Elevated Classics

Perfume is supposed to be beautiful, but anyone who spends enough time smelling fragrance knows there is a strange little underworld of scent reactions. One person smells neroli and thinks of sunlight on white linen. Another smells the same thing and says, “public bathroom.” One person finds blackcurrant bud juicy…

After years of smelling, buying, reviewing, and collecting perfume, I know what I come back to. My taste has become very clear: iris, musk, orange blossom, jasmine, soft woods, powder, and light. I could add several more perfumes to this list, and maybe I will another day. But today, I…

I had smelled Spoturno 1921 before I understood it. It first came to me through the discovery set, the way many perfumes now enter our lives: in a small vial, at home, measured against other impressions. I knew it was beautiful. I could sense the quality. But I also know…

This morning, while spraying Chanel Allure, I caught myself singing “Going Back to Cali,” LL Cool J’s 1988 song about desire, glamour, and the strange pull of Los Angeles. It made me laugh because I actually did grow up in California, and Allure was one of the perfumes I wore…

Chanel’s Les Exclusifs has always felt to me like one of the few luxury-house private collections that still understands the difference between polish and noise. Beige, 1957, Comète, Coromandel, Gardénia, Misia, 31 Rue Cambon, each one carries a different piece of the Chanel language. Even when I have had doubts…