The IFRA 45th Amendment: Not What You Expected

The sensationalist titles and the panic woes across the Net about perfume reformulation due to perfumery restrictions issued by regulatory body IFRA (International Fragrance Association) bring on more traffic, furore and fame to the authors than positive results for the industry and the consumer, but that's an old story. True to form and confirming our previous balanced and rational treatment of the subject, the latest amendement of IFRA regulations comes with only 7 changes which will not impact the industry as significantly as claimed.

Critically, the rumours on new policies regulating methyleugenol and fyrocoumarins are not verified by the official source.
“This year’s Amendment will hardly affect the palettes of perfumers,” said Jean-Pierre Houri, IFRA director general. “Previous years have seen quite heavy Amendments due to the change over to our new Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA)* approach. However, this is nearly complete and is reflected in this year’s very light Amendment,” explained Houri as featured on Perfumer & Flavorist.

In regards to whether all companies are bound by the policies of IFRA, let us state that the regulatory restrictions are mandatory for the companies who are members of IFRA (IFRA began as a self-regulatory body and the vast majority of perfume companies are adherening therefore to its rules)

*Quantative Risk Assesment is a process through which fragrance materials suspect for skin contact sensitisation are rationed and was introduced in 2005.

You can read the whole text of the IFRA 45th Amendment announcement follow this link.
Please refer to this link for ingredients restricted and that link for ingredients prohibited.

Related reading on Perfume Shrine: Restrictions part 1, Restrictions part 2

The winner of the draw...

...for the Shiseido fragrance decant is Diana. Congratulations and please email me with a shipping address so I can have this in the mail for you soon!

Thanks for the enthusiastic participation everyone and till the next one...

Fifi 2010 nominee Giveaway 12

As we announced previously, the Fragrance Foundation is giving away bottles of the nominees of the 2010 Fifi Awards every day starting Monday 17th.

Today's fragrance giveaway (and the last one) is Anthology by Dolce & Gabbana: And yes, we're talking about the whole collection of fragrances in the Anthology line, aka 5 full bottles!

All you have to do is connect to the FIFI Facebook page and leave a comment until Friday 5pm (the sooner the better obviously) for a chance to win one of the free bottles.

Certain terms and conditions apply.
Disclosure: We are not affiliated with either the Fragrance Foundation or the companies which provide the fragrances for the giveaway. This is a public service announcement.

45,600 Euros for a Guerlain Bottle! Say What?

If the price is shocking to boot, let me clarify this is a historical collectible Guerlain flacon engraved and dating from as far back as 1870 which was sold at an auction in Toledano at Arachon (Gironde) this past Saturday 29th May and bought by a serious French collector.

The auction included many worthwhile specimens, among them various designs by René Lalique and one by Gabrielle Chanel, signed Ivoire, which began its course at 200 euros only to hit the ceiling at 1300 euros! At least 81% of the bottles auctioned were sold to buyers from around the world, mostly French, but also Australian, Russian, Canadian, Indian and Chinese.



According to Bernand Gangler, professional appraiser of perfume bottles, who proclaimed the auction "one of the most beautiful in the world", this particular Guerlain perfume bottle sale is a world record that will take a long time to be surpassed. The initial appraisal was estimated between 20,000 and 30,000 euros, but it skyrocketed in the end. The "Rue de la Paix" engraved bottle (featuring the original address of Guerlain, 15 rue de la Paix) was part of a massive auction of 250 lots produced between 1870 and 1900. Nota bene this was not the Rue de la Paix perfume, issued in 1908 but merely a bottle of unidentified as yet perfume signed with the old address.
Another world record was set by "Fontaines Parfumées" signé Depinoix et Julien Viard which settled at 32,400 euros while originally estimated around 10,000 euros.
It's clear that valuable perfume bottles collecting has legs! Be extra attentive to whom you're leaving your perfume collection in your will.

photo via bibliodyssey blog

The Mystery of Musk: Revolutionary Joint Project in Animalic Notes

Do you miss a little skank in your life? Do you often wonder how does real musk smell or would like to find beautiful alternative fragrances to your cheap or oil favourites? It is my honour to announce to our readers that under the kind invitation of the Natural Perfumers' Guild I am organising an exciting and truly pioneering new project, called The Mystery of Musk. The project took the form of inviting several worthy perfumers who dabble in naturals on occasion of the 4th anniversary of the Guild to come up with that most elusive element of them all: a real-smelling animalic musk base for perfumery! Musk is possibly the number one subject of interest among those who love all kinds of perfume, both natural and synthetic. Musk fascinates! Many perfumistas realize that natural perfumers don’t use synthetic musks and civets and such, but that they search for alternatives that give the same effect. The Yahoo Natural Perfumery Group, the Basenotes forum contributors and a pleiad of prominent bloggers will be evaluating the fragrances thus produced in a few weeks. Best of all, each and every one of these musk perfumes will be optioned for a bottle giveaway through the participating venues, just for you! (one bottle giveaway for each blogger, one for Basenotes and one for the Yahoo Natural Perfumery Group, so you will have several opportunities to enter to win). Considering these are very costly creations to begin with due to the high prices of the essential oils, absolutes and essences used, I know you will appreciate this unique chance. The giveaways and reviews will roll out at the beginning of July. And in preparation of that, the Musk Series on The Perfume Shrine will be enriched with more musk reviews and relevant commentary for your enjoyment!


So without further ado, may I present you the participating perfumers.

Participating Perfumers for The Mystery of Musk project:

Adam Gottschalk – Lord’s Jester

Alexandra Balahoutis – Strange Invisible Perfumes

Alfredo Dupetit – BioScent by dupetit

Ambrosia Jones – Perfume by Nature

Anya McCoy – Anya’s Garden Perfumes

Charna Ethier – Providence Perfumes

Dawn Spencer Hurwitz – DSH Perfumes

Elise Pearlstine – Tambela Perfumes

Jane Cate – A Wing and a Prayer Perfumes

JoAnne Bassette – JoAnne Bassett Perfumes

Lisa Fong – Artemisia Perfume

Nicholas Jennings – Sharini Parfums Naturels

The evaluators members at the Yahoo Natural Perfumery Group as well as those from the Basenotes forum are announced on the respective venues. The president of the Natural Perfumers' Guild, Anya McCoy, will keep you abreast of the details.
The participating blogs will be: Bittergrace Notes, Ca Fleure Bon, First Nerve, Grain de Musc, Indie Perfumes, I Smell Therefore I Am, the Non Blonde, Olfactarama, Olfactory Rescue Service, and of course the Perfume Shrine.

Stay tuned for all the exciting new features!
Related reading on Perfume Shrine: The Musk Series


Pic copyrighted by the Natural Perfumers' Guild, reproduced with permission.