252: GAMINE is the anti-longevity perfume propaganda we need

Beauty industry veteran Melanie Dir is behind some of the coolest creative you've seen at Sephora (Isamaya Beauty, Pat McGrath Labs, Simi Haze...), but grew up steeped in Perfume as the daughter of master perfumer at Mane, Claude Dir. This past year, she launched her own brand GAMINE, championing a global, gritty, and very tactile side of fine fragrance — the brand's three initial fragrances launched in brutalist-looking rubber-sheathed rectagular bottles called "bricks," rubber and rope hiking-inspired keychain solids, and most recently, in concentrated perfume oils dubbed "microdoses." The scents themselves are bold, modern takes on French perfumery with gasoline, rubber, concrete, metal, and latex notes blended with chypres, florals, and earthy woods. Melanie talks to us about what it's like being trained in perfumery as a kid, growing up in the lab, and her roundabout career in the beauty industry that brought her right back to perfume.

[What we smell like today: Maison D'etto Pinehurst, Outside In Earth After Rain]

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