“What do you do for a living?” “Where do you live?” “What did you study?” We all know the usual icebreakers. A more creative question -- and sometimes a more revealing one -- is: “What’s your favorite smell?” So rarely is the answer SJP’s Lovely, or Gaultier’s Le Male. More likely, with a bit of reflection, the response comes along the lines of “west Texas, where I grew up” or “my boyfriend’s skin” or even “gasoline, lavender, and Bounce dryer sheets.” Christopher Brosius, the “nose” who founded Demeter (and left before it started doing all those bizarre Jelly Belly-flavored scents), has made this literal take on scents the ethos of his company, CB I Hate Perfume. His range of accords -- “single scents that capture very specific smells” -- runs from Basil (Sweet, Holy, and Bitter varieties) to Mint Tea to Doll Head.
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