Aftelier: The Aftel Archive of Curious Scents

Tucked away in a North Berkeley driveway is a tiny gateway into a vast universe of scents.

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It's 79 beautiful degrees in Oakland right now. How many La Croix are too many La Croix? #lacroixblems

Multiple people contacted me to let me know about this: The War On Drugs covers Touch of Grey.

Even better: there's going to be a new Steve Gunn album out on Matador in June. I absolutely love his last release, Way Out Weather. So much so that I saw him twice at Fun Fun Fun Fest this past November. The new album art even features a geodesic dome.

I love a good, classic stripe. This new direct-to-consumer line (or ligne, rather) has all kinds of fashion backing with ex-Vogue editors at the helm and advisors from Manrepeller's Leandra Medine to Warby Parker and Rag & Bone execs, and a cool mix of classic and on-trend stripe styles.

Getting sort of obsessed with micro saving with this app. It's amazing how just adding a picture of the thing you're saving for adds motivation and makes it feel fun to check in on (mine's a desert trailer).

I tried on this perfume at the Ali Golden shop in Temescal Alley this weekend and I think I fell in love (mimosa flower).

I was going to be incensed if our Sunday NYT got stolen off our porch again this am, and rightly so. The culture issue of T Magazine within contains so much brain food and eye candy, from the amazingly arranged meeting and conversation between Gucci's Alessandro Michele and Vetements/Balenciaga designer Demna Gvasalia to the story of dystopian/futuristic late '60s design group Superstudio to a very interesting article about what goes on behind the scenes at the Met.

Photo via Chay Shop

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D.S. & Durga just announced that they're now producing samples of their lovely, complex scents. I smell the next test fest coming on.

If money were no object: this new Hermès furniture.

Solange Knowles just launched e-commerce on her site Saint Heron.  It's filled with (surprisingly affordable) fashion, beauty and even candy created by a group of diverse designers. If you love her totally on-point Instagram, you'll love the vibes and editorial shots. I'd be excited to try this prickly pear face serum (love everything prickly pear).

Coveting one of these super tall, super wide-brimmed Stetson hats designed in collaboration with photographer Tasya van Ree.

Totally obsessed with this song right now.

Image via Saint Heron

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On my holiday wish list this year: ridiculously fancy candles by Astier de Villate, specifically Rue St. Honoré, Oulan Bator and Namche Bazaar (their site is worth a visit for the design alone).

Serial is back. And because I love Tim so much, I'm waiting until we can drive around listening to it together as we did with season one, even though I spend hours in the car each week on my commute.

Maybe it's the holiday season, but I'm loving the idea of tuxedo details right now.

Inspired by this restaurant designer whose interiors are so sophisticated and whose methods are so DIY.

Super cozy winter recipe.

Majorly excited for this movie release. Pretty much planning xmas around it. Want a western hat with pom poms on it.

Different genre of pom poms, but love the exaggerated one on this cute winter hat.

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We've been busy moving and painting our whole apartment. It makes me feel really accomplished to look at pristine, minimalist white walls (we lived with a bunch of colors we weren't stoked on for a long time), but omg is it time consuming. So here are some things from the past couple of weeks.

I ♥ podcasts. Here are seven fashion podcasts to subscribe to.

I really want to watch this documentary on Richard Neutra's Oyler house.

Stripes and turquoise: two things I can always get behind.

New perfumier Ex Nihilo is doing futuristic and amazing things with fragrance. They have a bespoke perfume-generating machine called the Osmologue and one scent, Bois D'Hiver, is described as an iron fist in a velvet glove. As a sometime philosopher, I love their name.

These cool candle holders.

Are you worried about what you're not doing? I often am.

Test Fest: Blackbird Ballard

It’s been a bit since the last test fest, but finally the perfect opportunity came up. My friend Alice recently bought a set of eight testers from Blackbird Ballard. Based out of Seattle, Blackbird’s line of perfumes, incense and other apothecary-type items are an offshoot of their (now defunct) menswear shop. Their scents are nontraditional, unique and often unisex, which is right up my alley. I decided to take a break from Byredo's Mojave Ghost for the day and test them out with Alice to see what they conjured up. Aside from Moto Oud, which was the first to pique her interest and how she found Blackbird, we didn’t read any of the descriptions until after we’d tested them out. From a rich hippie's house to juniper and money, read on for our impressions and hop over to their site where they are having a factory seconds sale (word has it these sell out fast).

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Cult fragrance brand Byredo has just opened its first US store in Soho, and Style.com published this fascinating interview with the brand's Creative Director, Ben Gorham on everything from the unique way the space was designed to accommodate discovering product and talking about bespoke creations to his project to create dream-inducing toothpaste (!!). This one will definitely be on the list for my next NYC visit.

Speaking of fragrance, this article on Glossier explains how to spray perfume so it lasts (hint, in your hair). I love the word sillage.

Mansur Gavriel designers Rachel Mansur and Floriana Gavriel won the CFDA's Swarovski Award for Accessory Design this past week. At the event they revealed their plans to expand their line by wearing adorably coordinated new clothing, shoes and accessories they'd designed. If their minimal dresses, suede sandals and clutches are anywhere near as popular as their cult bucket bags, good luck getting your hands on them.

I feel like it's time for a chic barette.

It's finally starting to feel like summer, which means I'm looking forward to one of my favorite vegetarian grilling recipes.

Photo via Byredo.

Palo Santo

Lately I've really been enjoying Palo Santo. Light it on fire for a moment, blow out the flame and you're greeted by curls of fragrant smoke. It's relaxing and smells wonderful. Even fresh out of the package before you light it, it has a woody scent that's both fresh and deep, with notes of vanilla.

It's an easy, satisfying ritual, and a welcome punctuation before meditation, cozy reading in bed, going to sleep or just hanging out. It can clear the air, clear your head, and if you like to think of it that way, clear the energy of a space.

Palo Santo sticks are reusable, so you can light the same one many times. It gives me a reason to put my matchbook collection to good use (I tend to pick them up from favorite places like Deetjens and Camino), and also to pick up pretty ceramics — I love the mottled turquoise of this dish I found at Reliquary. Whether it's symbolic or just a good smell, Palo Santo is something lovely to keep in your home.

Test Fest: Serge Lutens Ambre Sultan & Byredo Mojave Ghost

Lately I've been indulging my penchant for fragrances by buying testers. It's the perfect way to try out scents without the commitment or trip to a department store or boutique. I've found it interesting to try a few scents over the same period of time to play them against each other, tease out their different qualities or similarities, and to pick a favorite or even my next full-bottle purchase. 

This round, I sought out scents from two perfumers that are always popping up on cool girls' wishlists and beauty shelves: Byredo's newly released Mojave Ghost and Serge Lutens' Ambre Sultan. Byredo's Ben Gorham takes an approach to developing scents that's exactingly aesthetic and up-to-the-minute but also rooted in nostalgia and dreams. Serge Lutens is a French photography, beauty and perfume creative known for styling for the likes of Vogue and Richard Avedon (also a hero of Riccardo Tisci), and I was inspired to pick Ambre Sultan after my Q&A with The Cut's Editorial Director, Stella Bugbee, who's also scent obsessed.

I expected Mojave Ghost to be a musky, desert-y unisex scent based on the name and description, so I was surprised when I was met with the smell of sweet pear with my first spritz. I have to admit it was more feminine than I thought it would be, and it was so different from what I expected that I was put off. But of course with scents, you have to wait and see. When the tropico-floral top notes settled down, what enveloped me was a lighter, more subtle muskiness that said: refined; pulled-together; womanly; expensive; esoteric; bohemian; intoxicating.

Ambre Sultan I also expected to be musky, mysterious and unisex, and in this case it turned out to be closer to true. Without the floral aspect of Mojave Ghost, it was a straight-ahead but deep and moody  take on sandalwood. At first I thought it settled into whiffs of grandpa-cologne territory, but more and more it ended up feeling: feminine; powdery; rich; spicy; far-flung; powerful; soft.  

I'm not sure I could choose a favorite between these two as they offer very different and compelling moods. But I have a feeling I'll still be thinking about them both when the testers run out, and then time will tell.

Byredo Mojave Ghost

When it comes to scents, the more exotic, unisex and dusty desert-inspired the better, as far as I'm concerned. I'm still hanging on to my last bottle of D.S. & Durga's  Cowgirl Grass, using it slowly and sparingly on special occasions or whims, but ever since it became clear it's been discontinued, I've been on the hunt for something to replace it  So when I saw Byredo's newly released scent Mojave Ghost on both Vogue and Harper's Bazaar last week, I knew I had to try it.