“Two natural endowments are necessary to a fine perfumer—good taste and an olfactory nerve suited to segregating not only kinds of odors but their qualities. Coty’s gift for his career was an olfactory nerve, marvellously talented and acute. Its judgment, incidentally, was once unquestioningly accepted by a rival who was bringing suit. Though he began by exporting essences from the flower fields of Grasse on the Riviera, and can still be recalled later peddling his perfumes to the barbers of Paris, it was by way of his bottles that he really broke into the big perfume business of Europe,” said the fascinating article about François Coty published on May 3rd of 1930. Read the rest from the New Yorker archives. It is fitting to include an article on Coty this week. After all, his first fragrance La Rose Jacqueminot has been a major success.
I shall be back next week with the discussion of Shisiedo Nombre Noir and damascones, the materials that can range from roses to dried figs. Their glow is what illuminates Nombre Noir, gives interesting complexity to Guerlain Nahema and fills the lucid heart of Be Delicious for Men.
