My Article on Woods in Financial Times Magazine

My article How Exotic Woods are Getting a Feminine Makeover has appeared today in the Financial Times Magazine How to Spend It. In it, I talk how the perception of what is appropriate for a feminine fragrance has changed over the years, using woods as an example. It is a topic I find quite fascinating.

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22 Comments

  • sweetlife: Congratulations! It’s nice to see something so well-informed about perfume in print. Will there be more, V? November 22, 2010 at 3:47pm Reply

  • Mark C: Great job, V! Your article is very interesting and well-written, like always. I am glad to see Lonestar Memories mentioned, since it is one of my own recent discoveries. November 22, 2010 at 7:08pm Reply

  • Victoria: Thank you so much, A! A compliment from a writer like you means a lot. Yes, there will definitely be more! 🙂 November 22, 2010 at 4:37pm Reply

  • Victoria: Mark, thank you. I like this fragrance very much, as it is very creative and unusual. November 22, 2010 at 7:25pm Reply

  • Winifrieda: My first comment on your wonderful site which along with others I have spent untold hours poring over, revisiting, checking….
    I enthusiastically followed the links and was just thrilled to see some of our perfumista universe spilling over into the world of those poor unenlightened souls…just maybe the zeitgeist is shifting, back to when one could just wander around in the world experiencing all sorts of wonderful perfumes on men and women!! November 23, 2010 at 2:22am Reply

  • Ines: Congratulations! 🙂
    I’m off now to read the article. November 23, 2010 at 4:26am Reply

  • Tara: Great article, V! I really enjoyed it! I have a question, I read someplace that Samsara reformulated because of sandalwood availability. What do you think of the new version? November 23, 2010 at 12:57pm Reply

  • Maria: What a great idea! And for me a happy coincidence, since these days, for unknown reasons, I’m reaching for wood perfumes. Very sad, I don’t have this issue of FT (which is my favorite weekend reading) and with my small NetBook I can’t really read the entire article on the website 🙁 November 23, 2010 at 9:33am Reply

  • Victoria: Winifrieda, thank you so much, I am glad that you are enjoying it. I only hope that the fragrance brands will launch more beautiful, creative fragrances, so that we have more to explore. November 23, 2010 at 12:44pm Reply

  • Victoria: Ines, hope that you like it! November 23, 2010 at 12:45pm Reply

  • Victoria: Maria, sorry to hear that, it took a while to load on my small notebook, much easier on my regular laptop. November 23, 2010 at 12:47pm Reply

  • Victoria: Tara, yes, it was reformulated and in fact more than once. I smelled the most recent version of the EDT at Bergdorf Goodman and found that it is nicely done, even though the EDT has never been my favorite. The sandalwood note in Samsara was always amplified with lots of sandalwood aroma materials, and it seems that they are using some new materials now. All in all, I would still pick Samsara over many new launches, niche or department store. November 23, 2010 at 1:04pm Reply

  • Carla: I am hopping over to read it right now! I just tried Sycomore for the first time, a real revelation, and it got me thinking about woods perfumes! November 24, 2010 at 6:56am Reply

  • Maria: I made it. Really great idea! I would really like to read more about it. How I said, these days I am hungry for bois and I tried hard to find other things apart SL ones (I love them all). Never tried Bois des Iles, I’m desperate to smell it(I was 10 minutes late at an auction on ebay.de where an old bottle of BdI went out for 26 Euro!).
    I would really be curious to find more wood perfumes and understand them more, why they are so appealing. Is the comforting feeling, the elegance, the unisex quality? November 24, 2010 at 8:28am Reply

  • Victoria: Carla, I really enjoy Sycomore, although it is probably not my top favorite from Chanel; however, it is a very elegant rendition of dark, earthy woods. In general, I love fragrances with woods, and I find that these days there is so much more to choose from than even 5-6 years ago. November 24, 2010 at 8:45am Reply

  • Victoria: Maria, woods are so diverse, from creamy sandalwood to dry patchouli. I think that there are many different factors that make us appreciate them, but above all, the complexity of these notes.
    26 euro for a bottle of old Bois des Iles! Wow, that would be a bargain! November 24, 2010 at 8:48am Reply

  • Tara: Thank you so much for your explanation, dear V! I hope that you will review Samsara in more detail on your blog. I would love to read your take on it. November 25, 2010 at 8:51am Reply

  • Jessica A: V, I really enjoyed your article, even though I’m usually not really into woods…maybe just vetiver when it’s subtle like in new L’Artisan. Your writing style is so vivid though…I right away wanted not just to smell the perfumes you mentioned…but to hop on a plane and visit that palace. :))

    Happy Thanksgiving to you! November 25, 2010 at 9:00am Reply

  • Rita: V, brilliant article! You’ve nailed the reason why woods are so seductive.
    BTW, Do you remember the old Russian fragrance called Krasnyj Mak? My grandmother used to wear it. It reminds me of something but I cant figure out what. November 27, 2010 at 8:49am Reply

  • Victoria: Tara, I will do so at some point. Reviewing older fragrances is very interesting, especially when one can compare older versions. November 27, 2010 at 1:48pm Reply

  • Victoria: Jessica, thank you, the palace is quite special. The Maharaja of Baroda still lives there, but some parts are still open to public. My sense is that it is not visited that often, because when we were there, we were the only people (and in India that is rare!) November 27, 2010 at 1:51pm Reply

  • Victoria: Rita, are you the one who wrote to me about finding a fragrance similar to Krasnyj Mak about a month ago? I tried replying, but it says that my message cannot be delivered. Krasnyj Mak, Red Poppy, reminds me of YSL Opium. It is the closest comparison I can make. Unfortunately, I do not have this fragrance. November 27, 2010 at 1:54pm Reply

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