The arbitrary nature of gender divisions in fragrance becomes obvious as soon as you examine scent habits around the world. Both men and women splash themselves with sharp citrus colognes in Spain. Jasmine attars are shared in India, while rose is a favorite essence among men in the Gulf countries. But try to convince a lad in North America to don some flowers and you are met with a quizzical look. Aren’t roses just for ladies? Of course, this won’t hold true for the regular Bois de Jasmin male readers on both sides of the ocean, but gender associations with fragrances can be hard to break.

Francois Robert, the perfumer behind the niche line Les Parfums de Rosine, doesn’t think so. Les Parfums de Rosine is devoted to fragrances based on rose, and it includes a dizzying array of roses in all guises, including roses for men. Rose d’Homme is a rose in soft focus blended into leather and patchouli. Rossisimo wraps the red blossoms around a zesty accord of bitter orange and bergamot, with a dash of lavender for a cavalier spirit. Both fragrances require a willingness to experiment, but the classical masculine scents like leather and citrus take so well to rose that the outcome is refined rather than radical.

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I’m happy to announce that I can finally offer Bois de Jasmin online courses. The first series of classes will be lectures designed to sharpen your sense smell and improve your enjoyment and appreciation of scents. You will learn professional smelling techniques and receive personalized tips. You will learn how to smell complex aromas and about the main criteria of a well-made fragrance–and how to look for them.

Please note that every lecture has a slightly different theme! For the winter of 2021, I will focus on spices, woods, and citrus.

We will use readily available fragrant materials for our class exercises, such as spices, coffee, or citrus fruit. You can also bring your favorite perfumes to the lecture. You’ll receive the full instructions before the start of the class.

You’ll also have time at the end of the lecture to ask questions. If you are interested in something specific, you can send me your questions beforehand. I look forward to meeting you! 

Location: Online

Date & Time: 1h + 15min Q&A

November 10th, Wednesday 1:30pm-2:30pm ET/7:30pm-8:30pm CET (time zone converter)   Spices $55 per person:  SOLD OUT please send me an email to be notified when this class returns

December 1st, Wednesday 1:30pm-2:30pm ET/7:30pm-8:30pm CET (time zone converter)   Dark Woods $55 per person: SOLD OUT  please send me an email to be notified when this class returns

December 11th, Saturday 1:30pm-2:30pm ET/7:30pm-8:30pm CET (time zone converter)  Citrus Fruit $55 per person:  SOLD OUT  please send me an email to be notified when this class returns

Important: If you booked the class successfully, you should receive a receipt and a confirmation from me. If you don’t, please check your spam folder or contact me. Closer to the date of the class, you will receive a separate email with joining instructions.

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For the news of upcoming lectures, refund policy, and privacy policy, please take a look at the Online Courses page.

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!

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, yarrow flowers

I started my 2-part patchouli series by describing classical fragrances, or rather classical uses of patchouli. This material was once used as an accent note to enrich ambers, leathers, and mosses, add darkness to herbs and citrus, and to create shadows in floral bouquets. Then Thierry Mugler Angel happens in 1993 and perfumery hasn’t been the same since. Today, using a formula with 25% patchouli won’t make anyone raise their eyebrows, and this ingredient has become so ubiquitous in sweet, gourmand perfumes that it has engendered its own family.

Why has this happened? Angel certainly showed that pairing patchouli with sugary notes like caramel, vanilla, or cotton candy creates a striking contrast. The sweetness recedes, while the warm dryness of patchouli shimmers. Imagine that almost thirty years later Angel remains one of the most copied perfumes. It’s also still among the top-selling fragrances.

For this reason, compiling a list of modern patchouli fragrances was easy. I titled my post “Favorite” patchouli fragrances, although I should say that I also included perfumes that made a splash and influenced other creations, whether in fine fragrance, candles, shower gels, or home cleaning products.

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I continue the topic of perfume industry professions. I receive many questions and most of them are similar, so I decided to record a follow-up video. This episode addresses questions from people interested to become perfumers but worried about diversity and not being able to fit in. I’ll explain based on my own experiences and offer several practical suggestions.

This topic is certainly vast, but I hope to touch upon a few key issues. The main idea I would like to reinforce is that the fragrance industry is open to anyone who is passionate, curious, and motivated. I don’t come from a perfumery background. I don’t even come from a country where perfumery is a viable profession. I had no connections to the industry. Yet, I managed to enter it, learn, and create my own niche in it.

If you have any questions, please let me know in the comments. I also recommend taking a look at Things to Consider if You Want to Become a Perfumer.