Lauren who is a professional fragrance evaluator shares her insights into what makes us perceive some smells as unpleasant. 

My dog smells like Saltine crackers: bleached white dough, a touch of yeast, and a generous sprinkling of salt. Her doggy scent, while unexpected, is not altogether unpleasant – and really quite appropriate, since she is snow-white. Historically, I never liked the smell of Saltine crackers—it conjured anxiety-filled memories of being sick with a stomachache—but today, I inhale my dog’s Saltine odorprint, and I’m filled with all the light and sweetness that her little spirit exudes. Whatever my associations with the aroma, it begs the question: how can my pet really smell like a processed cracker?

It turns out that many things we come into contact with on a daily basis do, in fact, share flavor or fragrance compounds. This explains why large tomatoes, if unripe, taste metallic like fish to me; or why, if I’m awakened by tempting odors luring me into my grandmother’s kitchen, I can never pinpoint if it’s brewing coffee, frying bacon, or both – bacon and coffee smell extremely similar to me.

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So, the first of our perfume boxes is continuing its travels, and Kate is now ready to pass it along to another person. Below, Kate is including her sampling notes and the list of perfume samples in the box. So, if you are in the US and would like to participate, here is how you can do it.

How does it work: To enter, please answer these questions: 1) are you in the US? ; 2) do you agree to pass the box onto someone else (and share your sampling notes with the rest of us)? and 3) what perfume are you wearing today and why did you pick it? Bois de Jasmin is on its fall break next week, so the thread is going to be open till we return on Monday, November 24th. I will pick the next box recipient via a random number generator.

When a winner is ready to pass the box onto someone else, they should get in touch with me. Please include the list of samples and your sampling notes (what you’ve discovered, what you’ve liked/disliked, any observations you care to include).

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The news of Frédéric Malle selling his Editions de Parfums house to Estée Lauder reminded me that I haven’t gotten around to writing about one of the most intriguing fragrances from his collection, Portrait of a Lady. Why intriguing? Well, consider the name. If it brings to your mind the cool elegance of Henry James’s heroines, then you’re not alone. I also expected something along these lines–ultra refined, sophisticated and feminine. Except that it is all wrong. Portrait of a Lady is interesting precisely because the scent is not at all what you expect. It’s a twist on a Middle Eastern theme, and it’s not all that lady-like.

If you’ve already smelled traditional Middle Eastern perfumes or western blends inspired by them (Amouage, Kilian’s ouds, Armani Privé Rose d’Arabie), then you might recognize similar elements in Portrait of a Lady. It has a generous dose of classical “oriental” notes–sandalwood, amber, patchouli, dark woods smoked over incense, and of course, rose. It has a similar dramatic and mysterious character that makes this perfume genre so distinctive.

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Parfums de Nicolaï is celebrating its 25th anniversary, and to mark the occasion, Patricia de Nicolaï and her husband Jean-Louis Michau, the founders of the perfume house, have published a book about their work. Titled Nicolaï, Parfumeur créateur: un métier d’artiste, this 145 page volume covers the story of the collection and their creators.

Patricia de Nicolaï is part of the Guerlain family, a granddaughter of Pierre Guerlain, Jacques Guerlain‘s brother. She grew up in the world of perfumery and quickly found her way into the lab. In her book, she describes her childhood, her apprenticeship and her thoughts on creation in general.

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Our resident tea expert Andy explores Kilian’s Imperial Tea, as he is searching for a jasmine tea in a perfume bottle.

The unending lure of creating new tea-inspired perfumes never ceases to amaze me. I’m always convinced the tea fragrance trend is on the brink of disappearing, that perfume houses have labeled it entirely passé, until yet another tea scent is launched, much to my delight. In the past, I’ve found myself sometimes disappointed by tea perfumes, so when I found out about By Kilian’s new addition to the Asian Tales Collection, Imperial Tea, I sat up in attention.

Calice Becker, the nose behind the radiant, green tea-inflected Tommy Girl, clearly authored Imperial Tea with a different point of reference. Imperial Tea takes a decidedly photorealistic approach to conjuring tea, in comparison to the airy abstraction of Tommy Girl and its relatives. However, with my overall feelings on Imperial Tea split, I’ve come to question whether or not this realistic approach is any more effective at capturing the spirit of twisted leaves and steaming cups.

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