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The Fifth Sense in the News Archive

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January 14, 2010

How to Attract Men: Please Don't Wear Any Perfume But Your Own {The 5th Sense in the News}


diane-arbus-couple-kissing-onstage.jpgCouple Kissing Onstage, NYC/Valentino Lookalike at an Audition, Diane Arbus, 1963

A research published in Psychological Science shows that men are geared towards grading women's natural scents as most attractive when they are ovulating. It is also an olfactory cue that they register and which provokes a rise in testosterone levels in them...

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The Last Straw: Could Rose Essence Be Banned By IFRA One Day? {The 5th Sense in the News}

The-Perfumer)statue.jpgAn article in Le Monde dated January 12th, 2010 attempts to gauge the French perfumery professional milieu's positions, or more modestly as it turns out, reactions to the International Fragrance Association's (IFRA) work on listing, regulating and banning health-hazardous ingredients in perfumes. For now, reactions are subdued and expressed with the help of an emotional register rather than a firm political stand...

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January 11, 2010

Perfume e-Commerce Selling Counterfeit Fragrances {The 5th Sense in the News}


One perfume site one should reportedly avoid shopping at is 69rocks.com according to a North Jersey news report,...

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January 8, 2010

Scientists Smell the Moon to Identify its Mineral Environment {The 5th Sense in the News}


moon-essence-space-smell.jpg
In another example of how our sense of smell is used for survival purposes, Japanese scientists have been researching the smell of the moon in order to be able to identify the minerals that make up its surface. The project is meant to help assess the future possibility of humans settling on the moon by looking at the risks of radiation. We're that close...

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December 27, 2009

Two Articles on Fragrance-Making: The Aesthetizing of Perfume Discourse {The 5th Sense in the News}

M--Sigrid-Mademoiselle.jpgTwo articles in Le Monde cover the topic of perfume and indirectly reveal some discrepancies between the discourses of the actors, namely the perfumers here, and the more hard-nosed and less poetic reality of the business of perfume-making.

As a preamble, I would like to say that it is very difficult for professionals to side-step this glamorizing discourse because it is in their eyes essential to the perception of fine fragrances. You can tell the truth but only up to a point. Their job is to make people dream not be overcome by a fit of lucidity. Each article, to me, reveals in between the lines, the somewhat (ouch!) slightly distorting and aesthetizing discourses of perfumers, which in some cases can lead to pranks played on clients that deserve it...

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November 23, 2009

Perfumer Francois Demachy on a Fact-Finding Mission in Korea {The 5th Sense in the News}


Demachy-Korea-Perfume.jpg
Perfumer François Demachy who is responsible for the Dior portfolio of fragrances but also associated to the development of several other perfume brands owned by the Louis-Vuitton-Moët-Hennessy group (LVMH) like Guerlain, Givenchy or Acqua di Parma is reported to have been recently in Korea on a scent trek to research local aromas that could be incorporated in future products...
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October 22, 2009

Blind & Deaf Children Learn to Communicate via Olfaction {The 5th Sense in the News}


Deaf_school_new_exp_632143a.jpg
A partnership between PZ Cussons (Imperial Leather, Carex) and the Sea Shell Trust for the blind and deaf lets perfumer Kate Williams reconstruct smells for severely disabled children for whom it is the only means of communication, with touch.


"The Seashell Trust is both a day and residential, co-educational, non-maintained special school, offering specialist provision for pupils who have severe and complex disabilities, combined with communication difficulties.

One boy, whenever he goes to the park, sniffs the metallic chains that hold the swings. Kate has therefore recreated that unique, ferrous smell and this is a way of telling him that he is about to go to the park. "

Read more...

October 14, 2009

Robot Sprays Visitors with Blue Perfume {The 5th Sense in the News}




wode-boudicca-robot.jpg
Can't you tell people are enjoying the fashion-forward experiment?


In an effort to grab people's attention at a trade show, an IRB 140 robot was used to move gracefully about (so they say) while spraying either visitors or a canvas with blue-tinted perfume: the unusual Wode by Boudicca (the dye disappears as the scent dries, it's like magic).

"Using the robot proved a great way of demonstrating the magic of the 'Wode' perfume," says Grace. "It took over eight years to develop this unusual product and we really wanted an unusual and quirky way of drawing people's attention to it. The unexpected nature of the perfume, coupled with the attraction of the robot, proved a great way of doing this."

Read more..

Photo credits: Armitage Pess Center

robot-wode-boudicca-2.jpg 


August 20, 2009

Synthetic Musks are Everywhere, in your Blood Stream, your Milk & Lake Michigan {The 5th Sense in the News}


Synthetic-Musks.jpgA study in the August 2009  issue of Journal Science of the Total Environment reports that synthetic musks can be found in the blood stream of people using body care and perfume products and that the more people use them, the higher the levels are. Age is a predictor of the type of synthetic musks that will be found in the blood with the younger age group having more of the polycyclic musks vs. the nitromusks that were banned in the 1990s because they were found in the wildlife and raised concerns over toxicity.

"Some musks are known to affect reproduction in rats and fish and can damage the DNA in cells.  However, their effects on humans are not known.  It is clear though that humans are being exposed to these synthetic fragrances.

This study measured levels of 11 different nitro and polycyclic musks in the blood of 55 female and 45 male students (ages 19 to 43) from Austria. The researchers measured musk levels in the blood and compared them to body mass index, skin type (oily, normal or dry), fish consumption and use of cosmetics. Surveys were used to determine the numbers of times the students ate fish and used lotion, deodorant, perfume, shampoo, air fresheners and hair sprays..."


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August 16, 2009

Again, the Anti-Perfume Naysayers have their Say


skunk-perfume-B.jpgWell, it's not because we love perfume that we will stifle the voices of those that cannot stand it. In a new edition of why perfume sucketh in public space, you have two pieces on how perfume mingles badly with food. Yes, I myself have been guilty of making this kind of remark recently in an article about the difficulty of wearing perfume for a fragrance blogger and how it enabled me to smell food better, at times, a piteous consolation. There is a little rejoining chorus here from two foodies...

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The Fifth Sense in the News Archive

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dawn on Coach Legacy (2008) {New Perfume} : I am desperately trying to find Coach- Legacy Body Cream. Does anyone ...

antonella on Histoires de Parfums Moulin Rouge 1889 (2009): Impressions, Scent Notes, Stories: A Demonstration of Its Ineffability? {Perfume Review} : Hi, where can i purchase 1889 moulin rouge (by histoires de parfums) ...

Marie-Helene on Les Parfums de Rosine Rose d'Amour (2005): Uncompromising Constructivist Rose {Perfume Review} {Rose Notebook} : Flora, Please report back! I hope that it will be your ideal ...

Marie-Helene on Les Parfums de Rosine Rose d'Amour (2005): Uncompromising Constructivist Rose {Perfume Review} {Rose Notebook} : Bev, Thank you for your kind words. If you are not afraid ...

Bobette Brozowski on Kim Kardashian Black Vampy Makeover by Troy Jensen for YRB {Beauty Notes} {Look of the Day} {Celebrity Beauty} : Kim Kardashian is one of the most beautiful women in the world. ...

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