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Scented Quote of the Day Archive
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 "Wait. Hm. Hm. Yes. That's her perfume. Why she waved her hand. I leave you this to think of me when I'm far away on the pillow. What is it? Heliotrope? No. Hyacinth? Hm. Roses, I think...
Continue reading "Scented Quote of the Day, from James Joyce:" »
 The prose of Marcel Proust is unconventionally long and sinuous with a syntax seemingly almost always on the verge of going tumbling down over the edge of a cliff. You wait for it to fall but instead it goes on. I loved translating this olfactory passage from Sur Baudelaire, Flaubert et Morand, a book of criticism which sounds little different from the literary style of A la recherche du temps perdu ( In Search of Lost Time / Remembrance of Things Past.) I preferred not to reproduce literally his very unconventional, interrupted, full-of-detours and pause-rich syntax upon which classical grammarians would frown. It is also too much the polar opposite of Plain English - American English is even more used to shorter sentence structures than British English - as it would become almost incomprehensible to most....
Continue reading "Scented Quote of the Day, From Marcel Proust: " »
 I loved the following quote from French writer Paul Morand about Gabrielle Chanel of which he suddenly feels inspired to draw an imaginary olfactive portrait like an electric shortcut taken through time and memory. When I read the passage, it makes me think that this short moment smells of Cuir de Russie, No.5, but also Dzing by L'Artisan Parfumeur. I am looking for the fougère note which might capture her forest-smelling side and I think of Alpona by Caron which has always made me think of a green forest in the middle ages. Still, it is again a piece added to this myth of Chanel as the peasant-genius... (Chanel Fall 09 on the right)
Continue reading "Scented Quote of the Day, from Paul Morand: How Coco Chanel Smelled" »
 In 1992, Thierry Mugler expressed himself around the launch of Angel, affirming the artistry of his approach to fragrance which he contrasted with the American one which he saw as marketing-driven...
Continue reading "Scented Quote of the Day, from Thierry Mugler:" »
 What smells good does not necessarily taste good when it comes to perfume. Rapper Dmx recalls his abusive mother and how as a kid he was driven to drink her perfume out of sheer hunger...
Continue reading "Scented Quote of the Day, from Dmx:" »
 "Yellow roses she bought with her money like Empire satin brocade, and white lilacs and pink tulips like moulded confectioner's frosting and deep-red roses like a Villon poem, black and velvety as an insect wing, cold blue hydrangeas clean as a newly calcimined wall, the crystal-line drops of lily of the valley...
Continue reading "Scented Quote of the Day, from Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald:" »
  Hermès in-house perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena responds to French news title Le Figaro Magazine on the occasion of the launch of Voyage, his latest opus. I excerpted a quote from the article about his personal definition of the finite work of art in perfumery and translated it. I am not entirely positive about this, but his reflection in this case seems to be influenced by the concept which was developed by Italian semiotician Umberto Eco in Opera Aperta, 1962 (The Open Work.) He also invokes the influence of nouvelle cuisine and one can wonder then how his perfumery could be influenced by the new generation of cuisine, molecular cuisine. He confesses to not being a big fan of travels, rather preferring encounters with people, a painting, a book. Finally, I added a short list of official fragrance "materials" as they put it, to my review of Voyage as I serendipitously received some information about them. I think the distinction here between " notes" and " materials" would be that a "note" is this idea of controlled final effect while a "material" can be added for an unexpected effect going beyond what the material is supposed to express originally. In other words, a material can be sculptured, molded, while a note is a description and a finite interpretation of a material. A note is coded, a material is open to interpretation...
Continue reading "Jean-Claude Ellena's Latest Reflections on Perfumery {Fragrant Reading} {Scented Quote of the Day}" »
 In the midst of the 1980s there were apparently and perhaps not surprisingly reactions to the larger trend of wearing Big Fragrances which were vocal enough to reach the ears of fashion editor Diana Vreeland. If Giorgio, Diva, Mon Parfum by Paloma Picasso, Ysatis, Kouros, Drakkar Noir etc. epitomized the era she knew then (Poison was yet to launch) to the point of saturation, sometimes giving rise to public opprobrium in restaurants, Diana Vreeland remained convinced based not only on her experience of the decade but of her whole life experience as she said so herself that perfumes with substantive sillages were the only way to go...
Continue reading "Scented Quote of the Day, from Diana Vreeland: The Lady who Loved Red and Strong Perfumes " »
 Ulysse remet Chryséis à son père, Claude LorrainAs you set out for Ithaka
hope the voyage is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
angry Poseidon--don't be afraid of them:
you'll never find things like that on your way
as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
wild Poseidon--you won't encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul,
unless your soul sets them up in front of you....
Continue reading "Scented Quote of the Day, from Constantine P. Cavafy:" »
 A Noble Lady of Venice by Lord Frederick Leighton, ca. 1865, Leighton House Museum and Gallery"...I shall venture to offer to ladies a few words of advice on the choice of their perfumes and cosmetics. I feel that this is delicate ground, but I shall endeavour to let my remarks be of a purely general character. The selection of a perfume is entirely a matter of taste, and I should no more presume to dictate to a lady which scent she should choose, than I would to an epicure what wine he is to drink ; ...
Continue reading "Scented Quote of the Day, from Eugene Rimmel: " »
 Image via Wikipedia Here is an excerpt from Ode to the Nightingale by John Keats which was written in the month of May 1819. In it, as the poet imagines his vision dimming with the passing of daylight, his sense of smell becomes all the more perceptive of the invisible presence of fruit and flora. The feeble light which comes to him is gloomy-green and smells of soft breezy mosses. " tender is the night,
And
haply the Queen-Moon is on her throne,
Cluster'd around by all her
starry Fays;
But here there is no light,
Save what from heaven
is with the breezes blown
Through verdurous glooms and winding mossy ways."...
Continue reading "Scented Quote of the Day, from John Keats:" »
"Je suis triste de ne pouvoir photographier les odeurs. J'aurais voulu, hier, photographier celles de l'armoire à épicerie de grand-mère."
"I feel sad not to be able to photography aromas. I would have liked, yesterday, to photography those from grand-mother's spice cabinet."
 Ten years after having graduated from the school of perfumery ISIPCA, young perfumer Céline Lhéritier now at Colgate remembers how she fell in love with her chosen specialty: "A l'époque la parfumerie fonctionnelle était peu mise en avant, pourtant elle m'attirait davantage que la parfumerie fine. Il y a plus de défis à relever, techniques, réglementaires, budgétaires. Et puis on participe au réveil de quelqu'un dans sa salle de bains, alors que la parfumerie fine est plus élitiste. [...] Au Mexique par exemple, les détergents pour les sols sont très parfumés, car ils servent aussi de désodorisants d'intérieur."
Check out my translation after the jump...
Continue reading "Scented Quote of the Day, from Celine Lheritier: Why Functional Perfumery is Cool" »
 Le livre des propriétés des choses de Barthélémy l'Anglais, XVème siècle
The orchard was as beautiful as one could wish for:
In it all sorts of plants were growing
that I would be most incapable of naming to you;
but I can tell you without lying
that there were roses and other flowers
that exhaled mellifluous scents,
and spices of such virtues that
a bedridden person
crippled by sickness
would have left in full health, without any more infirmities
provided that person had slept in the orchard
one whole night...
Continue reading "Scented Quote of the Day, from a 13th Century French Poem:" »
Scented Quote of the Day Archive
Page 1 of 8 • 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
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Susan on
Long Lost Crabtree & Evelyn Fragrance: Help Please {Ask The Readers}
: I read on another website that some perfumes have been discontinued because ...
Marie-Helene "May" Wagner on
Travalo Makes it Easy to Carry Perfume in your Luggage, & More {Shopping Tip of the Day}
: Thank you for the tip!
Marie-Helene "May" Wagner on
Tokidoki Vanita Mirror (2010): Cuteness Overload Alert {Beauty Notes - New - Tools & Accessories}
: Thank you, I made the correction.
Anonymous on
Tokidoki Vanita Mirror (2010): Cuteness Overload Alert {Beauty Notes - New - Tools & Accessories}
: Tokidoki is an Italian brand, it's just Japanese-inspired.
jillydog on
Travalo Makes it Easy to Carry Perfume in your Luggage, & More {Shopping Tip of the Day}
: In my opinion FLO www.flo-atomizer.com is a much better product and holds ...
Tanya Lacouette on
Dior Escale à Portofino (2008) {Perfume Review}
: I think you know how to write a truly wonderful post. Thanks!
patricia daguanno on
25th Anniversary of Tova Signature Fragrance {Perfume News}
: I could just cry. Tova signature was the best thing since sliced ...
jessica ramirez on
Koto Parfums Hello Kitty (2008): Hello Me, You, Everyone {Perfume Review & Musings}
: I love hello kitty. I have a lot of stuff of hello ...
Karen M. Jury on
Bath & Body Works Ile de Tahiti Coconut Vanille & Tiare Flower (2009): Beachy Breeze & Fancy Molecules {New Perfumes}
: I love this perfume and want to order more!
Marie-Helene "May" Wagner on
Are Perfumistas Spoilt Brats? And The Hotel-Bathroom Test to Replace the Desert-Island One {Scented Thoughts}
: You know, this trickster blind testing has been conducted for wine ...
Colin M on
Are Perfumistas Spoilt Brats? And The Hotel-Bathroom Test to Replace the Desert-Island One {Scented Thoughts}
: I agree completely! So many people are such fragrance snobs. I would ...
K on
In Canada, Perfume Intolerance Mounts in Public Spaces, Honolulu Agrees and The Stinky Bus Trope in Pop Culture {The 5th Sense in the News}
: I have a perfume intolerance. They cannot call it an allergy because ...
Marie-Helene "May" Wagner on
Understanding Fragrance (2) {The Readers Talk Back}
: Henrique, This is perhaps why the blog medium is particularly appropriate ...
Henrique B. on
Understanding Fragrance (2) {The Readers Talk Back}
: Hi Marie, This article series is helpful for someone, like me, that ...
Marie-Helene "May" Wagner on
Parfums Gobin-Daude Sous Le Buis (2002): Green Leafy Animality {Perfume Review & Musings} {Fresh Notebook}
: Sands, Thank you very much for your kind words. I believe that ...
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