I’m back with season 6! Sorry it’s slightly later than planned - it took longer than anticipated to schedule guests for this season and then life got in the way! Anyway - we’re kicking off with someone I’ve been wanting to talk to for a long time. It’s Steven Gontarski, who is the manager of the Scent Bar niche/indie fragrance store in L.A. - and also a regular presenter & contributor to the brand’s e-commerce and social platform ’luckyscent’. I’ve been watching his live videos and posts for the last few years and in my humble opinion, Steven is one of the best communicators in fragrance. Passionate, knowledgeable, articulate - and all of this just transmits through the screen to the viewer.

It was an absolute pleasure to find out more about Steven - his background as an artist and sculptor, his post-punk band, his love of musicals (!) and of course his passion for perfumery. I hope you enjoy our conversation, it took a place in mid-January 2024 with Steven in L.A and me in London, using the Riverside platform.

Steven mentioned the following products he uses in his morning/evening routines:

Clarins - Gentle Foaming cleanser

https://www.clarins.co.uk/purifying-gentle-foaming-cleanser/80071906.html

La Roche Posay - Anthelios SPF30

https://www.laroche-posay.co.uk/en_GB/anthelios-ultra-light-invisible-fluid-spf30/LRP_020.html

Miss Jessie’s - Multicultural Curls

https://www.naturalisticproducts.co.uk/products/miss-jessie-s-multicultural-curls-8-5oz

CeraVE - PM Moisturising Lotion

https://www.boots.com/cerave-facial-moisturising-lotion-52ml-10258275

Current scent choices:

Dior - Bois D’Argent

https://www.dior.com/en_gb/beauty/products/bois-dargent-Y0959160.html

Chasing Scents - Rain Tea

https://chasingscents.com/products/rain-tea

You can find Lucky Scent on Instagram here:

https://www.instagram.com/luckyscent/

You can find the e-commerce store here:

https://www.luckyscent.com/

Steven’s IG channel:

https://www.instagram.com/stevengontarski/

Steven’s band:

https://www.instagram.com/faintingparty/

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You can also ‘tip’ me via the link below. This really helps me with the podcast running costs (it’s a costly business!): https://ko-fi.com/maninthemirror

You can follow me @maninthemirrorpod on IG:

https://www.instagram.com/maninthemirrorpod/

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