May Perfume Events, Armpit Ads, & Smelling Design
+ a $3k candle warmer ._.
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Hi friends, it’s Nadia! Today’s newsletter covers upcoming May events & lots of fun perfume news. I swear I spotted Ben Gorham in the streets of Nolita last week, and if I had known he would releasing a $3,300 candle warmer, I would have absolutely chased him (or his doppelgänger) down said streets and had words.
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UPCOMING THIS WEEK/END (4/25—4/30)
Amphora Parfum Honeycakes Launch at Stéle (Nolita - 4/25)
Spring Picnic: Y-Dimension (4/26)
Avenue Vintage Market (4/26)
Red Fruits Smell Club with Emma Vernon (4/27, 4/30)
Scent Lending Library, an immersive installation at Olfactory Art Keller that invites you to explore scent like books in a library.
UPCOMING MAY SCENT EVENTS
Made in NYC Week (5/1 — 5/9)
Celebrate the makers shaping the soul of the city. This annual series shines a spotlight on the talent, creativity, and craftsmanship driving NYC’s vibrant manufacturing scene. From pop-ups to workshops, explore the full lineup of events here!Smell Ya Later Scent Swap – Brooklyn (5/7)
Spring Lecture by American Society of Perfumers – Montclair, NJ (5/7)
Custom perfume-making for dog moms (5/9)
SCENT WEEK (LOS ANGELES) & IAO ONLINE
Scent Fair LA returns May 30–June 1, 2025 at folk art museum Craft Contemporary as part of Scent Week Los Angeles—a vibrant celebration of global, indie, and experimental perfumery. Produced by the Institute for Art and Olfaction and Darin Klein & Friends, this hybrid fragrance fest-meets-art fair features conceptual scent makers, hands-on workshops, parties, and more.
📅👃🏽 The Complete Scent Week LA Itinerary (5/24 — 6/1)
IAO Online:
Eleven Week Perfume Materials Course - Online, IAO (5/6-7/22)
Tuberose Perfume Accords - Online (5/15)
Fig Perfume Accords - Online (5/22)
NEWS & NOTES
Billie just dropped a wild new campaign in NYC: scratch-and-sniff armpits on the street. Yes, you can literally sniff Coco Villa deodorant on a billboard—but does it mask the chaotic beauty that is the scent of New York City?
Premiering at Tribeca next month, Fior di Latte follows a perfume-huffing playwright chasing memories as he spirals out of control (sounds like someone we all know?)
Stéle dropped 115 perfumes (!!) as part of a new in-store and online collection—featuring a tidal wave of indie brands from across the globe. Highly recommend walking into their Nolita shop and sniffing your way through gems like Siam1928, Voyager, Toskovat, CLST Perfumes, Agar Olfactory, Vyrao, and more.
Sol de Janeiro becomes Coachella’s first-ever official fragrance partner—because what’s more festival-core than smelling like sunshine and salted caramel? At the heart of the collab was Casa Cheirosa, a 30×30-foot sensory playground: a vibrant oasis where festival-goers could cool off, get spritzed, and soak up the festival. Guests journeyed through six immersive zones that celebrated each scent, featuring interactive layering rituals, personalized perfume moments, and a spotlight on the iconic Cheirosa 62.
Interesting read on how beauty (and fragrance) brands are leaning into food for a full-on multi-sensory marketing moment.
Ripple+ Home taps further into the scent scene with its new reed diffuser collection: six aromas designed for chic city dwellers.
A slice of nostalgia you can light—this limited-edition Prinsesstårta candle from Flamingo Estate blends marzipan, lemon sponge, and musky amber in a sweet tribute to mothers (and cake!) … Imagine this AND Almond Suede?
Byredo just dropped Infra Luna 2.0 (who else missed 1.0?) — a candle-warming lamp that doubles as a high-design object and runs a cool $3,300. Designed with Benoit Lalloz, this halogen-heated sculpture melts your favorite Byredo candle. Inspired by insect hues and first seen at Matter and Shape in Paris, it’s now part of the Byredo Byproduct line.
Can You Smell Design? (Apparently, Yes.) Design doesn’t just package scent, it prepares you for it. In this dreamy deep-dive by It’s Nice That, brands like D.S. & Durga, Clue, Oddity, and Ormaie show how visual identity, art direction, and even typefaces can evoke a scent before you smell it. Through surreal imagery, storytelling symbols, and sensory-coded caps, design becomes a bridge between the seen and the smelled. The takeaway? You can’t see scent, but with the right visuals, you might just feel like you can.
Speaking of design… Boy Smells recently unveiled a major rebrand, dramatically altering its copy and visual identity—trading in the brand’s original queer-forward messaging for a sleeker, Gen Z-oriented look. Daisy Alioto, of Dirt didn’t hold back: “The Temufication of an already Targetified indie brand. Little pearlescent ELF bars for TikTok influencers to click their nails against.” Ouch.
According to Puck, the Boy Smells 2.0 overhaul was driven by pressure to reverse declining sales and championed by Sephora—effectively making the indie brand a Sephora “pet project.” But as The Cut notes, many longtime fans are uneasy: the new packaging and sugary scent names feel like a step away from the brand’s inclusive, “genderful” roots, with concern over the quiet scrubbing of its once-bold queer-coded messaging. Boy Smells maintains it’s still queer-owned and says the rebrand led to its best sales week in four years—but the response underscores the deeper tension between mass appeal and staying rooted in community. I have not smelled enough Boy Smells to form a cohesive opinion, but as everything else—nothing good lasts forever.
That’s all for today, friends! Have a lovely, sunny, scented weekend!
x
Nadia
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