When I first met Roberto Reyes—a brand creative best known for naming Tom Ford fragrances—in Chelsea probably 15 years ago, he had to leave our mutual friend’s house early to DJ at the Standard. I was like, cool. Since then, Bob and I have both lived in LA and hung out many times, but we are—for better or for worse—most fiercely connected in our hyper-competitive, extremely OCD devotion to Music League. For those who haven’t played, it’s basically fantasy football for music nerds, and whenever Bob and I aren’t at the top, our eyeballs start to twitch. This is all to say, Bob is fanatical in matters of taste, meaning he’s our type of girl. But here, we pick Bob’s brain about working for Tom Ford, fragrance, and more.
First things first: how many spritzes and where?
A typical two spritzes on the wrist, and two on the neck. There was an episode of MTV’s Sex in the 90s where these wild muscle dudes were getting ready–they may have been exotic dancers– and they sprayed it near their crotches, by the upper inner thighs. I do that if I am wearing shorts and it’s night time because I want to honor those men wherever they may be today. It makes me feel like I am a sexy adult going to the club even if I am just going to pick up takeout.
What was the first fragrance you bought? Most recent?
Funny enough the first is also the most recent. Le Male by Gaultier was the first fragrance I bought for myself. I remember struggling to choose between it and Versace Blue Jeans at the counter, and I chose Le Male because why? Because sex sells. Especially when you’re 13.
I had a fixating thought a few months ago of how cool it would be to have all the fragrances you wore throughout your life at an altar for your funeral. So people can smell you while they mourn you. It’s a bit dramatic but there’s something sick about it that I like. I’ve been slowly collecting them, so if you come across a dusty bottle of Scent Intense by Costume National, let a boy know!
Anyway, that’s why I purchased Le Male in the year 2026. It’s sealed in that metal can just waiting for me to die.
Describe yourself in top, middle, and base notes.
I open up with a very fresh first impression, citrusy like bergamot or lemon. Jokes will be made, you will be invited in, and I want you to have a good time.
My heart is lavender, cool and aromatic. You’re going to always be entertained but never destabilized or shocked. I’m a Libra so I like to keep the peace and the balance, but it can never be boring. Things should feel exciting and aesthetically sound.
I have a resinous base. The drydown isn’t divisive. But I linger in your memory. You may never physically smell me ever again but you will remember how it felt for the rest of your life. Basically I want to smell like the essence of Penelope Cruz in Vanilla Sky.
You famously named fragrances for Tom Ford—what was your process like?
At the time he was based in LA and I was in New York, so it was a very Charlie’s Angels-type communication style most of the time. 90% of the time we were on the same filmic psychological wavelength, which is a high batting average with a true creative visionary like him. He’s the real deal, not like all these Amanda Batula types on Raya who call themselves creative directors.
Are there any names you’re particularly proud of?
I was always happy when I could sneak in a reference to something I love, like a song or movie, which was was always easier with makeup shades like #1 Crush or Bad Lieutenant. At MAC Cosmetics, we had a lot of collaborations and I dorked out working on the Archie comics names since I knew that world through and through. Visiting their headquarters with all the illustrators’ desks and their work strewn about was heaven to a Veronica like me.
Fragrance-wise, Fucking Fabulous made its way into a lot of bathrooms in interior design editorials, so that’s something I think everyone involved should be proud of. I’m not kidding. It made a real impact culturally and it was actually in people’s lives. There would be no This Smells Like My Vagina candle without Fucking Fabulous. I remember an incredibly fun night out on the town years ago with Mischa Barton and she put her wrist to my nose for me to guess her perfume and it was that one. It felt full circle. I’m hanging with the co-host of the most important Memorial Day BBQ of all time and she’s wearing a fragrance I worked on. How is this real?
What is your favorite Tom Ford perfume, scentwise?
To me, Neroli Portofino Forte is the best fragrance they ever made and of course it got discontinued. It was the original fragrance amplified with leather, so it deepened it, rounded it out. I’ve been on the hunt for a fragrance I love as much as that one and ten years later, I still haven’t found it.
The original Neroli Portofino still hits for a reason. That scent in the Body Oil, another discontinued firework in a cave, was the ultimate pairing of scent and form. It made your muscle tone pop and you’d smell like you fell from a superyacht and washed up on a tangled bush of orange flower and citrus. When I used to go to the Pines many years ago, all the boys in the house would empty that bottle of oil by the end of the weekend.
Are there any fragrance names you wish you’d come up with? Any fragrance names you absolutely hate?
The last fragrances I was impressed by were the latest Balenciaga ones. The revived Le Dix is truly special. My friend Justin turned me onto one in the collection named No Comment. It is so delicious and classic man in an aromatic, green way, not an obnoxious or “whoah sir you need to ease off the cologne” way. I feel the name No Comment is too playful for the stature of such a beautiful scent to me. There’s a time to make the joke, and a time to show restraint. But, karmically, I don’t want to put down another writer’s idea. Everyone is a critic when it comes to names because it’s easier to delude yourself that you have taste in words versus graphic design because you don’t need to learn any computer programs.
Names are like turtles hatching and going to sea. You never know which one is going to make it to the end after facing the blank page, ideating and putting pen to paper, then selling the concept to all the cooks in the kitchen, getting their approval, then the legal availability, and then that name has a trademark in another country, so you can’t sell it in Europe, so it’s back to the drawing board. It’s a long road to get any name, so all respect to No Comment.
What do I wish I named? Just Me by Paris Hilton.
“What are you wearing?”
“Just Me!” Genius.
You’re a music head: what musician do you think needs a perfume and what would it smell like?
Apollonia 6. I would love to know what that backstage smelled like in Purple Rain. I’m picking up on gardenia, a little sweat, warm amber, a deft touch of patchouli and incense.
Since I’ve known you, you’ve moved from New York to LA and back—which city smells better?
You’re going to get me killed. So LA itself smells great because I think of the jasmine blooming in West Hollywood and all the flowers I’d smell walking my dog through the Oaks. But New York wins with the people smelling better. New Yorkers know how to share space in a way Angelenos don’t, back to me walking my dog and people don’t know how to share a sidewalk or say hi for that matter.
New Yorkers are being perceived at all times, so they can’t get away with not being put together sartorially or olfactively. There is always a moment in your day where you will be exposed to other people, unlike LA where you can lay low with your remote marketing job and erroneously think no one on the Zoom has clocked that you didn’t brush your hair.
Fight me but collectively New Yorkers are naturally hotter, so there must be pheromones and scents doing a lot of that work on the back end.
If you had to pick a signature scent for life right now, what would it be?
Wow, you’re doing this to me? For life? I’ve been very into iris lately, so if I have to lock in this second maybe Iris Bleu Gris by Maître Parfumeur et Gantier. But then again I’ve always loved ambery scents, maybe because my mom always wore Opium by YSL. Day for Night by Prada is a great amber with a great name appealing to my movie love. I was obsessed with the Comme des Garcons 8 88 candle and even when one exploded during a party and the glass fell so the 8 88 turned into 6 66, I kept on buying them till they got discontinued. Everything I love gets discontinued. Come back, Dr Pepper Lip Smacker!
I’m looking at how I answered the top, middle, base question, and Opoponax by Santa Maria Novella hits those beats. Maybe I need to just commit to that one. Sorry for being so Libra.
as a Libra you know I loved every word of this. NEROLI PORTOFINO FOR LIFE!!!!!
I want to be his friend too, so fun!