Curator's Journal

Maison Appalachia Balsam Grove extrait de parfum bottle, inspired by Tom Ford Oud Wood
Tom Ford Impressions: Five, Honestly Reviewed
Sanded-down oud, tobacco in a tin of dates, truffle and plum, expensive sunscreen and a barbershop fougère. Honest takes on five Tom Ford fragrances and the impressions we make of... Read more...
Maison Appalachia Grandfather Mountain extrait de parfum bottle, inspired by Xerjoff Alexandria II
Xerjoff Impressions: Five, Honestly Reviewed
Honey and tobacco, apple and oud, almond milk, a barbershop cologne and spice cake. Honest takes on five Xerjoff fragrances and the impressions we make of them. Read more...
Initio Impressions: Five, Honestly Reviewed
Vanilla over castoreum, almond-powder heliotrope, glowing sandalwood, rum and tobacco, and rose with caramel. Honest takes on five Initio fragrances and the impressions we make of them. Read more...
Maison Appalachia Chimney Rock extrait de parfum bottle, inspired by Maison Francis Kurkdjian Baccarat Rouge 540 Extrait
Baccarat Rouge 540 vs. the Extrait: Not the Same Fragrance
Same name, same house, different fragrance. What separates Baccarat Rouge 540 from the Extrait, which to pick, and the impressions we make of each. Read more...
Coffee Fragrances: Five, Honestly Reviewed
Coffee Fragrances: Five, Honestly Reviewed
A pirate ship, a dessert, a barbershop, a bar fight and a night out. Honest takes on five fragrances that use coffee on purpose, and the impressions we make of... Read more...
Tea Fragrances: Eight, Honestly Reviewed
Tea Fragrances: Eight, Honestly Reviewed
Oolong, green, black, and one Creed with no tea on the label at all. Honest takes on eight tea fragrances and the impressions we make of them. Read more...
Seven Cozy Perfumes for When It's Dark by Five
Seven Cozy Perfumes for When It's Dark by Five
Fireplace smoke, cognac, warm milk and honey, rum and coffee. Seven warm fragrances for the long nights between November and March, and the impressions we make of them. Read more...
If I Could Only Keep One House, It Would Be Amouage
If I Could Only Keep One House, It Would Be Amouage
Interlude Man, Jubilation XXV Man and Beach Hut Man: why Amouage is the one house I'd keep if I had to give up the rest. Read more...
Perfume Gifts Under $50 That Don't Look Last-Minute
Perfume Gifts Under $50 That Don't Look Last-Minute
Travel-spray trios, his-and-hers sets and $20 samplers. Fragrance gifts under $50 that get around the problem of guessing someone's taste. Read more...
Five Colognes to Pack for a Winter Caribbean Cruise (For Him)
Five Colognes to Pack for a Winter Caribbean Cruise (For Him)
Lime and coconut, orange and ginger, salt air and grapefruit. Five warm-weather colognes worth packing when you leave the mountains in February. Read more...
Five Perfumes to Pack for a Winter Caribbean Cruise (For Her)
Five Perfumes to Pack for a Winter Caribbean Cruise (For Her)
Yuzu, banana, coconut and sun-warmed florals. Five perfumes worth packing for a winter cruise, all in travel sprays that fit a carry-on. Read more...
Rose in Men's Fragrance: Stop Calling It Feminine
Rose in Men's Fragrance: Stop Calling It Feminine
Rose has a reputation as a women's note. The houses selling it to men don't seem to agree. What people get wrong about rose, five of ours where it does... Read more...
Sedley Has Designer DNA, and That's a Compliment
Sedley Has Designer DNA, and That's a Compliment
Parfums de Marly Sedley speaks the language of the designer counter. That isn't a knock. It may be the smartest thing about it. Read more...
Original Polo Stands Up to Anything on My Shelf. I Don't Even Sell It.
Original Polo Stands Up to Anything on My Shelf. I Don't Even Sell It.
A green bottle from 1978 that I don't even sell still stands up to everything on my shelf. Read more...
Yes, the Originals Are Better Than Our Impressions
Yes, the Originals Are Better Than Our Impressions
Yes, the originals are better. Claiming otherwise would insult you and the people who made them. Read more...
You Can't Smell Your Perfume. Everyone Else Can.
You Can't Smell Your Perfume. Everyone Else Can.
If you can't smell your fragrance anymore, it didn't go anywhere. Your nose just quit reporting it. Read more...
My Current Mount Rushmore of Early Fall Fragrances
My Current Mount Rushmore of Early Fall Fragrances
Warm afternoons, cold mornings, and the four fragrances that handle both. Read more...
Four Fragrances I Sell But Won't Wear
Four Fragrances I Sell But Won't Wear
Four faithful impressions I blend and sell, and the honest reasons I won't wear any of them. Read more...
Iris in Perfume: It's the Root, Not the Flower
Iris in Perfume: It's the Root, Not the Flower
Perfume iris comes from a root that smells like almost nothing when it's dug up. What it actually is, what people get wrong about it, and two of ours built... Read more...
Lost Cherry vs. Electric Cherry vs. Cherry Smoke: Tom Ford's Three Cherries, Compared
Lost Cherry vs. Electric Cherry vs. Cherry Smoke: Tom Ford's Three Cherries, Compared
Tom Ford makes three cherry fragrances, and they don't smell alike. Here's how Lost Cherry, Electric Cherry, and Cherry Smoke differ, and which one to buy. Read more...
Kilian Impressions: Five, Honestly Reviewed
Kilian Impressions: Five, Honestly Reviewed
Cognac, hard cider, iced vodka, rum-spiked coffee and marshmallow. Honest takes on five Kilian fragrances and the impressions we make of them. Read more...
Amouage Interlude Man Is a $395 Bonfire
Amouage Interlude Man Is a $395 Bonfire
Oregano, frankincense and smoke. An honest look at Amouage Interlude Man, the $395 fragrance people call the Blue Beast, and Burn Pile, our Holler Collection take on it. Read more...
Parfums de Marly Impressions: Five, Honestly Reviewed
Parfums de Marly Impressions: Five, Honestly Reviewed
Pegasus, Galloway, Layton Exclusif, Althaïr and Perseus. Honest takes on five Parfums de Marly men's fragrances and the impressions we make of them. Read more...
Five Calming Fragrances for When Everything Else Is Loud
Five Calming Fragrances for When Everything Else Is Loud
Five fragrances for when the day has been too much: Louis Vuitton Cactus Garden, Creed Asian Green Tea, Diptyque Philosykos, Penhaligon's A Balm of Calm, and Diptyque Tam Dao. Read more...
Louis Vuitton Imagination Is a $360 Cup of Tea
Louis Vuitton Imagination Is a $360 Cup of Tea
Louis Vuitton sells Imagination only through its own stores, at $360 for 100 mL. What's in it, how it wears, and where Whiteside Cove fits. Read more...
Creed Aventus Dupes: Four Versions, Compared
Creed Aventus Dupes: Four Versions, Compared
Aventus isn't really one fragrance anymore. There's the original, the batches collectors chase, the anniversary bottle, and Absolu. We make four versions, and they aren't interchangeable. Here's how they differ... Read more...
Ralph's Club New York Dupe: The Designer I Couldn't Cut
Ralph's Club New York Dupe: The Designer I Couldn't Cut
Most of what I make comes from niche houses, and that's on purpose. I've stopped adding designer fragrances to the catalog. I'd rather chase the odd, expensive, hard-to-find stuff the... Read more...
Killing Frost 30 mL — Marc-Antoine Barrois Ganymede dupe
Marc-Antoine Barrois Ganymede Dupe: What It Actually Smells Like
Ganymede is the fragrance people describe badly. Ask ten enthusiasts what it smells like and you'll get "salty," "metallic," "like a wet rock," "apricot leather," and at least one person... Read more...
Pencil drawing of an empty dirt road curving into fog at the edge of the woods
Haints: Eight Fragrances for the Things in the Woods
Everybody raised in these mountains has one. A light on a ridge nobody could account for. Something at the edge of the road that was too tall, or stood wrong.... Read more...
White blackberry blossoms covered in frost on a thorny cane, on a cold overcast morning in late spring.
What Is a Blackberry Winter?
A short glossary of Appalachian weather, work, and season. Most of the words below describe things that only matter if you do them yourself. Weather that only matters if you... Read more...
Penhaligon's Impressions: Five, Honestly Reviewed
Penhaligon's Impressions: Five, Honestly Reviewed
Penhaligon's sells theatre before it sells fragrance. The Portraits collection comes topped with ceramic animal heads — a stag, a ram, a hound — attached to Victorian characters with names... Read more...
Creed Fragrance Dupes: Five, Honestly Reviewed
Creed Fragrance Dupes: Five, Honestly Reviewed
Creed is the most copied house in men's fragrance, and it isn't close. Aventus alone has inspired more alternatives than any release since Cool Water. Walk into any fragrance forum... Read more...
Louis Vuitton Ombré Nomade Dupe: What It Actually Smells Like
Louis Vuitton Ombré Nomade Dupe: What It Actually Smells Like
Of the nine Louis Vuitton fragrances we blend impressions of, Ombré Nomade gets asked about more than the other eight combined. Here’s what it actually smells like, why it’s so... Read more...
Le Barbier Collection fragrance sampler — five extrait de parfum vials inspired by Creed, Tom Ford, Guerlain, Xerjoff, and Penhaligon's
Five Sunday Best Collection Fragrance Dupes, Honestly Reviewed
There's a specific genre of men's fragrance that never really goes out of style: lavender, cedar, a clean shot of citrus, maybe some spice or moss underneath. It's the scent... Read more...
Soleil Collection fragrance sampler — five extrait de parfum vials inspired by Louis Vuitton, Creed, Kilian, and Tom Ford
Five Summer Collection Fragrance Dupes, Honestly Reviewed
Summer fragrance has its own set of rules: brighter citrus, more salt and skin, less interest in being subtle. The houses that do it best — Louis Vuitton, Creed, Kilian,... Read more...
Hearth Collection fragrance sampler — five extrait de parfum vials inspired by Kilian, Xerjoff, Maison Margiela, and Parfums de Marly
Five Fireside Collection Fragrance Dupes, Honestly Reviewed
Cold-weather fragrance has a type: smoke, cognac, tobacco, resin, something that smells like a room with a fire going. The houses that do this best — Kilian, Xerjoff, Maison Margiela's... Read more...
Louis Vuitton Fragrance Dupes: Honestly Reviewed
Louis Vuitton Fragrance Dupes: Honestly Reviewed
Louis Vuitton fragrances occupy a strange position. They are expensive enough that most people never buy one, distributed narrowly enough that you cannot find them discounted anywhere, and good enough... Read more...
Tobacco: A Heritage Worth Remembering
Tobacco: A Heritage Worth Remembering
Tobacco has, for many, become a misunderstood crop. But for me, and for many who grew up in Appalachia, it was something else entirely. It was a heritage crop. My... Read more...
From Mall to Maison Appalachia
From Mall to Maison Appalachia
Long before I knew what a niche fragrance house was, I knew the fragrance counter at the department store. In high school, I loved stopping by those counters and discovering... Read more...