Persolaise 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…
Persolaise 1st Anniversary Prize Draw
A year ago today, I plunged into this blog’s inaugural entry with no preamble whatsoever. So I think it’s right that I mark the first anniversary of Persolaise.com by going…
One More Day…
Tomorrow my little blog enters its difficult adolescent years. Don’t forget to come back for its birthday and check out the special prize draw I’ve organised for you, which will…
I Need Your Help – What’s Your Take On ‘The Story’?
Permit me to pick your brains. I’m carrying out some research for an article that may appear on Basenotes, and I’d really appreciate your help. My question is this: how…
Advance Warning: Special Prize Draw On Friday
I don’t quite know where the last twelve months have gone, but this blog is just a few days away from being a year old! To mark its first anniversary,…
Review: Smart, Craft & Sharp from Andrea Maack (2010)
There are some people out there who think that Gus Van Sant’s remake of Psycho is superior to Hitchcock’s original. Even though they fully understand that the newer version is…
Is That A Curry I Smell Before Me?
I managed to find some time this weekend to work on a couple of formulae I’m trying to develop, which means the air in my study is now a bizarre…
Review: Jeux De Peau from Serge Lutens (2011)
First thing’s first: contrary to Monsieur Lutens’ claims – which are probably meant to be taken with a pinch of baking powder anyway – this perfume doesn’t smell of bread.…
Pyramid Building 5 – Link To Bois De Jasmin
Some of you may recall the brief series of posts I wrote last year about the usefulness of the traditional olfactory pyramid of top, heart and base notes. I realise…
Review: Arsène Lupin Le Dandy & Arsène Lupin Le Voyou (2010) & Idylle Duet (2011) from Guerlain
Regardless of one’s views on his family firm’s recent output, it would be churlish to deny the importance of the work of Jean-Paul Guerlain. A CV that includes names like…
Disqus Killed The Discussion
Okay, I’ve decided… and this time, I’m sticking to my decision: I’ve disabled Disqus. It was proving to be more trouble than it was worth, chewing up people’s comments, failing…