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How I Think I Smell

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:01 EST

I like the smell of perfume. A simple timeless pleasure of things that smell good. However, like many things, once I start to think about a little, the simplicity has a tendency to evaporate at the speed of citrus top notes. The complexity starts with a problem of over indulgence; I am fortunate enough to possess many bottles. The catch is that with the rich diversity in my cupboard comes a very modern dilemma: options are too many, criteria too few (or to put it another way: which shall I wear today and why?)

Body Odour - or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Musk

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 00:00:01 EST

Some years ago, I used to work in an office with a guy who didn't wash. There is no subtle way of saying this: he stank.The odour of a human body is complicated. It's not all armpits and stale sweat; most of your pheromones are produced by the oil glands on the scalp, and my old colleague had oil glands aplenty. There is (excuse me for the indelicacy) that groiny smell particular to men - women have their own smell too. And there are feet, and farts, and untold grotty things trapped in bodily crevices. My ex-colleague announced himself with a loud smell before he entered the room, and stayed there for a long time after he'd left.

New Book: What the Nose Knows - The Science of Scent in Everyday Life ~ by Avery Gilbert

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 01:23:01 EST

Anya McCoy takes the first look at Avery Gilbert's forthcoming What The Nose Knows - The Science of Scent in Everyday Life. In the book you'll find out what is the connection between Eric Cartman and President Chirac; What makes former Playboy Bunny Izabella St. James gag; The truth about clearing your nose with coffee beans and why Eugene Rimmel was the Fred Hayman of the 1800's.

Inspirations and distillations of a perfumer ~ Scent Treks through Time

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 00:00:01 EST

If a perfumer could travel back in time and meet, chat and co-create with a perfumer of the past, where would they go? Who would they meet and what would they create? Marian Bendeth asks this very question to a blue-ribbon panel of perfumers and finds out what influences the creators of some of the world's greatest fragrances. In the first in our series, Marian opens her time machine to Hermès' in-house perfumer, Jean-Claude Ellena and niche perfumer, Andy Tauer.

Lavender

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 00:00:01 EST

Creed Royal Scottish Lavender is my favourite fragrance but I cannot wear it anymore.... Lavender is quite possibly the perfume note I enjoy most of all. It takes a very interesting position in the mix, straddling the top and heart notes, not as effervescent as most citrus heads but lighter than most floral hearts.

Virtual Sniffing - a look at the role of fragrance in Second Life

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 01:26:01 EST

Let’s face it. If you’re a regular Basenotes user – if you keep tabs on your growing collection using the wardrobe, if you participate in the community to crow about your latest buy, and if you use the directory to research all your fragrance purchases – odds are that you might have a slightly addictive personality.

Valentine's Day Fragrance Gift Round-Up

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 08:33:01 EST

Seven, yes just seven, days stand between us and the most romantic holiday of the year. When we consider the effect that fragrance can conjure, it is easy to understand why it is such an eternally popular Valentine's Day gift. With this in mind our Valentine's Day choices need careful consideration, so Basenotes has put together a shopping guide to assist in this most romantic of purchases. Includes discount codes too!

Relatives

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 00:00:01 EST

My nephew has a bottle of Jules by Dior. Or perhaps he has two. He may have several stashed away, I'm not sure. I have great memories of wearing Jules in the 80s. Sweet boozy citrusy aldehydic leathery manliness in a bottle. A mist of highly composed chemical potion encapsulating the tail end of modernism. However, I didn't see it like that at the time.

Madeleines and chocolate bridges - scent and memory ~ Deleted Scenes from the Perfect Scent

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 12:02:01 EST

This is a section I wrote around two things. First was the famous Proust quote about smell, memory, & the Madeleine. I had to go look it up. Everyone has heard of it, and no one I know—including me—has actually read the thing, or at least I hadn’t read it. You think it’s a little paragraph you’re going to whiz through. In fact, it turns out to be pages and pages of extremely densely written text. The guy goes on and on. I read it in French and then, because I didn’t really understand it, I read it in English. I spent hours getting it down to an essential core that I liked. The other reason was my friend Rich “Toast” Trost, who mentioned to me that his favorite NPR piece was about how the Chicago bridges smelled like brownies.

Yves de Chiris on marketing and Angel ~ Deleted Scenes from the Perfect Scent

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 11:45:01 EST

This is an analysis by Yves de Chiris, one of the perfume industry’s most experienced executives and consultants, of the marketing of perfumes. I got it via a long telephone conversation with Yves where he spoke and I got it into the computer as fast as my fingers would move. I think it’s extremely interesting, but my editor and I finally decided we couldn’t figure out how to change it from a simple direct word-for-word repetition of what Yves was saying. I wound up using this information in a somewhat different, more organic form elsewhere in the book.

Jean-Claude Ellena and Michael Edwards ~ Deleted scenes from The Perfect Scent

Sat, 19 Jan 2008 12:00:01 EST

I sat in on a meeting at Hermès’ Pantin headquarters in which Michael Edwards was interviewing Jean-Claude Ellena re several of Ellena’s recent perfumes, which Edwards was classifying in his database. I was absolutely fascinated—I use Michael’s database every professional day of my life—and I assumed the scene was a slam-dunk to make it into the book. But in George—who is not a perfume guy and whose job it was, as my editor, to make sure that the book would be readable by the general public—it set off an alarm bell

Raw Materials and how they smell ~ deleted scenes from The Perfect Scent ~ Part 4

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 14:13:01 EST

I wrote this section first to emphasize the constant struggle I go through trying to put in just the right number of molecular names. A delicate balance, and I wanted to say something about what my editors will and won’t allow in The Times. I lose battles there every day. And second because I wanted to communicate what smelling the raw materials is like. Near the end of the editing process, George decided we simply already had enough on raw materials in the book, so he asked me to take it out.

Christopher Brosius and why we don't perceive perfume as art ~ deleted scenes from The Perfect Scent

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 10:06:01 EST

In the third of our series of 'deleted scenes' from the forthcoming book The Perfect Scent, Burr recounts an exchange with perfumer Christopher Brosius (Demeter and CB I Hate Perfume) about our senses

The media and the reactions ~ deleted scenes from The Perfect Scent

Sun, 13 Jan 2008 04:48:01 EST

In the second of our series of 'deleted scenes' from the forthcoming book The Perfect Scent, Burr discusses the reactions generated from his appointment as NYT scent critic and how perfume is linked to fashion and art.

How I became the New York Times' perfume critic ~ deleted scenes from The Perfect Scent

Fri, 11 Jan 2008 12:46:01 EST

This is the first of our exclusive 'deleted scenes' from Chandler Burr's forthcoming book, The Perfect Scent. In this extract Chandler describes how he landed the job of the NYT's first ever perfume critic.

In search of Oud on Oxford Street

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 18:23:01 EST

Oud is a note I fell in love with long before I found out what it was. About ten years ago, in search of some Lebanese ingredients for a dinner party, I found myself standing rigid in the middle of the pavement, trying to locate a curiously wonderful smell.

The Basenotes Holiday Gift Guide part 2

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 17:09:01 EST

In the second of our holiday gift guides Tom Stone and Colin Murchie take you through the best of the bargains - top tips to save the pennies over the festive season.

The Basenotes Holiday Gift Guide part 1

Sun, 09 Dec 2007 20:15:01 EST

In the immortal words of The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Don't Panic. Yes, it maybe just days away, but Basenotes is here! In the first of two articles Tom Stone and Colin Murchie take you through the pick of the season to take the stress out of holiday shopping. The first guide will bring you some of the best luxury buys and the second, published tomorrow, will help you bag a bargain. Happy shopping!

Scented Summer Travelogue

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 08:17:01 EST

In his first atmospheric piece for Basenotes, Walker Minton parts the falling leaves of November to allow us a peek back towards a wet and fragrant summer, in which he rediscovers old loves and finds new delights in unexpected quarters.

Symine Salimpour's 'Shiloh', Hors La Monde

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 14:58:01 EST

The only similarities between Angelina Jolie and Symine Salimpour are as follows: both are beautiful women with ties to France; both fight tooth and nail for the causes they believe in; they have had to overcome many great obstacles to become successful; both assist and donate to children's charitable causes and both have a baby named "Shiloh" but that is where the similarities end.