My life may be steeped in fragrance, but I’m not fully entrenched in the indie perfume scene yet, regrettably. I’m enamored by independent houses and have a sizeable personal collection dedicated to them, but much of my work is vested in the niche-luxury to luxury designer space. Being unaware of Scent Week here in Los Angeles was merely an inadvertent byproduct of my focus—not for lack of interest. In fact, I might’ve missed the Scent Fair L.A. altogether if not for a coffee stroll past the Craft Contemporary. It was pure happenstance: a new exhibit combining the visual and olfactory senses, coupled with a little perfume bazaar of indie brands around the world? I couldn’t dream up a more perfect Saturday afternoon.
I recognized most of the stalls purely from past research and even met Cherry Cheng, the founder of Jouissance (Les Cahiers Secrets is a favorite that I’ve written about for Editoralist). All others I was thrilled to finally explore in person, including: PerfumeTok darling Pearfat Parfum; the beloved, musically-inclined Zernell Gillie; peerlessly cheeky KST Scent; Canadian house Paraphrase (formerly known as Libertine); poignant Jazmin Saraï; and winner of this year’s Art & Olfaction Awards in the independent category, Tale Parfum. Naturally—in the name of beauty journalism!—I couldn’t resist picking up a few fragrances for the growing perfume library:
- Jouissance La Bague d’O, a beautiful vintage floral with bite—like a bouquet bookended with petals pressed between pink pepper and primal musk.
- Zernell Gillie Jazz, which I can’t wait to wear on cooler summer nights or autumn evenings, especially when I’m back in New York. It’s honeyed tobacco, smooth cocoa, a bourbon, neat; a perfume to be worn with slinky dresses or a really good suit.
- Tale Fleurt, a perfume for the soubrette in summer. Sexy, flirtatious, and decidedly so. It could be narcotic with the right outfit and a dose of self-assuredness. (If I were shopping for my personal fragrance wardrobe, I would’ve picked up Water Me. It’s soul-quenching—a grown-up version of another favorite, D.S. & Durga Steamed Rainbow.)
- KST Scent Tambae (easy, effortless, a hint of tea—very much for the intelligentsia who once loved Le Labo but craves something singular); and two from their Pride collection, launching soon. I don’t care for “divine feminine” propaganda being wielded as new-age feminism, but if the concept were untainted by alt-right ideology, Kissa Kitty and BPussy Power embody it.
- Bleu Nour Neon Violette, a vibrant love story to the parma violet. Not vintage, but an homage reimagined by the bona fide Gen Z cool girl. (To be ordered soon; they were out of inventory by noon.)
- Pearfat Bread and Roses (it lives up to its name beautifully) and I Broke My Own Heart (which captures the full-body feeling of writing in a composition notebook—your diary—as a teen girl with big dreams, but only after swiping on a thick layer of chocolate-flavored Smackers).
. . .
xx
Your turn. Thoughts?