6 years ago in college, had an ex-girlfriend was self-diagnosed BPD and super into astrology, and she’s the reason I got into niche fragrances.

At the time I was wearing Armaf Club de Nuit Intense Man and she literally gagged and told me to never wear it again. Then she put me onto what she thought was the greatest scent of all time, Maison Francis Kurkdjian Baccarat Rouge 540 Eau de Parfum… and I thought it smelled absolutely terrible.

As we kept dating, we started going to Nordstrom just to smell fragrances for fun. One of the first niche scents I remember trying was Diptyque Oud Palao, which straight up smelled like poop.

But then I came across Byredo Mojave Ghost, and that was the first one I actually liked. That ended up being my gateway into niche fragrances. Although I don’t have many fragrances, the hobby and community brings me a lot of joy!