Ina Garten Davita

We love googly eyes almost as much as we love Christmas morning at Casa Barrial, and last year, we were able to merge both of them together. I love watching Lilith’s face and she races downstairs to see what Krampus and Santa might have left under our pink Christmas tree and what kind of candy La Bafana left in our shoes. The scent of a Googly Eye Christmas Tree: pink cotton candy, silver tinsel, cinnamon cookies, and white chocolate snow. Cinnamon and chocolate straight up. I’m sad that I didn’t get any Yule vibes from this. The cotton candy, the tinsel and the tree itself was gobbled up by the greedy cinnamon.

Lilith has been flying since she was a little over a year old. Her first plane trip was to New Orleans, and since then, she has been all over the world. She has slept on the floor at the airport in Mexico City and Minneapolis, she has eaten airport junk in New York, Frankfurt, and Chicago. It feels like she knows LAX and Heathrow almost as well as she knows her own house. Sometimes I think she’s happier about flying itself than she is about exploring a city! This photo was taken at the airport on one of our trips. I love this outfit… Rolling Stones concert tee, stripy tights, boots with fuzzy balls on it. Lilith might not think this photo is good because her hair is a bit messy, but I love looks of happiness that a hot dog and a giant pretzel bring to her face. It took a bit of persuasion to get her to share it, but dad has his ways. The first time I saw her wear this tee, I told her that I went to that concert and I that I think that I had the same t-shirt back in ‘76. She looked at me and asked, “1876?” It’s probably not the best idea to make a hot dog scent, even though Beth keeps making jokes about hot dog water, so we made a Airport Garbage Snacks scent with coffee, airplane nuts, and squished Backpack Chocolate Residue. This one is CRAZY. I had a great Aunt Rose. She’d get on the bus to come visit us, she’d arrive, all 4 feet 6 of her, carrying two bags. One was full of knitting the other had a black banana and her homemade anise cookies. This scent is exactly what the room would smell like when she’d empty the contents of the bags on our kitchen table.

Back in the good ol’ days, I was a singer in quite a few bands. Being up on stage was an amazing feeling, but it doesn’t hold a candle to watching my baby singing and seeing the way she lights up when she’s on stage. I love to listen to her sing and I think she has a lovely voice, but nothing makes me prouder that having someone comment about how beautiful her voice is. This photo is just before she played with her band, and I love how she is so comfortable and happy to be in front of an audience. A rockstar scent for a tween: leather, vanilla bean, honey sticks, and sugar. Unfortunately for me, the leather was all up in my face. Why such a bully? No vanilla, no honey, no sugar for me. I got the barest whiff of lemon, which was odd.

Lilith did her first roller skating trick, and I was so proud. Wild fig, tonka bean, bergamot, and hardwood. We used to go skating at Wheels Plus back in Jr. High. This scent is so evocative of that time, I could almost hear the B-52s floating out of the bottle. If you like fig and woods, you’ll like this. I may go back for this one.

If there is one thing that my loving daughter has learned from me, it is to always be humble in victory. The scent of shameless gloating: sparkling honey and a hint of salty biscuit. I may go back for this one, too. It’s the smell of a clean baby chewing on a teething biscuit. Just precious!

Lilith has loved drag for many years, and when she goes to drag shows, she’s a great tipper. She knows how hard drag queens work, and knows how important it is to support the drag community both locally and worldwide. This is the scent of everyone else’s spilled drinks at drag brunch: blood peach bellinis, strawberry daquiris, and mimosas. So boozy, fruity, and realistic, like a bartender took all these cocktails and put them in a punch bowl. If you like Beth’s mixology drinks (think Atomic Tiki Lounge) you’ll want this.

Sometimes, I see a photo of Lilith and just want to add it to the Fatherhood update. I have tried and tried to write something about this photo but I have not found the right words. Maybe I will just say that I love Lilith and I think she is beautiful here. Lime hard candy, bubblegum lollipops and sugar plums. A lime blow pop!

Sometimes I wonder how Lilith views me. Am I the authority figure? Her goofy playmate? Am I the father that drives her all over Los Angeles? It appears that I am the skinny three-fingered man. I believe that she captured me perfectly. Don’t you? Red and white musks, orange blossom, neroli, and sweet vanilla amber. This was the biggest disappointment for me because I love vanilla amber, I love white musk and I LOVE orange blossom. This came on like a NEROLI party. The orange blossom came and left pretty quick, and the rest of the guests didn’t bother showing up.

Back in 2016, we had made plans, a bit premature as it turned out, to travel to Washington D.C. to see the first woman sworn in as president of the United States of America. It was not to be, but we Barrials are nothing if not flexible. Along with some our best friends, we decided to travel to the Capitol to protest the vile man that is ruining our great country. A year later, she rode my shoulders again at the first anniversary of the Womens’ March in Los Angeles. With my beautiful daughter on my shoulders, we marched, we shouted, we made our voices heard again. Truth will prevail. A scent of power and courage for my daughter: sweet milk and cardamom with vanilla pod and nutmeg. Warm, spiced milk. Very soothing, ultra-comforting. This would make a perfect bath oil for bedtime.

We all love to go to Ren Faire, and they have a zip line there. If I remember correctly, it is one ride for $5, $20 for 5 rides, and $40 for unlimited rides for all day. Lilith gave me her best, “Dad, I love you and I would like to do the $40 all day” face – big eyes and all – and how could I say no? Long story short (too late!), we rode the zip line so many times that the operators knew our names. At least this year, my naughty bits did not suffer as much. This photo is one of my favorite photos from the last year. She looks so confident, tough, and sure of herself here, while I look like I just survived twenty zip line rides. She makes me so proud to be her father. Pirate’y rum cookies, hay bales, leftover bits of funnel cake, and Renaissance Faire patchouli. I groaned so loudly when I sniffed this that the whole room started laughing. Yeah, it's THAT scent. Glorious and evocative of what?... YES, it's a wholesome version of Halloween in Las Vegas. It’s so good. It’s that grounded sort of foodie scent that I like, it has a lot of depth and morphs a lot. Starts off with rum cookies, and funnel cake, and the hay and patch just ground it so beautifully. It’s a Weenie disguised as a Fatherhood. Get it!

ALL THE HOT CHERRY. I apologize for the minimalist review. But HOT CHERRY ALL DAY.

This is exactly the scent of the sum total of the Barrial pack, as they arrive in a flurry of hugs, smiles, and hellos. It’s very evocative. If you like the Dorian+Snake Oil scents, you’ll like this. It’s fantastic and made me smile so big and miss them a little less. I got a bottle and will enjoy it.

Reading the notes, I would never have thought this would smell so fantastic, but having smelled Tombstone on Ted at DragonCon, I knew this would be a winner. A cowboy in a candy store! Purchased a bottle, because yeah, it’s that good. It also makes me want to experiment with layering my bottle of Tombstone with other Fatherhood favorites.

I adore Beth's amber. Some amber is so potent and powdery, but whatever amber that Beth sources, is so smooth and so golden. Amber goes so perfectly with that cognac-vanilla-musk trifecta. This, like most of the Lace family, is going to age to perfection. I feel like there is a whiff of tobacco here, too, and that's not a complaint because I love it.

I'm all about the plum with resins. I love it. It's a little powdery, but I think that will age out. I'm an avid "Lace" collector and this is a perfect addition to the family. The vanilla is SO SWEET.