Are you looking for a new fragrance? Our “Recommend Me a Perfume” thread is open this week. You can this space to find perfume recommendations, to share your discoveries and favorite scents, and to ask any questions about scents, aromas and flavors.

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 uner their comment.

Image: Léonard Tsuguharu Foujita, Youki and a Cat, 1923, private collection. To read about the artist, please take a look at my article Leonard Foujita : The Japanese Star of 1920s Paris.

Red always draws my attention–fabric, autumnal leaves, lipstick, the lacquer of Japanese bowls or perfume. Yes, perfume can also be red.

The impression of red in fragrance is subjective the way synesthesia tends to be, but Guerlain Nahema is a perfume that makes me feel as if I’m enveloped in layers of crimson silk. The effect comes from the combination of rose essence and the damascones, aroma-materials with the aroma of rose jam and stewed apples. This accord alone has a lipstick red hue, but paradoxically it comes across as even more saturated against the background of green citrus and hyacinth. Reds often stand out best against contrasting colors, and this is the case with Nahema.

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The Bois de Jasmin perfume seminar 2020 “Ukrainian Scent and Taste Adventure” is going to be special. Why Ukraine? Given the country’s incredible biodiversity and rich soil, Ukraine is one of the largest producers of aromatics, such as lavender, coriander, fennel, dill seed, sage, hyssop, mint, artemisia, caraway, pine, and beeswax. During my perfumery training, I came to understand that knowing where the ingredients come from is both thrilling and important. So, I want to share with you the professional techniques I’ve acquired during my studies. I would like to sharpen your sense of smell and bring you to the source of aromatic essences. Ukraine has an old and established tradition of folk medicine, and we will have the chance to learn about plants from a botanist and herbal specialist on site. Finally, I want you to discover different cultural traditions, foods and sights. Ukraine is the perfect destination for that.

Since we will be visiting Ukraine from June 2-9, 2002, we’ll experience summer at its most gorgeous. Hence, the theme of our perfume seminar will be Flowers and Herbs. Please note that unlike my other seminars, this one covers 8 days. My partner for this seminar is Nataliya Cummings of Experience Ukraine, who has been running tours for the past decade. She will take good care of us.

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In a memorable scene in Joris-Karl Huysman’s novel Against Nature, his character Des Esseintes is so inspired by reading Dickens that he decides to visit London. Yet, having traveled only as far as grey and rainy Paris, he feels that he has experienced London’s atmosphere enough in his imagination and abandons the whole idea. No doubt, Des Esseintes would have been sympathetic to the efforts of perfumers who attempt to satisfy the wanderlust of armchair travelers. One such venture is Carine Roitfeld Parfums, created by the former editor-in-chief of Vogue Paris. The line includes seven unisex fragrances, Aurélien, George, Kar-Wai, Lawrence, Orson, Sebastian and Vladimir, inspired by travel and by fictional lovers.

My ideal lover is George. He is elegant, suave, and soft-spoken, yet whatever he says keeps my interest piqued. (He has certainly read Huysmans, although decadence is not his favorite art current; he is more into realism.) I travel to Tokyo with George, where we stroll through autumnal temple gardens, take baths with iris petals and visit painting exhibits in those typically Japanese galleries filled with silence, soft light and a whiff of wood polish. With George on my arm, everything smells of violet leaves, moss and crushed green leaves. He doesn’t smoke, but the leather jacket that he wears so well is redolent of ashes and fine tobacco.

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In my recent article in FT magazine, Power to the Pumpkin, I explore the Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama’s way with pumpkins–as well as that of perfumers. Both are fun and surprising.

“My love of pumpkins stretches back to when I was a little child. I have always found them to be such tender things to touch and so wonderfully humorous, humble and appealing,” says artist Yayoi Kusama about the most recognizable motif of her work. Her pumpkins are cast in bronze, covered in polka dots or lit by a warm glow. The effect is both whimsical and eerie, echoing associations with childhood pastimes and autumnal stillness. Continue reading →