I feel like I’ve been searching for my “signature scent” for, oh, I don’t know…26 years? The first frag purchase I remember—vividly—was Ralph Lauren’s Polo Blue. I asked for it for Christmas one year and doused myself in it, assured by the model’s harmless, inert gaze that I was destined to become a ‘new classic’, long before Iggy Azalea would co-opt the term to describe a middling R&B record. I think I even had the body wash at one point, though even reflecting on that olfactory overload makes me gag a little.
More recently I’ve scoured many a niche fragrance purveyor in the hopes that I would find something that speaks to who I am now. Something complex, moody, and a little bit spicy. Something…from Portland. Yes, Portland is where I found my new fragrance obsession, albeit by way of the Erica Weiner boutique in SoHo. OLO’s Dark Wave is a blend of cardamom, Indonesian vetivert and wood. It was created, “to kick off the dreary rains [that] inundate Portland for nine months…to envelop you and protect you from the downpour.” If that description isn’t sufficiently angsty for you, watch this music video.
OLO founder Heather Sielaff (above left, kissing her cat) is a self-taught perfumer with a background in aromatherapy, i.e. she spent ten years working with essential oils before getting into the perfume business, i.e. I’m sporting a major granola-boner for her right now. All of OLO’s scents are hand-blended and come with a handy-dandy roller ball applicator. Sielaff even once made a custom scent for YACHT, and YACHT is awesome, so…bow down, bitches. Or, like, go shopping.