Perfume recs from Fragheads, Vol. 2

Get ready to add more fragrances to your wish list.

I’m back with more recommendations from some of my favorite fragrance people. You can check out volume one right here. Here’s a fun fact - of the 12 people I’m featuring in these posts there’s barely any overlap in perfumes mentioned. Which speaks to both the vast amount of options out there and the unique point of view each person is bringing.

Also! PSA that

Emma Vernon

of

Perfume Room Substack

(and podcast) and I will be going live on Substack to answer all your fragrance gift giving questions. Let’s be real Emma is the true expert here so I’ll mostly be asking the questions. Mark your calendars and be sure to download the app to tune in on December 9th at 5pm PT / 8pm ET. Feel free to comment with questions for our live here too.

Enjoy volume 2! I’ll be back with the third and final edition soon.

Steven and his scent of the day from when I visited Scent Bar earlier this year.

Steven Gontarski is one of my favorite people to follow on instagram. He’s the manager of Scent Bar in LA where he’s worked for 15 years. His knowledge of fragrance is vast and I love his dreamy reels on instagram. He’s also an artist, musician, and of course perfume collector. I was thrilled I got to meet him when I was in LA this Fall and he happened to be working at the Scent Bar I stopped by on my way to LAX. I love the way he talks about perfume and he’s just as delightful in real life.

How did you get into fragrance?

One of my earliest memories is being in the bath, maybe age 3. I remember holding on to a tube of shampoo. It was clear except for the bright green substance inside that shone like an emerald. The tube was toothpaste-shaped but larger and more flexible. I think the brand was Prell. I held the open bottle to my nose and gently squeezed it to allow its heavenly scent to escape. I got so much pleasure from this and so many other smells. I put my little nose through the square opening of the box of Cascade dishwashing powder and inhaled deeply. The powder entered my nose and coated my eyes. I started screaming and crying which sent my dad right over to lift me to the sink to wash my face Silkwood style.

In high school I wanted every perfume I smelled and would encourage my friends to buy them so that I could smell them when we were together.

In 2009 I walked into Scent Bar in Los Angeles to smell the perfumes I had read about on Luckyscent.com. I started working there shortly thereafter and have been managing that location as well as the downtown store that we opened a few years ago. I like to smell perfume and talk about them - I always have, and now I do it professionally.

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

Cocoa Kimiya by Atelier des Ors is a recent discovery. In addition to its namesake cocoa I smell patchouli, immortelle and Chinese herbal medicine. It's the smell of a sitting room in an old house crammed with antiques. One that rarely allows the outside air to enter. A threadbare Persian rug lines the floor. The fabrics that flank the windows and drape over the settee come from 'somewhere else'. They're silk and wool, old and have travelled a great distance in a large chest to find a home here.

I wouldn't mind having a bottle of it.

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

When I first started wearing Poivre Samarcande from Hermes I felt like the man who could afford Hermes. The fragrant black pepper and swirl of Iso E Super reminded me of the actual leather goods on display in the boutique. When I met perfume brand owner Marc Antoine Barrois, he mentioned how he and perfumer Quentin Bisch bonded over their love of Poivre Samarcande. I too, enthusiastically hold a special place for this perfume in my heart and like to wear it as the 'final touch' of an outift. It's not loud. It just understands itself and comes across as incredibly luxurious.

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

The founders of Astier de Villatte came to Los Angeles at the end of last year. I was thrilled to meet them and even more thrilled when they gave me a bottle of their forthcoming perfume, Mantes-La-Jolie. It's a bright blast of green - sprigs of mint and crushed basil leaves - and it's probably the fragrance I've worn the most in 2024. I wear it on its own or layer it with floral scents to create a photorealistic impression of nature. It smells alive and hopeful. It's been a year of big changes for me. I lost my mother after caring for her for years as dementia disabled her. I got married to my partner of 11 years. I'm happy that I have a fragrance that I can associate with good as well as bad memories - anything that smells that alive can only be a good thing.

LC James

I first heard LC James on a perfume podcast about Blocki perfumes. Then I started following her on instagram and was enamored by her beautiful photography. She’s also very fun to follow on TikTok. You know when you just trust someone’s opinion and tastes, even if you’ve never met them irl? That’s how I feel about LC James.

How did you get into fragrance?

I’d been collecting bottles, more as a novelty, since college. I was training as a dramaturg and director, and became interested in character exploration through scent. I kept building a collection through law school where I spent a little too much money on fragrance to stave off the misery of, well, being in law school. I think I’d always been attuned to scent, especially the perfumes my grandmothers wore, because they felt hopelessly sophisticated to me, and I wanted to grow up and fit into those shoes and wear big loud things like White Diamonds. I was a very grubby tomboy, so this feminine ideal felt so distant it would have been easier to go to the moon. So I think it was just as much about scent as it was a queer kid trying to find some identity or performance of identity that felt familiar and honest to myself.

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

I’m hoping one of the Roberto Greco scents magically falls into my lap. I didn’t bite when they were available because I have a personal (and deeply irrational) aversion to limited editions, but sweet baby Jesus and the donkeys in the manger, I wish I’d gotten a bottle of Porter Sa Peau.

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

A lot of my fragrance choices feel like costumes I want to put on. They help me express an aspect of my personality that my fashion choices or even demeanor can’t really convey, and fancy is one of those things – I’m not a fancy person. I have a bottle of Fendi Theorema that makes me feel very fancy, because it feels like an end-of-an-era grand dame scent. It was produced right around the time Angel changed the game for designer and larger market scents, and people shifted away from the opulent amber florals into that gourmand/flourmand category. I think it’s one of Christine Nagel’s masterpieces and the tragedy lies in the timing of the release. It blossoms on my skin in layers of pepper, rich florals, and sensuality. I feel like Lauren Bacall when I wear it.

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

Don’t laugh - a sublime, subtle orris scent from yellow laundry detergent pods.

I went to Italy for the first time this September, specifically Florence - it was also my first solo trip to Europe. When I arrived, I realized I’d only brought about half the clothes I meant to pack, so I ended up doing laundry in the tiny washer in the kitchen, then hanging the clothes to sun-dry.

For a week, I had no itinerary and simply wandered around this city that I’d studied in college, dreaming of the day I could afford to be there, and that scent followed me the whole time. Lots of happy weeping, which isn’t my usual MO.

It’s become my newest and most treasured scent memory, and the kicker is I didn’t get the damn name of the brand!

Ashley Moubayed

I met Ashley through

Jalil Johnson

who introduces me to so many interesting people. Ashley is the jewelry designer and founder behind the brand Don’t Let Disco. She’s a very fun person to talk to about beauty and fragrance as I learned at a dinner we both attended this past Fall. I also learned that she’s equally as obsessed with perfume and actually stores it properly in a fridge in her closet! Ashley also just started a Substack called Beyond the Beads, you should subscribe.

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

I'm eyeing the new Bottega fragrances by Matthieu Blazy. The bottles are stunning works of art, and I'm curious to experience the scents. A full collection would be a dream come true, but I don’t know if I’m a worthy recipient as I take the preservation of my collection very seriously, by keeping everything pushed back to the deepest darkest corner of my closet. But as a textbook Libra, I do feel the need for at least one of these beautiful bottles.

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

Lys Mediterranee by Edouard Fléchier for Frederic Malle: A floral, sun-kissed scent perfect for special moments, which I wore on my wedding day.

Le Lion by Olivier Polge for Chanel: bold and captivating fragrance that evokes the spirit of royalty. With a rich amber accord at its heart, the scent is balanced by vibrant notes of bergamot and lemon. The fragrance deepens with the introduction of patchouli and sandalwood, creating a luxurious and enduring scent.

Carnal Flower by Dominique Ropion for Frederic Malle which explores the duality of tuberose. This intoxicating floral journey begins with a fresh, innocent bouquet, gradually revealing its darker, more animalic side. The scent is both alluring and challenging, leaving a lasting impression.

And I also have a secret scent that I do not share with anyone because I believe in gatekeeping but I tend to wear it during special professional moments. I can tell you that it’s got nutty, powdery, and fruity notes that blend together to create something really unique. It also has horrible reviews online but is shockingly my most complimented scent by a longshot. I think I reach for these when I want to feel fancy because they each have intricate compositions, invite compliments and spark conversations. All encounters that make me feel more confident and powerful.

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

Vetiver has been a surprising discovery this year. I appreciate a wide range of fragrances, from gourmands to aquatics, but vetiver has become a recurring note in my favorites.

Danielle

Danielle was one of the first people I started following on my fragrance instagram account and shortly after I saw her in a Perfume Room Smell Club. It was fun to connect with her and she’s one of the familiar faces I love seeing when I’m scrolling. I’m a big fan of her perfume collecting for regular people posts where she shares, what she added to her collection, what she decluttered, and what she spent. She’s a true collector and so generous with what she shares!

How did you get into fragrance?

I've been into fragrance for as long as I can remember. My childhood home was always filled with smells - from my grandmother's daily homemade meals to the harvest of our backyard vegetable garden to my mother's perfumes. I was that weird kid who had to put everything up to her nose for a sniff. My first perfume was Love's Baby Soft, and that was the gateway into this lifelong obsession with fragrances.

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

I've got a few perfumes on my wishlist. I wouldn't mind finding one of them in my stocking this year - Habanita by Molinard, Kenzo Amour, and Starlight Sesame from ScentTrunk.

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

Admittedly I am about the least fancy person on the planet. I'm an introvert and a homebody by nature. When I do go out, it's usually to a concert or a musical, and for those occasions I like to wear Laboratorio Olfattivo's Vanagloria a sueded vanilla-incense created by Dominique Ropion, or my dwindling sample of Celine's Black Tie, a beautiful buttery orris with vanilla and oakmoss. Both are understated but elegant perfumes in their own way - that's my kind of fancy.

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

I think I'd have to say that Adorem by Fabrice Pellegrin for Nez is the definition of 2024. This is the most beautiful incense perfume in my collection - a rich, resinous olibanum with accents of cocoa and patchouli. This perfume is the best representation of a year that was very meditative and reflective for me overall.

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Reminder to tune in to my live with Emma on Monday! And please ask your perfume gifting questions in the comments. They can be self-gifting questions too!