Victoria: 2669 posts

Creative director of Editions de Parfums, Frédéric Malle offers some tips for selecting the perfect spring scent in the recent leaflet sent out by the house.

• Fragrances are like clothes: some are warmer than others. It is uncomfortable to wear a heavy dose of warm oriental on a hot day, but a hint might work
• Consider changing your perfume every season if you are wearing a very fresh or heavy Chypre fragrance
• You should always try a new fragrance before purchasing. The top notes function for about 15 minutes, then leave way to the heart of the perfume, which is it’s real personality

Out of his collection, Malle recommends floral fragrances like Carnal Flower, En Passant and Lys Mediterranée to evoke the sunshine. For my perfect spring etude, I select L’Eau d’Hiver, which despite its wintery name, smells of early spring with its melted snow, violets peaking under the wet soil and sweetness of first buds. But if I want the Mediterranean sunshine, I will turn to Le Parfum de Thérèse, which smells of ripe Cavaillon melons and jasmine.

Painting: Spring in Italy, Isaac Levitan, 1890. Via wiki-paintings, some rights reserved.

Let it be spring! Nowruz, or “new day” in Persian, falls on the spring equinox and is celebrated for the thirteen following days. This year it fell on March 20th, and now we’re in the Persian year of 1393. While Nowruz is a major festival in Iran, the holiday is also celebrated in other countries, where ancient Persian culture left its mark, such as Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Albania, India, and Turkey. The festivities came into our family with my Azeri stepmother, and along with Easter, Nowruz is one of my favorite holidays for its rich symbolism of renewal and hope. It’s also a reminder that winter’s grasp is weakening and that warm days are around the corner.

In every home, the centerpiece of Nowruz celebrations would be a table decorated with seven items, haftseen or the seven S’s. Seven is considered a lucky number, and each item on the table beginning with the letter seen (s) in Persian has its unique meaning. For instance, seeb (apple) represents beauty, seer (garlic)–good health, serkeh (vinegar)–patience, and sekeh (coins)–prosperity. The arrangement is ornate and colorful, and people make rounds admiring each other’s haftseen tables, sharing good wishes and delicious food.

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Cacharel is relaunching its 1978 classic Anaïs Anaïs. It will now be called Anaïs Anaïs L’Original, and it will be joined by Anaïs Anaïs Premier Délice, a fresh fruity-floral variation. Anaïs Anaïs Premier Délice was created by perfumers  Olivier Cresp and Dora Baghriche, and it includes notes of galbanum, bergamot, orange, pear, hyacinth, peony, cocoa, and cedar.

The original Anaïs Anaïs is a legendary fragrance that set many trends with its tender, romantic character. It blends hyacinth, orange blossom, green notes, carnation, iris, jasmine, lily, lily of the valley, rose, tuberose, ylang-ylang, honeysuckle, cedarwood, sandalwood, vetiver, amber, musk, and incense. Despite all of its rich notes, Anaïs Anaïs feels breezy and radiant.

Anaïs Anaïs Premier Délice will be available in 30 and 50ml Eau de Toilette starting April 1st, 2014. Via vogue.fr.

New research conducted by scientists at Rockefeller University revealed that the human nose is much more sensitive than was previously believed and can distinguish close to a trillion different scents. Another study at Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon shows that “the regions of the brain associated with olfaction are more developed in professional perfumers than in the general population” and that with practice, it’s possible to reverse the age-related grey matter reduction that affects the olfactory regions among the general population.

“Take care of your nose and use it more often,” is the main advice I give in my perfumery classes. But the frequent question is whether it’s possible for a non-professional to improve their sense of smell. There is a belief that perfumers are unique in their ability to perceive scents that other people simply can’t identify. There is nothing further from truth; what separates perfumers from the general public is the number of hours they dedicate to smelling. It’s also no coincidence that many perfumers come from families involved in the fragrance trade, and they are taught to use their nose at an early age.

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Laine de Verre continues Serge Lutens’s quest of toying with the artificial and unexpected. The name in French means glass wool, which is a type of fiberglass used for insulation. It’s certainly not something one would anticipate inspiring a perfume, but it’s all the more reason for Serge Lutens to try. The fragrance, built around shimmering, cool notes, promised to be a shocking and unusual item.

“A domestic quarrel between my feminine and my masculine,” mentioned Lutens’s press release, once again living up to its reputation for an enigmatic turn of phrase. I usually aim for balance and harmony myself, but I was still game to experience any upheaval in a perfume bottle. There was none, but the opening of Laine de Verre was unexpectedly classical and clean.

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