Zeta Winner + Smelling Oud For The First Time
Persolaise Boozy fruit = Boozy Simnel I could do with a Bloggers’ Retreat. I’ve got so many things I’d like to tell you about, but the clock keeps ticking and the…
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Review: Coeur De Vétiver Sacré from L’Artisan Parfumeur (2010) + Guerlain Bottles + Kurkdjian’s Advice
Vetivert oil is such a multi-faceted material that people in some countries wear it as a complete fragrance all by itself. It’s capable of appearing both woody and green, earthy…
Orange Star Wins At The FiFis + It’s Official: Persolaise Is Sexy
I’m sure you all know this by now, but please, just indulge me, because I’m going to get a real kick out of typing the following words: Tauer Perfumes’ Orange…
MDCI Winner + IFRA Interview + Meeting Monsieur Le Male
I’m just taking a few moments out of what’s proving to be an enjoyably eventful week to send a couple of updates and reminders your way. First of all, meeting…
Sample Give-Away + Review: Zeta – A Linden Blossom Theme from Tauer Perfumes (2011)
Although I haven’t got the world’s greenest thumbs, I’ve somehow managed not to kill all the trees in our garden, two of which produce an annual crop of rich, dark…
Did I Complain About Not Having Enough Time?
You know what they say about waiting for buses? Well, I think the adage could probably be applied to my appointments diary for the week beginning 11th April. After a…
Sample Give-Away + Review: La Belle Hélène from MDCI (2011)
If there’s one thing Bertrand Duchaufour can do with envy-inducing finesse, it’s using smell to paint incredibly precise, near-holographic visual images. La Belle Hélène, the latest release from MDCI, showcases…
Perfumery Pause + Orange Star Draw Winner
Pardon me for going on and on about the Day Job, but this is the time of year when it starts demanding a disproportionate amount of my attention. As I’ve…
Top Tens
This entry is intended to be a polite nudge… or three nudges, to be precise. Nudge #1: You’ve only got until the end of today to enter my give-away draw…
So… What Would You Like To Ask IFRA?
Ok, I’ve been teasing you about this for weeks, but the time has come to let the cat out of the bag and enlist your help. The person I’m soon…
Review: Mitzah, Granville, Vetiver and New Look 1947 from Christian Dior (2010)
Dior’s new perfume hall is about to open in the Oxford Street branch of Selfridge’s, which means now’s a good time for me to follow up my review of the…
Let Me Whisper In Your Ear + Orange Star Give-Away
It’s been a while since I’ve written in any meaningful detail about my own perfume making. Paradoxically, this isn’t because I haven’t been doing any, but because I’ve actually been…
Review: Taj Sunset from Escada (2011)
In my teenage years, I was an absolute sucker for idealistic sci-fi and detective stories. My favourites were always those in which the protagonist – whoever he or she happened…
NEWS – Voting Open For UK FiFi & Basenotes Awards
The shortlist for this year’s FiFi UK Best Niche Perfume award has just been revealed on Basenotes and it features a few of my favourite releases of 2010. Here’s the…
Winter’s Over
Lift your head high and take a deep breath, everybody: the first day of spring has arrived. Winter 2010/11 is officially history! It’s also Iranian New Year, and according to…
1st Anniversary Competition Winners
I know everyone always says this, but I can assure you that this time, it’s absolutely true. Choosing my favourite entry in the 1st anniversary competition was no easy task.…
Competition Reminder + A Moment’s Reflection
I realise that at any given time, there are countless awful things happening around the world, but the planet does seem to be particularly unhappy at the moment. Whilst I…
Review: Dirty from Gorilla Perfumes (2004/2011)
Is mint becoming the new lemon? Perfumers are wary of using excessive quantities of the latter in their formulae because years of cultural conditioning have persuaded Western noses that its…
Sharpen Those Knives…
I hope your weekend’s going well so far. I just wanted to remind you that you’ve got until Thursday night (UK time) to enter my special competition marking the first…