this blog has a smell
I’m not a big retail therapy girl but every time I hit a major milestone or a big cause for celebration I like to buy myself perfume. A little bottle of luxury that lasts me a very long time and brings me joy on a daily basis.
I like the intimacy that comes with wearing perfume. I love walking down the street and catching a whiff of a beautiful perfume on a stranger. It’s like an extra secret layer to their otherwise hidden personality - what scents do they love? What emotions do they evoke? Why did they pick that smell to reveal to the world? I’ve always found that perfume is a good way to lightly gauge someone’s personality, even more than the clothes they wear and sometimes even more than the things they say.
I think there’s plenty of people who wear perfume every day (like myself), but I think it’s sweet that you often can’t smell it until you’re very close to a person. You’re stopped for a chat together, or you’re flattened against each other in an elevator, or you’re leaning over to grab your coffee from the bar. A window into someone else’s life, even if brief.
I think fragrances, even more so than makeup & clothing, tend to be one of the things that the average person will consume on the basis of its brand recognition and popularity. I think I’ve smelled Marc Jacob’s Daisy on just about every other woman under 20. Older ladies love fragrances from Jo Malone. Sometimes, if you find yourself a good deal at a duty-free shop, you’re probably liable to pick up a Gucci or Chanel perfume. Part of the reliance on well trusted brands is because perfume is an investment. Sometimes it’s hundreds of dollars for a bottle. Why be adventurous if you’re going to hate it? Why risk ordering something online just to find its scent revolting after a few wears? It’s a shame that the barrier to entry for fun perfume is so high, when it’s one of the coolest ways to get to know a person.
I think because of the reliability of big brands, so many people tend to pick smells that all seem to be relatively similar - I find this to be especially true of men, who are often doomed to pick “masculine” scents (aside - I refuse to believe that a scent can be ‘masculine’ or ‘feminine’, what a dumb thing to gender. it’s a SMELL). Every man in the elevator at work with me tends to smell somewhat the same, something peppery, woody, with a tinge of rubbing alcohol. It’s not bad per-say, but it’s homogeneous. I can’t distinguish one man from another on the basis of smell. With women, who often wear a wider variety of fragrances, I can only think of a few times in my life I’ve smelled a truly unique smell that I enjoyed. Certainly not an everyday occurrence. But when you smell something unique, something that perfectly calls to your memory, your heart and your nostrils, it’s a head-turning, heart-pounding experience. I’m dying to ask - what is that perfume??
My recent attempt to refill my perfumes as a little gift to myself was thwarted by someone who asked that very question. (Know that from here on I’m going to tell you about some of my favourite perfumes. This is a very vulnerable thing for me. I’m giving away all my secrets! A level of intimacy I haven’t yet reached on this very public blog. Hold my hand as I go.) A few weeks ago I went to buy Girl of the Year by Thin Wild Mercury. It’s this smaller American brand that I found a few years ago when I was still on social media. I split a tester pack with my friends TD and Hannah, and immediately fell in love. When I visited their website to place my new order (biting my tongue in anticipation at the new tariffs I was going to have to pay), I found the web page empty. There was no option to order, and not even a notice of when it would be in stock. I had to do a little digging. After visiting Instagram from my browser I found out that Miss Legendary It-Girl Chappell Roan had recently reactivated her Instagram to admire a perfume she smelt in public and to try and ID it through her followers. And just like that - my favourite ‘indie’ perfume got a quarter of a million orders overnight, completely obliterating this small batch business. So I’m SOL for a bit. I’m clinging to the last drops in my sample for very very special occasions.
This very silly problem made me quite bitter for a few days. That was my perfume, smelling of lipstick and leather and smoke. The whole situation is quite indicative of a phenomena that I’ve never been able to understand - buying things because a celebrity/influencer told you to. Where did all the original people go? Isn’t the thrill of the hunt for things to make ‘your own’ enticing? Why choose things prescribed for you by people you don’t know? I’m selfish and pretentious in my own way, I know this. But I do wish that if more people felt comfortable with their own original stylings and preferences (instead of inhaling other peoples), then maybe I would have a full bottle of my favourite perfume sitting on my vanity right now. Please leave some Girl of the Year for the rest of us!!!!
I am playing around trying to find some dupes but maybe this is a sign to step it up and try some new things. It is hard to move away from something that feels so personal though. Having worn this perfume for some pretty magical moments it immediately evokes good memories. Why give it up if I don’t have to? Maybe the written word will give you an idea of what it’s like:
Top Notes: Lipstick, Incense
Middle note: Smoker’s Leather Jacket
Base Notes: Sandalwood, Orris Root, Vintage Fur
This is the type of perfume you wear to your friend’s gallery opening. To a weird book club. The smell of a vintage car with a girl who’s just gotten her hair done. It’s perfect and I love it. I just audibly sighed. Come back to me… Girl of the Year…
My other favourite perfumes may reveal another layer to me...
Thin Wild Mercury’s got another one called Laurel Canyon, 1966. It’s got:
Top Notes: Sweet Orange, Herbal Terpenes, Grapefruit
Middle Notes: Italian Cannabis, Petitgrain, Clove, Jasmine Sambac
Base Notes: Ambergris, Birch Tar, Patchouli
If Girl of the Year is the special event, fancy yet ingenue perfume, Laurel Canyon is her casual sister. This is my everyday perfume, especially in the summer. It feels like having the windows open while the sun sets. Like having plans with your friends later, with no set end time. Like reading a book and having it take you away. If I had only one perfume to wear for the rest of my life, I would die happy with this one. Please imagine this one when you read my blog, at least in the summer.
For a winter everyday perfume, just this year I picked up Glossier’s You (Rêve).
Top Note: Buttercream Middle Notes: Almond, Plum, Iris, Sandalwood Base Notes: Ambrette, Ambroxan
It’s a light one but not too complex. It’s not ridiculously interesting - in fact it’s meant to be worn with other scents. I’m ever a nostalgic though. Years ago, an old roommate of mine was a fanatic of the original You by Glossier. That smell is so deeply associated with her in my memory that despite loving the scent I could never claim it. It was hers. The Rêve version is a bit deeper. Like waking up to bake croissants at three in the morning. Like having a spiced tea after a day in the snow. It’s different than the original, but with just enough there to make me think of a different time, a different place, and different people. Younger. Freer. Alive despite it all.
And last up - a new scent I’m indulging in this summer. In my quest to replace Girl of the Year I found Barre. A Canadian indie perfumer based in rural Nova Scotia. I picked up Outlaw from this perfumer.
Notes: cedarwood, tobacco, leather, honeysuckle, grass, cowboy coffee
It’s - perfect. Older, maybe. It somehow feels like right where I’m at in life. From the office to the park to the trails, it’s adaptable to everything. It’s ready for adventure. I’m sitting with it a bit longer before pulling the trigger on a full bottle. But somehow it feels like sitting under the starry night with your best friend, nothing to worry about but your next drink. And maybe you’re wearing a cowboy hat.
There - so now you can read into that and make some judgements about me as a person. There’s one beauty secret I’ll keep to myself though, one extra thing I layer with each and every perfume that keeps it different. Some things should stay hidden.
love n hugs,
sam
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C’est tout pour maintenant! If you have a perfume rec to send my way/if you have a perfume you wanna chat about you should totally email me. I love all you fragrance-heads. In the internet space, I can’t smell you, even if I want to. And I want to.
P.S. I have been LOVING this internet roadtrip thing - it’s a crowdsourced google maps road trip that anyone can participate in. Right now they’re scooting around Nova Scotia. You should check it out. Maybe you’ll drive right past that perfumer I love.