The Fragrance Files

This week we sit down with LC, a brand consultant and interdisciplinary artist to have a conversation that delves into the political identity of perfume, highlighting the intersection of gender politics, colonial history, and social stratification within the fragrance industry. Chapters00:00 Perfume as a Political Identity14:46 Colonial History and Perfume24:29 Policing of Women's Scent33:14 Competitiveness and Exclusivity in Perfume TikTok01:04:53 The Business Model and Exclusivity Clauses in Perfume Sponsorships01:10:37 The Impact of Brand Rebranding and Political Implications in Perfume Marketing

This week we dive into different ways perfume and beauty brands treat and act in the fragrance community. To love perfume as an art means not being afraid to critique it as an industry. From content creation tips to shading some egregious missteps, we're here for accountability and transparency.

Bonus episode, a re-issue the 2025 interview with Kyle and Josh as Goth Fragrance Dialogues. Hear a bit about who Kyle is, how OSM developed, and hear the early foundations of our discussion in Episode 7 of The Fragrance Files

This week we sit down with Kyle Mott-Kannanberg of Blend, the umbrella brand for OSM perfume and the upcoming Fumed Expo in Chicago.See The Fragrance Files there, March 28 - 29 in Chicago.

This week we discuss evolving with and past our fragrances. How we are emotionally tethered to fragrance, and the moment that tether breaks. Whether you've moved on for a season or a lifetime, taste and emotions change so your fragrances should too.The Scent of Letting Go is about how to find out what works, and what doesn't. We also discuss our approach to decluttering- or selling/trading/gifting fragrances that we no longer need.

Maybe the desire for a signature scent isn't about fragrance, it's about wanting to be known and remembered.This episode, we explore the myth of Signature Scents, where the idea comes from, why it still matters, and how committing to one fragrance can make sense in todays highly saturated perfume culture.

In Episode 4 of The Fragrance Files, we’re joined by Cult of Kaori for a conversation about perfume as process—how fragrance is made, what it’s meant to hold, and what it costs (emotionally and creatively) to build something with a real point of view.We talk about identity before marketing, intention before output, and why perfume deserves more than first impressions and content cycles.If you’re here for thoughtful fragrance conversations that go deeper than notes and performance, welcome.

Sampling can be discovery or distraction. Michy and Josh explore decants, discovery sets, and the modern “sample spiral,” asking what we gain from endless testing and what we lose when we never commit.

Before we talk about perfume, we need to talk about why.In this episode, Josh, your goth fragrance bestie, and Michele, MichySmells, slow things down to define what The Fragrance Files is, what it isn’t, and why this conversation needed to exist in the first place.This isn’t an origin story in the traditional sense. It’s a conversation about pace, intention, and the kind of fragrance discourse that feels increasingly rare. We talk about what frustrates us in modern perfume culture, what we want to protect, and the kind of listener we’re hoping to sit beside rather than impress.There are no rankings here. No hot takes for the sake of noise.Just an invitation into how we think about scent, memory, and meaning; and how this podcast plans to move through fragrance differently.

A reflective post-mortem of 2025 through fragrance: what stayed, what faded, and what the year revealed about how we wear scent. No rankings. No hype. Just lived experience.