10 burning questions, asked & answered ⋆˚🧐꩜｡🔥¿?

You asked, we answered. Below, our answers to our AMA :)

I wear the Nemat amber oil whole foods used to sell ... is that ok?

Anna: It’s more than okay! I paired Nemat Amber with Kirk Cobain. Billie Eilish wears it! It’s classique.

Crissy: That is a very great and sexy choice. It’s the perfect ‘I simply smell good’ scent and it pairs very well with any other musk-y sample you might find to add complexity. I would definitely also harken back to our blondes post to rec you Parisian Musc and Byredo’s Animalique if you’re looking to branch out. I’ve also heard Musk K is that girl.

Desperately need your thoughts on Billie Eilish’s perfume. Decent scent or cash grab???

A: She has a few, I def hear people like her fragrances, especially “queers.” I forget which one I smelled, I think the gold bust one, at an Ulta Beauty in Burbank. I remember it smelling kind of what I call “department store slop”—those very perfumey scents that smell like 9/10 fragrances at the department store—but there were a lot of competing fragrances in that store and my memory is hazy. I do like Billie and know that she’s a fraghead herself, and wears—circling back—Nemat Amber, as well as I Am Trash by ELDO. Her perfume taste is not very department store slop. So maybe I need to smell in the wild. Also she’s rich enough that I don’t think it’s a cash grab? But maybe I’ve underestimated her Hollywood greed lol.

C: Rio Viera-Newton said Billie Eilish’s Your Turn is surprisingly great and I must concur. It’s not like, mindblowingly great but it’s definitely a good scent that you wouldn’t smell and think, “this came from a mall.” As far as everything else she’s put out, I have to do some research.

All-time best and worst celebrity perfumes?

A: Best is hands down Little Flower by Regimes Des Fleurs with Chloe Sevigny. I mean, of course—it’s Chloe! The happiest cool girl rose I’ve sung the praises of many times on here. I admittedly don’t smell too many celebrity perfumes but—sorry Ari—for worst I’ll say Cloud because it’s a BR540 dupe and we all know how I feel about that (olfactory assault).

C: Okay, between this and the last question, I’m thinking we must start doing celeb perfume line reviews on the reg! Chloe Sevigny is top tier obviously. I actually used to wear cloud, LOL. It was like an angsty teen phase for me almost, short-lived, powerful and inexplicable. I distinctly remember holding a friend’s baby for the first time while wearing it and afterwards her texting me that she couldn’t get her baby to not smell like it (she liked it, thank god, but it was harrowing). I think every Britney Spears perfume went kind of crazy, honestly. Fantasy is an all-time great and I was addicted to Curious back in the day. I know the Olsen twins did some fragrances that I never got to smell...need to track those bitches down. I haven’t tried any of the Bella Hadid ‘Orebella’ scents...the packaging offends me. You know who is kind of underrated in this space? Jessica Simpson. I wore her edible ‘Dessert’ bodycare line when I was in high school and it was the scent of my first kiss (and tons of hickeys). Her Fancy EDP is kind of a slay, sorry!

What is the polite way to ask someone about their perfume/cologne/scent? Some people are so possessive about this…

A: I often feel creepy asking women what scent they’re wearing because I’m a lesbian and am afraid they’ll think I’m flirting with them. But I think that’s mostly neurosis. I think you can just ask. Anyone who gets weird if you ask is probably not someone worth being close to lol.

C: Am I rude? I ask immediately. “Oh my god, you smell so good. What are you wearing?” If someone wants to gatekeep, they’re a weirdo. The polite thing for them to do would be to at least lie and say that they don’t know, it was a gift, blah blah blah.

What are some scents that instantly turn you off when someone wears them? And which ones do the opposite effect? 👀

A: Turn off is BR540 sorry. Just thinking about it makes my sinuses hurt. I would say it falls into what I defined earlier as “department store slop,” and really anything in that category is a turnoff, especially when applied in large amounts. A turn-on would be a really nice musk, circling back to Nemat Amber AGAIN, but that can be one of the sexiest perfumes. Also a spicy vanilla will forever warm my heart. I can even handle a department store slop spicy vanilla.

C: Santal 33. It’s just way too everywhere. But I’ll take a man wearing a Santal derivative vs. a man who smells like generic cologne or nothing, I guess. For me, turn-on fragrances are musks (I love a clean girl, I am just not her) and, on the opposite end of the spectrum, real dirty, earthy shit. I love some incense, I love when someone smells like church. I’m also really basic and I love when women smell like vanilla: when a bitch walks by and leaves vanilla in her wake, I just want to have her fix my entire life.

If you could create your own DREAM fragrance..what would the notes be?

A: I think I’d have to make a spicy vanilla because that’s just my forever vibe. Probably bourbon vanilla, cardamom, guaiac wood, and musk. Oh and incense!

C: God, I am so one-note. DIRT. Dirt, dirt, and more dirt. Mondo Mondo’s Cowboy is *almost* this (in the EDP form), but I am forever chasing the high of Cowboy as a perfume oil, which they discontinued. Demeter’s ‘Dirt’ comes pretty close. As a fantasy, I’d probably go like: top notes of gasoline and fuel, middle notes of green vanilla and patchouli, base notes of wet earth, iris, and petrichor.

What are you reading right now? What books are you excited to read in the fall or 2027?

A: I just started Open Wide by Jessica Gross, about an increasingly obsessive (they had me at this phrase) radio host testing her boyfriend’s devotion (who can relate?). I’m also reading A Good Marriage by Kimberly McCreight. It’s a legal thriller which I normally avoid, but I’m intrigued by Kimberly, a gorgeous platinum blonde who went to Yale Law School. (Sorry, I’m shallow!) I’m excited for Charlotte Cane by Susan Fox, about a writer in her 60s enjoying a career resurgence when anonymous allegations of a long ago scandal surface—let’s fucking go!

C: I have been shamefully illiterate these days! I watch Tiktoks, read substack posts, and obliterate my brain cells. I am going to need books to read (or listen to) after I have this baby though, so please, send recs. I am very excited for Stephanie Danler’s forthcoming Menendez brothers court reporter novel, and Emma Cline’s forthcoming suicide-in-Switzerland situation. I love those two depressing broads. A while ago, I read The Ten Year Affair and was obsessed with it. The intersection of ‘bleak and funny’ is a genre I need more of: Halle Butler is the absolute GOAT in this space, present company (Anna the genius) excluded of course. I just started The Hearing Test and it’s good so far. I’m going to read everything Anna mentioned above and whatever you guys tell me to, honestly, so please boss me around.

If you could only wear perfumes from one house for the rest of time, what would it be?

A: I would probably say Diptyque, just because they have so many hits and can cover pretty much all of my needs. They have an excellent spicy vanilla (Eau Duelle) and musk (Eau Papier) and several great roses (L’Ombre Dans L’Eau and Eau Rose). Second up would be Regime des Fleurs. They have fewer perfumes but so many I love. Glass Blooms is one of my favorites of all time. Green Vanille is not as good as Eau Duelle but it’s a pleasant, interesting vanilla. Tears is a stunning lilac. Nitesurf Neroli is the best summer perfume. Falling Trees is a killer forest scent. Maybe I should change it to RDF lol….

C: This is so hard. Diptyque is a top tier answer and hard to argue with because of their sheer range. I also would maybe say Essential Parfums because they gather so many elite perfumers to do their thing and crush simple, timeless fragrances. My wildcard would probably be Strangers Parfumerie: theirs are more wacky and divisive, but I love so much of what they put out and I feel like I’d probably never get bored.

What samples are you currently loving now?

A: Macanudo by Maison D’Etto! Lucy Burrows first introduced it to me and I was in love, then Crissy told me it’s one of her favorite perfumes of all time—iconic cosign. But then I gave my damn decant to my friend who is a legit horse girl because I felt like a poser for wearing a horse girl perfume as I am afraid of riding horses. Now we are reunited after years apart and I missed her so much! Also: OroNardo by Xinu (gorgeous tuberose), Black March by CB I Hate Perfume (A+++++ dirt), and Babycat by YSL (vanilla crack).

C: I have been very into Maison Tahite’s delicious gourmands lately: Vicious Cacao and Sel Vanille are my current favorites. I’ve also been really into Fascent’s Red Flag and just got their discovery set, excited to try Corn Star. Pearfat’s Knee High is also a recent favorite.

If you had to pick a signature scent right now, what would it be?

A: I’m going to cheat and pick two due to seasons. For spring/summer: Glass Blooms by Regime des Fleurs, probably my most recommended on here (ethereal musky rose), and for fall/winter: Grand-Ile by Nissaba (spicy vanilla heaven). (See my other ride or dies here.)

C: Hmmm…for right now, like that this very second, I am going to say Ichnusa because it goes so crazy in summer humidity and reminds me of Italy and not being fried in the sun in south Jersey, which I currently am. If I had to pick a signature scent for life? I would suffer immensely. Maybe Macanudo? Or just beg the gods to make me smell like wet soil, like I just dug a grave, I don’t know.