The Fragrance Guide, Volume Three: Life & Ceremony
Life & Ceremony
The six rooms nobody writes a fragrance guide for, and the ones where getting it wrong is most obvious. Every fragrance here is unisex and pheromone infused. Same fragrance, different on everyone.
What perfume to wearTo Church
A sanctuary is a hard room for fragrance. You are shoulder to shoulder in a pew for an hour or more, often beside someone older, sometimes beside a child, and nobody can step away. Add ten other people wearing something and the air stops belonging to anyone.
Vanilla & Bloom
Soft florals over warm vanilla, and it stays within arm's length all morning. Familiar and comforting rather than noticeable, which is exactly right for a pew.
$39 / $89
Cashmere
Sits closer to the skin than anything else in the line. Someone only catches it when they hug you at the door, which on a Sunday is the entire point.
$39 / $89
Mystique
Clean, dry and impossible for anyone to object to. If you want to be well put together without a single person turning around, this is the safest bottle we make.
$39 / $89What perfume to wearTo A Baby Or Bridal Shower
Showers are close-quarters afternoons with a lot of hugging. At a baby shower there is often a newborn in the room, and newborns and strong fragrance do not mix, both because of sensitivity and because a scent on your shoulder ends up on the baby's blanket.
Belle
Bright, happy and the hardest one in the line to overdo, which matters most in exactly this room. It reads celebratory without ever taking up space.
$39 / $89Vanilla & Bloom
Soft, warm and universally easy to be around. Also the one most likely to get asked about, which makes it a good bottle to be wearing when someone is looking for a gift idea.
$39 / $89
Vibes
The cleanest option here. If there is a newborn in the room and you would rather smell like nothing at all, this is the closest thing to that while still smelling deliberate.
$39 / $89What to wearTo A Funeral Or Memorial
Almost nobody writes about this one, and it is the day people most want to get right. Scent is the strongest memory trigger there is, which cuts both ways: a fragrance worn at a funeral can attach itself permanently to that day for someone standing next to you, and they did not choose it.
Mystique
Dry, green and completely without ornament. It smells like being cared for rather than dressed up, and it will not attach itself to anyone else's memory of the day.
$39 / $89Vibes
Clean and cool and barely there. On a day when getting dressed is the hardest part, this is the bottle that asks nothing of you and gets it right anyway.
$39 / $89
Winter
Lavender has been used for comfort and calm for centuries, and there is a reason for that. Composed and quiet, with just enough warmth underneath to hold you together.
$39 / $89What perfume to wearTo A Graduation
Outdoors, usually in May or June, usually hotter than anyone dressed for. Heat pushes fragrance out fast and hard, so whatever you put on at nine in the morning will be twice as loud by noon in a folding chair on a field.
Belle
The good mood fragrance, and a graduation is a good mood day. Juicy and bright at the top, grown by the time the mimosa opens up underneath.
$39 / $89
Aura
Tart and fizzy and sure of itself. If it is your day rather than someone else's, this is the one that reads celebratory without ever going sweet in the heat.
$39 / $89
Tempt
Built for exactly this weather. Tropical fruit that turns elegant once the jasmine arrives, and it holds up in sun where heavier scents collapse.
$39 / $89What perfume to wearFor The Holidays
The one stretch of the year where a bigger fragrance is not only allowed but expected. Cold air slows evaporation right down, which is why warm woods, amber and spice hold beautifully in December and go flat in July. Everything you own gets better for six weeks.
Winter
Made for this and named for it. Cold citrus and lavender up top, smoke at the base, and a vanilla in the middle that warms without ever turning into dessert.
$39 / $89
Night
Smoke and resin wrapped in amber. The one for the evening part of the holidays, when the lights come down and nobody is in a hurry to leave.
$39 / $89
Lover
Opens warm and citrusy, almost like mulled wine, then the Turkish rose takes over completely. Festive without a single note of anything that smells like a candle.
$39 / $89What fragrance to giveWhen You Do Not Know Their Taste
Fragrance is the hardest gift there is, because it is personal, it cannot be returned once opened, and the odds of guessing a stranger's exact taste are poor. Most people give up and buy a candle. There is a better answer.
Vanilla & Bloom
The safest single bottle to give. Soft, familiar and comforting, and almost nobody dislikes it. If you are only buying one, buy this one.
$39 / $89Belle
Bright and happy and very hard to dislike. A good choice for someone younger, or for anyone who says they do not really wear fragrance.
$39 / $89
Allure
One of our best sellers and the one strangers ask about by name. If you want the gift to be the one they remember, this is the bottle.
$39 / $89Questions People Ask Us
Is it appropriate to wear perfume to church?
Yes, lightly. A sanctuary is a crowded room where nobody can move away from you, often with older members and small children present, so the consideration is volume rather than whether to wear anything at all.
One spray on skin under your clothes. Soft and close is the right register: Vanilla & Bloom, Cashmere or Mystique.
Can I wear perfume around a newborn?
Go very light, and put it somewhere the baby will not be held against. Newborns have sensitive skin and a developing sense of smell, and anything on your neck or chest transfers straight onto them and onto whatever blanket they are wrapped in.
One spray, low on your torso, and choose something clean rather than sweet. If in doubt, ask the parent, and do not be offended if the answer is no.
Should you wear fragrance to a funeral?
You can, and it should be almost undetectable. Scent bonds to memory more strongly than any other sense, so a distinctive fragrance worn at a funeral can permanently attach itself to that day for the people standing beside you, and they did not choose it.
One spray of something dry and quiet, on skin. Nothing bold, nothing sweet, nothing anyone will comment on.
What is the best fragrance to give as a gift?
Three small ones rather than one large one. Fragrance is deeply personal and cannot be returned once opened, so guessing a single bottle correctly is a coin flip. Three 10ml is $99, it lets them discover their own, and it is far more interesting to open.
If you are set on one bottle, Vanilla & Bloom is the safest, because almost nobody dislikes it.
Why does my perfume smell stronger in summer?
Because heat speeds up evaporation. Warm skin pushes the molecules off you faster and harder, so the same two sprays that sat politely in December will project across a room in July.
Go down a spray in hot weather, and lean fresh and fruity rather than warm and heavy. Cold air does the opposite, which is why winter is when the big fragrances finally get to work.
Can fragrance really trigger a memory?
Yes, and more directly than anything else. Smell is the only sense wired straight into the parts of the brain that handle memory and emotion, without passing through the filter the other senses go through first. That is why a scent can drop you into a specific year without warning.
You can use it deliberately. Wear one fragrance only at the holidays, or only on a trip, and years later a single spray will bring the whole thing back.
Keep Reading
Volume One covers love: first dates, date nights, anniversaries, weddings and nights out. Volume Two covers work: interviews, first days, presentations, the office and travel. Volume Four sorts the whole line by season.