About Bois de Jasmin Blog
Bois de Jasmin has been covering topics of fragrance, flavor and other sensory pleasures since 2005. It includes product reviews, perfume news, trend overviews, and interviews with perfumers & industry professionals. Weekly features explore interesting flavor combinations, offer suggestions on building fragrance wardrobe and discovering new perfumes.
These pages are a tribute to everything I find fascinating about scents and flavors: the creators; the raw materials; and the discovery of pleasures through smelling and tasting. I believe that being more aware of scents can enrich your life tremendously. It is not just about perfume in the bottle, but about fragrance in a more general way—being mindful of scents when eating, drinking, even walking down the street. Recommended by various publications such as The New York Times, The Financial Times, The Huffington Post, Allure, and Vogue, Bois de Jasmin is also the winner of two Fragrance Foundation FiFi awards for Editorial Excellence.
About Victoria Frolova, Editor and Writer
My first vivid scented memory is of me climbing the fence near our home to get closer to a cluster of fragrant jasmine bushes. I was only five years old but I still have a scar on my knee to remind of that adventure and my early obsession with scents. Since then my fragrance quest has been less traumatic, though still as exhilarating and adventurous. I studied Political Science, but I chose instead to follow my passion for fragrance and writing. I have professional perfumery training and experience working in a fragrance lab. But above all, I’m a perfume lover, who enjoys sharing her passion for scents and flavors with others.
As a writer and journalist, I contribute to Perfumer & Flavorist Magazine and have a regular fragrance column in The Financial Times Magazine. You can also find my writing in a variety of other publications, both in print and online: ELLE, Red Magazine, Flair. You can see the whole list at My Publications page.
You can follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. Contact me.
Disclaimer: Bois de Jasmin is a personal blog developed and written by me, Victoria Frolova. I am not paid to recommend anything by anyone and I only write about products that I have sampled myself. I do not write about fragrance brands with which I have been involved as part of my professional career. I do not accept any form of paid topic insertions, sponsored posts, payment for link insertion, posts or product mentions. I use Google AdSense, a third-party keyword based ad system, which reacts automatically to the content on the site. If the sample came from the manufacturer or its PR agency, the source is identified in the review.
About Andy Gerber, Contributing Writer
I am a student with a love of reading, writing, cooking, collecting and drinking tea, and growing plants of all kinds. At a young age, I developed a natural affinity to everything botanical, and my fascination has never waned since. My interest in the world of scents started a bit later, when I followed my nose out of the garden and into the nearby world of fragrant plants, which are currently my largest area of interest. Contact me (add “att: Andy” in the subject field).
About Suzanna Mars, Contributing Writer
I am a professional photographer and writer from Gainesville, Florida. I like hiking, kayaking, swimming in the springs, and walking along the Atlantic coast beaches, where if you are lucky you will see a right whale. I also enjoy discovering “Old Florida,’ the place that exists in mid-century tourist brochures and which will appear, Brigadoon-like, if you scratch the surface of the Sunshine State. My interest in perfume started when I was five and spilled a bottle of Emeraude in the drug store and attempted to cover up the “crime” by applying all of the perfume to myself. After that, it was a short step to the Bergdorf’s perfume counter and the beginning of a life-long love of all things scented. All-time favorite fragrances are Chanel Bois des Iles, Guerlain Mitsouko, and Caron Farnesiana. A red lipstick and a 10 ml decant of Mitsouko parfum are the mainstays in my camera bag. My Flick photostream can be found at suzannamars. Contact me (add “att: Suzanna” in the subject field).
For guest writers and former contributors please see the guest writer page.
Frequent Questions & Answers
Q: What are your credentials for writing about fragrance? A strong passion for scents! I have learned about fragrance from reading, collecting vintage fragrances, and being professionally trained at International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF). One cannot be an expert in this fascinating subject until one spends a lifetime practicing it, so I have a long way to go.
Q: Why Bois de Jasmin? Bois de Jasmin [bois is pronounced as bwah] can mean either “jasmine wood” or “jasmine forest” in French. It is my fantasy tribute to one of my earliest scent memories: the heady aroma of jasmine vines wrapped around the wooden fence in my grandparents’ garden. Here is how one pronounces Bois de Jasmin (recording by Bela of Frag Name of the Day):
Q: Can our company send you a product to try and review? Your company can send me a small sample—please, no full sized bottles, if possible. I do not guarantee that your product will be reviewed or that a review will be positive. Full bottles will be given away as contest prizes for Bois de Jasmin readers. Bois de Jasmin does not accept gifts.
Q: Can I advertise on Bois de Jasmin? Bois de Jasmin does not accept any advertising from perfume brands directly. It does not engage in any affiliate programs nor does it publish sponsored or paid articles of any kind. Finally, Bois de Jasmin does not sell text links. Any link appearing in the text to an outside site is for informational purposes only.
Q: How does one navigate the site? The main page features only the most recent posts in chronological order. You can also use General Article and Perfume Review directories for further reading. Food and flavor related posts are grouped in the Gourmand Library. You can read about perfume notes, fragrance terminology and vocabulary in the Perfume Notes directory. The search feature allows browsing through all the posts on the website.
Q: What is your privacy policy? Bois de Jasmin does not release any of the personal information shared on this site. Subscription lists are moderated by third parties and the identities of the subscribers are not released. Although you enter your email address when commenting, it doesn’t appear on the site.
Q: What is your take on copyright? The content of Bois de Jasmin is protected by applicable copyright laws, which prohibit any usage of the material appearing on this site for commercial purposes without explicit consent from the editor. Please respect the time and effort that are put into this venue.
