Luang Prabang, a town in northern Laos, is a city of magnificent temples and old royal palaces. Although far from undiscovered by tourists, it still has a quaint ambiance and a mellow pace of life. It stretches languidly along the Mekong, glittering with the numerous golden spires that grace its pagodas. Visitors are attracted here by Luang Prabang’s beautiful  architecture and even more by its splendid cuisine, but I made the journey for the aromatic material called benzoin.

Laotian benzoin is a balsamic resin tapped from the Styrax tonkinensis trees. Redolent of vanilla and cinnamon, it’s a material with centuries old history. Its uses for incense, pharmacology and cosmetics have been recorded since antiquity, while in perfumery it has always played an important role as a warm base note. Today it continues to be highly valued. In fragrances, benzoin can be found all over the scent wheel, from citrus colognes to ambers. Classics like Chanel Égoïste and Guerlain Shalimar rely on its sweet accent. It’s also used for scenting toothpaste, soap, and a variety of other day-to-day necessities.

Continue reading →

Last year held a few memorable reads for me, even though I finished fewer books than I normally would have. When I looked through my diary, I noticed that my favorite titles ran the gamut from travelogues to novels, with short stories and poetry in between. Putting together the list of my favorites below was a pleasure, as I recalled what I read and why I was inspired to pick up these books. I hope that you will find my selection compelling, and in turn I look forward to hearing about the books you read and liked.

Elisa Shua Dusapin, Winter in Sokcho (French: Hiver à Sokcho)

A winner of the Prix Robert Walser, Winter in Sokcho is a debut novel from the French-Korean author Elisa Shua Dusapin. It’s the story of a meeting between a young French-Korean woman who works as a hotel receptionist and a comic strip artist who arrives looking for inspiration. The emotional gap between the characters in the novel, the alienation, and the unsaid words leave a lasting impression after reading this book. The writing exquisitely evokes the wintery atmosphere of a small port town with its neon lights, fish market and endless snow.

Continue reading →

Happy New Year! I wish everyone a wonderful and healthy 2023, and above all, I wish for peace this year. My fervent dream is to return to Ukraine.

Our “Recommend Me a Perfume” thread is open this week. You can use this space to find perfume recommendations, to share your discoveries and favorite scents, and to ask any questions about scents, aromas and flavors. Or you can just tell us what perfume you are wearing!

In other news, Bois de Jasmin has a Facebook page: Bois de Jasmin. You can also follow me on Twitter and Instagram.

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. And please let us know what you end up sampling. 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

I’m glad 2022 is drawing to a close. The war in Ukraine, the revolution in Iran, the floods in Pakistan, not to mention conflicts in Ethiopia, Yemen, the Sahel, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Sudan, Haiti, Colombia, and Myanmar, made this year devastating for many people around the world. For me personally it has been a difficult year with moments when it seemed that I wouldn’t be able to pull through. But it’s now December, and I’m here writing and feeling thankful for the blessings I can count.  My family and friends in Ukraine are safe. My Iranian friends and colleagues are likewise doing well, considering the circumstances. As my book, The Rooster House, was published in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Spain, I had a chance to travel around Europe, speak about Ukraine and its culture and get involved with causes to support my country during this difficult time. I was also happy to meet several Bois de Jasmin readers during these travels and discover more about the people who visit this page. Thank you for your support and encouragement. It made all the difference this year.

When it comes to summing up this year in terms of scents, at first I had a difficult time. I haven’t had a chance to try as many fragrances as I normally do. While the few that I tried were memorable, I wondered if I missed something interesting. Then a perfume-loving friend came to visit and brought me a large selection of new launch samples. It was fun to immerse myself into scents and escape into the world of incense and violets. This exercise reminded me of my great-grandmother Asya’s love of scents and her belief in the necessity to recharge, no matter how frivolous it might seem at the time.

What impressed me about my scent journey through 2022 was the diversity of the offerings. Some fragrances clearly stayed within the usual tropes–ambers and incense for niche and fruity-florals for prestige, but there were also many unusual compositions across all styles. I’ve highlighted such fragrances in my list below and added those that I instantly gravitated to. My best of the year lists are always highly personal and 2022 is no exception.

Continue reading →

Merry Christmas! This winter I crave comfort even more than I normally do. My workload has been extremely heavy, in addition to various activities in which I participated to support Ukraine at this difficult time. Also, winter arrived so suddenly that it caught me unawares, and it seemed as if one day I woke up to long stretches of cold weather and Belgian December rains. Normally, I would cope with it by reading and cooking, but making time for myself has been challenging lately. Perfumes came to the rescue and a few favorites in particular comforted me even when my schedule was grueling.

Below I will share several perfumes that embodied comfort for me this winter. I also recorded a video describing them, in case you prefer to listen (scroll to the end of the article.) In my video, I focused on five favorites, but in this article I will add two additional choices from the new 2022 launches. As always, I look forward to hearing about your own comforting, inviting scents.

Continue reading →