One of my drivers was heading to Vietnam for a month to visit his fiancée, and since he knows I’m into fragrances, he gave me a call before he left and asked if there was anything I wanted him to look for. Of course, that sent me straight down the rabbit hole. I immediately started researching niche fragrance houses in Vietnam and came across one that really caught my attention. I even found the perfume shop that carried the line. The problem? They don’t ship to the United States. Well, problem solved. I had somebody going to Vietnam. I sent him the information, and he actually went looking for the store. He told me it was tucked away on a small street toward the back, but once he walked inside, the shop itself was absolutely beautiful. He also noticed that most of the other people coming in were foreigners, which told me right away that people are starting to discover what is happening with fragrance over there. Before sending him, I started digging through reviews and decided to have him pick up three of their most popular fragrances: CO CUNG DA YEN HOANG TRA When he got back, I came home and immediately started smelling all three. First impressions? I really like them. These aren’t fragrances that smell like somebody simply copied what is already popular in Europe or the Middle East. They have their own personality. They’re unique, interesting, and all three smell extremely good to me on the first sniff. And the presentation? That was another surprise. Absolutely beautiful. The bottles and overall packaging make the whole experience feel much more special than I was expecting. This is exactly why I keep saying that Asia is going to become a much bigger part of the fragrance conversation. There are houses coming out of Vietnam and other parts of Asia doing things that a lot of fragrance enthusiasts in the United States haven’t even discovered yet. That is one of the things I still love about collecting fragrance. Even with all the bottles I’ve smelled and owned, there are still entire parts of the world producing perfumes that can completely surprise me.

“because that’s how many Thursdays we have in an 80-year-old lifespan. So let’s use them to write, think, make and do lovely things.” — Sarah McCartney Time can feel endless until we start counting it. Use the days you have on purpose: begin the idea, make the call, and create something meaningful instead of waiting for the perfect moment. Enjoy the #Journey. Love to hear from ya’!