By Gary Duff. This article originally appeared on the Hamptons on July 4, 2019.
On a warm weekend in the Hamptons, you'll find perfume maker Douglas Little at any of his favorite East End hot spots.
7 a.m.
My mornings are usually spent out jogging or doing a little beach yoga. I’m completely and totally obsessed with this one product, which is Goop’s exfoliator. I live and die by it, and it’s how I begin every day. I also use the Goop detox scalp scrub when I get back in and shower.
9 a.m.
By the time I’ve gotten ready, my housemates are usually up and our favorite thing to do is to run out to Amber Waves Farm to see what’s available. We usually do coffee first at Jack’s Stir Brew Coffee in Amagansett, and once we’ve gotten the freshest ingredients we can find at the farm stands, we pay a visit to Stuart’s Seafood Market.
12 p.m.
Cooking and perfuming are so hand in hand in the way that they function. When you’re out in the Hamptons and get a chance to work with so many beautiful materials, you realize how the worlds mesh, which is why I love cooking. I’ll typically make my pink peppercorn and rose ice cream, which is a big fan favorite. I also do a shiso leaf salad dressing that people really love.
4 p.m.
After lunch, one of the things I often do is plunk myself down on the back deck and start blending, take walks out in the forested areas, and search for new smells. One of my favorite parts about being in that neighborhood is that the forested areas are so close to the seashore that you get really unique odor profiles between the pines, wild mint, wild sages, wild grasses. I’ll do a bit of hand harvesting of these things as well as doing some beach combing. I love the smell of old seashells. I’m really trying to identify and wrap my brain around these odors when I’m there, so that when I’m back in New York City, or home in L.A., and developing new fragrances, these are the ones that become my first resources for new scents.
7 p.m.
My idea of the perfect dinner is a great bottle of wine, crusty loaf of bread and incredible cheese. Cavaniola’s has such an incredible selection of local and imported cheeses, and their lobster rolls are badass.
9 p.m.
I’m quite metaphysical. So at night I try to do a light meditation, but I have this ritual where I write down all the things I don’t want to follow me into the next day. I burn it along with some palo santo before heading to bed.