Win a Copy of The Perfume Garden novel: Perfume Book Draw

Several authors have chosen to incorporate perfume in their fiction lately, some of which have been featured on Perfume Shrine before. The Perfume Garden by Kate Lord Brown is a very leaf-able, flowing romance taking place in the turmoil of the Spanish Civil War with "lost love, family secrets and the art of creating the perfect scent".

I have 5 hardcover copies for 5 US shipping addresses holders that I will draw on Thursday. Please enter a comment and you will be eligible. Prizes will be shipped by the publisher directly to winners.

Here is small excerpt from the The Perfume Garden novel to give you an idea:

"Emma took a deep breath, and gazed out of the bus window. It was almost her stop. Perhaps it’s time to stop saving the best till last, she thought. She folded the note and slipped it into her mother’s Moleskine notebook on her lap, flicking on through the pages illuminated with Liberty’s flamboyant handwriting. Words leaped out at her—“neroli,” “duende,” “passion.” Her mother had pasted in cuttings alongside the notes and formulas for the new perfume she had been working on—pictures of orange groves, searing blue skies, a yellowed newspaper advert for a Robert Capa exhibition. It was the famous “falling soldier” picture. Emma traced her finger over the soldier’s face, wondered what he was thinking at the moment when death caught him running down that hill. She wondered what he saw as he fell. As she touched the paper, she felt the contours of something beneath. She flipped to the next page and laid her hand on the smallest envelope Liberty had left in the box with the letters. On it, her mother had written an address: Villa del Valle, La Pobla, Valencia, Spain. Inside, there was just an old key. I must ask Freya if she knows anything about this, she thought. Emma had lain awake the night she opened that envelope, turning the key over in her hand, her mind full of possibilities. Typical Mum, she thought, remembering all the magical mystery tours Liberty had taken her on as a child, the trails of clues she had laid for Emma to follow to hidden presents. The chase, the anticipation, was always more fun than the present itself.

Emma turned the pages, glimpsed the melancholy, serene face of a Madonna, a photo of a whitewashed wall with flaming bougainvillea spilling over it. The notes became sparser, the hand less sure toward the end. She sensed Liberty had been looking back, as well as forward. Next to a pasted label from Chérie Farouche, the perfume Liberty had created for Emma on her eighteenth birthday, she had written: “Some perfumes are, like children, innocent, as sweet as oboes, green as meadow sward—Baudelaire.” It was still Emma’s signature scent. On her it smelled like rain in a garden at first, fresh and intoxicating; then as the green top notes evaporated Emma always thought of the earth, of picking flowers in a forest with her mother. The heart note of lily of the valley and jasmine melded perfectly with the base of sandalwood and musk. Liberty always said the scent was like her—shy but surprisingly fierce. A photograph of Liberty with Emma as a baby was tucked into that page. She flicked on, unbearable longing piercing her as she looked at her mother’s beautiful, open smile. Emma paused at her mother’s final sketch of a new Liberty Temple perfume bottle, her hurried scrawl: “Jasmine? Orange blossom, yes!”

Copyright © 2015 by Kate Lord Brown

Fragrant by Mandy Aftel: perfume book giveaway

More of a biographical mapping out of the discovery of a new career path and the richness with which it has gifted its author than a mainstream guide, Fragrant: The secret life of scent by Mandy Aftel is a fascinating journey into four key materials (cinnamon, incense, mint, jasmine and ambergris), their mystical significance, their aura, their historical pathway and with it the trajectory of natural perfumery. The book takes the form of a meditation on the sensuality and pleasure that natural materials offer, divided into 5 parts corresponding to each material) and a plea for the embracing of their sensuous capabilities in our increasingly sterilized world.

Aftel's Essence and Alchemy is already a perfume book classic, aimed at the fragrance enthusiast with the desire to learn (it includes a hands down approach to learning to build fragrant chords with natural essences and a classic fragrance pyramid structure tutorial a la Jean Carles), while Fragrant: The Secret Life of Scent is less of a traditional guide. Instead Aftel muses on several points on scent while adding tidbits that are always interesting and a handful of recipes for edible stuff that would make you see things in a new light. For that reason it would appeal to the novice, as it does not require special knowledge in order to follow its beautiful prose, but also to the more accomplished fragrance collector as a tome to stand proudly in their library.

You can order the book on Amazon at a special price.

I have a new hardback copy to share with a lucky reader. Please enter a comment below to be eligible. Draw is open internationally till Friday midnight.

New Perfume Book: Dior, Les Parfums

For the first time, an official Dior perfume-centered book is set to launch this September: Dior Les Parfums (or "Dior The Perfumes"). The book reprises the history, the artistry and the description of the Christian Dior fragrances from 1947 (the year of the original Miss Dior perfume, currently circulating as L'originale; for valuable info on distinguishing Miss Dior editions consult this link) right up till 2014.

Its author, Chandler Burr, is best known to fragrance aficionados for his fascinating book on the industry, his NY Times scent critic stint, his MAD tenure and his scent dinners.
In 2013 Christian Dior Perfumes approached Burr and proposed a collaboration in which they would create a list of works Burr independently considered aesthetically and intellectually important—commercial scents like “Higher Energy”, though financial successes for Dior, were therefore not included. While writing, the author worked closely with Frédéric Bourdelier, Brand Culture & Heritage Manager of Christian Dior Parfums. The photography is by Terri Weifenbach, fine art photographer and teacher.

Dior, Les Parfums ("Dior, The Perfumes") is published by Rizzoli USA (115$) and comes out on the 24th of September. The book measures 9.75 x 13.75 and costs $76.16; you can preorder it on Amazon following this link.

Related reading on Perfume Shrine: Christian Dior fragrance reviews 

"Perfume, The Art & Craft of Fragrance" by Karen Gilbert: book review & free copy giveaway

Fragrance expert, author, teacher and speaker Karen Gilbert demystifies the secretive world of perfumery in a new book, Perfume, The Art & Craft of Fragrance, that inspires readers to explore their olfactory sense and create their own personalised fragrances.
[I am hosting a drawing of one free copy for a lucky reader, so if you're interested read on.]

The market is becoming a bit saturated with books on perfume written in English lately (a far cry from 10 years ago) thanks to the revelation of perfume lovers online, which convinced the publishing houses that there is viable market interest, so finding a worthwhile, helpful one is a task that merits tackling. Gilbert's effort is nuanced, structured, honest and factual, and offers insights that go beyond the pretty pictures of coffee table books, long winded "stories" with little concrete info or just reviews with "notes" mentioned.

Karen Gilbert

Perfume, the Art & Craft of Fragrance is roughly divided into two major parts: one explains the basics of fragrance history, appreciation, psychology and understanding of perfumes, the other guides you steadily yet gently into experimenting with your own blends in inimitable Karen Gilbert style (I'm a fan of her other book too, Natural Beauty, which proposes several easy and useful recipes for homemade skincare). The chapters are divided as follows:

Introduction
1.The Psychology of Smell
2.A History of Perfumery and Fragrance Icons
3.Fragrance Classification
4.Natural and Synthetics Fragrance Materials
5.Creative Perfumery Techniques
6.Creating Perfume Sprays, Oils and Solids
7.Creating Bath & Body Products
8.Creating Home Fragrances
Resources
Index
Acknowledgments

Obviously the History section is a condensed version of what most aficionados might already know, briefly (no archaeological data included) going from the institution of Grasse as perfume capital to the introduction of synthetics in the 19th century and thereafter delineating the major periods of 20th century perfumery with a handful of mould-breaking fragrances mentioned. So is the Psychology chapter, which is running the basics and suggesting that one needs to experiment to find their own voice in this world. But the rest of the chapters are quite detailed indeed, with emphasis on how to distinguish materials, recognize them and use them effectively.

The book overall is aimed at both the complete novice who is eager to learn and the more experienced aficionado who wants to fine-tune some perceptions, build their knowledge and see how they can set into experimenting themselves. In short it manages to score two birds in one stone. If I were overcritical I might venture the thought that the complete novice would still find a couple of mentions troublesome to grasp. For instance in the pivotal chapter 3 (Fragrance Classification) there is a sub-chapter called Learning to Describe Fragrance which is mighty interesting, but in the Build Your Olfactory Vocabulary list there are such terms as "amine", "butyric", "phenolic", "ozonic" or "aromatic" which are not explained anywhere in the book, leaving the novice a bit perplexed. (Karen does explain later on the terms animalic and indolic well). Obviously a short tome can't encompass everything, so it's good homework at the very least. But Karen's approach overall is to be commended.

via karengilbert.co.uk

Gilbert guides the reader with an aim to inform and to resolve popular misunderstandings, not to flatter their ego or position herself a certain way (she doesn't need to, she has tenured at IFF and runs her own perfumery courses in the UK), which makes the book really useful, something that cannot be said for other books on the subject. Without touting my own horn too much and gaining confidence by the fact that Karen Gilbert herself is a fan of Perfume Shrine (she actually mentions it in the Resources page as recommended reading), I'd say that if you have been enjoying reading this site, you are bound to enjoy her book as well; it offers references and is easy to get what you're looking for without wading through tons of unrelated text.

There are many small gems in the tome, such as the differentiation of aromatherapy and aroma-chology,  info on more than one fragrance classification systems (in fact in the Orientals fragrance family chapter I found myself smiling in recognition while reading the differences between the "ambreine" and "mellis" oriental perfume accord), the Jean Carles method for training your nose, lots of synthetics mentioned by actual name, guidelines in which materials work best in home blends and which carrier makes for a better product in the recipes (this also makes a helpful hint when actually choosing bath & body and home fragrance products online as in checking the ingredients list) as well as where to get supplies. There is also the priceless recognition of the perfume online community in her use of the term "fruichouli". To offer an anecdote, it's perfume lover Mbanderson61 who coined it, I believe over at the chatty Perfume Posse, and if she had a dime for each time this term is mentioned online by us she'd be crazily rich now, but I digress.

I haven't found the time to test most of the actual formulae yet, apart from a couple of perfume oils and solids (because I happened to have suitable ingredients at hand) which turned out very good. I'm holding out for when the holidays come around.

Perfume, the Art and Craft of Fragrance would also make a lovely, decently priced Christmas gift for anyone with a passing interest in scent. The little tome is hardback, beautifully shot by photographer Jo Henderson and has nice, heavy, matte-glossed pages that just feel good to the hand. It's compact and small enough to be carried in a purse and read on the subway or during your lunch break, though you'll want to keep in your study for reference. It is available on Amazon for just 10.92$.
Bottom line: Recommended.

Gilbert, Karen, "Perfume, the Art and Craft of Fragrance", 2013 October,
CICO books, London New York.
Hardback
ISBN 978-1-78249-044-9

Retail Price 9.99GBP/16.95$US

There is a draw for one FREE copy of the book for a lucky UK-address reader. Please state in the comments whether you're interested.
Draw is open till Sunday midnight and winner to be announced on Monday.

Aqua di Parma La Nobilita del Fare (The Nobility of Making)

In my -and many others'- mind, Italy has always stood as the archetypal bed for the blossoming of the arts: the country not only is a living and breathing museum, but also the fertile soil on which artisans and artists from the fields of painting, pottery, glassmaking, leather goods, music and perfumery, to this day produce objects and artifacts of high quality and that easy elegance which comes naturally to the South. Among them Acqua di Parma, revived thanks to the high profile business model opted for which helped consolidate it as a cult brand for perfume lovers everywhere.

 Acqua di Parma La Nobilita del Fare book cover © Giovanni Gastel

Now Acqua di Parma are launching not a new fragrance but a fragrance-related book for collectors: "La nobiltà del Fare” (The Nobility of Making) [editions Electra]. This prestigious volume features images from the great Italian photographer Giovanni Gastel, who tells a series of exceptional stories demonstrating the noble skills which Italy has mastered since the Renaissance. The book, with texts by Andrea Kerbaker and an introduction by Enrico Colle, will launch in New York on September 17th on the occasion of the American premiere of the “Roberto Bolle and Friends Gala”, produced by Artedanzsrl and sponsored exclusively by Acqua di Parma.

The book contains twenty-three stories selected from the most significant examples of Italian creativity, recounted through photographs specially taken by Giovanni Gastel, which express the essence and flavor of creativity, in the lightness of dance as well as the materiality of stone; images that explore intense faces, that reveal the secrets of ancient techniques, and tell of astounding artifacts. Artistic institutions of great international renown, academies and music conservatories, consortia and foundations, but also small workshops where master craftsmen create unique products that the world desires, fashioned in keeping with ancient methods of work: an exceptional variety of magnificent creative skills, whose common denominator is the noble tradition, the outstanding vocation, the age-old craftsmanship and passion for keeping alive the cultural and artistic traditions of the country.

Roberto Bolle photo © Giovanni Gastel

“A tradition of craftsmanship,” writes Enrico Colle in his introduction to the volume, “with a very high level of quality of execution coupled with an inspired use of widely available raw materials transformed by art. ... Italian craft production in all fields ... has been distinguished by ... the ability to create magnificent works in which the materials, subdued by art, are capable of arousing the admiration of both critics and patrons of the arts.”
Together with the photographs, the texts by Andrea Kerbaker lend a voice to the protagonists, who include Pinin Brambilla Barcilon, Renzo Piano, Marco Magnifico, Mimmo Paladino, Uto Ughi, as well as Maurizio Baglini, Daniele Gatti, Stefano Conia, the Marinelli brothers, Luca Litrico and many others.

Editions Electra, 332 pages with 280 illustrations, hardcover lined with jacquard silk & linen fabric by Rubelli. Available in Italian and English, retailing at 200 euros.

Kathleen Tessaro The Perfume Collector: fragrance book review

Grace Munroe. Eva d'Orsey. One English and pampered into false security. The other French-countryside-born and exiled in New York, serving to make ends meet. One straight-laced by nurture, yet inquisitive, the other building herself from the bottom up and uninhibited by nature, picking up life lessons wherever she can, from decadent emigrés to call girls. One disillusioned by marriage, the other becoming the mistress of a cosmetics tycoon to help materialize her own plans. But when one inherits the other, though the two have never met, and indeed the heiress has absolutely no idea who this mysterious Eva is, the two lives intermingle and the English rose is in for some coming of age metamorphosis, the French way, with a brisk and brief perfumery introduction lesson in the middle of it. This the central plot of Kathleen Tessaro's new novel The Perfume Collector and if this reminds you vaguely of the journey of finding one's self with the help of French (or Frenchified) style icons after a failed marriage in her earlier novel Elegance it is because it is basically the same theme.

Source: Uploaded by user via Perfume on Pinterest

There is simply no way around it. The Anglo-Saxon is mesmerized by the lure of the Continental, with the latter's abandon to sensuality, its convenient compartmentalization of personal life & business and of its Cartesian logic (and non Protestant ethic) while wading through life. Even we have often elaborated on what makes this particular tick tick. And if there is one lesson to be derived is to suck the juice out of the bone of life because life is short, a sentiment with which I can't bring myself to disagree.

"The name, madam..." Eva could hardly say it out loud without blushing. "My Sin". Madame Zed said the words slowly, her black eyes unblinking. "What about it?"Eva hesitated. "It's just...well..what does it mean? What sin?"

 Madame was silent for a moment, looking past Eva, or rather through her, as if she were transparent. Finally she spoke. "Do you know what sin means?"

"To do something wrong?"Madame shook her head. "That's one meaning. But there's another, from the Greek, hamartia, which translates, 'to miss the mark'. That's the meaning I prefer. ""To miss the mark" Eva repeated, committing it to memory.

 "Yes", Madame continued. "We try and fail, like archers who aim for the target but fall short of the mark."Eva watched as she removed the lace shawl. "When you are older and have swum out into the stream of life, you'll see - there are no 'good people', little girl. We're all trying and failing, trying too hard and failing too often. Remember that. We shouldn't judge too harshly, in the end, the sins of others."

Tessaro does a beautiful job of putting the sequence in non-chronological order, starting in media res, and then retracing the tale to its beginnings as the search for the enigmatic Eva is conducted by both Grace and the reader through the flashbacks. To do this comfortably Tessaro breaks down the novel in two distinct narrative viewpoints, Exit to Eden style, and two different time-periods, one following Eva, the other following Grace. One feels that the blue-eyed blonde British K.Tessaro is having a particular pleasure into delving into the brunette territory of Eva, her primal name a nod to her budding but all potent femininity, sometimes to the point of exaggeration.

Bending closer, she gave his shoulder a shake. "Sir!"His eyes opened, blinking to focus. 'I'm sorry, it's only Madame wants you", she explained in a whisper. "She says..."Suddenly he grabed her wrist. "Hush!" And still in a fog of sleep, he pulled her close. Eva pitched forward, into his arms. Valmont inhaled.

 At first her natural seemed straightforward, simply; the slightly acrid, almost creamy aroma of a child's damp skin. But underneath that, a rich, musky element seeped through, unfolding slowly; widening and expanding to a profound, primitive, animalistic essence. The sheer range and complexity of her odour was astonishing. The effct, intensely arousing. It was the most compelling, deeply sensual thing Valmont had ever encountered. 

Eva pushed him away, horrified. "What are you doing?""You smell..." he murmured. "Yes, thank you!" She scrambled to her feet. "I hardly need you to tell me that!" she hissed. "Madame wants to see you...""No, you don't understand". He reached for her again; short sharp intakes now, savouring the notes, rolling them round on his olfactory palette. "It's unique. Completely unique.""Get off!" Eva swatted him.

 Suddenly something shifted in the bed; a body. The person next to him stretched out and rolled over onto their stomach. 

It was another man. 

The novel isn't devoid of some weaknesses, easily overlooked when regarded within its genre nevertheless. The pivotal scene of discovering the abandoned perfume shop -owned by perfumer to Eva D'Orsey Andre Valmont- is rather contrived. The name Valmont by itself is eerily problematic, bearing as it does no reference to Laclos's infamous hero (the mind being predestined to forever associate it with him), as it pertains to a homosexual Jewish youth apprentice (and later celebrated perfumer) who becomes Eva's entry to the magical world of smells. Of course Eva d'Orsey herself reflects the D'Orsay perfume brand (and I had to correct myself in each and every instance I typed her name for this review), though not deliberately. But the invention of the back story of the mysterious Russian Madame Zed (actually a real person, possibly of French origin, named Marie Zede, at the helm of the Lanvin perfume story back then), met at the height of her fame in New York city, is satisfying enough to forgive these minor quibbles.

Throughout one gets the impression the author has always had a peripheral interest to scents (if her pivotal mention of one in her previous novel Elegance is any indication, since I'm unfamiliar with the rest) but needed to stumble upon the online perfume aficionado community to get the juices going and to borrow the lingual framework on which to build her descriptions. Some phrases ring rather modern when describing conversations with people involved in the industry in as far back as the 1920s and the 1950s. But if the reader is a casual one and not a follower of every board and blog concerning fragrance and smell, this gets bypassed easily. What is perhaps more apparent to the average eye is the awe-struck descriptions of Paris, as recounted by the impressionable heroine Grace Munroe, to the point where London is chastised for having "bundled" its monuments tightly together (an observation which as a formerly frequent visitor to the city left me surprised) and the Parisian weather glossed over while the heiress lunches al fresco at every opportunity. There's a missed opportunity there to go on an tangent and report a lay woman's impressions on some of the intelligentsia of the Parisian 1950s, but we're dealing with chick lit and Tessaro handles her weapons knowingly and with ease.

All in all, The Perfume Collector doesn't disappoint. It's an easily paced read whose prose doesn't suffer the way it would in a less skilled author's hands and which should keep you good company on the chaise-longue while sunbathing or on the train ride commuting to work, eradicating the grayness and the city torpor via fantasy.

The Perfume Collector by Kathleen Tessaro is available for purchase  on Amazon on this link.

Photo Perfume store. Photographs by Hans Wild. From the historical archives of LIFE Magazine 1947.
Disclosure: I was sent a copy for reviewing purposes. 

The Diary of a Nose by Jean Claude Ellena: Perfume Book Review

Mηδέν ἄγαν (i.e. nothing in excess)
  ~oracular statement inscripted on the wall of the Delphi oracle in Greece, 440 BC

"We have exiled beauty; the Greeks took up arms for her." 
  ~Albert Camus 

'I was born in Grasse, and yet I do not feel Grassois by nature, nor Provençal, for that matter. [...] My attachment to the place is due to my paternal grandparents, who were of Italian descent and who set up home there. [...] I love the sea and its horizon, where my gaze gets lost as the blue of the sky and that of the sea merge. I appreciate the beautiful bodies, the drape of light clothing, the discreet elegance and restraint. I have never been able to truss myself up in suits; their restrictiveness denotes a rigidness of mind and disenchantment with life. I believe in happiness, in man, in a lay spirituality; I do not trust religions. I would rather have eye contact for a long time than chatter for a long time. And, although I like to seduce, I have a sense of propriety with words. As I write this, I am reminded in particular of Camus, who wrote in L'exil d'Hélène:

"Greek thought always took refuge in the idea of limits. It pushed nothing to its full extent, not the sacred, nor reason, because it denied nothing, not the sacred, nor reason. It took everything into account, balancing shadow and light".

I have never sought to impose anything. My research is driven by a constrant desire to find a balance between what can be felt with the senses and what is intelligible to the mind. I am Mediterranean. '

  ~Jean Claude Ellena, Cabris 26 August 2010

Santorini house, Greece. Source: moonlightrainbow.tumblr.com via PerfumeShrine on Pinterest

The thought that Ellena represents the Mediterranean prototype to a T (in itself a Classical prototype of meaningful, deceptive simplicity) has been at the back of my mind since forever. I had even posed the question to the man himself, to which he had smiled. I now see why most clearly.

"The Diary of a Nose" from which the above Ellena quote originates is the USA edition of the original French title "Journal d'un Parfumeur" (Sabine Wespieser Éditeur), printed by Rizzoli ExLibris, with the official launch date for the USA being 22 January 2013. As I was sent an advance copy I was able to gauge the differences with the French original which kept me engaging company for months on end. The main difference is right there on the cover itself: the odd usage of the word "parfumeur", as in "A Year in the Life of a Parfumeur" (as well as "exclusive parfumeur for Hermès" underneath it) in what is otherwise a 100% English-speaking tome threw me off a bit. It sounds tortured and odd. But that is the only flaw.

If you had only read Rachel Cooke's Observer review of the UK-edition of Diary of a Nose last summer, you might want to reconsider your impressions. Not because this new US edition of the Ellena-penned tome (with its fuschia jacket) is any different than the British version (with the beige-peach jacket), but because Cooke missed the point entirely, much as she should have known better, being an awarded journalist with lots of experience. But such are the perils of being a journalist in general rather than a fragrance writer per se. You get all in awe of the perceived authority of Turania (because you don't know any better yourself, I presume? what gives?) and you spend more time discussing them and their views (missing some of the praise they give Ellena too!) instead of focusing on the book and its author at hand! Not to mention that if this were a real life situation it would be exceptionally rude and inappropriate to describe someone only by way of comparing him unfavorably to someone else! How is that OK in a book review?

Lucia van der Post's jacket description of Ellena as the "Mozart of perfumery" in the Financial Times is quite apt, even though those of us who are musically trained might feel the "too many notes" of the ethereal musical garlands of the classical composer are contested by Ellena's adherence to "less is more" and the laconic simplicity the perfumer aims for. But the comparison is totally understood nevertheless: Ellena makes everything seem effortless -the prime constituent of elegance- even though reading the book one realizes that the process is anything BUT effortless! Like a "Cahiers du Cinéma" auteur, he chooses the word "author" to denote that perfume composition more than anything else is an intellectual work that requires thought behind each step and one which is uniquely personal to the creator who oversees everything about it.

Ellena takes the opportunity to show how ordinary situations form his creations: a standard air flight, when he recognizes one of his creations on a passenger whose smoke remnants surface beneath it; observing the Italian language teacher's way of scheduling his day, slow, observant & dreamy; discussions with friends and people in the field or business meetings (visiting growers of raw materials in Italy, appraising the heritage at Hermès) or more sophisticated/sensuous encounters (a purposefully arranged chef-guided dinner filled with gourmet appreciation or a Japanese Kodo ritual he attends).
All these occasions provide the stepping stone into pondering (instead of pontificating) about scents and of their artistic merits in a way that defies classification, but which indirectly draws upon the extensive body of western art criticism.

The book has the major advantage of being fit to be read out of order, taking the typical form of a diary, with places and dates of entry. I find myself leafing through, returning to a page when fancy strikes, pondering for a while for meanings that take on a different nuance once I have re-sniffed one of his creations, realizing that he doesn't aim to resolve anything (like an open-ended movie, this is a book to make you think for yourself!), just to communicate his thoughts, his questions, his own maturing process. It's an invitation to a dance for two, cheek-to-cheek, rather than a carefully orchestrated performance on video for all to watch in awe.

The final chapter "Summary of Smells", an index where the author reveals a few of his tricks into producing odors  from combining two or three simple raw materials, isn't meant as a chemical cheat sheet into how his perfumes are composed, nor to be parroted by bloggers and writers; it's a game he beckons us to play so as to gain insights and prompt us to experience things anew.
His entry for OLIVE for instance reads:

"This smells describes the Mediterranean single-handedly. From black olives to olive paste, via olive oil, my nose and palate find endless connections: smells of truffles, castoreum, human smells, smells I am drawn to.  

castoreum
benzyl salicylate 

To which you can add styrax resinoid and thyme if you want to produce the taste of olive paste."

Source: thenowbook.tumblr.com via PerfumeShrine on Pinterest

Ellena's prose is tender, unpretentious, ethereal like Giono's stories or Japanese ink calligraphy, and deeply personal. Because, beyond the "search for beauty", art is defined by the purposeful will to communicate something from creator to public, and that something can never be non personal. The more impersonal and all-encompassing that message tries to be, the less artistic the end result becomes. And this is the gist (and gift!) of Ellena's diary...

As the oracle would say "make your own nature, not the advice of others, your guide in life." [1]

The Diary of a Nose: A Year in the life of a Parfumeur 
by Jean Claude Ellena 
Rizzoli ExLibris, an imprint of Rizzoli New York 
ISBN: 978-0-8478-4042-7 
Hardcover 24.95$

[1] oracle given to Marcus Tulius Cicero by the Delphi oracle in 83 BC

Related reading on Perfume Shrine: Perfume Books reviews & news

New Perfume Book: Le Snob, Perfume

Don't let the seemingly elitist title deter you: Le Snob is a series of books on eclectic lifestyle little luxuries (whiskey, champagne and shoes...) and it so happens that perfume is the latest tome coming from none other than a friendly voice in the Internet, the man known to Net fumeheads as Persolaise, who's being wittily and successfully writing for the homonymous blog and for Basenotes.

 ‘A well-chosen scent can have a private conversation with its wearer for hours; it can punctuate the day with moments that range from moving to surprising to heart-breaking. The more we are able to understand the language in which perfume has this conversation with us, the better equipped we will be to discover and enjoy the experience of new fragrances.’

Thus was the book introduced to me by Dariush, politely and effortlessly, as befits his whole demeanor, who distilled his experience and his independent opinions in a slim volume out this October from the publishing house of Hardie Grant in the UK. To my understanding it's a guide into the most sought after fragrances, but also rich in advice on practical subjects such as storing fragrances correctly and learning about fragrance families and production techniques. Surely, a handy little tome like that that can serve as both a delightful distraction and as a helpful introduction into savoring perfume never comes out de trop.

 May you have heaps of sales, dear Dariush!

Meaningful Scents around the World (2006) by Roman Kaiser: Perfume Book Review

Sometimes the readers have a pre-conceived notion about where a book is going—although I suppose Proustian reminiscence never involved headspace technology. 

~by guest writer AlbertCAN

I first deduced a book with a rose on the cover would stay comfortably within the confine of conventional beauty. Guess again with Roman Kaiser as I found out when first cracked open “Meaningful Scents around the World” (2006), a fragrant journey around the world to some of the exciting places the author has visited during his 30 years of olfactory research.

One of the first things Kaiser covers, defying all of my expectations, is China —2500 years ago.

How Kaiser managed to track down the orchids Confucius praised and identified Cymbidium georingii as the scholar’s favourite is still beyond me. I actually spent about three decades trying to decipher it—and no luck—but then Kaiser solved the riddle like nobody’s business the minute I opened the book, not only providing insightful details about the plants but actually describes the scents in ways even a fragrance amateur would be interested in purchasing if the headspace result could be available in bottles. (Good luck convincing fragrance account managers that fascination.) Then again, who knew the orchid scent Confucius once enjoyed resembles a very ripe lemon crossed with lily of the valley?

And then it gets more and more curious from there.

Ever wonder what makes fine wines smelling the way they are? Actually, how about a fine 1988 vintage from Château d'Yquem? Kaiser has a report on that. Now Francophiles might be slightly miffed that Kaiser did not analyze the cult 1961 Sauternes featured in a pivotal sequence of Nelly et Monsieur Arnaud (1995), considered many as one of director Claude Sautet’s masterpieces (and one of the finest performances by French cinematic icon Emmanuelle Béart), but having a glimpse of the famous wine is good enough for a non-drinker like me.

From wine Kaiser then goes off to interesting places. Gewürztraminer actually a rosy smell due to ionones, and then from ionones he managed to examine how the modern hybrid roses benefit from the introduction of Rosa chinesis into the European rose hybridization program, using beta ionone as the indicator as he backtracks the evolution of roses.

Somewhere in between those sections Kaiser visits the famous nymphs—Egyptian blue lotus, for instance. Now the sacred blue lotus (Nymphaea caerulea) is incredibly fascinating, actually a water lily yet not only having a gorgeous hyacinth-like scent (minus the earthy undertone associated with the Dutch hyacinth hybrids) but actually was also used as the ancient Egyptian party drug or a shamanistic aid. Considering the fact that the wines in various Egyptian religious ceremonies were often macerated in the sacred blue lotus first one can only imagine how far the ancient Egyptians went in order to contact the divine! Then there’s the Amazonian water lily Victoria amazonica, initially named after Queen Victoria as Victoria regia and now linked to the iconic Waterlily House at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew , England . Kaiser analyzed the Victorian marvel along with its sibling Victoria cruziana—though curiously enough the samples were taken from Munich’s Nymphenburg Palace—and concluded that two water lilies have, curiously enough, a plum-like scent in order to attract a specific species of beetles for pollination. Kaiser also notes that both species have similar scents, though amazonica is more refined than that of cruziana.

(Alas, I also secretly wished Kaiser would also explore the famous Sri Lankan lotus padparadscha, a flora so glowing that a Ceylon sapphire is named after. But then Kaiser did not make the detour!)

All in all what Kaiser really excels in this book, beyond all the aromatic magic and tour de force, is a sense of thematic coherence, never fails to communicate to the audience how the wide array of scents deserve their places in this book, which is so difficult to do considering to vast geographical, temporal, and cultural terrains he needs to whiz through in mere 304 pages. By keeping each theme to itself Kaiser surprisingly creates a focused, intimate way to maintain the excitement of each idea. This isn’t a chemistry text, more like an incredibly elevated edition of National Geography, only better.

But be warned: Kaiser did not reveal all the chemical readings, choosing to leave out, for instance, some of the more spectacular modern rose and incense findings. (Why devoting a whole chapter on agarwood when the headspace read outs are not going to be published in any shape or form in this book? And why praise the ever phenomenal “Fragrant Cloud” hybrid tea rose when the full read-out is not included? I have no idea why.) Kaiser also later transferred some material from this book for his “Scent of the Vanishing Flora” (2010)—some photographs and paragraphs are in fact near identical, although the floras are technically covered in different lights. Thus considering the hefty prices of these books, though really worth every penny given all the glossy pages and informative insights, one might be tempted to get just one of the two. (Which I chose to do eventually by purchasing “Vanishing Flora” and signing out “Meaning Scents” from my public library.) Of course, get both if you can.

Photo, from top: Book cover; Confucius’ orchid; Nelly and Mr. Arnaud from the eponymous movie; padparadscha lotus and padparadscha sapphires. All via Google.com unless specified otherwise.

R. Kaiser, Meaningful Scents around the World. Olfactory, Chemical, Biological and Cultural Considerations, Verlag Helvetica Chimica Acta, Zürich, and WILEY-VCH, Weinheim, 2006, ISBN 978-3-906390-37-6, 304 pages. 

The book is available on Amazon.

Frederic Malle On Perfume Making: new perfume book & new fragrances to look forward to

Frédéric Malle’s just presented his first book, On Perfume Making, to an enthusiastic reception at Barneys on Dec.6th, hosted by Uma Thurman and Arpad Busson. The publication recalls the inception of each of Malle’s 18 cult-favorite collaborations alongside original illustrations from Greek artist  Konstantin Kakanias who was so excited to be working with Malle (making an exception to his own projects) that he said "it's like working with the new Guerlain!" The beautiful, individualistic illustrations by Kakanias (who gave us cult status whimsical Mrs.Tependris) give a completely new dimension to the tome, as you can see below.

On Perfume Making by F.Malle focuses on how the work in his niche perfumery is organized, relying on the triple axis of rigorous selection process, working with the best perfumers around and allowing time, money & freedom to the full to each of the projects.

Among the attendants to the Barneys presentation of the book were several who sang his praises, notably actress Uma Thurman herself (citing his strive for integrity in fragrance) and the designer Carolina Herrera, who singled out Carnal Flower as her favorite in the line.

The new book is due for an official launch in March 2012, published by Angelika Books.There will be three languages editions, so far: French, English, and German.

Malle is also releasing three new scented candles in his Editions line, composed by Bruno Jovanovic, while he is working on another new perfume with Dominique Ropion and one more fragrance, to be launched, by Sophia Grojsman. The fragrance he's developing with D.Ropion is a floral, on which Malle clarifies: “The key is to create a fragrance that has sex appeal and that seems to come out of your pores,” “It is not just musk.” [quote source]

Stay tuned for more news!

Illustration by Konstantin Kakanias for Angéliques sous la Pluie

photos via style.com

Perfume Book Review: Luca Turin & Tania Sanchez The Little Book of Perfumes/The 100 Classics

Utter the names Luca Turin & Tania Sanchez and a combination of their polarising "Guide's", irrepresible wit and -equally irrepresible- snark, all rolled into one, flash into one's mind like LED-lamps that flicker between a P anode and a N cathode throughout eternity. The reason to read their newest venture isn't quite all of the above, nevertheless: Dropping the snark for a programmatically positive outlook ~The Little Book of Perfumes is all about 5-star perfumes reviews, aka "masterpieces" according to the authors~ they're not simply fawning reviews as met with in other guides, not being short on addressing serious fragrance industry issues either. (After all, if you don't know Luca is rather fond of the smell of Napalm in the morning, you don't know anything yet.)

Although the material is largely taken from the previous Perfumes,The Guide (review here and a small practical note on all the different editions here), serving as a petite compendium or a Xmas gift to spark fun discussion over the course of wine & cheese among people who raise their eyebrows up to their  paretial bone upon hearing you possess a "fragrance collection" ("say what, more than 5???? Why????"), there is a difference: For several of those 96 reviews (more of which below) there is a small 2011 addendum, mostly by Sanchez, that chronicles the evolution that time and IFRA allergens & raw materials regulations have administered to these fragrances. And this is mainly the interest for those who already own a copy of the 2008 book: Staunchy perfume enthusiasts already know most of what's to know about reformulations and search the Net for info regularly. But those who're budding in the aficion will get a kick out of getting their sentiments that "something's not quite right in the frag they loved any more" validated.

All is not bad news, though, in those addenda mentioned, even if heads at Dior almost collectively (and a couple of the PR contigency plan at Guerlain) must be cussing right & left most probably right about now (Well, not really, for the most part the authors proclaim the work rendered "as best as could be under the circumstances"). Some fragrances have in fact upgraded, if that's possible! I specifically mention 96 perfume reviews because 4 out of the 100 are hors catégorie, being reconstructions specifically for L'Osmothèque (thus making them unavailable for purchase). A couple of them featured in the "little book" are still resolutely discontinued (Yohji pour Homme and Le Feu d'Issey for instance or more recently L'Artisan's Vanilia) but hope dies last, in the Turin & Sanchez universe (And why not, I ask you? Fougère Royale 2010 AD I'm not looking at you, don't get any ideas in your silly head!).
So what's left is 90+ reviews of things every perfume enthusiast (and not only) should note down to smell sometime.

The new material includes a foreword by Tania Sanchez (written in good pace perfumista-style and ringing very true) and an essay on the Osmothèque by Luca Turin (in his trademark eloquent polemic, mixing music metaphors and similes which caress the cerebral cortex); there are four reviews of long-lost, beautiful Osmothèque perfumes the authors tested during a presentation on perfume by the brilliant Patricia de Nicolaï, curator of the Osmothèque, at the French Embassy in Washington, DC, organized by Smithsonian Associates. "We give you L’Origan, described by me by LT’s request, and Chypre de Coty, Emeraude and Iris Gris, described by LT at my request" clarifies Tania Sanchez.
The top ten lists (exacted by all publishers worth their print salt, per Tania) have been updated and there is a new "Desert Island" top list for each respective author. I found the added resources & shopping short essay at the end rather meagre, personally (lots of other helpful resource guides are available online), though the Perfumed Court is hailed as a decanting service for when you can't get hold of something any other way and The Perfumer's Apprentice gets a nod for those eager to smell the raw materials themselves.(With which I would urge you should familiarise yourselves, if you're serious about this whole perfume thing)

To make things practical, I have noted down which fragrances are considered to have gotten BETTER/STAYED THE SAME in 2011 than the 2007 sample bottles the writing duo had received (in alphabetical order):

Calandre Paco Rabanne
Cristalle Chanel
Dior Homme
Fracas Piguet
Habit Rouge Guerlain
Jicky Guerlain
Knize Ten
Mitsouko Guerlain
Nahéma Guerlain
Poison Dior
Shalimar Guerlain

And these are the fragrances which are considered to have gotten (somewhat!) WORSE/CHANGED in 2011 than the 2007 sample bottles the writing duo had received (in alphabetical order). Please note, the fragrances below are still considered worthy of inclusion in the compendium of 5-stars:

1740 Histoires de Parfums
Amouage Gold
Après l'Ondée Guerlain
Bois des Iles Chanel
Bois de Violette Serge Lutens
Boucheron Femme
Chamade Guerlain
Cuir de Russie Chanel
Diorella Dior
Dune Dior
Eau de Guerlain
Eau Sauvage Dior
Givenchy III
L'Heure Bleue Guerlain
Iris Silver Mist Serge Lutens
Joy parfum Jean Patou
New York Patricia de Nicolai
No.5 eau de toilette Chanel
No.5 parfum Chanel
Opium Yves Saint Laurent
Pour Monsieur Chanel
Promesse de l'Aube MCDI (attributed to just a faulty batch, though)
The Third Man (Le 3eme Homme) Caron
Vol de Nuit Guerlain

You might have noticed that that makes it roughly 35 "updates" (I excluded a couple, because of simply announcing news of "discontinuation" such as Theo Fennel's Scent or due to ambivalence) and I expect that might get book buyers pondificating the issue. Yet interestingly, there are some surprising results, especially for some perfume lovers who have been disappointed in certain notable classics lately (Shalimar, Cristalle) and can now be enthused anew. But I won't elaborate further; you have to check it out for yourselves!
I will only add that I'm glad Tania added that necessary deterrent on Sécrétions Magnifiques for anyone who couldn't really fathom how such a brave (read: disgusting) scent entered the masterpieces collection, or anyone who might go ahead and spray some on their lapels before going out on a date or job interview, God forbid; "masterpiece" and "pleasant" are not mutually inclusive terms! (And if you disagree, what the hell are you doing reading Turin & Sanchez or this blog?)

The book circulates under two editions: One American by Penguin US, another British by Profile UK. They are exactly the same, as far as I know, but they feature a different cover, as shown on the photo (taken from Tania Sanchez with many thanks)
The US edition is on pre-order on this link. The UK edition is on pre-order on this link. Official date of release is October 31st 2011.

Tilar Mazzeo "The Secret of Chanel No.5": Fragrance Book Review

Partly a biography of Gabrielle Chanel (nicknamed Coco) and partly a biography of the famous perfume she co-authored, Chanel No. 5, Tilar Mazeo's book is one I knew about right when it was being authored, because I had been approached to assist with a couple of fragrance history questions. That might be why I was so inexplicably late in actually reviewing it, hesitant to deconstuct that beautiful narrative into info and personal opinions on style. Yet, because it is a book that is a real page-turner and which deserves a place in the library of perfume enthusiasts, I find myself thinking about it very often since its release and needing to relay my thoughts in black & white; much like the aesthetics of this iconic bottle dictate.

Cultural historian Tilar Mazzeo, after her best-selling The Widow Cliquot, has written a new book about Coco Chanel's legendary scent, The Secret of Chanel No. 5: The Intimate History of the World's Most Famous Perfume. In it, she skillfully interweaves facts about Chanel's life based on accredited biographers, such as Edmonde Charles Roux's biography Chanel and Her World, and musings recorded by memoir note-keeper perfumer Constantine Wériguine who kept a record of Ernest Beaux's souvenirs (Beaux being No.5' s illustrious perfumer). The inextricable struggle for survival of Coco, who went from orphanage in Aubazine to the cabaret and then on to the fashion atelier, aided by powerful men (Arthur "Boy" Capel, prince Dimitri and von Dincknlage among others) who loved her and aided her, and of her most famous creation, Chanel No.5 is fascinating to unravel.
I can guarantee you that you will be reaching for your bottle of Chanel No.5 every few chapters, in a desire to refresh your memory of what makes this fragrance truly an icon. If you're truly obsessive like myself, you will be putting all your vintages and concentrations imaginable from Eau de Cologne to Eau de Toilette, via Eau de Parfum, all the way to Extrait de Parfum in various dates on the desk and inhaling furtively to catch the secret of a commercial mega-success as recognisable today as Coca-Cola and Nike.

Among the merits of Tilar Mazzeo's book is its fast-paced rhythm which makes it a real page-turner; its wealth of documentation, amply showcased in the Notes section, where yours truly appears twice, no less; in the careful style of language that is engaging and joyful to read; and in the small astonishing facts that appear throughout. Several facts will make perfume enthustiasts perk up their ears and take note, like the notion that Beaux didn't create the first draft for No.5 on command of his patron, nor did he just employ his former recipe for Rallet No.1 which was a Russian Court favourite, before the Bolshevik Revolution which cost Ernest Beaux his stay in the mother land. Beaux was actually questioning prisoners in a location in the remote Archangel port of northest Russia when he noticed the scent of icebergs, wishing to capture this elusive, fleeting odour into a fragrance that could be worn on skin. It will be also interesting to see how Chanel herself was No.5's worst enemy, as she had signed away most of the rights to her fragrance early on to the Wertheimer brothers, and how she spent over 50 years fighting to get it back or destroy it. Indeed if one thing becomes apparent to the knowledgable reader who knew some of these secrets is how the meticulous care and consistent savvy business decisions of the Wertheimers, like smuggling jasmine concrete from Grasse fields to New Jersey laboratories during Nazi-occupied France in WWII, and putting the perfume for sale in Army sale points, have resulted in making Chanel No.5 the legend that it is to this day: the world's best known perfume!

If there is a "flaw" in The Secret of No.5 it is that the author intent on merging the designer with her famous masterpiece narrates the story as if every past deed in Coco's life bears a significance in the creation of the perfume by perfumer Ernest Beaux. It did not, as Beaux was certainly busy composing several first and second and upteenth drafts of his sperm idea years before he met Coco Chanel. But in retrospect everything falls into place and it is this which probably make the author choose this type of narrative style. The composition resonated with Chanel because it embodied everything she and her past stood for: a true classic yet perenially modern; the smell of "Boy" Capel who stood for cleanliness and safety, of fresh laundry & scrubbed skin reminiscent of the Cistercian orpahanage in Aubazine and the fervor of the demi-mondaines, young cabaret performers & societal fringe-living, less-respected women who wore heavy, sweet jasmine and musk scents; a bridge between the risqué and the lady-like, all in an emballage that spoke of Spartan deco restraint and mucho class. So much class and desirability in fact, that GIs were standing in line to get the goods back home during WWII and even Marilyn Monroe publicly proclaimed she loved it without being paid one dime to say she did.
In that regard it reminds me a bit of the cultural approach led by Jennifer Craik in The Face of Fashion: Cultural Studies in Fashion, another recommended read.

Bottom line: The Secret of Chanel No.5, despite its relative lack of pictures (there are a handful but not many), is a perfume book that will not tire or confuse less seasoned/less knowledgable perfume enthusiasts and, at the same time, it will not disappoint those who are more immersed in the aficion. Can I say it is recommended without appearing prejudiced?

The Secret of Chanel No. 5: The Intimate History of the World's Most Famous Perfume
By Tilar Mazzeo
Hardcover, 304 pages
Harper
List Price: $25.99

Disclosure: I bought the book with my own money, even though I was offered an advanced copy at the time of writing.