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;...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

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...

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...

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,...

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...

It's the perfume podcast crossover you've been waiting for! Today, I am joined by Smell Ya Later Co-Hosts Sable Yong and Tynan Sinks! What has vanilla done for you lately, why skin scents are fake news, should you get a salmon facial, and Die Hot With a Vengeance—the book AND perfume(!) created by Sable, all in this week's episode! FRAGS MENTIONED: Atelier Des Ors: Chouer des Anges, Blue Madeleine, Villa Primerose; Christan Dior Bois D’Argent, Vilhelm Sparkling Jo, Akro Ink, Dedcool Xtra...

SCROLL FOR SPECIAL PERFUME ROOM DISCOUNT! Bayly Ledes, President of Fashion Fragrances & Cosmetics, which owns Robert Piguet Parfums, is in the the Perfume Room this week! Bayly and I discuss the making of Fracas and speculate as to why it was and has remained so seminal; she shares insider stories of Robert Piguet and of Germaine Cellier and her task and privilege of preserving their legacy; you'll learn about her late father, Beauty Publisher and Titan of the Industry, John Ledes. And...

Clue Perfumery Perfumer & Co-Founder Laura Oberwetter is in the Perfume Room this week! In 2021, Laura DMed me asking if I knew of any good perfumery resources. Cut to 2024; she's launched her own brand, created 4 scents, and has already been nominated for an IAO Award. Today we discuss how she did it, where she seeks inspiration, and the importance of cross-modal translation and intentionality in all of her creations. Plus, the best-smelling mascara. AND OF COURSE, we discuss the...

A PERFECT new niche perfume store has just opened in Williamsburg. It's called Stéle, and today, I'm joined by its Co-Founders Jake Levy and Matt Belanger. Despite the fact that this store has some of the most obscure and deeply niche fragrances I've come across, neither Matt nor Jake come from fragrance backgrounds! Hear how and why they created Stéle and all the great perfumes they've discovered (and stocked) along the way. Watch the full length video of this episode on Substack. FRAGS...

I've been banking so many things we need to discuss for this episode! SO HERE THEY ARE: my fave fragrant Portugal discoveries, the Givaudan Haute Parfumerie event, Firmenich Mind Nose + Matter, perfume's newest consumer segment: teenage boys(!), June Smell Club, the TFF awards, and 5 recent PR standouts! PS: we're on Substack now! Subscribe for bonus and extended Perfume Room content! FRAGS MENTIONED: Ex Nihilo Santal Calling, Le Labo The Noir 29, Parle Moi de Parfum Milky Musk, Le Labo...

This week, we’re looking back on a 2021 Perfume Room Gem. Enjoy this special re-air with Musician and fellow fragrance lover Sasha Spielberg (AKA Buzzy Lee)! We chat everything from Fragrantica reviews (spoiler alert: we reveal our aliases), to Sasha’s strict fragrance rule, the layering combo that earned her compliments in the times of triple-masking, and so much more!  FRAGS MENTIONED: 1509 Oil Matthias, Essential Faith, Riddle Oil,  Rosie by/ Rosie Jane, Ambre Blends, Kuumba Persian...

Longtime Perfume Room friends Cathleen Cardinali and Anthony Policino, aka the duo behind Thin Wild Mercury, are back in the Perfume Room this week! From episode 1 to 140, so much has changed! This week we're chatting NYC, fantasy accords, scenting history, and of course the new Thin Wild Mercury New York collection! FRAGS MENTIONED: Amphora Parfum: Primal Yell, Sublimate; Hilde Soliani Fraaagola Saalaaata, Giardini di Toscano Celeste, Sora Dora Mallow, Thin Wild Mercury Chelsea Staircase,...

The New Savant Co-Founders Ingrid Nilsen and Erica Anderson join me in the Perfume Room this week! The New Savant is a queer, women-owned, candle brand with handmade, small-batch candles, inspired by unique personal stories, and scented by top industry perfumers. Erica (a Fortune’s 40 Under 40) was Twitter News employee number one, and Ingrid (a Streamy Awards recipient and former Covergirl) was influencer number one! Prior to TNS, she was a YouTube Beauty/Lifestyle YouTube creator with 6+...

Today’s episode is a masterclass! Fragrance legend, author, historian, taxonomist and Perfume Room fan-favorite Michael Edwards is back (!!), this time to chat about his newest book, “American Legends: The Evolution of American Fragrances.” What makes a perfume *American* in style and who are the quintessential American perfumes? What makes them legendary? What did they inspire? What does the future of perfumery look like? All that & more in this week's ep! FRAGS MENTIONED: Infiniment...

Romano Ricci—Juliette Has a Gun Founder, great-grandson of Nina Ricci, and Co-Founder of Nose Paris—joins me in the Perfume Room this week! We discuss everything from rebelling against the fam biz, reimagining it, what gender in fragrance means to him, the idea behind Nose Paris, and why fragrance pyramids are a thing of the past. Plus, I live-smell the newest Juliette Has a Gun launch, Juliette! SOTD/review: Fueguia Ett Hem FRAGS MENTIONED: Fueguia Ett Hem, D'ORSAY Nous Sommes Amants MD,...

*canon episode alert* Back in March, I sat down with legendary Givaudan VP Perfumer (and incredible storyteller!), Rodrigo-Flores Roux, to record a very special live-audience episode. This week, enjoy a condensed version of that conversation! Rodrigo shares his earliest scent memories and wins (the latter will shock (& delight) you), where he sources inspiration, the *Rodrigo flair* you might feel across all his creations, his most beloved vintages, and so many fun insider stories you...

LuckyScent’s Steven Gontarski and Dana Buchanan are in the Perfume Room today talking hidden gems of LuckyScent, how to intuit what a client actually wants (versus what they say they want), and a retail phenomenon they refer to as 'perfume trigger words.' We of course also discuss their personal wardrobes/collections including their desert island scents, what's new and exciting them most right now, and why we need to redefine the criteria of what makes a fragrance “GOOD.” FRAGS...

Givaudan Perfumer Christine Hassan is in the Perfume Room today! We discuss her unconventional and holistic path towards becoming a perfumer, perfumery across cultures, her own special scent rituals, and a benzaldehyde spill in her high school chemistry class that changed EVERYTHING. FRAGS MENTIONED: Zoologist Rabbit, Oriza L. Legrand Chypre Mousse, Florence by Mills Wildly Me, Tory Burch Electric Sky, Boy Smells Hinoki Fantome, Anna Sui Mellow Yellow, Guess Bella Vita, Tom Ford Vanilla...

Esxence is an annual Milan-based niche fragrance convention that boasts the title of world's largest perfumery trade show! Content Creator Valerie March, AKA @thenichesampler — a longtime friend of the pod AND 3rd year attendee of Esxence — is in the Perfume Room this week recapping her recent experience and sharing everything from perfumes [from Esxence] we need to know, to unspoken ecosystems and structures of the expo, hot takes, trends, and key takeaways! Plus a possible theory on the...