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 "Without permitting anyone else to lay a hand on him, the lady herself washed Salabaetto all over with soap scented with musk and cloves. She then had herself washed and rubbed down by the slaves. This done, the slaves brought two fine and very white sheets, so scented with roses that they seemed like roses; the slaves wrapped Salabaetto in one and the lady in the other and then carried them both on their shoulders to the bed . . . They then took from the basket silver vases of great beauty, some of which were filled with rose water, some with orange water, some with jasmine water, and some with lemon water, which they sprinkled upon them. After which they refreshed themselves with boxes of sweetmeats and the finest wines."
In Boccaccio's Decameron (14th century) translated by Richard Aldington
 "Glazman said living at the age of six in Russia, there were only two fragrances on the market and both were called Red Moscow. In a country where "everybody smelled the same," Glazman recalled one particular morning, when he and his mother rode in a cab in their pajamas for a half hour to buy French fragrance (which cost about one month's salary) on the black market. "There was this magic moment where her rollers fell off, the pajamas disappeared and we're standing there. I was a prince, she was a queen." Glazman said of his mother. Glazman admitted the power of scent drew him into the industry. "It starts with dreaming; it is a journey," said Glazman. "To deliver the true experience from beginning to end, it always comes from that place of passion. There has to be a reason and an emotional connection to the product."
Lev Glazman is co-founder and director of R & D for Fresh.Quoted and written by Belisa Silva at WWD; poster via communisme-bolchevisme.net
 American men's grooming company Baxter of California will introduce two new scents from mid-April 2009 inspired in name only by the original Bravado cologne launched in the early 1970s. In fact, the new owner Jean-Pierre Mastey knew he didn't want the new Bravados to smell anything like the earlier woodsy-floral cologne which has been retired for 7 years. He turned to fragrance supplier Belmay who blended the original to archive Bravado and create 2 and 3. Bravado 2 and Bravado 3 are described as being both "... light and sophisticated scents designed to fringe on unisex."... 
Continue reading "Baxter of California Bravado 2 & Bravado 3 (2009) {New Fragrances} {Men's Colognes} {Scented Quote of the Day}" »
 A 1981 ad for Dioressence by famous illustrator Gruau
Here follows an interesting quote from perfumer Guy Robert (Calèche, Dioressence, Madame Rochas, Monsieur Rochas, Amouage Gold, The Pink Room...) about the role of marketing in perfumery seen in a more positive light than is usual to convey. It has become a little bit bon ton perhaps, and conformist even, to decry marketing and oppose it to Art with a capital letter as if they were enemies. I think that Robert's thinking is a more balanced assessment of the historic role of marketing, which one can't ignore, in shaping the destinies of perfume as we know it. This insight helps to surmount over-simplistic dichotomies and make us realize that the object we love as perfume is beholden to the progress of that branch of perfumery too...
Continue reading "Scented Quote of the Day, from Guy Robert: On Marketing" »
 Found a little jewel in a book from the first part of the 19th century recounting an interesting use of Eau de Cologne. Eau de Cologne could be used or was used once as an alcoholic drink by sailors aboard a ship short on rum. They had the idea of drinking it with water and sugar and called it a Cologne-Sling then sang its praises. The song reveals the sailors' resourcefulness. At the time, it would have appeared unusual but not outlandish an approach as Eau de Cologne was ingurgitated as a medecine in that era. I would love to know the air on which this sailors' drinking song was sung. "EAU DE COLOGNE, OR THE NOVEL BEVERAGE.
Our ancient poets sung the praise
Of nectar and of wine,
And made us believe their influence
Was god-like and divine;
But I'll embrace another theme,
A novel one I own :
In random verse I now chaunt forth
The praises of cologne....
Continue reading "A 19th Century Drinking Song or an Ode to Cologne-Sling {Scented Quote of the Day}" »
 About perfumers, "There's hardly any perfumer where you know his face," "We're
silent stars if you want. You can go anywhere you want, nobody's going
to point you out and say 'this guy made the last Givenchy or Dior' or
whatever. So nobody really knows us."
Source: WWD Feb 25, 2009
 All photos in the post © A.K./The Scented Salamander
A. K. sent us some pictures taken from the new fashion exhibition in Paris entitled Sous L'Empire des Crinolines (Under The Influence of Crinolines). They were taken during a private viewing on inauguration night, with a cell-phone, which gives you an instantaneous reportage quality and casts on the gowns a crystalline light and opaline-like finish, adding to the sense of distance in time while turning them into never-before-seen modern snapshots of antique fashion, taken on the quick. In that era, the famous perfumers of the day were Guerlain, Coudray, L.T. Piver, Lubin, Houbigant, Gellé Frères... But beyond a short-list of names, we have a passage from La Curée (The Kill) by Emile Zola (translation by Brian Nelson) which beautifully conveys some of the atmosphere and habitual practices in the arenas of fashion and perfume under the Second Empire in Paris as character Maxime visits the great couturier of the second empire, Worms (the fictionalized character of Charles Frederick Worth).  Summer gowns
In fact fashion and perfume here seem to become one under Zola's pen, whose writing as usual offers uncanny evocative power based on and prepared beforehand by meticulous ethnographic research (he would routinely note down in his notebooks the smells he encountered in his literally, fieldwork trips). One should also note that the fashions of the time were said to have become so
ostentatious that an observer reported that it had become nearly
impossible to distinguish an honest bourgeoise woman from a peripatetician
based on their outfits alone. Scented Quote of the Day from Emile Zola: "This quaint little creature (Maxime), who during his English lessons read the prospectuses which his perfumer sent him every Friday, could have delivered a brilliant lecture on the fashions of Parisian high society, customers and purveyors included, at an age when country urchins are too shy to look their housemaids in the face. Often, on his way home from school, he would bring back in his tilbury a bonnet, a box of soap, or a piece of jewelry which his stepmother had ordered the day before. He always had a strip of musk-scented lace in his pockets...
Continue reading "Cell-Phone Pictures from an Exhibition: Beautiful Milkescent Crinolines {Scented Paths & Fragrant Addresses} {Scented Quote of the Day, From Emile Zola}" »
 "Dylan McAfee, (...) in second grade at Georgetown
Day, met Mrs. Obama last Monday and has been star-struck ever since. " I
touched her hand and she smelled like cherries,"...
Continue reading "Scented Quote / Anecdote of the Day about Michelle Obama, from Dylan McAfee:" »
 Sean "Diddy" Combs who has a reputation as being a cocky personality is going to fuel further this perception when people read what he had to say regarding his new fragrance I Am King, "When you see Barack Obama, you see a strong, elegant black man and
when people see my ad, it's almost like that's the trend," he said in
an interview." (WSJ)
 Kate Moss who already launched two perfumes under her name, Kate and Velvet Hour, is now saying "why not?" to a fragrance featuring a gasoline accord, "I remember loving that smell when I was young. I've heard it's one
of the most preferred scents in the world, maybe that's something to
study for my next fragrance. Sometimes natural smells are the best. I
really love the smell of bacon in the morning and coffee."She added, "Worryingly, my daughter Lila loves the smell of
gasoline, too--she always says, 'Mummy, keep the door open,' when I'm
filling up the car."
Gasoline indeed has a nice scent and it is all we might be left with when the wells run dry. Check out Comme des Garçons Garage for its Kerosene note. And I can't believe it, but Demeter does not have a gasoline perfume yet (or did they retire it?) Via Gossip Girls
 Picture of the English adaptation of Lovers' Vows by Elizabeth Inchbald
"Enter Count Count: Ah, bon jour, mon colonel. Fair lady, I kiss your hand. (Amelia curtsies and returns no answers) Baron: Good morning! Good morning! But, My Lord, it is almost noon. In the country, you must learn to rise at an earlier hour. Count: Pardonnez, mon Colonel. I rose soon after your great clock struck six? But my homme de chambre was guilty of a betise, which has driven me to absolute despair; a loss, which pour le moment cannot be repaired...
Continue reading "Scented Quote of the Day, from August von Kotzebue (1761-1819):" »
Parisian Café by Gaetano de Las Heras, 1903
A conversation is "overheard" during the Belle Epoque in 1903 between two persons wearing Bon Vieux Temps by Guerlain. Note how the perfume was worn in an unisex fashion and the coquettry surrounding perfume-wearing. "'What a delicious fragrance', my dear, said I, because she smelled of that delightful perfume Bon Vieux Temps that I recognized immediately, as I use it myself. 'Yes, yes, my own special mixture', she answered condescendingly......
Continue reading "Scented Quote of the Day About Guerlain Bon Vieux Temps..." »
Two interviews with two major defining personalities of 20th and 21st century perfumery. Both are French yet their styles and sensibilities differ, some would say diametrally so. On this blog, we might have encouraged people to see a structural contrast between their visions. Serge Lutens and Jean Claude Ellena answer questions on their art to Vogue, in French. We translate one meaningful quote from each Q & A as our Scented Quote(s) of the Day. Interview with Serge Lutens "Comment peut-on savoir si un parfum va durer dans le temps ?
C’est le public qui choisit. Ce qui lui résiste accède à la reconnaissance. Le parfum peut, s’il a des adeptes – je devrais dire des « timbrés » - accéder à quelque chose de plus ou moins légendaire." ~ "How can one know that a perfume will be enduringly popular? - It is the public that chooses. What continues to have its favor comes to be recognized. Perfume can, if it has fans - I should say "addicts" - become more or less of a legend.".....
Continue reading "Interview with Serge Lutens & Jean Claude Ellena by Vogue {Fragrant Reading} {Scented Quotes of the Day}" »
Here are some words of wisdom from actor Ashton Kutcher about perfume-wearing etiquette on his "woman", i.e., Demi Moore. Take it from a guy: "If I can smell the perfume and we are not making out, then she is wearing too much. With a lot of things in life, more is better. But perfume does not apply.".....
Continue reading "Scented Quote of the Day from Ashton Kutcher:" »
On April 19, 2008, at 20: 30 pm a show entitled Il Profumo della Belle Epoque will take place in Rome, Italy. It is dedicated to recapturing the olfactory atmosphere of the Belle Epoque as experienced by spectators sitting in the atmosphere of a Parisian café in the 1890s, witnessing the boulevardiers getting émus, scenes of everyday life while listening to music and above all, smelling the perfumes of the Belle Epoque, "an era in which even words and gestures were scented"......
Continue reading "The Perfume of the Belle Epoque: A Spectacle Dedicated to Olfaction {Scented Paths & Fragrant Addresses} Scented Quote of the Day from Theodore Child:" »
In an interview in French with Cartier in-house perfumer Mathilde Laurent, the "nose" reveals how the process of customization of a perfume goes. The tab is pretty steep at 60 000 €. The perfumer talks about her transfer from Guerlain to Cartier, which she already evoked in previous interviews. She explains how a keen sense of smell is not a gift but the result of training and linked with qualities of intelligence and creativity. Someone can have a very sensitive sense of smell, yet lack creativity for example. And one does not just smell with the nose but with the brain. In brief, it is a refutation of the Grenouille myth whereby a superhuman sense of smell explains the success and inevitability of a perfumer's vocation however warped in that case.....
Continue reading "Mathilde Laurent: Perfume is a Weapon of Seduction {Fragrant Reading} {Scented Quote of the Day}" »
Here is a beautiful and interesting quote from Chanel in-house perfumer Jacques Polge about what it takes to be a nose (translation after the jump): "Je crois qu'il faut une certaine forme de sensibilité, une espèce d'attirance pour un certain type de langage qui n'use pas de mots et dit les choses différemment. Je crois que le parfum dit d'une manière bien particulière des choses qu'on ne pourrait pas dire autrement. Quand on fait des parfums, on n'est pas du côté des puissants, ceux qui contrôlent l'image et le son, on est du côté des silencieux. Il faut donc cette attirance." .....
Continue reading "Scented Quote of the Day from Jacques Polge:" »
"Olfaction is a kind of taste experienced at a distance. Others are forced, willy-nilly, to participate in this pleasure. And this is why, being in contradiction with freedom, olfaction is less social than taste, where among many dishes or bottles a guest can choose one that he likes without others being forced to share the pleasure of it. " in Anthropology From a Pragmatic Point of View (1798)
Pacifica started their business in 1995 as a candle-making company and later branched out into beauty care. Their scented body butters are very good as we have had already the opportunity to point out, both from the vantage points of texture and perfume. Some for the latter part, are better than others. We discovered them through their creams, tried their soaps and eaux de toilette too, and lastly sniffed their candles. The scented candles, did not beckon us immediately as they seemed to be on the strong side and to lack some subtlety, at least when not burning. Nevertheless, we decided to try Persian Rose, which offers a rather enthralling true dewy fruity rose scent as captured in the cold soy wax.....
Continue reading "Pacifica Persian Rose Candle {Home Fragrance Review} Scented Quote of the Day, from Saadi...{Smell-The-Roses-Till-Valentine's Day Challenge - Day 4}" »
Chanel No. 5 by Andy Warhol, 1985 "La vérité en parfum n’existe pas, sauf à être la passagère coïncidence d’une senteur avec notre âme, ce qui fait bien des vérités pour tout autant d’âmes." ~ "Truth in perfume does not exist, unless one means by that the transient state of coincidence of a scent with our soul, which means that there are as many truths as there are souls." Note: quote from Dictionnaire du langage parfumé. Jean-François Blayn is a perfume expert and teaches at ISIPCA. This was written in 1990 when the perfume scene was relatively less uniform and therefore less obviously comparable within itself. The new level of homogeneity today pushes towards an objectification of perfume. The development of an active discourse on perfume that seeks other references than the simplistic sentimental "I" and what it likes and dislikes also contributes to disengaging perfume from mere triumphant and conclusive subjectivity.
A fire in the fireplace is an olfactory symphony [...] (follows a long beautiful poetic evocation of all the smells that emanate from the fragrant woods and plants in the fireplace and mingle about in the room). These smells are important but let us recall that they are linked with the warm atmosphere, the crackle of the blazing fire, to its colors, shapes, shifts. The nose needs all the other senses to savor fully. The smell of the fire in the fireplace would be nothing without this mise-en-scene which stages a fireplace, blaze, and crackle. It needs this jewel case...... Note: Maurice Maurin is the creator of Amazone by Hermès and Vanilia by L'Artisan Parfumeur, amongst others. He is also a perfume author.
Continue reading "Scented Quote of the Day, from Maurice Maurin:" »
Jean-Jacques Rousseau in an Armenian costume, Geneva "Les odeurs par elles-mêmes sont des sensations faibles ; elles ébranlent plus l’imagination que le sens, et n’affectent pas tant par ce qu’elles donnent que par ce qu’elles font attendre. Cela supposé, les goûts des uns, devenus, par leurs manières de vivre, si différents des goûts des autres, doivent leur faire porter des jugements bien opposés des saveurs, et par conséquent des odeurs qui les annoncent. Un Tartare doit flairer avec autant de plaisir un quartier puant de cheval mort, qu’un de nos chasseurs, une perdrix à moitié pourrie" (our translation after the jump).......
Continue reading "Scented Quote of the Day, from Jean-Jacques Rousseau:" »
THANKSGIVING
"Have you cut the wheat in the blowing fields, The barley, the oats, and the rye, The golden corn and the pearly rice? For the winter days are nigh."
"We have reaped them all from shore to shore, And the grain is safe on the threshing floor."
"Have you gathered the berries from the vine, And the fruit from the orchard trees? The dew and the scent from the roses and thyme, In the hive of the honeybees?"........
Continue reading "Thanksgiving by Amelia E. Barr {Scented Poem of the Day}" »
The Creation of the World and the Expulsion from Paradise, Giovanni di Paolo, 1445, The Met
If you thought one could not wax lyrical after knowing one was smelling a fabricated perfume molecule, think again. Perfumer Arcadi Boix Camps from Auram Art & Perfume is stunned by the beauty of Paradisone and tells us about his unconditional love and admiration for it, "Paradisone is one of the most unbelievable and radiant molecules I have ever smelled, even more so than the wonderful Helvetolide (Firmenich). It is pure vibration, a storm of delicacy and diffusion.[....] "One smelling strip of Paradisone in a 70-m2 room diffuses the space with the angelic aromas of one million flowers. Again, as a perfumer, I must publicly say thank you to the chemists, because Paradisone's synthesis was among chemistry's miracles along with racemic, laevo and dextro Ambrox.......
Continue reading "Scented Quote of the Day, from Arcadi Boix Camps: {Updated}" »
Mademoiselle de Camargo by Nicolas Lancret (1730) "Le parfum c'est le complément indispensable de la personnalité féminine, c'est le finishing touch d'une robe, c'est la rose dont Lancret signait ses toiles". ~ "Perfume is the indispensable complement to the feminine personality; it is the finishing touch of a dress; it is like the rose that Lancret used to sign his paintings."........
Continue reading "Scented Quote of the Day, from Christian Dior: - 60th Anniversary of Miss Dior {Fragrant Reading}" »
 Sophie Labbé is a senior perfumer at IFF, which she joined in 1992. Studied at: She studied at ISIPCA (graduated the first of her class) and then at the internal school of Givaudan. She was the recipient in 2005 of the prestigious François Coty prize and was the first woman to receive this distinction. It was also a first for IFF.
Creations include: Romeo Gigli G de Gigli (1994), Jardin de Soleil d'Escada, Organza de Givenchy (1996), Emporio Armani pour Homme, Boss Woman d’Hugo Boss, Premier jour de Nina Ricci (2005), Cacharel Promesse (With Carlos Benaïm of IFF) (2005).......
Continue reading "Perfumer Sophie Labbé {Directory of Perfumers, Artistic Directors, & Fragrance Designers} {Scented Quote of the Day}" »
 About the state of the perfume industry, “We are more and more guilty of throwing spaghetti against the wall and seeing if it sticks [quoting her friend William Lauder]. Everyone talks about it, everyone writes about it, but every year there are … almost 400 new fragrances. And the next year the number goes up again. Where are those fragrances the next year?”......
Continue reading "Scented Quote of the Day, from Rachelle Bloom (& William Lauder):" »
You heard about Sean John's challenge to his female contenders in the arena of celebrity perfumes (also see video)? Here's the answer of the butterfly to the big bad wolf,.....
Continue reading "Ouch, Ouch, Ouch.... Scented Quote of the Day, from Mariah Carey:" »
"Un bon parfum, c'est celui que l'on a envie de sentir encore et encore" ~ "A good perfume is one that one wants to smell over and over again" (From Le guide du parfum by Rebecca Veuillet-Gallot) (Photo from frenzied seller )
Duke women 1946 Minton writes bout Gallicized perfume names in America as of 1946 (a method applied sometimes quite erratically if you read the rest of Minton's article, which is at times hilarious, especially when he gives long lists of perfume names with funny mistakes in them.) Some of my favorites are: Charme d'France, La Joye, Le Secrét Discret, Mon Spi, De Sir De Toi, Ne Moub Liez Pas, Puré Paris, Mon Ajour, Ro Mantique, La Plus Des Fleurs, Violette Verdue, Rafraichu....I am laughing so much it hurts!!):......
Continue reading "Scented Quote of the Day, from Arthur Minton:" »
Perfume bottle collectors and Shalimar aficionados can rejoice. As briefly reported previously, Guerlain is issuing for the holiday season a special limited edition of the great classic oriental perfume Shalimar called the "Shalimar édition limitée Noël". The striking transformation is a first and found at the diametrically opposite end of the color spectrum of a previous special edition in transparent Baccarat crystal. The scent, in both Eau de Parfum and Parfum concentrations, is dressed for the occasion in a sumptuous new black outfit that is like an echo of the Black Orloff diamond or again perhaps, the reflection of the moon on peacocks that strut about the gardens of Shalimar at night, according to the press release. Guerlain explain that they want to explore the mysterious side of Shalimar with this new color.......
Continue reading "More on Shalimar Black, the Christmas Limited Edition by Guerlain {Luxury Perfume} {Scented Quote of the Day}" »
Sean Combs tells us what's what: "I am going to challenge my female counterparts, from J.Lo, Mariah (Carey), Sarah Jessica Parker to Gwen Stefani that my fragrance is better than theirs. "I am a man, and I know how a woman should smell."(Please see here for context of the quote; photo from Zeeks; perfume in question is Unforgivable for Women)
There is a great interview of Hubert de Givenchy in L'Express. Incidentally, we were looking for a testimonial from a member of the signature-perfume school the other day when commenting on the article addressing the issue of the acceptability of a fragrance wardrobe; the famous French couturier is one of them, "Mes parfums ont été le prolongement de ma couture, de l'élégance que je voulais donner à mes vêtements. Le parfum est l'un des éléments d'un style. J'ai toujours dit à mes clientes «Vous avez un style, de la personnalité, accentuez-les. Et, si vous vivez avec un parfum, conservez-le, car il est une part de vous-même»" "My perfumes have been the extension of my couture, of the elegance that I wanted to impart to my clothes. Perfume is one of the elements of a style. I've always told my female customers "You have a style, personality, emphasize them. And if you happen to be living with a perfume, keep it, for it is a part of yourself."
Givenchy also lays to rest the myth surrounding the L'interdit perfume and explains its name.......
Continue reading "Interview of Hubert de Givenchy, Floral Scents are In, Q & A with Paco Rabanne, Men Like it Intense {The 5th sense in the News} {Scented Quote of the Day}" »
François Demachy was born in 1949 in Grasse. He is both a perfumer and a "super artistic director" for olfactory development at LVMH ( Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy) since 2006, which oversees brands like Guerlain, Dior, Kenzo, Givenchy, Acqua di Parma, Loewe, Pucci, Fendi. Before that he worked for 29 years at Chanel where he created most of the Chanel fragrance successes with Jacques Polge, although he is less well known to the public than his colleague This perception or lack thereof has started to change since his appointment at LVMH.
Studied at: Ecole de Parfumerie de la Société Charabot Mentor: perfumer Henri Robert, author of Chanel no 19......
Continue reading "Perfumer & Artistic Director François Demachy {Scented Quote of the Day} {Directory of Perfumers, Artistic Directors, & Fragrance Designers}" »
 Perfumer Daniela Andrier works for Givaudan and is, incidentally, the wife of its CEO, Gilles Andrier. She is also known under the names Daniela Roche and Daniela Roche-Andrier.
Studied at: Ecole de Parfumerie Givaudan Creations include: La Perla Io by La Perla (1995), Kenzo Le Monde (1997), Gucci Eau de Parfum by Gucci (2002), Attraction by Lancôme (2003) (with Christian Biecher) (Fifi awards France & Europe).....
Continue reading "Perfumer Daniela (Roche) Andrier {Scented Quote of the Day} {Directory of Perfumers, Artistic Directors, & Fragrance Designers}" »
" The pure sensuality of jasmine, and its close relative bouvardia, the double odor of gardenia, the integrity of white tobacco depend on the one who wears them.....
Continue reading "Scented Quote of the Day, From Colette:" »
Perfumer Christopher Brosius of CB I Hate Perfume has a book coming out, which bears the title Scent: Mysteries of Perfume and The Smell of Happiness. The author is widely known for his work as a realistic and psychological perfumer. He was the founder of the Demeter line of perfumes, which offers a library of scents based on the search of simple yet unusual olfactory facets of our world once seen bottled, from Between The Sheets to Dirt to Wet Garden and Sushi.......
Continue reading "A New Book On Perfume By Christopher Brosius {Fragrant Reading} {Fragrant Shopping} {Scented Quote of the Day}" »
Yaffa Assouline asks: What is perfume to you? Serge Lutens: One doesn't make perfume uniquely from raw materials. A perfume is a composition of the mind, it's a personal experience, unexpected. It's not created in accord with society - it should be something that expresses a different view......
Continue reading "Scented Quote of the Day, From Serge Lutens & {Fragrant Readings} Interviews of Serge Lutens, Mathilde Laurent, & Dennis Papithis" »
 Queen Alexandra (1844-1925) was Queen Consort to Edward VII of the United Kingdom and was reputed for her beauty as well as her sense of style (see center of the photo). She reportedly had an influence on the fashion of wearing scents which had at one time fallen into disrepute. Here follows an excerpt from an article that gives us an insight into the taste of the day, that is that of 1904, and mentions a perfume worn by Alexandra of Denmark, to which I will add another name that I saw mentioned elsewhere. It is also interesting to note that the current higher level of intolerance for perfume-wearing in public spaces that exists in some areas finds an echo in that era......
Continue reading "Queen Alexandra Loved to Wear......{Celebrity Perfumes} {What Celebrities Love to Wear} {Scented Quote of the Day}" »
 "20 or 30 years ago perfumers were unknown and journalists would not come to interview them. Today in our industry people know what we create and our names are in magazines, we can be part of TV programs, etc. We are recognized in the same way that great chefs are. Having said that, one never does anything by oneself, it is a team that creates: the perfumer, evaluators, sellers, the client. Take the case of Schumacher who wins a grand prize; behind, there are engineers, a brand, sponsors. If today he were to race under an unknown brand, he would still be a great pilot but he would win much fewer races. Question from editor Marianne Lecoq: So we are not going to see the perfumer's name on a flacon any time soon and be able to follow him, olfactorily speaking?.....
Continue reading "Scented Quote of the Day, from Olivier Cresp:" »
I think it was an advantage not being a nose," [...] "The perfumer told me those two ingredients [incense and lavender] hadn't ever been used together, but that he would try. He did, and they smell wonderful. But if I had been a nose, maybe I wouldn't have even tried to put them together."[The result is] "fresh, yet sophisticated," "It's very Parisian, and even more specifically, very Saint-Germain-des-Prés."....
Continue reading "Scented Quote of the Day, from Nathalie Rykiel:" »
 "The perfume of iris, from Corinth, was long held in the highest esteem, till that of Cyzicus came into fashion. It was the same, too, with the perfume of roses, from Phaselis, the repute of which was afterwards eclipsed by those of Neapolis, Capua, and Præneste. Oil of saffron, from Soli in Cilicia, was for a long time held in repute beyond any other, and then that from Rhodes; after which perfume of oenanthe, from Cyprus, came into fashion, and then that of Egypt was preferred. At a later period that of Adramytteum came into vogue, and then was supplanted by unguent of marjoram, from Cos, which in its turn was superseded by quince blossom unguent from the same place. As to perfume of cyprus, that from the island of Cyprus was at first preferred, and then that of Egypt; when all on a sudden the unguents of Mendes and metopium rose into esteem."
 "Scents are like fashion -- The beauty is not intrinsic in the odour. It's in the eye of the beholder, or in this case the nose of the beholder." Notes: Richard Doherty is the director of the Smell and Taste Centre at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Outfit is by Jean Paul Gaultier. Photo is from telegraph.co.uk
"At Moocock, an informal dinner awaited and a lively fire burned in cool air fresh with the scents of flowers. "It's very romantic" Fredericka said. "I've never understood what it is," Freddy replied, "that moves women to think that a bunch of burning paraffin sticks and some flowers have anything to do with that awful word, romantic." (please read on....)
Continue reading "Scented Quote of the Day, from Mark Helprin:" »
 Perfume "As a child, rummaging around in the drawers of my beloved, oh so beautiful Mama, the desk made of mahogany and cut glass, I found an empty perfume bottle which still retained the potent scent of an unidentified fragrance. Many times I'd sneak over and sniff at it. I associated this fragrance with all the love, tenderness, friendship, longing, sadness in the world. But for me all these feelings were bound up for me with my Mama. Later, fate fell unsuspected, like a horde of Huns and inflicted heavy losses all around (please read on.....)
Continue reading "Scented Quote of the Day, from Peter Altenberg:" »
While the king sitteth at his table,
my spikenard sendeth forth the fragrance thereof.
A bundle of myrrh is my well beloved unto me:
he shall lie all night between my breasts.
My beloved is unto me as a cluster of henna flowers
in the vineyards of Engedi. Picture: Cantique des Cantiques V by Marc Chagall
"I anoint myself everyday with oil, burn perfumes and use cosmetics that make me worthier of worshipping thee." This said in prayer to God Marduk by Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II who reigned circa 605 BC-562 BC Photo is of a representation of Mesopotamian God Marduk
 "I want people to find 'their fragrance' again - only some people have multiple tastes and go from one to another." Frederic Malle is the editor of Editions de Parfums, a niche perfume house.
"Out of ten women who wear Shalimar, there will be six who will wear it normally, one on whom it will simply smell dreadful, and two who will wear it differently. And then there will be one who will wear it sumptuously. It is to her that people will ask for the name of her perfume." Sylvaine Delacourte is the artistic director of Guerlain fragrances
 "There are 2 smells in the afterlife: incense and sulfur. Get used to one of them!" Quoted by Fr. Jay Toborowsky on his blog Young Fogeys as having been said by a priest in his diocese. You can read his funny post about the so-called Nose Police during mass.
Singer and fashion brand owner Gwen Stefani is the latest celebrity to enter the Coty stable in its prestige division - like Jennifer Lopez and Sarah Jessica Parker - to collaborate on the creation of her signature scent. The upcoming perfume will reflect Gwen Stefani's personality but also her fashion brand L.A.M.B.'s (an acronym for Love Angel Music Baby) image and is slated to debut in fall of 2007. See why she wants to create that fragrance...
Continue reading "Gwen Stefani Signs Fragrance Deal With Coty {Fragrance News}" »
 The writer Colette reports that the scent of the lilies were so heady in the garden of her mother, Sidonie, that the latter would ask her to shut out their smell by closing the garden gate a little and bringing armloads of lilies to church. And then Colette writes:
"The uncompromising scent of the lilies made the air dense and disconcerted the hymn singing. Some of the congregation hurriedly left the building, while others left their heads droop and slumbered, transported by a strange drowsiness".
 "Compared to other things I do, creating perfumes is relatively painless. Sometimes you kill yourself for designs, a shirt that's gone in a season and then the collection is over and you have to think of something new. There's something nice about the permanence of fragrance. Think how great the guy who developed Opium must feel -- it's still great, it's still out there, it's still going." Note: Jean-Louis Sieuzac created Opium in 1977.
"I have smelt Corruption in the dish, incense in the latrine, the Sewer in the incense, the smell of the sweet soap in the woodpath, a hellish sweet scent in the woodpath... while the ground heaved." Murder in the Cathedral Photo is of a 14th century boss from the navel of Exeter Cathedral ca. 1350 and depicts the murder of Thomas Beckett. finestoneminiatures.com
"The main fact about latter-day perfumery is that the only crime is to vary it. Many fashionable women have chosen a distinctive flower, which they always wear but there is no unwritten law against the varying of the blossom". (1902) Picture is from art.com and represents Hats at the Exposition Universelle of 1900.
 "I for one love perfumes that unveil themselves, that one does not understand immediately; but what is truly moving, what everyone is seeking, is that scent which is closest to skin. The reality of sensuality. " Note: Dominique Ropion is the author, among others, of Givenchy Ysatis, Ralph Lauren Safari for Women, Kenzo Jungle Elephant, Caron Aimez-Moi, Malle Une fleur de Cassie and Malle Vétiver Extraordinaire. Photo is from Parfums & Arômes
"The choice of a perfume has as much to do with the regional culture as with one's preferences. It is even much more controlled by existing social codes than by desires believed to be one's own." Note: Pierre Bourdon is the nose behind Davidoff Cool Water, Dior Dolce Vita, and Malle Iris Poudre, among others. Photo is from Editions de Parfums
 "I've learned, that when you turn out the lights, you don't see a woman's dress, or her jewels, or the hairstyle she's worked so hard to achieve. You smell her scent, which is the most intense form of memory. And my secret is that love has been related to every fragrance I've created. As my grandfather told me when I was 16, we should always create perfumes for the women whom we love."
Given the question, "what is your philosophical recipe for happiness?" Serge Lutens answers:
One day I heard a sentence -- was it in a movie? -- that summarizes my philosophy pretty well: "When the gods want to punish you, they grant all your wishes." Very often, when we wish for something, what we get is something else. And it is that other thing that, in my opinion, is the most interesting. This applies to the making of a perfume. From the time the essences are arranged to reach a desired effect to the time when a result is actually achieved by their association, there is a world of difference. At that point in time I usually say to myself, "Thank God, my wish was not granted!" (Translated from the French by Mimi Froufrou) Image source: Aus Liebe zum Duft
 "Fastidious women are as delicately refined in their selection of sweet odours as in every other personal appointment. A high-bred woman does not associate herself with musk or patchouli. The shadow of the clear pungent lavender may precede her but the most sensitive, refined women shrink intuitively from the odours that attract the parvenu. Some of us, in these days of musk and suffocating rose, have frequently wished the promiscuous use of these powerful odours might be restricted." Harriet Hubbard Ayer (1849-1903)
"I advise women to switch perfumes. I find sad the type of woman who uses the same perfume all of her life, who, maybe because of her insecurities or lack of personality or taste does not try out other, different fragrances. The woman who appreciates perfume is the one who experiments, alternates, whose scent changes."
in Etiqueta Negra, August 20, 2002. (translated from the Spanish by Marie-Hélène Wagner.)
Ode to Deodorant Here's an Ode, ah, to deodorant
It's my thing, ah it's my favourite hygiene
It keeps me through the day
Another ode, ah to deodorant
It's my thing, ah it's my favourite hygiene
It's the confidence I need
It's medicine for the soul
It's medicine for the mind
It picks me up and makes me whole
It makes me feel alright
Continue reading "Scented Quote of the Day, from The Coldplay:" »
Their groves o' sweet myrtle let Foreign Lands reckon,
Where bright-beaming summers exalt the perfume;
Far dearer to me yon lone glen o' green breckan,
Wi' the burn stealing under the lang, yellow broom.
Far dearer to me are yon humble broom bowers
Where the blue-bell and gowan lurk, lowly, unseen;
For there, lightly tripping, among the wild flowers,
A-list'ning the linnet, aft wanders my Jean.
Tho' rich is the breeze in their gay, sunny valleys,
And cauld Caledonia's blast on the wave;
Their sweet-scented woodlands that skirt the proud palace,
What are they?-the haunt of the Tyrant and Slave.
The Slave's spicy forests, and gold-bubbling fountains,
The brave Caledonian views wi' disdain;
He wanders as free as the winds of his mountains,
Save Love's willing fetters-the chains of his Jean. Their groves o' sweet myrtle - 1795
"Smells are surer than sounds or sights to make your heartstrings crack"
"'You shall not escape two sermons', he exclaimed. This morning you had the curé's, tonight you shall have the grandfather's. Listen to me; I am going to give you a piece of advice: Adore one another. I don't make undue flourishes. I go right to the point, be happy. The only sages in creation are the turtledoves. The philosophers say: Moderate your joys. I say; Give them full rein. Be enamored like devils. Be rabid. The philosophers talk nonsense. I would like to cram their philosophy back down their throats. Can there be too many perfumes, too many open rosebuds, too many nightingales singing, too many green leaves, too many dawns in life? Can you love each other too much? Can you please each other too much?"
Les misérables
Translation by Lee Fahnestock and Norman Mac Afee.
"To imagine a perfume is to create an illusion. I try to achieve the maximum of effects with the minimum of ingredients." Le blanc seing by Magritte. Photo is from www.clarku.edu.
"Atlas cedar smells of churned wet clay, but also of warm human skin, of bodies after lovemaking. I like putting something human into a perfume. Nowadays, a lot of them smell clean, as if they were at war with the smells around us." Terre d'Hermès: Top: Grapefruit and orange*. Heart: Gunflint, flint, peppers, pink peppercorn, geranium leaves and patchouli. Base: Atlas cedar, vetiver and gum benjamin. *Note: There's no "real" orange in the top note - Ellena had a note created which had no hint of something edible, it was just pure sparkle. Source: Cosmetics
"Perfume is nothing other than touch felt from a distance"
"Retro perfumes put us back in touch with who we are at the deepest level, and for this reason they are of great value. (...) In the face of contemporary uniformity, they offer the imagination of a fragrance, their tenacity upon the skin, their capacity to surprise, their evolving notes...they place a bet on personality"
April 28, 2006
The First Jasmines Ah, these jasmines, these white jasmines!
I seem to remember the first day when I filled my hands
with these jasmines, these white jasmines. I have loved the sunlight, the sky and the green earth;
I have heard the liquid murmur of the river
through the darkness of midnight;
Autumn sunsets have come to me at the bend of the road
in the lonely waste, like a bride raising her veil
to accept her lover.
Yet my memory is still sweet with the first white jasmines
that I held in my hands when I was a child. Many a glad day has come in my life,
and I have laughed with merrymakers on festival nights. On grey mornings of rain
I have crooned many an idle song. I have worn round my neck the evening wreath of
BAKULAS woven by the hand of love. Yet my heart is sweet with the memory of the first fresh jasmines
that filled my hands when I was a child. The Crescent Moon Note: The reference here is to jasmine sambac which is prevalent in India.
I saw the sweetest flower wild nature yields,
A fresh-blown musk-rose; 'twas the first that threw
Its sweets upon the summer.
To a Friend who Sent some Roses
Picture is from huntbot.andrew.cmu.edu
"We laugh at the efforts of the musk deer to find the source of the scent which comes from itself and despair at our efforts to find the peace which is our essence."
Image is from www.bethecause.org
 "In the muggy air intermittently lingered a more acute odor, it was coming from a few sprigs of dried patchouli broken into tiny pieces at the bottom of a glass."Nana
 "For him, there was never enough cold cream applied on her skin, never enough patchouli scenting her handkerchiefs."
Madame Bovary
Picture is from gallica.bnf.fr
"(...) Noble sirs, how does the Tathagata Sugandhakuta teach his Dharma?
They replied the Tathagata does not teach the Dharma by means of sound and language. He disciplines the bodhisattvas only by means of perfumes. At the foot of each perfume-tree sits a bodhisattva and the trees emit perfumes like this one. From the moment they smell that perfume, the boddhisattvas attain the concentration called "the source of all bodhisattvas-virtues. From the moment they attain that concentration all the bodhisattvas-virtues are produced in them."
The Holy Teaching of Vimalakirti
Translation by Robert A. F. Thurman
"Women should have a wardrobe of scents that they change. It's not about putting on a pretty smell that you really like. You need to think specifically about what you want, and how you want to feel - just as you do with your clothes. The French and Italians do that, yet I think we are quite scared about it. It's so much part of our outfit."
Painting by Natalie Armstrong
You can purchase this print at http://en.easyart.com
 "I've never wanted a different mother. I just want my mother to be different.
Get in line, right?
(...)
But she smells great.
Know the way a person smells when they've been outside on a chilly fall day? That's how Mom smells all the time. Like rain, and wind, and leaf mold, and a faint hint of wood smoke. Hardly the way a woman is supposed to smell, but trust me: if the Glad Air Fresheners people could bottle her scent, you'd have her hanging in your car and your bathroom and your kitchen.
Sorry, I didn't mean to get all oedipal on you.
Anyway."
Leave Myself Behind
Picture from www.boldts.com
"Real musk is the one that gives off its perfume and not the one which is boasted by the druggist."
Persian proverb
"...certain trestles of blackened wood have moved slowly by overhead, and the smells begun of coal from days far to the past, smells of naphta winters, of Sundays when no traffic came through, of the coral-like and mysteriously vital growth, around the blind curves and out the lonely spurs, a sour smell of rolling-stock absence, of maturing rust, developing through those emptying days brilliant and deep, especially at dawn, with blue shadows to seal its passage, to try to bring events to absolute Zero..." Gravity's RainbowPainting by David Caspar Friedrich, from otosell
"My earliest perfume memory: probably that of my mother when she would come to kiss me good night. A silky blend of fabrics and scents from a perfume whose name I have forgotten. It does not matter, really; I remember that it was mauve, tender, powdered with trails of white flowers. I would fall asleep in its softness while it floated around my sleep like a mysterious guardian. Sometimes, it happens that I encounter by chance women on a street or in an elevator who are wearing it, at that very moment all the images come back, rising up from these fragile sillages."
 "Doesn't perfume derive its beauty from that sensation of a time that doesn't flow, but soars? Everything in this world is but smoke.
The word perfume comes from the Latin where it meant: through smoke."
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