What Would The Characters of Industry Smell Like?
You know Yasmin Kara-Hanani smells divine
I just bought a bunch of new perfume samples that I didn’t need to buy so get ready for some new reviews in the upcoming weeks. This week we’re introducing a new section of pop culture and perfume news I’ve been into of late and we’re talking about the best show on television, Industry.
Perfume and Pop Culture Roundup
Friend of the newsletter Anna Dorn’s excellent novel Perfume & Pain is heading to television helmed by none other than lesbian icon, and personal gay root, Clea DuVall. I’m already fan casting Astrid in my head. I am HYPED for the new Pedro Almodovar film, his first English language film, The Room Next Door. Coming out in December, it stars Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore as friends who reconnect after years of separation. I’m desperately hoping they smooch. Dolce & Gabbana launched a dog perfume called Fefe, inspired by Domenico Dolce’s beloved pup of the same name. With notes of ylang, musk, and sandalwood—you can buy it for your pooch for $99 a bottle. File this under when “late capitalism keeps going too far.” Speaking of late capitalism, Auntie Anne’s is releasing a pretzel fragrance called Knead. Personally, I don’t know if I’d want to smell like a pretzel but if that scent doesn’t immediately remind me of wandering around the mall between the ages of 13-18. The new Jeremy Allen White Calvin Klein campaign is frankly an attack on late summer horniness.
I Need to Smell Robert Spearing’s Neck
I was woefully late to HBO’s Industry, the drama series about a bunch of twentysomethings working in finance in London. Much like Succession before it, I wasn’t interested in watching anything about finance but once I learned about the coke snorting, cum eating degenerates of Industry I was immediately sucked in.
After two seasons of the finance cat and mouse games of Pierpoint and the sexual tension between just about everyone on the show, it’s hard to imagine where a show that’s already willing to go there can go next. Season three of Industry, which premiered earlier this month, has cut its own brake lines and is going balls to the wall (complimentary). This has begun with the surprisingly welcome addition of Kit Harington who plays Henry Muck, the CEO of Lumi, a green tech energy company, that Pierpoint and Robert (Harry Lawtey) work with. Henry of course falls for Yasmin Kara-Hanani (Marisa Abela) because who hasn’t? And episode three gave us a glimpse of Henry’s assets which Yasmin couldn’t resist. Let’s see if she pees on him. I imagine that part of Henry’s allure, other than his curls and bank account, is that he must smell rich. As a poor person, my first thought is something that evokes gold like Commodity’s Gold which is a unisex fragrance with notes of juniper berries, sandalwood, amber, and creamy musk. However, it’s an actually affordable fragrance so I’d assume Henry would never know it. I also think he could smell like the British countryside or seaside, so maybe Jo Malone’s Wood Sage and Sea Salt which also has ambrette seeds (an oil extracted from the hibiscus plant).
Robert’s going through it with the recent death of his predatory lover, his girlfriend who she also assaulted, and his ongoing love for Yasmin, who is now his roommate. Working with Henry has caused him a lot of grief. Do we think Harry Lawtey ever thought he’d fight Jon Snow? More importantly, did Robert hook up with Joel Kim Booster in a sauna? I’m praying they did. Trust me when I say this is Rob’s season for all of us (me) who adore him. Personally, I love a man with a class chip on his shoulder (relatable), so when I think about what cologne he wears it could go two different ways. He either wears something incredibly expensive but mid because it was recommended to him by a pushy salesperson at Harrods or he heard someone at Pierpoint talking about it. But more than likely he still wears something that’s kind of classic and that at a younger age felt completely out of his class bracket. I think he wears Burberry Hero, a timeless men’s cologne that has cedarwood oils with notes of juniper, bergamot, and black pepper.
So far this season, I’m finding Yasmin’s storyline harrowing on all fronts—the stuff with Eric weirds me out, the flashbacks we get with her missing father on the yacht are nauseating, and frankly I’m not a fan of Henry’s either. I just want my girl to find love and peace!! You just know Yasmin has the same quality that Rihanna has, where she just walks into a room and envelops it in her enviable scent that doesn’t smell like anyone else. I assume Yasmin smells like flowers, jasmine specifically. I could see her wearing Memo’s Granada, which can only be purchased online or in the Paris store (she would only go in person). With notes of jasmine, orange blossom, musk, and rose—it seems like a scent that would make the Pierpoint guys go wild. I also think that Dries Van Noten’s Fleur De Mal would be a Yasmin perfume with jasmine, peach juice, and suede. As their description says about the fragrance, “It appears innocent but it can be very sensual, almost animalic; this flower, that seems to be an angel, can turn devilish.” If that’s not a description of Yasmin Kara-Hanani…
Yasmin’s frenemy Harper (Myha'la) might seem downtrodden from her former glory at Pierpoint at the beginning of the season, but her new alliance with Petra (a steely Sarah Goldberg) for a new fund is really bringing out all of Harper’s sharpest senses and her most sociopathic ones. Her wardrobe this season—filled with loafers, oversize button downs and sweaters, and a fierce leather jacket—is far from the bland suiting of her Pierpoint days. I think Harper would absolutely have something with a strong musk note to it—she’d wear Silver Musk by Nasomatto that is supposed to smell like your skin but better. Something simple and to the point—Harper doesn’t have time to waste.
As for some of my other favorites—both Eric (Ken Leung) and Rishi (Sagar Radia) seem to be finally, albeit slowly, grappling with what it means to be a company man at Pierpoint, especially as things begin skewing in the favor of a younger generation. Rishi is almost certainly a fragrance guy, considering his love of the finer things and of ladies. I think he has a rotating cast of scents, but that amber is a note that he gravitates to. I could see him wearing D.S. and Durga’s Amber Kiso with Japanese cedar, incense, maple, and hinoki. There’s no way he’s not a Tom Ford guy, so I think he’d be wearing the infamous Tobacco Vanille, which has tonka bean, vanilla, tobacco, and probably makes every guy think he’s Harry Styles. Eric, on the other hand, much like the coke he does with Yasmin in episode one of this season probably hasn’t changed his cologne since 9/11 either. He either wears Yves Saint Laurent’s L’Homme which has vetiver, ginger, citrus, and bergamot. Or I could see Eric wearing another classic of the era, L’Eau D’Issey Pour Homme from Issey Miyake which has a similar citrus woodiness with yuzu and orange, nutmeg and cinnamon, and base notes of sandalwood and amber. Clearly whatever he’s wearing (coupled with last night’s whiskey) during his midlife crisis is “working” for him.
Speaking of Pierpoint’s younger generation, I love Sweetpea (Miriam Petche) who is such a fun new addition to the Pierpoint floor. I have to stan her business acumen for TikTok and OnlyFans and that she’s wayyyyy smarter than anyone who currently works at Pierpoint is. I imagine that Sweetpea either smells like candy or cherries but in a chic grownup way. I think she’d love BORNTOSTANDOUT’s Angels’ Powder with icing sugar, pink pepper, cotton candy, white musks (I need a sample of this). Also doesn’t the description sound like key phrases that creators Mickey Down and Konrad Kay could say in the Industry writers room for inspiration, “Cotton candy, nail polish, cocaine, fresh paint, the guilty pleasures.” If she wanted cherry to stand out, Sweetpea would reach for Sospiro’s Maraschino which goes from day (jasmin sambac, roses, strawberries, mimosa) to evening (sandalwood, tonka, musk, amber, vanilla)—perfect for the girl on the go, juggling many businesses.
No spoilers, but this season of Industry continues to get wilder and wilder every week, in a way that feels like it might be creating something that will finally get television out of its “mid prestige” era that we’ve been slogging through for the past few years.
Perfume Ad of The Week
I was trying to find something that would echo Yasmin’s nightmare yacht trip in a more pleasant perfume ad form, but I stumbled across this instead. Scott Eastwood remains one of my celebrity curiosities, mostly because he’s always doing weird athletic things in jeans.
Robert smells like cigs, D&G Light Blue, and like a HINT of sweat (he’s nervous)