Scent Stories

Björk and Berries the Signature & Artisan Collections   Wow. These discovery sets were such a surprise. I don’t even remember how I first came across Björk and Berries — most likely a targeted moment on my FYP — but however it happened, I’m grateful it found me. I purchased both exploration sets — the Signature Collection and the Artisan Collection — and each one felt like a quiet, beautiful journey into northern Sweden: its culture, its landscapes, and its deeply rooted co

Sometimes you’re drawn to something simply because it feels familiar. That’s exactly how I found Fleurit Parfums. The introduction came through an Instagram account I follow — The Drydown, San Diego’s first and only niche/indie fragrance boutique. San Diego was home for many years, so seeing this little shop — one I’d never actually stepped into — stirred something familiar in me. The way places and memories do.

Los Angeles has my heart — it always will. I went to undergrad there and, in many ways, grew up on the streets of Hollywood. Some of the best and  worst moments of my life unfolded in the City of Angels, so when I see a fragrance house emerge from LA, you know I’m diving in nose-first. I first learned about Octavia Morgan Los Angeles from a fellow fragrance lover, @mrcologne76 , who posted about the brand in late December. The aesthetic immediately caught my eye: clean, clear

Similarly to my blog on the first collection (Soulmate), I took the creative liberty of creating a Fragrance Legend to help convey how the fragrances behaved and felt to me — the energy they gave off, not necessarily their technical chess correctness.   This second discovery, the Artisan Collection, continues Mind Games’ exploration of chess through fragrance—this time with more intensity, tension, and heat.

Full disclosure: I am not a chess player. My son is. And through him, I’ve come to appreciate the artistry of the game, the choreography of the mind, the tradition, the patience, the quiet intensity. It’s almost a dance. And Mind Games honors that spirit beautifully.

Matière Première  translates to “raw material” — and that philosophy is the backbone of this French fragrance house. Each perfume is built around one central ingredient, pushed to a deliberately high dosage. Nothing diluted. Nothing decorative. Just the ingredient, fully expressed. The brand is also known for its strong sillage and impressive use of naturals: most compositions contain 85–92% natural ingredients. For context, many mainstream fragrances contain closer to 20% na

A love letter to citrus, memory, and my newest fragrance obsession: Lavanila. Grapefruit season is upon us. When we think of citrus fruits, most of us picture warm breezes, summer sun, maybe even the Southern orchards where citrus thrives. But the truth? Grapefruit is a winter fruit — arriving quietly just as the temperatures drop, the snow settles, and the days turn inward. And Lavanila’s Vanilla Grapefruit feels like the perfect olfactory companion for this season — crisp,

Some perfumes introduce themselves politely. Others not so much. Cuir Tassili walks in with a presence — half leather jacket, half lace slip — and somehow both feel right. I’ve been completely obsessed with this fragrance lately. It’s marketed as unisex. But it’s also deeply contradictory. Some days it leans into its structured, leathery edges. Other days it opens into sweetness and softness. It shape-shifts as my body moves throughout the day. Every time I wear it, I hear S

A creamy iris chai for the season—and for the soul. Sometimes fragrance pairings feel accidental. Others feel intuitive. And then there are the rare combinations that feel…  meant to be . I don’t know why I reached for these two particular fragrances, but I’m glad it did.  That’s what happened when I started layering  Jovoy Remember Me  with  Houbigant Iris des Champs . On their own, they’re beautiful. Together, they’re something deeper—almost like the name and the note found

Seven Iris Scents, One Grief Journey, and the Quiet Ways Scent Keeps Us Connected I’ve been spending time with iris again—the flower, the note, and the man who unexpectedly led me to it.

These days I am feeling rather vanilla, in fragrance and in mood. There’s a quietness to me lately — a soft, muted version of myself. I’ve been calling it feeling very vanilla.  Not boring, not bland… just simple. Quiet and subdued. The fragrance equivalent of sitting in your own silence. It’s that feeling when your routines become pared down to the essentials, when “good enough” becomes the goal, when your mind doesn’t want fireworks, it wants familiarity. I guess I have van

The scent that met me where memory and modernity collide. It’s everything I needed it to be. My Karkey, The Duchess A few weeks ago I walked into the department store the other day fully prepared to buy Guerlain’s iconic Shalimar . My grandmother’s signature scent. A fragrance woven into some of my earliest sensory memories. I could practically see her vanity — her powders, her cold creams, the soft clatter of her gold charm bracelet — and that emblematic bottle of Shalimar t

Grief has a funny way of showing up in unexpected places. For me, lately, it’s been showing up in scent. I can’t take credit for the title — Mon Thoughts on Mon Guerlain  — I read it somewhere, but I loved the scent-iment 😉. And honestly, it fits this story perfectly. I was in a department store the other day, planning to buy Guerlain’s Shalimar.  Not because I adore the scent, but because it’s iconic — and because it reminds me of my Karkey. Yes, you read that correctly. K

The last few weeks have been a blur and I am just now coming up for air. In my fog of returning home I was opening packages and this gorgeous Deluxe Box Set from DS & DURGA had arrived as a gift. 🙏 What a beautiful surprise to unbox at a time where I was feeling so low. Exploring these miniature perfumes was just the distraction my grief needed in that moment. A standout for me was Radio Bombay - the way it burst into my senses with its woodsy, iris and creamy coconut textu

The darkest part of grief isn’t always the moment someone dies…it’s what happens after. Since my stepdad took his final breath on October 22nd, I haven’t felt anything. I haven’t wanted to feel. I still don’t. But that silence inside me isn’t sustainable. I have children. A spouse. A business. Commitments that don’t wait for grief.

Perfumehead: LA LA LOVE Scent Profile:  Gourmand / Ambery Key Notes:  Vanilla Absolute · Smoked Amber · Cognac · Saffron Randy Newman nailed it back in 1983 — “I love L.A.” Even though it would be another 15 years before I lived there, I can still say it now: I love L.A. — always have, always will. When I first learned about Perfumehead , a luxury fragrance house born in Los Angeles and dedicated to exploring what founder Daniel Patrick Giles calls “The Osmocosm”  (osmo: smel

One Umbrella for Two bursts to life with the nutty aroma of Puffed Rice Accord and Genmaicha. I wasn’t familiar at first with this Japanese brown rice tea, but the popping, roasted warmth hit my senses immediately — almost too much at first — and then softened as the sweet, tart blackcurrant stepped forward.

Scent, like us, changes with mood, time, temperature, and tenderness. And if there’s one fragrance note that feels like home  to me, it’s vanilla. Warm, familiar, and endlessly shape-shifting — it’s one of those scents that never gets old yet never smells quite the same twice. Vanilla can be cozy or bold, creamy or woodsy, airy or sultry. It’s a shapeshifter — a scent that evolves with mood, temperature, and time of year. And understanding how  it shifts means you can create

Summer may be (almost) over, but my scents are still stuck in July. Anyone else having trouble letting go of the smell of coconut, pineapple, sunscreen, and sex wax? I am. That’s why today feels like the perfect day to rank my top five fragrances of summer 2025. And you have no clue how hard it was to stop at five. In no particular order (because that would be impossible)… here are the ones that carried me through summer. ☀️ My Summer Favorites (Top 5… Okay, 6) Snif Coco Shim

Some weeks I reach for a signature scent and stick with it. This week? I wore three. Because apparently, my nervous system wanted options. Thank you fibromyalgia flare up! Each one matched a different day, a different emotional need — Here’s what I wore and why: ⸻ Atheeri by Lattafa Lattafa fragrances are some of my favorite and this one has my Sweet, musky, creamy — this one hits like powdered sugar with side-eye. I needed something grounding that still felt flirty. Like I h