Hello! It's been a while. Apologies for inactivity, I have a lot on my plate. Some mild familial troubles, though nothing new, and trying to figure them out, along with some big stuff. My life is hitting a major transition period, as I've been called to serve a mission for my church (LDS), and I'm preparing to begin training and go on my mission in just a few weeks! I got called to California, speaking the Hmong language, so much of my time has been spent on studying, scripture reading, and studying this beautiful language. In my free time though, I spend a lot of time working on perfumes. I've started really falling in love with making them, though I still have a lot more to work on before making anything that doesn't smell too muddy, I've hit a potential gold mine, and I won't have to worry about them smelling generic. Below I've attached a little rough sketch I've been working on for my logo. The letters need better alignment, and the logo is just a pre filler sketch my friend designed for me, though I plan to make it more golden ratio-esque and slightly more minimalist, as the mollusk design I engraved on each bottle and cap. I've designed the bottles, packaging, story cards and storytelling, and currently have around twenty concepts in the works, with four being currently developed by *yours truly 💅*, and the more I do this, the more I'm realizing this is a career I want. I've also spent a long time locking in on different tastes and building little profiles for a lot of the brothers here, and so when I start releasing my stuff in a few years, you'll find things that are a little curated to your guys' tastes ;) Still an enormous thank you to Mr Centeno and this community for getting me on this journey! After a lot of time, work, effort, and money, I'm hoping to break through eventually, however long it takes. Currently we don't have any socials, but I am working on a website in its bare bones, and when I return in the two years, I'll start having these finished up, and prepared to continue the designs. I will be so happy to share this progress with you as I continue on.

Today I went with Signature BLOOM by Zaharoff. BLOOM is one of those fragrances where the name can fool you into thinking you’re getting a simple floral. This is anything but simple. At its core this is jasmine lots of jasmine but surrounded by incense, resins, woods and just enough sweetness to give it some weight. The opening comes across bright, creamy and floral with gardenia, star jasmine and coconut. The coconut isn’t tropical or suntan-lotion heavy to me. It seems to work more in the background, giving the white florals some creaminess and body. As it starts settling down, the jasmine really takes over. There are several different jasmine facets here along with orange blossom, peony and amber, and that gives BLOOM a much fuller floral character than your typical clean white-floral fragrance. But the part that makes this work for me is the drydown. Underneath all those flowers you start getting myrrh, olibanum/frankincense, sandalwood, oud and vanilla. That resinous incense underneath the jasmine gives BLOOM a darker backbone and keeps it from becoming something I would consider overly feminine. It’s almost like taking a big white floral bouquet and putting it inside an old room where incense has been burning. That’s what gives it character. And because you know I enjoy incense in fragrances, that’s probably the part of BLOOM that interests me the most. The incense doesn’t completely take over; it sits underneath the flowers and gives them depth. Performance: BLOOM has noticeably more presence than some softer white florals. For me, this is the type of fragrance I want during Arizona Fall weather. It’s floral enough to handle the warmer part of the day, but the amber, woods, myrrh and frankincense give it enough substance for these cooler October mornings. Projection: Stronger during the opening, then settles into a noticeable scent bubble. Sillage: Moderate to strong. Longevity: I would expect roughly 7-9 hours, with much longer traces on clothing depending on sprays and skin.

I am not sure how I feel about this fragrance. I mean, I am torn between enjoying it and finding it a bit too niche-ish for me as I am getting acquainted with the notes. Top: Pomelo (Madagascar), Prickly Pear, Green Apple, Orange Blossom Heart: Tonka Bean, Driftwood, Flowerpool, Olibanum (frankincense) Base: Sandalwood, Ambronova, Vetiver, Vanilla Opens fruity and fresh with that pomelo and prickly pear, then the heart gets dry and slightly smoky from the driftwood and olibanum, which keeps the sweetness from going syrupy. Settles into a warm vanilla and vetiver base. It's pitched as an autumn/winter, evening-leaning, date-night vibe. Does it sounds like something you would like to try?

Today after church, I went around with my Mom to get some stuff. One of the stores we visited has a huge perfumes display that are always expensive in comparison to the prices I always find at some other places. But finally I found one with a liquidation price and I felt for it. - Issey Miyake - Nuit D’Issey EDT 4.2oz: $30 (a 98% full tester.) Review coming soon…

I’m in Chicago for a meeting and then a class tomorrow (for another rabbit hole 😜) While walking around the city this morning I ran into a Le Labo store. I’ve not heard a whole lot about them and checked the brotherhood here (previous posts) and decided to take a look inside. After paying attention to @Lon Chaneyfield and his deep Love of Niche and while I have been exploring some Borderline niche fragrances myself I thought this would be a great opportunity. The fragrances on display come in a couple of different varieties. 1- their everyday collection 2- their “City Scents” They have some unique profiles and some seemed like they will develop very nicely but they seemed “young” kind of like wine or a pot of my wife’s Italian tomato sauce. It’s always better after a day or so 😎. It’s always good fresh but something about how the flavors meld together over time is what really makes it work. I feel it’s the same with fragrance. Since I’m in Chicago without adult supervision I took the plunge on a few. 😬 Now the fun part! They didn’t go behind the counter and grab bottles in the box and hand them to me. Carlos went behind the glass and actually mixed each scent for me! It was wonderful to watch how he weighed and measured everything in a beaker then put of a vibrating plate to mix then bottled it. Then they made custom labels for my bottles with my wife’s and my name on it as well as who mixed it. They can be refilled online for some or in person for all. Since I’m from NY where they started refilling will happen there. I’m really curious what everyone else thinks about this Niche brand. I have coming the Oud 27, Poirve 23, Myrrhe 55 & Tubereuse 40 plus some samples for my best girl at home!! I’d love to know your thoughts but the experience was wonderful