Inside the Collection: Anna Dorn

Anna Dorn came on my radar when her book, Perfume & Pain, came out in 2024. No surprise, I received it as a gift not once but twice, and I’d already listened to the audiobook. It would have kept my attention even if it didn’t have scent woven throughout the characters and story. So I was delighted to see Anna pop up on Substack with Sample Sluts last year, a publication she co-writes with Crissy Milazzo. I wanted more perfume writing from Anna, and she and Crissy both deliver with very fun reviews and recs. Anna is also one of my favorite people to read here on Notes.

When I reached out to Anna to ask if I could feature her as part of the collection series I do for Dry Down Diaries, she warned me that she has a very small, curated collection and, true to her Substack, mostly buys samples and decants. I loved the idea of hearing more about how she keeps such a well-edited collection of bottles. She says it’s the opposite of the hoarding sickness many of us have and is kind of beyond her control. But having the opposite problem, I was eager to hear more. I love my big, overflowing collection of bottles, but it can also be overwhelming, and I wish I could do a better job of culling it down. I was also just curious to hear more about what she loves and which bottles make the cut.

Anna has a new book out, American Spirits, that the LA Times likened to “a Lynch film with a score by Lana Del Ray”, which is all I need to know to want to read it. You can find out more about Anna on her website, and follow her on Notes and IG. I hope you enjoy this look into her very well curated collection.

“You don’t have to have a lot of money to get into perfume. I’m extremely cheap and still have a full-blown habit. Smelling perfume at stores is free, samples are pretty affordable, and if you keep a small number of bottles, it’s a fiscally reasonable hobby!”

Glass Blooms by Régime des Fleurs. Grand-Ile by Nissaba. Molecule 01 + Iris by Escentric Molecules.

I actually haven’t had much regret! If I had to pick, I sold my bottle of Eau Duelle by Diptyque because I got Architect’s Club by Arquiste and they’re extremely similar. I miss Eau Duelle occasionally, but I’m surviving. I’m a perfume minimalist and don’t spray much, so I can last a long time on a decant, which is one reason I don’t have many bottles. Also, whatever hoarding is, I have the opposite disease. I really can’t have too many things. It stresses me out. I love getting rid of things!

Molecule 01 + Iris by Escentric Molecules is a desert island scent and it’s just so wearable and magnetic, such a lovely woody iris, which feels crucial to any collection. And I think Geza Schoen is a genius.

Grand-Ile by Nissaba is another desert island scent—spicy vanilla is my favorite genre of perfume and this is the best I’ve found, by master perfumer Frank Voelkl and majorly underrated for some reason. I spray it on my pillows!

Architect’s Club by Arquiste is my second-favorite spicy vanilla and it’s a rare vanilla you can wear year-round, so it felt like a must.

Trimerous by Jorum Studio is the most gorgeous orris butter and it’s super wearable but smells like nothing else, which is such a rare combo.

Eau D’Issey Fraîche by Issey Miyake and Suspended Water Lily by Syd Botanica are my go-to summer scents, also I think Syd is a visionary and wanted to support her.

Waterfall by Rite of Way was gifted to me but it’s such a lovely ethereal floral I had to hold onto it.

Luca Turin said that if Sycomore by Chanel doesn’t make you shiver with pleasure, see a doctor, and I feel similarly. This one is my “feeling rich” scent lol.

I am obsessed with Universal Flowering so I have two. Lilac No. 4 is the perfect spring scent—green, dewy, photorealistic. And Poems One Through Twelve is my other sleep scent along with Grand-Ile. I often spray it on myself before bed, or in the middle of the night if I have trouble sleeping. It’s my sleeping pill. Also I just LOVE the name.

I order them more now that I have Sample Sluts because it’s “work,” or at least that’s how I justify it to myself! I used to order samples like once a quarter; now I’ll order roughly once a month, somewhere between 5-10 samples. I like ordering from Scent Split, Lucky Scent, Surrender to Chance, and Decant Planet.

My organization is horrible. I basically have the ones I’m reaching for on the shelf next to my mirror. Then I have a box in my closet of the ones I love but am not currently reaching for. Then I have a drawer of ones I think are good but wouldn’t wear for whatever reason—I’ll often throw those in with friends’ birthday presents!

Probably Grand-Ile because for some reason no one has smelled it! I’m preaching the gospel of Grand-Ile.

Moonmilk was one of the first niche scents I loved. This is a little embarrassing but I later learned that everything I was drawn toward in my initial niche scent journey was essentially a Santal 33 dupe, probably because I’d smelled a lot of Santal 33 in the wild and it was therefore familiar and comforting. Now I avoid this type of fragrance mostly because Santal 33 is a bit played, even though I love Frank Voelkl and appreciate the scent.

Moonmilk is a little more interesting and strange than Santal 33 though. It’s a tiny bit off-putting, like Astrid. Also the name Moonmilk feels very inherently sapphic to me, and the bottle cap looks like a breast. It felt perfect for Astrid.

I am obsessed with Universal Flowering! I love the branding, the poetic copy, the bottles, the uber-original scents. I think Courtney Rafuse is a genius and visionary, and I love supporting her. I want a third, maybe Fig Leaf. I had a sample of Pleasure Portrait which I loved (a spicy vanilla, shocker) but unfortunately it’s discontinued. If I can find a used bottle, I might get that next.

I think my editing is mostly neurosis to be honest, of a type I wouldn’t wish on others. I think if you can allow yourself to have a lot of things you love and feel attached to, go for it, it seems nice. I just can’t due to clinical OCD probably lol. But also know that you don’t have to have a lot of money to get into perfume. I’m extremely cheap and still have a full-blown habit. Smelling perfume at stores is free, samples are pretty affordable, and if you keep a small number of bottles, it’s a fiscally reasonable hobby!

You might have noticed that Glass Blooms is a desert island scent for me but I don’t even have a bottle yet! I have a 10ml decant that I bought from Decant Planet, but a full bottle is next on my wishlist. Also I’m going to Paris next month for my birthday, and definitely plan to get a bottle there. Maybe Passage D’Enfer by L’Artisan. Whatever it is, it has to be French!