The Vanilla Milky Mochi Musk Matrix

Smell Ya Later

The hosts explore the booming trend of lactonic, milky, and gourmand skin scents, reviewing a slate of recent launches that range from ultra-luxury floral exclusives to accessible indie

Key takeaways

• Maison Margiela's Sensorium collection applies its couture 'deconstruction' philosophy to perfumery, fractionating molecules like patchouli to create rarefied, premium scents that justify their higher price points.
• YSL Beauty's Baby Cat won an Allure Best of Beauty award for Best Woody and generated strong positive reception at the brand's Soho Fashion Week block party event.

Main topics

• Lactonic and milky skin scent trend
• Premium private label fragrance launches

Notable quotes

"Can skin scents be gourmand? Can gourmand be a skin scent?"

Conclusion

The episode demonstrates how niche lactonic and vanilla architectures are

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:00) For many of us, going further isn't a choice. It's a feeling we can't ignore because ambition has a way of outgrowing where it began. Speaker 1 (0:11) Turning dreams into direction. Speaker 1 (0:17) Every journey brings us closer to the life we imagine. Speaker 1 (0:23) So, where will your journey take you? Etihad. Beyond Borders. Speaker 3 (0:39) Hello, welcome to another episode of Smell You Later, your favorite podcast about our undeniable opinions on scent. Speaker 2 (0:48) Yes, and they are undeniable. We just had a Smell You Later production meeting, pretty impromptu. Very exciting things coming. What's Speaker 3 (0:57) going to happen to us? Speaker 2 (0:59) That was the question. What's going to happen to us? Let's start the meeting off with a very existential question. Speaker 3 (1:05) Every day I wake up and I think, what's going to happen to me? Not now, though. Speaker 2 (1:09) Yeah. It is very fall vibes. And now we can all break out. Well, we don't seasonalize fragrances, but if we did. We do Speaker 3 (1:17) not. It's Christian Girl Autumn. Speaker 2 (1:19) Yes. It's fig fall. And I'm sticking with it. What false sense are you excited to break out? Speaker 3 (1:26) Oh, there's, you know what? Actually, I finally received a bottle of one of the Maison Margiela Sensorium scents. The one I really liked, Delight and Despair. Who the hell sent you that? It was Bold PR. I Speaker 2 (1:43) have to say of all these premium collections, that Margiela one is so good. I'm going to go get it. Oh, please. It's so good. You know what other premium collection? I think is worth the hype and the spend is the one from YSL. I Speaker 3 (1:57) smelled. Is that the Baby Cat one? Yeah. I still haven't Speaker 2 (2:00) smelled Baby Cat. You Speaker 3 (2:01) haven't? I haven't. And Baby Cat won a Allure Best of Beauty award. We should go through the Allure Best of Beauty scent winners. Speaker 2 (2:09) No, we should not. That will not get us anywhere positive. I Speaker 3 (2:13) think it's Best Woody. Anyway, I need to smell that. Speaker 2 (2:17) Everyone who smells Baby Cat. Loves it. It is definitely worth the... I'll bring it over. Okay. Speaker 3 (2:22) Okay. I couldn't fit it in my perfume Speaker 2 (2:23) purse today. Or Speaker 3 (2:23) I'll just bully them into sending me a insulting to ML Vile probably. Which like at this point, I'm like fine. Speaker 2 (2:31) No, they do like us. Wally handles them. Oh, I went to the YSL block party. Oh Speaker 3 (2:36) yeah, what Speaker 2 (2:36) was that? Take a guess how that was. It was crazy. Speaker 3 (2:39) No. It was fine. I simply... So Speaker 2 (2:41) for the end of fashion week, YSL threw a block party in Soho and... we were generously invited. I went because I have never RSVP'd no to anything. It's Speaker 3 (2:52) true. Speaker 2 (2:52) It was fun. I mean, it was a Saturday. We went early, so the line was very, very small. Speaker 3 (2:57) Line, let's see. Speaker 2 (2:58) I am too proud to wait in a line, but it was like 10 people long and Wally was at the front. I was like, okay, now I'm here. But it was cute. We just went and had a drink, saw a couple friends. Was there swag? Speaker 3 (3:07) Was there food? Speaker 2 (3:08) Yeah, there was swag. I think there was food. It was funny. There was this content person. Speaker 3 (3:15) with a Speaker 2 (3:15) content phone and they were like, you know, handing you the phone and then she was like, just like, you know, vibe out, check your face, like whatever. It's like a getting ready thing. And I was like, great, got it. And it had the Alex Earl light, hands it to me. I immediately drop it. I pick it up. The light falls off. Oh my Speaker 3 (3:31) God. And Speaker 2 (3:31) then I start doing what was asked and the guy next to me goes, you're not recording. I was like, you know what? Fuck me then. But it was fine. It was fun. Thank you YSL for having me. It was cute. It was one of those ones where you just see the content roll out for the next five days. Speaker 3 (3:45) It Speaker 2 (3:45) was basically just about YSL beauty in general. Lots of blushes, lots of perfume. Well, Speaker 3 (3:50) that's why I was like, did they get to play with anything? Not really. Yeah. See, I knew there wouldn't be any, like, there's no take-home value. Like, I don't want to be in a crowd. Speaker 2 (3:59) The take-home value is having fun with your friends. Speaker 3 (4:02) Fair, fair. If only you had friends. Anyway, Maison Marcella, Delay and Despair of the Sensorium Collection. Really, really, this is, it's hard to say because that event was like May. It was a long time ago, but I'm pretty sure the saffron one was the one that I really loved, of course. It's so good. It's so spicy and golden and round. Like Speaker 2 (4:23) leathery. Speaker 3 (4:24) Leathery. Ooh, Speaker 2 (4:25) this one is good. It's Speaker 3 (4:26) really good. And I feel like we haven't seen any fanfare. I've Speaker 2 (4:31) seen more recently these pop out in a couple of places that surprised me. I think both on social and in editorial. So they're making the rounds a bit. But, you know, I don't think they're supposed to have the sort of visibility that replica does. I think they're supposed to be a little bit more rarefied and they certainly are. But my God, are they good? I would I am, you know, for all of the premiumization in luxury fragrance that is happening, which, you know, I think more than anything just feels a little redundant. It Speaker 3 (4:59) is. I just filed a story about this for High Snobiety about why are all these fashion brands launching premium private lines now? And as we all know, I was like, the consensus is basically a money, but also because money is so tight in fashion and because fashion is so risk averse now, the fragrance, because fragrance has such high margins is where they can actually be artistic and expressive and be like, this is our statement in fragrance as a house. And we can actually like sell it to you. Well, they can like realize their creative ambitions and spend the money there. knowing they'll allegedly earn it back. Speaker 2 (5:39) Right, because no one's buying couture, but most people can buy a fragrance of some sort. Speaker 3 (5:43) I can't afford a Margiela bag, but I could afford this. They're not as expensive as it. They're like three something. So they're not like Rojas price points. Speaker 2 (5:52) They're expensive. They're splurgy, but they're still affordable. Speaker 3 (5:56) What Speaker 2 (5:56) is this, 3.4? That might be 50 actually. Speaker 3 (5:59) Oh, this is 75 ml. Speaker 2 (6:02) It's the Speaker 3 (6:02) European in-between size. Make up your mind. Speaker 2 (6:05) Well, I also think with Margiela, this is interesting from a brand standpoint, what has happened with them in the fragrance space. Because Margiela is very New York, very downtown, Speaker 1 (6:15) very Speaker 2 (6:16) edgy. It's still a cool girl brand. Speaker 1 (6:20) And Speaker 2 (6:20) Replica, their collection, has gone so mass. So mass, yeah. Speaker 2 (6:27) Everyone knows about it. Everyone's wearing it. I think that the fragrances have also gone pretty safe. Speaker 1 (6:32) Yeah. Which Speaker 2 (6:33) all of that is antithetical to Margiela as a house. Totally. So I think they were like, wait, no, no, no. We're still cool and expensive and put this one out. And like the line is great. Speaker 3 (6:44) What is really interesting that I learned in my research is that the house of Margiela, their whole thing is like deconstruction. approach to coutures. You can peel back the layers. You can see how everything was constructed. And so they tried to do that in an olfactory perspective where there's, it's not this scent. Okay. It's, I think it's fit a folly, the patchouli one where they basically deconstructed a patchouli molecule to basically get like, not the rawest form of it. Cause that would just be like the raw material, but they like fractionated this molecule to basically pick it apart. And then they picked, I don't know the best one that they liked. So it's Speaker 2 (7:20) a Speaker 3 (7:20) deconstructed patchouli, which I think is really interesting because it actually mirrors the couture. Sure. It's like, okay, you're actually walking, like, Speaker 2 (7:27) you're Speaker 3 (7:28) walking the walk here with these frequencies. Which is weird because they don't hero that out in the press. And I think they should. Speaker 2 (7:34) What do you mean? The deconstruction of it all? Yeah. Like, Speaker 3 (7:36) I had to kind of research that. Speaker 2 (7:38) The one that I really liked was, you know, shock, the warm, sweet, spicy one. And that one I'm still thinking about. I got to get my hands on that. They Speaker 3 (7:48) do sell 30 ml's of these, which I think is clever. Do they? Yeah. Normally with private lines, it's usually just the big one. So the fact that they have multiple sizes, I think is nice. Speaking Speaker 2 (8:00) of private lines that we do like, Guerlain sent me, it has a really chewy name, Spiritus Double Vanille or something along those lines. Really, really nice. We've talked about it before. I really like that private. Speaker 3 (8:13) They're good. A Speaker 2 (8:14) lot. They're quite, quite good. And you get a gallon of it. So it's a little bit like you're committing to this fragrance whether you want to or not. Speaker 3 (8:23) I think I remember that one from going to an event at one of the boutiques. I think it was in the Waldorf Astoria because that's their flagship question mark. But that one was one of their top sellers. Speaker 2 (8:37) It's Speaker 3 (8:37) a Speaker 2 (8:37) really just satisfying vanilla if that's what you're looking for. They put out that. What is it called? That vanilla that they brought back. That was. Speaker 3 (8:46) Vanilla planifolia. Thank you. Yeah. Speaker 2 (8:49) Allegedly like super rare, super expensive. Not my favorite take on vanilla. Not really for me. It Speaker 3 (8:54) was a little like dollhouse-y. It was a little Speaker 2 (8:55) Chalamar to me. Yeah. Speaker 3 (8:56) Like Speaker 2 (8:56) really heavy. But this one is a really just like smooth, craveable vanilla. Speaker 3 (9:02) What's your like actual favorite vanilla? Do you have one? Speaker 2 (9:04) Oh, my actual favorite vanilla? Yeah. Cali vanilla. Speaker 3 (9:06) Oh, you know what? I should have known. Speaker 2 (9:08) Listen. Yeah. Call it what it is. You know what? I was actually really, I know how this sounds coming from me, but I was actually really impressed by Vanilla this week. There's a new, I guess I said on mic conversation or off mic conversation. There's this new brand called Anecdotes from Artists. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you have them? I Speaker 3 (9:30) don't have them, but I have been unintentionally ignoring their emails. Okay. Because once my inbox reaches a certain level, I get too overwhelmed to act. Speaker 2 (9:37) Are you an inbox zero person? Yes. Oh, I used to be a then. I have to. That was one email I did not ignore. And I transparently, and I'm only saying this because it ends at somewhere positive, was, you know, they are, I guess we're a little too in the weeds. They're a Mesa brand. They launch exclusively in Sephora. So I'm like, okay, great. But I had them send. And they have one called Painted Petals, which was very much not for me. But if you like a juicy floral, you might like it. They have one called, I think like Wild Cousin or something, which is, that's like not the name, but it's like close to it. It's very, it was sort of actually like akin to like Naughty Nona from Snuff. It was boozy, sweet, spicy, nice. But oh my God, their vanilla, I'm sorry, is really, really impressive. And I sort of had a bitch ass attitude about it because I was like, Another vanilla from a straight to support brand. What's this going to be? Oh, Speaker 3 (10:38) wait. Okay. I'm looking at them now. I got so clowned. No, it Speaker 2 (10:42) is Wild Cousin. Okay. Is it? They Speaker 3 (10:45) actually look really good. And I was curious about this. Oh, I Speaker 2 (10:47) should have brought them over. Speaker 3 (10:48) Yeah. I'll just call them. The Speaker 2 (10:50) vanilla is called the Vanilleal. The Speaker 3 (10:52) Villanelle. Speaker 2 (10:53) Oh. Like character Speaker 3 (10:54) in Killing Eve. Speaker 2 (10:55) Well, we'll never know what the name is. But it's supposed to be, they sell it and it's like a cold vanilla that gets warm. Speaker 1 (11:03) I don't Speaker 2 (11:04) know about all that, but it is an Speaker 1 (11:06) absolute... I Speaker 2 (11:06) like a cold vanilla. To me, vanilla powder is a cold vanilla. Speaker 3 (11:10) I love... I was going to say that's my favorite vanilla. Speaker 2 (11:13) Really? Yes. Speaker 3 (11:14) You Speaker 2 (11:14) need help. I do. You need... I do. Speaker 3 (11:17) You're right about that. Correct. This, Speaker 2 (11:20) I don't get cold from, but what I do get is obsession. I don't know how to... It's a really rich... I want to say... syrupy but not syrupy sweet just a really indulgent vanilla with spice at the back i put this on and i was gooped and gagged like it's just really delicious i mean this could duke it out with cali vanilla for my favorite i think cali will always be the one but this is for all vanillas we have like i think i think there are two kinds of vanillas ones that are to flesh out the brand's offering that aren't really looking to do something new. But if I'm a brand fan and I need a vanilla, I want to be able to buy it from them. So those are conventional safe vanillas. And then I think there are other vanillas like vanilla powder, like vanilla air from Boy Smells that really push the convention to someplace new and experimental and surprising. This is probably sitting more. in the first camp but like aspiring to the second okay Speaker 3 (12:29) it's Speaker 2 (12:29) just like really good Speaker 3 (12:31) it's like there's a creative brief yeah Speaker 2 (12:33) there is a thought it's just really fucking good i think it's like what i'm trying to say and i and even i went into it you know i love a vanilla i was like prove me wrong and it did it shut me right up okay Speaker 3 (12:43) to be fair yes i do remember getting this email and looking