101. No Perfume Today: On Ritual, Space, and Stillness

👋 Hi fragrance friend,

After writing about perfume as dissent and fragrance as ritual, I’ve been thinking about what’s left when scent fades. I want to honor this moment in time. There’s a lot happening right now — wars, loss, deep injustice, systems failing those who need them most. It’s hard to write around it. Harder still to write through it. 

I don’t have answers. But I do believe in small rituals that help us stay human and open to feeling with our heart, pain and all. In times like this, I turn to perfume for moments of stillness, presence and centering, even for a breath. 

Sometimes perfume isn’t the point — it’s the pause it creates, the presence it brings, the silence it leaves behind.

Today, I’m not sharing new scents. Instead, I want to honor the stillness — to empty out, to make space for what’s true. Not to escape what’s happening, but to face it without shutting down. To stay present, even when it hurts.

I just want to pause, breathe, and reflect.
Thank you for being here.

With kindness,
🕊 Nectar Atelier