Le Snob: Perfume

My book, Le Snob: Perfume, is published in English by Hardie Grant and in German by Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Part of the Le Snob series of guides (which also includes Cigars, Champagne and Shoes), Perfume contains tips on developing your fragrance appreciation skills, information about scent creation processes, a compact international shopping directory and exclusive contributions from Christopher Chong, Roja Dove, Jo Fairley, Ronny Geller, Francis Kurkdjian, Carrie Meredith, Linda Pilkington and Andy Tauer, covering topics from advertising to the use of synthetic materials.

The majority of the book consists of reviews of over 100 must-try fragrances, as chosen by yours truly. Featuring bona fide mainstream classics and little-known niche gems, the selection represents the very best and most interesting creations that today’s perfumeries have to offer.

Which of these fragrances is as magnetic “as the finest examples of erotic art”? Which one constantly switches “from joy to near-suicidal bleakness”? And which one conjures an image of somebody “doing their ironing in the nude just before enjoying a much-needed shower”? To find out, you’ll have to read the book!

Fully illustrated throughout – with colour photographs and specially commissioned paintings by Tonwen Jones – Perfume would make an ideal gift for the scentusiast in your life… or a perfect treat for yourself.

To order the English version from Amazon UK, please click here; to order it from Amazon USA, click here. For more information about the German version on Amazon UK, please click here.

To visit the book’s Facebook page, please click here.

Acknowledgements

It’s a shame that the structure of the Le Snob guides leaves no room for an acknowledgements section. After all, they’re the sorts of books which are impossible to write without the help of other people. But the blogosphere has plenty of space, some of which I’d now like to fill with expressions of gratitude to the following people and organisations who helped bring Perfume to life:

Lizzie Ostrom (aka Odette Toilette), for making it all happen in the first place

Elwin Street and Hardie Grant, for the opportunity

Tonwen Jones, for her illustrations

Patrick Hutsch, for his German translation

Christopher Chong, Roja Dove, Jo Fairley, Ronny Geller, Francis Kurkdjian, Carrie Meredith, Linda Pilkington and Andy Tauer, for their contributions to the Words From The Wise sections and for their support

Rakesh Aggarwal, Bérénice De Beaucé, Amy Berkery, Vicki Beswick, Amy Betsworth, Nicola De Burlet, Chandler Burr, Hardeep Chohan, Trudi Collister, Penelope Cross, Natalie Day, Nanci DeRienzo, Michael Donovan, Bertrand Duchaufour, Charlotte Eckholt, Michael Edwards, Sarah Ehrlich, Rebecca Ellwood, Stephane Euzen, Nathalie Everard, Amy Farrington, Xavier Giammattei, Nick Gilbert, Sandra Godec, Claire Hawksley, Farrah Karimian, Vero Kern, Linda Key, Callum Langston-Bolt, Emma Leslie, Pia Long, Emily Maben, Lauren MacAskill, Jennifer MacGarrigle, Frederic Malle, Claude Marchal, Melissa McCarthy, Helen McTiffen, Opinder Mehmi, Emma Mercer, Vanessa Musson (Bonkers About Perfume), Samantha Norman, Birgit Oeckher (Olfactoria’s Travels), Grant Osborne, Maz Packham, Florian Pedemanaud, Samantha Qureshi, Louise Reed, Annette, Marcel, Benjamin and Haven at the Roja Dove Haute Parfumerie, Anna Rozelaar, Linsey Saitowitz, Natalie Startin, Diana Esekody Sulirova, Etienne De Swardt, Gilles Thevenin, Pauline Vilbert, Amy Wanstall, Jason Waterworth and Lorraine Wilson-Morris, for their invaluable support and assistance

The readers of Persolaise.com, for their kindness and loyalty

The writers of my favourite perfume blogs, for providing endless inspiration

My parents, for sparking off what no-one imagined would be a lifelong interest in perfume

Daniel, Luke, Tim, Dom, Natalie, Jodie, Sarah, Arafaat, Tom P, Rachel, Claire, Maria and Joy, for their encouragement

The perfumers, for bringing so much joy to my life with their creations

And finally, I’d like to thank my precious Madame Persolaise for… well, for absolutely everything. She fills my days with a beauty and a poetry that the finest perfume could never hope to match. And for that, I am eternally grateful.

Perfume In The Media