I’ve been on a rose trail for years. I’ve collected roses in France, Bulgaria, Morocco, India, Pakistan, Iran and even China. From the velvety richness of classical French perfumes to the luminous transparency of contemporary compositions, the rose is one of my favorite ingredients in my palette. Now in eastern Ukraine, I cannot delight enough in the intense aromas and colors of the roses grown under the generous sun of the Donetsk region. Even at 10km from the frontline, the flowers bloom with devastating lushness.

As a thank-you to everyone supporting our humanitarian work in Ukraine, I’m delighted to invite you to a special online seminar titled Rose: From Classics to Contemporary Masterpieces.

During this one-hour session, we’ll explore how great rose perfumes are constructed, how rose accords have evolved over time, and what distinguishes a classical composition from a modern interpretation. I’ll discuss iconic fragrances, explain the architecture behind successful rose accords, and share practical insights from my own work as a perfumer and perfume educator. There will also be plenty of time for questions.

Event Details

Friday, August 7
17:00–18:00 CET / 11:00–12:00 EST
Google Meet

A recording will be available to all registered participants.

This seminar also supports a cause that has become deeply important to me. Since April 2026, I’ve been living in Kramatorsk, Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. I join the Kramatorsk Volunteer Organization run by the local volunteer Bogdan Zuyakov on their humanitarian missions. Along with Ben Kochenburger, my fellow American volunteer, I fundraise to help this local grassroot organization continue evacuating civilians, transporting people to hospitals, and responding to emergencies in Kramatorsk and vicinity.

Thanks to you, we were able to raise enough money to obtain a new evacuation vehicle.

However, the work doesn’t stop there. While we wait for the vehicle to arrive and become fitted with the necessary armor and drone detectors, we still need to keep our existing fleet on the road. One of our evacuation vehicles urgently requires repairs, while fuel, maintenance, and operational costs continue to grow as the security situation deteriorates. Every day matters. Russian drones and missile strikes are more and more numerous and we need to do everything to get people to safety.

For that reason, we have extended our fundraising goal to $20,000. Of course, we will be over the moon if we exceed our goal. Every additional contribution will help ensure that evacuations continue without interruption while the new vehicle makes its way to Ukraine.

How to Participate

Donate $50 or more to the fundraiser, and you’ll receive an invitation to the seminar:

https://gogetfunding.com/humanitarian-support-for-relocating-civilians-in-ukraine/

More importantly, you’ll be helping local volunteers rescue people and help local communities.

Thank you again for your trust, your generosity, and for standing with us.

With gratitude,

Victoria and Ben Kochenburger

Day 1 in Ukraine. I arrived in a city filled with flowers, sunshine—and acrid smoke. Another bombardment occurred last night. When I woke up in the morning, it was such a splendid spring day that it was difficult to believe in death and horror. Saturday was March 8th, International Women’s Day, and flower stands lined the streets. People queued to buy flowers, and every other woman I passed carried a bouquet of tulips. The smoke from the smoldering ruins darkened the skies, and the acrid smell clung to the flowers, but life went on relentlessly.

I bought snowdrops from a grandmother and buried my face in their delicate petals. After a while, I noticed nothing but this soft, sweet fragrance. My friend gave me a bouquet of pink and white tulips, and throughout the day, I carried my flowers with me in defiance of despair and fear.

It may sound strange, but being in Ukraine makes me feel complete and at peace. This visit, in particular, is meaningful because I arrived with a clear idea of what I was going to do, who I wanted to see, and what I aimed to achieve.

Thanks to your generosity and support, I can prepare more shipments of art supplies for the Kyiv Children’s Art School. I work with local suppliers, looking for items that will support small local businesses and bring joy to the children. If you would like to contribute to this initiative, I would be grateful.

To Donate in USD. To Donate in EUR.

You can follow my journey via my Instagram. I will be posting updates from the Kyiv Children’s Art School there as well.

Above all, thank you for your support of Ukraine. You can’t imagine how much it means—to me, and to the people here.

Love,
Victoria

In one year of war, Ukraine has experienced widespread destruction. Many of its cities and villages have been so savagely bombarded by Russia that the familiar landmarks of these places are gone. People lost their homes and their familiar places. Many people also lost their lives during the carnage. For the past few months I’ve been collaborating with Thought Group Chile, a group of architects working to rebuild Ukraine. Cristián Wittig is the director of the group and he is working tirelessly to rebuild Ukrainian cities, particularly Irpin and Chernihiv, the places that suffered the most severe devastation.

Based in Chile, Cristián and his group traveled in Ukraine and are familiar with its realities and its needs. The learnings from his project in Ukraine are vital for other places affected by war or natural disasters. Talking to Cristián, I’ve been appreciating even more how important is the design of public spaces in order to create a feeling of community. Also, how essential it is to choose materials carefully. Part of the reason the destruction has been so severe in Ukraine is the ubiquity of light, unstable constructions on poor foundations.

To help Thought Group Chile, I turn to you and offer this fundraiser. I propose donating to Thought Group Chile, any amount you wish, and in return, you will be entered into a contest for the original-formulation Chanel 28, La Pausa, 200ml/6.8oz. I absolutely love this perfume and I find the original formula to be exceptional, but I’m delighted to contribute this precious item from my collection towards a good cause. The bottle is almost full, as you can see in the photo, and it comes in its original box. I can ship anywhere in the world.

There will also be other prizes including vintage Coty Chypre (please check after the break.)

If you have a bottle of perfume that you would like to contribute for this fundraiser, please contact me. Please let me know the size, condition and where in the world you would be willing to mail it to the eventual winners.

How the contest works: donate any amount you want to donating to Thought Group Chile, email me (boisdejasmin at yahoo dot com) the donation receipt, and you will receive a confirmation from me that you’re entered into the contest.

How the winners will be selected? Randomly.

The contest will run till March 20th. Thank you for participating!

Please feel free to ask questions in the comments section.

Link for PayPal donation account:
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=ZPFSW5UPN42LC

QR Code for donating

Extra 30+ prizes

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I have been processing lots of grief lately as I try to understand what’s happening in Ukraine. I haven’t lived there for years, but it’s the place where I was born and that shaped me, and its pain is my pain. When one feels helpless, the best thing is to reach out to others and help someone else. So I decided to hold a fundraiser for Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF.) It’s been a while since I’ve been thinking of this idea and looking for the best way to organize it. This year has been challenging for many people around the world, and I know that our community wanted to contribute. We’ve raised over $5000.

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is a reputable organization known for its projects all over the globe. They help with children care, offer help to impoverished communities and those experiencing military conflicts. Their structure is quite lean, so it means that the money, even if it’s a small amount, goes a long way.

The fundraiser ran till June 30, 2022, and the winner is Vincent. However, I will leave a link for those who would like to donate anyway.

How to Donate
Click on this link: Donate Now

The prize for this fundraiser was vintage Coty Chypre.

Bois de Jasmin’s 2016 Doctors Without Borders fundraiser is special. Even before I had a chance to announce it, readers started contacting me with offers to contribute their perfumes to the prize pool. Within the course of a few days we’ve collected dozens of prizes, which means that 57 people (my own prize included) can win something special. Doesn’t this kind of generosity boost our faith in humanity? So I propose donating to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), or Doctors Without Borders, any amount you wish, and in return, you will be entered into a contest for a perfume class with me (regardless of where you’re located in the world) or a number of different vintage and other interesting perfumes courtesy of our big group of fragrance lovers. More details are below. There will be 57 winners.

Prize 1 Perfume Class with Victoria : I will send you a collection of 10 different vintage perfume samples (each sample is between 1/2 and 1 ml, in stoppered glass vials): Guerlain Jicky, Coty Chypre (yes, the iconic chypre!), Guerlain Shalimar, Guerlain Mitsouko, Chanel No 5, Chanel No 22, Caron Tabac Blond, Dior Miss Dior, Shiseido Feminite du Bois, Lancome Tresor (the original version, which smells vastly different from today’s, or depending on availability, another perfume of your choice). A set of paper blotters will be included. Once you receive the package, we will schedule a Skype call and I will give you my “immersion into perfume history” course. I will also give you tips on smelling and describing scents. (Of course, if you’re in the EU and we can easily arrange to meet in person, we can do it this way too.)

Please continue after the break to learn about the other prizes:

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