On perfume blogs you sometimes see lighthearted polls like “what perfumes would you grab if your home were on fire?” Now imagine a real-life situation where your city is bombarded and you escape with only limited belongings. That’s what happened to Olga Gritsenko, a Ukrainian perfume lover and blogger. In 2022, she was forced to flee her native city of Kharkiv at the start of the Russian invasion and travel across Ukraine to the western town of Mukachevo. Her story is inspiring, because not only did Olga save her perfume collection, she also established herself in a new place, launched a popular YouTube channel called Olfattivo and created a subscription service called “Ukrainian perfume boxes” to support indie perfumers.

This amazing woman will join me for a special seminar. In March, I’ll be visiting Olga in Ukraine. Our seminar will be broadcast from her new home and we will talk about why Ukraine is such a perfume-obsessed country and how scents provide powerful emotional support. It’s going to be relevant in the current climate, as many people around the world face political upheavals, economic problems or personal setbacks.

Our other topics will include:

• the fascinating world of vintage Ukrainian perfumery
• what perfumes are popular in Ukraine
• how does one build a perfume collection and preserve it in times of adversity
• how do people shop for perfume in Ukraine
• how to use scents for emotional support
• what kind of fragrances represent Ukraine
• Olga’s “Ukrainian perfume” boxes and more.

As a special offer from me, the first 5 people to sign up for the seminar will receive a set of Ukrainian perfume samples.

Our encounter has another reason–I’m gathering funds to support community projects in my region. While there are plenty of charities and government-level programs, the only way to ensure that money goes to the people in need is to locate those communities and help them directly.

• Purchasing art supplies for the free-of-charge art studios and local art schools that rehabilitate children suffering from post-traumatic shock. One such school in Kyiv also works with war veterans.
• Working with local outreach programs to respond to the lonely elderly and their needs.
• Supporting local cultural preservation projects and traditional crafts.  This war has had devastating consequences on Ukraine’s culture and environment and I organize efforts to support artisans and local museums who continue their work despite the harrowing circumstances. On my Instagram, I will record my travels and my work.

The session will take place online via Zoom and will last for 1 hour. If you have questions for me and Olga, you can email them beforehand. The seminar will be in English. Recording will be available to those who can’t join in person.

IMPORTANT: Your email confirmation with joining instructions will arrive within 24 hours after payment. 

Location: Zoom
Class duration: 1 hour
March 14, Friday, 12:00-13:00 EST (17:00-18:00 CET–note the daylight savings hours starting early in the USA)
50€ Book Now (recording available)

Photo: Olga and her treasures. You can also follow Olga via her Instagram.

If you simply visit to donate to support the Kyiv Children’s Art School, a remarkable place that gives free classes to children traumatized by war, you can do so via this link or QR code. Any amount will make a difference. They need more brushes, pencils and paints.

Mimosa is a winter flower that holds the promise of spring. One of my most vivid childhood memories is seeing Georgian florists in Kyiv set up their mimosa stands in the last weeks of February. My mother would buy a big bouquet whenever we passed by and bury her face in the yellow flowers. Mimosa is happiness. Mimosa is a ray of sunshine.

In Belgium, mimosa comes either from Italy or France, and when the florists receive it, just like the Georgian mimosa vendors of my youth, they also display it in the street. How can anyone resist a yellow splash of mimosa? Even more inviting than the color of this flower is its scent. It’s delicate yet surprisingly persistent, filling my entire apartment with its nuances of violets, almonds, and cucumber peels. The temptation is to look for a similar interpretation in a bottle of perfume.

One of the classical interpretations is found in Jo Malone’s Mimosa and Cardamom, where the light, creamy aroma of the mimosa flower blends with the cool freshness of cardamom, creating a bright, uplifting effect. Powdery floral notes frame the mimosa and meld into the soft musky base. While the mimosa impression is not the most natural, it’s nevertheless close.

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I first met Christophe Laudamiel when I joined IFF. From our first meeting, he became someone I turned to for advice, support or inspiration. Now years later I still consider Christophe an important person who formed the way I think about perfume and perfumery education. For this reason, our conversation on Saturday, February 15th, was so special. We connected in our thoughts about the future of perfumery, good trends developing right now and the best way to study fragrance. Christophe combines scientific precision with rich imagination, erudition and incredible passion. This is a combination I find irresistible, and I am sure that you will agree once you listen to our talk.

The recording of our conversation is now available. As I’m leaving for Ukraine in a couple of weeks, the funds will be used to support the local community projects I manage there, namely the art school in Kyiv that offers shelter and free classes to children.

50€ Listen Now

The topics Christophe and I covered:

• the future of perfumery
• what to do if you want to become a perfumer
• is niche perfumery moving in the right direction?
• how AI will change perfume formulation
• how to make the right fragrance choices as a consumer
• perfumery education
• which method is the best to study perfumery
• and much more!

In other news, Christophe exclusively shared the new fragrance taxonomy created by him and the Osmo team. It’s a completely novel way to think about perfume and fragrance descriptions. It moves away from the typical marketing terms and gives you tools to describe a wide range of aromas.

The second part of the taxonomy includes descriptors in different categories. You will see that unlike in conventional fragrance wheels, these descriptors are much more encompassing and move away from the typical European scents. The descriptors are ever evolving, so consider working with them and adding your own. In this way, we will contribute to building a rich and meaningful conversation about scents and perfume.

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Christophe Laudamiel needs no introduction. A master perfumer. An innovator. A renegade spirit. He runs DreamAir studios and Bélair Lab and creates artistic works and beautiful fragrances. A winner of several awards in chemistry and perfumery, Christophe is also an advocate of perfumery education and ethics and his efforts have been much needed, especially as the industry faces major challenges. Christophe was my colleague at IFF and someone deeply influential for my way of thinking about perfumery. This is why I’m particularly excited to share our new online seminar.

You will have a chance to participate in a conversation with Christophe and me on the following topics:

• the future of perfumery
• how to make the right fragrance choices as a consumer
•  the best of what’s going on in perfumery
• ethics and perfumery
• perfumery education
• and much more. You will have a chance to ask questions.

Our encounter has another reason–I’m preparing to travel to Ukraine and I’m gathering funds to support the community projects in my region. While there are plenty of charities and government-level programs, the only way to ensure that money goes to the people in need is to locate those communities and help them directly.

• Purchasing art supplies for the free-of-charge art studios and local art schools that rehabilitate children suffering from post-traumatic shock. One such school in Kyiv also works with war veterans.
• Working with local outreach programs to respond to the lonely elderly and their needs.
• Supporting local cultural preservation projects and traditional crafts.  This war has had devastating consequences on Ukraine’s culture and environment and I organize efforts to support artisans and local museums, who continue their work despite the harrowing circumstances. On my Instagram, I will record my travels and my work.

The session will take place online via Zoom and will last for 1 hour. If you have questions for me and Christophe, you can email them beforehand.

IMPORTANT: Your email confirmation with joining instructions will arrive within 24 hours after payment. 

Location: Zoom
Class duration: 1 hour
February 15, Saturday, 18:00-19:00 CET (12:00-13:00 EST)
50€ Book Now

Christophe has another surprise for you, so stay tuned for more details.

You can also follow Christophe via his Instagram.

For more information on Bois de Jasmin classes and other course offers, please visit the Perfume Classes page.

My wedding outfit wasn’t white. It was green, because in the western part of India where my husband’s family originates and where we were married, it means the color of life, spring and rejuvenation. Since then I have been paying more attention to this color, and the scents associated with it. In perfumery green can be suggested by a variety of materials, from naturals like violet leaf and galbanum to synthetics such as leaf alcohols that smell of freshly cut grass.

Green notes, however, can be difficult to wear, which is why, though this perfume family has many loyal fans, it remains small. We prefer our scents of freshly cut grass and new leaves in the air, rather than in the bottle. Nevertheless, certain green fragrances have become classics. One is L’Artisan Parfumeur Premier Figuier. It creates its signature fig accord with the clever combination of ivy, leaves and galbanum. The latter is a fennel-like plant that produces a pungent smelling essential oil. When carefully dosed, however, galbanum conjures up the vivid colors of spring—young buds, new leaves, damp earth.

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