Aesop, Diptyque, Le Labo, and DS & Durga
Getting ready for my wedding, sales, and what's next
The past few weeks have been unbelievably busy as I prepare for my wedding (!). I’m considering which florals and greenery will add a suitable bouquet to the indoor venue—so here’s a quick and dirty summary of my recent perfumery hits and misses.
Before I dive in, I should share that I started @NoseyFragrance on Instagram! Please join me over there, too. Instagram has a welcoming perfumery community, and I’m excited to join it.
In the past month, I’ve visited four brick-and-mortar stores to better familiarize myself with the cultures of the following brand: Le Labo, Aesop, DS & Durga, and Diptyque. I miss L.A., which seemed to have a fragrance shop every mile.
In ascending order of the brick-and-mortars:
Le Labo (DC). Pro: A fully stocked and well-organized store. Con: The ingredients are all mysteries. Little to no context about what went into each product is provided.
DS & Durga (Brooklyn). Pro: Playful store design that invites visitors to explore. Con: The space was so small that the brand’s famously raucous scents competed with each other. Their slogan: “Perfume is armchair travel.” The more people in the store, spraying and testing, the more it felt closer to a Hot Topic than an upscale travel agency. I finally saw the Pasta Water candle. It was sweet but felt a bit lost, elbowed by bigger scents.
Diptyque (Brooklyn). Pro: A curated store that features products based on what the brand thinks is important. This is super helpful for someone like me (a researcher). Comparing it to DS & Durga, where all scents were labeled and presented as equal, it was lovely to see Dyptique assign value to products and organize them accordingly. The more expensive products—namely, those with oud—were huddled in the middle of the room while the less expensive candles and diffusers sat politely in rows in library-like wall shelving. A truly beautiful store. They were also not shy about sharing samples, and the staff spoke French with me without laughing at my accent. Con: Similar to DS & Durga, the space desperately needed ventilation.
Aesop (DC): Pro: The two staffers knew and loved the products they worked with. I ended up spending almost an hour at the store, learning about how the brand thinks about its offerings and the origins of the various lines. I tried out about eight or nine scents there and they all made sense in their own ways. Con: There was no con. It was an 11/10 experience and I can’t wait to buy more there. The only con I can think of is that not enough people recognize Aesop’s incredible price points. Don’t sleep on their scents, folks.
I also made perfumes for my bach weekend at Olfactory NYC, where they tried (and failed) to convince me not to mix their accords. I came out with a lovely stone fruit scent for $80. For about $20, they’ll make you a matching lotion, too. You can name your perfume and they print and bottle on the spot.
What I ended up wearing the most: Gloam by Aesop. It’s part of their “liminal spaces” line that is supposed to evoke less time or space and more spacetime. Wearing it is as if I lived in a pink peppercorn house and I grew mimosa.
There’s a sweet but airy element (the jasmine, perhaps?), and it elevates it from we-need-to-cut-this-grass (see below, re: Ffern) to freshly cut grass. A spicy courtship with a spring flower. Some people are mad about this scent on Fragrantica, yelling about cumin. Imagine saying this about cumin!
What I ended up thinking about the most: Diptyque’s Eau Rihla. I feel like their scents are so special I have to work myself up to feel important enough to wear them. Eau Rihla is sweet enough to be escorted by a friendly daytime breeze in Cannes, and it’s weighty enough to withstand a romantic evening in humid climes. This is a commitment to elegance I’m not quite prepared to make (yet?).
Third in the running is Durga by DS & Durga, which smells like everything I traditionally love (orris, tuberose), followed closely by Steamed Rainbow (DS & Durga). Walking out of the store, I preferred Italian Citrus, but now I’m finding it carrying an intense soapy-ness. Durga has that, too, but it’s subtle. Steamed Rainbow is weird and I love that they’re making controversial stuff like this. Good for them.
What’s in the mail: Ffern Summer 2023 fragrance. Their packaging is thoughtfully eco-friendly—right down to the add-ons included in the box, like seeds or tea. The spray nozzle is generous for the size of the bottle, so one spritz is all you need for a day. I love grassy notes like the one their Spring 2023 scent featured, but I prefer them to be paired with stronger citrus. I might be more conservative about top notes than I knew before enjoying Ffern’s work. Their efforts give me much to think about in terms of what I’d like to do with my own perfumes.
What I’m buying next: Anything from ELOREA. Despite a savage sale of big-name fashion perfumes and colognes (see below), I’ve been paying attention to the brand for some time. They have a liminal-esque series, similar to Aesop’s, which looks so intriguing.
The random deal I stumbled into this weekend: 40-50% fragrances at Saks Off 5th site. No joke. Recommended houses (and their owners): Acqua di Parma (LVMH), Guerlain (LVMH), Amouage (Omani SABCO), Georgio Armani (L'Oréal Group), Creed (BlackRock), Clive Christian (Nichebox). Visiting Sak’s Off 5th IRL, they had a dozen paltry options, most of which were the blown-out sugary 2000s-era hits from the brands better known for in-store makeup offers. They had a couple of reasonable men’s colognes, but not any worth mentioning here. Stick to the site for the deals.
That’s all for now—I’ll see you closer to the big day with my notes about flowers.
A perfumer in (my) residence,
Margarita