Perfumery for Everyone: Italian Course in Perfumery

Cult perfumer Dominique Dubrana, going by the alias Abdes Salaam Attar, responsible for the wondrous offerings of La Via del Profumo, is organizing again on of this famous perfumery courses in the idyllic setting of Italy, in Rimini.

"After years of interruption in teaching, I am organizing a 5 to 7 days seminar to teach my philosophy of perfumery and my method of making perfumes. The course will be held in the hills of Rimini from 10th to 15th June, and there is an accommodation package.

Teachings will be about natural raw materials, including animal scents and rare essences, several of which can be smelled only with me. Then the crucial point of how to understand and evaluate the quality of natural raw materials will follow. The sourcing of the best essences will be explained so that who has learned how to make perfumes with me can carry on as a perfumer. Then perfume descriptive language, philosophy and ethics of natural perfumery which are fundamentally important because the nose is only secondary to the mind in making perfumes, which is before all a mental attitude.

There will be everyday blending workshops of different methods and approaches in order to keep the interest high. I shall teach how to proceed in custom blending for private customers and friends and also how to apprehend concept blending for companies. Last but not least, Lavender will be full blown in Rimini by June and there might be a distillation course with a further day."

For more info & contact visit the Facebook page and the Profumo blog.

Thinking about Calone & Controversial Notes

This morning, for no particular reasons, I woke up thinking: “I need to make a Calone* centric fragrance”. The second thought was “maybe with a big flower next to it. That would be so odd, maybe a tuberose or rose”. The third thought was “there is a reason why I do not have Calone here in my perfume studio/lab/creative mess”.

*Calone is an aromachemical with an  effect of watermelon, which became huge in the 1990s thanks to its inclusion in "marine" scents. 

Thus starts an entry on the blog of indie perfumer Andy Tauer titled "Was Calone Putting an End to High End Male Perfumes?" which you can read here. It highlights something that has been bugging me as well for some time: how much of what we object to has to do with the very nature of the thing and how much with the associations we make with it? And more importantly, how much does the creator cater to their own impulses and how much do composers of perfumes cater to the taste of their perspective audience? And why should this be good or bad.

On to you: Do you have a bad association with a specific note and why is that, you think?

Vintage Advertising Champions: Mitsouko or The Geisha & The Sailor

"For one crazy moment he feels he will stay. Then he turns towards the gangplank and walks very slowly in the mist.
Each one of their moments -the shy beginning, the electric touching of fingertips, the transporting passion, will disappear in the universal solvent of time plus distance.
Years later, a woman in a silk dress will pass by wearing Mitsouko. 
And 1921 will flash through him like a shock. He will not be able to forget the long black hair, the incredibly soft skin, the infinite tenderness...
Mitsouko by Guerlain."

In a Madame Butterfly context (harkening to the original novel La Bataille which inspired the creation of Guerlain's famous perfume Mitsouko set during the Japo-Russian war) the text of the above 1974 advertisement zooms in onto a powerful connection and perfume marketing apparatus: that of recollection triggered by scent. "1921: a fragrance will not let him forget."

What irony that the beloved memory of one might be felt off the sillage, the fragrant trail of another...

Histoires de Parfums Petroleum (Edition Rare): fragrance review

All the colors of a bruise: black and blue, teal green edging out in purple, fading to rosy, ending in ochre yellow like ancient parchment.

The electrical buzz of arc-welding, fiery orange sparks filling out the skies, the rusty mine of the shipwreck. The air filled with a mineral, scorched feel. The plank-plank of cork wedges hitting the iron ore at the loading decks.

A leather cloth, all smeared with wax. The musty smell of the hold of an old ship. He had his hair loose and oily with sweat and ambery brilliantine. My hand aching from trying to hold tight onto the lower mast. I said "I'm hurt". He should have said, "honey, let me heal it", like Bruce. Only he never said it; not in so many words.

John Klingel

Petroleum by Histoires de Parfums is Gerald Ghislain's story on oudh, the prophylactic defensive rot on Aquillaria trees and its resinous, nutty, woody, complex scent. Infused with fizzy orange, musty patchouli and a prolonged furry, white musk aftertaste, lasting hours, purring after the roar, Petroleum is the gift of the earth in an unassuming bottle. This oudh étude surpasses many others, in a masterful cadenza of chromatic tonalities: from black and blue, teal green edging out in purple, fading to rosy, ending in ochre yellow like ancient parchment. The chromatics in a drop of "liquid gold", in an old bruise that still aches when pressed.

Chanel Les Exclusifs Misia: new fragrance

The fragrance line Les Exclusifs by Chanel has been having its ups and downs through the years, but it has always appealed to customers who are interested in perfume first and foremost, with the famous logo as an addendum rather than the whole raison d'être of the purchase.

Les Exclusifs Misia, named after the best friend of Gabrielle Bonheur (Coco) Chanel, joins the wondrous juices of 31 Rue Cambon, Sycomore, Coromandel, Beige et al, in the exclusive circuit sold at Chanel boutiques and online at the official site of Chanel.com, encased in magnetic closure bottles holding either 200ml or 75ml.

Misia Les Exclusifs by Chanel comprises fragrance notes of violet, May rose from Grasse, Turkish rose, orris, benzoin, tonka bean, and musks. The fragrance of Misia is composed by in-house perfumer Olivier Polge.

Chanel is after all busy in business as usual, with even news of "looking to open a new factory in the Compiègne area of France, creating several hundred jobs and perhaps 10,000 tangential jobs for suppliers in the region", according to French local newspaper, the Courrier Picard.

For those interested in the story between the two women, Lisa Chaney's biography Chanel: An intimate life and Justine Picardie's classic tome Chanel: Sa Vie are both thorough and highly recommended. You can order them following the highlighted links.

notes via Fragrantica