Vive La France! French Style & Perfume

With Bastille Day coming up tomorrow (and with a grateful note to the French for promoting a unified Europe) I decided to do a collective post with all things Francophile.
Obviously lots of fragrances hail from France anyway, so a big chunk of the blog is paying homage to French style, but let's collect some of my various articles for ease; click the highlighted links to get there.

Gainsbourg and Birkin by Reg Lancaster, Paris 1969
via

French women (Parisian women in particular and baptized Parisians, since it's not technically ethnicity which accounts for it) are known for their savvy style which looks effortless, but isn't really (grooming and attention to detail go a long way).
My slideshow of 4 Secrets of French Women and Their Perfume has already become an internet classic, but I have also written a concise  Perfume Application Guide the French Way.

I have also recently composed a brief history of the house of Christian Dior and highlighted/reviewed 4 Dior fragrances which are worthy of investigation.

For Perfume Shrine aficionados there's also:

The Culture Wars: American vs. French,
Scent in Literature, a series of articles highlighting excerpts from novels and poetry, often French, which elaborate on the fascination of scent and smell,
Easy & Quick Paris Perfume Shopping Guide
"French Style" Perfume: Connotations & Meanings 
Best sellers in fragrance in France for 2009,  for 2010, for 2011, for 2012, for 2014.

And since Bastille Day incidentally recalls De Sade as well, there's also BDSM and Scents, a series of rather tantalizing posts with lots of perfume suggestions.

Happy July 14th to all Francophiles!

Questions & Answers with Alexandra Monet, Perfumer

Alexandra Monet, a young perfumer working for aroma producing company Drom fragrances Specifically she is responsible for the upcoming commemorative 15th anniversary edition of The Different Company, Le 15 (i.e. Le Quinze) out in September 2015. The new unisex fragrance is focusing on the sacred wood of Palo Santo, found in Latin America.

Enthusiastic and spontaneous, Alexandra has a sensitivity that allows her to put in perfume her emotions. She enjoys the gourmet styles and the vibrant notes. After studying at the ISIPCA, she works at DROM. In 2013 she created candles for The Different Company Home Fragrance Collection.

Alexandra has collaborated with Luc Gabriel, The Different Company's CEO and President, to compose the limited edition extrait de parfum, Le 15.

Here are a few insights into what makes her tick which I found interesting and wanted to share with you.

How did you find your passion for this profession?
My sense of smell has always titillated me more than all other senses. I rapidly wanted to transform this ‘‘tickle’’ into a profession.

What is your olfactive universe?
I like playing with edible notes and I am love musky clean notes, that evokes freshly washed linen.

If you were a raw material?
Without hesitation, Patchouli. This is a unique and magical raw material, a vibrant essence that lives as soon as I put it on my skin.

If you were a quality?
Impertinence.

If you were a colour?
Black. Maybe white, but certainly not grey!

If you were a Star?
Audrey Hepburn.

If you were a place?
A big city, at night time.

I Believe

«Πιστεύω στην υγρασία της νύχτας, στα αγάλματα που ταξιδεύουν μέρα νύχτα μες σε δαπανηρές συσκευασίες και στα κλειστά παράθυρα εργοστασίων που απεργούν. Πιστεύω στη λιτανεία των αυτοκινήτων, στα νευρικά σφυρίγματα ενός εγκαταλειμμένου αστυφύλακα και στην οσμή από σελίδες άκοπες των σχολικών βιβλίων. Πιστεύω στις ποιητικές ανθολογίες, στις διαφημίσεις ταυρομαχιών του '35 και στα σημάδια του κορμιού σου που φανερώνουν έρωτα. Τέλος, πιστεύω στο θάνατο της μνήμης και στην ανάσταση των επιθυμιών εν μέσω ρόδων, γιασεμιών και υακίνθων. Και τούτο εγένετο, Αμήν».

Μάνος Χατζηδάκης

Gioconda's Smile (1965), part 1 by M.Hadjidakis, performed in Athens Megaron Mousikis (1995)

"I believe in the humidity of the night, the statues traveling day and night amid costly packaging and the closed windows of factories on strike. I believe in the procession of cars, the nervous whistling of a lonesome constable and the smell of uncut pages in textbooks. I believe in poetry anthologies, bullfight ads of '35 and the signs on your body revealing love. Finally, I believe in memory's death and the resurrection of desire amid roses, jasmine and hyacinths. And this was done, Amen. "

Manos Hadjidakis

The winner of the draw...

...for the Acqua di Parma rose fragrance Acqua Nobile Rosa is MargOn1980. 
Congratulations! Please email me using Contact with your shipping info, with ADP draw in the title of the mail, so I can this in the mail for you soon.

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

Animal Ingredients in Perfumes: More Than a Growl

Among perfumery materials few are so loaded with meaning and associations than animal-derived ones. The glamor of yore feels immersed in the cheetah print of those tailored coats that Hollywood stars wore to get the trash out and one can almost smell the Bal a Versailles parfum off their YSL Le Smoking lapels. Ah...the times when false lashes came out for a night on the town and fire-engine red lipstick was a necessary accessory rather than a summer brights trend...

Animal rights activism has (justifiably) put a lid on that. Additionally, the historical changes brought about by analytical chemistry and the since illegal poaching of some of the critters responsible for some of these elusive, magical essences have created new realities. Fragrances (and cosmetics too) use sophisticated synthetics which replicate the warm, intimate touch of something that used to come from furry behinds.

This has necessitated some detailed information on all the various aspect unto which the critical matter of animal-derived and animal-smelling raw materials touches.

For starters and for a short answer I have written an essay on Fragrance.About.com answering the simple question "Do perfumes contain animal ingredients?"
I also wrote a Musk specific article there called "Musk: Erotic Smell of Warmth & Cleanliness". You can read those hitting the highlighted links.

In the archives of Perfume Shrine over the years I have often belabored the subject as well.
You can reference for instance the following articles:

Animalic & "Skanky" Perfumes
Ambergris (natural) and its comparison with the amber "chord"
Ambroxan: synthetics amber-wood
Musk: natural Tonquin musk and synthetics
The historic Animalis base
Of Bees: Honeyed Scents of Myth (referencing both honey and beeswax, an animal product)
Parfums Fourrure (so called "fur perfumes")

Enjoy the posts!