 My 2009 Halloween Shopping ListMarilyn Miglin Fo-Ti-TiengThe Body Shop Love Etc.Fall Fragrances: Cornucopia of Dark FruitsL'Occitane Labdanum de Séville, Mimosa de l'EstérelRobert Piguet FuturKate Moss VintageFrapin L'HumanistePatriotic Bestseller Perfumes: DiscussFaguenat, Faganat...Fug?Sniffing Rich Orientals in ParisL'Artisan Parfumeur Havana Vanille Dolce & Gabbana Rose The OneGuerlain Idylle - Part 1Guerlain Idylle - Part 2Kat Von D Saint & SinnerCalvin Klein CK Free for MenMariah Carey ForeverWienerBlut KlubwasserPrada L'Eau AmbréeSerge Lutens Fille en AiguillesBritney Spears Circus FantasyYves Saint Laurent ParisienneIdole d'ArmaniGuerlain Aqua Allegoria Tiaré-Blossom, Cherry BlossomHermès Eau d'Orange Verte, Eau de Pamplemousse Rose, Eau de Gentiane BlancheParfums de Nicolaï Weekend à DeauvilleSerge Lutens Fourreau NoirEssential FaithPenhaligon's Anthology: Eau de Verveine, Extract of Limes, Gardenia, Night Scented StockMac Naked Honey & AfricanimalChopard CascadeLancôme Hypnôse SensesJuliette Has a Gun Midnight OudNarciso Rodriguez EssenceQueen Latifah QueenBenefit Laugh With Me LeeLee, There's Something About Sofia, My Place Or Yours GinaThe Body Shop White Musk White Hot SummerRochas Eau SensuelleL'Artisan Parfumeur Côte d'AmourChloe Eau de ParfumGuerlain Les Fleurs du Guildo: An Early 19th Century Precursor of Marine ScentsLush VanillaryByredo Bal d'AfriqueZadig & Voltaire Tome 1 La Pureté - Part 1Zadig & Voltaire Tome 1 La Pureté - Part 2Guerlain MuguetGuerlain Muguet (en français)Spring Notes: Lily of the Valley & DiorChanel Cristalle Eau VerteChristian Dior Escale à PondichéryFrédéric Malle Géranium pour MonsieurGobin-Daudé Sous Le BuisRoger et Gallet Bois d'OrangeMontale Patchouli LeavesStetson All AmericanStephen Jones by Comme des GarçonsGivenchy Harvest 2008: Ange ou Démon Jasmin Sambac, Amarige Ylang Ylang, Very Irresistible Rose Damascena, Organza Fleur d'OrangerYves Saint Laurent La Nuit de l'HommeYves Saint Laurent l'HommeThe Sex Factor in Men's FragrancesNina Ricci Love by NinaHermès Kelly Calèche EDPAnnick Goutal Un Matin d'OrageGuerlain La Petite Robe NoireSerge Lutens Nuit de CellophaneParfums MDCI Péché CardinalHermès Vanille Galante - Part 1Hermès Vanille Galante - Part 2
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 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...
 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
 A 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..."
Continue reading "Synthetic Musks are Everywhere, in your Blood Stream, your Milk & Lake Michigan {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
 Well, 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...
Continue reading "Again, the Anti-Perfume Naysayers have their Say " »
 "DEAR ABBY: Yesterday, my 27-year-old daughter was coming out of
a store behind a woman who was reeking of very strong perfume. It
triggered an asthma attack and my daughter ended up in the emergency
room.
Would you please remind your readers that they should
apply their perfume with discretion, and that there are people who are
allergic to it and could end up seriously ill if they are exposed to
it? - KATHY IN NEW MEXICO."
Read more...
 Modern perfume molecules can be powerfully diffusive, a trend that probably needs to be contained, or blends can provoke unexpected allergic reactions. In the case of a Texas spritzing incident reported by the BBC, the sprayed fragrance was so obnoxious that some 150 people decided to exit a building while others were seriously injured. Was this also a phenomenon of mass panic to some extent or just a genuine perfume-triggered epidemic sickness is not altogether clear, but the problem so far has been chalked up to strong perfume. "Thirty-four people went to hospital and dozens were treated for
sickness after strong perfume was sprayed by a woman in a Texas bank."
Read more...
 An article in Le Monde summarizes the state of Haute Couture in the aftermath of the Christian Lacroix crisis. The figures are contrasted: haute couture caters to the material needs of a money elite that amounts to about 1000 persons worldwide but is needed as a motor of creation by others. At the same time haute couture would never be able to survive without the revenues that come from perfumes and cosmetics which amount to 60% of its gains... (on the left, a look from the Dior fall 09 collection via WWD)
Continue reading "How Perfume is Saving Haute Couture {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
 Designer Diane von Furstenberg pumps her perfume in the air in the Meatpacking district in NYC, gets irate feedback from passersby and neighbors who are less than enamored with her signature scent D. The epithets soon rain...
Continue reading "Diane von Furstenberg D Gets Evaluated by Passersby in New York, and Not in a Good Way {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
 The London Daily News reports that a man is using perfume as a pretext to lure in his unassuming victims in central London. We had heard about not infrequent street mugging in London lately, but this is a creative twist on the technique deployed for the attack. "Reports are flooding into the London Daily News crime
desk of serial attacks by a man around central London offering to
females on the street to either buy or try or a new perfume.
The
perfume is in fact a highly toxic liquid, and is used by the male
described to be around six foot well dressed and with an eastern
European accent, to blind the victim and then steal whatever
possessions they may have."
London on Alert with new "perfume squirting" crime...
 Life is dangerous in Iraq but who knew that wearing perfume could provoke security issues? Although the following article does not address the problem of the health hazards that certain perfumes and cosmetics containing trace amounts of explosives could potentially cause to their users, it does reveal that fragrances can trigger explosives detectors...
Continue reading "Cheap Perfumes Contain Trace Amounts of Explosives {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
 WASHINGTON - Consumers should stop using Zicam Cold Remedy nasal
gel and related products because they can permanently damage the sense of smell, federal health regulators said.
The
over-the-counter products contain zinc, an ingredient scientists say
may damage nerves in the nose needed for smell. The other products
affected by the Food and Drug Administration's announcement Tuesday are adult and kid-size Zicam Cold Remedy Nasal Swabs.
The FDA says about 130 consumers have reported a loss of smell after using Matrixx Initiatives' Zicam products since 1999. Read more...Watch Brian Williams on MSNBC,
 Perfume and food overlap more often than not. In this case another bridge was thrown by British mixologist Tony Conigliaro between the No.5 and a refreshing beverage. It took him 2 years to develop the cocktail called No5 Champagne Cocktail served in a custom-designed long flute glass with a wider rim to better control the physics of champagne bubbles (see Champagne Bubbles Essential to Taste/Smell)....
Continue reading "UK Mixologist Creates Chanel No5-Inspired Champagne Cocktail {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
 There is a lovely article in the Philadelphia Enquirer about ancient roses found in the garden of Wyck House in Germantown. The house and its garden are filled with history having harbored 9 generations of the same family since the 17th century and having preserved a rose garden planted in the 1820s. The Marquis de La Fayette was once a visitor and a guest...
Continue reading "The Roses of Wyck: Old Rose Symposium May 30, 2009 {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
 Noses and Ears Etc: Two Profile, One Nose & Turban by John Baldessari
As previously announced, a modern form of olfactory spectacle is being developed with the upcoming Scent Opera Green Aria. There have already been various types of smell-o-visions, numerous scent installations, olfactory concerts, theatrical performances, so what is the added twist here? (see for example in France the works of Laurent Assoulen, Michel Roudnitska, Francis Kurkdjian and more*...)...
Continue reading "Scent Opera Green Aria: More Reading {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
 A Russian businessman wants to put some glamor back into the Yukos name which has become synonymous with financial scandal. What better idea but to establish it as a perfume trademark and use the anticipated perfume as a political vote bulletin in support of ex-billionnaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky? "Only in Russia", one might say...
Continue reading "When Perfume Becomes Political: The Yukos Fragrance Project {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
 Aspen Green Persian by Dale Chihuly
Perfumer Christophe Laudamiel, who has left major fragrance company IFF to become an independent consultant and dedicate his time to the pursuit of fragrance as art is co-signing a sound-and-smell opus called a " scent opera" and entitled Green Aria. The event will take place at the Guggenheim on May 31 and June 1 2009. The Wall Street Journal reports about the background story, but before here is a definition of what a "scent opera" is and how it works, "The 'ScentOpera' is a new dramatic form that opens the possibilities of
extending the Wagnerian vision and is a precursor to the complete
multi-sensory art form integrating all of the senses with the arts,
thereby creating the complete 'works' or 'opera'. A 'ScentOpera' is
principally limited to only two senses - smell and hearing. The first
ScentOpera, Green Aria, is performed in a setting in which the audience
is invited to leave the audiovisual world behind and enter a new
medium, arom-audio. Volume, depth, temperature, color, sensation and
feeling are interleaved in an emergent form of storytelling delivered
through scent and music."...
Continue reading "Christophe Laudamiel Co-Signs Scent Opera at the Guggenheim, May 31-June 1 2009 {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
 Interesting concept. You can now create your own olfactory bubble while away from home. A booking site for hotel rooms proposes a service that allows customers to travel with a bottled scent of their most familiar surroundings. It can involve the scents of lilies, roast meat, spicy cuisine... but, please, no whiff of cat's litter (Editor's note: well, actually, lilies do smell like cat's litter at some point in their olfactory evolution). It is not clear how practical the implementation of the idea is, or how truly desirable, but apparently, it's not a spoof. Perhaps the service will be best appreciated by frequent travelers rather than people who want to explore the planet, with their noses too. "Holiday firm LateRooms.com has created travel kits which include a fragrance that replicates the smell of customers' houses. There
is also an mp3 player to hear the sounds of family life, a selection of
favourite refreshments and a pillowcase smelling of their washing
powder."
Read more...
 Astronaut Michael Fincke on March 10, courtesy of Nasa via AP
A new olfactory frontier lies in capturing the scents of outer space. If fragrance has always thrived on the lure of mystery and half-unveiled truths, galactic scents will be one significant and sophisticated source of inspiration for the perfumery of the 21st century. In the past, Shiseido attempted to recreate the scent of a rose flown aboard a space shuttle with Zen (white bottle) as in a poetic reminiscence of Le Petit Prince by Saint-Exupery; Omega Ingredients more recently was working on a reconstitution of the smells of outer space for astronaut-training purposes declaring the main olfactory notes to be welded hot metal and fried steak; an exhibition on Extinct and Impossible Smells aimed to offer the imagined scent of the surface of the sun; Stephen Jones with Comme des Garçons offered last year a "violet hit by a meteorite" that smelled in part of dusty minerals; now, we are offered a more elaborate description of further other-wordly olfactory facets...
Continue reading "Another Olfactory Facet of Outer Space: A Whiff of Vacuum is the Next Big Trend {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
 A releatively well-preserved perfume flacon of woman pharaoh Hatshepsut underwent initial analysis and could become the basis of the reconstitution of a liquid fragrance, "Hatshepsut's perfume is also presumably a demonstration of her power.
"We think it probable that one constituent was incense - the scent of
the gods," Michael Höveler-Müller declares. This idea is not so wide of
the mark, as it is a known fact that in the course of her regency
Haptshepsut undertook an expedition to Punt - the modern Eritrea, and
the Egyptians had been importing precious goods such as ebony, ivory,
gold, and just this incense, from there since the third millennium B.C.
Apparently the expedition brought back whole incense plants, which
Hatshepsut then had planted in the vicinity of her funerary temple."
Read more...
Photo credit: statue of Hatshepsut at the MET, Wikimedia Commons.
 An interesting early advertising American label for an Eau de Cologne from Boston dating from the 1870s depicting a duel between Ja'ques and Farina, both makers of the wonderful Eau de Cologne
As 2009 marks the 300th anniversary of the Eau de Cologne (is it a simple
coincidence?), a village feud spanning the centuries and resembling in flavor that of the Capulets and
Montagues gets settled for a little while in favor of the Feminises
over the Farinas, both candidates to the title of inventor of the Eau
de Cologne...
Continue reading "Feud over the Invention of the Eau de Cologne Won by Feminis in the Latest Round {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
 A Grotesque Old Woman by Quentin Metsys
According to Datamonitor, the seniors represent the next segment of the market to conquer especially where fragrances are concerned as they reportedly develop a body odor that signals their age and contributes to making them look...their real age to others, i.e., old. Anti-age scents oriented for seniors care would be able to make them smell younger. Some people will think it's just a new gimmick set up to create new anxieties and make you shell out money to assuage them. My only problem with this view is that I would be hard-pressed to pinpoint an universal old-people smell like I could for that of a flower (with some nuances). When you walk on the street, do you get particular wafts?
"Skin care is already a strong category for the demographic,
particularly anti-aging, but other sectors including hair care are less
well developed.
But according to Datamonitor's Matthew Adams, it is the fragrance and deodorant categories that hold good growth potential among the older generation.
"Researchers in Japan have identified why we begin to develop a
different natural personal scent as we age and this could lead to all
sorts of new products to make people smell and feel both younger and
more confident," he told CosmeticsDesign."...
Continue reading "Perfumes To Make You Smell Younger -- Do We Really Need Special Prescription Scents? {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
 A fragrance panel hosted by The Fragrance Foundation addressed the issue of evolving consumers' spending patterns on perfume products, "When it comes to fragrance, something doesn't smell quite right to
shoppers these days. The scents are enticing, yes, but the thought of
spending money on another bottle of fragrance is not, as shoppers
tighten their hold on discretionary dollars -- said presenters of the
panel discussion "Marketing in a Downturn: Strategies for Selling
Scents in Challenging Times" held Tuesday at the Time-Life Building in
New York...
Continue reading "Marketing Analysis of Changing Perfume-Spending Habits - The 5th Sense in the News" »
 A humorous-sounding scientific finding which comes across as the olfactory equivalent of "Women are from Venus and Men are from Mars" reveals that each sex emits different scents in the armpit region when it is subjected to bacteria action...
Continue reading "Women Smell of Onion; Men of Cheese {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
 George Dodd answers the fundamental question of how best to reproduce your genes on the occasion of upcoming Valentine's Day 2009. Yes, I know, not very romantic-sounding, but that's what it is all about really, at a certain level of biological reality. "On the evening of St Valentine's Day last year, I held the world's first sniff-dating event in the Dana Centre at the London Science Museum. Here are some top tips to help you sniff-out your perfect romantic partner... With smell dating, we are effectively sniffing-out complementary genes in our partners' immune system so that we can have healthy babies. Mating and having healthy babies is crucial to survival, and part of this concerns our sense of smell. Our personal portfolio of smell receptors will like the body odour of some partners more than others. Body odour is linked to human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genes, a key part of the immune system that recognises self from non-self. Couples whose HLA-related body odour is too similar are more likely to have difficulties in conceiving. This is real biological perfumery - the mating instinct at the molecular aroma level." Read more in The Guardian... Upcoming Valentine's features on The Scented Salamander: To help you out on Valentine's Day, I will be posting about Perfumes That Smell Unique Because You Are Unique, and deserve nothing less than not to be betrayed by your perfume. If you don't feel unique, those will help you feel the part. That was an interesting exercise and was inspired to me by the proteian quality of Vanille Galante by Hermès. A contrario, I thought to myself, what are those perfumes that I always recognize on others and have such a strong signature, replete with olfactory integrity? You might be suprised by my choices and I will explain my selection. Watch also for my continuing series on musk perfumes. And in particular this time, I will be focusing on comparative reviews of MUSK OILS! I have been collecting a number of musk oils from all denominations for several months now and we will see what they have to offer!...
Continue reading "Best Advice for Valentine's Day: Sniff Your Partner {The 5th Sense in the News} - Valentine's Day Recap {Fragrant Readings}" »
 A gift-wrapped France by Fauchon
You could apply several different lenses to interpreting the problems faced by the luxury industry in France in the context of a global downturn, but one that is worth considering is the tilting in favor of a public discourse on values (on the part of the luxury industry players) and the promotion of a more low-key, intimist approach to luxury. It almost all seems to go back to the pre-industrial age in the 18th century when you hear Sonia Rykiel is planning to organize her next spring fashion show in two (no doubt, small) rooms. Mauboussin also preconises less ostentation, more real-world prices, and more reflection on values. Reportedly, the French's core moral values of balance (the Terreur notwithstanding) and dislike for show-off (Versailles notwithstanding), associated with their inherent conservatism will help them prevail, once more. Rather than trying to keep the machine running by pumping out
high-price hand bags, watches and other goods, he (Alain Némarq, the chairman of Mauboussin) proposed the
unthinkable: the entire luxury industry should slash prices. "We need a
return to reason, decency, discretion, beauty and creativity -- in other
words, to true values," Mr. Némarq said. (Mauboussin has led by
example. It has sold its one-carat diamond solitaire "Chance of Love"
ring for about $14,500, roughly a third less than its normal price, and
its lower-end 0.15-carat diamond ring was priced at $895, Mr. Némarq
said.)
Read more in the NYT...
 A new term has been coined to designate those remnants of smoking that are not associated with visible smoke but with the smells it leaves, " third-hand smoking". Those odors, like the cold tobacco odor, ought to signal danger because they remain toxic...
Continue reading "Third-Hand Smoke Best Detected By The Nose {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
 Photo © Gaetan Lee
French physicist researcher Gérard Liger-Belair used to be an oceanographer before having to quit his profession due to an accident. Next, while he was feeling bluesy and contemplating beer bubbles he decided to research the dynamic of their effervescence. This led him to a doctoral dissertation on the topic with Champagne wine now a prime object of research. Among the things his research shows is that bubbles form because of impurities and that the more bubbles there are, the more aromatic molecules get released. From a practical point of view, the Champagne flute therefore wins over the round cup as it encourages the formation of more numerous bubbles spread out evenly. They are also bigger in a flute thus debunking the myth that fine bubbles signal a better Champagne as is commonly asserted by tasters. Read more (in French)....
 This morning both Cosmetic News and the Chicago Tribune are indicating that internet shopping appears to be the way to go for holiday bargain hunters this season. Indeed although the British Retail Consortium (BRC) reported a general slump in British retail, "The BRC/KPMG report found that although growth for non-food/non-store
sales (internet) slowed to 9.5% in November, compared with a 16.6%
increase in October, consumers are increasingly researching prices on
the internet to take advantage of heavy discounting. "Shoppers are
using the internet more this Christmas as they have become more
confident about ordering online [and are] feeling more relaxed about
ordering later," the report said."...
Continue reading "'Tis The Season of Bargain Online Shopping {The 5th Sense in the News} {Shopping Tips}" »
 Lucien Lelong dress from 1937
An article based on Jacqueline Demornex's book Lucien Lelong retraces the career of the couturier and in particular his determining role in having prevented French haute couture from being transplanted from Paris to Berlin during the Nazi occupation. His perfumes are evoked in passing, with a cultural note...
Continue reading "Article on Lucien Lelong's Heritage {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
 L'Artisan Parfumeur Mon Numéro
The International Herald Tribune has a piece on bespoke perfumery in which Cartier, L'Artisan Parfumeur, Guerlain and Francis Kurkdjian are featured. As long as the brands can sell a few or just only one perfume priced at $20 000 or 40 000 €, it seems to make a lot of sense to focus one's target on to the rich in a troubled economy. L'Artisan Parfumeur for instance is launching in January 2009 a collection of unique creations called Mon Numéro, housed in similarly one-of-a-kind flacons hand-blown by master glazier Pascale Riberolles. It will remain a Paris exclusive though. You can read more about this trend here...
 With the glut of celebrity fragrances in the market, launching a new scent in that category can feel like playing with the lottery or taking that opportunity just to garner publicity on the pretext of a new bottle of exquisiteness. You create an event and people talk about it and it is all good, even if, secondary concern, the juice suckeths big time. Who cares about the quality of the contents as long as it is a good brand-name carrier, a question some innocent people might still ask?...
Continue reading "Prince Sued for Not Participating in Promotion of 3121 {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
 Just as I was trying to do a comparison, in my head, of the most typical smells of New York City and Paris, I happened on this article in the Boston Globe which attempts to assess the scents of Boston. More particularly Harry Slatkin of Harry Slakin & Co. was invited to tour the city to give his opinion on the way stores are perfumed, normally to attract customers. And let me tell you how this is important. Only the other day I overheard someone complain about how a section of a store smelled as soon as he approached it. It smelled he said. It smelled of something that was difficult for him to identify. That person literally freaked out and had to leave after a few moments because it was apparently unbearable to him. The people accompanying him were not noticing anything and he seemed even more upset for that fact. The sense of smell can be so visceral...
Continue reading "Harry Slatkin Turns Scent Critic for the Boston Globe {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
 The Irish Independent has the best article I have seen so far written about the new version of Chanel No. 5 - that eternal classic - called Eau Première. One of the reasons, besides the fact that it is a detailed piece, is that we are offered a rare and informative interview with perfumer Christopher Sheldrake visiting the Chanel or rather Jospeph Mul's jasmine fields in Grasse for the first time; Mul has been under an exclusive contract with Chanel since 1987. Journalist Sarah Caden has managed to put the perfumer enough at ease so that he confides a bit. Of interest for those who have followed Sheldrake's work with Serge Lutens is to learn that the perfumer was born in Madras, India and that his father was in the spice trade! Ensues more biographical details....
Continue reading "Best Article on New Chanel No.5 Eau Première {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
 "Scientists in Italy have found bacteria in the root of a tropical grass
whose oils have been used in the cosmetic and perfumery industries.
These bacteria seem to promote the production of essential oils, but
also they change the molecular structure of the oil, giving it
different flavours and properties: termicidal, insecticidal,
antimicrobial and antioxidant."
Read more in Science Daily...Photo credit: Kris Kumar
 Reading about the role scent may play in the mating behavior of Kakapos reads like a dream come true for a member of the human male species. Why? Because even more so than for women, the # 1 motivation for the average man to wear fragrance is to attract the opposite sex, or whatever sex they are interested in...
Continue reading "Role of Scent in Reproductive Strategies: The Case of the Kakapo {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
An interesting talk by perfumer Christophe Laudamiel entitled "Design for the Invisible" about orientations he sees for the future of perfumery defined very broadly as the art that has to do with olfaction in general not just fine fragrances as he is quick to point out. For example, he says he would love to see a scent curator be hired by MOMA to curate perfume installations and keep up to date with what is going on in the world in this field. Watch his lecture given at MOMA in April 2008 as part of the conference Mind 08, courtesy of Seed Magazine,
 Stellar Spire Eagle Nebula, Wikimedia Commons
Here's a short article in the Times describing the smell of outer space and explaining why company Omega Ingredients is working on recreating it for Nasa. The guy in charge of the project is Steven Pearce who confesses to stumbling upon the problem of offering a well-crafted dupe for the scent of hot metal. "Outer space smells like hot metal, fried steak and the welding of a motorbike,
scientists suggest. A chemist is recreating the smell to help Nasa to train
its astronauts."
Read more...
 An article in the American Chronicle discusses the issue of allergic reactions to fragrances, based on one illustrative case, and compares perfumes' toxicity to that of second-hand cigarette smoke. There is just one reference used: Lessenger, JE. "Occupational acute anaphylactic reaction to assault by
perfume spray in the face." The Journal of the American Board of Family
Practice...
Continue reading "For Some Wearing Fragrances Is A Criminal Act {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
 As all Chanel devotees and cultural observers are waiting with baited breath for the upcoming biopics (three, no less) about Coco Chanel, including the one by Anne Fontaine starring Audrey Tautou, Coco Avant Chanel, Lifetime Television was all ready to show their own version the past weekend. And according to Matthew Gilbert, it did not smell of anything much, "Coco Chanel," tonight at 8, also doesn't feel like the story of a
fashion icon, never mind one who revolutionized women's clothing. The
movie, "freely inspired" by Chanel's life, plays like a generic,
picturesque, gauzy tale of romance in France during the first half of
the 20th century, with world war, and not world fashion, as the
backdrop. The heroine's name could as easily be Smith as Chanel. There
are castles and horses and bucketloads of l'amour, all loosely strung
around a few vague facts about Chanel's life. Let's hope that
Lifetime's "Project Runway," due next year after the series finishes on
Bravo, is less beside the point. Lifetime appears to think viewers will
have little interest in the evolution of clothes design. (...)
The movie looks great, like a very extended perfume commercial. But it
has no substance. Indeed, I don't think the owners of the Chanel label
themselves could have made a more harmless movie."
Read more in Just A Faint Scent of the Woman...
David Wiegand is a little bit more tender, seeing enough pages taken out of fashion history books to quell his thirst for knowledge in this field...
Continue reading "Coco Chanel On Lifetime TV: Critiques of a Biopic {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
 Promoting a perfume as being the most expensive in the world is not new. Joy by Jean Patou is probably the best-known example of this genre of ultra-competitive globally-framed advertising. Clive Christian is the current official holder of the title as the Guinness Book of World Records has handed him the sceptre. Derek McCormack writes an ironic and funny piece about the branding efforts of Clive Christian around an interview with Victoria Christian, his daughter. It helps to show how perfume as a luxury product, not necessarily a work of art, is immensely susceptible to effects of prestige. In fact one sometimes sense that promoting a perfume is an operation that must feel like walking delicately on egg shells to the people in charge of the luxury image. Queen Victoria, a crown logo, a noble motto, crystal, gold, diamond etc. are all needed to make it look legitimate and steeped in tradition. These efforts certainly do not just stem from the brand owners' own dishevelled thoughts however. Customers, rich and not-so-rich, love royalty too so it makes good business sense to indulge, "Fax animi honestae gloria," she says, reading the Latin motto
inscribed on Clive Christian's coat of arms. " ' In honourable
thoughts, glory is born.' The coat of arms was granted us by the Royal
College of Arms." Royal regalia is of paramount importance to the Clive
Christian company. "You see that each of the stoppers on our bottles is
in the shape of Queen Victoria's crown," she says. "It was the only
time that Queen Victoria gave an image of her crown to be used by a
company."...
Victoria in L'Illustration, 25 août 1855
Continue reading "Clive Christian ≈ Queen Victoria, Who Knew?: Deconstructing The Royal Ad Copy {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
A funny, almost sensible article by columnist Kate Muir in which she spits fire at fashion derelict ways this season and at perfume-wearing in general. Wait till you hear what Karl Lagerfeld says and does to control his smell-environment...isn't his nickname Kaiser Karl? OK, I just can't resist a bitchy statement by Karl Lagerfeld because he always tries to wrap it up in gentle forewarning words as if what he was going to say next is absolutely a breakdown of his usual niceness and rules of polite conduct, but he has to burst. You have to love and appreciate the style of the master,
"I have no problem with journalists - many are friends," he once
said. "Only not if they are really stupid, or if they've got bad breath, or
if they smell. Yesterday [at a Chanel show] I had a problem. I said, 'I'm
sorry, you've got to tell this woman that she needs to be taken away. Her
smell is not possible.'"
...
Continue reading "How To Bitch About Perfume {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
 Here is an article about Aveda's senior perfumer Ko-Ichi Shiozawa. It touches upon the difficulty he currently experiences producing wholly desirable organic perfumes in a competitive market that has an increasing demand for such scents seen as ideals of cleanliness, greenness and purity. It is no mere chance if the Aveda perfumes are titled "Pure-Fume". For Shiozawa it mainly seems to be a critical problem with finding an organic-grade solvent (see for comparison the issue that was raised around tap water being used by Bayliss Ranch as a so-called "organic" ingredient). For the President of Aveda Dominique Conseil it is about investing in a higher proportion of organically-certified ingredients, passing from 25% to more than 90% for the new generation of Aveda products (no further precision added). According to organic certification grades recognized and controled by the USDA, if it is less than 95% - 70 to 94% - the products can be called "Made with Organic Ingredients" as opposed to the next level, "Certified Organic", i.e., 95% or higher. The highest organic grade is "100% Certified Organic". The lowest grade is found at below 70% and the product then cannot be called "organic", only the relevant ingredients...
Continue reading "Organic-Grade Solvent is the New Holy Grail for Aveda & a Note on Organic vs. Natural {The 5th Sense in the News} {Green Products}" »
 Desperate situations call for desperate means. After local inhabitants repeatedly complained about the suffocating stench emanating from nearby landfills in Mumbai (Bombay), India, the city government decided to remedy the bad odors with an herbal perfume. We know the relationship existing between perfume and hygiene, it can only be a temporary fix...
Continue reading "Mumbai Takes a Sniff and Perfumes Landfills {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
 There is an interesting article about our individual capacities to smell which, as the way the research is conducted, seems to depend primarily on rather solidified given cultural and genetic variables. Certain pathologies like Alzheimer show a link with the sense of smell. There seems to be a regrettable propensity to interpret the current data as information to be taken into account when designing flavors and scents to target people that will find them pleasant, which appears to me to be on the static side. I wished that the role of education were better emphasized in showing how the senses of taste and smell can be educated, improved, refined etc. According to this article however, it would seem that there might be genetic and cultural limitations to such an optimistic vision about (the possibility is not even considered here) making people be more intelligent and sensitive smellers and tasters....
Continue reading "Smell IQ Still in the Research Stage {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
 A warning was issued by the Ministry of Environmental Health in Bahrain regarding excessive consumption of incense, Middle-Eastern style (on burning coal), "A WARNING went out yesterday that one of the most ancient
traditions, which is still being practised in almost every Bahraini
home, may cause cancer. Smoke from Bakhoor (incense) can be a health
hazard if it is inhaled continuously and excessively, according to
health officials. "The burning process of Bakhoor, with the use of coal or other
means, releases carbon substances that are harmful when inhaled," said
a Health Ministry's Environmental Health spokesman. "Particles 2.5 microns in size are released in the process, but nose
hairs can only prevent 10 micron or larger particles from being inhaled. "Such small particles reach the lungs and continued excessive exposure may result in cancer."
Read more....
 Alexandre Menais Director of eBay Europe is reported to have said today that the French court ruling against his company, ordering them to pay over 60 million dollars in fine is "indecent". In consequence and while waiting for a ruling on their appeal, the often-dubbed "biggest garage sale on earth" will for now continue to carry perfumes from the Guerlain, Givenchy, Kenzo, and Dior brands all owned by LVMH. The latter through their spokesperson M. Malka have declared feeling "shocked" by eBay's decision to disregard the ruling and the law. eBay is insisting that LVMH is attempting to control distribution networks in an abusive fashion. (Via Fashionmag.fr)
See previous posts: eBay Risks Paying 80 Million Dollars In Damages; Landmark Ruling In Favor of Luxury BrandsPhoto © rmfphoto.net
 As a follow-up to yesterday's announcement, eBay has been sentenced to pay a 61.3 million dollars or 38.6 million Euros fine to luxury group LVMH by a French court today. This is a clear signal that the pressure put on the popular auction site has increased. Last month eBay had been asked to pay Louis Vuitton a much more modest indemnity of 20 000 Euros. According to WWD, this time, "Louis Vuitton received the lion's share and was awarded 19.3 million
euros, or $30.5 million; Christian Dior Couture received 17.4 million
euros, or $27.5 million, and Parfums Christian Dior, Parfums Kenzo,
Guerlain and Parfums Givenchy, were awarded around 3 million euros, or
$4.7 million.
eBay was ordered to stop selling fragrances and
cosmetics from those brands immediately, or face a fine of 50,000
euros, or $79,000, a day."....
Continue reading "Landmark Ruling In Favor of Luxury Brands {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
Photo © LVMH
It is no mystery that attempting to buy luxury items such as a Chanel perfume on eBay sold at heavily discounted prices is risky business. More often than not, they turn out to be fakes. Ebay has been plagued with accusations of laissez-faire and brought to court or nearly brought to court a few times already. Tomorrow is the big test; a French court will decide whether or not the auction site will need to be severely sanctioned for alleged damages caused to several French luxury groups,....
Continue reading "eBay Risks Paying 80 Million Dollars In Damages {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
Prada men's show spring 2009 © Fashion Wire Daily In a rare case of non-favorable or it could even be said non-complacent reporting on a perfume launch party, columnist Godfrey Deeny from the Fashion Wire Daily critiques both the organization of the launch for the upcoming Prada Infusion d'Homme which took place in Milan on June 22, 2008 and the lack of innovation seen in the fashion show that was presented instead of the anticipated collective sniffing. "Few things are more painful than watching a major luxury label get things badly wrong, which was very much the dismaying case Sunday night in Milan when Prada decided to launch its latest men's cologne and made it tricky for most guests to actually smell the very product......
Continue reading "•• Critique of Prada Infusion d'Homme Launch Party •• Too Avant-Garde & Cultural? {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
 Fake, so-called "reality TV shows" which should be renamed "voyeuristic" or "peeping TV shows" to be closer to the truth can be counted on for offering carefully edited sound-bites; the dumber the better, the most outrageous, the better too. In the UK, the British version of The Apprentice saw a tug of war over perfume designing last night. Who won hardly matters, it's all about giving some good low-brow time to an audience which feels reassured by the carefully orchestrated and cultivated exhibition of human flaws. Our society is so competitive, we all need a rest.
So how do reality actors make perfume designing sound compelling and dramatic? A good dose of emotion (panic), none too bright ideas mixed with a really accessible dialog. You will not need to know what "sillage" means to follow the conversation......
Continue reading "Brainstorming About Perfume Design On The Apprentice {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
The Times online looks at a new sensational twist on traditional communal bathing in Japan. What could feel better than marinating in a hot pool? To have red wine, green tea, coffee, rice alcohol and dark chocolate enhance the experience. It is not only about aromas (it is verboten to drink the concoctions), but also about deriving benefits from the anti-aging properties of green tea and coffee or get a major warming "friction" from sake.....
Continue reading "In Japan, Hot Springs Smell of Chocolate, Wine, Sake, Tea & Coffee {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
© David Gilkey/NPR Trying to break the cycle of financially rewarding poppies crops in Afghanistan, in demand in the heroin trade, proves a challenging task. A local entrepreneur and distiller Shafiq Azizi attempts to replace poppies with roses cultivated for their perfume and fails, for the moment being......
Continue reading "Afghans Try To Cultivate Perfume Crops Instead of Poppies {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
Fire Rescue reports that some of their own had to be hospitalized after responding to a fire alarm at a perfume factory. Apparently the cause of their malaise is due to the overwhelming smell of fragrances to untrained and unprepared noses. "Three city firefighters were taken to North Broward Medical Center this morning for evaluation after they began suffering from headaches and lightheadedness while investigating a fire alarm at a perfume company. [...]
Other firefighters have determined this afternoon that the trio taken to the hospital likely were not exposed to any hazardous chemicals and instead likely were affected by the perfumes in the building in the 600 block of Fairway Drive, Fernaays said."
Read more....
The Sunday Times has a funny pamphlet against over-glamorous ads for men's fragrances. Call it a problem of the clash of egos and upsurge of competitive Testosterone. Looking at said ideal ads for the everyman - there is a big plug for Lynx/Axe ads in the article - featuring the so-called "civilian loser type" one has to realize that if the guys look like your average Joe, the girls are more the babe type. Unfair? Typical? The columnist (whose name I don't see) only grumbles about men's body image.....
Continue reading "A Rant About Men's Perfume Ads {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
Subha Patel is an olfactory scientist working for IFF (International Flavors & Fragrances). She specializes in finding new scents recorded and reconstituted from nature thanks to Living Flower Technology also called Head Space Technology. Among other things, she is one of the developers of the space rose note found in Shiseido Zen (the white bottle) dubbed "Overnight Scentsation"......
Continue reading "Portrait of a Scientist & Smeller: Subha Patel {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
Etienne de Swardt tells it like it is in an interview with The Australian. The article is interesting, in particular, in that it clarifies the relationship between the Parisian niche perfume house Etat Libre d'Orange founded by de Swardt and the much more behemoth-like Geneva-based fragrance company Givaudan. This David-and-Goliath privileged partnership allows the house to maintain its competitive edge in their access to cutting-edge raw materials and technology.....
Continue reading "On The Workings Of A Niche Perfume House: Etat Libre d'Orange {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
Perfumer Jean-Michel Duriez who is the in-house nose for Jean Patou has created an anniversary fragrance for Procter & Gamble Prestige Products' 15th anniversary. P & G acquired Jean Patou in 2001. It is called Coming Up Roses and showcases a central note of Bulgarian Rose. Duriez based his inspiration on the fragrance name borrowed from Stephen Sondheim's song Everything's Coming Up Roses: "Things look swell, things look great, Gonna have the whole world on a plate. Starting here, starting now Honey, everything's coming up roses.". Other notes include Ambrette oil, pear, white flowers, lily, white musk. Says Duriez "I think of P&G Prestige Products as the rose and the fragrance ‘Coming Up Roses' as the dew on the petals." Read more......
A corner in Serge Lutens' garden in Marrakech The Guerlains, Edmond Roudnitska are famous for having drawn constant inspiration from private gardens they cultivated and spent time in daily. To follow the development of the scents of flowers at different times of the day and over the days of a season is simply fascinating as this permits to better grasp the complexity of their ever-evolving olfactory personalities. The Telegraph offers readers the possibility to step into these universes by catching glimpses of the gardens of several perfumers including Serge Lutens, Antonia Bellanca, Roudnitska and more.....
Continue reading "Perfumers' Gardens {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
Poulnabrone Dolmen, County Clare, the Burren by elsa 11 The Irish Independent has a paper on small independent perfumer Sadie Chowen-Doyle owner of the Burren Perfumery in County Clare, in the Burren. Happenstance made her fall in love with the place and later be employed in a local perfumery headed by an ex-priest. She stayed on and became a perfumer,
"Perfumers, ‘noses’ or ‘aromancers’ are akin to modern-day alchemists, combining equal parts science and magic to craft new aromas. They work surrounded by rows of bottles, sampling smells on a strip and attempting to combine them to create their desired effect. Chowen-Doyle travelled to France to train with Sylvie Jourdain, a well-known nose for Dior......
Continue reading "A Perfumery in the Burren {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
Kerala Monsoon Holidays: "Showers of passion" and "Sometimes it takes water to kindle a fire" in the Sunday supplement of Times of India (Bangalore Edition) via Tamizhan There is a piece in the New York Times about perfumer Jean Claude Ellena travelling in Kerala to find inspiration for his new scent Un Jardin Après La Mousson (A Garden After the Monsoon), a genre of detailed biographical perfume reporting inaugurated by journalist Chandler Burr, of the NYT too, with the same perfumer and for the same Jardin series of fragrances by Hermès. In this latest installment, this time by Phoebe Eaton,.....
Continue reading "Travelogue on Kerala & Un Jardin Après La Mousson {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
 There is an interview with perfumer Annick Menardo in the Malaysian newspaper New Straits Times around the Diesel duo of fragrances. We thought in particular that it was interesting to learn that Diesel for Men was inspired by an anise and lavender balm that brand owner Renzo Rosso had Menardo smell. Interesting because it explicitly states that fine fragrances can derive inspiration from toiletry products and their scents.....
Continue reading "Interview with Annick Menardo in the New Straits Times {The 5th Sense in the News} - The Vague Toiletry Scent Trend? {Scented Thoughts} {Trend Alert}" »
There is an article in The Guardian reporting about a University of Virginia study sounding an alarm bell regarding the gradual loss of aromas in flowers due to pollution. Reportedly, scent molecules bond with pollutants and get destroyed in the process,
"This month researchers in Virginia announced that changes we've made to the atmosphere have begun to counteract the scent of flowers. It works like this: a flower exudes fragrance, each species with its own cocktail of aromatic chemicals evolved over millions of years to attract pollinating animals. Those aromatic chemicals encounter the Earth's new post-industrial atmosphere. Ozone breaks them down by
oxidation. Other pollutants bond with the chemicals, changing their scent. Pollinaters have trouble finding the plants they're looking for, and both animals and plants suffer."
Read more.....
 In the Times, Hilary Rose offers a refreshing perspective on the allure of fragrance. Not everyone is meant to be die-hard fan of perfumes and fragrance can be boring. However, if Ms. Rose feels no need to contemplate the infinite nuances found in scents she does love, instead, to think about the infinite shades of a good foundation, "The truth of the matter, if I look into the dark recesses of my soul, the bit where Serious Opinions should be, is that perfume bores me. I can think about all the nuances of tinted moisturiser for ages. It’s how I know that Chantecaille’s raved-about Real Skin is too barely-there for me, but its Future Skin is genius and, once I’ve got over how much it costs, I’m excited about trying its new Just Skin. It’s why I’ve had lengthy disputes with a friend who insists I should get over my dislike of Clarins’ packaging and embrace the products within. But perfume? Perfume shouldn’t be a problem. Perfume should just be. So for the time being I’m sticking with the Chanel."
Finding the Perfect Perfume..... Image: {Fiat Lux}
There is an article in Подробности asking the question: After the fall of the USSR, where have all the Latvian Dzintars perfumes that scented the whole Union, perfuming our grandmothers and mothers gone?.......
Continue reading "Dzintars: Long Lost Soviet Scents {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
 When news reached us that leather goods company Coach were going to release their first fragrance, in September of 2006, we remember making the comment that it would be interesting and unexpected at the same time to see them propose a leather perfume, as the fragrance market seemed not to be very welcoming to those. A logical enough thought, but the brand did not take this route.......
Continue reading "Virgin Le Cuir (2008): Smelling Like You Travel Premium {New Fragrance}" »
Smells funny
For people who follow the fragranced world news, it has become more and more apparent that public-display-of-perfume-affection has become a commonplace issue these days, especially so it seems in North America. This is an interesting paradox as one would expect more epidemic reports from places endowed with a hot and humid climate in which scents can expand even more. As it is, the action appears to take place mostly in countries known for their cold climates.
And here is a particular case that you may have experienced: your manager's fragrance habits make you feel ill, but you do not know how to make your point get across to her or him. Here is a detailed piece of practical advice from Peter Post, of etiquette-book fame,.....
Continue reading "How To Tell Your Boss She/He Wears Too Much Perfume? {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
For those who follow perfumer or rather perfumier Lyn Harris of Miller Harris there is an article about her inner sanctum in The Independent. You get to catch a glimpse of her everyday surroundings as well as daily work schedule,.....
Continue reading "Lyn Harris Chez Elle {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
There is a terrific article on odor artist or professional in-betweener as she calls herself Sissel Tolaas known among other things for her recordings of the sweats of men suffering from extreme phobias. Her itinerary appears quite unique along with her will to go back to a stage of cognitive openness regarding smells that we are all supposed to have experienced in early infancy. Importantly also, and as anthropologists have shown, feelings of olfactive repulsion often are an expression of an in-group vs. out-group dynamic...
Continue reading "Opening New Smell Frontiers {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
There is an interesting article in The Earth Times on "sweet fruit and flowers are basis of summer fragrance trends" in terms mostly of interpretive discourse about perfume about how recently fragrances have become distinctive. If we are to follow them, the whole industry has decided to take risks, mainly by overdosing fruity and floral notes in recent compositions and lest this might be considered to be too daring, adding woody notes to counterbalance the audacity of the thought, in some cases like Burberry The Beat. "The new fragrances are not to everyone's taste. That's because the trend is going in the direction of distinct fragrances that don't necessarily appeal to the masses."
The fruity-floral category is probably the most commercial one in the women's market nowadays. One could decide that such fragrances are now de facto the least distinctive category if you just focus on the group itself as a perfume family.....
Continue reading "Power Gourmand Fruity- Florals Are In & What Do They Mean? {The 5th Sense in the News} {Scented Thoughts}" »
The experts gather and tell you what and what not to do when you're planning on wearing fragrance in the evening. See what Frederic Malle, Ann Gottlieb, and Alan Hirsch have to say on the topic, The New Rules of After-Dark Fragrance .....
Continue reading "Advice on Wearing an Evening Perfume, Rose Scent is Great for Memorization {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
 There is an interesting reportage in the New York Times by Chandler Burr about a visit he made to the Versailles-based conservatory of perfumes, L'Osmothèque in L'Heir du Temps (some perfume lovers assuredly would prefer to insert the term "pilgrimage" here). We learn that Jean Kerléo its director was motivated to found it because as a young perfumer he experienced constant frustration over the fact that more senior perfumers would repeatedly tell him that so-and-so accord he had created had been done better or more beautifully in a previous, disappeared perfume (great perfumers are humble).....
Continue reading "Article on L'Osmothèque in the NYT {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
There is an article in the New York Times that attempts to interpret the drop in sales and perfume-wearing in the US which was reported recently by the NPD Group. Article is The Sweet Smell of Nothing Some comments: Interestingly, this exacerbation of invisible social tensions between people who are wearing and smelling perfume in the public space seems to be more characteristic of North America and Canada and has been frequently covered in the press in that region (this specificity was not expounded upon in the article). Taking a step back, one could think that it may be linked to over-sensitization and change of sensibilities as a result of anti-smoking policies in public spaces. Some people have noted that while they did not use to notice cigarette smoking so much twenty or thirty years ago, they have been made to be hyper conscious of the smell today. New social boundaries have been defined where volatiles are concerned and perfume may be logically following suit....
Continue reading "Perfume Tolerance & Consumption Is Down A Notch or Two in the US {The 5th Sense in the News} {Scented Thoughts}" »
 There is an interview with Richard Stamelman author of Perfume: Joy, Obsession, Scandal, Sin, on the Vermont Public Radio on "All Things Considered". You can click here to access the talk. Two quick comments - 1) I don't think that he can generalize and say that before the 1880s there were only single-note floral fragrances....
Continue reading "Radio Interview with Richard Stamelman {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
New-Jersey based historic company Lanman & Kemp-Barclay & Co., makers of Florida Water have chosen the day of their 200th anniversary to announce that they will release two new perfumes this year meant to position them in a new segment of the market, the luxury one. One of the two planned releases is a men's cologne called 1808 named after the date of their establishment coinciding also with the introduction of Florida Water. The other is a feminine jus called Restless. Both will be priced around $50, sold in department stores, and "compete with name brands such as Intuition for men by Estée Lauder and Calvin Klein's Obsession."....
Continue reading "Lenman & Kemp 1808, Restless (2008) Makers of Florida Water To Venture Into The Luxury Perfume Business {New Perfumes} {The 5th Sense in the News} " »
Here is an article that will make you appreciate the efforts that go into marketing a luxury fragrance, the new Chloé in this case. In the best tradition inaugurated by François Coty, the container is seen to be as crucial as the contents of the perfume bottle. Every detail counts in order to convey the right message about a particular perfume and more importantly, the brand behind it that sends it out as an ambassador of its image. Guess how long it took to find the perfect ribbon?....
Continue reading "It's All In The Grain Of The Ribbon {The Fifth Sense in the News}" »
 Is perfume consumption tellingly seen today in America as the sign of an addictive personality, the mark of excess, and even the potential cause for murderous rage and death by poison? Writers Silvio Horta and Bill Wrubel for an episode of the series Ugly Betty have answered yes to all of the above and portrayed fragrance as the new path to perdition in Odor in the Court on ABC on Jan 17. It is perhaps a faint echo of Süskind's outré characterization of the power of perfume as well as a popularization of the views that fragrance in the working and social places has become the new public enemy for a number of persons suffering from intolerance and/or allergies to perfume and/or fragrance wearers. The story certainly points to anxieties concerning the use of chemicals in perfumes at a time when the green, organic trend is developing more and more....
Continue reading "Perfume & Mores in America Through The Lens of Ugly Betty {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
Samsung have released two new cellphones, the SGH-L310 and SGH-L320, which are said to have been specially conceived for women and which therefore, include a scent-matching system. It is often reported that women have a more sensitive sense of smell than men and for some reason this seems to be reflected in the perfume industry practice of hiring mostly women as perfume evaluators. There are traditionally more men perfumers than women though, which seems here to draw a traditional gender barrier in the professional realm. Think about the minority of women chefs that exist as opposed to cooking seen as a feminine specialized activity in the domestic realm......
Continue reading "Samsung Perfume Cellphones For Women {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
World leaders gathering at the World Economic Forum in Davos summit next week will be subjected collectively, whether they like it or not, to the subtle atmospheric pressures of perfumes diffused in rooms to enhance the spirit of the meetings and influence the moods and emotions of delegates. In a possible and hopefully milder redux of the collective craze engendered by the virgins' perfume in the novel and movie Perfume, one might see people bond together once more through the sense of smell. Knowing that perfumer Christopher Laudamiel is behind this operation, reinforces the connection as he is the one who had to think about creating such a perfume for the Thierry Mugler coffret. There is something in the Zeitgeist as people are becoming more and more interested in applying pre-tested olfactory marketing tools to momentous political events. The Korean presidential campaign last fall was premised upon that concept and a perfume called Great Korea was sprayed in meeting places to garner winning votes; Lee Myung-Bak eventually won. The Catalan Socialist Party also just launched a perfume in January of 2008 called "what does socialism smell like?", a deeply introspective scent, which they recommend using also outside of political meetings, for example " in offices to create a pleasant environment of equality and fairness." The US presidential candidates must be using this guerilla tactic otherwise they would really be behind, but they are not saying anything. In the midst of this efflorescence of political agendas expressed via perfume compositions, the question we asked in our post My National Parfum in the summer of 2006 when it felt like sci-fi still holds: can the intent of a perfume be interpreted in the same manner by everyone involved, across cultures and personal histories if scent is also about associations?.......
Continue reading "The Politics of Perfume at Davos & Elsewhere In The World {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
Apparition of the face of the Aphrodite of Knidos, 1981 There is an interesting article regarding the collaboration between Jean-Pierre Grivory chairman of Parfums Salvador Dali and the artist himself. It details how the relationship came to be and how Dali started sketching the first perfume flacon on the spot; he was more interested in leaving his mark on the packaging than on the scents themselves. His bottles are instantly recognizable and the juices they contain are distinctive too. The original Salvador Dali for Women was great when it came out, offering an extremely soft and sensual texture. The one for Men is also wonderful (see review). There are many more to explore. "In a marriage between art and fashion comes perfumes in bottles designed by the great master Salvador Dalí. Of the five senses, the sense of smell is incontestably the one that best conveys a sense of immortality. – Salvador Dalí (1904-1989) WHEN your name and work not only endures but also inspires others, that’s another sense of immortality. The master of surrealism Salvador Dalí certainly lived up to the reputation for being eternal.".....
Continue reading "How The Dali Perfumes Came To Be {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
Leven, Fife In an intriguing and revealing piece of news, it is reported that a small town in Scotland, Leven, Fife, was considered to be too working class to carry Chanel products in an effort to protect the brand's image of luxury. The town's inhabitants were therefore not able to make their perfume holiday purchases at home, but had to travel 8 miles to a Boots branch located in Kirkcaldy.......
Continue reading "A Small Scottish Town Is Not Allowed To Carry Chanel {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
A series of research studies on auto-immune diseases reveal some links existing between perfume addiction, over-application of fumes, and depression, “Our scientific findings suggest that women who are depressed are also losing their sense of smell, and may overcompensate by using more perfume,” explains researcher Prof. Yehuda Shoenfeld, a member of the Sackler Faculty of Medicine at Tel Aviv University. “We also believe that depression has biological roots and may be an immune system response to certain physiological cues.” [....]......
Continue reading "Perfume Nuts Might Be More Depressed Than Nutty {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
 Technology to communicate scent sensations in public areas and via the internet continues to develop. Spectrum Online whose audience are "Tech Insiders" reports on progresses in the field, "If you thought the art of communication had reached its zenith in multimedia technology’s ability to grab the attention of our eyes and ears through text, video, and sound, think again. Japan’s NTT Communications Corp., of Tokyo, is busy developing its Kaori Tsushin, or Fragrance Communications, as a way to pull our noses into the equation. The telecom and network services company has come up with an Internet-linked fragrance system that can be used to generate a wide variety of scents on demand with the aim of heightening experiences, influencing moods, and maybe opening wallets. [....] It all started in a rather unusual way,
The first instance of its use was in December 2004 when the company hooked up an Aromageur—a small sphere-shaped fragrance dispenser for rooms and personal use—to a PC used for telling fortunes at an Internet café. The type of fragrance released would depend on the fortune being delivered." Read more..... Image of an Aromageur from Digital Lifestyles
Gentlemen of the human species, please take note! The male orchid bee might be your new master in scented courtship. There is a lovely and interesting article on the Channel 4 News website where we learn that males of this species need to blend a multi-layered complex individual perfume to attract females. The scent features notes of decaying wood, sap, and flowers...mmm......
Continue reading "Male Orchid Bees Are Born Perfumers {The Fifth Sense in the News}" »
Uniformity, Inez Storer, 2005
This morning we wanted to make sure we would quote another perfumer besides Jean-Claude Ellena before we would call your attention to his latest interview. He is obviously the darling of the media - some, more nastily, call him a "media whore" (courtesy of The Perfect Scent by Chandler Burr). Sorry, this is nothing personal because we do not know him on a personal level, but we are experiencing JC-Ellena fatigue, what with his prestidigitator gestures each time he meets members of the press showing them the magic smell arising from two blotters meeting on his lab table. Is this a parlor trick? Please, there are other noteworthy, interesting perfumers that breathe air on this planet and know how to articulate their thoughts on perfume. And please don't refer yourselves for inspiration to his own list of perfumers in his little book on perfume, Le Parfum, because he makes it sound like the perfumers' community has been depleted by WWIII.
Scent of a Man in the Times online
Business 24/7 reports about a particular extremely fine-grade limited edition oudh perfume in the Dahn Al Oudh collection created by Ajmal, a fragrance brand based in the United Arab Emirates. The scent is dedicated mainly to the beauty of oudh, profits being secondary in this case. It is a noteworthy attempt to maintain balance between profit and cultural dedication to the art of fragrance thanks also to the support of customers that are collectors. Since 2005, 1000 flacons have been sold and 1500 more are available. A 12 ml flacon of this perfume retails for 5,000 Dirhams or US $ 1,360.......
Continue reading "Oudh Perfume by Ajmal: It Is About Beauty, Not Money {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
With major perfume launches amounting to $50 million in investment these days, it has become increasingly hard for brands to see profit emerge out of these ventures. Armani Privé 3 years after its launch remains unprofitable but is kept afloat in order to generate an intangible value: cachet.....
Continue reading "The Madness of The Perfume Industry {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
We don't know if the new patent called " LSS - Less Smoke Smell" that the third largest tobacco corporation in the world, Japan Tobacco International wants to apply for would be really effective - cigarettes reek anyway - but at least they are trying to dispel the bad-omen smells associated with cigarette consumption. Of course under this semblance of "improvement" brought to our collective quality of life or rather that of Canadians as the action seems to concentrate in that country for now, public health issues debated ad infinitum by the tobacco industry and health groups would only be further blurred rather than solved. Rather aptly and ironically the new cigarettes are called "Mirage Cigarettes" and like an odorless gas they might kill you even more surely apparently. This, shall we call it, "cosmetic cigarette", is considered even more dangerous by watch-groups and denounced by them. The tobacco people were just trying to pacify the Canadians who are noted for their hyper-sensitivity to manufactured smells in the public space..........
Continue reading "Nice-Smelling Cigarettes Are Still, Nay, Even More Dangerous For Your Health {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
 Perfume remains the gift of choice during the Holiday season and women are the biggest buyers. According to the NPD Group, which is quoted in an article in the Los Angeles Times, "More than Valentine's Day and Mother's Day combined, this is the season when scents translate into cents for the $3.96-billion fragrance industry. It pulls in a third of its annual revenue in December and 20% of the year's total in just the two weeks before Christmas, said Karen Grant, a beauty industry consultant for marketing information company NPD Group."
Perfume Gifts Smelling Good To Shoppers..... Poster available at allposters.com
The Great Korea perfume is leading Lee Myung Bak to victory; the flacon may not look too fancy but the juice itself has reportedly been made to feel irresistible. Photo Dec 12, 2007 © Reuters/Jo Yong-Hak
In Korea, presidential front-runner Lee Myung Bak must have a keen nose and believe in the powers of olfaction like no other since his campaign staff has decided to implement a very unusual strategy for "branding" the candidate's image. Drawing on marketing experience and department-stores' olfactory branding of which Korea is an early practitioner, the idea has been taken a step further by attempting to associate feelings of "hope, victory, passion" with a perfume called Great Korea that was secretly sprayed at public gatherings and will be again sprayed when voters enter the polling booths. Obviously no law forbids this type of political manipulation since it has never been done before (?) and can be accounted as one more publicity tool or can it be?..........
Continue reading "Presidential Candidate Lures In Voters with Great Korea Perfume {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
The Sunday Herald is running two pieces on celebrity fragrances. The first one by Paul Dalgarno features perfumer George Dodd who is asked to evaluate popular celebrity perfumes. His conclusion? They all smell more or less the same and only pretend to be distinctive. Dodd much prefers "traditional French perfumery" to this non-offensive "cheap plonk", "George Dodd is a world-renowned perfumer and the founding father of the psychology of smell. Drawing on decades of experience, he creates personal perfumes at his Aroma Sciences studio in Wester Ross, based on a series of in-depth interviews with his clients. He has agreed to give me the lowdown on a selection, by no means complete, of the celebrity fragrance range. In turn, I have smuggled him as many free samples as I can carry: a whiff of Kate Moss in my pocket, a sachet of Paris Hilton in my hands; I've snatched the Beckhams (his and hers), a bottle of Covet by Sarah Jessica Parker, the scents of Kylie, Britney and several others.......
Continue reading "George Dodd Sniffy About Celebs Perfumes, Others Are Believers {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
An American study published in the journal Psychological Science indicates that so-called "subliminal smells", ones that are not consciously perceived by the brain because they derive from extremely minute quantities, play a key role in our evaluation of a fellow human being (drawn face in this test) and bear more impact actually than consciously perceived smells.......
Continue reading "Role of Sub-Conscious Smells in Affective Evaluation {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
There is a whole part of the perfume economy in Grasse that seems to be dedicated to copying existing perfumes rather than creating new ones. After a couple of sniffs taken at Jeanne Arthès' so-called "creations"from Grasse, a brand which periodically advertises new releases giving the semblance of real launches, we had to conclude that the artistic direction of the house was simply to offer copy-cats of famous perfumes.......
Continue reading "A Glimpse Into Grassois Exports To Brunei {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
Isabella Blow and Alexander Mc Queen "Burning Down The House" by David LaChapelle, 1997
Fashion icon, editor, and talent scout Isabella Blow (1958-2007) died on May 6th 2007 after committing suicide by drinking a weedkiller, just like her father-in-law had done previously. You can read a summary of her troubled life here. She was closely associated with the successes of milliner Philip Treacy and designer Alexander Mc Queen, whom she helped gain recognition although it was acknowledged at the same time that she did not get the financial rewards she could have hoped for, for her efforts while her protégés did. I have a picture of Isabella Blow that I have been meaning to illustrate with a review of the perfume Habanita by Molinard as this particular image (not shown here) immediately suggested this smoky deep fragrance as a perfect fit for her look. In fact not recognizing her at first, I thought the picture was from the 1920s. I learned today that her signature perfume was somewhat different, no less intense, but more floral. It was the celebrated Fracas by Piguet........
Continue reading "Isabella Blow Loved to Wear..... {Celebrity Perfume} {What Celebrities Love to Wear} {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
Simon and Yasmin Mills are having a bit of fun at the expense of the dazzling celebrity fragrance culture. From A to Z, how do you manage to develop a celeb fragrance with no star power to speak of and none of the usual corporate resources? "There’s a brilliant bit in Woody Allen’s 1980 classic Stardust Memories, where the neurotic director nuzzles up to Charlotte Rampling. “Mmm, you smell nice,” La Rampling says seductively. “That aftershave. It just made my whole childhood come back with a sudden Proustian rush.” “Yeah?” Allen replies. “That’s because I’m wearing Proustian Rush by Chanel. It was reduced. I got a vat of it.” Read more in the Times Online.......
Continue reading "How Does a Z-List Celeb Perfume Smell Like? How to Choose a Good Celeb, La Part des Anges de Mugler, $13 Smells Nicer Than $5000, L'Oréal's Trademark Battle Brought to the European Court of Justice {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
There is an interesting interview of Jean-Claude Ellena in L'Express around the publication of his new book. It verifies certain impressions you get from the booklet he just put out: the intense pressure of the job (one feels a certain tension and negativity in his opus), a stylistic opposition with Serge Lutens, and most importantly perhaps the intrinsic, somewhat tragic, aspect of a profession where you aim to be a demanding artist, yet have to please many, many people in two short seconds (for the average perfume consumer). He in fact does not hesitate to say, "Ce métier a cela de terrible que l'on a effectivement deux secondes, le temps d'un spray, pour séduire. Mais j'ai pour ma part le désir de plaire, pas seulement de séduire" ~
"This craft has this terrible aspect to it, in that we indeed have only 2 seconds, the time of a spray, to seduce. But personally, I have the desire to please, not just to seduce."
He also lets out that he feels he has taken an (admittedly, calculated) risk in publishing his list of perfumery ingredients.......
A carousel filled with Jean-Claude Ellena's Flacons
Continue reading "L'Express Interviews Jean-Claude Ellena in Two Times {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
Women's Wear Daily had a chat with perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena on the occasion of a talk he gave on Wednesday at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute. Article is accessible to subscribers only so here are two excerpts, "For instance, the olfactory notes of a fragrance are often compared with the musical notes of a song. However, while music is "successive" in structure, with one note audible after another, Ellena asserted that this structure is nonexistent in perfume — the notes of a scent are perceptible as soon as one opens the bottle, he said. "Olfactory expression is total," Ellena said in French through a translator....."
Continue reading "Article on Jean-Claude Ellena in WWD (The 5th Sense in the News}" »
A report on Gucci's fashion show in Milan and guess what, their new fragrance Gucci by Gucci, in a noted move, was put first before the audience, "Coco Chanel was among the first fashion designers to see the marketing potential in branded perfume. The income from hits such as Chanel No 5 bankrolled her couture operations. Last night, Gucci literally put fragrance ahead of fashion when it screened the new television advertisement for its latest scent before its catwalk show."
Read more......
Continue reading "Gucci Puts Fragrance First, Mysore Mallige, a Very Local Jasmine {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
You can watch a video interview of founder and nose of Parfum d'Empire, Marc-Antoine Corticchiato on the occasion of the launch of their three new perfumes: Osmanthus Interdite, Equistrius, and Fougère Bengale (click on "Actualité"). Their website has recently reopened and has been updated. We have received their new fragrances so reviews of the new imperial trilogy are up next.
Aerin Lauder, senior vice-president and creative director of Estée Lauder, is interviewed on the occasion of the launch of Private Collection Tuberose Gardenia, "It was John Demsey, who at one time ran M.A.C. in Canada and is now group president at Lauder, who suggested the 37-year-old take a more public role. "I was in a meeting with John talking about retail and business trends, and how we should create something special for customers like Holt Renfrew. He said, `The answer is in the room.'" Coincidentally, Lauder says, while working on other fragrances she had perfumers developing a white floral to satisfy her personal taste. "They were secretly passing me things on the side to try. So when John said that, it all came together."....
Read more......
Continue reading "Interviews with Aerin Lauder & Frida Giannini {The 5th Sense in the News]" »
You can read an interview with movie director Joe Wright who, fragrance-wise, directed the new commercial ad for Coco Mademoiselle with Keira Knightly after having worked with her on Pride and Prejudice and Atonement. You will also find the key to understanding Knightly's famous pout.....
Continue reading "Interview with Joe Wright about Coco Mademoiselle {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
• You can read an article about Oudh, Aloeswood, or Agarwood and its all-encompassing importance in Arabian society in the Gulf Weekly, The first thing your sense of smell picks up in an Arab house is the heady aroma of Oudh wafting in the air. Oudh is considered as a supreme fragrance in the Gulf countries.
In Bahrain, Oudh is burned as a mark of respect and hospitality and is a traditional gesture of welcoming and honouring guests. In fact, Oudh is considered an important feature at most social occasions......
Read more....... (Photo oudh perfume oil by Preçious moi)
Continue reading "Oudh in Arab Culture, Video Interview with Sean John {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
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}" »
Warning, this article contains graphic descriptions of bad odors. The New York Post reports on a series of malodors in The Bronx, The Bronx may not be burning, but it sure smells funny. The city has unleashed a sniffing SWAT team to nose around the borough to determine the sources of strange odors reported by nauseated neighbors in the Hunts Point area.
Read more....... A day in the life of a perfumer and mom of three, soon to be four children: Daniela Andrier.......
Continue reading "Anti-Stench Campaign in The Bronx, Perfumer Daniela Andrier Reports on a Day in her Life {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
A professionally trained soothing voice: "It's OK not to have a signature scent." You would not be a lesser woman or man for that (there is probably more pressure on women to conform to this ideal). If you still need some moral encouragement in this area of your life, Hannah Betts is here to enable you and support you with some well-chosen precedents and examples,.......
Continue reading "You are Authorized to have a Fragrance Wardrobe {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
The French newspaper Libération announced that in August L'Oréal had launched a legal action against the auction site eBay as they allow sales of "counterfeit perfume bottles". This decision was announced on September 8 2007 and comes as the outcome of stalled negotiations between L'Oréal and eBay......
Continue reading "L'Oréal is Suing eBay over Sales of Counterfeit Perfumes {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
 In an effort of objectivity, celebrity scents were submitted to the appreciation of a group of 1000 respondents who had to decide what was the best celebrity perfume based in principle only on their sense of smell as they were blindfolded. Details on whether they were told in advance that these were celebrity scents or not, in what order the perfumes were presented, over what period of time, and how they countervailed nose fatigue are not provided,......
Continue reading "Best Celebrity Fragrance According to an UK Blind Test {The 5th Sense in the News)" »
This Sunday over brunch, get of whiff of this, i.e., look for a slice of gourmand advertising in the Los Angeles Times that will bear the scent of frosted cake. This ad is to encourage interest in the new movie "Mr Margorium's Wonder Emporium" with Natalie Portman and Dustin Hoffman. And the LAT people are not the only ones to think forward. More experiments are conducted in the printed media nowadays to capture advertisers' and readers' interests, sometimes with a backlash effect as in the case of the cookie-scented bus shelters in San Francisco,......
Continue reading "Scent Marketing is on the Upsurge {The 5th Sense in the News} " »
 Thierry Mugler Angel is periodically the object of scrutiny and attacks by a health foundation called National Toxic Encephalopathy Foundation. Why this perfume comes under attack only and in particular is not altogether clear as it would seem difficult to think that it contains such unique ingredients. A new announcement was released yesterday which addresses renewed toxicity issues and linked to that, issues of information transparency with Clarins, the distributor for the Thierry Mugler brand. What we retain from the article is the fact that two chemical analyses of the composition of the perfume conducted in 2004 and 2007 have revealed that, Based on the prior deformulation and the current listed ingredients, only 5 of the prior ingredients were incorporated into the current Angel formula.....
Continue reading "Thierry Mugler Angel's Plural Formulations & Toxicity ? {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
As American young men have become apparently addicted to body sprays, Disney offers perfume lines targeting younger and younger consumers, and more and more candy-like notes crop up even in fragrances targeting more mature women, we might all be feeling the impact of an exacerbated youth culture in perfumery. Frederic Malle, an upscale elitist perfume house has even recently decided to partly dress down its brand image, in a manner of speaking, by offering a niche perfume for the young evoking jeans and clean laundry called Outrageous!........
Continue reading "The Vogue of Teens Perfumes {The 5th Sense in the News} {Scented Image}" »
 The New York Post has an article on possible misdemeanors on the part of perfume reviewers and Chandler Burr in particular. We must be missing something because it seems to us that it is a little low to try to corrupt a perfume reviewer with a perfume bottle or even a few. Some people apparently think that a fragrance flacon is the equivalent of a gold bar. It does have the same color, sometimes, but come on, let's be a little bit more serious....you and I weren't brought up in a slum, right?
It does appear though that some members of the industry were characteristically pushy with Burr, offering him money. It would be interesting to dig out similar stories, which must exist, with movie, restaurant, wine, food, beauty product, spa critics and see why perfumes seem to attract more attention...... Read more......
Continue reading "Cost of Corruption = 1 Perfume Bottle, Testing & Imagining Scents in Toronto & France {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
The New York Times has an article about Le Labo in Nolita. Where do you go shopping when you want to upgrade your signature scent as you reach the ripe old age of 40?.....
Continue reading "Article on Le Labo {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
After several legendary beauties were hired by Chanel to front their perfume advertisements over the course of years such as Catherine Deneuve, Carole Bouquet, and more recently Kate Moss, Keira Knightley is the new face for Mademoiselle Coco. According to Jacques Helleu artistic director of Chanel, what prompted him more than anything else to elect Knightley were her flaws, which presented him with an opportunity to play fairy god-mother to Cinderella. The new advert where Keira Knightly poses naked, chastely clasping a bowler hat over her breasts closely references the theme of one of the adverts that was shot with Kate Moss, Keira's immediate predecessor. We could start calling them the girl-with-the-necklace-and-hat series...
Continue reading "Keira Knightley for Chanel Mademoiselle Coco, Nicole Miller Fragrances, British Men are Spiffing Up {Scented Images} {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
There is an interview of Roja Dove on Money CNN. Scroll down the main page and click on "Celebrity Scents" to hear his views on the celebrity fragrance market. Some highlights: people are not really interested in how a celeb perfume smells, but more in buying into a lifestyle; the perfumer is the one who spends the least amount of time on a celebrity scent because the majority of the energy goes into the marketing; and these types of perfumes are generally bland, with simple structures, and to put it politely, are "innocuous". Still, we think, some celebrity scents are better than others. It would be interesting to ascertain more closely which ones.
Sarah Jessica Parker has launched her new fragrance Covet and rather than to dissect the notes in the new jus, she has preferred to stress that her ideal comfort fragrance would be to bottle up the scent of her four year old son James' bedroom.....
Continue reading "What Smells Better Than Sarah Jessica Parker Covet? {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
 An interview with Gwen Stefani where she confides "I'm like every other woman. I'm super vain, I have issues." Thanks for the generalizing bit.....
And about her new perfume L, She's recently moved into handbags and launched a diffusion line, Harajuku Lovers. And what celebrity franchise is complete without a perfume? Her latest venture is a bespoke scent called L. 'I would never have done a fragrance as ce-leb-ri-tee ...' she maintains, tapping the syllables out on her tongue, 'just to do one for the sake of it. But because I have L.A.M.B. it's really the most milestone, prestigious kinda moment. Basically, you have an inspiration of a perfume that you like, whether it's a flower or a certain direction.'
Read more in The Guardian..... Another interview today with Céline Ellena, the daughter of celebrated Hermès in-house perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena (who, rumor has it, is writing a book. We are not surprised; his interviews are some of the most interesting ones we have come across). She creates for the niche label The Different Company and has also composed a rose fragrance, Rose Divine, for the Isabel Derroisné brand........
Continue reading "Gwen Stefani L, Céline Ellena Interview, Pubs In Want of Smoke, Perfume Shop, My DNA Fragrance {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
The legal trademark battle that threatened the rights to the name "Shiloh" for jewelry designer and perfume designer Symine Salimpour has reached a happy conclusion. Angelina Jolie dropped the suit as it turns out that the name "Shiloh" was thought of two years ago, before the birth of her own daughter named Shiloh. The fragrance Shiloh ("His Gift" in Hebrew) by Hors Là Monde created by Michel Roudnitska (Frédéric Malle Noir Epices, Del Rae fragrances) will debut this year in the US.....
Continue reading "Shiloh by Hors Là Monde & Article on End of a Trademark Battle with Angelina Jolie {New Perfume} {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
A very good tip from Camille Goutal on how to maxime the effect your perfume can have. We like the fact that she combines the precepts of two separate schools of thoughts on where to apply perfume, i.e., clothes vs. skin. Some purists and professionals recommend avoiding direct contact of the scent onto the skin and rather to spray it onto your clothes (which will ultimately make the fragrance come in contact with your skin or be activated by your body heat but more subtly). See how Camille Goutal does it:.......
Continue reading "Perfume Tip from Camille Goutal {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
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