Top 13 Worst fragrances?

Uusally blogs post their Top 10 or so Best Perfumes etc etc. in a popularity stake that is easy for readers to browse through and can identify with; makes for light, pop reading. But what about a negative list? Those are less promoted by far, although far more illuminating on many levels. How does such a selection gain credence and isn't dismissed as snark, vitriol or plain ignorance? It's all very well for someone to say that they absolutely think something is stellar (no one gets offended and often the reader believes the author knows something they don't) but when someone bashes someone else's favorite scent, feelings can get quite hurt it seems!

I'm not going to attempt a Top Worst Fragrances List myself due to that very reason, but coming across one had all the right bells ringing and I thought I'd bring it for our readers for discussion: There's an article at MSN named Pe-ew! based on ratings of readers of TotalBeauty.com , comments of whom the article reiterates. The selection is rather tame (someone should send the readers some Secretions Magnifiques as a control specimen!) and the comments oscillate most often between the plain tired "old lady" (for lack of a better vocabulary) and the "heavy", while surprisingly the same things that are considered heavy to one are non-perceptible to another (or considered having no lasting power either). Makes one wonder just how our everyday choice of fragrance is really greeted by other people, doesn't it? What emerges from the poll is that under no circumstances can you:

1)Smell like a grandma (Why the hell not, if you want to? Is it a dirty thing?)

2)Smell cheap (Ditto)

3)Have something cost more than its perceived value in olfactory terms. (Blurry, but the only logical complaint and I'm afraid lots of brands and products are falling into this pit)

List of Top 13 Worst Fragrance from Total Beauty.com (in reverse order):

13. Aromatics elixir by Clinique : Predictably assumed "old lady in a bottle" and one reader likens it to "cats, mothballs and fruitcakes". Bernand Chant's bones are creaking, but no need. This is one of the MOST complimented fragrances on strangers, while it can be a bit too much on oneself sometimes. I had praised it profusely years ago and I still stand behind my credo. Personally I use the body lotion or the Sheer version; makes for less intense wearing.
12. YSL Parisienne: One reader notes the newest Yves Saint Laurent is a combination of her "grandmother and trees" (!), others find it "cheap" (can't argue) and "forgettable" and many consider it "not youthful at all". We can assume the sexy-teasy advertising missed their aim...
11. Lush Go Green: In the words of one reader "like a Christmas tree air freshener." That ties in with that green I guess!
10. M by Mariah Carey (Elizabeth Arden): Featuring a burnt marshmallow scent that is too sweet to the point of aversion it seemed condemned from the start. Proof people aren't swayed by a pretty bottle.
9. Lancome Magnifique: I had voiced my disagreement with the presentation and press about this one (basically a little misleading) but surely not the ghastly thing presented on that poll. "Cheap, incredibly strong and heavy, quickly fading": I can't say I agree with any of this. I can see how it can be polarising as a smell though; it's not among those I'd choose myself.
8. Aveda Pure Fume Essence: Haven't personally tried this one, but "musky and earthy" don't rate too well with today's audiences, at least on Beauty.com it seems. The Avedas I have tried, I wasn't impressed with.
7. Kenzo Flower : Isn't this a best-seller in the 30s-40s age bracket? The proof that powdery scents (alongside Cashmere Mist and Hypnotic Poison) are not only designated perfume solace for the elderly? I laughed with one reader insisting that she "shouldn't be hitting the bottom notes of a perfume within an hour". Really? Is this a new rule? Has she smelled any orientals? First time I hear about this concept!
6. Elizabeth Taylor White Diamonds: A reader who worked at Macy's says the salespeople called it "the old lady scent." "If you needed a gift for a much older woman, we sold you this!" All right I'm perfectly willing to accept this. Yet older women should be indulged too and what is Liz Taylor if not an older woman nowadays? (embarking on her 9th marriage no less!)

5. Harajuku Lovers Lil Angel : Possibly the least disliked in the Karajuku Lovers range gets bashed ("cloying, powdery, sweet, fading"). Typical.
4. Avon Timeless Cologne Spray: I can't really criticize the tried-and-tested poisoned arrows of "heavy," "musky" and "so very old" because I was jumping up and down like a demented puppy seeing again the little roll-on bottle I was handed down as an elementary school kid! I recall really liking the -problematic to classify- scent, even then. Goes to show you... 3. Tocca Stella: Again, isn't this really popular? One reader mentions it's reminiscent of gardenia or lilac like this is a criticism. I'm rather stumped.
2. Gucci by Gucci: Obviously tastes differ, but Gucci is selling quite well, so it probably pleases a lot of people. But reading through the comments, I get the sense that the major complaint is not lasting long enough or being perceivable for the duration it's expected.

1. Gifts of the Sea Spray by Caswell Massey : I have never smelled this, but now I'm psyched to hunt it down and get a sample. The complaint seems for it to be "dull". Somehow I think that could be said about half the current market...Anyway...

So: What do you think about the above? And which are your Top Worst Perfumes?

pic via enet.gr

Re-organising

It has been brought to my attention that navigating into the overflowing archives of Perfume Shrine has started to become difficult. Difficult in the sense that, even though there is a Individualised Google Search function on the right hand column (and it intends to stay put), if one merely wanted to search for specific themes, one couldn't get to them without having to wade lots of posts which marginally reference the search word used. One of the downsides of keeping a very active site for a number of years...The Quick Index on the right only highlights some of the subjects touched, although it has proven popular.

Anyway, for your convenience I will embark on a re-organising of the content very soon (as soon as my hectic schedule allows), and in the meantime I have made all the Labels/Tags (and they are plenty) in a single list on the right-hand column of the blog's front page (under the What's your Scent Profile quizz pic) for your ease. I'm going to further fine-tune them in the following days too.

So, for instance if you click on ART, you get a glimpse of essays and discussion on the art of perfumery, actual artwork in reference to perfume advertising, but also illustrations of famous artist Rene Gruau for Dior and Roudnitska's polemic on gaining recognision for perfumers as artists. If you want to find reviews and news about DISCONTINUED fragrances, you can do so just clicking the link. That way you can also search by perfume (dominant) note, by fragrance family or by perfumer. Kinda neat, huh?

As always I welcome your suggestions on how to make the site even more useful and handy for you, whether here or by email on perfumeshrine@yahoo.com
Thanks!

Photo from the film Les Enfants du Paradis.

The winners of the draws....

....are Laurinha for the Guerlain exclusive and Samy for the Roxana chocolate solid minis.
Mail me with your information using the contact email on the right so have these shipped to you soon. Thanks everyone for the enthusiastic participation and till the next one!

Perfumed Pilgrimage: Grasse-hoppers part1

Discovering the secret charms of the Riviera, never more attractive than during the fall of the last cool days into rampant warm spring, is akin to a pilgrimage to some scented god shrine. The Parisian sidewalks might well be heaving under the weight of fragrant offerings by posh and less posh boutiques, but nothing beats the sheer thrill of nature red in tooth and claw. Trailing the small towns and villages that spot the map of the Côte d'Azur and beyond in the throes of spring is an experience that everyone interested in fragrance and beauty should indulge in.

The medieval houses amidst the flowering vines reflect the shades of the sunset ~ochre, vermillon and purple~ and gracefully contrast with the deep azure of the Mediterranean sea which brings on its own special aromatic blend of iodine, salty spray and maritime pines to the places that are wetted by its waters.
Even though it's preferable to veer off the beaten track, especially where hordes of tourists litter the paysage with their visually jarring presence, one can't escape following a time-honoured path, that of the Route de Mimosa (known as The Mimosa Road), an inter-village mimosa-celebrating trail of 130km/80miles of drive-and-stop-along-the-sights, crossing 8 famous stopover cities, starting from fittingly named Bormes-les-Mimosas through Le Rayol-Canadel, Sainte Maxime, Saint Raphaël, Mandelieu la Napoule, Tanneron, Pégomas and Grasse, with a side-tour of Cannes. Until the first days of April, literally millions of downy flowers fragrance the hills and valleys of this region, rendering it a golden feast for both eyes and nose; the sugar-spun scent of mimosa (an acacia species), persistent and entracing, mixed with the tannic aroma of cork oaks and dry Provençal herbs. It's hard to resist thinking how magnificent a ready-made perfume composed of exactly those aromata would be!

The blooming town of Bormes-les-Mimosas at the arms of the Maures mountains, is slumbering and small, as befitting something out of a Flaubert story of provincial doctors and their bored housewives searching for that transporting romance to no avail.

Missing as we did the festivities of January and February (according to our tour leaflet, available at every port of call), the main attraction was the Pépinières Cavatore, a surprisingly quaint nursery bursting under the variety of mimosa plants grown: Over a hundred varieties make for an embarassement of riches, whetting our appetite for more. The answer seems to be Les Jardins du Domaine du Rayol, situated in Rayol-Canadel-sur-Mer, offering a unique vista from the ravined mountain terrain down to the Var coastline, connecting the gardens with the beach via the monumental Pateck staircase following the Art Nouveau style of decoration of the 1920s, leading up to Le Rocher du Drapeau (Flag Rock). Unfortunately, today only the central part of the stairs remains intact. Local lore wants the steps to be the connector between Heaven and Hell and if the swarms of tourists are anything to go by it can certainly ring true to my ears! But, slightly detached as I am most of the time, I still managed to rub the leaves of the vine garlanding the pergola between finger and thumb, to leave a fragrant imprint of this magnificent spot in my mind.
But the garden delights never end: Sainte Maxime boasts its own Jardin des Myrtes, with a lovely three-star hotel tucked in that little pocket of land (Parc des Myrtes, 83120 Ste-Maxime, France). In Greek mythology myrtle is sacred. Pausanias explains that one of the Graces in the sanctuary at Elis holds a myrtle branch because “the rose and the myrtle are sacred to Aphrodite and connected with the story of Adonis (Aphrodite's lover), while the Graces are of all deities the nearest related to Aphrodite.” At the Roman festivity of Veneralia, women bathed wearing crowns woven of myrtle branches, the plant also participating in wedding rituals. Throughout the Mediterranean, myrtle symbolises love and immortality. A local tavern (with an owner of Corsican extraction) after a hearty meal of coq au vin and snails in onion and tomato sauce treated us to mirto rosso fino, a digestive liqueur made of myrtle, its bittersweet taste redolent of the aromatic heart of this ever-present plant.
Loquat trees, present in several yards, are also burdening under the weight of the fruits, already gleaming even under the slightly overcast skies. And of course the sweet smell of lilac coinciding with Easter, evoking its Greek name: Paschalia (pa-scha-leeA).

The very idea of medieval gardens was pleasuring all five senses, like the Persian paradeisos a cloistered alcove of erthy delights. [Roman de la Rose de Guillaume de Lorris (13th century) and le Dit du vergier by Guillaume de Machaut (15th century)] These gardens often included a viridarium (the Roman pleasure garden), a pomarium (orchard) and a herbarium; the latter taking the form of a jardin de plantes médicinales (medicinal plants garden) or more affectionately called le jardin secret (hortus conclusus), a secret garden. The mostly Arab-derived concept came through Toledo and Seville, Spain and on to Montpellier, France. Italian style gardens's elements ("humanist"-called, because there is no seperation between artificial garden and environment) also enter the scene through the glorification of a theatrical mise-en-scène.

Luckily for us Le Corniche d’Or (Golden Ledge) coastal road, which runs between St.Raphaël and Cannes, with the Roman coastal town of Fréjus on the west, was quieter and breathtaking, the road dipping between rocks, literally "licking" the sea and its deserted beaches. The volcanic scenery with the rocky inlets of Le Trayas made me think of the rough mountaineous solace of Grenouille as depicted in the film Perfume, Story of a Murderer (never mind the film was actually shot in Spain): Can an abundance of stimuli become too much, too exerting on one's own system, so that the only refuge would be a red cove under the cool shade? The feeling of being far removed from everything fills one's soul, nostrils aflare to catch the painfully precious air of solitude. And how can the porphyric lava, much like in the island of Santorini in Greece, can account for such a fertile, yielding soil?

Mandelieu-la-Napoule, termed the mimosa-capital is the beginning of the way to the Massif de Tanneron, where early spring has the slopes covered into a forest of yellow pom-poms. The area, not coincidentally, comprises the largest mimosa forest in Europe. So prevalent is the mimosa in this area that in Pégomas we are informed that there is a Miss Mimosa pageant at the end of January! If one has time, the small resorts of Anthéor, Agay and Boulouris are also worthwhile visits which we reserve for next time. The bigaradiers, full of orange blossoms that are shedding petals like a carnival parade throwing confetti at the gentlest gust of the wind, aromatize the air as we pass, the refreshing, joyous smell a welcoming salutation for weary wanderers. The picturesque village of Tanneron seems like some fairy godmother has magically placed it on top of the hills, hanging there till the end of days, comprised of humble-looking hamlets for the most part.

In late March and April there are also plenty of wisterias, their powdery spicy scent trail perceivable several meters before the eye confirms what the nose knows. The purple grappes hang from the stems like grapes and tempting the birds that catch petals and small branches with their beaks in order to make their nests. Scattered around the perimeter are the so-called "forceries", barns or rather workshops in which nature is coaxed into calculated submission: the yet greenish branches in bud are cut and forced into the mimoseries, long troughs of steaming spring water, whereon the mimosa is thrown to encourage it to open, we're told. There seems no need to speak of coaxing when the mimosa season is almost over, yet the very idea of producing flowers that will end up being sold at the big flower markets of Nice. The preservation of the flowers so they don't wilt in the interim is a work that requires a lot of attention and specialized techniques. One of them, which I was surprised to learn and am sharing with you now, is crushing a baby aspirin in a glass of water and adding it to the water of the flower vases!

To be continued in Part 2

Pics by Elena Vosnaki, Black & White Le Nu Provençal, Gordes (1949) by Willy Ronis

Ormonde Jayne Perfume Portraits

British niche firm Ormonde Jayne is introducing a new service, aimed at providing clients with the tools and techniques to choose their perfect scent: a journey through the aromatic raw materials themselves, thus guiding them into choosing and setting aside ingredients! And the best latest shopping tip? Ormonde Jayne is being introduced to Harrods, for all you UK-based people. But how does the Perfume Portraits service work?

Seated at a beautiful bespoke testing table, trained staff take notes about the client’s likes and dislikes, favourite perfumes and other aromas. The customer is then invited to smell three raw ingredients from seven different families; hesperedic, light floral, intense floral, balsamic, oriental, woody and atmospheric. The scent of each raw ingredient is embedded in a unique black and gold ceramic stone especially created for Ormonde Jayne’s new Perfume Portraits.
At this stage the client is only asked to say if they like the aroma or not, and not to try to relate the scent to a perfume they might wear. Perfume Portraits is simply about letting personal taste be guided by your mind’s limitless scope to decipher the aromas around you.
Concluding the experience, two or three Ormonde Jayne perfumes that may suit by summarizing the favoured oils are recommended. Again, the favoured perfumes are presented on a second collection of black and gold ceramic stones. The client will then choose the perfume they like best. Sometimes this could be two or three perfumes and the chosen perfume is sprayed onto the wrists.
Discussion of their personal Perfume Portrait is possible too and yhis is something they can take home and keep for future reference while an archive is kept for those who want to drop by and need to rejog their memory on what they chose in the past.
Perfume Portraits is available at the flagship store in The Royal Arcade, 28 Old Bond Street and at the new Ormonde Jayne counter in The Perfume Hall on the ground hall of Harrods (click to also watch some videos with founder Linda Pilkington).

You can read an article by Lucia van der Post in the Financial Times supplement How to Spend It following this link.