What Scents Do Perfumers Wear?

“I wear the fragrances I am creating. My skin is my work instrument. When I have the time to wear some fragrances, I like to smell of Féminité du bois or Ambre Sultan by Serge Lutens, or some of my earlier creations for Jo Malone London like English Pear & Freesia.” So says perfumer Christine Nagel, "creator of  Narciso Rodriguez for Her (with Francis Kurkdjian), and several blockbusters including Miss Dior Chérie and Dolce & Gabbana The One for Her, before moving in-house at Jo Malone London to put her unique spin on the company’s traditional blooms" as per one article appearing on Australian Vogue.

 Most perfumers and people professionally involved in fragrances do not wear perfumes on their own skin as a matter of course or when working, so as not to get distracted. Yet sometimes they do indulge in their own creations (to better gauge them), the odd classic or two an aside, or at least they're saying so to bring more attention to their work. Francis Kurkdjian, Olivier Cresp, Daniela Andrier, Anne Flipo, Fabrice Penot of Le Labo, Erwin Creed, Frédéric Malle, Romano Ricci of Juliette Has a Gun, and François Demachy (head perfumer for Dior) share their secrets with the readers of Australian Vogue. Read the whole article on this link.

Bunch of Perfume News & Fragrance Releases

“J’Adore is a huge inspiration on a lot of different home-care products such as air fresheners and cleaners”. Dior for home? Think again.
Before she cleans a client’s home, Liz Phillips finds out how they prefer their kitchen and bathroom to smell. The real-estator-mom-turned-entrepreneur founded Golden Touch Professional Services and taps into the increasingly relevant scent-sensitive market for cleaning one's home. Household products producing companies aren't far behind: Procter and Gamble has a new line of Dawn dish soap called Dawn Destination. The scents include Mediterranean Lavender, New Zealand Springs and Thai Dragon Fruit. Clorox has a line of Green Works products that includes a “Water Lily” scent. The S.C. Johnson Co. has added Multi-Surface Glade Magic Meadow to their line of Windex products. It boasts the scent of “fresh greens, morning dew and white jasmine.” Unlike more perfumey antecedents, these new compounds don’t simply mask other less desirable smells. 

Deborah Betz, a senior fragrance-development manager at International Flavors & Fragrances, says the country’s Hispanic population has a significant influence on the market.[...] “Clorox has a line that’s marketed in Latin America called Poett,” Betz says. “What they decided to do is relaunch it in the United States as Fraganza. It’s selling very, very well.” Hispanics tend to use stronger fragrances in their homes, Betz says. Fabuloso, an all-purpose cleaner marketed in Latin America by Colgate-Palmolive, is being used by more non-Hispanic consumers in the United States. Scents include Lavender, Passion of Fruits and Ocean Paradise. “Fresh marine notes are very hot,” Betz says. “Very fruity scents are very hot, too: berries, apples, melon.” When it comes to cleaning products, some upscale perfumes can also set the tone, like above-mentioned J'Adore.[source] There may soon come a day when your Dior might remind someone of their clean countertop...

 On the other hand online niche perfume distributor Luckyscent celebrates its decennial anniversary and for that occasion they issued the Decennial Collection, a line of four new in-house scents. "Our 10-year anniversary made us look back at the road we've traveled to see how far we have come. To honor our special occasion, we desired something both celebratory and meaningful. That something turned out to be The Decennial Collection, a set of four fragrances created in collaboration with perfumers Andy Tauer and Jérome Epinette. Decennial is a reflection of who we are and, because it has such a strong influence on us, where we live: Los Angeles, a city of incredible diversity with a undeniably unique personality. This quartet is an abstract reflection of our journey, a tip of our collective hat to who we are, how we got here, and where we hope to go.
The fragrances include Nuit Épicée (almond, cumin, rhubarb, cistus, violet, blond woods, black amber, praline), Santal Sacré (ginger, elemi, incense, white musks, papyrus, Australian sandalwood), Bois Bourbon (saffron, cinnamon bark, lavender, heliotrope, black rose, cedarwood, beach birch, oak moss), all by Jérome Epinette and last but not least Lys du Desert (bergamot, rose, green lily, dry cistrose, iris root, ambergris, dry cedar) by Andy Tauer.

And irreverent niche brand Le Labo introduces all their perfumes in oil form this Novemeber. "Dear hippie hiding under your skin - unleash yourself: your fragrance now comes as a perfume oil ! Le Labo's full range of creations is available in botanical safflower oil presented in a 1 ounce perfume eyedropper, to be carried anywhere and to be used everywhere: from your pulse points, your mane, your neck, your cleavage to your beard... That sounded weird, I just pictured a bearded bombshell..." (30ml/0.9fl.oz for 90 euros)

M.Micallef Ylang in Gold: new fragrance

The third fragrance in the JEWEL collection, after M.MICALLEF JEWEL FOR HER and JEWEL FOR HIM, YLANG IN GOLD opens up on refreshing citrus head notes and consists of voluptuous flowers warmed by sweet and sunny base notes suggesting tropical islands, comprising ylang-ylang, sandalwood, coconut and vanilla. In the authentic French tradition of crafts and luxury, the M.Micallef Company gives priority to qualitative and natural ingredients in its fragrances and magnifies each bottle in its art studio. The bottle of YLANG IN GOLD is delicately hand decorated with Swarovski crystals specially designed for M.Micallef.

On the skin, YLANG IN GOLD leaves a light and delicate pearly golden dust made of golden powder, especially created and elaborated according to current standards for cosmetics.

Notes for Ylang in Gold by M.Micallef:
Top notes: Tangerine orange, geranium, artemisia
Heart notes: Ylang-ylang, rose, sandalwood, lily-of-the-valley, magnolia
Base notes: Coconut, vanilla, musk.

100 ml of Eau de Parfum with golden dust suspended in the juice ($245), as well as a same-size edition without the shimmer. Debuts October 2012.

The winner of the draw...

...for the all naturals Home fragrance wax melts by Anya's Garden is hula-la. Please email me using Contact with your shipping data so I can notify the perfumer to have your prize in the mail for you soon.

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

Perfume Quotes: According to Perfumer Lyn Harris

“I’m a Halifax girl. I used to work in a perfume shop, literally just sweeping up. I loved the whole fantasy behind fragrance and the women that shopped there. What was wonderful was the women who bought fragrance were really amazing characters. At that time fragrance wasn’t accessible for everybody – it was only for the wealthy. We sold perfumes like Chanel, Guerlain, Lauder, Arden, Van Cleef. People had their hair done upstairs, and the perfumery and beauty department was downstairs. It was the first shop in the north to get a French fine fragrance. Being a perfumer was definitely my destiny and working in that perfume shop as a young girl was the start.” says Lyn Harris on the M&S Magazine to editor Michelle Pamment. (It was a propos the creation of 3 feminine -La Fleur, La Rose and La Poudree- and 3 masculine fragrances -Le Cologne, Le Sauvage, Le Noir- which Lyn Harris composed for Marks & Spencer, launching this past September)

via Helen James Design

And she gives us a tip on choosing a personal scent, as leaned from the Telegraph: "When you're choosing a fragrance, try a few different scents and pick according to what makes you smile and makes you feel good. You will know that instantly. Everyone has an idea of what they like, but be wary of presumptions. A lot of people say, 'I hate anything musky' - but most fragrances have musk in them!"