Perfume 101: 517 posts

Top Selling Feminine Fragrances 2o12 France

Top Selling Perfumes USA : Popular Fragrances Spring 2012

Top Selling Feminine Fragrances 2011 USA

Top Selling Feminine Fragrances for 2010 USA

Top Selling Feminine Fragrances for 2010 France

To round out the list of blockbusters last year, the next two posts in this series will focus on masculine fragrances. Looking at the top sellers in men’s market, I was surprised to discover that a newcomer pastiche like Bleu de Chanel managed to outsell the traditional masculine blockbuster Giorgio Armani Acqua di Giò Pour Homme by quite a sizable margin. This discovery followed another one—there are more classical, older fragrance among masculine top sellers than is the case with the feminine ones.

Continue reading →

Recently as I was reading Self-Styled Siren’s fantastic post about Ten Movies Siren Should Love But Does Not, I got to thinking about fragrances that by all accounts should be among my favorites yet fail to move me. These are not the acrylic florals, the vulgar lollipops or the boring copycats. Most of the fragrances on my list are nicely done and distinctive enough to be memorable. For different reasons, they just do not appeal to me.

Serge Lutens Rahat Loukoum

I will not exaggerate if I say that Rahat Loukoum is my least favorite out of the entire collection. I would rather wear L’Eau than this blend of musk, heliotropine and vanilla. A high quality composition that smells like a cheap Duane Reade candle.

Continue reading →

Part 1: Layering Fragrances : Perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena’s and French Elle Suggestions

Last winter French Elle has published an installment on layering perfumes, giving helpful tips and providing eleven different suggestions. I indicate with an asterisk (*) the combinations I particularly liked. The translation from French is my own.

Continue reading →

Series 1 :: Series 2 :: Series 3 :: Series 4 :: Series 5 :: Series 6 :: Series 7 :: Series 8 :: Series 9 :: Series 10

I am continuing the 100 Great Perfumes series that originated from the perfumery training course I designed. The next ten fragrances display a trend that would peak in the 1980s—increasingly louder fragrances. This was an American phenomenon that first was explored by Estée Lauder in her Youth Dew fragrance and that subsequently received a new interpretation with fragrances like Lagerfeld Chloé, Giorgio Beverly Hills and Christian Dior Poison. The fragrances below also highlight a new trend that would mark the 1970s—green chypres, a vibrant combination of exhilarating green notes and the earthy darkness of moss and patchouli. Where would we be today without fragrances like Chanel No 19, Estée Lauder Alliage and Clinique Aromatics Elixir?

Continue reading →

The average US consumer prefers fragrances like Chanel Coco Mademoiselle, Christian Dior J’Adore and Bleu de Chanel. Exploring lists of top sellers is no doubt very interesting as it reveals a lot about trends and preferences, all of which influence what you and I will find on the fragrance counter next season. Yet, I find the likes and dislikes of blog readers to be much more fascinating. For one thing, you are a group with a strong interest in fragrance, which has nothing to do with how many bottles of perfume one owns or whether one can recite the names of the legendary perfumes off the top of their head. If you are reading perfume blogs, then you probably already have a passion for fragrance. You assess a new perfume differently and you are likely to pay more attention to the scent itself rather than the bottle and other marketing trappings.

Therefore, when I recently asked for your top five favorite fragrances, I realized that it would be interesting to determine which out of the 1000+ fragrances mentioned make it into the blog reader’s top 20 list. The results are analyzed below. I also include the top 15 favorite houses and a selection of favorite fragrances from certain notable perfume houses. There were over 200 respondents, most of which were women. Enjoy!

Continue reading →