The beginning of my interest in fragrance coincided more or less with a momentous year in perfumery:  1981.  It was in that first year of what would later be called the Big Eighties that a Beverly Hills boutique released an eponymous scent housed in a box with yellow stripes that evoked the store’s awning. Giorgio was an immediate and a ubiquitous smash, a powerhouse floral so outsized that restaurants were said to refuse seating to Giorgio-wearing patrons.

Giorgio was only the beginning of what would prove to be the last era of “big” perfumes.  By the time super-scents Calvin Klein Obsession and Dior Poison were released in 1985, women were already wafting KL and Vanderbilt (1982), Ungaro Diva and Yves Saint Laurent Paris (1983), Chanel Coco, Paloma Picasso Mon Parfum, and Forever Krystle (1984).

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Perfumer and founder of Aftelier Perfumes, Mandy Aftel, is launching her Chef’s Essences® collection in collaboration with Williams-Sonoma. It’s a  a line of pure and natural essential oils, selected specifically for use by home cooks. “These unique aromatic oils simply work like magic,” says Aftel.

“All you need is one or two drops to flavor an entire recipe, and transform an everyday dish into something exciting and luxurious. Each bottle holds up to 150 uses, and adds an incredible depth of flavor and aroma – without adding additional calories or changing the texture of the dish. Working with my Chef’s Essences also allows you to add complexity and excitement, with unusual flavor combinations such as Black Pepper and Basil, or Ginger and Asian Lemon. They are incredibly versatile and can be added to any dish with delicious results.”

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The combination of violet and oud is like a romance between Doris Day and Cary Grant—one is wholesome and innocent, the other is dark and smoldering. Yet, just as Day and Grant set the screen on fire in the comedy, “That Touch of Mink,” violet and oud can be an irresistible pairing as I discovered through Lalique Hommage à l’homme.

Hommage à l’homme is the newest Lalique perfume created by perfumers Christine Nagel and Mathilde Bijaoui. It’s a masculine fragrance, and while it’s much too virile for me personally, I would gladly smell it on men around me. You will not find typical masculine cologne elements wrapped into the elegant shape of Hommage à l’homme. It’s the fragrance equivalent of a leading man in a classic Hollywood film—dashing, suave, and sophisticated. Hommage à l’homme smells like something worn by Cary Grant, whether he dashes around the French Riviera with Grace Kelly or tries to woo Doris Day with mink coats and champagne.

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According to conventional fragrance marketing, most women run screaming from animalic notes, unless they are the clean, laundry type musks. Anything that smells too untoward or raunchy is a taboo. Now for most of you it may not be the case, but as I hear over and over again about the “fear of anything dirty,” I wonder what you think about it. Do you like animalic notes or detest them? What are your favorite “dirty” perfumes?

I enjoy the animalic notes in vintage fragrances like Chanel Cuir de Russie, Robert Piguet Bandit and Estee Lauder Azuree, which smell like a well-worn leather jacket. Serge Lutens Muscs Koublaï Khan is a fragrance I wear on a regular basis for its delicious rose wrapped in dark musk. L’Artisan Dzing! smells both like wet cardboard and a warm fur coat.

My favorite animalic perfume though is something called Lola. She’s my mom’s cat and she smells of soft musk and cedarwood.

The curious part about sampling a lot of fragrances is that contrary to my expectations, my tastes have gotten more eclectic, rather than more constrained. When I started writing articles here at Bois de Jasmin, I had very strong opinions on what I liked—jasmine (hence, the name of my blog!), iris, sandalwood and what I avoided—vanilla, fruit, anise. Well, seven years later, I realize that I like vanilla sweetened perfumes as much as I enjoy heady jasmine and cold iris perfumes. When I first tried Rochas Alchimie a few years ago, I didn’t even give it much chance. It contained every single thing I thought I disliked—rich vanilla, sweet caramel, juicy red berries and a sprinkling of sugared anise seeds. I thought it would be best as a dessert, not as a perfume.

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