New Cure For Insomnia: Counting Perfume Releases
Persolaise It’s the final week of August, the holiday’s nearly over and life will soon have to return to normal at Maison Persolaise. It’s going to take a little while for…
Guest Post: Fragrance Companies – Beware Of Men And Older Women by Elena Vosnaki
It’s a known fact that the fragrance industry generates the majority of its profits from purchases made by women. But men are buyers too, with the need to have their…
Dior’s New Maison De Parfums At Selfridges + FiFi USA Public Vote
For several personal reasons, I’ve got huge affection for Dior. Ever since I was about 7 years old, many of the firm’s perfumes have become synonymous with significant people and…
Zeta Winner + Smelling Oud For The First Time
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…
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…
Chanel, Dior & Guerlain At Selfridges
A few mini-news items from a recent dash through the London branch of Selfridges. The Chanel ‘perfume boutique’ – a must-see if you haven’t yet been – now stocks the…
Review: Leather Oud from Christian Dior and Absolue Pour Le Soir from Maison Francis Kurkdjian (2010)
Dior Leather Oud (Francois Demachy) and Maison Francis Kurkdjian Absolue Pour Le Soir (Francis Kurkdjian) reviews by award-winning perfume critic Persolaise (2010)
Playground Perfume
I think I ought to start charging for perfume shopping consultancy services. The other day, another close relative – a young woman who recently left home to go to Uni…
Reviews: The Smell Of Freedom & Orange Blossom by Gorilla Perfumes (2010)
It’s always helpful to be reminded that snobbery has no place in perfume appreciation. A branch of Lush – with its cheerfully dressed-down aesthetics – may not be the first…
Review: Shalimar – Ode De La Vanille & Idylle eau de toilette by Guerlain (2010)
You can’t say that Guerlain aren’t keeping Thierry Wasser busy. This year saw the release of the third version of Homme, a new Aqua Allegoria and an exclusive, limited edition…
Review: Bang by Marc Jacobs (2010)
Some fragrances impress you with the coherence of the entire package in which they arrive: the name, the colour of the juice, the bottle, the poster… they all interlock into…
Pyramid Building – 1
Here’s a question for you: how long does it take to smell a whole fragrance? Allow me to explain what I mean. A well-respected and successful perfumer I know once…
Review: Bleu De Chanel by Chanel (2010)
More often than not, a spray of a new men’s perfume leaves me sorely disappointed. Most of the recipes follow the same, cardboard-cutout pattern: a mono-dimensional burst of citrus leading…
The Perfume Diaries at Harrods
A few days ago, Madame Persolaise and I had a leisurely wander around the Perfume Diaries exhibition on the 4th floor of Harrods. There is a great deal I could…
Who Needs Bleu
My month in Mumbai is well and truly over and I’m back at home, trying to restore my routines. Normal life can’t fully recommence just yet, though, because from tomorrow,…
No Formula Changes Permitted
I recently decided to celebrate my return to the real world by popping out for some pre-holiday shopping, an activity which is always accompanied by a certain amount of perfume…
Preview: Bleu De Chanel by Chanel (2010)
Here’s a fact: Chanel will soon release a new men’s scent called Bleu. And here’s another fact: most bloggers haven’t had one solitary sniff of it. Put these two facts…
Stunning Wages
If you’ve got a couple of minutes to spare, you might like to read an article in last Sunday’s Observer (click here) about the wages of some Indian workers who…
Of Time And Salisbury
Time for formulation has been almost non-existent over the last few weeks. The inevitable delays caused by the ach-cloud-induced rail journey from Istanbul meant that it took a while for…
On The Move…
I’ve got free wifi for a few minutes, so I just wanted to say that my wife and I are doing ok and using trains to head north-west towards Britain.…