Star rating: 5 stars–outstanding/potential classic, 4 stars–very good, 3 stars–adequate, 2 stars–disappointing, 1 star–poor.

First, please let me get it off my chest. I am angry at Fendi for discontinuing Theorema, one of the perfect spicy fragrances—it smells like pomanders and smoky roses. I am disappointed that Life Essence, a brilliant perfume of mossy cedarwood, cardamom and geranium was axed. And I still don’t understand why Asja, the spicy jasmine set in amber, had to go as well. So when Fan di Fendi landed on my local Sephora shelf, I tried my best to ignore it.

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Niche perfume brand Odin New York will open their first pop-up shop in collaboration with Snarkitecture. The pop up shop will include all six of Odin’s unisex fragrances: 01 Sunda, 02 Owari, 03 Century, 04 Petrana, 06 Amanu, and 07 Tanoke, as well as their four home fragrances in the following scents: 01 Sunda, 02 Owari, 03 Century, and 04 Petrana.

Odin New York Fragrances and Home Fragrances is made up of a complete library of six unisex scents and four candles that evoke the exoticism of travel and a modern approach to time-honored fragrance traditions. The pop-up shop aims to showcase the well-considered design of these products by inverting the darkness of the packaging resulting in a bright, clean space.

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The first time I tried Manoumalia, a perfume from the niche fragrance house Les Nez, I was so repulsed by its heavy sweetness that I immediately ran to scrub it off my skin. The same thing happened when I tentatively approached it again. How could anyone enjoy something that smells like rotting fruit and wilting flowers, I wondered? But in spite of myself I kept my sample around and from time to time I would pick it up and sniff the cap until one day it dawned on me that Manoumalia isn’t so much a pleasant scent as a whole sensory experience. It smells so realistically of the tropics that wearing it is like stepping off the plane into the dark Indian night. It’s a sensory rollercoaster.

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“In 1992 I starred in an advert for Coco perfume where I had to swing on a perch inside a gigantic birdcage. To prepare I spent a week learning trapeze with a circus instructor. It was a thrill to feel like I was flying through the air like a bird. I didn’t stop smiling for that entire week.”

From The world according to Vanessa Paradis. Read the rest of this interesting article in dailymail.co.uk.

It’s my pleasure to share with you that Bois de Jasmin won the 2011 FiFi Award for Editorial Excellence. The winning article was my exploration of functional perfumery, Luxury vs Function. I’m happy that this particular article won (my other two nominations were Red Lipstick Glamour and Building Perfume Wardrobe); although I talk on a regular basis about fine fragrance, I haven’t always recognized the art of functional perfumery. When I was first training in perfumery, I scoffed at making scents for laundry detergents, soaps and candles. You have a tiny budget, a handful of allowed materials and hardly any room for creativity. Where was the art in that?

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