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I’ve been gatekeeping my signature scent — nervous about it taking off like YSL Libre or Santal 33. But at this point, I’m getting compliments every time I wear it, so it seems unkind not to share. Especially after I got the ultimate confirmation that I’d found the perfect combination. It happened, of all places, at a dinner for home fragrances. Courteney Cox was the host, celebrating Homecourt’s holiday launches. (I’m a big fan of the brand’s Cipres Mint scent, which I think of as the “base smell” of my home, a citrusy-mint scent that pairs well with just about every candle in my stash.) At the end of the night, I was shuttled toward Ms. Cox for the standard PR introduction, and she immediately said, “Someone smells really good.” I held out my wrist for inspection, sure it was me. Her face lit up after a sniff of my wrist: “What is that?” It was confirmation of what I’d known after wearing this combination of perfumes for a little over six months — I’d found it.
Coming up with this combination has been a yearslong process. I started searching for my signature scent after writing a few fragrance stories and realizing I wanted to be the kind of person who wore perfume every day. I tested lots of things that made my nose tingle and excited my senses, scouted in the wild or offered up in press mailers: Jazz Club by Maison Margiela, Encens Suave by Matiere Premiere, Maison Francis Kurkdijan’s Gentle Fluidity in both Silver and Gold. All of them yummy, all of them not quite right for everyday use. They were too potent, too pungent, or, at times, too sexy for the daytime.
It wasn’t until I came across Armani Privé’s Santal Dan Sha that things took a turn. I was invited to a dinner for the fragrance’s launch during Fashion Week, and while I sipped cocktails, I spritzed it on myself and immediately felt different. The main note is sandalwood, but it also contains bergamot. The scent was warm and spicy but not so heady that my head would spin if I inhaled too long.
Not long after, I went to an event for Nette at Raf’s. The brand, known for its candles, was launching a line of fragrances. One, Thé Vanille, was its take on vanilla. As a fragrance note, vanilla scents are very in right now, and everyone’s attempting to present a different perspective on the classic gourmand. But it is, in fact, different from the brown-vanilla-sugar body mist I used to spray on in high school. Nette’s Thé Vanille, in particular, has notes of salt, cardamom, matcha, and cedarwood, along with a base note of vanilla. This translates into a complex, fresh-scented perfume that’s balanced with a hint of warmth and a lasting vanilla impression.
I’d be lying if I told you exactly when or why I decided to pair the two. The closest memory I have is of wearing the duo to a Supergoop dinner and receiving compliments throughout the night. The Armani takes center stage with its warm wood, but the vanilla scent complicates it, adding a sweet freshness that plays well with the spicier notes. The two also share a hint of cardamom, which amplifies the scent on the skin. I’ve always seen outside validation — specifically on the scent front — as a sign that something is working, so I kept spritzing it on. And, sure enough, I was getting the same reaction each time. A friend recently described the combination as “hypnotizing,” and I get compliments anytime I leave the house with it layered on my skin.
It’s certainly something, because the day after the dinner with Homecourt, I emailed my go-to fragrance formula to the brand’s PR rep Alex, who responded less than 30 seconds later. Apparently, my email was right on time: Courteney had already asked.
This article originally appeared in The Strategist Beauty Brief, a weekly newsletter from our beauty writers on their must-tries, can-skips, and can’t-live-withouts. Sign up here.
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