywhere so if I was meeting up with friends I could do an impromptu scent survey. I think in total there were probably 24 mods and the one I chose was some time in the 11th hour, but it was a definite standout.

Noah Virgile

Noah Virgile is a performer, artist, and the founder and perfumer behind Amphora Parfum. Sublimate is on my wishlist, and I can’t wait to smell their new releases, Virginal and Baby Boy. I love hearing them talking about fragrance and I bet you will too. Check out Noah’s episode on Smell Ya Later.

How did you get into Fragrance?

My mom unintentionally got me into perfume with Alien! My aunt used to wear Angel when it originally came out, and she blind bought my mom a bottle of Alien as a gift (something my mom NEVER does with perfume), and it wound up becoming her signature scent for years. I was always totally fascinated with it, and I still am, to this day. At the time I first smelled Alien, it just made me want to smell more perfumes, and thus the obsession began.

What's the fragrance you're secretly hoping someone gets you for the holidays?

For the most part, my "wish list" tends to be more of a "surprise me with something I wouldn't expect you to know about" situation, so I'm honestly floored when anyone finds a scent they think I'd enjoy. That being said, the Cirque du Soleil Eau de Parfum is currently at the tippy top of my list (and has been since it was announced).

What's the fragrance you wear when you want to feel fancy?

I'm SO temperamental with fragrance to the point that I usually can't pick one specific scent for any kind of occasion, to be honest. However, a recent acquisition I've been obsessed with as my "serious going out scent" is Bell'Antonio by Hilde Soliani. I bought it from Merz Apothecary in early November, and the sales associate described it as "cigarette and coffee breath," which couldn't be more accurate. It starts off smelling like you put out a cigarette in a cup of black coffee, and slowly wears into this beautifully soft and warm vanilla.

What's the fragrance or smell that most defines 2024 for you?

Fresh air. I live in NYC, I make perfume, and I love perfume, so my life is constantly filled to the brim with interesting smells. I recently went on a long trip to Massachusetts to cat sit for my parents, and I just couldn't get over how clear and alert I felt being able to step outside and smell actual nature.

Tahirah Hairston

Tahirah Hairston is a writer who covers fashion, beauty, and culture. I first connected with her through someone on Substack (my day job) and worked with her when she launched Ridiculous Little Things. But it wasn’t until we were at a dinner together in NYC this Fall that I realized what a fraghead she is. She is so much fun to talk to, in general, tbh, but especially about fragrance. Do you know when you meet those people who you can be your full, honest self with and nerd out about common interests and you’d like to spend hours talking to them? That’s Tahirah.

How did you get into fragrance? 

I'd spend hours wandering around the Nordstrom beauty department and getting the little samples of fragrances when I went shopping with my mom and grandma when I was younger. That was my introduction to the world of fragrances. I distinctly remember being obsessed with the shapes of the bottles more than their scents; Jean Paul Gaultier's fragrance shaped-like a woman and came in a tin bottle, Glow by J.Lo's bottle had a belly-chain, Calvin Klein euphoria's chrome bottle, which I got engraved with my name on it for Christmas one year, Britney Spear's Curious bottle with the pump atomizer, the Thierry Mugler Angel bottle shaped like a star, Dior's J'Adore bottle with the gold neck, and Issey Miyake's elongated triangle bottle. 

My mom isn't a makeup person, but she loves fragrances. So, visiting her dresser and spraying all the different perfumes she had was always so fun. Her and my stepdad would always give me a fragrance for Christmas. That's how I started to understand the concept of smelling good and learning about different brands. But the first time I actually felt like I need this fragrance was when I smelled Kiehl's Musk in high school on my mom's dresser. I took her Kiehl's Musk with me to college, and to this day, it's still my favorite fragrance. It helped me understand who I wanted to be and how to find the words to express what I wanted to smell like. 

Then, working at Teen Vogue as a beauty director, I got more into the fragrance industry from a perfumer, note, and brand perspective, and that's when I discovered Portrait of a Lady, another fragrance that changed my life and helped shape who I am.

What's the fragrance you're secretly hoping someone gets you for the holidays?

Either Karat EG or Rotano from Maison d'Etto. I've been wearing samples of both of them and they are incredible. Distinctive, but not too overpowering. Very the woman I think I am, and that I'm becoming, type of fragrances. 

What's the fragrance you wear when you want to feel fancy?

I wear Amber Kiso by DS & Durga, Musc Ravageur by Frederic Malle, or Canaan by Maison d'Etto. They all have a very "who's that girl" sensual energy which makes me feel fancy and confident. 

What's the fragrance or smell that most defines 2024 for you?

Discovering that I loved leather notes, it's a note that I could always recognize because it ignited memories but I wasn't sure what it was. I've been on a journey to find all the leather notes I love, and I've learned I lean more towards the animalic, earthy and outdoorsy leather scents, which is why I love Rotano, rather than the new car or gasoline-y smell, and nothing too overpowering or masculine. It's been really fun to find fragrances with the perfect balance for my taste. 

Lucy Burrows

I discovered Lucy Burrows via my IG account for DDD where I only follow fragrance people. I had no idea who she was, but every time I saw a story or post from her I got excited. She’s a beautiful writer who describes perfume in a stunning and original way. I want to read a book by her, and I want you to get a glimpse into her world and her words, too. We have similar tastes in fragrance, so I always pay attention when she shares something she likes.

What's the fragrance you're secretly hoping someone gets you for the holidays?

Deep breath, slow release. *I get everything I want because I already have everything* Ok, centering-mantra complete. What I actually want is to play gifting fairy to my loved ones who have had a hard year. I've already sourced my dad's discontinued Lalique, check. My partner in life, who is on this fragrance ride with me, all gas no breaks, wants Bois Corsé, and it smells amazing on him so I shamelessly benefit. I'd like to settle on a fragrance from Heretic for my mom who is vigilant about clean ingredients in products. My bff wants Puppet's Haunted Baby and I'm torn because Ingénue smells amazing on her too. I gifted her a sample, and when we hugged at an event, I cooed an "oooh what are you wearing?" It was Ingénue, and smelling it on her was like smelling it for the first time, because it smelled perhaps how it was always meant to smell, like absolute perfection coded on her skin. She was wrapped in its sugared rose halo and a full angel to my heart's eye.

What's the fragrance you wear when you want to feel fancy?

Elisire Érose, a white floral bouquet and rare extrait I'm down for, as someone who prefers quiet and close fragrance. I feel fancy just to fix a gaze upon the vessel: elegant mirrored rose gold compact & clean-bevel case. Final touch when I've spent an extra 15 on makeup for good reason.

What's the fragrance or smell that most defines 2024 for you? Tell me a little about why.

Hmm, 2024, an odd year to be composed of even numbers. Did you know that we Americans had an election this year? (HAHAHA) It's madness out there, palpable division, families, communities, a nation and a planet shanked in two like a spatchcocked turkey ready for a perilous roasting. I...actually hate it. I think we're better than this. I'd like to highlight some stunning fragrances born of collaboration which demonstrate so eloquently that unity begets greatness. I'll stick with a theme and give you two that, for me, permeated & punctuated this year: Odile & Les Chaussons Rouges. Both, inspired by ballet, both combined efforts of independent noses I respect and revere beyond my ability to express.

Odile is one of two offerings from Gumamina, a team-up of Marissa Zappas and Universal Flowering's Courtney Rafuse.

Les Chausson Rouges felt like a post-November curtain fall, the heavy red velvet pile collapse between acts. We're afforded a beat to regroup and set position. I'm seeing red, so might as well smell it. There are two shoes: they mirror, they split, they snap back together, it's an entrancing dance. But the dust on the stage does not see the motion for its choreo, only feels the thunder clap when the pointe shoe falls. Alie Kiral & Odette Fontaine should lock arms and take a bow. That oil paint accord, surely chipped straight off Degas' palette, and tendrilled saffron pirouette in the first act, even as they are enveloped by warm spice and dahlia sprung from the softest side of oud, floating in the juice of unlisted but constantly registering-to-me crimson berry... I am all gasps, I shall grow my soul in the shape of a rose so I can toss it astage.

I’ll also be featuring some other great people from the fragrance community this month to give you lots of ideas and inspiration and to do what I set out to do with this space— make fragrance more accessible to everyone, demystify it, and get people excited to experiment and start their own fragrance journey. With no judgement, ever.

xo