The Smells of 2024 aka My End of Year Post

Looking back, sniffing ahead.

You better believe this is a recap post. Although, it’s impossible to do a proper recap of my year with Dry Down Diaries without it taking me days. I’d love to share all the best things I smelled, what I bought, my favorite new releases, and more, but I’m heading to the airport soon, and if I started in on a post like that, I’d never leave New York. So consider this an abbreviated recap of whatever comes to me between packing. I’m not a huge fan of navel-gazing posts that share numbers and stats. But it’s nice to look back and celebrate a little.

I thought about starting Dry Down Diaries a year before I took the leap, and despite all that time, I still didn’t know what shape it would take. It’s funny to look back and read my first post. I knew I wanted a space to keep track of what I was smelling and loving and to exercise my writing muscle, beyond that I wasn’t so sure. But with a name like Dry Down Diaries I guess it was inevitable this would become anything other than a place for talking about fragrance and thoughts on the sense of smell.

Here’s where I say I can’t believe there are almost 3,000 of you who subscribe to this thing. And while numbers matter to me what matters more is the community I have found while doing this project. Not just community on Substack. A lot of it has been through my Dry Down Diaries account on instagram and, more importantly, in real life. Part of why I featured so many different people on DDD in December was because I wanted to celebrate the people I have met, read, listened to, and been inspired by in the fragrance community this year. It’s an incredibly diverse, creative, and wild place. I love so much about it, at least the corners I have found and hang out in. And more than anything, I love the people I have met who obsess over and nerd out on fragrance with me.

Emma Vernon's Smell Clubs were a big highlight of the year for me - subscribe to her substack to get on the list to be notified. I remain in awe of the community Emma has created.

Another thrilling thing is seeing all the people I have gotten into or back into fragrance. This includes close friends and strangers. It has been incredibly fun to hear about how my writing here has gotten you deeper into perfume, made you less afraid to try stuff and experiment, or inspired you to buy your first bottle. And I’m sorry, not sorry, for all the extra money I may have encouraged you to spend this year. But I bet those purchases brought you joy. I’ve found we cherish our bottles way more than a sweater or pair of pants.

So here’s a little look back on the year. Thanks for being a part of it. 💗

The Stuff You Loved

An image from my post on frag recs from New Yorkers. My favorite quote of the year was from Mackenzie Thomas featured here, who told me she feels like sexy spaghetti when she’s wearing Replica’s In The Garden.

I try and pay attention to the stuff you like and do more of that. And boy did you all really like Perfume Recs from New Yorkers. This one was shared far and wide and continues to get likes and comments. Thanks in large part to

Joanna Goddard

who is featured in the piece and shared it on Cup of Jo. Perfume Recs from Los Angeles didn’t perform nearly as well but that’s not going to stop me from doing a Perfume Recs from the Bay Area which will probably do even worse.

A close second is my post on How to Get into Perfume, which makes me very happy because a big goal of mine is to make the fragrance world more accessible to everyone. It’s traditionally been a weird gatekeepy place, and I love that that’s changing and that I may have a small part in it.

You all also really liked reading about my dnd hobby. And I liked sharing that part of my nerdy life with you.

I need to do more of these fragrance pairings with fictional characters, you all seemed to like that one too.

The post that took me the longest to write

Was an early post from February called Smells Like Teen Spirit, where I polled people and wrote about the scents we wore growing up. It’s a nostalgic look at the fragrances that shaped us. It was a beast to pull together but so much fun to publish.

The Stuff I Loved Writing

The posts that meant the most to me were the ones that felt most vulnerable and personal. Creative writing has always been my first love, and I like when I can bring some of that to DDD.

Writing about my step dad was hard but the notes and comments I received after publishing it made me feel supported. And I loved hearing scent memories of your loved ones.

I have so many scent memories associated with my childhood and I loved sharing this post about my mom and Youth Dew. I have a lot more to say about Youth Dew and plan on doing it in 2025.

I’m in New York right now and yesterday we visited the store that inspired this post about the best smelling woman I have ever met. I was half hoping to see her sitting there at the bar when we walked in.

I had a lot of good scent trips to LA this year. JJ and I stumbled on the Acne Studios x Frédéric Malle pop-up at The Grove and we went to what I call the bootleg perfume place that I haven't written about for obvious reasons.

The Interviews

I’m an extrovert who is endlessly curious about people. I love featuring the voices I find unique and interesting in fragrance on Dry Down Diaries. I like that it gives you another point of view and recommendations that aren’t just mine. I interviewed 22 people this year and I plan on doing more of it in 2025.

Some favorite interviews include; founder of Ministry of Scent, Antonia Kohl, the whole fraghead series, David Seth Molz (getting to visit him at D.S. & Durga was a highlight of the year), and Jalil Johnson. But they’re all good!!

The Frags

My favorite purchase this year: Die Hot with a Vengeance
This is self-torture since I loved so many things, and I bought A LOT this year, but if I had to pick just one, which I am making myself do, it would be

Sable Yong

’s Die Hot with a Vengeance. It has a great story, is an original smell, and is just something that I love smelling on my skin. It makes me feel sexy and mysterious and cool. The bottle design is also badass.

Best brand I smelled: Arquiste
Again, it's impossibly hard to choose just one, and I know Arquiste already gets a lot of love, but it’s for good reason. Great story, great noses behind the scents, and every week I feel like I have a new favorite from the line. This month it’s been Indigo Smoke. Also, Carlos Huber came out with a candle inspired by his adorable dog Chorizo called Little Paws and I just can’t with that cuteness. I will be sharing more on what I love from Arquiste in the new year.

Highlight of the year was visiting DSM at D.S. & Durga offices and Danny's party where we did a group smelling of the Maison D'etto discovery set.

Lines I’m excited to go deeper on in 2025: Serge Lutens & Odette Parfum Co.
Serge Lutens was on my radar, I knew that he was one of the original forces behind the birth of niche fragrance, but I never really did a deep dive into his scents. Then I purchased the Collection Noire discovery set last month and was blown away by pretty much every scent in the line (review coming soon!) and I knew I had to dig deeper into his fragrances. I have a bottle of Ambre Sultan on the way.

So many people I follow and respect love Odette and it feels silly that I have never sniffed any of their frags. That will change in 2025!

Jennifer's perfume collection and Jennifer at Scent Bar in LA

Number of discovery sets I have to smell through: 10, 12, 15?
To be honest I stopped counting and I don’t even know why I am including this here other than to shame myself from buying anymore. But I stand by a discovery set being the best way to experience a brand and figure out which ones you like and which types of scents you gravitate towards. Speaking of do you guys like the reviews where I do a whole discovery set? They’re a lot of work but I will do more if you’re into them! I have the discovery sets waiting.

What I want to explore more of in 2025: Perfumers from Chicago
I just keep hearing about good lines coming out of Chicago and I want to go deeper on that—and maybe even visit?

Ministry of Scent in SF, Stele in NY, and Scent Bar in LA were the stores I visited the most this year and are all amazing unique places you should check out.

Big ideas for the new year
An event in SF around fragrance and the DDD community - what do you guys want?!

What I want more of in 2025
More of not getting caught up in trends and feeling an urgent need to buy everything new I see and want to smell. More of taking time to sit with things and smell them and think about them and write about them in meaningful ways. More of getting to know and highlight the people in the industry who are making positive change and doing interesting things. More Bay Area fragrance scene coverage! I live in San Francisco and we have a thriving frag scene in the bay area, I will be covering more of it in 2025.

What do you want more of in 2025? Tell me in the comments.

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Also! If you’re a paying subscriber please fill out this form for a special little gift I’m going to mail you. You can of course upgrade now to get that special little gift too. If you don’t fill out the form I’ll assume you don’t want the special little gift so no hard feelings.

Thank you for being a part of this community! Writing DDD has been a major highlight of 2024 for me and I’m so excited to continue it next year. Thanks for commenting and tapping that heart, and dm’ing me and nerding out about fragrance with me. It’s made my day, my week, and my year.

You’re the best part of all of this. Please continue to tell me what you want more or less of. And if you’re a paying subscriber and I haven’t sent you your perfume recs please email me! I’m kind of the worst about that. Xoxoxox