Perfume Room

New Yorker Staff Writer (and lifelong fraghead!) Rachel Syme is in the Perfume Room this week! Creator of the now-defunct, infamous Perfume Genie Twitter threads, and newsletter-turned-Substack, The Dry Down, Rachel's on the *perfume beat* on and off the clock. Today we chat all about her recent work trip to Paris, where she spent several days with Master Perfumer Francis Kurkdjian and then wrote it about (read below); she shares the contemporary and vintage gems of her personal collection; the perfume hacks that guarantee compliments (and why she avoids them); and most importantly, Rachel discusses how to write about scent! JOIN SMELL CLUB! vanillasmellclub.eventbrite.com FRANCIS KURKDJIAN ARTICLE: https://tinyurl.com/64987c5p FRAGS MENTIONED: H&M Pear, Erbario Toscano Cuore di Pepe Nero, YSL Opium (vintage), Vilhelm Parfum Fleur Burlesque, CdG Series 3: Avignon, Marissa Zappas Honey Rose, Cacharel LouLou, Lancome Tresor, Giorgio, YSL Opium, Paloma Picasso, Van Cleef First, Bijan Bijan, Boucheron, Diptyque: Orpheon, Benjoin Boheme; Molecule 01 + Iris, D.S. & Durga DURGA, PHLUR Vanilla Skin, Hilde Soliani Hot Milk, Clinique Happy Heart, Scout Dixon West, Baccarat Rouge 540, Dior Sauvage Eau Forte, Elie Saab Le Parfum, Papillon Tobacco Rose, Oriza L. Legrand Relique D’Amour, Regime des Fleurs: Nitesurf Neroli, Tears; Parfums MDCI Peche Cardinal, Andy Tauer L'Air du Desert Marocain, Glossier: You, Doux; Papillon Tobacco Rose, Tom Ford Rose de Russie, Marissa Zappas Honey Rose, Diptyque Olene, Indult Tihota, Andrea Maack Coven, CdG Avignon, DS & Durga Burning Barbershop, La Curie Incendo, Vilhelm Mango Skin, Vacation, Bobbi Brown Beach

Finally, a flavorist has entered the Perfume Room! Joan Harvey, Bell Flavors & Fragrances General Manager and R+D Senior Vice President, is this week's guest! Why do certain flavor profiles become gold standards and who are these alleged flavor canons (think: the Chanel No. 5s or Santal 33s of the flavor world)? How is flavor made? How do flavorists train? Did flavorists have anything to do with the rise of gourmand perfumes? Has perfume permeated the flavor world similarly? FIND OUT TODAY! And bonus points if you can guess the one product that is always created in tandem by both a perfumer AND a flavorist. 🤝 SUBSCRIBE: perfumeroom.substack.com FOLLOW PERFUME ROOM: @perfumeroompod

This week, I am helping three special callers on three special perfume quests. ~It's the Perfume Room hotline.~ Want to hear more listener consults? Stick around for part 2, only on Substack, coming out this Friday! SUBSCRIBE: perfumeroom.substack.com FRAGS MENTIONED: Maison d’ETTO Noisette, Binaurale Supersolid, Gabar No, IV Rise (Nolita), Celine Rimbaud, Ex Nihilo Santal Calling, Parle Moi de Parfum Milky Musk, Le Labo Santal 33, BDK Gris Charnel, D’ORSAY Nous Sommes Amants MD, ELdO Remarkable People, Kierin Nitro Noir, Etat Libre D'Orange Afternoon of A Fawn, Serge Lutens De Profundis, Jorum Studio Gorseland, Le Galion Bourrasque, Maison d'ETTO Rotano, Diptyque Tempo 10% off LuckyScent: code 'perfumer00m' 10% off Twisted Lily: code 'perfumeroom10' Follow the Substack and IG (@perfumeroompod) for all Smell Club updates!

Jouissance Parfums is a new niche brand whose fragrances are inspired by erotic texts and the women who penned them. Al fresco sex, sacred submission, and naughty grandmas are just some of the themes explored within the first 3 releases. (And more are on the way!) Founder Cherry Cheng joins me in the Perfume Room this week to discuss her love of erotica, translating these stories into smells, learning to speak the language of perfume, her training under legendary perfumer Antoine Lie, and so much more. SOTD: Tsu Lange Yor Sala (sample gifted) FRAGS MENTIONED: Tsu Lange Yor Sala*, HOAX Die Hot With a Vengeance*, Gucci Rush, Jouissance Le Bague d’O*, Caron Tabac Blanc, Guerlain Mitsouko, Caron Tabac Blond, Victoria’s Secret, Abercrombie & Fitch, Frederic Malle Portrait of a Lady, Mitsouko, Jouissance Les Cahiers Secrets, ELdO Secretions Magnifies, Serge Lutens Muscs Koublai Khan, Jouissance: Les Cahiers Secret, En Plein Air, ELdo Attaquer le Soleil (*=sample or bottle gifted in PR) TRY THE DISCOVERY SET: stele.shop FOLLOW: @jouissanceparfums Check out Cherry on the Substack post-show (Fri!) perfumeroom.substack.com

Indie Perfumer & Founder Matteo Sanchez (creator of Matteo Parfums) is in the Perfume Room this week! Matteo shares the story of how an article he read in a dentist's waiting room changed the entire trajectory of his career (spoiler alert: to perfumery!). We talk about the smells of his multi-cultural childhood, learning perfumery via apprenticeship and independent studies, embracing imperfection in his craft, and of course, his latest perfume launches. FRAGS MENTIONED: Dior Sauvage Eau Forte, Ex Nihilo Santal Calling, Molton Brown Milk Musk, Parle Moi de Parfum Milky Musk, One Day Taipei, CK One, Bijan Bijan, John Varvatos, Le Labo Santal 33, D&G Light Blue, Matteo Parfums: Celadawn, Lovers' Dew FOLLOW MATTEO: @matteoparfums | matteoparfums.com SUBSCRIBE: perfumeroom.substack.com

Jackie Jackie Jackie Jackie, Jackie Jackie Jackie!! OG Beauty & Lifestyle Influencer and FORVR MOOD Co-Founder Jackie Aina is in the Perfume Room this week!!!  With over 10M followers on social media, and a fragrance brand that Sephora can’t keep in stock, Jackie Aina is forvr thriving. Today we chat all things FORVR MOOD (her fragrance and lifestyle brand); Jackie shares stories about personal scents in her life, her content creation journey, tips for staying sane on the Internet, and so much more!  FRAGS MENTIONED: Marc-Antoine Barrois Tilia, Mugler Alien, L’Artisan La Chasse Aux Papillon, Celine Saint-Germaine-des-Pres, La Perla Possibilities, Initio Musk Therapy, Parfums de Marly Valaya, FORVR Mood NDA, Baccarat Rouge 540, FORVR MOOD I Am Her, Marc Jacobs Daisy, FORVR MOOD Caked Up FOLLOW JACKIE: @jackieaina (everywhere) @lavishlyjackie SHOP FORVR MOOD: forvrmood.com | sephora.com 10% off TWISTEDLILY.COM: code 'perfumeroom10' SUBSCRIBE TO THE PERFUME ROOM SUBSTACK! perfumeroom.substack.com

US Men's Gymanstics MEDALLED OLYMPIAN Asher Hong is in the Perfume Room this week!! Surely by now you've seen the viral clip of Asher getting interviewed at the Olympics where he smells the interviewers neck and correctly identifies the fragrance he's wearing [Givenchy Gentleman]. Asher, in addition to being a medalled olympian, is a full-time student at Stanford, NCAA athlete, and you guessed it: FRAGHEAD! Today we chat all things olympics - the team, Olympic Village, Paris perfume shopping, scents he packed to compete, and the other vault he holds most dear: his perfume vault :) FRAGS MENTIONED: Profumum Roma Freccia 1921, Givenchy Gentleman, Club de Nuit Icon, Bleu de Chanel, Guerlain L’Homme Ideal, YSL Y, PdM Greenley (dupe), Sospiro Vibrato (dupe), Acqua di Parma Fico Di Amalfi, PdM Sedley (dupe), Dumont Paris Nitro Red, Mancera Instant Crush, Baccarat Rouge 540, PdM Delina, Bleu de Chanel, Dior Sauvage, YSL Y, Mancera Cedrat Boise, Davidoff Coolwater, CK Obsession, Dior Homme Intense, Guerlain L’Homme Ideal, Initio: Oud for Greatness, Side Effect, Psychedelic Love; Tiziana Terenzi Laudano Nero, YSL Babycat, Ombre Leather, Tom Ford Ombre Nomad, Acqua di Gio, pumpkin spice latte candles FOLLOW: @asher_hong04 (IG) | @ashhong04 (TT)

What do the Royal Family, Jude Law, Cindy Crawford, and Machine Gun Kelly all share in common? Their perfumer, Azzi Glasser. Azzi, Founder of The Perfumer's Story, is not just a perfumer to the stars; she also perfumes the characters they play on screen. For Jude Law, she created his vetiver-forward signature scent; for his role as King Henry VIII, she created one that smelled like pus. And blood. And shit. Move over Stanislavski. The Glasser Method has arrived. FRAGS MENTIONED: Perris Montecarlo Cacao Azteque, Atelier Cologne Jasmin Angelique, Serge Lutens Santal Majascule, L'Artisan Passage D’Enfer, Agent Provocateur, Issey Miyake, Coco Mademoiselle, Michael Kors, The Perfumer's Story: Sequoia Wood, Mr. Vetivert; Guerlain Vetiver, TPS: Amber Molecule, Rain on Earth; Dior Poison, Giorgio, YSL Jazz, CK Obsession, Cacharel: Anais, LouLou; Worth, Lentheric Tweed, Perfumer's Story C, YSL Opium, Escentric Molecules, Issey Miyake for Men, TPS: Build and Destroy, Rain on Earth, Fig Ambrette, Black Moss, Twisted Iris, Grey Myrrh SHOP: theperfumersstory.com FOLLOW: @theperfumersstory SUBSCRIBE: to the Perfume Room substack to catch the official post show, every Friday!

Vanilla is not a gourmand, perfume is not a commodity, and fragrance is not a vertical construction. This and more with visual artist-turned-perfumer (and founder of beloved niche brand, Fzotic) Bruno Fazzolari. FRAGS MENTIONED: Phlur Heavy Cream, Hilde Soliani, Chabaud, DSH, Giardini di Toscano Bianco Latte, Liquides Imaginaires Blanche Bete, Pierre Guillaume Corps et Ames, Dior Fahrenheit (original), Clinique: Aromatics Elixir, Happy; Dior Eau Sauvage, Fzotic Au Dela Narcisse, BR 540, Estée Lauder Youth Dew, Dior Diorissimo, Santal 33, Fzotic Lampblack, Comme des Garçons Odeur 53, Fzotic: Five, Five Squared; 4711, Fzotic: Monserrat, Room 237, Corpse Reviver, Toasted Lilac soap; Hermes Caleche, Jacques Fath Ellipse, Chanel No. 5, Fzotic Soft Focus FOLLOW: @fzotic || fzotic.com 10% OFF any LUCKYSCENT FZOTIC ORDER with code: perfumer00m SUBSCRIBE TO THE PERFUME ROOM SUBSTACK

She wrote the song of the summer... and she perfumed it for ya, too! Songwriter (and fraghead!) Steph Jones is in the Perfume Room this week! We discuss the role niche fragrance plays in her songwriting ritual; manifesting smash hits via perfume; scenting sessions, songs, and artists; and why we need to let celebrities gatekeep!! FRAGS MENTIONED: Dusita Pelagos, Neandertal Them, Escentric Molecules Molecule 01 + Iris, Indult Tihota, Celine Black Tie, Le Labo Santal 33, Essential Parfums Bois Impérial, EM Molecule 01, Essential Parfums Fig Infusion, Ex Nihilo: Santal Calling, Fleur Narcotique; Marc-Antoine Barrois B683, Versatile Culot Thé, Maison Crivelli Hibiscus MahaJad, Oriza L. Legrand Déjà Le Printemps, Gap Grass, Clinique Aromatics Elixir, Elizabeth Arden Sunflowers, Victoria’s Secret Love Spell, patchouli oil, Hilde Soliani Orgasmo, Universal Flowering Daddy, Le Labo Santal 33, Indult Tihota, Liis Bo, Liquides Imaginaires Blanche Bete, Nishane Afrika-Olifant, Diptyque Orphéon, Byredo Gypsy Water, Abdes Salaam Attars Oud Caravan No. 3, La Danza Delle Libellule, Rogue Perfumery Jasmin Antique, Dusita Pelagos, Robert Piguet Bandit, Diptyque Fleur de Peau, Ex Nihilo Venenum Kiss , Costume National Om, Penhaligon’s Opus 1870, J. Lo Glow, Taylor Swift, Marc Jacobs Daisy, Initio Atomic Rose FOLLOW: @iamstephjones SONGS BY STEPH JONES: https://shorturl.at/200lz THE SWAP (this Thurs!): summerswap.eventbrite.com