Welcome to Fumes! I am Miccaeli and I live on the east coast of Australia.

I believe that there is a lack of in depth journalistic coverage of the fragrance industry and aim to fill this niche. My ethos is that perfume is an art form and should should be judged fairly and equally based on artistry, price, accessibility, and quality.

My scope is as wide as I can make it and encompasses budget, designer, indie, niche, and vintage perfume, as well as functional fragrance and flavours. If it’s meant to smell, I want to smell it.

All perfume samples and bottles discussed on my Substack are bought and paid for by me (or gifted by my lovely friends and family). I will never post sponsored content or incentive based reviews. Perfumery is an expensive hobby but I wish to provide analysis that is truly independent. No part of my writing will ever be created or edited using AI.

Outside of perfume my interests include history and narrative nonfiction on all topics; geography, geopolitics, and beautiful maps; television and film, from prestige to Survivor; a broad range of fiction from pulp romance to classic literature; biblical and religious history; mythology from all corners of the globe; world politics and culture criticism; iced lattes; and making bespoke spotify playlists. I also write fiction elsewhere.

I can be found on instagram, spotify, goodreads, and right here on Substack, every Sunday.