Shea butter has a lovely scent when it’s not rancid. So many shea butters can be like that — that’s actually the real reason why I think a lot of people have had bad experiences with it, they don’t get good shea butter. Hanahana Beauty… their source is impeccable. The scents, too. So good.
Nivea Creme‘s fragrance, I don’t know what it is but it reminds me of my mom. I have a pretty bad memory. I don’t remember much from my childhood, but I have these flashes, and they always are usually around scents, food, or things like that. This cream just brings me back to my mom, and it also works really well. I love that combination. It’s a hand cream, and I find that hand creams are another thing that I want to have a really nice fragrance. Your hands are often close to your face. And so it’s really nice [to get a whiff]. I don’t like using Nivea Creme on my face, though, because it’s too much scent for that area.
Hair Products
For my hair, I really look for stuff that’s going to work because I have what I like to call “toddler hair.” You know how toddlers can have fine hair that breaks and is very easily tangled? Well, it’s fucking annoying. My sister always has me comb her children’s hair, she’s like, “you have the same hair they do.” Kids love it because I have special combs and brushes for our hair.
I also color my hair now. It turned black during the pandemic, jet black. I look back at pictures and my eyebrows are a totally different color. Stress can do crazy things to your body, and I think that was one of them for me. [So I’m dyeing it] to match my natural color, which is more like a reddish brown. Now that I’m doing that, I’m using K18. I don’t think it has a discernible fragrance. But what I do love, if we’re going to talk about fragrances in hair care, is Bread Beauty Supply.
Can we just do chef’s kiss? Oh, chef’s kiss. Their products are a bit heavy for my hair because, as I said: toddler hair. But sometimes, I’ll use the conditioner as a mask, sleep in it, and rinse it out the next day. The oil is also amazing. Then, there’s Briogeo — beautiful, beautiful scents. [ed.’s note: Bread’s conditioner has a “cereal milk” kind of scent and Briogeo’s bestselling Don’t Despair, Repair! collection has a soft, slightly floral powdery-clean smell.] Whoever’s their perfumer deserves a raise. They are so good. I would say those are two brands I feel are amazing, even though they don’t always necessarily work in my hair. But then again, I’ve used children’s products that work better for me than adult ones: L’Oréal’s kids shampoo, the one that looks like a fish.
Perfume
I don’t really know that much about perfume. But I was recently in Greece, and found out Korres makes beautiful fragrances that I knew nothing about. Their body washes are beautiful, too. Honestly, I was so impressed. I was with two of my friends, one of which is obsessed with fragrances. She bought a whole wall of Korres’s while we were there! I mean, look at how beautiful the packaging is. And it’s $40! Cashmere Kumquat is the scent that I’ve been really into. Korres is a brand that I never really thought twice of for fragrance in the U.S. because I think of them more as skin care.