Coffee with Chandler Burr and Other Excitements from my NYC Trip

So, I finally got my Georgia hillbilly self up to The Big City to check out some things in person and boy howdy, was it an adventure. I was with my friend Joel who is not a big fragrance person, but this weekend went a long way toward getting him started down that road. I went into this thinking that I wanted either a neroli scent for summer or an incense, preferably a frankincense, maybe like CdG's "Avignon".

Saturday morning, we started at Bergdorf's. We were on kind of a time limit, so I didn't get to go full on as much as I wanted. I started with Acqua di Parma. I love Colonia Intensa, which I got a sample of from Dimitri. I tried Colonia Assoluta Villa, special to Bergdorf's I think, and it was a great, gorgeous neroli, but like everything I've tried by AdP, it faded very fast.

On the other wrist, I tried Tom Ford's Neroli Portofino, another gorgeous, juicy neroli that somehow became kind of a fractal neroli as it went on. It was sort of neroli gone prismatic.

Joel tried Tom Ford Extreme for Men and Chergui by Serge Lutens, both of which he liked a LOT at first and then not so much as time wore on.

We had to boot then because it was time to meet Chandler for coffee. I had exchanged emails with him a few times in the past, so when I got to NYC, I sent an email not really even expecting him to reply, but he said, "Sure, let's meet." On the way to grab a taxi, I dragged Joel up all three flights of stairs at Bulgari to check out all their masculines and unisexes, which he found underwhelming. I kinda did too after all the great stuff we had just smelled at Bergdorf's.

We met Chandler at a deli on his street and had a long, rambling wonderful conversation, most of which was, like, sooooo off the record, so dont even ask. Chandler was trying out six Neil Morris fragrances, which he had up and down both arms and invited me and Joel to sniff them, writing down our impressions on a chart hed drawn showing both arms and marked where he put the fragrances. He suggested some things and I showed him the latest download newsletter from Luca and Tania's web site, which he hadn't seen. He was kind of surprised that theyd given Chanels Sycomore five stars, but said that hed give it another sniff with an open mind.

And then we were off to Aedes de Venustas in the village, which was a whole adventure unto itself. Its pretty overwhelming when you first walk in and theres all these great houses represented with bottles right there for you to test and try.

Saturday was really busy in the shop. I told Robin, who was working that day, that I was a Basenoter and she was pleased and extended her greetings to you all. Joel and I smelled our way around the store while she dealt with other customers who needed more help than we did.

I must have smelled a hundred things while I was there. I ventured deep into Diptyque, finding that I like Tam Dao an awful lot, lOmbre dans leau was much more interesting at first than it wore on skin. Oyedo still smells hilariously of orange Life Savers candy to me.

Remember I was looking for a neroli and a frankincense, so I tried Cardinal by Heely, which went on terribly exciting then suddenly became cinnamon red hots. Meh. I tried Serge Lutens Daim Blonde which was great until the drydown, which went a little too orchid-y floral for me, a note that popped out on my skin, but that no one at Aedes had noticed before.

We both tried Amouages Lyric Man, which went on fascinatingly, but then proceeded to sing the exact same notes at the top of its lungs for HOURS. It smells expensive, downright gold plated, but kind of soulless for that.

I also tried MPGs Eau pour le Jeune Homme, which goes on a lot like Oyedo with its bitter white orange pith opening notes, but then just settles for being the freshest, juiciest, least overbearing neroli ever.
After that we went to Takashimaya, a Japanese department store in the old Doubleday building. There, I checked out everything by The Different Company, then a whole bunch of other things that I cant remember right now because in the midst of everything a tester slipped out of my hand and shattered on the concrete floor, which was excruciatingly embarrassing. I fled, red faced.

On Sunday, we went back to Aedes to make our final decisions. For me it had come down to Eau pour le Jeune Homme (neroli) or the Aedes de Venustas special blend by lArtisan (frankincense). The whole staff at Aedes kind of wrinkled their nose at Eau pour le jeune homme, seeing it as a safe option, I guess, which it was. I could hear Mike Perez in my head saying, Break away from fresh, TRex! Spice it up!
So, I went with the Aedes de Venustas by lArtisan. Also at Aedes, I smelled the Encre Noire Eau de Parfum and got a sample of it(!!!!). Amazing. And I came away with a giant bag of samples that Ive barely even had a chance to sniff.

Im sure Ive missed a bunch of things, so if you have any questions, ask away.

Thanks for letting me share.

I wish I knew. Frankly my nose is still stuffy and runny from what it is either chronic olfactory overload or the beginnings of a cold.


I did. I just haven't moved them from my camera to my laptop. I'll try and get that done tonight.

Go for it. But bear in mind that my nose has been giving me grief since Sunday night.

Honestly, I just asked. I was surprised how easygoing and approachable he was about it. Of course, I've been writing to him about his books and buying copies for my friends and family since The Perfect Scent came out, so I wasn't completely appearing out of the blue.

He was delightful. And surprisingly sexy in person. Rowr.

Oh and the tester I dropped was Yuzu Fou.

This last weekend, there were two women working and a Frenchman(?) who mostly stood behind the counter looking elegant and frozen, perhaps put off by the fact that I was from Georgia. He didn't even crack a smile until I recognized the Encre Noire Eau de Parfum bottle, and only then warmed up to above-zero temps.


Takashimaya was a weird place. Everyone working there seemed INCREDIBLY tense and on edge, like they didn't exactly know what to do with themselves. There was noisy R&B music coming from crappy, tinny-sounding speakers in the ceiling, which was hurting my ears.

The woman who helped me in fragrances was very French, very stiff, very formal. We got to talking about the Different Company's Sel de Vetiver, and I commented how it was interesting that Celine Ellena's touch is so like her father's.

"I am zorry," said the saleslady, "Non. I am zorry. Sel de Vetiver was composed by Jean-Claude Ellena, not Celine."

"I'm fairly certain that it was composed by Celine Ellena," I replied.

"Non," she said, "Do you work in zee eendustry?"

"No, ma'am," I said, "I'm a radio DJ."

She nodded as if this proved her point.

It was moments later that the Yuzu Fou jumped out of my hand. Joel, my date, thought I did it on purpose. "That'll show her," he joked later in the cab, "Bitch, don't piss me off! I'll break your testers!"

"It really was an accident," I said, "But I *know* that Sel de Vetiver is a Celine Ellena."

I looked it up. I was right.


I did not look at his feet, but I'm pretty sure that Chandler was, in fact, shod.

I don't even *HAVE* a southern accent! It's gone. Been gone since I was a kid. (Air Force family. I have a military brat's neutral accent.)

Maybe it was the overalls and coonskin cap. Nah. Couldn't be.

Do you hear that, guys? LEAVE CHANDLER'S INBOX ALONE. Poor guy. Now prolly everybody's going to be trying to get an audience with the Pope of Parfum.

It's like this:

When I graduated from high school everybody in the senior class took a marble on stage with them in their pocket under their cap and gown. As we walked across the stage and received our diplomas, we handed the principal the marble as we shook hands with him. By the end of the night, he had bulging suit pockets full of marbles, marbles falling on the floor and rolling away, marbles spilling out of his hands.

Emails are like that. Someone like Chandler Burr who is, arguably, "famous" gets piles and piles of incoming mail, and everybody wants their attention. One little email from you becomes another marble in its recipient's pocket. If the recipient is like you and mostly only getting emails from people they actually know, it's a simple matter of tossing it back. But for Chandler it's dozens and hundreds every day, and that's a lot of marbles to shift.

I get that I'm lucky and I happened to catch CB when he had a few minutes, but I hope that now he isn't going to get bombarded by fanboys (and girls) who think he's a NYC landmark like Times Square ("But mom, we can't go back to Ohio yet! I haven't had my picture taken with Chandler Burr!"). You know?

Haha, well, it ended up being two bottles, the Aedes de Venusta EDP from Aedes and Terre d'Hermes from Sephora, which is totally lame, I know. I should have gotten something else niche-y, but TdH seemed perfect for summer. It was an impulse decision.

In my defense, they don't sell any Hermes in my home town of Athens, Georgia.

Of course the real reason I only got a couple of things is because I'm kind of poor. If I could have spent a thousand dollars and still have food, utilities, and a place to live, I would have.

Just for future reference, *exactly* how do you say this en français?

Me too. Brielle, you're my kind of girl. I want to go shopping with YOU next time.

The only reason I said getting TdH was lame was because I was in NEW YORK CITY where I could buy anything from Comme des Garçons to Serge Lutens to anything from the entire Guerlain line (Bergdorf's) and I got something that's pretty widely available everywhere in the US. There's nothing lame about the smell of TdH. It's gorgeous stuff. I was just thinking I should have gotten something more obscure when I had the chance.