Victoria: 2669 posts

Denyse Beaulieu of Grain de Musc is on a North American tour promoting her book The Perfume Lover. If you’re in New York, you can meet her on March 22^nd from 4 to 8pm at Aedes de Venustas, a perfume boutique located at 9 Christopher St. With each book purchased, she will give away a 2ml spray sample of L’Artisan Séville à l’Aube, the star of her book.

Canadians can meet her in Toronto and Montreal.  For more details, please see Denyse’s post about her tour activities.

Our “Recommend Me a Perfume” is here today. I’m already craving spring, but we still have snow on the ground and my favorite warm fragrances are in heavy rotation.

How does it work:

1. Please post your requests or questions as comments here. You can also use this space to ask any fragrance related questions. To receive recommendations that are better tailored to your tastes, you can include details on what you like and don’t like, your signature perfumes, and your budget.

2. Then please check the thread to see if there are other requests you can answer. Your responses are really valuable for navigating the big and sometimes confusing world of perfume, so let’s help each other!

To make this thread easier to read, when you reply to someone, please click on the blue “reply” link under their comment.

Photography by Bois de Jasmin

Do you know the feeling when you try an outfit and can’t decide whether it suits you or not? You think, “maybe it would be fine if I were to add a different purse or wear my hair up…” Those are the kind of pieces that end up gathering dust in the closet. Perfume is not exactly like clothing, because some fragrances don’t cast their spell on you immediately, but as my recent experience with Chanel 1932 proved, sometimes the first instinct is the correct one.

I admit to having a certain reverence for Chanel. Its perfume collection includes some splendid gems like No 5, Bois des Iles, Cuir de Russie, and No 19, and even releases like Allure and Coco Mademoiselle have the kind of attention to quality that one rarely finds at department store counters. For this reason, I wasn’t ready to give up on 1932, a new addition to the Les Exclusifs collection, but when I first tried it on my skin I found it to be pale and limpid.

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My March topic for the Financial Times Magazine is about pampering. In Sultry Fragrances for a Scented Bath, I share some of my favorite scents. This winter, I’ve been indulging in baths perfumed with Estée Lauder Youth Dew and Roger & Gallet Cologne. When I don’t have time for a proper relaxing bath, I spritz a bit of cologne into the shower to enjoy a fresh burst of citrus. It gives me a stronger jolt than a cup of coffee!

I treat myself to perfumed baths whenever I feel tired or simply in need of some pampering. It’s an indispensable indulgence and one of the most satisfying scented pleasures. To feel as if I’m floating on rose petals, I turn to Red Roses Bath Oil by Jo Malone (£52 for 200ml). It leaves skin soft and redolent of lemony tea roses. L’Artisan Parfumeur’s La Chasse aux Papillons Dry Body Oil (£40 for 100ml) is perfumed with the sweetness of tuberose and linden blossom, and while it can be used instead of moisturising cream, in the bath it feels especially luscious. Please read the rest by clicking here.

What do you use whenever you crave some pampering?

Photography via FT.

Tom Ford is launching a new perfume in the Signature Collection, which includes fragrances like Black Orchid, Tom Ford Noir, Violet Blonde, and White Patchouli. Sahara Noir is inspired by the Middle Eastern perfume tradition and the incense notes. As Ford says, “Middle Eastern culture has an extraordinary appreciation for the luxurious, emotional and memorable qualities of fragrance; perfume is worn there in a way that feels very familiar to me. Sahara Noir is my interpretation of this heritage. It is a deep and substantial perfume that caresses the senses.”

Sahara Noir is a woody oriental perfume based on frankincense. Bitter orange, cypress, calamus, cinnamon, papyrus extract, Egyptian jasmine templar and rose absolute from Morocco are used to accent the heart of the composition.

“A beeswax extraction from Burma lends body and a supple, honeyed-animalic richness. The dry down is amber-laced and warm. It is formed by a special blend of two facets of labdanum—labdanum absolute and a uniquely rich natural fraction of labdanum known as ambreinol—with rich benzoin from Laos and vanilla bean from Madagascar. Lebanese cedar, frankincense resin, agarwood and Peru balsam add luxurious substance and lasting presence.”

Available at Tom Ford Beauty counters starting May 2013. 50ml bottle of Eau de Parfum retails for £100. Via press release