Smelly Bloggers
Persolaise This is just a short entry to wish you all a great weekend and remind you that you’ve got until Sunday night (UK time) to enter the draw for a…
A Scented Year – 2010
Image: Roxana Villa The year’s almost over, which means it must be time for another list. Today, I’m very pleased to be able to take part in an inter-blog roundup…
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…
Tauer Cologne Du Maghreb Giveaway + Christmas 2010 Recommendations
You wouldn’t necessarily know it from this blog, but I’m quite fond of lists, so I thought I ought to mark the first weekend of December with a round-up of…
Preview: Opus IV by Amouage (2010)
Popping into Amouage’s London boutique is always a pleasure, but the experience is made even more special when there’s an opportunity to try a brand new scent. The other day,…
Review: The One Gentleman by Dolce & Gabbana (2010)
I confess this one had me fooled for a while. The initial impression it made was undeniably positive; in fact, the sweep of citrus, woods and irones had me making…
Baccarat At Harrods
Please click here to be redirected to my Basenotes article about the final event at Harrods’ Perfume Diaries: a presentation by Baccarat. Have a wonderful weekend, Persolaise.
Sartorial Draw Winner + Mini Reviews, including J'Adore L'Or by Christian Dior (2010)
I spent a couple of hours wandering around shops the other day, trying to find some excitement in the glittery Christmas parcels that the major brands are desperate to thrust…
Interview With Roja Dove
Please click here to be taken to my exclusive Basenotes interview with Roja Dove, curator of the Perfume Diaries exhibition at Harrods. Persolaise.
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…
Review: Gucci By Gucci Sport Pour Homme by Gucci (2010)
Ah, the dangers of prejudice. When I saw that a sample of this new flanker had made its way into one of my shopping bags, I immediately condemned it to…
Roja Dove’s Haute Parfumerie
One of the perks of publishing on the Internet is that you can change posts with which you’re not entirely happy. This one is a case in point: over the…
Hard Pressed
I don’t quite know how, but in between the extra demands of the day job, the insurmountable ironing and the million-and-one other things that need doing every single weekend, I…
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…
Relatively Mainstream
One thing I never take for granted is my wife’s patience. During our brief pop into France, we had to go into every single – and boy, do I mean…
Launching The Past
I think excitement is always made more electric when it carries a crackle of nostalgia, like the anticipation of meeting up with a dear friend you haven’t seen for over…
Spring Bargains
Don’t ever let me say that good luck never comes my way. Today, at an antiques fair, I spotted a pristine, sealed box of 10ml of Diorissimo Esprit De Parfum.…
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…
All Rosy In Istanbul
Istanbul’s Spice Bazaar doesn’t offer nearly as many olfactory temptations as the markets in Marrakesh and Tangiers, but I can’t deny I’ve spent a good deal of time sniffing the…
Evasion Tactics
As a rule, I’m not a fan of big gatherings. Today was Easter Sunday. The entire clan came over to our place for lunch. Was I a happy bunny? I’ll…