Lancome's child labor, Pistachio 💚, & Sperm Whales in Perfumery
PLUS ARE YOU OR ARE YOU NOT A WHITE FLORAL HOE?
Hello friends! This is Nadia 🙂 I hope everyone is smelling delicious today.
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q of the day: are you a white floral hoe, or a sandalwood hoe?
SOTD: Bourbon Street by Hez Parfums, with a side of Pistachio by D.S. & Durga on the wrists to sniff all day. (Thoughts further down).
‘FUME NEWS & THANGS TO DO IN JUNE
Something stinks: BBC did an investigation into Lancome and Aerin’s supply chains that are breaking child labor laws in Egypt for the jasmine they are putting in their perfumes. WTF—some of these families (including children aged 5-15) are getting paid less than $2 for 12-work hour days!!!
Mona Kattan is meeting fragheads in NYC today for the launch of Kayali’s latest Vanilla Candy Rock Sugar <3
The Fragrance Foundation is having their annual 2024 awards tomorrow, June 5th at the Lincoln Center. Too bad we’re not cool enough to go—is this the Met Gala of fragrance?
David from D.S. & Durga is having a very *interesting* conversation about sperm whales and perfumery with a scientist on Thursday, June 6th from 6pm-8pm. Email them here to reserve seats.
The MET Cloisters are having their annual garden festival with an olfactory twist this Saturday, June 8th exploring the smells of medieval herbs and plants.
Maxaroma is having a fragrance master class guided by the founder of Mes Bisous on June 20th at the Scent House in Soho that sounds super fun.
Olfactory Art Keller has new exhibits on scent art and workshops for June.
Fragrance Alliance Network has some amazing virtual and in-person classes on perfume history and more.
FREE non-alcoholic tastings all month at Spirited Away on Mott St. I’m in loooove with tea-based ‘champagne’ by SemiPlume (FYI it’s sold out).
We’re all about multi-sensory here. Have you took this survey for a 20% discount on the upcoming Perfume + Tea Walking Tour?!
I recently visited Fragrance Shop in East Village this past weekend and had such a great chat with new owner, Claire, on taking over the custom fragrance making apothecary lab that has been around for 31 years(!!!) Interview to come. HIGHLY encourage you to visit and stop to sniff at this small business, and maybe blend your own concoction.
I’M STAYING NOSEY WITH THESE READS:
This review by Minxstinks of SNIF’s SLICE SOCIETY. It’s supposed to smell like a slice of pizza. 🍕 YUM or UMM...?
Thank you to
on curating this much-needed Index of Perfume Substacks.Looks like Sephora’s 12-year-old gworls have competition. Some teenage boys are ditching Axe sprays and purchasing $300 colognes, according to this hilarious New York Times article. I need to know: where do these boys get this money from?!
Loving this list of home scents also by The Dry Down Diaries 💅
Writers on Substack are coming together raise funds and support for the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF) thank you to
. <333333
BOURBON+PISTACHIO=💚
Obsessed is an understatement with Bourbon Street. While I’ve never been to New Orleans, I can only *hope* this is what Bourbon St. smells like (I’ve heard it doesn’t). I purchased this directly from the founder/perfumer of Hez Parfums at a fragrance event in NYC, and SO glad I did. I’m not a crazy Gourmand person, but gosh this is delicious and perfect for the cold and the heat. I feel like I just walked into a speakeasy in the French Quarter, with fumes of tobacco, tonka, and cinnamon in the air. While it has no caramel in it—I can’t help but feel it’s warmed by a creamy, boozy caramel that feels cozy, sexy, and tasty.
Pistachio by D.S. & Durga is a scent that I’ve grown to love. While I am enjoying the *nut* boom in the gourmand category, I have not been impressed by many pistachios so far; I feel like a lot have been underwhelming, and pistachio is NOT a flavor that should ever been underwhelming. It’s definitely in what I like to call the “royal nut” category; how dare you think it can ever be disenchanting or under the radar? No, that flavor and note needs to be appreciated, warmed, catered, and blended the same standards that we hold that green nut. I guess this bias may also have to do with my background/culture; people from the East do consider pistachios to be royalty, as they are expensive, beautiful, and sparingly used, reserved only for the most exquisite dishes.
However—D.S. & Durga surprised me. At first, I chalked it up to “underwhelming” when I sniffed it for the first time at their Mulberry St. shop in NYC, but weeks later, I realized I already had a bigger sample from Scentbird at home. After a couple sprays on my wrist, something changed. This is why it’s so very important to not only spray on a blotter, but also on your own body when contemplating on purchasing a perfume; chemistry makes all the difference. I do love Frangipane Al Pistacchio by Kyse Perfumes as it reminds me of pistachio kulfi, but once I wore it, the dry down was more almond-y than the sharp saffron-y, creamy pistachio I smelled from the bottle. Pistachio by D.S. is sophisticated and elegant and for a brief moment, you might think minimalist, but it’s not. It’s not overly sweet or creamy, but loud enough because it is all pistachio: top, middle, and base. It’s completely and truly pistachio—and after all, that’s what we want—a celebration of this gorgeous nut.
There’s so much more, but it’s all I got for Tuesday, friends…
x
N
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Such a good roundup of links. Bookmarked so many. And thanks for including links to me! <3