Lists: 133 posts

Despite a persistent belief that perfumers aim to imitate nature, fragrance is about a fantasy. So looking for the exact smell of a rose in a bottle is like reading Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment to relive a vacation in Saint-Petersburg, even if said sojourn involved all things dark and sordid. Like literature, music, and sculpture, perfumery is a meditation on reality, rather than its photographic reflection. The best of compositions give us a glimpse into someone else’s world and their olfactory idea of a rose—or a cup of black tea, their lover’s skin, or a melancholy evening in Paris.

Each one of us might interpret the aromatic message in different ways. For instance, when I smell Balmain’s Vent Vert, I feel the same exhilaration as I do on the first days of March when the air smells intensely green and fresh. My friend, on the other hand, finds it disconcerting and aggressive, a storm of sharp, raspy notes that leaves her lightheaded. Considering that Vent Vert’s creator, Germaine Cellier, minced neither words nor accords, perhaps my friend’s impression is closer to the original intention of the perfumer. Vent Vert has long been discontinued and difficult to find, but for a similarly effervescent experience I suggest The Different Company Tokyo Bloom.

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As I was updating my ISIPCA course and preparing my new spring seminars, I tried a selection of new launches, some of which seemed interesting enough to share with you in a separate article. While new launches are almost always skewed towards Christmas sales, I like the spring offer because it tends to show a greater variety of compositions. There will still be a wave of summer flankers and sports colognes, but for now, we have many radiant florals, soft chypres and salty vetivers.

Dries Van Noten Mystic Moss (perfumer Nicolas Bonneville)

An elegant composition centered on vetiver, with a strong salty, seaweed facet. Imagine driftwood on the beach. An effervescent combination of cardamom and mandarin lends it brightness that lasts even when the darker woods take over.

Guerlan Rose Amira (perfumer Delphine Jelk)

A Persian-style rose perfume where roses are liberally layered with incense and dark woods. If you like your roses smoky and mysterious, this is the right fragrance for you. It features a natural rose note, which is splendidly warm and honeyed. While Rose Amira is currently a duty-free exclusive, it will be distributed more widely later this spring.

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To inspire those of you who will be taking my Osmanthus classes.

Once the weather turns cool in Tokyo, a sweet perfume fills its streets. It escapes from the parks and enclosed gardens and for a few weeks it becomes a familiar presence in a city better known for its skyscrapers, electronics and cuisine than for its flowers. The tiny blossoms that give Tokyo its aroma are easy to miss, but the perfume is so vivid that osmanthus is sometimes called “a ten mile fragrance” tree. In Japanese, it’s known as kinmokusei, and in English it may be referred to as a “fragrant” or “Chinese” olive, hinting at the plant’s origins, but by any name, the aroma of ripe apricots, jasmine petals and leather is irresistible.

Perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena was likewise enchanted by osmanthus, and he chose to pair it with a tea note in his fragrance for Hermès, Osmanthe Yunnan. Although Ellena was inspired by a visit to the Forbidden City in Beijing, his creation captures my memories of Tokyo in autumn. Every element in the perfume is delicately rendered, from the fruity notes that recall the softness of peach skin to the transparent white blossoms soaked in tea. The marriage of tea and osmanthus is a classical one, because both ingredients play up each other’s facets of fruits, woods, sweetness and bitterness. Osmanthe Yunnan is a happy perfume, and whenever I put it on, I feel as if I’ve stepped into a pool of sunlight.

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“I will bring you cassie, if you still enjoy its perfume,” wrote French novelist Prosper Mérimée in Lettres à une inconnue (Letters to an Unknown). The Unknown, was Mademoiselle Jenny Dacquin, the daughter of a notary of Boulogne, with whom Mérimée corresponded for over forty years. And what flower should his Carmen throw to Don José? Une fleur de cassie.

Cassie and mimosa are two closely related plants from the acacia family. The branches covered with masses of lemon yellow pompoms not only look beautiful, they also have a rich scent valued in perfumery. Native to Australia, mimosas were brought to France in the 18th century by the British explorer, Captain James Cook, and they have flourished in the mild winters of the Mediterranean coast. Every February the Massif de Tanneron in Provence turns golden yellow as the mimosas come into bloom, a Fauvist painting come alive.

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I was recently having dinner with a friend at Le Soufflé, a restaurant in Paris specializing in the iconic French dish comprising little more than eggs and air, when she asked me if there were any fragrances that suggested the same lightness and sensuality as a well-made soufflé. The question took me by surprise, but I liked the idea of a floral that felt weightless without being fleeting.

My quest wasn’t simple, because the floral family in perfumery is vast, ranging from fresh blends based on orange blossom and lily of the valley to smoldering potions of tuberose and jasmine. Since it’s one of the most popular choices for women the world over, perfumers constantly develop this family, adding new accords that suggest novel types of florals as well evoke different effects.

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