The Lover's Hair

James Jacques Tissot, Mme & M.Mauperin en Égypte

"She came to live only through him and for him, by his presence, by the thought of him, by his future, his portrait, which she carried when she last met him. When she parted from him, she ran her hands through his hair several times and then put on her gloves quickly. All the following day she breathed, sitting next to her husband, next to her daughter, in her house, the smell of her beloved and of his hair, which emanated from her hands, which she had not washed."

Edmond & Jules de Goncourt, Renée Mauperin (1864).

The winners of the draw…

…for the Lutens goodies are Lubesa75 and periafro9 (yahoo.com). Congratulations! Please email me using Contact with your shipping data so I can have these in the mail for you shortly.

Thanks everyone for the enthusiastic participation and till the next one (soon)!

Serge Lutens Lucky Draw

A special little something today for our Perfume Shrine readers. I have one exclusive soap by Serge Lutens and two fragrance miniatures (Feminite du Bois and Ambre Sultan) for the picking for two lucky readers.

Draw is open internationally and ends Sunday midnight. To be eligible please enter a comment below saying whether you enjoy scented/matched body products and if you have a favorite.

A Life-Long Dedication to Guerlain: Famous Fans

Among perfume brands of historical lineage, Guerlain proudly stands today as it did in the previous century and the one before it, as one of the necessary pilgrimages of every devoted perfume enthusiats. But some of the perfume lovers who have come into contact with the house have ascertained a durable, unstoppable connection which moves and tantalizes with promise at the same time.

Andree Putman was one such Guerlain devotee. Known to most readers for the 2005 renovation of the flagship store in Paris (with the ceremonial "chandelier" of perfumes, which is now substituted by a newer design) and for her own Preparation Parfumee Andree Putman, a niche fragrance of cult appeal, she remained a lifelong Guerlain customer with a penchant for a particular one of their classics (completely antithetical to her own brand name one, please note!). Here is the quote I unearthed, my heart aflutter with the longing of the all powerful allure of the signature scent.

"I am a woman of two perfumes. At 16 my best friend wore Shalimar. The name fascinated me. I was more L'Heure Bleue. Twenty five years later I opened a small flacon of Shalimar and that friendship has emerged out of its scent. It has never left me since. It counts itself among those perfumes which trail long after you have left. Even if one doesn't smell them on them, they express you so powerfully to others that one shouldn't change them. At home, my children know whether I have been in or out by whether there is the trail of Shalimar floating in the staircase. For that reason alone, I'm attached to it for life."

~cited by Veronique Blamont (1998)

Guessing Games & The Aesthetics of Innovation

If you have been receiving the Luckyscent newsletters you will know by now of the second series of the Untitled Series by Chandler Burr, which was previously hosted on Open Sky. An improvement, I would assume, on many levels, the new distributor of the project assures a dedicated perfumista core audience. What it involves is easy but brilliant too at the same time: experiencing a scent without the guiles of marketing, design or promo routinely attached to it. No notes, no name, no perfumer, no house, just your sense of smell and small glass vials with a number on it to sniff for a month until the revelation is presented at the end of it (for this month, it's June 25th).

Chandler tries to offer "pure scent", involving fragrances which take the game a step forward and I totally see the reasoning behind this. Whether he succeeds or not is up to you and your own opinions on such matters. My own personal stance is that perfume is so inextricably tied to design & marketing (in fact I consider it ~for the most part and in most cases~ a division of design) it's hard to consider it when bared down to the bone; it detracts from some of its beauty and wit, a bit like the Elgin Marbles as seen at the British Museum rather than under their intended Attic sun; they're still artful and brilliant, but doesn't the whole concept involve context as well? Even so I do think the Untitled Series is a great gauge of just how much our preconceptions act on our perception of scent and how wrong or right we decipher scent each time based on those; I love blind tests myself when I fragrance consult, my subjects often producing stunning results.

To get you all revved up for season's 2 episode's 2 scent, out now, please see a summary of the previous installments and make your best guess on the latest! (There is already discussion on Basenotes, but you're welcome to post your own suggestions here in the Comments).
Here is how Chandler presents S02E02 in his own words:

”I've never met anyone who doesn't like S02E02. In dozens of talks over the years, I've given it to thousands of people in all sorts of cultures, and the range is pleased enthusiasm to hypnotized worship. I'm on the far latter end. Done by one of the greatest living artists, who I'm very glad finally to be presenting in the Untitled Series, S02E02 is I think a quietly seminal work in a specific way: We all know the majority of people today say they 'don't like perfume.' By 'perfume' they mean aldehydes and a booming voice and 'look at me' style. S02E02 forces you to redefine 'perfume.' Wait (people think, transfixed on the sidewalk), what is this? Did an island just materialize around the corner? E02 is the Debussy bridge over which one escapes Rachmaninoff's bombast, transport for all those who yearn for the fundamentally different and exquisite, the liltingly lovely.”

– Chandler Burr

For what is worth, I also have never ever met anyone who doesn't like it and I too find it liltingly lovely… :-)

LIST OF EPISODES

                Season 1

The Untitled Series S01E01: Prada Infusion d'Iris by Daniela Andrier                         Prada

The Untitled Series S01E02: Mugler Cologne by Alberto Morillas                                Mugler

The Untitled Series S01E03: L'Etrog by Rodrigo Flores-Roux and Yann Vasnier      Arquiste

The Untitled Series S01E04: Yuzu Rouge by Raphaël Haury                                            06130

The Untitled Series S01E05: Eau de Lierre by Fabrice Pellegrin                                      Diptyque

The Untitled Series S01E06: Bal D'Afrique by Jérome Epinette                                     Byredo

The Untitled Series S01E07: Vanille Insensee Cologne by Ralf Schwieger                 Atelier Cologne

The Untitled Series S01E08: Rose Noir by Jérome Epinette                                            Byredo

The Untitled Series S01E09: Sel de Vetiver by Céline Ellena                                            The Different Co

The Untitled Series S01E10: Isle Ryder by David Moltz                                                     Hylands

                Season 2

The Untitled Series S02E01: Tom of Finland by Antoine Lie                                            Etat Libre d’Orange

The Untitled Series S02E02: ???