Andy Tauer of Tauer Parfums is having
his Advent Calendar again this year for the length of December, countring down till Christmas. For the occasion he has prepared an all-naturals, all botanical limited edition fragrance,
Le Cologne du Maghreb {sic} and today Perfume Shrine is honoured to host the
giveaway of one 50ml (1.7oz) bottle of it to anywhere in the world*!
It is a classical cologne, with a woody baseline chord, "a firework of natural citrus notes, exploding into expensive sparkles, on a background with ambreine and cedarwood from the Moroccan High Atlas".
Like all colognes it is not made to last but it is a fragrant joy, living in the moment, leaving you with the finest veil of woods on your skin.
Ingredients: Citrus essential oils and absolutes (such as lemon, bergamot, clementine, mandarine, grapefruit, orange blossom absolute, neroli oil), rose absolute and oil, cedarwood, ambrein, cistrose and much more.
What you need to do to be eligible? Simple: Answer the question which follows this post in the comments section.
So, on with today's post! Where I bemoan the proliferation of perfume venues
lately, because I feel like a fool nowadays. (NB: I'm NOT only referring to blogs, but also and mainly fora, Facebook pages, corporate sites with a blog appearence, Livejournal journals etc).
Mind you, I'm not really complaining: First of all, mine goes from strength to strength judging by numbers; and numbers don't lie. Plus I distinctly recall when five years ago there were only a handful of venues and publications in English to really read about perfume, beyond advertorials (Those who read French nevertheless always had ample material to choose from; even though it often entailed cajoling the ears with pretty stories, it also involved delving into serious & acclaimed books on the subject). Contrast with today where one is spoilt for choice and can pick what they read and where they draw their info from at the flick of a finger on the keyboard. Which is good!!
Want a shopping & new releases site? You've got it. Want a webzine with lots of contributors offering their views? There's more than one around. You want all the press releases amassed & archived? There's a data bank at your call. You want history, chemistry, opinions on the industry? You're catered for. Is there sheer awe in you in front of a "difficult" perfume and secret joy at discovering one that draws compliments? Numerous fans are there to share their own experiences and to identify with. Are you a novice searching for answers to questions? Someone did the dirty work and compiled primers.
Yet -and this is the crux of the matter- sometimes it seems everyone and their hamster is keeping a perfume journal which they share with the world, no offense to hamsters. The initiative is understandable; a new hobby injects a certain enthusiasm. What is perhaps less apparent is that so very often the echo of information that has been perhaps erroneously transferred into pixels or 0 & 1 signs (whichever way you prefer to look at it) is getting transmitted all over the universe and beyond; if Nasa's data is anything to go by. Information flows and this flow sometimes gets in the way of
fact. It's one thing to entertain a rumour -as long as it's clear it's such- and another to actually transmit it as the absolute truth. Legend becomes reality and you have well-intended people criticizing
an artistic video commercial for No.5 negating the Süskind-inspired idea and missing the point entirely by saying straight-faced and with conviction that
No.5 was chosen for a name because it was the 5th pick by Coco from a series of mods. Who knew, right? Not me, I wasn't there. Of course, one might argue that perfume
always relied on mythos. In fact its very core is its escapist quality that allows us to dream. Still, how do you differentiate? Where do you draw the line? What do you pick? And who authorised one version of this myth and not another?
Another problem with having innumerable venues for discussing perfume is that inevitably the mind tires and the eye skims. I can only read so much on any given morning, first thing before I sip the kaymak off my Turkish coffee and get down to fine tuning the details for the day's lecture. If someone who is professionally accustomed to reading exceedingly fast can't read more than a handful of sites, how can the average perfume lover who might have a boss breathing down their neck or kids dragging them around? Additionally, how can anyone comment intelligently? Whereas in the beginning discussion was conducted through comments on perfume fora and the comment section of blogs making it easier to follow syllogism & reasoning, it now seems that the discussion is conducted via blogs & venues
themselves: Instead of commenting on someone else's blog or someone else's thread on a forum, people begin their own venue (their own blog, Live Journal, Facebook page etc.) and converse via
them.
It's not the people or the usernames doing the back & forth; it's the web pages doing it. You need a detailed manual to wade through (not to mention people are reluctant to put links & quotes to make you understand what they're talking about) and I often feel
plain silly not knowing the whole background of the discussion. This polyphony -and indeed contrapuntal style- is not necessarily a bad thing; on the contrary! But it risks getting bypassed due to a flummox of words each vying for individual attention.
What do you think? What do you seek when reading about perfume?
ETA: I only now (see what I mean?) just read a post by Brian on
I Smell therefore I Am (snarky & witty at the same time) which
I urge you to read on this link. Thought-provoking!!
*NB: The prize will be shipped by Tauer Perfumes in Switzerland directly to the winner. The company states: "We ship to the address given to us and do not contact the addressee afterwards, nor will we use the contact information for any other purpose than sending the prize, nor will we forward the address to anybody else".
DRAW is open till Sunday 5th Dec. midnight.
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Niche brand Byredo is introducing Encens Chempur, an incense fragrance inspired by Hindu temples. Byredo already had a now hard-to-procure room spray and candle in Encens, reminiscent of Eastern and Southern European Orthodox churches. Now, they're introducing an Eau de Parfum fragrance for personal use that travels even more eastwards.
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