10.09.2019
Episode 124: Eric Buterbaugh, Founder of Eric Buterbaugh Fragrances
Summary
Founder of the eponymous fragrance line and his floral design company in Los Angeles, Eric Buterbaugh sat with host Jodi Katz as part of our Podcast-In-Residence program at Saks Fifth Avenue’s flagship store in New York. In front of a wonderful audience, Eric traced his path toward his passions which can be summed up with F words: fashion, fragrance and flowers. We could also add flamboyant, a word reflected in Eric’s sparkling personality. Eric turned his lifelong love of beautiful smells into a business, putting those beautiful smells in bottles and vases.
Transcript
| Announcer | Welcome to WHERE BRAINS MEET BEAUTY® hosted by Jodi Katz, founder and creative director of Base Beauty Creative Agency. |
| Jodi Katz | Hey everybody. It's Jodi Katz, your host of WHERE BRAINS MEET BEAUTY® Podcast. This week's episode is a special one as we recorded it at our podcast and residence program at Saks Fifth Avenue's flagship store in New York city where we host networking and live podcast recording events. It features Eric Buterbaugh. He's the founder of Eric Buterbaugh Fragrances. He has a beautiful shop and shop at Saks, so please check it out, and if you're interested in attending any of our future podcasts and residence programs, they're free. Please go to our website @wherebrainsmeetbeauty.com or go to our Instagram @wherebrainsmeetbeautypodcast. We're happy to add you to our mailing list so you can get the news. And if you missed last week's episode, it featured Elise Joy. She's the director of Girls Helping Girls. Period. Okay. Tonight we are joined by Eric Buterbaugh. Eric is the floral designer to the stars and founder of Eric Buterbaugh Los Angeles Fragrances. His fragrances are unique and an intimate way to honor his passion for flowers. If you follow him on social media, you've noticed that he radiates joy. Please welcome Eric Buterbaugh. |
| Eric Buterbaugh | Okay, thank you. I'm happy to be here. |
| Jodi Katz | So we have to talk about the shoes. |
| Eric Buterbaugh | I can't help it. I'm a boot whore. |
| Jodi Katz | How many pairs? |
| Eric Buterbaugh | No idea. |
| Jodi Katz | How many did you travel with? |
| Eric Buterbaugh | 10 |
| Jodi Katz | Is that a whole suitcase? |
| Eric Buterbaugh | I'm here four nights. |
| Jodi Katz | That's a whole suitcase full of shoes. |
| Eric Buterbaugh | It is. I can't help it. I might want a different color tomorrow. |
| Jodi Katz | Well, you're in the right building for that. |
| Eric Buterbaugh | Thank you. I know. |
| Jodi Katz | So we have a lot to cover. Eric and I had a conversation over the phone a few weeks ago and there's so much rich storytelling here. I think we're in for a real treat. But let's start with what you're holding. What are you holding? |
| Eric Buterbaugh | A red rose. Looks like someone's eaten part of this one, but we'll try. |
| Jodi Katz | Well, it was reflexed before I handed it over to you. |
| Eric Buterbaugh | Yes. |
| Jodi Katz | Tell us what that means. |
| Eric Buterbaugh | Well, it's something I started at my flower shop a long time ago because if you get one that's not reflexed, it looks like everyone's reflexed it. It just is sort of closed. So we started opening them and you go around and you flip it inside out, you flip it inside out, and all of a sudden it becomes something different. |
| Jodi Katz | Look what we have here. |
| Eric Buterbaugh | Ah, thank you. Thank you. Will you hold this for a minute and I'll actually do one. |
| Jodi Katz | Yeah. |
| Eric Buterbaugh | So anyway, you take the back guard things off, and when you do a party that you're using maybe 10,000 roses, it's a big job to bend 10,000 roses. So there's a whole thing in the back and all they're doing... So you take the outer one and you just gently, not everyone can do it, not everyone has that gentle touch, I think my friend Vanessa in the back has the gentle touch, and you go around and you just open it petal by petal, a tiny little flip, and it goes from that closed rose to something different. It goes from that to this. And when you have an arrangement with maybe 300 of them, it looks very good. It's in a huge arrangement. No one thinks it's real. They get there and they think it's velvet and they think it's something else, and I'm about the only shop that does it. Other shops could, nobody wants to take the time because it takes so long. So I'm detail city. |
| Jodi Katz | Thank you for sharing that. So you all have a reflex rose to take home with you courtesy of Eric, which is so nice. So let's have some fun. How'd you spend the day today? |
| Eric Buterbaugh | Today? Oh, you asked about yesterday. Today, I had a press breakfast at a hotel and that was great. It was nice to be here and let people know about the new things with the perfume brand. Then I snuck back to my hotel. I had lunch next door, some restaurant I can't remember the name of. And then I went home and packed because I leave at the crack of dawn tomorrow. So today wasn't my favorite day until now. |
| Jodi Katz | So what'd you do yesterday? |
| Eric Buterbaugh | Yesterday I had breakfast at Sant Ambroeus, which I love, and then I ran around with some friends. I had coffee at another Sant Ambroeus. And you know what? I had lunch weirdly at that new fancy Starbucks in the meatpacking district. Have you seen it? It is massive. It's called Starbucks Reserve. She's been there. It's massive. The food is amazing. It's next level. I didn't know it existed and it was such a fun day and I hope we get one in LA, but we don't have one yet. It was a good day. |
| Jodi Katz | What is a typical day? Like yesterday and today is not a typical day, right? You're not based in New York. When do you wake up? What do you do? Are you lounging until 11:00 in the bed, getting to the office at one? What is it like? |
| Eric Buterbaugh | I wake up at the crack of Dawn, I usually wake up at 6:00, and I love that. Let the dog out. I have a little rescue dog that I'm in love with called Lucius Foxy. He's amazing. I'm completely in love. And then I get up and I watch headline news for our country. And then I spin around Instagram and play a little bit. I do naughty memes. So I like that. And if I get to ease into that day from sort of 6:00 to 8:30, then I have a good day. I don't like to rail out of the bed. And I usually don't leave the house until about 10:00, 10:30, and then lately I've been going to the flower shop, and that's fun and it's exciting. And my flower shops in a beautiful, beautiful Frank Gehry building and it's exciting. And every day you go through who's ordering stuff and it's very over the top and exciting. It's fun. When I had the flower shop, I loved living in London, but I didn't want to do a flower shop in London. They're too cheap. And then I decided that in LA it was great because it was very glamorous and it was over the top. So I did my flower shop in the most perfect city I could do it in, in LA, and it's been 28 years I've had this flower shop, and if these walls could talk, it's good. |
| Jodi Katz | So I want to let everyone in on something you told me when we were on the phone. This is in quotes. I was born with people skills, taste for fancy things. What does that mean? |
| Eric Buterbaugh | I love fancy. I always did. It's funny, I grew up in Oklahoma and the one thing I knew is I sort of wanted out and it just didn't feel natural for me. And I lived my life through magazines and I saw other places that have a different lifestyle, and I feel like I've visualized myself out of there. And I didn't have this thing like I've got to get out of here, just sort of easily happened and everything I kind of hoped my life would be, it became. But not by really trying, just by like going with what came in front of me. And then I ended up having sort of the glamorous life I wanted somehow, some way, but I always liked fancy stuff. And there's something like when I launched the perfume I had to have a crystal bottle, you know, and to do that, like for a small startup brand, it cost so much money, whatever, and I just like dug my feet in. I dug my feet in, I got my crystal bottle, and it's shaped like I wanted and whatever. I'm a perfectionist, so I've always lived that way. |
| Jodi Katz | You are a perfectionist? |
| Eric Buterbaugh | Yes. |
| Jodi Katz | But you seem so calm for a perfectionist because I'm a recovering perfectionist. |
| Eric Buterbaugh | I don't think I'm that calm. I rally up. But I want everything perfect, I'm very detail oriented, and I usually get it. |
| Jodi Katz | So true or false? Were you voted best dressed in high school? |
| Eric Buterbaugh | Yes. |
| Jodi Katz | True or false? Were you voted most popular? |
| Eric Buterbaugh | Yes. |
| Jodi Katz | Do you remember being in high school? |
| Eric Buterbaugh | Yes. |
| Jodi Katz | Was it awesome? |
| Eric Buterbaugh | No, it was okay. I mean, I liked high school. I like people. All my life, I liked people, and all my life I'm curious about people and I feel like everybody has something amazing. So I like to meet people and I like to figure out what their amazing thing is. It's something... Like you're open. I like people, and I think almost everybody has something interesting to do. So a lot of people... I have a big life so people think I'm fancy or whatever, but I don't discriminate about people. I like everybody and I want to figure out something. So I think that's helped me in my life and my career. |
| Jodi Katz | Tell us about your grandfather. |
| Eric Buterbaugh | My grandfather was amazing. He'd only had daughters, whatever. When I was born it was like, "Oh my God," nothing mattered but me. Period. I was spoiled rotten. He gave me a new car every year for my birthday. |
| Jodi Katz | Really? |
| Eric Buterbaugh | Yeah. It was like I could buy as much clothes as I wanted, it didn't matter. It was amazing. My mother didn't matter anymore. Her sister didn't matter anymore. His wife didn't matter anymore. It was me, baby Jesus. It was like, crazy. And every day his driver would pick me up at school and bring me to his office and we would walk around and my granddad dressed up every day in a cashmere coat and gloves, a suit and tie, and he would walk with me holding hands to the ice cream shop to get a chocolate milkshake and next door to the ice cream shop was a toy store. And we walked but he said, "No, no, no. We got it yesterday. We don't," and I'd be like, "Oh, I don't need anything. Let's just go in and look." And he couldn't say no to me. So it was amazing to have somebody love you that much and whatever. So I think that was a good thing of growing up. |
| Jodi Katz | Do you think you picked up his finer things? |
| Eric Buterbaugh | Probably. Probably. He liked beautiful things too. I remember feeling the gloves and they would be kit skin gloves and things. So yes. |
| Jodi Katz | You remarked to me that your mother had a nice personal style, but that you didn't like the way she decorated the house. |
| Eric Buterbaugh | No. It was funny. When I was 16 years old, my grandparents completely let me redecorate their house. I chose everything. They didn't question it, they didn't do anything. They just let me go for it. And it went quite modern. Probably horrible now. But at that time I thought it was amazing and they loved it. It was funny. |
| Jodi Katz | Shower or bath? |
| Eric Buterbaugh | Only bath ever. |
| Jodi Katz | Ever, ever? |
| Eric Buterbaugh | Always. |
| Jodi Katz | Always since you were a kid? |
| Eric Buterbaugh | Yeah. My bathroom when I grew up was... There was a counter and there were probably 50 bottles of perfume on it. I loved perfume. I'd love smelly stuff. I would only take baths and I wouldn't just put bubbles in the bath, I'd pour perfume out of bottles into the bath. And the candles, I wanted them burning. My mother thought I was always going to burn the house down because there always had to be a... So the smelly deal was my deal. And that's why the perfume was a dream of mine since I was a little kid, and for that to happen, I feel very blessed because it took awhile but it was a dream of mine since I was a little kid. |
| Jodi Katz | What are the earliest memories you have of fragrance being so significant? Like when did you take that bottle and dump it in the bathtub? |
| Eric Buterbaugh | I mean, probably when I was eight years old, maybe before. I don't know what it is. You know, some things you don't... There's no rhyme or reason, it's just there, and I always loved it. |
| Jodi Katz | How incredible that you had people around you that honored that? |
| Eric Buterbaugh | Hmm. Yeah, I feel very lucky that that kind of thing, that I was spoiled. |
| Jodi Katz | So you mentioned that you visualized your way out of Oklahoma by reading magazines? So I wonder if you were growing up now, what medium would you turn to to sort of escape and dream? |
| Eric Buterbaugh | Well, I have to say I feel confused about the way we're all right now. I've never done a podcast, I'm not exactly sure what it is, but I'm happy to be up here. |
| Jodi Katz | This is it. |
| Eric Buterbaugh | This is it. You know, the world's different. It's fast. There's so much stuff to do. And I, you know, do my best to keep up with it, but it's different for me. And I'm not opposed to anything but I guess I happen to love Instagram. |
| Jodi Katz | You love it? |
| Eric Buterbaugh | I love it. I love it. But you know, there's other things that all you young people, I'm sure you do, that I don't understand. So it's a different world. You know, a long time ago, if I did a perfume you'd have a couple of articles in a magazine, go in a nice big store, and that'd be that. Now? Wow. You got to paddle. You got to... Influencers. This stuff. And it's exciting, but it's different. |
| Jodi Katz | Does it feel overwhelming? |
| Eric Buterbaugh | No. |
| Jodi Katz | I'm overwhelmed by it. |
| Eric Buterbaugh | I'm sort of open to anything. So I don't know if I understand it all, but I'm open to it. |
| Jodi Katz | I find the pace tricky. |
| Eric Buterbaugh | The what? |
| Jodi Katz | The pace. |
| Eric Buterbaugh | Yeah. |
| Jodi Katz | Right? The immediacy. The need for more and more and more and more and more. |
| Eric Buterbaugh | It's a lot. It's a lot. |
| Jodi Katz | Do you have a big team to support you? |
| Eric Buterbaugh | I do now. I didn't in the beginning. You know, it's an amazing thing. When I launched the perfume, it was three people and a little startup and you do the best you can and you go, go, go. And now I'm very lucky. I've taken a strategic investor, a company from Spain called Puig and I literally were shipped in. And it's like having a company that has an art department, a new media department, the photo. You know, it's just like... And I sort of even didn't realize what I had. I ended up in Paris this year and there was a photo shoot and there was like 40 people in four vans all over Paris, and they did all the artwork for my new launch and I was like, "Oh my God, there's an art department?" It's just like, "My life has changed so much." Now, my time is different, and it was very different when it's a two man band than when it's a whole building in Paris, and here's some of them. So it's very exciting, and I'm very excited for the future. |
| Jodi Katz | So let's walk down memory lane in your career. Tell us about your first job when you left Oklahoma. |
| Eric Buterbaugh | My first job was I sort of felt like I was taking advantage of my grandfather and the money and I felt guilty about it because he loved me so much and he wanted me to take over his company in Oklahoma, which was Lan Tile Oil Company, which I had no interest in. And I felt like I was taking advantage of him. So I went to him and said, "You know, I want to move. I don't want to go to work for your company. I want to move to Dallas and I want to do it on my own." So I sort of cut myself off. So when I got to Dallas, I still wanted the clothes, so I went to work for Gianni Versace, which was the only fashion designer that mattered at the time, so I could still have the clothes. And that was amazing. It was fun. |
| Jodi Katz | How long did you work for Versace? |
| Eric Buterbaugh | Well, I worked for Versace for two years in Dallas and then the economy went funny and they closed that store, but they moved me to Beverly Hills, which didn't hurt my feelings one bit. It's sort of the universe driving me to another big city. And I worked for the Versace store on Rodeo Drive, which he did not own. It was a franchise. And I bought the men's collection and I took care of the celebrities. So I dressed all the famous people. And so in his company, they knew about me because I took care of all the movie stars. And I met Johnny Versace at a party in Beverly Hills, and he said, "Oh my God, you're Eric, the famous Eric at my store," and he didn't really love the people I worked for. And he said, "So Oscar season, if I send all the clothes for the celebrities to you at home, will you dress them privately?" I said, "Sure. Yeah. Love it." And so I'd get 10 boxes of clothes for Elizabeth Taylor, I'd get 10 boxes of clothes for Jane Fonda, and I'd go to their house and I'd fit them and it was sort of normal. It was fun. And afterwards he called me. He said, "That was so amazing. It was easy. Can Donatella and I invite you to stay with me in Saint-Tropez for a week to thank you for doing that." I'm like, "Yeah, I'm in." And so I went there and when I got to Saint-Tropez he had gotten the franchise back in London, and he was building this palace store, 30,000 square feet, all marble, all beautiful antiques, and it was mine. And so I moved to London and that was amazing, and I was in my twenties and it was crazy. It was during the period when supermodels happen. So I'd wake up at the Ritz in Paris, Naomi would be asleep here, Christy Turlington asleep here, Donatella on the sofa. And, you know, I was having a ball. |
| Jodi Katz | You said that you had visualized that for yourself? |
| Eric Buterbaugh | Well, not particularly with that situation, but ending up in London or a big city. I sort of saw myself living in this different life and then all of a sudden I was there. You know, there was no plan of how to get there. I just sort of let it happen to me. |
| Jodi Katz | That's the sense of calm I feel from you. |
| Eric Buterbaugh | I think there's something about trusting the universe and it's going to go... You know, if I'd ever tried to push anything too hard, if it is, it didn't feel like it's meant to be. So I kind of let things flow the way they're meant to flow and usually they flow the right direction, in my opinion. |
| Jodi Katz | Did you learn that from your grandfather? |
| Eric Buterbaugh | No, I think just in my... There was something funny when I launched the perfume and I had this successful flower business and stuff, there was a little bit I felt overwhelmed, and it almost felt like I was receiving more than my cup could hold, which is this funny feeling. I felt anxious. And there was something with that and I started, sort of to cope with it, I started meditating, I started doing some other stuff, and that helped balance me out somehow because... It almost felt like worry, but you're not worrying about something good. It was just like, "Oh my God, Oh my God," and I think some of the stuff like meditation and stuff makes me not push for something. If there's something you think you want and you start pushing, it's not happening, I feel like it's not meant to be. So I very quickly let what's meant to be be, and then it sort of gets you to the right place. I feel like... I'm not trying to be a guru, but... |
| Jodi Katz | Do you use a meditation app or are you able to get your- |
| Eric Buterbaugh | In the beginning, when I started meditating, I just read something in a book once and it was sort of how I feel. It's like, it said, "Don't be afraid. You don't have to have a guru. Just stop right now and breathe and just focus on your breath. Do it. In and out," and I did that and for a long time I just did breath, and then I found out about the apps, like Insight Timer, and it's amazing. And I switched and I started going and I listened to guided meditations and I liked that. But after a while I started thinking, "I like my old quiet meditation." So I think meditation is something very important for everybody and especially in a world that's crazy. Everywhere in the world, England is different now, France is different now, America's different now. So I feel like anything that quiets you down a little bit, it's probably good for you. |
| Jodi Katz | You told me that London feels like home more than any other place. |
| Eric Buterbaugh | Yes. It's funny because when I lived in London, I had a preconceived idea that, I had a fun job and I knew it, but I had an idea in my mind that English people hate vulgar Americans and then that was that. And it was completely wrong. In London I made the best friends I've ever made in my life, and if you make a friend in England, one, they have my sense of humor, if you know what piss taking is, that's my favorite thing on the planet. Take the piss out of somebody and somebody take the... And that's England. And I made the best friends I've ever made anywhere in England and it's now, if I go to England, I feel like I'm going home. And it was mostly sort of solid English people and a few Germans thrown in. |
| Jodi Katz | You also told me that people see you as a confidant. |
| Eric Buterbaugh | Yes. |
| Jodi Katz | Why do you think that is? |
| Eric Buterbaugh | I don't know. I think because I like people and I... Whatever. I know so many secrets. I'd never write a book because nobody would ever speak to me again because I've always been a confidant to people. People come to me to tell me their secrets or get my help or whatever, and it always has been: Oklahoma, Dallas, London, whatever. People trust their secrets with me and I like that. |
| Jodi Katz | You're involved? |
| Eric Buterbaugh | I'm involved, and I feel like for my flower shop, one of the reasons it's so successful is because I'm involved there too because, you know, somebody's having a fight with somebody, they call the flower guy. You got to be quiet. She can't be jabbing about their shit. |
| Jodi Katz | Right. |
| Eric Buterbaugh | Am I not supposed to cuss on this? |
| Jodi Katz | You can. |
| Eric Buterbaugh | Okay. |
| Jodi Katz | Yeah. We'll put a little explicit E. |
| Eric Buterbaugh | Okay, okay. |
| Jodi Katz | So what keeps you up at night? |
| Eric Buterbaugh | Nothing. |
| Jodi Katz | Really? |
| Eric Buterbaugh | Nothing. |
| Jodi Katz | Really, really, really? |
| Eric Buterbaugh | I literally lie down and I'm asleep in two minutes every single night. |
| Jodi Katz | You don't wake up at three o'clock in the morning and thinking of lists that are in your head? |
| Eric Buterbaugh | Never, never. I used to a long time ago. Now, for the last 10 years, I lie down, I'm asleep in one minute, and I wake up in the morning. Are you jealous? |
| Jodi Katz | I am. I wake up with lists in my head and then the list... I'm like too tired to write the list, so it keeps going through my head. |
| Eric Buterbaugh | By the way, before I got to this, one of the steps into it was that I would realize I need to make a list before I went to bed so it was off your head so you could sleep. Now, it doesn't matter. I don't need the list. I don't need it. I lie down and I'm out. |
| Jodi Katz | I want to be able to do- |
| Eric Buterbaugh | It could be the age. |
| Jodi Katz | I end up at four o'clock in the morning and five o'clock in the morning, can't get back to sleep so I watch The Real Housewives. |
| Eric Buterbaugh | I never, never, never... Thank God. Poor you. |
| Jodi Katz | I will work on the list. |
| Eric Buterbaugh | Okay. |
| Jodi Katz | I'll write it down. It's good advice. So you told me that when you came back to the US after living in London for two years, you didn't really know what to do. So what actually did you do during those two years? |
| Eric Buterbaugh | You know, I knew a lot of people, so I had a little bit of fun and I felt a little bit lost and I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do when I grew up. Also, it was much different living in LA. It's like, London was so social and there were dinners, it was a different kind of socializing, and they don't have that in LA really. So I was a little lost in social life and in work life. So I was really hanging about and I had a friend who was giving a dinner party for her husband's book and I wasn't doing anything. I said, "I'll do the flowers," and she's like, "What?" And I had never done flowers for anything. And I said, "Well, I had this girl in London that did my flowers and I always watched and whatever. I'm going to do them." And I really worked hard and I did the flowers and the next day all the women start calling and saying, "Oh my God, the flowers were so chic last night. It's like something I would see in Paris or London. Who did that?" And she was funny and she gave them all my phone numbers. She knew I never thought about it. And people were calling me saying, "Oh, can you do some..." I'm like, "I don't do flowers. That was just a one-off." And then a couple of people were very persistent, so I ended up doing something and the same thing happened, more people called, and some... I think I'm thick a little bit, but at some point a light bulb went off and like what I was supposed to do found me, and so I started doing flowers. My best friend at the time was the most famous photographer in the world, Herb Ritts. So I called Herb and said, "I'm going to do flowers now," and he's like, "What?" I said, "I'm going to do flowers now. You need to come take a photograph. I'm going to mail it to everybody." And it sort of became the rest is history. And it was meant to be. |
| Jodi Katz | There was a time in my life where I lost my job, didn't know what to do, and I went to work at a flower shop, and I loved it. |
| Eric Buterbaugh | Really? It's amazing. You know, it's funny. So many people come up to me saying, "Oh my God, the flowers... I want to work in your shop," and these are these spoiled women. And they think that in the flower shop, there's violins playing in the corner and you just do this and put this in there and it's just so lovely. I mean, the flower shop is bloody hard. There's mess everywhere. You're lugging stuff, your buckets, whatever. They would last one day. But there's a different attitude to it because it is very hard work. |
| Jodi Katz | I learned how to get the thorns off the roses. |
| Eric Buterbaugh | You did? |
| Jodi Katz | Yeah. |
| Eric Buterbaugh | With a scraper or a knife? |
| Jodi Katz | A scraper. Yeah, it was super awesome. So over 25 years later, what's the floral business like for you now? |
| Eric Buterbaugh | Now, that I have such support with Puig I have a little bit more time. So I'm obviously at the flower shop again and it's really reinvigorated it, my employees that have been there. And it's funny, I was working so hard on the perfume, I wasn't there like I used to be, and now I realized how good I am at it, how much I miss it, and how much my people miss me. And so I'm having a ball there. And I love it. It's almost going back to roots kind of thing and it makes me very happy. |
| Jodi Katz | So let's talk about the fragrance. You told us that since you were five, six, seven, eight, this has been a passion of yours. What were those feelings in the moments where you were actually making this happen for yourself? |
| Eric Buterbaugh | Well, like I said, it was overwhelming, but there were so many things that just happen like magic. It's like, Firmenich, which is a perfume company that makes a lot of fragrances and they have a stable of amazing, the most famous noses, so it was a very easy process because they're amazing. And so you would go to them and give them the beginning point and then you play together and it was exciting all the way. |
| Jodi Katz | But how did you know it was the right time to pursue this part of your dream? |
| Eric Buterbaugh | I didn't. It was funny, it took me a while to get the perfume moving, but I always feel like the universe looks after you, and when it happened and it launched, it felt like exactly the right time. Maybe earlier would have been the wrong time. It felt like people were looking for something high quality and something beautiful and something different and something that everyone couldn't have. It was exactly the right timing. So again, against all odds, the universe was working. And this is such a thing in my blood, I'm so proud of these fragrances, and I hope you play with them and I hope you buy some, and they're beautiful. And I said to somebody that when I launched it, I know so many people and they all bought it and they all were wearing it and they were all saying, "Oh my God, this is beautiful." But because they were friends, I mean, I enjoyed it and I appreciated it, but your friends are your friends. And then something switched and like a year in I would get off the plane in Paris and somebody would come run over and say, "Oh my God, you don't know me, but I wear your perfume." And then it's like, I felt like somebody was giving somebody a card and setting me up. It was like they were punking me because they'd say the same thing, and what they'd say is, "Since I started wearing your perfume, I get stopped in the street every day by people saying, 'What is that?'" It's the most beautiful thing I've ever heard, and because it was coming from strangers, after I decided I wasn't getting punked, it was for real. And then all of a sudden there was this thing that I felt overwhelmed because I felt like I did it. |
| Jodi Katz | That's like a kind of goosebumps story for me because you made it from nothing, right? |
| Eric Buterbaugh | Yeah. |
| Jodi Katz | And then people are recognizing you and feel comfortable approaching you. |
| Eric Buterbaugh | Yeah. I like it. I like it. |
| Jodi Katz | So I think that we're ready for questions now. |
| Eric Buterbaugh | Oh, I say girlfriend. |
| Jodi Katz | So Kate's going to bring us three awesome questions. Okay. Is Maelstrom54 here? Hi. The question she has for you is, "If you could capture the sense of your favorite memory, what would it smell like?" |
| Eric Buterbaugh | Hmm. |
| Jodi Katz | That's a great question. |
| Eric Buterbaugh | That is. It's a stumper. It's sort of irritating. You know what? It's funny. It's something... I feel like in a fragrance I like, I'd like some crispness but also behind it I like something that feels a little comforting or buttering. So I feel like... I don't know how to answer that. You sort of stumped me because... You know, it's weird for me for fragrance that I feel like I have such a big line now that you can choose a fragrance for... You know, during the day you feel like you want to feel crisp and clean and whatever, but at night you want to feel sexy. So I feel like you can dance around. And that was another thing when I launched this brand that people would come in and my experience had been to go to a brand and this was my thing, that people were picking five and six and couldn't pick between them, which I loved because they were different things, and I said, "You know, you don't wear the same shirt everyday, why wear the same fragrance?" And that was happening with my brand. So I think you have to dance around with a few. |
| Jodi Katz | A great question. This next one is from Simply Skincare. There she is. |
| Eric Buterbaugh | Hi. |
| Jodi Katz | As someone who works in fragrance and botanicals, is there a scent that you absolutely loath to work with? |
| Eric Buterbaugh | In flowers or fragrance? Flowers? It's sort of funny. I hate sunflowers. I don't know what it is. I hate them. |
| Jodi Katz | You hate looking at them? |
| Eric Buterbaugh | I just don't like them. I don't like to work with them, I don't like to look at them. It's not my deal. And I did a collaboration with a very famous hat designer who was based out of LA and we were sort of like two designers doing something, and the thing was to let him pick a flower and I do a fragrance off of it, and he picked the sunflower, he's French and he's an amazing guy, and I was like, "You're kidding," and they were like, "You have to do it." And sunflowers don't have fragrance. So to develop that fragrance we had to work with the noses and sort of give a feel of what, if a sunflower had smell, what it would smell like. And we ended up with something called Nick's. He was called Nick Fouquet, a hat designer. And we came up with Nick's Sunflower, and it's one of the best selling in my line. It's beautiful. So that was exciting, and I even like it. So I guess we interpreted in some way, but it was fun. |
| Jodi Katz | That's a great question. Okay. Our last winner in question asker is Sharon. Are you here? Oh cool. Hi Sharon. |
| Eric Buterbaugh | Hi. |
| Sharon Fasco | Hi. |
| Jodi Katz | Sharon was the first person to arrive tonight. |
| Eric Buterbaugh | Oh well, I love that. |
| Jodi Katz | She was early. |
| Eric Buterbaugh | Good. Is it there? Good. |
| Sharon Fasco | It's right here. |
| Jodi Katz | Okay. Sharon asks, "What kind of dog do you have and where did you rescue him from? And does he have a signature scent that he wears since you love him so much?" |
| Eric Buterbaugh | That's an amazing question. I got him, oh God, I'm blanking out on the name. It's a little rescue in Beverly Hills. I have a friend that's like, all she does is find homes for dogs, and it was like when I said I wanted one, you have to get a rescue, you have to get a rescue. So she sent me to this place and there, you know, some rescues are really weird. I called, they wouldn't return the call. Wouldn't return the call. And I'd gone and I saw this dog and it was mine, and they wouldn't call me back. So I barreled over there and just barged in and said... And they brought him out. He was mine. And he is, you know, he's a mix of stuff. He looks a little like a red miniature Pinscher, long legs, he's fast, and they named him Lucius Foxy and I love him, and he doesn't wear perfume. |
| Jodi Katz | And if he were, which one would he love the most? |
| Eric Buterbaugh | I think he might wear... I think he might wear the Saffron Oud, which is one of my new fragrances because he's sort of sexy. He changed my life. I never had a dog before. It changed my life. I moved somewhere else for this dog. I love him. |
| Jodi Katz | How many years have you been together? |
| Eric Buterbaugh | A year and a half. |
| Jodi Katz | Ah. |
| Eric Buterbaugh | He's little. He's almost two. |
| Jodi Katz | So that concludes this part of the podcast, but I can't let you go yet because Sam from the Puig team is going to raise her hand, or Danielle is going to raise her hand. So there's a lot of things happening here tonight with you. Would you like to meet, shake hands, hug, laugh with Eric after this recording? Okay. So you're going to follow with Danielle after this recording to his beautiful shop, which is right in the back corner, but it's a little bit of a maze to get there. So you can follow her and Eric's going to go there to meet and greet. |
| Eric Buterbaugh | Are we going to follow like an umbrella being held up? |
| Jodi Katz | Yes. A rose high in the sky. So you can get to spend time with Eric back there, and there's cocktails, and we have Damiana doing incredible decorations. She's personalizing fragrances and candles that you buy tonight. |
| Eric Buterbaugh | Do we have a DJ? |
| Jodi Katz | And a DJ. This is a lot of fun. So the party is going to pick up from this spot to move over to his shop in the corner. Okay? So I'm going to conclude this podcast recording because people are listening on the other end and they're not here and they wish they were here, and I'm going to do it in our traditional way. For listeners, I hope you enjoyed this interview with Eric. Please subscribe to our series on iTunes, and for updates about the show, follow us on Instagram @wherebrainsmeetbeautypodcast. Thank you so much Eric. |
| Eric Buterbaugh | Thank you, Jodi. It was great. |
| Announcer | Thanks for listening to WHERE BRAINS MEET BEAUTY® with Jodi Katz. Tune in again for more authentic conversations with beauty leaders. |
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