For the past twenty years, Bois de Jasmin has been my home. It has grown with me on countless journeys through perfumery, cultural curiosities, writing, and life’s unexpected turns. Many of you have been reading since the early 2000s; others joined along the way. All of you made this space what it is: a place shaped by scent, curiosity, beauty, and thoughtful conversation.
As I prepare for my upcoming trip to Ukraine and work on a new project, I feel the pull toward a different kind of writing, deeper, more personal, more expansive than a traditional blog format easily allows. Which is why, after much deliberation, I finally created a Substack, Bois de Jasmin Circle.
So what is my Substack about?
In short:
It’s a space where creativity, scent, and culture help us survive chaos, told through my journeys in Ukraine and around the world. As a journalist, I’ve worked in and written from conflict zones, and those experiences changed how I understand beauty, ritual, and the role of creativity in dark times.
More specifically, Bois de Jasmin Circle will explore:
1. Scent as a way of understanding identity, memory, and place
I will write about raw materials, classical fragrances worth studying, smell-training exercises, and the way perfume anchors us emotionally and culturally. Perfumery, for me, has always been a language of belonging.
2. Creativity as a survival tool
Not luxury, not escapism, but the kind of beauty that keeps us alive. The rituals that give shape to difficult days. The art forms that help us endure upheaval, loss, trauma, and transformation.
3. Dispatches from Ukraine: beauty amid destruction
I’ve spent long stretches of time in Kharkiv, Sumy, and Odesa. I’ve walked through neighborhoods shattered by missiles, visited artists in their studios, stayed with cat rescuers during blackouts. In Ukraine, sensory detail becomes testimony. Substack will be the place for those essays.
4. Practical, generous knowledge
Pieces you can use in your daily life, such as:
- how to train your nose
- how to build a perfumer’s palette
- classical perfumes to study
- notes on tea, textiles, food, and sense of place
- small guides to scent and culture
5. A personal journey
I will also write about my own transformations, through travel, through PTSD, through returning to Ukraine again and again, through teaching, through creativity as a way of keeping the inner world alive.
In one sentence:
My Substack is a place where scent, creativity, and memory meet. I envision it as a guide to beauty and survival in a chaotic world.
And what about Bois de Jasmin?
Bois de Jasmin is not going away.
This blog remains my anchor, a curated archive of perfume reviews, cultural explorations, recipes, interviews, and guides. Here you will continue to find:
- fragrance reviews and recommendations
- perfumery history and classical perfumes
- scent and culture essays
- travel notes connected to aromatics
- recipes and food stories
- seasonal guides and lists
- interviews and artisan spotlights
- my online seminars and course announcements
Bois de Jasmin will remain what it has always been: a welcoming, thoughtful space for scent lovers of all backgrounds. The newsl
Substack will simply allow me to explore a different rhythm and more reflective, sometimes more personal writing without overwhelming the structure of the blog.
Thank you
Thank you for reading, for supporting my work, and for staying with me through so many chapters of life. If you choose to follow both spaces, I will be honoured. And if you prefer to continue reading only here, know that Bois de Jasmin will continue to flourish.
As always, I’m grateful to you, your comments and your feedback.
— Victoria
28 Comments
Hamamelis: First, how good that Bois de Jasmin will remain what it has been! Second, I am looking forward to your substack posts, I’ve just subscribed :-).
Your voice on beauty, in all its forms, is so welcome, always has been, but certainly now.
Looking forward to continue to see you and all commenters here, and on Bois de Jasmin Circle. November 14, 2025 at 9:16am
Elizabeth Jonca: Hamamelis, I second your comment because it states thoughts we readers have about Victoria and her work succinctly.
Victoria, good luck on your new venture! November 14, 2025 at 9:23am
Victoria: Thank you, Elizabeth. I’m so glad to have your encouragement. November 14, 2025 at 1:21pm
Victoria: Thank you. I’m delighted you subscribed and very happy that we’ll continue our conversations in both places. November 14, 2025 at 1:21pm
Hollis Sherman: Best wishes on this new venture. Your writing is so inspiring, whether it is about a favorite fragrance or your reporting and thoughts on beautiful Ukraine. November 14, 2025 at 9:28am
Victoria: Thank you, Hollis. I’m grateful for your support and for your presence here through these different journeys. November 14, 2025 at 1:20pm
Marianne: Thank you for your graceful giving and eloquent writing, Victoria. I’m glad I happened to land on Bois de Jasmine several years ago, my life has been enriched and I’m glad you’ll continue to change and grow while thankfully maintaining the original site. I love the authenticity in your words including when writing about dark times; such times have rumbled in my family over generations and include war trauma. I love how you still shimmer and share beauty and loveliness as a vital counterpoint and look forward to subscribing to your new medium. November 14, 2025 at 5:52pm
Victoria: Thank you very much! This means a lot to me. November 17, 2025 at 12:50pm
Cynthia: I think this is a great idea, and I look forward to reading your Substack. About ten years ago my husband and daughter went on a search to find relatives displaced after WWII, as his parents had immigrated to Australia. They found a town full of Lesiuk’s a bit south of Kalush and were welcomed like kings. I find what is happening in Ukraine so heartbreaking, but really appreciate your multilayered views. November 14, 2025 at 9:49am
Victoria: Thank you for sharing that story, Cynthia. What a beautiful connection to Ukraine. I’m touched by your kind words and by how you continue to follow my work. November 14, 2025 at 1:20pm
Billy Beyond: I love it! Thank you for the. Ew sub stack. WE LOVE YOUR WRITING! You inspire this fellow artist November 14, 2025 at 9:55am
Victoria: Thank you, Billy. That makes me so happy to read. Wishing you inspiration and joy in your own work too. November 14, 2025 at 1:20pm
joan ramirez: I’m on a limited budget as authors do struggle before their major work is published.
I’d love to subscribe but if there is a fee, I cannot it. Please advise. November 14, 2025 at 10:06am
Victoria: Thank you, Joan. You can subscribe for free on Substack. It’s just that some posts won’t available. You can choose your level of engagement yourself. November 14, 2025 at 1:20pm
Donna: Wonderful!! November 14, 2025 at 10:10am
Victoria: Thank you, Donna. I’m so glad you like the direction. November 14, 2025 at 1:19pm
April: Brava, Victoria for being able to share and reach out on this new media. Wishing you the very best on this project. Very happy to see Bois de Jasmine will remain for your grateful readers. November 14, 2025 at 11:00am
Victoria: Thank you, April. I’m very happy to continue both spaces, each with its own rhythm. Your encouragement means a lot. November 14, 2025 at 1:19pm
Karen A: Just subscribed! Your work and writing helps keep me focused on what matters! November 14, 2025 at 12:22pm
Victoria: Thank you so much, Karen. I’m so glad to have you with me on this next step. November 14, 2025 at 1:18pm
Aromatick: Hi Victoria,
Thank you for sharing this beautiful and deeply meaningful update. Few writers in the fragrance world have carried scent beyond aesthetics and into the realms of culture, memory, identity, and resilience the way you have. Reading this post, it felt clear that you’re opening a new chapter not by leaving anything behind, but by widening the circle.
Your decision to create Bois de Jasmin Circle makes perfect sense — your work has always had a depth that stretches past what a traditional blog format can hold. The way you speak about creativity as a survival tool, especially in the context of your time in Ukraine, feels both necessary and urgent. Scent isn’t just pleasure in your writing; it’s a way to stay human when the world becomes unimaginable.
The themes you outlined — belonging, raw materials, emotional anchoring, the rituals that shape difficult days — are exactly what made so many of us fall in love with your writing in the first place. I’m especially moved by your commitment to writing from Ukraine with sensory detail as a form of testimony. You’ve always used beauty not to escape reality, but to illuminate it.
It’s also comforting to know that Bois de Jasmin will remain its steady, generous home: perfume reviews, cultural essays, classical studies, seasonal lists, and the recipes and travel notes that have become part of its soul. The continuity matters, and your community appreciates it more than you know.
Wherever your writing goes — Substack, the blog, Ukraine, or anywhere the next decade brings you — your readers will follow because your voice makes us see and smell the world differently.
And if at any point you’re looking to explore resources or classics that readers can access more affordably, I’d be glad to offer support through Aromatick.com
. We work to make both designer and niche fragrances more reachable, and I know many of your readers seek the very perfumes you teach us to understand more deeply.
Thank you for continuing to create spaces where scent becomes story, memory, and connection. Wishing you safety in your travels, clarity in your writing, and peace in the chapters ahead.
Warmly,
Rodney Gallagher
Aromatick.com November 14, 2025 at 12:41pm
Victoria: Rodney, thank you for this thoughtful and generous message. Your words moved me deeply. It means a great deal to know that the ideas behind Bois de Jasmin Circle resonate. I love your phrasing about widening the circle — that is exactly how I feel. I also appreciate your kind offer of support through Aromatick. I’ll be in touch. November 14, 2025 at 1:18pm
Aurora: It seems a very harmonious balance between preserving the blog with reviews and still recommend me a perfume I hope? and a new venture which offers flexibility for longer articles if you feel like it. I am now subscribed😀 November 15, 2025 at 6:53am
Victoria: Thank you very much! I appreciate your support. Bois de Jasmin is not going away, please rest assured. November 17, 2025 at 12:48pm
Gabriela: Dear Victoria,
Please keep writing, reading your blog brings so much beauty into the world.
This community is a space of sharing and keeping our minds sane in troubled times. November 15, 2025 at 10:57am
Victoria: Thank you so much! This community is precious. November 17, 2025 at 12:49pm
mithun: What an inspiring twenty-year journey Bois de Jasmin has been! I’ve always appreciated the scent, curiosity, and thoughtfulness you brought to your writing. I’m excited to see how this new Substack format will allow your voice to expand even further. Thank you for all you share! November 17, 2025 at 6:50am
Victoria: Thank you for your kind words! November 17, 2025 at 12:49pm