A Slate of Scents & Sounds
To Me, Music & Smell Have Always Gone Hand In Hand
Listicles and buying guides are gross. They are also very gauche. This, I stand by. Having worked with independent publications and some others extensively over the last two years, I have come to realize that my strong suit in writing is best reserved for features and essays. I love giving an opinion about things! That’s why I also launched a podcast with a friend whom I hold such regard for.
So much of what is liked and adored is met with equal measure to the things that I hold much disdain and aberration for. Clothes, art, bags, shoes, movies, music. The works of it, really. Under the guise of a heavy consumerist world on which we have built our entire systems of beliefs, I say, yes! Yes, there are many bad, negative things that have come with the need to buy things we don’t necessarily need. Did I really need three (yes, three) Boy Smells candles just because they were on sale? NO! I most certainly did not.
But did I also get them because six years ago (yes, six), singer-songwriter and Grammy-award winner Kacey Musgraves collaborated with them to release a very, niche and specific candle to mark the release of her Grammy award-winning album, Golden Hour? Oh, hell yes! Named after the first single on the record, Slow Burn [the candle] is very much an emulation of the song. Musgraves sings, “Born in a hurry, always late, haven’t been early since ’88 / I’m alright with a slow burn, taking my time, let the world turn”. Hearing such lyrics, the average listener is most definitely not thinking of a scent that follows with the feeling being conveyed in the song. The same applies to movies and books. If one is describing it in clear, picturesque detail, then, maybe. But the two ends of sensory pleasure never come together unless prompted or unless the individuals consuming these things are apt enough to do so.
A slow burn. Notes on the candle include incense, black pepper, elemi [a naturally forming resin that smells balsamic and lemony], guaiac, Tonka, raspberry, amber, and smoked papyrus, all blended into a concoction, held together by coconut and beeswax. When I listen to the song, I can now picture such a scent. It is quiet and unassuming at first, then slowly, it washes over the room. Slow Burn. Romantic, no? I first became acquainted with perfumes when I was five. At the time, my aunt had a very blue-pearlescent bottle of perfume that she had purchased from The Body Shop. I loved the idea of such a thing in a bottle. It was regal to me, a child barely sound enough to think of anything else other than the shiniest object in the room. The bottle, stashed away under her pillow [I had a tendency to spray it again and again till it gave me a headache] led me up to where she slept – the top side of the bunk bed. I just wanted to smell that sea-foamy perfume; the one laced with sweet floral notes as well, once more.
But, when I did get my hands on it, I ended up spraying it right into my face – all over my eyes and mouth. Choking and in pain I fell headfirst, backward, right to the ground. The pain was never-ending, but I survived. I don’t know what led me to have a great fixation for liquids that emanate smell. Neither do I know when that fixation poured onto jars and votives of scented wax and sticks on sticks of incense. What I do know is this: there, on the left side of my table is a stack of magazines that I have slowly been collecting over the years. Some of which have been gifted to me by an editor who is also my friend, others by friends. All of it is part of an emblem of the love that I have in my life. Atop that, is a holder for when I wish to burn my very expensive pack of incense sticks that I acquired from Aesop. It is, as I have been repeating over the last two years, “It is worth every scent”. No wait… cent. Next to it is a bowl – a gift from the same friend – holding a world of perfumes that I have collected from my travels across the globe.
Recently, I found myself Back Again in Bali, this time, with a lover. It is good to be by the sea and to be blanketed by salt air, kisses, and of course, the smell of possibilities. It is also so very good to be away from your daily life. It allows you to find perspective; to look at situations from far away and to reassess things. A good scent will also do this for you. One spray into the space or onto your skin, and you are transported back to a point in time that has more meaning to you than life itself. It is like that one specific bottle of Euphoria by Calvin Klein I have. As soon as I spray it, and the smell of berries and flowers fills the air, I am once again in the heart of the city – in the confines of a cool, temperature-controlled hotel room, sixteen floors above the gentrified Row of restaurants and design stores, once more watching my love blossom from a kind crush into one that resembled an entire marsh at sunset. All the while, softly in the background, Headaches by Raveena begins to play. That is what a good bottle of perfume does for me.
In Bali, things seem to make a little more sense than it usually does back home. In Bali, and nowhere else in the world of Southeast Asia it seems, you are also able to find a small, but very curated selection of perfumes from D.S. & Durga. This obviously happened on a perchance visit to the gift shop at Potato Head. It was there, amongst Thistle Sunglasses, Bode shirts, and Gimaguas trousers, that I stumbled upon the [what I consider to be] Holy Grail of the not-so-niche but still very much so niche perfume brand. This got me thinking, leaving me to wonder: is it finally time for me to impart my favorite scents and recommend some of my more sought-after ones to the world? There was only one resounding answer: Yes. Hell, yes.
Because perfumes and music hold much significance in my life, and how intrinsically I see them intermingling with one another, each recommendation listed below also comes with a recommended song. Hopefully, sometime soon, you’ll be able to smell all of these recommended scents for yourself. In the meantime, I hope you listen to the songs and find yourselves on Fragrantica.com to imagine what these works of art could smell like on you and around you. Till then, boogie away, and smell good, always.
D.S. & Durga
Starting off strong [pun intended], we have today, two recommendations from Brooklyn-based perfumery, D.S. & Durga. Since founding their label in 2006, David Seth [D.S.] and Kavi [F.K.A Durga] have since created an entire world of fragrances for the world around them, based on the world around them.
Jazmín Yucatan
The first recommendation would obviously be Jazmín Yucatan. Well, it’s not really an obvious recommendation if you’re not privy to the brand beforehand. But having smelled this in Bali, it would make so much sense as to why this would be first on the list. The description on the DS & Durga website reads: “Jungle, humidity, snake plants, jazmín yucateco, crocodile by the cenote, shaded temple, limestone ruins”. Now, close your eyes and imagine walking into a hot and humid jungle and smelling jazmin yucateco, sambac, vetiver, and bergamot. There’s more of course, but on the initial spray, the scent is woody and calm. Then like a woosh of wind, as the perfume dries on your skin, you smell the jazmin. Beautiful. Just beautiful.
To complete the scent, consider listening to João Gilberto’s “Wave” upon your first spray. Trust me, you’ll get it after.
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Pistachio
For seconds, once you’ve done exploring the deep jungles of Yucatan, maybe a little dessert to placate the senses? Some Pistachio maybe? Named after the nut, the perfume which was originally a limited edition run for STUDIO JUICE quickly became a cult classic for the brand.
Top notes are pistachio and cardamom, the middle notes hold more pistachio and roasted almonds, and the base notes have… wait for it… even more pistachio, patchouli, and vanilla crème. Lying there alongside Jazmín Yucatan, the bottle of Pistachio was a fun, gourmand-smelling perfume to spritz onto whatever bare, untouched patch of skin that hadn’t been overcome by spritzes of perfume from the brand. DS & Durga, if you’re reading this, call me.
Anyway! When smelling / consuming Pistachio, consider having Hear Me Out from Frou Frou playing in the background or directly into your ears.
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LE LABO
It was a hot and humid evening, and I was going in for a hug, the one last goodbye offering I gave to people before we parted ways. Today, it was for a friend that I had just become acquainted with. It was in that embrace that I began smelling and sniffing her shirt cartoonishly. There it was: the smell of wood and incense lingering alongside this lime-chalky, musky smell. It was perfect on her of course. “What are you wearing?” I asked. “Santal 33”, she answered with a slight giggle. And that was the beginning of the end. My foray into niche perfumery began like this. I had a deep fondness for the commercial stuff, but this was what got me to dive in headfirst [and fearlessly too at that].
My first bottle was a great choice. Tonka 25. Vanilla-like, musky, woody, and ultimately, it smelled like sex. Good, expensive sex. It still sits in its box, almost full three years later. After that bottle, I became acquainted with the whole range of scents from Le Labo – including those from the City Exclusive line. Let me recommend two of my favorite ones.
Thé Noir 29
Thé Noir 29 is an interesting concoction from Frank Voelkl. The perfumer is renowned for his works in the world of scents. Alongside Thé Noir 29, he’s also responsible for creating heavy hitters like Glossier’s You and Le Labo’s Santal 33. The description of Thé Noir 29 on the brand’s website is what makes it super interesting. Not in direct quotes, but something along the lines of “oscillating between the light of bergamot, fig and bay leaves and the depth of cedarwood, vetiver, and musk. A special extraction of black tea leaves wraps up the composition by bringing to the formula a dry leafy, hay, tobacco feeling in the dry down”.
Though it’s not a perfume I reach out to consciously [I also only happen to have a small vial from a sample I purchased almost a year ago], I do return to it in my quietest moments. It is unassuming at first, smelling like some type of fancy hotel white tea; sour, pungent a little right at the top. Then as it dries down on the nape of your neck and the tips of your fingers, after you so delicately trace the perfume across your throat and the back of your ears, it all begins to clear – leaving you feeling divine and fabulous.
When spritzing Thé Noir 29 on yourself, perhaps consider listening to Stay Open from Cecile Believe.
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Cedrat 37
Here’s a perfume that first came into my subconscious almost three years ago on a random day in August. I had walked into the Le Labo store all flustered and annoyed over a bad conversation when I came across my Santal 33-smelling friend. “Care to try the new City Exclusive?” they asked me. “Yeah. Why not!” eyes wide and ready to have my mood swayed. At the first spray, a spicy, lemony, and gingery smell opens. Immediately, you are then smelling sweet… candy. “Ginger candy?”, I asked aloud. The perfume was made specifically for the city of Berlin, under the City Exclusive line.
I was sold. Now, all I want is a full bottle and not a tiny vial. Le Labo, thank you for such a great scent and for working with great perfumers!
For a night out with Cedrat 37, put on Limerence by Yves Tumor. Make sure it’s blasting out loud in your ears as you walk out the doors, into your car, or your Grab / Uber / Bolt [?].
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Aesop
The day I got introduced to Aesop and its excellent world of wonders [I am biased unfortunately], I received a care package from a lover far, far away. It was a beautiful small glass jar of hand cream. That was how it started. Now, my hair care, body care, and occasionally, facial products have found their way into my bathroom and my trolley cart. I don’t have a dresser – I have instead, a trolley cart, holding my skincare and perfumes and books and incense and everything else in between.
When I made my way into the store for the first time to buy something with my big-girl salary, I purchased some more hand cream [from a tube this time] and a tube of lip balm. That was almost four years ago. The tube of lip balm still sits by my mirror in my wardrobe. Some things are hard to let go it seems. And after years, and possibly what seems like thousands of dollars spent at this business, I have yet to purchase my favorite scents. Though, thinking about it now, one of the two recommendations is sitting in an old candle jar. Let me get right to it.
Karst
“I smelled the most amazing perfume today. It was so earthy and salty and green and fresh. Have you smelled it yet? It’s called Karst. I wonder what it means…” I said over a FaceTime call. This was when it was first launched in 2021. I was always at the scene of the crime. In this case, the scene was days after the launch of the scent. It has, and continues, to remain my favorite Eau De Parfum’s from the brand. Salty, earthen, and fresh full of leaves from the side of the mountain, Karst holds true to its name. The name, however, was one I had assumed the brand made up. “What on earth does Karst even mean?”, I asked my boyfriend out loud the day I came home from the store. On FaceTime far, far away, he answered through the discord of the internet, two continents and possibly three oceans between us.
“It’s on the sides of mountains, babe. Like by the cliffsides of seas? It’s rock formations. It explains the salty smell!”. With a smile on my face as my only response, I knew I would pocket this into my jar of memories for as long as I lived. With notes of pink pepper, bergamot, and vetiver, the salty and sea-like smell of Karst is something I am still in awe of. To me, the wonder of perfumery exists in a bottle of Karst.
When considering a moment with Karst, listen to Nectar Drop from DJ Drez. Trust me on this one.
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Sarashina
This scent-based recommendation is en route to taking a homelier turn. Steering away from the bottles of perfumes that’s been recommended above, we’re now pivoting our noses, and other possible sensory organs towards comfort. To this, I shall add Sarashina.
When I first came into contact with this beautiful set of sticks, my friend [and editor] Alia and I were wandering KLCC as we always did. I don’t really remember the whole point of us being there, but as we usually did – while the store was still there – we found ourselves at Aesop. After smelling some soaps and a few perfumes – to which she ended up purchasing a bottle of Tacit (I swear by this!), she got me a box of incense.
Thankful for the gift when I got home, I lit one stick, sat in my bed, and dug into my pillow as I doom-scrolled through my phone. Twenty minutes later, the whole house smelled of sweet sandalwood. I should point out that the stick continued burning for the next fifteen minutes.
I have since purchased another box – Murasaki. I will say this though, nothing beats the first box of incense you fell in love with.
When burning Sarashina, I would strongly implore you to listen to Kaliyugavaradana from U. Srinivas. Yes, it also happens to be from the Eat, Pray, Love soundtrack.
Thank me later.
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This article has gotten as long as it can get. I’ll leave it here and come back to all of you with the rest in another wrap-up soon.
Till then, let it always be a little on the nose.
*** All images photographed and edited by Pravin Nair
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