• Perfumer: commodity

• Nose: Christelle Laprade

• Origin: NYC

• Season: Autumn & Winter

Kelley’s Notes

This is a fragrance built on contrast. Tonka bean opens creamy and sweet, but with shadowed depths of almond, spice, tobacco, and hay. Marshmallow adds its soft, pillowy sweetness, wrapped in a caramelized skin of burnt sugar. Then comes the smoke—the distinct bite of charred wood, grounding the sweetness in something darker, more dangerous. Amber glows beneath it all: resinous, rich, and honeyed, but with a playful streak of sugar.

Milk+ is a cold nose nestled in a warm neck wrapped in a soft, cashmere sweater. It’s a sweet nightcap—amber liquid in fractaled crystal—in a dark, smoky bar. A corner table for two: fingers intertwined, legs tangled, tiramisu shared by candlelight. Heavy-lidded eyes and dusky voices through lips parted in intimate smiles. It is sweetness singed, marshmallow blistered at the edges, a soft kiss that ends with a tiny bite—rippling awake. Sensuality laced with sin. Milk+ yearns to be pulled closer, to have its layers uncovered, its secrets savored.

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When to Wear

Wear it when the air is sharp with cold, when wool and cashmere feel like both armor and invitation. Wear it when you’re layered and complex, kittenish yet commanding, luminous but shadowed. Wear it when you want to be both a warm cookie dusted in powdered sugar and the smoldering fire that toasts it.

Fragrance Notes

• Top: warm marshmallow, toasted sesame seeds

• Heart: mahogany wood, tonka bean

• Base: amber, firewood

Pair It With

Your sexiest black bra and panties under a creamy sweater, black tights, and smokey eyeshadow with a lip gloss that tastes like sugar.

Witch’s Work

Like the perfume itself, this ritual is a study in contrasts—sweetness made smoky, warmth wrapped in shadow.

Purpose:
To awaken the warmth beneath your softness — the part of you that glows quietly, even when wrapped in shadow.

You’ll need:

• A candle

• Your favorite perfume (Milk+, if you have it)

• A small piece of chocolate, toasted marshmallow, or other sweet you love

• Something soft to wrap around your shoulders

Steps:

1. Light the candle. Watch the flame flicker and breathe in the first wisp of smoke — a reminder that sweetness and fire are kin.

2. Anoint yourself. Apply perfume to your pulse points: wrists, neck, behind the knees. As you do, whisper:
   “I honor the warmth within my softness.
   I am sugar and smoke, flame and skin.”

3. Taste the sweetness. Let the chocolate or marshmallow melt on your tongue. Feel it warm and soften, spreading through you like pleasure.

4. Wrap yourself. Pull the fabric close around your shoulders. Feel your body’s heat rise beneath it — your own hearth.

5. Sit in the glow. Breathe in your scent, the candle’s warmth, the sweetness lingering on your lips. Let yourself be both comfort and desire — soft, glowing, alive.

• Perfumer: bjork and berries

• Nose: Isabelle Lewenhaupt

• Origin: Sweden

• Season: Late Autumn & Winter

Kelley’s Notes

This scent conjures red berries and pine boughs resting beneath a blanket of frozen stillness.

White Forest is acorn fairies in white chocolate chip caps and woolen mittens. They stomp their tiny feet through snow-dusted woods, foraging for red berries and pinecones. Puffs of breath like cotton balls hover above the forest floor, below towering pine trees. Their laughter rings like icicles suspended in cold air.

When to Wear

There’s something a little ghostly about this scent—like a curl of candle smoke pressed against a frozen windowpane. Wear it when you're pink-cheeked and frostbitten, sitting by the fire in your softest sweater, sipping spiced apple cider. Wear it when the weather begs you to stay inside with your journal open and smoky jazz playing low.

Fragrance Notes

• Top: bergamot, black currant, lemon

• Heart: violet, lily of the valley

• Base: vetiver, tonka bean, cedarwood

On my skin, White Forest starts like a holiday spiced cake with citrus and berries. It dries down to a creamier version - spiced cake with lemon cream drizzle.

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Pair It With

Pair it with White Chocolate Peppermint tea, a cream colored sweater, and Ben Webster.

Witch’s Work

White Forest is a sacred scent for stillness—a reminder that hibernation is not stagnation, but wisdom. Spray it gently on your wrists or scarf before journaling on a winter afternoon.

Write down the parts of yourself that long to rest:

• Dreams that need time, not urgency

• Expectations you’re ready to release

• Roles you’re tired of playing

Name them without shame. You're not giving up—you're letting them sleep. Light a candle. Brew something warm. Imagine the forest floor under snow: everything alive, but still. When you're ready, close your journal and whisper:

I honor the quiet within me. I am still, and I am sacred.

• Perfumer: Bon Parfumeur

• Nose: Quentin Bisch & Amélie Jacquin

• Origin: France

• Season: Autumn & Winter

Kelley’s Notes

From the first breath, Myrrh Shadow strikes like a match in the dark — citrus flashing before curling into smoke. Cinnamon warms the air, pepper sparks the edges, and then the woods and resins gather in a velvet hush. It is chimney smoke and candlelight, incense coiling through quiet rooms, the damp forest floor underfoot as leaves soften back to earth.

This fragrance is autumn embodied: wool-blanketed picnics beneath trees ablaze in marigold and crimson, apples sliced as they are picked, coffee steaming against chilled fingers. Vanilla and benzoin sweeten the edges; patchouli, cedar, and myrrh keep it shadowed, resinous, and a little dangerous.

Wearing it is like surrendering to autumn’s embrace — melancholy, mystery, romance, and the soft magic of shorter days.

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When to Wear

On gray days when the weather seems to understand you. On solitary walks when the air smells of woodsmoke. In cafés where the windows fog, pen in hand, journal open. On nights when you crave intimacy with yourself or another, wrapped in wool and warmth.

Fragrance Notes

• Top: Bitter orange essence, grapefruit, blackcurrant bud absolute

• Heart: Basil, cinnamon bark, timut pepper, French cypress

• Base: Atlas cedar, akigalawood, patchouli heart, resinous myrrh, benzoin, vanilla, cosmone

Pair It With

Something dark, something rich, something sinful.

Witch’s Work

Myrrh Shadow makes a potent companion for rituals of release. Burn a slip of paper scrawled with what you’re ready to let go, watching smoke thread upward as the perfume echoes it on your skin. Pair it with a grounding stone — obsidian or smoky quartz — to anchor the transformation. Spray before journaling on what lies in shadow within you.

• Perfumer: bjork and berries

• Nose: Isabelle Lewenhaupt

• Origin: Sweden

• Season: Autumn & Winter

Kelley’s Notes

This scent conjures tweed blazers with elbow patches, worn leather chairs, and the quiet rustle of crisp autumn days.

Creamy cappuccinos and tobacco leaves curl together like sentences in a well-worn book. It’s Oxford in autumn, or a hidden university library, where you wander in a tweed blazer with leather elbow patches, the scent of old paper trailing behind you. Think dark academia with a hint of Ralph Lauren — a life filled with handwritten letters, croissants still warm from the oven, jazz humming from the speakers, and The New York Times folded beside you. You're wearing his oversized white button-down, bare-legged and barefoot, wrapped in morning light and memory.

When to Wear

Wear this on crisp fall days as you drift between antique shops and secondhand bookstores, a velvet ribbon in your hair and a vintage messenger bag slung across your body. Let the scent linger over tiny café tables, where cappuccinos cool between sips of philosophical conversation and glances that feel like breathing room.

Fragrance Notes

• Top: green apple, cassis

• Heart: black tea, lush green

• Base: vetiver, patchouli, birch tree

On my skin, Botanist opens with the warmth of cognac-hued leather and black tea, then melts into something creamy and soft, grounded in an elegant, masculine warmth — like wrapping myself in his cashmere scarf.

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Pair It With

Pair it with horn-rimmed reading glasses, penny loafers, and a touch of beautiful melancholy.

Witch’s Work

Inspired by the scent of worn libraries, golden light, and ideas passed like secrets.

What you’ll need:

• A mug of steeping Earl Grey (bergamot sharpens the mind)

• A bay leaf and a pen

• A favorite book, well-loved and underlined

• A piece of citrine or carnelian (for confidence and clear communication)

The spell:
As your tea steeps, write a word on the bay leaf — something you wish to bring to your next conversation: charm, clarity, connection, brilliance. Place the leaf between the pages of your book like a pressed wish. Hold the book and cup in your hands and say:

“Let my words find the minds they’re meant for.
Let my voice move like warm honey.
May thoughts unfold like petals in those who listen.”

Drink the tea, tuck the stone into your bag or pocket, and carry the book with you that day. The bay leaf may stay pressed inside until the wish is fulfilled.

• Perfumer: Régime des Fleurs

• Nose: Alia Raza & Chloe Sevigny

• Origin: New York

• Season: All seasons

Kelley’s Notes

Little Flower is an overgrown garden hidden behind a rusted wrought-iron gate, air thick with rose blossoms. It is a Victorian manor shrouded in candlelight, where dark velvet drapes cloak rooms in mystery and sconces drip wax like slow time. Secret passageways and tendrils of incense twist into nowhere. Dust settles on the spines of forgotten books. Wine-colored rugs absorb the light, and somewhere—a room you’ve never entered—comes the sound of a child’s laughter, airy as perfume in an empty hall. It is mystery and séance, spellcraft and shadow—haunting, delicate, and impossible to pin down.

When to Wear

Anoint yourself with Little Flower when you long to be a Victorian ghost—ethereal ungraspable, your presence felt more than seen. Wear it for candlelit chess with a stranger whose eyes suggest secrets, or for a rainy afternoon in a library café, your coat shedding droplets onto tiled floors as you cradle a mug of bergamot tea and lose yourself in a weathered book. Let it accompany low-voiced philosophy on the couch, silk draped over your shoulders, hair a little wild, time unhurried and the air thick with possibility.

Fragrance Notes

• Top: Blackcurrant Bud, Pomelo, Peony

• Heart: Ottoman Rose, Honeysuckle, Black Tea, Bleeding Heart

• Base: Palo Santo, Gaiuac Wood, Musk

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Pair It With

A lush silk scarf tied around your neck, a worn copy of Rebecca, and an air of mystery and melancholy.

Witch’s Work

Uncork Little Flower and feel the weight of the bottle in your hands. Close your eyes. Anoint the hollow of your throat, the curve of your wrists, the small compass points behind your knees. With each spritz, breathe in and imagine a garden blooming behind your ribs—roses opening in slow motion, vines twining around your bones, blackcurrants ripening in the heat of your pulse.

Whisper a truth you’ve never said aloud, letting the words coil through the air like smoke from a candle just snuffed. See yourself as a flicker in the corner of a stranger’s eye, the ghost of a smile that lingers when you leave the room.

Walk into your evening like you are walking into a velvet-draped séance, certain that everyone you pass can feel the spell settling on their skin.

• Perfumer: Nette

• Nose: Carol Han Pyle

• Origin: New York

• Season: Four Seasons

Kelley’s Notes

The intimacy of another’s skin scent. Coco Fleur doesn’t announce itself; it lingers close, whispering rather than speaking. It invites. It begs to have a cold nose nestled into the soft skin of your neck, convincing anyone who inhales that this is not perfume at all, but your own hypnotic essence.

Orange flower and ylang ylang open the composition, bright but not sharp—immediately softened by a creamy swirl of coconut milk that drapes the florals in silk. Sandalwood grounds it with depth, a quiet hum that anchors the airy sweetness.

I expected Coco Fleur to be a sun-drenched summer fragrance, but all the notes coalesce into something far more versatile. Its creaminess tempers the brightness, making it equally suited for crisp winter days when you’re wrapped in an oversized cashmere sweater, journal in hand, steam rising from a cup of tea. If you once loved Versace’s Crystal Noir, imagine its sensual cousin—softer, subtler, and infinitely more wearable.

Words that come to mind when I smell this scent: warm, soft, skin, intimate, embrace, comfort, bedroom, languor.

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When to Wear

Coco Fleur is for days when you are soft, unrushed, embodied. When you wake slowly, choosing presence over productivity, greeting the day through your senses.

• Summer: wear it with sand beneath you, the sun warm on your skin, eyes closed against the brightness while you linger in the glow.

• Autumn/Winter: let it be your companion when the weather cools and you crave closeness—the scent of familiar skin curled against yours. Wear it with a cashmere sweater and steaming tea, a leather-bound journal beneath your fingertips.

• Spring: let it feel like a fresh embrace, a reminder that intimacy isn’t always loud or demanding; sometimes it’s a whisper, an invitation.

Fragrance Notes

• Top: Bergamot Oil, Pink Pepper CO2 LMR

• Heart: Ylang Madagascar Organic LMR, Orange Flower Absolute Tunisia LMR

• Base: Ambrette Absolute LMR, Coconut Milk, Sandalwood New Caledonia LMR

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Pair It With

Something soft against your body—a slip dress, a cashmere wrap, or linen that softly crumples. On your lips, something sweet and balmy; hair undone, as if you just woke from a dream you’d rather not shake off.

Witch’s Work

Anoint yourself with Coco Fleur when you want to blur the line between self and lover, when you want your presence to feel sensual, yet comforting. It’s a spell of intimacy—of closeness and belonging—woven not with volume but with nearness. Think of it as a fragrant charm for drawing others in, without ever needing to ask.

• Perfumer: Dedcool

• Origin: Los Angeles

• Season: Autumn and winter, or year-round at bedtime

Kelley’s Notes

This smells like childhood—not of a specific moment, but of a feeling. A soft blur of warmth and sweetness, like sunlight through the kitchen window or the comfort of your favorite blanket. There’s brown butter and powdered sugar, but they don’t scream dessert—they hum with quiet familiarity.

Vanilla and milk swirl together in a tender lullaby, softened by a whisper of golden caramel. And at its heart: the delicate sweetness of cereal milk left behind in the bowl, sugary and warm, like a memory you can’t quite place but never forgot.

It’s less perfume, more imprint—something that lingers like love long after it’s gone. It doesn’t shout — it sighs. It wraps around you like your favorite blanket —threadbare, familiar, still faintly scented with stories.

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When to Wear

Wear Mochi Milk when the air is cool and your softest pajamas call you to linger. When the world outside is too much and your bed feels like the only true place. When your hair’s still damp from a hot bath, your journals are waiting, and your thoughts feel tender. I wear it on evenings meant for daydreaming, for writing letters I may never send, for rereading the same paragraph three times just to feel it fully. It’s a scent for quiet spells—when you want to smell like softness, like memory, like home.

🧴 Fragrance Notes

• Top: Marshmallow, Peach Nectar, Enveloping Incense

• Heart: Sweet Rice Milk, Vanilla Bean, Jasmine Petals

• Base: Australian Sandalwood, Sensual Amber, White Musk

Pair It With

The softest pajamas, a snuggly bed bunny, and your favorite Fairy Milk recipe.

Witch’s Work

This scent calls for a gentler kind of magic—one rooted in memory and comfort.
Light a single candle, trimming its wick with care. Spritz Mochi Milk onto your pulse points—wrists, neck, over your heart. As the scent settles, place both hands over your chest and whisper:

“I return to the self who needed softness.
I remember what she loved.
I keep her safe in scent and shadow.
I carry her forward, sweet and whole.”

Wrap yourself in something familiar: an old sweater, a worn scarf, a quilt with a story. Let the ritual end not with action, but stillness. Journal if it calls to you. Sleep if it doesn’t. Let the scent become a spell—one that comforts, cocoons, and restores.

Below are some videos that highlight some of the shops and brands that I fell in love with along the way. Nothing beats seeing them in person, but these will scratch the itch until you can make your own journey.

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Astier de Villatte

Bienaimé

Officine Universelle Buly

Shakespeare and Company

Sézane

My Paris Perfume Tour: A Scented Pilgrimage

Last week, I went to Paris on a personal pilgrimage—not to see the Mona Lisa or climb the Eiffel Tower, but to follow my nose. This was a fragrance journey, long-dreamed-of and soul-stirred, an exploration of the boutiques and maisons that shape the world of scent. This guide is part memoir, part map—a trail of petals and patchouli for anyone who wants to smell their way through Paris.

Arrival

I arrived by train from London, journaling as the countryside blurred past in streaks of green and gray. After five days with family in London and three in the Cotswolds with my husband, this final solo stretch in Paris was the closing chapter of my journey before heading home to California.

To be honest, I was tired. I’d visited Paris three times in the last nine years, and after my 2022 trip, I’d declared I had no reason to return. But the best flights were out of Charles de Gaulle, and I couldn’t resist two uninterrupted days of perfume pilgrimage. So I pressed on, ambivalent but curious.

The moment I stepped into the taxi queue outside Gare du Nord, that ambivalence vanished. Paris hit me like a slow exhale—familiar and beautiful, even from the train station sidewalk. As a stylish man passed by, I snapped a photo and thought, how could I ever not want to come back here? My excitement bloomed as we rolled toward my hotel in Le Marais.

Day One

📍 Dover Street Parfums Market
📌 11 bis Rue Elzevir, 75003 Paris
✨ Vibe: Cool, industrial, stripped-down. The kind of place you can go slow and breathe it all in.

Armed with my umbrella and Apple Maps, I headed into the rain toward my first stop: Dover Street Parfums Market. Sleek, minimal, and airy, the space felt like an art gallery of scent. The staff were warm but unintrusive, giving me freedom to explore. I was delighted to find Regime des Fleurs, Fischersund, and Commodity—all beautifully curated. I left with no bottles but plenty of excitement, already buzzing with what was to come.

📍 Officine Universelle Buly 1803
📌 19 Rue Vieille du Temple, 75004 Paris
✨ Vibe: Witchy apothecary of the 1800s. Where voices are hushed, spells are cast, and magic clings to your coat hem as you leave.

I waited nearly thirty minutes to enter Buly 1803, the rain miraculously pausing just long enough for my turn. Inside, it was less shop, more time capsule: 19th-century apothecary counters, handwritten labels, eau triple perfumes, balms, and brushes like talismans. They were out of my desired scent—Scandinavian Redcurrant and Peruvian Tomato—but I found a divine body lotion (Lait Virginal Eritrean Myrrh) and a pin-tail comb I couldn’t resist. They engraved it on the spot. My purchases were boxed and sealed with hand-calligraphed stickers bearing my initials. I’ll return every time I’m in Paris.

📍 Kilian Paris
📌 40 Rue Vieille du Temple, 75004 Paris
✨ Vibe: A modern apothecary disguised as a champagne bar.

The next stop, Kilian Paris, was small and a bit too quiet. Both associates were busy, and the scents didn’t sing to me, so I made a graceful exit, unspritzed and unclaimed.

📍 Shakespeare & Company
📌 37 Rue de la Bûcherie, 75005 Paris
✨ Vibe: Bohemian. Literary. Timeworn. Sacred.

Crossing the Seine toward my final destination of the day, I paid homage to a different kind of fragrance—the musty magic of old books. Yes, Shakespeare & Company is touristy. But it’s also iconic, and this was my first visit. I waited just five minutes before being ushered into the storybook atmosphere. No photos allowed, but I swooned over the upstairs nook and left with a canvas tote and a slim book of poetry in my hands.

That night, I sat at a corner bistro with a pint of beer and a hot, well-earned pizza. Back in my hotel, I unpacked my treasures, re-read my itinerary, and fell asleep eager for more.

Day Two

📍 Sézane
📌 1 Rue Saint-Fiacre, 75002 Paris
✨ Vibe: Your favorite French girl’s impossibly chic apartment.

Though not a perfume house, I couldn’t resist popping into Sézane. I’ve shopped online before, but the physical space is charming—intimate and styled to perfection. I left with three belts, two sweaters, and a darling travel makeup bag.

📍 Nose
📌 20 Rue Bachaumont, 75002 Paris
✨ Vibe: Refined and immersive. A cathedral of scent.

At Nose, I lingered long. The walls were lined with treasures: Chambre52, Ex Nihilo, D’Orsay. I moved slowly, reverently—until catastrophe struck. While removing a cap, the atomizer popped off and a geyser of perfume splashed across my face, into my mouth, and all over my right shoulder. The scent? A noxious, grandma-esque cloud that clung with determination. I left reeking of regret and vintage talc, laughing (and gagging) through my horror.

📍 Astier de Villatte
📌 173 Rue Saint-Honoré, 75001 Paris
✨ Vibe: Like you’ve time-traveled to an artisan’s chateau.

I sought refuge at Astier de Villatte, where handcrafted ceramics and small luxuries made everything feel sacred again. I bought a serving dish for my upstate kitchen and an incense holder that felt like it had been waiting for me. This place is a ritual all its own.

📍 Maison Francis Kurkdjian
📌 5 Rue d'Alger, 75001 Paris
✨ Vibe: Polished, pristine, and popular.

Yes, they make Baccarat Rouge 540, the love-it-or-leave-it caramelized cloud of band-aids and burnt sugar. I actually like the extrait version, but I don’t wear it—too ubiquitous. Instead, I rediscovered Gentle Fluidity. It smells like golden hour on vacation: sun-warmed skin, Aperol Spritz, a balcony overlooking Lake Como.

📍 Librairie Galignani
📌 224 Rue de Rivoli, 75001 Paris
✨ Vibe: Elegant, hushed, and wood-floored—like a secret library that welcomes you home.

Around the corner, I wandered into Galignani, the oldest English-language bookstore in continental Europe. It was quieter, more refined than Shakespeare & Co., and I was charmed by the art books and displays. I left with a guide on butterflies—written in French—to adorn my summer altar back home.

📍 Jovoy Parfums
📌 4 Rue de Castiglione, 75001 Paris
✨ Vibe: Like rummaging through your rich uncle’s mysterious closet.

Dark wood, amber lighting, glowing bottles—Jovoy is a world unto itself. I discovered Alien Fruit 30.03 by Neydo (redcurrant and musk, pure summer fun), Eve by Stephanie de Bruijn (a skin scent kissed with peach and sugar), and the showstopper: Magic Mushrooms by Bohoboco. Cypress, grapefruit, cannabis, vetiver, moss, and yes—mushrooms. Its bright pink hue belied its earthy strangeness. With nose fatigue (and the lingering horror of yesterday’s accidental dousing), I left with no bottles but plenty of plans to order samples.

📍 Bienaimé
📌 30 Rue Saint-Roch, 75001 Paris
✨ Vibe: Art Deco elegance with a hint of red lipstick and jazz.

My final planned stop: Bienaimé, a brand revived from the 1930s with dreamy packaging and an air of vintage glamor. Terrazzo floors, brass fixtures, pink and red accents. I picked up a hand cream, dry oil, lip balm, and left with a smile worthy of a powder compact.

📍 SAÏ Saint-Louis
📌 28 Rue Beautreillis, 75004 Paris
✨ Vibe: A witch’s sanctum crossed with a Parisian curiosity cabinet.

On my final evening stroll, I stumbled into SAÏ Saint-Louis—tiny, tucked away, and utterly magical. A single room brimming with vintage treasures, delicate jewelry, and strange, enchanting objects. I chose a ceramic rabbit head and a pair of vintage spice containers, packed them carefully into my new suitcase, and whispered my thanks to Paris.

Departure

At 5:30 a.m., my Uber arrived. The streets were still, the sky a soft gray. As I stepped toward the car, a flock of pigeons burst skyward with a thunder of wings—a cinematic farewell I’ll never forget.

To my surprise, I felt two longings at once: for home, and for more time in Paris. I made myself a quiet promise: I’ll return. Maybe for a vintage and flea market tour. Maybe for art and archives. Maybe just to wander. But I’ll come back, nose-first and heart-open, to a city that never fails to enchant me.

If You Go: Tips for Your Own Scented Sojourn

1. Go with a shortlist—but stay open.
Make a plan, but leave room for serendipity. Some of my favorite moments weren’t on the itinerary.

2. Wear fragrance-free clothing.
Your nose (and sweater) will thank you. A neutral canvas helps you truly experience each scent without interference—or disaster.

3. Carry tester strips and alcohol prep pads.
Some stores were out of scent strips, and having a stash came in handy. Use the wipes to remove scent from your skin so you can keep testing your favorites without mixing scents.

4. Take notes as you go.
You will forget which scent was in which bottle by the third stop. Jot down the names, notes, and how each one made you feel.

5. Embrace “nose fatigue.”
It’s real. Rest between shops, take snack breaks, and inhale the open air. A quick detour to a bookshop or café can reset your senses.

6. Step outside with your scent strips
Inside stores, it’s olfactory overload and can be difficult to smell anything. Find 3-5 scents you like, spray your scent strips, then step outside for a few moments. The fresh air will allow you to smell each scent clearly.

7. Don’t be afraid to leave empty-handed.
The magic often happens later, when you revisit a scent through memory—or order samples from home with fresh perspective.

8. Seek enchantment, not just purchase.
Let the whole ritual be the reward: the architecture, the storytelling, the quiet way a scent chooses you.

Saved for Next Time

There are always more doors to open. These spots were high on my list but didn’t make the cut—either due to time, location, or sheer sensory overload:

• Liquides Bar à Parfums – A hidden gem in the Haut Marais with a moody, bar-like ambiance and niche scents galore.

• Marie Antoinette Parfumerie – Said to be dripping in old-world charm and home to rare treasures.

• L’Officine Universelle Buly at Bon Marché – A larger, even more theatrical version of the boutique I visited.

• Diptyque (34 Boulevard Saint-Germain) – The flagship store of the famed candle and fragrance brand, complete with limited editions.

• Annick Goutal – A house rooted in romance and French elegance, with a soft, feminine touch.

• Sens Unique – A cozy shop with hard-to-find indie brands and a devoted following.

• Ex Nihilo (Rue Saint-Honoré) – For bold, architectural fragrances in a luxe setting.

• Parle Moi de Parfum – A family-run house tucked in the Marais, created by a legendary nose.

• Maison Crivelli – Known for multisensory installations and striking, unconventional notes.

• Perfumer: Parfums de Marly

• Nose: Quentin Bisch

• Origin: France

• Season: Spring and summer

Kelley’s Notes

This scent conjures gossamer linen grazing sun-warmed skin, kissed by light that glints across a shimmering sea.

Valaya is sweet peach nectar trailing down your forearm; sand-dappled skin on the shores of Lake Como, a Bellini in hand and a straw hat tilted just so. It’s a midsummer girl crush made of summer and sweat, of something golden and ungraspable. It’s a languid nap in afternoon sun, waking slowly as a sea breeze slips through gauzy curtains.

When to Wear

Wear Valaya when the sun feels like a lover, calling you into the light. When your skin glows and you remember your body is sacred, sensual, alive. Wear it with bare shoulders and loose hair, with no destination but the day itself. Carry a straw bag, a secret smile, and let the scent become your summer talisman.

Fragrance Notes

• Top: Bergamot, Mandarin, White Peach

• Heart: Orange Flower, Nympheal, Vetiver

• Base: Akigalawood, Ambrofix, Musk

On my skin, Valaya starts like warmed peach musk laced with white florals, and is one of the rare scents that dries down without much alteration. This is one of my favorite fragrances of all time.

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Pair It With

Pair it with a straw bag, white sunglasses, and this playlist.

Witch’s Work

Valaya is a spell for slowing time. A nectar-soft enchantment that drapes the day in silk and sun, awakening the senses one by one. She reminds you that to move slowly is to move with power—that pleasure is a portal, and presence is a prayer.

Anoint yourself with Valaya when you long to stretch the hours like honey, when you want the world to taste sweeter, feel softer, glow golden. She’s for ritual mornings with bare feet and warm tea, for licking juice from your fingers, for slipping into a dreamlike rhythm that turns the ordinary into the divine.

Wear her when you’re ready to be touched by everything—by breeze, by light, by the sheer beauty of being alive. Let her be the veil between you and the rush, the whisper that says: there’s no need to hurry, love—magic is already here.

• Perfumer: St. Clair Scents

• Nose: Diane St. Clair

• Origin: Vermont

• Season: Spring & Summer

Kelley’s Notes

This scent conjures golden fields of sun-warmed hay, sweet and fragrant beneath the early summer sky.

This is laundry billowing on the line beside a 1940s farmhouse, pale cotton dancing in the breeze. It’s the scent of fresh-cut hay—sweet, golden, and warm beneath the early summer sun. Rope swings over hidden lakes. Bare feet brushing tall grass. The soft cluck of chickens and the hush of sheep settling in for the night. This is a quiet farm in upstate New York, untouched by pings, posts, or timelines—just the hum of insects, the rustle of leaves, and the steady rhythm of a slower life.

When to Wear

Wear this scent as you read the newspaper in bed, morning light pooling across pale linen sheets, Ella Fitzgerald lilting from the record player. Wear it on sun-drenched afternoons when your skin warms beneath cotton eyelet and slender straps. Wear it when your heart aches tenderly for childhood summers—those endless, honeyed days that slipped into firefly-lit nights.

Fragrance Notes

• Top: Bergamot, Yuzu, Rosemary, Basil, Tomato Leaf Absolute

• Heart: Lavender Absolute, Rose De Mai, Rose Geranium, Immortelle Absolute

• Base: Hay Absolute, Tobacco Absolute, Oakmoss, Vanilla Absolute

On my skin, First Cut begins bright, clean, and filled with the scent of hay just bundled in the field. It softens quickly to a golden sweetness that is both powdered and honeyed. This scent smells like sweet hay in the best possible way.

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Pair It With

Pair it with a crisp glass of Sancerre, a white cotton sundress, and your vintage Polaroid camera slung over one shoulder—ready to catch the fleeting beauty of a world that still remembers how to be still.

Witch’s Work

A soft invocation for savoring the present and holding onto what is sweet, slow, and true.

What you’ll need:

• A bowl of fresh summer fruit (peach, fig, or apricot)

• A ribbon (cream, pale yellow, or soft rose)

• A small jar of local honey

• A sprig of dried chamomile or lavender

• A slip of paper and pen

The ritual:
Set your items before you as a quiet altar — the fruit representing sweetness, the herb symbolizing peace and presence.

On the slip of paper, write down a moment you want to remember — something quiet and lovely: sun through curtains, laughter at breakfast, bare feet in the grass. Fold the paper into a small square, place the herb sprig atop it, and tie them together gently with the ribbon.

Take a spoonful of honey on your tongue, then slowly eat the fruit, savoring its texture and warmth. As you do, close your eyes and say:

“Let this day linger like sunlight on skin.
Let joy stay soft in the folds of my memory.
Let time be slow where beauty lives.”

Tuck the ribbon-bound charm into a drawer, a journal, or beneath your pillow — a tiny talisman of sweetness and stillness. Let the herb’s scent remind you to move gently through your golden days.

• Perfumer: bjork and berries

• Nose: Isabelle Lewenhaupt

• Origin: Sweden

• Season: Spring & Summer

Kelley’s Notes

This scent conjures lemon cream, water lilies, and spring grass still wet with dew.

The woman wearing Never Spring drinks morning tea in the garden, floating over damp grass in a white embroidered nightgown. She journals often and listens more than she speaks. She talks to her plants, feeds the birds, and can grow anything. You’ll find her wandering botanical gardens or walking the shore—delicate, and a little wild.

She is spring, but tinged with melancholy. Lily of the valley with rain on the horizon. Tender blooms beneath a cool, gray sky.

When to Wear

Wear Never Spring on soft, slow mornings when you’re not quite ready to emerge. When the sky is overcast and the light is silver. When you plan to tend to your plants, write something tender, or take yourself to the museum alone. It’s for days when you need gentleness, introspection, and a quiet return to your own rhythms. When you feel delicate but rooted. When you’re blooming, but only just.

Fragrance Notes

• Top: lemon, blackberry, peach

• Heart: jasmine, cyclamen, bamboo

• Base: musk, cedarwood, amber

On my skin, Never Spring starts green and crisp, but dries down quickly to creamy citrus and green floral.

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Pair It With

Pair it with a white cotton nightgown, lavender lemon tea, and Alexis Ffrench.

Witch’s Work

Never Spring is for the rituals of renewal—when you’re calling yourself gently back to life. Burn a white candle, whisper your intentions into fresh water, and scatter flower seeds into the soil. Journal by a window while it rains. Wear it when tending to the unseen magic: healing, listening, and slow beginnings.