🧚 how do you find your 'signature' scent?
I asked a boutique perfumer
Good evening poo heads,
Pardon the rather crude introduction. It is always a pleasure to have you here. I simply wanted to make you feel welcome as best I know how before introducing you to my new and improved identity, by way of a headshot:
The rumours are true – I am making headway in my quest to rid myself of my ‘poo girl’ image. To pass it, if you will. I never intended to be gross on the internet. I was simply being myself. But now poo – a once-storied element of the Froomerverse – is at odds with my iOS personality update (mature).
Refinement is my new modus operandi. Maintaining decorum is my mission, and certainly my purpose. The big girl boots are on, and they are responsibly-sourced brown leather with a sensible heel.
With this newfound elegance comes new tastes and sensibilities. I’ve been listening to classical music while vacuuming the house I live alone in, drinking black coffee and getting ten minutes of sunlight every morning. Crocs are firmly out of the question nowadays, bar a quick dip to the supermarket for cashews and these little triangles of cheese (fantastic, easily transportable, economically-friendly afternoon snacks):
In short, I am a woman. Somebody asked me recently if there was a certain ‘moment’ in my life where I felt like I had a perspective shift like the one I am describing above. They said, “You know, like when you went from 29 to 30, did you feel different back then?” I was obviously midway through sipping a Negroni at the time, and the mouthful I was elegantly swirling shot right up and out through my nose. I thought I was giving a weathered 24, not a good-for-40. There’s nothing wrong with either of those, but alas. Thems be the perils of no longer relying on poo as a personality trait.
This does all relate to tonight’s newsletter, which I am so glad you’ve opened as it has been a little while! It is a TOP HAT TIP segment with a Melbourne-based boutique perfumer (and filmmaker!), Callum Rory Mitchell.
If you’ve ever wondered how perfume is made, how to find your signature scent, or if there really is a perfume you can get that no one else has and it’s so good that people will stop you on the street, look no further.
I am so excited to share this interview. It has the same je ne su quai (I’m not going to correct that, so as to remain humble) as my previous chats with Melbourne/Naarm-based tailor E Nolan and gloryhole founder/artist Baby Dilf. These creatively-gifted individuals have three key things in common: They’re largely self-taught. They’re obsessively passionate. And they are, above all else, nice. If you ever meet any of them, you will walk away feeling lighter, more inspired and included. Makes my heart sing to see them win, truly!
Here goes nothing… introducing Callum Rory Mitchell, and Perdrisât Perfume.
WHO
Who are you?
CM: According to the Basenotes comment section, I’m a “fragrance snob” with an “unbearable face”.
WHAT
What is Perdrisât?
CM: It’s my perfume brand. Or do you mean the name itself? That’s a family name. A sort of reference to my grandmother. She was chic, playful, elegant and before her time and this is what Perdrisât is all about. I spell it out on Instagram, PEAR-DREE-SA. In-person, I say to Australians to pronounce it like “hairdresser with a P instead of an H”.
HOW
How did you LEARN how to do perfumes?!?!
CM: Completely self-taught. There is a sea of information for newcomers online, on sites like Basenotes, and Reddit forums, but also a very lively Facebook perfume secret group (sounds sus). But yes, all self-taught. Trial and error. Meltdowns and magic. Lockdown was like a hyperbolic time chamber for learning how to make perfume.
DREAMS
What did/do you want to be when you grow up? Did you always see yourself getting into the perfume game?
CM: This question comes at a perfect time, because just a few hours before writing this, a sitcom idea that I was working on with a team of writers was rejected by two separate companies. You were going to have a role in it too, so let that sink in. But honestly, I’ve always wanted to be a filmmaker. You won’t expect it, because temperamentally speaking I’m a Golden Retriever, but when I was younger, I thought I was going to be a Horror filmmaker. Then, like anyone who does anything, it dawned on me that horror is everywhere, and to quote KJ APA in his since removed post, “and there is evil,” I soon realized that comedy is what we really need. So when I grow up, I’d like to do what I’m doing; making comedies with friends and family, and making perfume on my own. But… Elevated!
I must interject here to say that Cal was a co-creator on the best thing I’ve ever made, Spin Queen – he and his brother Lewis shot this with me over one chaotic day spanning Brighton, Crown Casino and St Kilda McDonald’s:
FUCK BOY
I love the names of your perfumes. One of them is ‘FUCK BOY’ which is truly ingenious. Can you talk me through how you come up with them? This was something Frog in a Top Hat was particularly interested in.
CM: As you know, my background is in filmmaking and visuals, so I try and create names that can quickly conjure a time or a place or even build a portrait in a succinct manner. For me, making perfume is like painting a portrait; with molecules in place of paints etc. Unlike a painting, for perfume, the only visual element is the name on the bottle (or the colour of the juice [but I don’t like the idea of dying fragrance]), and that sets up the world of the fragrance.
FUCK BOY… I think it speaks for itself, but then again I do have some run-ins with people who don’t have their finger on the pulse. Based on a lot of “online” “feedback”, I think many people don’t know what a fuck boy is, and often assume it’s some tongue-in-cheek synonym for SEX SLAVE or SODOMITE… and I’m like… “We good, doll?” as I show educate them using memes of hot boys who know they’re hot with open shirts, year-long tans, rings on each finger and perfect eyebrows.
The playfulness keeps it exciting for me.
DEAD OR ALIVE
If anyone could wear your perfume, dead or alive, who would it be?
CM: Dead: Marissa Cooper. Alive: Sasha Colby. (*Marissa would love Fuck Boy. I think Love Bomb would suit Sasha Colby.)
SONG
Do you have a sexy playlist for us that we can put on when we have a date over for dinner, who fell for us cos they smelt us wearing Perdrisât? Something that embodies your brand or the feeling you want to evoke.
CM: Now is probably a good time to admit that the majority of the perfume sample sets were filled with a playlist mix of Orville Peck, Lana del Rey, Taylor Swift's Midnights (3AM editions)’ and then finished with true scary story compilations on YouTube, notably “Mr Nightmare” and “Blue Spooky”.
On another note, I actually intended to DJ at Hope St Radio as a form of promoting the Summer Collection, but I chickened out so I will share that playlist here. It’s called Music to Love Bomb To.
FOOD
I’m in Melb, where should I go for a sexy dinner? Or to impress someone from out of town?
CM: If you want to be lost in a sea of gorgeous people, Hope St Radio. If you want to seat at the bar where you can gaze lovingly into the chefs’ fire while picking apart Country Loaf then definitely Embla. Or if you want to have an ‘And Just Like That’ Business-Lunch-with-the-girls moment, then Gimlet (and just like that, Gimblet’s rebrand had begun). But if you really want to impress someone but don’t want to talk to them; Minamishima.
MY FAVE
So, I’ve tried all of the testers in the 10-pack you can buy on your website. These are premium scents, and even though I’ve been to your house multiple times and tried them all I think the tester pack is GENIUS. You really need to wear perfume more than once to decide if it’s for you. After extreme deliberation, I’ve decided to go with ‘Pretty Boy’ – you describe it as smelling like ‘blue jeans and a fistful of lillies’ with pink pepper, lychee, lily, rose, Virginia cedar, ambrette and musk. Can you please tell me why I like it so?
CM: You like it because it speaks to you! That’s what perfume should do. That’s why when you find yourself wearing a perfume that doesn’t speak to you on a deep level; it feels like you’re wearing someone else’s skin, you can’t wait to scrub it off.
I knew you’d end up favouring Pretty Boy. It suits you. It’s modern, light and carefree with everyday confidence.
LOCAL
And where’s a good local spot for coffee? Bonus points if it’s Southside.
CM: Market Lane by the Prahran Market is the perfect pit stop between Chap-Laps.
SIGNATURE FRAGRANCE
What are your tips for someone trying to find their ideal signature fragrance?
CM: I think the best thing is to be open. A lot of people have hang-ups with certain notes, especially florals, I just think ‘go in swinging’. Buy all the samples you can get. Avoid ‘blind-buying’ full sizes. Veraciously read Fragrantica. Try things on first. I’ve spent hours in Lore in Fitzroy just spraying with abandon, and if you’re in LA, go get a $600 juice at Erewhon and walk down to Scentbar in Hollywood and explore their range.
Perfumes smell all differently on people. Some people have naturally pleasant body odours, some definitely do not, some people run hot (yang), and some run cold (yin) and the molecules in a formulation will react accordingly. So just sample until you find the one. It’s like dating, not that I know what that’s like.
CEO
Anything you want to ask me? I haven’t spoken about myself in a while and I am a fount of knowledge.
CM: Yes. What does the sweet smell of success smell like to you?
CEO: Success to me smells like… anything but shit. Because I’m grown from that now. And god, it feels good. Thank you, Callum Rory Mitchell. And sorry for accidentally showing you my box when we filmed your movie where I was trying to convince you to impregnate me and move to Phillip Island. xx
Check out the full Perdrisât Perfume range here.
Thank you for reading! I hope you continue to have a most delightful, sweet-scented evening indeed.
Love, Froomaccino x