Sniff and find connection? These hip fragrance gatherings tantalize L.A.'s 'smellers'

A multi-level home in West Hollywood hosts a fragrance tasting event where guests sample scents from vials and mingle through the space. Hosts set up stations featuring favorite home fragrances, including pre-bedtime spritzes and everyday comforts for working from home, while attendees ask questions and compare what resonates. Guests also try fragrance pairings with drinks, blending aroma and flavor through their senses. On a rooftop, conversations continue over refreshments and city views. The Smellers Club frames fragrance as more than a niche interest, presenting it as a bridge between people and a tool for self-expression and understanding personal taste. Guests share cultural and personal connections to scent, including heritage-based rituals and luxury purchases for private collections.

"In one nook, two well-known faces in the fragrance community, Tishni Weerasinghe (@thatbrownperfumegirl) and Chase Chapman (@thescentchase), host stations with their favorite home scents - pre-bedtime spritzes to everyday comforts for working from home - as a small group leans in, asking questions and noting which scents resonate. Inhaling the blend of white musk, floral notes and amber of Rouat Al Musk by Lattafa, a $16 fragrance from Weerasinghe's collection, attendees oooh and nod in enthusiastic approval."

"In another corner, guests try fragrance pairings, scents expertly paired with drinks, letting the aroma and flavors mingle through their senses. Outside on the rooftop, the crowd spills into smaller conversations over refreshments and city views. This is the Smellers Club. To an outsider, it might seem like a gathering centered around a niche fixation, but within this world, fragrance is much more expansive."

"Here, it's a bridge between people, a tool for self-expression, a way to understand your own taste and increasingly, a reason to connect. The night's gathering is taking place in the home of Daniel Scott and Ronn Richardson, the duo behind the fine home fragrance line . Some guests are simply scent-curious, while others have deep roots in the world of fragrance."

"One attendee, Jess Blaise, the co-founder of Haitian Spotlight LA, credits her Haitian heritage and the fragrance rituals modeled by her mother for her connection to scent. She recently purchased a bottle of Carnal Flower by Frederic Malle for her personal collection, a luxe tuberose known for its white floral profile and appeal among niche collectors. Of her culture, she explains, "Part of your presentation - of dressing up - is your scent.""

Read at Los Angeles Times