Scentedletter issue1

scented The

Issue 1

www.perfumesociety.org

letter A beauty editor turns ’perfumer’ Scent memories, dreams and reflections

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All the latest fragrance news

Why we all love

Lily of the valley

editor’s letter

Welcome to the first edition of The Scented Letter – The Perfume Society’s very own magazine dedicated to the seductive, sensual world of all things fragrant.

We know there’s a lot of info about fragrance out there – but this (almost) monthly publication collects in one place everything we’ve smelled, seen and want to share with perfume-lovers…

People sometimes ask us: er, what’s the point of reading about smells? Well, here’s a strange-but-true fact: reading about fragrance - and more particularly, writing down your thoughts - can actually work (almost miraculously) to turbo-charge your sense of smell itself.

It’s a strange quirk of biology, but it helps to reconnect pathways in the brain - which have become almost dormant now we don’t rely on our sense of smell for survival.

The more you put words to smells, imagining them as you read about them, the more intensely you may find yourself able to sense them. So we really encourage you to write down your thoughts in the Note Book which UK subscribers receive as a joining gift, in the Discovery Box. It’s about awareness – and about ‘exercising’ that part of the brain.

You can take this one stage further by coming along to one of the Improve Your Sense of Smell workshops – free to Perfume Society subscribers – which we will be hosting around the country. (For more details, visit www.perfumesociety.org and check out ‘Events’, or see p. 31 in this magazine. And yes, you can buy a ticket for a friend, and share this hugely pleasurable learning experience together…)

Cover image: © denova0; © picsfive; both Fotolia.com

In this first issue, meanwhile, we have some wonderful articles. Odette Toilette, who organises some of the most fun fragrance events we’ve ever attended, talks about her scented ‘Memories, Dreams and Reflections’, on p. 14. Award-winning fragrance writer Vicci Bentley writes about her ‘poacher-turned-gamekeeper’ experience of creating a scent with British perfume legend Angela Flanders. We look in-depth at the delicate but potently sweet nodding flower which graces our cover: lily of the valley - and there’s so much more.

Throughout every issue, we will be bringing you breaking news from the scented world – and if you’ve anything you’d like to share with us, we’d love to hear from you. Simply e-mail subscribers@perfumesociety.org.

Helen Keller – the young deaf and blind woman who has been an inspiration to so many – once called smell ‘the fallen angel of our senses’. It’s a grand dream, but we’d like to help that angel ‘fly’ again, encouraging all our readers to get more pleasure out of the scented world.

So: enjoy...

PS Don’t miss the children’s poems on scent, on p. 29!

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contributors

the scented word

How a poet and a perfumer bottled

a breaTh of hope Vicci Bentley is among the leading perfume writers in the world, a frequent recipient of a Jasmine Award (see p.22), and a long-term scentophile. Less well-known is that Vicci is also a poet – which started her on a fragrant journey that has resulted in ‘turning the tables’, helping to create a fragrance. Here, for The Scented Letter’s debut issue, she writes exclusively about the insights it’s given her into the world she writes so brilliantly about…

You could say that Breath of Hope stalked me. It began life as a poem I wrote in which I imagined a perfumer, overjoyed to discover a bright flurry snowdrops on a grey February day, quickly jots down the formula for their elusive fragrance. The idea for this really came from my dear, centenarian mother.

Snowdrops were her favourite flowers - traditionally the first ‘flowers of hope’ that symbolise the end of winter. Just to

Breath of Hope by Angela Flanders

make sure, mum would ask to be taken on an annual snowdrop pilgrimage to a churchyard near where she was born. The last time I took her, my head was buzzing with research for a feature I was writing - the inevitable tales of perfumers trawling far-flung rainforests, groves and gardens in quest of the latest, exotic inspiration. What would they make of a bum-freezing churchyard in Leicestershire, I wondered? More to the point, does the unassuming Galanthus nivalis actually have a scent? Down on my hands and knees, a close encounter confirmed a tiny, fleeting fragrance similar to lily of the valley or bluebell wafting above the damp, earthy background of moss and leafmould. This became the basis for the formula my poetic perfumer scribbled in her windblown notebook. And there was little doubt in my mind who that perfumer would be.

I first met Angela Flanders when her scent Precious One won the 2012 FiFi (Fragrance Foundation) Award for Best New Independent Perfume. Along with my fellow Jasmine Award-winning journalists that year, I was on the judging panel - and frankly, it was love at first sniff. A magical, resonating chypre created for her daughter Kate Evans’s Precious boutique in Spitalfields, its bewitching blend of night flowers, oakmoss and rich, smoky vetiver was so astonishingly different, the panel were unanimous that clearly, Angela is an artisan with the alchemist’s touch. Lucky for me, she also has form for working with poets.

Odette Toilette (who organises all manner of fragrant events - see p. 14) had previously commissioned a poem from me for one of her ‘Penning Perfume’ soirées, inspired by Angela’s scent Ambre Noir. Precious One, too, has an ode to its name. Was there a chance that Angela would consider working the other way round and let my poem inspire a perfume, I wondered…?

To my utter delight, she agreed and ‘Project Snowdrop’ was on its way off the page. When I arrived for our first meeting around Angela’s dining table above the shop in Columbia

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The

snowdrop accord. Substituting cosier, less astringent guaiac wood eventually sorted the problem. However, I’d learned a crucial lesson.

Snowdrops are the first ‘flowers of hope’ that symbolise the end of winter

© Africa Studio - Fotolia.com

Whether I’m writing about it or wearing it, I adore perfume. For me, it’s all about memory, emotion and good mood days. The subtle way a scent can comfort, calms and uplifts qualifies to my mind, qualifies it as an elegant lagal high - and yes, I have a shelf full of favourite fixes. Yet I’d never have dreamed that I’d be involved in creating one myself. Even now, if you wheeled me into a lab full of ingredients, I’d barely know where to begin.

Road, a tray of lab flasks was already in situ and Angela, poem to hand, was busy mixing up a base.

Within the next couple of hours we also had a prototype heart and head. So far, so exciting. Except by our next meeting a fortnight later, I felt utterly out of my depth.

‘We need more wood!’ I remember bleating, sniffing at the base and not realising that Angela planned to slip the wood it into the heart. When at my insistence she did, an overdose of cedar produced a sharp, Dettol-ish tang that swamped the subtlety of the bluebell and violet in the

Sniffing individual ingredients on scent strips, then fanning them together under my nose, I could just about follow the thread. But when it came to visualising how base notes interact with accords at the heart and head - frankly I hadn’t a clue. Each layer of the familiar ‘perfume pyramid’ is like an individual perfume in its own right.

Ingredients must not only offset each other, but also work in concert throughout the layers to create a symphony of scent vibrations.

Therein lies the perfumer’s true genius. A scent really is like a song. The lyrics grab you - you can probably even sing them in the shower. But could you write the orchestral score, then conduct it? Because of the avalanche of words I’ve written about scent over the years, I thought I could pen a basic formula. What I found is that if a perfume is to be truly exquisite, better not meddle with the expert.

Even a ‘creative director’ - which is the closest description of my role here - must learn to trust that the nose knows best.

Too many perfumers spoil the impact, just like cooks with

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Thomas Dunckley

Vicci Bentley For over 40 years, Vicci Bentley’s beauty and fragrance articles have appeared in numerous widely-read publications, including Good Housekeeping, Sunday Times Style and Vogue. Vicci is also a regular contributor to Financial Times How To Spend It. Her lifelong love affair with perfume (clinched by a subversive waft of Kensington Market patchouli in the ‘60s) has contributed to her winning five Jasmine Awards, the perfumewriting equivalent of ‘Oscars’. Until very recently, we didn’t realise that Vicci writes poetry for light relief - and in this edition of The Scented Letter, she writes about an unexpected collaboration with Angela Flanders, on a ‘poem in a bottle’...

Thomas writes the Jasmine Awardwinning blog The Candy Perfume Boy, which chronicles his obsession with fragrance and ‘all things smelly’. His award-winning piece was The Candy Perfume Boy’s Guide to Violet, an olfactory exploration of that particular sweetscented ingredient - part of a series which also looks at Oud, Orange Blossom, Chocolate and more.

Thomas is also a contributor to a Twitter project called Fragrant Reviews: short, snappy fragrance reviews in 140 characters or less.

Follow them at @fragrantreviews or visit the blog, fragrantreviews. blogspot.com.

Thomas’s ‘day job’ is working in PR.

Josephine Fairley

Andrea Jenkins

Jo has been a journalist and author for longer than she cares to remember, and at the age of 23 was Britain’s youngestever magazine editor, editing first Look Now and then Honey magazines. She has covered a vast spectrum of subjects – from Romanian orphans to sumo wrestling, via elephant polo (and for several years had a column on the women’s page of The Times). She’s also a long-standing Contributing Editor to the Mail on Sunday’s YOU Magazine, and co-author of The Beauty Bible series of books. Her true writing passion, though, has long been fragrance, and Jo has won two Jasmine Awards.

She also co-founded Green & Black’s Chocolate with husband Craig Sams. josephinefairley.com

Andrea Corrona Jenkins describes herself as ‘one part photographer, one part writer, one part teacher, one hundred parts mama.’ Based on the US West Coast, Andrea has a most engaging blog called Hula Seventy, featuring mostly Polaroid photography.

‘I love instant photography and lists that tell stories plus old school photobooths and movement as art, plus vintage everything, lemon sugar anything (and a few other things). She also offers hands-on instant photography workshops for adults and children.

Odette Toilette Odette’s Scratch+Sniff events are ‘musts’ for true perfume-lovers, ranging from a ‘Scent Speakeasy’ of illicit perfumes (scents with ‘restricted’ ingredients), to her engaging Vintage Scent Sessions, which explore eras in perfume history, from the Belle Époque through to the 80s.

(Look out for Odette’s special one-day Complete Vintage Scent Sessions event for The Perfume Society, which she’ll be offering later this year.) Today, she explains, ‘everything I work on is about how to create pleasure, new ideas, and even usefulness from scent and smell.’ odettetoilette.com

editorial TEAM Editor: Josephine Fairley jo@perfumesociety.org Designer: Jenny Semple enquiries@jennysempledesign.co.uk PROJECT MANAGER: Alice Crocker alice@perfumesociety.org fragrances Editor: Alice Jones alice.jones@perfumesociety.org Advertising Manager: Lorna McKay lorna@perfumesociety.org EA to the Editor: Amy Eason amy@josephinefairley.com

Contact us: info@perfumesociety.org Suite 147 77 Beak Street, London W1F 9DB. Tel: 01424-439580 The Scented Letter is a free online/ downloadable magazine for subscribers to The Perfume Society; visit www.perfumesociety.org for more information.

The Scented Letter is produced for The Perfume Society by Perfume Discovery Ltd. All information and prices are correct at the time of going to press and may no longer be so on the date of publication. © 2014 The Perfume Society All text, graphics and illustrations in The Scented Letter are protected by UK and International Copyright Laws, and may not be copied, reprinted, published, translated, hosted or otherwise distributed by any means without explicit permission.

4 The scented Letter

contents an aromatic life

memories, Dreams, refLeCTions Odette Toilette organises some of the most riveting perfume events we’ve ever attended.

(See p. XX for news of the Vintage Scent Sessions she’ll be running for The Perfume Society, time-travelling through fragrance history with scents that capture the spirit of the times.) She also puts together the podcasts ‘Life in Scents’, in which fascinating people talk about the scents which are important to them. So we turn the tables for the first in this series of interviews - reminders of scent’s extraordinary power in our lives…

What’s the very first thing you remember smelling?

Strawberries. I was two and a half. My sister had just been born. My mum was in hospital so I was confused and upset.

On the way to visit, my dad took me to Marks & Spencer so we could get some special fruit for her. We bought grapes and strawberries. In the labour unit I was so taken by the aroma of the fruit (it was May, so the berries were must have just been getting in their prime) that I ate the whole lot. My poor mum didn’t get a single thing to eat! Then aged three I had a beloved though maltreated doll called Strawberry Shortcake which smelt of fizzy strawberry sweets when you squeezed her tummy. She was a big hit.

What was the first fragrance you were given?

It was a kiddies’ perfume given to me at a very early birthday party, and which fast became confiscated when I spilled it everywhere. It was the moment that changed everything. I cannot remember ANY other present given to me by a classmate at one of those parties. Just that plastic bottle of cologne.

When did you realise that scent was really important to you?

I understood when young how the scents of different places could trigger either a lurching feeling of dread, a sense of comfort or of fizzing excitement. So the house of my grandparents was mothballs, Pear’s soap and dog breath.

Have you had different fragrances for different phases of your life…?

Oh, yes! When I was 12-13 it was all about Impulse body sprays, bought desperately to fit in, and forever associated with poor body image and insecurities.

When I was a teenager I bought a bottle of Premier Figuier from L’Artisan Parfumeur which was like a secret treat. I wasn’t trying to be precocious but it seemed so precious and something that other people couldn’t know about. Then the sixth form was all about Angel. I don’t think I ever bought it; I’d cut out those pages in magazine that you ripped open for a quick wrist-rub.

Later I bought L’Artisan’s Mure et Musc which I link always with being a student and which I thought was terribly original at the time. Now I can’t go back there; it feels a bit weird to wear that one.

From then on, it was all about experimentation, so I struggle to place particular scents with a year or lifecircumstance. Basically I soon became a scent slut and anything went, which continues to be the case (though I am more selective these days...)

joy now - all from self-induced pressure of course!

The scent that I love on a man is…

Just behind his ear. To be honest, I like nearly any fragrance on a man when in its final embers and just perceptible. Probably even Lynx Apollo.

I’d love to have smelled… … some of the fragrances created in the early 20th Century.

Especially those created by French designer Paul Poiret under Parfums Rosine: he put so much effort into creating these incredibly conceived scent ideas with elaborate, decorative packing. Ultimately they flopped as the business wasn’t sustainable. I’ve tried one of them which you can buy online as a samples, but otherwise they’re pretty much gone. (www.surrendertochance.com).

What is your favourite book about smells?

For its sense of personal nostalgia it has to be Valerie Ann Worwood’s The Fragrant Pharmacy. Bought it when 15, very hormonal, and was absolutely captivated. Something about the remedies and blends that went with my teenage pagan tendencies. I took it all about the house, re-reading bits any chance I could. Inspired by her writing, I bought a bottle of geranium oil and would walk around sniffing it as though it were smelling salts.

What was the first fragrance you bought for yourself?

Following the above confiscation I’m pretty sure I then got hold of a Tinkerbell fragrance which came in a pack with a small plastic hairbrush and some peel-off nail varnish.

Odette Toilette is the fragrance lover behind Scratch+Sniff, a series of regular (often raucous) themed events for discovering fragrance without the intimidation

The smell that always makes me feel a bit sad is… … my dad’s shed, which he still has. I used to go down there to read in the summer holidays and loved the overheating wood aroma. Going there now I feel nostalgic for that sense of being relatively carefree and able to enjoy every moment of settling down with my latest book. I find it increasingly difficult to get back to that feeling of quiet

The

1 Dior DioreLLa Inspires singular devotion in the style of a Barry White ballad.

2 ChaneL Les exCLusifs 31 rue Cambon A serious treat. Such a clever, kaleidoscopic fragrance. I don’t know how but it manages to be pared down and easy one minute, and then incredibly baroque the next. Forever interesting.

3 The boDy shop WhiTe musk I often add this over other perfumes, under perfumes, or in the crook of my elbow. (NB This iconic fragrance appears in the debut ‘Discovery Box’ for Perfume Society subscribers.)

4 GuerLain VeTiVer for men On a rare day when I’m feeling perfumed-out (it does happen) this is what I wear and it seems to reset the system. It’s a very relaxed scent but also one conducive to productivity. Very industriousmaking!

5 4160 TuesDays Doe in The snoW This was made for my recent wedding by indie perfumer Sarah McCartney. I asked her for a fruity chypre in the style of some of the great 1970s scents, but with a deep, wintery, furry aspect. www.4160tuesdays.com

The smell that always makes me feel happy is… … sweet peas.

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On my dressing table now you’ll find these five fragrances…

And if money was no object, I’d love… … a set of all the scented boDy buTTers from freDeriC maLLe - especially Une Rose.

I’d also like a load of the nowdiscontinued Dewberry fragrance oil!

scented LeTTer

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flower power

an aromatic life

what the nose knows

lily of the valley

memories, etc.

ropion & flipo

Who doesn’t love this beautiful spring flower? Discover the tradition behind it - and the fragrances that capture muguet’s sweet magic forever

Nothing has the power to whisk us through time and space like scent.

We’ll be sharing one person’s life in scents - starting with Odette Toilette

Two of the most successful perfumers in the world talk to The Perfume Society about the art of capturing a message in a bottle - of perfume...

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notes from the blogosphere

designers talking scents

the scented word

CANDY PERFUME BOY

karl lagerfeld

breath of hope

This year’s Jasmine Award-winner for a website article reveals how he turned a long-term passion into a career - and shares his favourite online reads

The outspoken designer makes a welcome return to the world of scent - and as usual, doesn’t hold back with his pronouncements in this Q+A

It started with a poem - and ended as a perfume. A leading beauty editor and fragrance writer turns her hand to scent creation - and it opens her eyes

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nosing around

scent in the classroom

latest launches

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the scented room

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events

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it takes me right back

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on the scent of news

nosing around Here’s what we’re finding exciting in the world of scent, right now: the people, the places (and the perfumed ‘extras’ that enhance our pleasure in life…)

THE FRAGRANT BOOKSHELF

Next time you’re in Paris...

Pay a visit to Guerlain’s flagship store at 68 Champs-Élysées, which was built in 1913 and recently underwent a magical revamp, doubling in size and with a new restaurant – Le 68 – run by French Michelinstarred chef Guy Martin. For young Parisian women, a visit to the store is a rite of passage, to find her ‘first Guerlain’ fragrance. And upstairs, for any scent-lover (of any age), it’s easy to while away some very pleasurable time, checking out the Guerlain perfume portfolio, which includes quite a few that are exclusive to this store. There is a ‘hall of mirrors’ displaying historic Guerlain collections – and a separate space for men’s fragrance, should your shopping partner need distraction while you dip, dab and spritz to your soaring heart’s content, before heading downstairs for a patisserie and a pot of tea, inspired by La Petite Robe Noire, or Shalimar, or other scents in Guerlain’s iconic perfume portfolio.

La Maison Guerlain, 68 Champs-Élysées, 75008 Paris guerlain.com

6 The scented Letter

Open this and you’ll get much, much more than the scent of freshly-printed pages: it’s filled with the fragrance info and insights that perfumer Roja Dove has amassed, over his years in the scent world, on history, fragrance notes and ‘accords’, legendary perfumes down the decades, and more.

The previous edition went out of print (copies have been changing hands for £200!) but it’s now on sale again for £29.95 (Black Dog Publishing).

We’re delighted to have a signed copy of The Essence of Perfume: A Master Perfumer’s Guide to offer to The Perfume Society subscribers. To enter the draw, please e-mail us at info@perfumesociety.org, putting ‘Roja Dove’ in the subject box – and we’ll get Roja to sign a copy especially for the winner. (And if the section on vintage perfume bottle design doesn’t turn you into a collector, nothing will.)

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A jewel of an idea

More, more Muguet

What do you do if you find you’re allergic to perfume? (The thought of it almost brings us out in a cold sweat.) When that happened to recently-graduated Judy Kocken, who’s based in Amsterdam, she was inspired to create a collection of ‘Perfume Tools’. These beautiful jewellery pieces are essentially vials to hold scent (soaked into in a natural fibre plug), which then diffuses through tiny holes as it’s skin-warmed. The ‘Perfume Tools’ kit features a glass beaker; the jewellery vial is placed in the beaker’s opening, and absorbs your chosen scent. Then the vial’s screwed closed, whereupon the item of jewellery can be worn.

The designs include earrings, a pendant and bracelet - and we’re certain the non-allergic would enjoy wearing fragrance in this way, too!) Alas, the project is still at prototype stage – although after winning a Wallpaper* Design Award, Judy’s hopeful it may ultimately go into production. If you’re interested, do e-mail info@judykocken.com.

The season of lily of the valley – The Perfume Society’s ‘adopted flower’ (you can read much more about it on p. 10) – is all too fleeting. But there’s a way to enjoy the heady sweetness off this bell-flowered plant year-round: we’ve tracked down three exquisite candles which fill the room with their beautiful scent, 365 days a year.

Jardins d’Écrivains Balzac Candle, inspired by Honoré de Balzac’s novel Le Lys Dans La Vallée, a poetic account of unrequited love symbolised by this innocent-looking (but intoxicating) flower. This large multi-wick candle is £60 at bloomperfume.co.uk Les Editions de Frederic Malle 1er Mai Candle. Created

by Dominique Ropion (you can read more about him on p. 16), the intention was to be as close as possible to the fragrance of lily of the valley – and it succeeds. (The red glass jar makes a super-chic posy vase, once it’s flickered its last.) £50 at liberty.co.uk Penhaligon’s Lily of the Valley Classic Candle Alongside the sweet-scented lily of the valley, see if your nose can make out touches of citrus, and the sandalwood base. Fresh, dainty, gorgeous. £32 at penhaligons.co.uk

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on the scent of news

WHAT DOES YORK SMELL LIKE?

Garden of delight Welcome to the future of travel guides. Because a new booklet from the Yorkshire Tourist Board gives you an idea of what to expect from a visit to the city, scratch ‘n’ sniff-style. So: imagine a fusion of horse hair, hoof oil, grass and fruit punch (concocted to conjure up a visit to York Racecourse).

Or loose leaf tea and spiced cake (that’ll be afternoon tea, at one of York’s many tea rooms). Championing York’s chocolate-making heritage, there are scents of butter and nuts.

Love mooching round antique shops?

York has plenty, evoked here with the scent of leather, old books, gold, silver and wood…

But not everything’s so alluring: they also bring you the smell of oil, iron and coal, harking back to York’s golden age of railways – and a ‘spooky’ stench of sulphur, in a section that highlights York’s haunted attractions. The olfactory guide is free, and the first of its kind in Britain. If you’d like to bury your nose in the free guidebook, e-mail info@visityork.org

“

Smell is a word, perfume is literature Jean-Claude Ellena, Hermès in-house perfumer

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We love it when the fragrance world ‘gives back’. On p. 36, read about Jo Malone London’s Silk Blossom scent – but you can also buy a candle to raise funds for their ‘horticultural therapy’ charity work (JML make a donation of the full £42 for each candle sold). This began with Sarah Price’s makeover of a ‘secret garden’ in London’s Battersea Park, in tandem with Thrive. The charity works to improve the lives of those in deprived and vulnerable situations, who are often isolated through mental health, addiction, disability or poverty.

Now, in Edinburgh, there’s a project to add a herb garden to the Redhall Walled Garden, with SAMH (Scottish Association for Mental Health), which will open next month. In New York, the fragrance house has partnered with Bette Midler’s New York Restoration Project to create a fragrant community garden in a deprived Brooklyn area which was badly flooded during major storms.

‘Gardens are good for the soul,’ Jo Malone London believes. And we couldn’t agree more. jomalone.co.uk

A SKINCARE RANGE BLOSSOMS To us, how a skin cream smells is just as important as how it feels, and the results it delivers. (Not least because if we don’t like the smell, we’re not going to use it diligently.)

San Francisco-based skincare line In Fiore takes that very seriously indeed: founder Julie Elliot creates the blend for each natural skincare product in her line as if it was a perfume, blending exquisite organic and wild-crafted oils into treats for faces, bodies (and the senses). Smell the compositions from a woman who describes herself as ‘a blender, a parfumeur, a world traveller’ in divine creations like Complexe de Fleur Cellular Renewal Complex (£100 for 60ml), or the Body Balms (we’re loving Kasmir, with its blend of sandalwood, neroli and patchouli leaf, £60 for 240ml). In the UK, In Fiore’s exclusively available from victoriahealth. com, do your nose a favour and make a detour to Julie’s shop.

In Fiore, 868 Post Street, San Francisco, California (between Hyde & Leavenworth streets). +1 (415) 928 5661

bloom in

Like a book club – without the homework with fellow perfumistas, do e-mail As a Perfume Society subscriber, us. If there’s a group in your area, there’s one really enjoyable way we’ll contact them to see if they’re that you can get the most out of looking for members. (No promises, your subscription: set up your own but we’ll ask on your behalf.)

Perfume Society Perfume Group.

And if you’ve got any ideas for Once a month, to the ‘leader’ activities which our Perfume Society of each group, we’ll send out an Perfume Groups can get involved activity to be enjoyed with friends. in? Do e-mail us, as above. For Imagine a book club, where there’s anyone whose ideas we adopt, no homework: all you need to bring there’ll be a prize of four of our is your nose. There’s no additional ‘Latest Launches’: an instant capsule subscription required: simply e-mail fragrance wardrobe. Which, if you us at subscribers@perfumesociety. like, you can then invite your group org, and each month we’ll send you to discover, explore and enjoy. (as Group Leader) details of a new, Preferably with a glass of enjoyable activity designed to something chilled. help deepen your enjoyment of www.perfumesociety.org fragrance even further.

The monthly ‘activity’ might revolve around one of our Fragrance Education Perfume Discovery Boxes (the first of which launches on 11th June 2014). Maybe you’ll get to come up with some cocktail recipes, inspired by perfume, with guidelines from leading mixologists.

How many different smells can you make out?

Or pair tea, or Until recently, it was thought that the human nose chocolate, with could distinguish around 10,000. But following perfume… Or new research from Rockefeller University in New even get involved York on volunteers, that estimate’s been drastically in blind-testing, revised: it’s now calculated that we may be able to or a scientific make out as many as a trillion different scents. ‘We experiment have an amazing olfactory capacity that has not been matching musical appreciated,’ comments one of the researchers, notes to fragrance Leslie Vosshall. The challenge? Putting those notes…! We’ve lots scents into words. (But if you’d like to learn up our sleeve. to do just that, do sign up for one of If you don’t have The Perfume Society’s ‘How to perfume-loving friends Improve Your Sense of Smell’ but you’d like to meet up workshops…)

NOSE-BOGGLING RESEARCH

Peonies

+ Lily

of the valley

+ Lilies + Tuberose + Mimosa + Fresia + Lilac + Phlox

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flower power

We’re loving...

LILY OF THE VALLEY On 1st May, in the countdown to our launch, The Perfume Society ‘flower-bombed’ women we admire with little bunches of this pure white nodding flower – from photographer Mary McCartney to chef Angela Hartnett, TV’s Lorraine Kelly to architect Zaha Hadid, actress Sienna Miller to Vogue Editor Alexandra Shulman…

For such a tiny white flower, lily of the valley packs a heck of a scented punch. Just a few sprigs of Convollaria majalis can fill a room with their green, cheery sweetness, helping to bid farewell to the drear of winter. (The second part of its Latin name refers to the fact that it flowers in May.) Personally, we can’t think of a soul who doesn’t love this flower, which pushes up from the bare soil to lift our hearts.

The tradition of giving nosegays of lily of the valley dates back to May 1561. King Charles IX of France – aged just 10 – was presented with a little bunch of muguet, the flower we know today of lily of the valley. That gesture was meant to symbolise luck and prosperity, and the ‘boy King’ so loved the idea that he began to offer posies of this so-fragrant flower to the ladies of his court each year, on 1st May. Around the start of the 20th Century, that tradition really took off, and French men began to present lily of the valley to women as a sign of their affection.

Nowadays, it’s a more general custom: muguet is given between friends, family or even colleagues. In France, 1st May is now declared a public holiday; in the country, families 10 The scented Letter

get up in the morning and head to the woods to pick the flowers. But there are political undertones, beneath that innocent façade: 1st May is ‘Labour Day’, and you may also spot sprigs of lily of the valley on the lapels of workers demonstrating and parading, which is another May Day (or ‘fête du travail’) tradition. There are even special regulations that allow French people, and some organisations, to sell these flowers on 1st May without paying tax or having to fret about the usual retail regulations and red tape.

The scent of the flowers itself, of course, is almost spicy, so sweet and green, with hints of lemon. Yet ironically, it’s impossible to extract the scent of lily of the valley from the flowers themselves. They’re too fragile to survive being steam-distilled, and the technique of enfluerage (using solvents or waxes to tease out the scent) doesn’t work, either.

Thank heavens, then, for the skill of the perfumer – because by mixing other aromatic compunds, it’s possible to come up with a lily of the valley note that even someone with the acuity of a Miami airport sniffer dog couldn’t tell from the real thing. How’s it done? Often, through the use citrus and florals such as jasmine, orange blossom, rosy or green notes – and some of the most magical synthetics in a perfumer’s palette, with names like Lilial, Lyral and hydroxycitronellal.

Lily of the valley plants themselves, though, have a surprisingly dark side: all parts of the plant are highly poisonous. (And for sure, keep your children away from the appealing-looking red berries which ripen some time after the flower fades.) But personally, nothing could put us off growing them. Plants can be a little tricky to establish, but it’s worth trying (and trying again, if at first you don’t succeed). Dried crowns take ages to get going, and often come to nothing. Clumps from friends can be moody,

© Diana Taliun - Fotolia.com

We were following a wonderful French custom: on May Day, lily of the valley is given by men (and women) to those they love and admire, as a symbol of springtime – and a token of admiration. We’d love to encourage it as a tradition here: what lovelier way to herald spring…?

(So lily of the valley has become The Perfume Society’s ‘adopted flower’.) But of course, lily of the valley needn’t just be enjoyed in May. As a fragrance note, it features in one of the world’s most celebrated scents – Diorissimo – among other lovely, white flower creations, just waiting for you to sniff them out…

flower power

We adore this collectible 1960s Diorissimo magazine advertisement

Christian Dior’s ‘lucky flowers’ were sewn into the hems of his dresses too. The best way, our green-fingered friends tell us, is to buy a ready-potted plant with healthy roots, and plant out somewhere that mimics the conditions lily of the valley naturally flourishes: a cool, damp corner of the garden, with lots of leafmould worked in. (Failing that, garden compost.)

Spread out the roots carefully and cover with a couple of inches/5 cm of your crumbly, leafmould-y soil. Within a few years you may be wondering how to tame your spreading cluster; they were once described as ‘the worst of all delicious weeds’. (Though we can definitely think of worse horticultural challenges.)

In the language of flowers, lily of the valley means sweetness, return to happiness, humility and ‘you’ve made my life complete’ – so it’s perhaps hardly surprising that 12 The scented Letter

this fabulous flower is so often favoured by brides for both headdresses and bouquets. Grace Kelly carried lily of the valley when she married Prince Rainier – ditto Catherine Middleton (now the Duchess of Cambridge), for her wedding to Prince William. We love the idea, meanwhile, that fresh sprigs of Christian Dior’s ‘lucky flower’ were sewn into the hems of his dresses, so that when his models did a twirl on the catwalk, the delicate scent would envelop his salon. We’re told the couturier grew lily of the valley in his own glasshouses, in fact, for that exact purpose…

We suggest you treat yourself to a sprig. (Though we’d choose a little vase over a hem, ourselves.) And check out some of the gorgeous ways that perfumers have ‘bottled’ this most delicious of flowers…

GREEN AND GORGEOUS Lily of the valley has inspired countless ‘noses’, who’ve explored the different nuances of this prettiest of flowers.

We would suggest as a really interesting exercise to get out there and smell different interpretations of this flower, as a ‘project’. The fragrances listed range from pure luxe pricetags to very accessible; some perfumers play up the green, fresh edge, while others enhance lily of the valley’s sweet qualities. (If you’re a Perfume Society subscriber, your ‘Note Book’ is perfect for writing down your impressions.)

DIOR DIORISSIMO Considered the ‘grande dame’ of lily of the valley perfumes, it was created by Edmond Roudnitska in 1956, who described it as ‘a pure lily-ofthe-valley scent that also has the odour of the woods in which it is found and the indefinable atmosphere of the springtime’. Just so.

Penhaligon’s Lily of the Valley A green and woodsy interpretation, launched in 1976, described as having a ‘rainy-day’ quality. A little more staying power than some, with its sandalwood and oakmoss base.

Crabtree & Evelyn Lily A divine lily of the valley fragrance, evoking woodland mosses, dewy green notes, and with whispers of ylang ylang and musk. (The 5,000 ‘charter subscribers’ to The Perfume Society will find a Lily Hand Cream in their first ‘Perfume Discovery’ box, a gift on signing up. There are lots of ways to enjoy this scent, actually: we keep a bar of the soap tucked in our lingerie.)

Guerlain Muguet Each year, Guerlain offers a limited edition of a fresh interpretation of their Muguet fragrance, in a specially designed bottle, with just a few numbered bottles available worldwide. The stuff of dreams.

Van Cleef & Arpels Muguet Blanc Cool and so fresh, perfumer Antoine Maisondeau wrote this about his creation: ‘The touching, graceful delicacy of lily of the valley is embellished with white peony, the radiant touch of neroli and the elegant caress of white cedar softened with satiny musk….’

© Alexey Kuznetsov - Fotolia.com

Yardley Lily of the Valley Classic and elegant, light and fresh, Yardley’s version offers citrusy top notes, with jasmine, geranium and magnolia adding to the white flower bouquet at its so-pretty heart.

Floris Lily of the Valley This opens with a twist of sparkling lemon, and while lily of the valley dominates the heart, you might detect a touch of ylang ylang, rose or tuberose, too. A timeless classic from the collection of this historic English perfume house.

Grace Kelly carried lily of the valley when she married Prince Rainier – ditto Catherine Middleton for her wedding to Prince William

CARON MUGUET DE BONHEUR From the classic French fragrance house, the lily of the valley is highlighted in this so-pretty scent by lilac, jasmine, pear, heliotrope and musk, opening with a ‘murmur of green’ in the background.

The

scented Letter

13

an aromatic life

memories, dreams, reflections Odette Toilette organises some of the most riveting perfume events we’ve ever attended (and will be running special events for The Perfume Society; watch this space). She also puts together the ‘Life in Scents’ podcasts (iTunes) in which fascinating people talk about the scents which are important to them. So for the first in this series we turn the tables on Odette - and her answers remind us of scent’s extraordinary power in all of our lives…

When did you realise scent was really important to you?

I understood when young how the scents of different places could trigger either a lurching feeling of dread, a sense of comfort or of fizzing excitement. So the house of my grandparents was mothballs, Pear’s soap and dog breath.

What was the first fragrance you were given?

It was a kiddies’ perfume given to me at a very early

birthday party, and which fast became confiscated when I spilled it everywhere. It was the moment that changed everything. I cannot remember ANY other present given to me by a classmate at one of those parties. Just that plastic bottle of cologne.

What was the first fragrance you bought for yourself?

Following the above confiscation I’m pretty sure I then got hold of a Tinkerbell fragrance which came in a pack with a small plastic hairbrush and some peel-off nail varnish.

Have you had different fragrances for different phases of your life…?

Oh, yes! When I was 12-13 it was all about Impulse body sprays, bought desperately to fit in, and forever associated with poor body image and insecurities.

When I was a teenager I bought a bottle of Premier Figuier from L’Artisan Parfumeur which was like a secret treat. I wasn’t trying to be precocious but it seemed so precious and something that other people couldn’t know about. Then the Sixth Form was all about Angel. I don’t think I ever bought it; I’d cut out those pages in magazine that you ripped open for a quick wrist-rub.

Later I bought L’Artisan’s Mûre et Musc which I link always with being a student and which I thought was terribly original at the time. Nowadays I can’t go back to that one; it feels a bit weird wearing it.

From then on, it was all about experimentation, so I struggle to place particular scents with a year or lifecircumstance. Basically I soon became a scent slut and anything went, which continues to be the case (though I am more selective these days...)

The smell that always makes me feel happy is… … sweet peas.

The smell that always makes me feel a bit sad is… … my dad’s shed, which he still has. I used to go down there to read in the summer holidays and loved the overheating wood aroma. Going there now I feel nostalgic for that sense of being relatively carefree and able to enjoy every moment of settling down with my latest book. I find it increasingly difficult to get back to that feeling of quiet joy now - all from self-induced pressure of course!

14 The scented Letter

© Marta Teron; Dionisvera, both Fotolia.com

What’s the very first thing you remember smelling?

Strawberries. I was two and a half. My sister had just been born. My mum was in hospital so I was confused and upset.

On the way to visit, my dad took me to Marks & Spencer so we could get some special fruit for her. We bought grapes and strawberries. In the labour unit I was so taken by the aroma of the ripe fruit that I ate the whole lot. My poor mum didn’t get a single thing to eat! Then aged three I had a beloved though maltreated doll called Strawberry Shortcake which smelt of fizzy strawberry sweets when you squeezed her tummy. She was a big hit.

The scent that I love on a man is…

Just behind his ear. To be honest, I like nearly any fragrance on a man when in its final embers and just perceptible. Probably even Lynx Apollo.

I’d love to have smelled… … some of the fragrances created in the early 20th Century.

Especially those created by French designer Paul Poiret under Parfums Rosine: he put so much effort into creating these incredibly conceived scent ideas with elaborate, decorative packing. Ultimately they flopped as the business wasn’t sustainable. I’ve tried one of them which you can buy online as a samples, but otherwise they’re pretty much gone. (surrendertochance.com).

What is your favourite book about smells?

For its sense of personal nostalgia it has to be Valerie Ann Worwood’s The Fragrant Pharmacy. Bought it when 15, very hormonal, and was absolutely captivated. Something about the remedies and blends that went with my teenage pagan tendencies. I took it all about the house, re-reading bits any chance I could. Inspired by her writing, I bought a bottle of geranium oil and would walk around sniffing it as though it were smelling salts.

Odette Toilette runs Scratch+Sniff, a series of regular (often raucous) themed events for discovering fragrance without the intimidation factor. For more about her see our Contributors page. She tweets at @odettetoilette

On my dressing table now you’ll find these five fragrances…

1 Dior Diorella Inspires singular devotion in the style of a Barry White ballad.

2 Chanel Les Exclusifs 31 Rue Cambon A serious treat.

Such a clever, kaleidoscopic fragrance.

I don’t know how but it manages to be pared down and easy one minute, and then incredibly baroque the next.

Forever interesting.

3 The Body Shop White Musk I often add this over other perfumes, under perfumes, or in the crook of my elbow.

4 Guerlain Vetiver for Men On a rare day when I’m feeling perfumed-out (it does happen) this is what I wear and it seems to reset the system. It’s a very relaxed scent but also one conducive to productivity.

Very industrious-making!

4160 Tuesdays Doe in the Snow This was made for my recent wedding by indie perfumer Sarah McCartney. I asked her for a fruity chypre in the style of some of the great 1970s scents, but with a deep, wintery, furry aspect. www.4160tuesdays.com 5

And if money was no object, I’d love… … a set of all the super-luxurious scented Body Butters from Frederic MallE EDITIONS DE PARFUM - especially Une Rose. I’d also like a load of the nowdiscontinued Body Shop Dewberry fragrance oil!

The

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15

what the nose knows

Ropion & Flipo Without perfumers, there would be no perfumes – and there are fewer of them than astronauts…! For each edition of The Scented Letter, we’ll be nose-to-nose with these creative geniuses – starting here with Dominique Ropion and Anne Flipo, the acclaimed perfumers behind many of today’s bestselling fragrances.

Together, Dominique and Anne co-created the new eau de toilette for Lancôme’s La vie est belle. Although individually they’re credited as the ‘authors’ of many, many well-known scents, pairing up is something they’ve done often – including for Giorgio Armani Acqua di Gioia and YSL L’Homme Parfum Intense. Let’s step inside the lab, and find out how it all happens…

Is the design process different when you’re working alone or as a group on the same fragrance?

AF: It’s really very different working alongside other perfumers. You develop the fragrance by sharing ideas and perspectives. You truly exchange experiences based on the choice of raw materials, the technical expertise and the knowledge of each team member. It’s a really fascinating creative process.

DR: Yes, it’s quite different. To create a fragrance as a team you need to have compatible styles as well as a positive atmosphere. Personally, I always enjoy working with colleagues like Anne – I’ve previously composed several fragrances with her.

What materials or ingredients inspire you?

AF: I love flowers and green notes in general. I am especially fond of orange blossom. I often add at least a hint of it to my creations even when it’s not a key constituent of the fragrance.

DR: I’m inspired by classic flowers: jasmine, rose, 16 The scented Letter

© Rafomundo - Fotolia.com

Dominique and Ann: what are your sources of inspiration when creating a fragrance?

Dominique Ropion: Everything! My inspirations range from olfactory creations to elements in my environment.

But I often draw inspiration from a central theme, building around a raw ingredient that I want to evoke. Then I sculpt it, adding texture, volume and contrast effects. Sometimes people compare music to fragrance, but I think our profession is a lot more tangible!

Anne Flipo: Memories associated with particular moments in my life can offer sources of inspiration. Unique places, or nature itself – which I love to perfect by taking it beyond its own limits… But also the bond that forms with the team I’m creating for.

“

Magnolia is a magnificent flower with a simultaneously bewitching and refreshing personality

�

what the nose knows

Sambac jasmine, patchouli, iris and blackcurrant bud feature in La vie est belle alongside magnolia

As a perfumer, do you find certain things especially pleasant or unpleasant?

DR: I particularly dislike smelling fried food as I walk into a restaurant. I suppose some people don’t notice it, but it really bothers me!

AF: I am able to disconnect from smells I don’t like.

However, I’m naturally very curious when I’m surrounded by enticing smells. As a perfumer, whether I’m in the middle of nature among floral, green or wooded notes, or in a chef’s kitchen, whenever I smell combinations of appetising smells of fruit, cakes and spices, it’s an incredibly pleasant experience for me - and it really gets my creative juices flowing. There’s always inspiration to be had!

Are you demanding when it comes to the fragrances the people around you wear?

AF: A little. I’d rather they wear nothing at all than wear the wrong fragrance.

DR: I can’t help offering my opinion, but I still leave people free to make up their own minds.

What would you do if you lost your sense of smell?

DR: I’d find solace in music.

AF: This is a very difficult question to answer… it’s my most important sense! Initially, I think I’d use my olfactory memory and other people’s sense of smell. After that I just don’t know what I’d do – I’d be devastated! It reminds me of Beethoven.

Even after going deaf, he never abandoned his passion.

He found ways to get around the problem and to keep on composing until it became completely impossible for him...

Has your olfactory memory ever played tricks on you?

DR: Well, my nose has because smells can change due to 18 The scented Letter

lots of factors like weather conditions or an individual’s skin characteristics. But my olfactory memory itself has never played tricks on me.

Let’s talk Lancôme. Is there a Lancôme signature when it comes to fragrance?

DR: For me, Lancôme fragrances embody French elegance through very feminine flowers. They always generate an explosion of emotion and feelings.

AF: Yes, I’d say ultra-femininity and a strong signature for every creation. Flowers associated with a more “cosmetic” dimension, with a strong sense of pleasure. Lancôme fragrances express radiant, friendly, enveloping femininity…

They are never cold or provocative!

La vie est belle is a fragrance that celebrates happiness.

What are the “scents of happiness” for you?

AF: In La vie est belle, the gourmand facet offers a joyfully radiant sensation with notes of vanilla and tonka bean – a very creamy and feminine combination.

DR: For a women’s fragrance, the smells of happiness evoke joie de vivre. They bring sparkle to your eyes and a smile to your face. In La vie est belle L’Eau de Toilette, the duo of magnolia and the gourmand accord offers just that kind of note – fresh, luminous and mouth-watering!

Do you think that La vie est belle has its own signature?

How would you define it?

DR: Both the eau de parfum and the eau de toilette are built around a whole new kind of olfactory composition playing between light and dark, which forms the signature of the original La vie est belle: a gourmand iris with irresistible lingering notes of deep, seductive patchouli.

For the Eau de Toilette version, noble scents of iris are freshened by magnolia, while the deliciously childlike gourmand accord is perfected by notes of coconut milk.

La vie est belle L’Eau de Toilette is categorised as a ‘gourmand magnolia’. How would you define that?

AF: I’d describe it as a gourmand floral accord with fresh, citrus and exuberant notes all at the same time.

© Antonio Gravante; srekap; Den - Fotolia.com

tuberose, violet. It takes just a few petals to reconstitute the whole floral olfactory spectrum! I find it absolutely fascinating and I’m passionate when it comes to studying their chemical composition. Orange blossom too: it’s an incredibly rich raw material whose facets range from pure innocence to more venomous charms. An outstanding achievement!

Why choose magnolia to reveal this new facet of La vie est belle? How does it interact with the fragrance’s backbone of iris?

AF: The gourmand magnolia accord freshens the iris while maintaining all of its elegance and depth. It adds effervescence for an even more vibrant effect, as well as a sunny facet for boosted radiance and luminosity.

Magnolia is known as ‘the flower of spring.’ How do you represent this through scent?

DR: Spring days are sunny and full of colour. Magnolia offers a floral note working to illuminate the top and middle notes. It’s a flower with the ability to enhance other flowers in a bouquet by adding a fascinating, impertinent twist to the harmony.

AF: Fresh, floral and radiantly luminous notes – the kind that make you want to make the most of a sunny day!

Does magnolia as an ingredient have a special meaning in perfumery? What role does it play in your professional perfumer’s palette?

DR: Magnolia is thought to be one of the most ancient flowering plants. It is a floral note dressed in fruity spiced facets, which I use to perfect and illuminate top and middle notes in a perfume.

AF: Yes, magnolia is a magnificent flower with a simultaneously bewitching and refreshing personality. In my palette, it acts as a flower designed to accompany other flowers in a bouquet, adding a fascinating, impertinent twist every time.

happiness and joie de vivre from a brand like Lancôme (whose fragrances have always had the quality of conjuring up an explosion of emotion), we thought it could be a very interesting olfactory experiment to use a radiant facet to reveal all the effervescence of a new set of gourmand delights - all built around the magnificent flower that is magnolia.

AF: We added a sunny floral accord to illuminate the floral bouquet forming the fragrance’s heart and to offer it even more radiance. This accord makes the fragrance more ‘fluid’, if you like, and awakens the luminous facets of rose and orange blossom in the scent.

What other ingredients are used can we smell in this eau de toilette?

AF: In the top notes we have bergamot essence, coriander essence and blackcurrant bud absolute. Magnolia essence, Sambac jasmine absolute and orange blossom absolute come out as middle notes.

DR: And as base notes we have iris concrete, patchouli essence and tonka bean absolute.

And how long and how many attempts did it take to complete this project?

AF: It took us no less than 879 trials and a year’s work before we were really satisfied!

What are magnolia’s characteristics, in fragrant terms?

DR: It is fruity and floral, infused with jasmine and spices.

How is it harvested?

AF: Magnolia is harvested in May/June and October/ November. The flowers are hand-picked once they are mature, just before they open. LMR, the IFF laboratory which specialises in high-quality natural raw materials, carefully selects its magnolia flowers, ensuring they are not mixed in with leaves.

Once the flowers have been harvested, which processes transform magnolia into a fragrance?

DR: In order to produce magnolia essence, the flowers are loaded into vats before undergoing steam distillation at 100°C. The steam becomes infused with their essences before condensing in a spiral tube. Since it is lighter than water, the essential oil rises to the top. The second phase involves purifying the oil and re-working it through molecular distillation allowing the petals’ floral note to be concentrated while eliminating acidic green notes.

You have added sunny notes to this new composition – what do they bring to the fragrance?

DR: We really liked the idea of a sunny note for La vie est belle Eau de Toilette. For a fragrance expressing

Petal-pink and petal-perfect: La vie est belle indeed

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the scented room

you can’t hold a candle to...

If you love perfume, we think it’s a pretty sure bet that you love home fragrances, too: candles, room spritzes (and we adore a scented drawer liner, ourselves…) Here, then, you can discover the candles that were short-listed for this year’s Fragrance Foundation Awards 2014 Best New Home Fragrance – and we reveal the winner…

Jo Malone London Dark Amber & Ginger Lily

Cloon Keen Atelier Minted Galway-based Cloon Keen Atelier create intriguing and often unusual fragrances and scented candles – here, an invigorating fresh-green candle with notes of citrus and mint, on a woody, hintsof-musk base: a real summer’s day scent, this. The fragrance was created by Ruth Mastenbroek, with perfumes macerated and mixed in their atelier by craftsmen. Each candle is poured, bottled and polished by hand. £35 exclusively at lessenteurs.com

Annick Goutal Eau d’Hadrien The darkest and most sensual of the short-listed contenders, this is a candle from Jo Malone’s rich, rare ‘Cologne Intense’ collection. Enjoy the warmth of sweet, soft amber and black orchid, with spicy touches of black cardamom, ginger and water lily. We’d say this is a candle for smoochy evenings and fireside encounters; definitely calm and relaxing after a hard day’s work, too. £48 at jomalone.co.uk

tip 20

The

Airy, citrussy Eau d’Hadrien is probably Annick Goutal’s best-known fragrance – but less well-publicised is the fact that it’s available as a gorgeous scented candle. It blends zesty Sicilian lemon, grapefruit and cypress, designed to ‘evoke the heat of the Mediterranean sun and the coolness of the shade of a lemon tree.’ (PS We’ve successfully recycled the gold-ringed glass container as a posy vase, when it’s finished.) £39 at johnlewis.com

The first time you light a scented candle, always burn it until there is a pool of wax on the top.

Failing to do this is the No. 1 reason why candles (wastefully) create a hollow centre in the wax as they burn, rather than burning all the way to the sides.

scented Letter

Un Air de Diptyque

AWARD WINNER

2014

And now for something completely different… Diptyque were ‘scented candle pioneers’, and remain among the bestloved candles in the world.

But – for all sorts of reasons (including safety), not everyone wants a candle burning in the home. This fabulously welldesigned white ceramic electric diffuser wafts scent into a room three times an hour – and you can change the refill to change the scent, depending on your whim. Currently, refills include bestselling Baies, Amber, Feu de Bois, Figuier and 34 – but we’ve a hunch there’ll be more to follow, now best-dressed interiors are ‘wearing’ awardwinning Un Air de Diptyque.

We love and adore scented candles. But we do have a serious word to say about them. Really do follow all the Health & Safety advice about using candles in the home. We can almost hear you yawning ‘yada-yada-yada-, but our Editor was once in a fire started by a votive in a spa (emerging unscathed, happily), and we have no less than three friends who’ve started minor fires in their homes with scented candles. For that reason, we can’t recommend too highly following these guidelines…

£240 (recharge capsules £25 each) at Diptyque boutiques and liberty.co.uk

Timothy Dunn Violette de Lune

the safe candle guide

Roja Parfums Gardenia Candle

l Never leave a candle unattended, and remember always to extinguish before you go to sleep. l Place candles on a heatresistant surface. Nightlights and tealights can melt plastic (and that includes the top of the TV and the side of some bathtubs). l Keep candles out of draughts or blowing curtains (a draught can cause ‘flare’, making the flame burn much more dramatically). l Keep wicks trimmed: again, if you’ve a long wick, it can ‘flare’. (We’ve had this happen in the past.)

British master florist Timothy Dunn has a steller clientele, travelling the world for inspiration for his floral desgins. (Think: Madonna, Michael Jackson, Take That…)

Timothy created his fragrance line to transport all of us to exotic locations; one of eight in the luxurious collection, this fuses notes of neroli, wild jasmine and Moroccan rose, enhanced with the sensuality of creamy sandalwood, violet and fig, plus a touch of dark chocolate. £42 at timothydunnlondon.com

We agree with Roja Dove’s comment that ‘The scent of a room and the ambience of a home should be as inviting as the fragrance on your skin.’

These British-made hand-crafted candles burn for an impressively long time – here, showcasing one of the most opulent white flowers, also a symbol of love. It’s warm, heady and seriously sensual. (And if money was really no object, we can’t think of a more beautiful fragrance with which to scent a summer wedding.) £75 atrojaparfums.com

l Always leave 10 cm (four inches) between two candles, and never place them under shelves or other surfaces. l Extinguish candles before they burn into the glass.

(Again, we’ve had glass containers crack and shatter.) l Consider an extra smoke alarm in the rooms where you burn candles. l Never, ever use outdoor candles indoors.

The

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21

notes from the blogosphere

How I became a...

perfume blogger Earlier this year, The Perfumed Candy Boy – a.k.a. Thomas Dunckley – won a Fragrance Foundation Jasmine Award for his on-line writing. Reading – and writing about – perfume is a great path to deepening your appreciation of the scented world, so we asked Thomas about how he turned a passion into a profession. And about some of his own favourite sites…

“

There’s always an

awkward moment of silence when I out myself as a perfume addict to new people – a pregnant pause where my newly-found confidant tries to figure out why the man stood in front of them has such an interest in something that is very much outside of the ordinary. Now, it’s not that I’m just telling random people the details of my hobbies willy-nilly; you won’t find me running down Oxford Street harassing people with a bottle of Shalimar (although on second thoughts that might be fun…) But when it does come up in conversation, it’s fair to say that an interest in the art of olfaction - to me it’s the most natural thing in the world – takes others by surprise.

Smell has always played a prominent role in my life. As a child I was always drawn to oddly compelling odours that I probably should have been avoiding, such as petrol and burned matches (not at the same time of course: fire and fuel are best kept apart). And my most pointed memories of childhood are mapped by the smells around me – birthday cakes (sugary sweet, jammy and plush), tree tops (green and earthy with the metallic tang of

22 The scented Letter

You won’t find me running down Oxford Street harassing people with a bottle of Shalimar

scraped knees) and mother’s make up bag (cosmetic dust and Estée Lauder’s Beautiful).

Much to the dismay of my parents I wasn’t content with simply looking at things; I wanted to touch them and more importantly, sniff them.

Despite my predilection for all things olfactory, I came to perfume quite late at the age of 16 as an awkward sixth former, desperate to stand out from the crowd but lacking the rebellious streak required to truly pull of a ballsy character. My first true experience of scent was a bottle of Alexander McQueen Kingdom that I stumbled upon in a local department store. I had been fascinated by McQueen’s daring fashions that verged on the disturbing for quite some time - and the blood red heartshaped flacon, with one side encased in silver, was an objet d’art too beautiful not to pick up.

Kingdom was a revelation. A fragrant tour de force that smelled of rose beds, sweaty bodies and spice markets. At first this chaotic melange seemed utterly repugnant - but as I have learned with all good scents since, those perfumes that initially appear as shocking are some

of the greats, and Kingdom planted itself firmly under my skin, waiting for me to fall in love with it. And I did – hook, line and sinker. It was at this point that I discovered that perfume could be so much more than pleasant smelling water: it could be a way to convey emotion and make a statement. And I wanted to make waves with the perfumes I wore.

What happened after this initial exposure to olfactory art was a slow chain reaction that led me to my current position as a perfume blogger. After realising that I was a closeted perfume nerd I found solace in the like-minded individuals that populate the forums of Basenotes.

There I met Nick Gilbert - an enthusiastic, bubbling personality with an amazingly fragrant brain, and started writing snappy fragrant reviews in 140 characters or less for the Twitter project @fragrantreviews, which Nick also contributes to.

The world of perfume is full of revelations and surprises – and soon after commencing my outpouring of Twitter-based fragrance mini-reviews, I discovered a thirst for writing that I wasn’t aware that I had. A lack of self-confidence and a fear of putting myself out there prevented me from dipping my toe into the blogosphere straight away - but when I put fingers to keyboard for the very first time all those years of sniffing, thinking and talking about perfume paid off.

The blog I that I went on to create, The Candy Perfume Boy,

(thecandyperfumeboy.com) aims to take a lighter look at the world of perfume. I aim to review as many new launches as I possibly can (which can be frustrating at times due to the sheer number of fragrances released each year) – which happen to have included scents for The Muppets, Nicki Minaj and Disney Villains!

Perfume doesn’t always have to be so serious and I definitely like to think that The Candy Perfume Boy celebrates the more joyful side of the fragrance world.

At times it’s difficult to believe the success that I’ve had in my career as a fragrance writer. Three years into writing about perfume and I am in the fortunate position to be able to contribute regularly to premier beauty e-tailer ‘Escentual’ as their Fragrance Expert (a role that I enjoy immensely) as well as occasionally writing for Basenotes, a website that I have always enjoyed as a reader. This year I won a that Jasmine Award for ‘The Candy Perfume Boy’s Guide to Violet’, a look at some of my favourite violet perfumes - and it genuinely has been the highlight of my life so far.

I’m still pinching myself.

I have no idea what is next for me on my perfume journey. This is an industry full of so much craft, beauty and excellence that to be just a small part of it truly is an honour. Whatever happens, I do know that I will continue to sniff and to write, sharing my strange and often completely silly point of view…

WINNERS OF THE JASMINE AWARDS 2013 l Best Article in a Customer Magazine Sharon Parsons for ‘My Life in Fragrance’ in Sainsbury’s Magazine/July. l Best Digital Fragrance Experience Katie Chutzpah for ‘Tom Ford Releases London’/ katiechutzpah.com l Jasmine Soundbite (news press) Kathleen Baird-Murray for ‘On the Scent of a Good Story’ in The Financial Times/November. l Jasmine Soundbite (magazines) Gem Royston-Claire for ‘Confessions of a Fragrance Floozy’ in Company/October. l Best Practical Guide to Fragrance ‘Elle’s Fragrance CVs’ written by the team of Lorraine

”

The Candy Perfume Boy’s top 5 sites Now Smell This The only blog that I read every day. Robin K’s the woman in the know when it comes to new launches and goings-on in perfume.

The reviews always make for fun and fascinating reading. nstperfume.com Persolaise Persolaise knows so much about perfume and while I may not always agree with his forthright opinion of the perfumes he reviews, I do greatly enjoy reading each and every one. persolaise.blogspot.com Basenotes A massive fragrance resource and reference point for novices and veterans, and a great place for anyone who wants to start posting their own reviews. basenotes.net Bois de Jasmin Victoria Frolova is another writer who knows one heck of a lot about perfume, crafting her superior knowledge into beautiful perfume reviews, features and even the odd recipe - a joy to read.

Boisdejasmin.com Olfactoria’s Travels Birgit and her team write about everything from perfume to notepads on this thoroughly enjoyable blog which celebrates all that is beautiful. olfactoriastravels.com

Candy, Sophie Beresner, Amy Lawrenson and Joely Walker in Elle. l Most Creative Visual Award ‘Elemental Scents’ in Shortlist, words & styling by Adrian Clark and Mandy Pang. l Jasmine Visual Award ‘The Fifth Scent’ in Garage magazine by Odette Toilette and Lee C. Wallick, illustrations by Charlotte Cassel & Art Directed by Mike Meire and Tobias Tschense l Jasmine Literary Award (news press) ‘Scents of the Divine’ by Lucia van der Post in The Financial Times How To Spend It. l Jasmine Literary Award (magazines) ‘Perfume Haters’ by Neil Chapman in ODOU magazine.

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designers talking scents

fashion for the nose That’s what designer Karl Lagerfeld calls fragrance. And this spring, the outspoken designer (astonishingly now approaching his ninth decade!) launched two new signature scents. Here, Karl shares some of his thoughts on life, style – and perfume…

Karl’s own drawing of his new fragrant launch

24 The scented Letter

What’s the connection between fashion and fragrance?

Today in fashion it’s not just clothes.

It has to be everything. Not only handbags or sunglasses but also perfume: it’s very important in the universe of the label of a brand to have a fragrance. I think fragrances are as important as clothes are. It’s what’s next to your skin.

What do fragrances represent for you, in your day to day life?

I don’t even imagine that could be a daily life without all fragrances, because it’s like washing your face. So, in today’s life one has to use a fragrance because it’s impolite not to have a beautiful smell. I love perfume, I love fragrances, I love them for woman, I love them for men, and I think they make life itself more beautiful. It’s the fashion for the nose, fashion for the nose…!

How do you feel launching new fragrances after so long? And a duo: how important was it to launch both at the same time?

I love fragrances; for me it’s something I did in the past and I’m happy to do it again. I’m against too many launches at the same time, but one for men and one for women; it’s a different story; I think there’s no reason to wait for six months or a year to bring out another fragrance.

The big market may be women’s. But men fragrances are today as important as women fragrances. The fragrance is the fragrance… The gender problem is something one can look at later.

personal my taste. I like this very modern, new approach to perfumes.

There are beautiful old classics but nobody is waiting for Karl Lagerfeld to make a beautiful old classic.

The best memories you have from a scent?

The best memories I have of scents are the memories of my childhood, but then I have to talk about other brands, and I’m not a promoter of other brands…

LAGERFELD, BOTTLED The new Karl Lagerfeld fragrances were created by leading perfumers: Serge Majouilier and Christine Nagel are behind the women’s scent, in which fresh lemon contrasts with velvety peach, plumeria, roses and magnolias, on a pulsing base of musks and dark, ambery woods.

For the eau de toilette for men, Jean-Christophe Hérault revives the ‘fern’ tradition in male perfumery, with lavender and mandarin zest, green apple and violet leaves, and woody, spicy sandalwood and amber fusing in the dry-down. Karl Lagerfeld Women is priced from £32 for 25ml eau de parfum, while Karl Lagerfeld Men is from £33 for 30ml eau de toilette. Smell them – and of course buy them – in good perfumery departments everywhere.

Do you have a fragrance ritual?

I like to use overdoses of fragrances because I don’t smell them myself anymore, so sometime maybe I use too much, because I like to splash around a BIG splash! It’s something I adore; sprays are OK - and today people only use sprays but I love to use it like if it was water. After all, it’s an eau de toilette! Not on my skin, mostly on my shirt, on my sheets, on my towels, wherever.

On the skin?

Directly sometimes… also after the bath but mostly on my shirt.

What scents do you like the most?

I love Iris, I love touches of leather and fruit, and even tobacco touches; even if I don’t smoke I like the smell of tobacco. It’s the mix of all those that I like. And I like tangerine as a scent too. I don’t too much like when something smells like rose or these very basic classic things. There’s enough perfume like this, and that’s not

What was the inspiration behind the new bottles?

At the same time high-tech and classic.

It’s a mix of both of them, in these new fragrances, at what I think is the right moment to do that. The high-tech touch together with the very classical glass touch of the beautiful shaped bottle.

The ad campaign is very sexy and sensual. How did this visual come to life?

I wanted this photo to be sensual because in fact the fragrance should be something very sensual. You don’t use it only because you have a better smell.

It’s because you want to smell beautiful.

Can you define KL brand?

Yes I can. We are now seeing the most expensive clothes in the world, but I think it’s very important to do something also that is not that expensive. And this is always that I wanted to do with my name. I’m quite popular. So: make something people can wear and can buy without getting into trouble with the credit card!

What’s the one clothing item every woman needs?

I think that’s important for everybody: jeans, a beautiful shirt and a jacket. It’s what everybody needs, girls, boys, older ladies, older men, everybody… The basic is today that: beautiful shirt, t-shirt, jean, nice jacket and if you’re a girl, perhaps a skirt because I don’t have time for skirts for men.

What KL fashion accessory finishes someone’s look, do you believe?

I like watches, but everybody now looks at their phone to see what time it is. But watches are still beautiful, like jewellery now, important… They don’t have to be that expensive. I’m very happy wearing watches because I think they are beautiful, they are modern, they are really great looking, for me they are kind of modern jewels.

What are you constantly inspired by?

You want me to remain pretentious? Myself!

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the scented word

How a poet and a perfumer bottled

a breath of hope Vicci Bentley is among the leading perfume writers in the world, a frequent recipient of a Jasmine Award (see p.23), and a long-term scentophile. Less well-known is that Vicci is also a poet – which started her on a fragrant journey that has resulted in ‘turning the tables’, helping to create a fragrance. Here, for The Scented Letter’s debut issue, she writes exclusively about the insights it’s given her into the world she writes so brilliantly about…

Whether I’m writing about it or wearing it, I adore perfume. For me, it’s all about memory, emotion and good mood days. The subtle way a scent can comfort, calms and uplifts qualifies to my mind, qualifies it as an elegant lagal high - and yes, I have a shelf full of favourite fixes. Yet I’d never have dreamed that I’d be involved in creating one myself. Even now, if you wheeled me into a lab full of ingredients, I’d barely know where to begin.

You could say that Breath of Hope stalked me. It began life as a poem I wrote in which I imagined a perfumer, overjoyed to discover a bright flurry snowdrops on a grey February day, quickly jots down the formula for their elusive fragrance. The idea for this really came from my dear, centenarian mother. Snowdrops were her favourite flowers - traditionally the first ‘flowers of hope’ that symbolise the

Breath of Hope by Angela Flanders

end of winter. Just to make sure, mum would ask to be taken on an annual snowdrop pilgrimage to a churchyard near where she was born. The last time I took her, my head was buzzing with research for a feature I was writing - the inevitable tales of perfumers trawling far-flung rainforests, groves and gardens in quest of the latest, exotic inspiration.

What would they make of a bum-freezing churchyard in Leicestershire, I wondered? More to the point, does the unassuming Galanthus nivalis actually have a scent? Down on my hands and knees, a close encounter confirmed a tiny, fleeting fragrance similar to lily of the valley or bluebell wafting above the damp, earthy background of moss and leafmould. This became the basis for the formula my poetic perfumer scribbled in her windblown notebook. And there was little doubt in my mind who that perfumer would be.

I first met Angela Flanders when her scent Precious One won the 2012 FiFi (Fragrance Foundation) Award for Best New Independent Perfume. Along with my fellow Jasmine Award-winning journalists that year, I was on the judging panel - and frankly, it was love at first sniff. A magical, resonating chypre created for her daughter Kate Evans’s Precious boutique in Spitalfields, its bewitching blend of night flowers, oakmoss and rich, smoky vetiver was so astonishingly different the panel were unanimous: clearly, Angela is an artisan with the alchemist’s touch. Lucky for me, she also has form for working with poets.

Odette Toilette (who organises all manner of fragrant events - see p. 14) had previously commissioned a poem from me for one of her ‘Penning Perfume’ soirées, inspired

by Angela’s scent Ambre Noir. Precious One, too, has an ode to its name. Was there a chance that Angela would consider working the other way round and let my poem inspire a perfume, I wondered…?

To my utter delight, she agreed and ‘Project Snowdrop’ was on its way off the page. When I arrived for our first meeting around Angela’s dining table above the shop in Columbia

26 The scented Letter

© Africa Studio - Fotolia.com

Snowdrops are the first ‘flowers of hope’ that symbolise the end of winter

Road, a tray of lab flasks was already in situ and Angela, poem to hand, was busy mixing up a base.

Within the next couple of hours we also had a prototype heart and head. So far, so exciting. Except by our next meeting a fortnight later, I felt utterly out of my depth.

‘We need more wood!’ I remember bleating, sniffing at the base and not realising that Angela planned to slip the wood it into the heart. When at my insistence she did, an overdose of cedar produced a sharp, Dettol-ish tang that swamped the subtlety of the bluebell and violet in the

snowdrop accord. Substituting cosier, less astringent guaiac wood eventually sorted the problem. However, I’d learned a crucial lesson.

Sniffing individual ingredients on scent strips, then fanning them together under my nose, I could just about follow the thread. But when it came to visualising how base notes interact with accords at the heart and head - frankly I hadn’t a clue. Each layer of the familiar ‘perfume pyramid’ is like an individual perfume in its own right. Ingredients must not only offset each other, but also work in concert throughout the layers to create a symphony of scent vibrations.

Therein lies the perfumer’s true genius. A scent really is like a song. The lyrics grab you - you can probably even sing them in the shower. But could you write the orchestral score, then conduct it? Because of the avalanche of words I’ve written about scent over the years, I thought I could pen a basic formula. What I found is that if a perfume is to be truly exquisite, better not meddle with the expert. Even a ‘creative director’ - which is the closest description of my role here - must learn to trust that the nose knows best. Too many perfumers spoil the impact,

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“Ours was an intimate project, which I believe gives Breath of Hope a very special emotional feel.”

Breath of Hope’s unveiling at Angela Flanders’s Spitalfields store

just like cooks with that broth. Oh, and another important thing - great scents refuse to be rushed…

There were half a dozen more ‘tries’ after that first one, each with subtle tweaks and modifications.

Having perfected the base, Angela was determined to capture the sense of the poem: an impression of light emerging from darkness. The balance between the deep, oakmossy base which gives Breath of Hope its beautiful velvet-green colour and the lighter, brighter sappy floralcy became critical. Each ‘try’ was left to macerate or ‘sit’ for a minimum of two weeks for the natural ingredients to get to know each other, settle and behave. I remember feeling elated by one exquisite try, then disappointed as it progressively turned oddly tinny.

Another smelt promising, but vanished after a couple of hours. Then at last, we had ‘the one.’

I can’t begin to describe how it felt to finally wear the perfume that I had imagined; or how utterly impressed I am by the way Angela’s many subtle refinements exceeded my imagination by leagues. Would I have known that calamus, a type of reed favoured by Cardinal Wolsey as a strewing herb, was exactly the right note to lift Breath of Hope’s fresh, green aspect even more? Or that just a hint of violet would give the floral notes a cool, yet comforting harmony…?

I know that I’m privileged to have worked with such a unique and intuitive perfumer - one of the best we have here in the UK. It took me weeks to craft the poem and the scent took just over six months to be born - maybe a snip in the grand scheme of perfumery. But ours was an intimate project, which I believe gives Breath of Hope a very special emotional feel.

Back in February, a fortnight after Breath of Hope’s launch, I made a different pilgrimage to Welford Park in Berkshire, where each year a perfect storm of snowdrops carpets the woodland, so that it really does seem as if snow lies in drifts between the trees. And the scent!

Fleeting, sweet and with a darker, earthy undertow - a pensive, yet uplifting green fragrance uncannily like Breath of Hope. Proof that Angela the alchemist has literally breathed life into my words.

Angela Flanders, 4 Artillery Passage, Spitalfields, London E1 7LJ/020-7247 7040 www.angelaflanders-perfumer.com 28 The scented Letter

Breath of hope Pale rays barely melt hoary hedgerows, yet this green-craving month has a new light. Here in the churchyard, mothered by shushing yews, February’s flowers. Amongst silent stones flocked with lichen and lifelines, their brightness transcends leafmould. Still, a perfumer must kneel close to catch this fleeting formula.

There should be urgent, sappy galbanum she notes. Myrrh’s cool stealth. Sweet, carnal lily (youth’s shameless imperative) and the smooth, final cradle of dark, resinous woods…

A keen, north-born gust leafs her pocket book; reminder of ice, this not-yet-spring day.

She stiffens, craves a more forgiving drift ... a breath of hope? A swathe of white heads nod.

Vicci Bentley

scent in the classroom

THE BEST OF THE VERSE… For the first time this year, The Fragrance Foundation launched an initiative with schools: ‘Marty the Might Nose Smelly Poems’, to increase awareness of the sense of smell. Judges included writer/ playwright Esther Freud, Anna-Marie Solowij (co-founder of BeautyMART) and actor/comedian Stephen Mangan. We think you’ll love – and smile at! - the poems they chose as much as we do…

The Smelly Potion I can’t tell you who I am, but I am a witch stirring up a stink!

I am making a potion that will make you feel faint and here is what I will put in it to make it stink!

The list will go on for quite a while So relax, read on and enjoy my style…

The things I put in are rotten fruit (so beware!), Sweaty socks from an old granny And blue cheese is a big hit for me!

Smelly courgettes Out of date chocolate.

You can’t miss me stirring up a stench!

Sweat Boiled cabbage And sick which is from a relative who goes to the pub!

They’ve been made into water in greens, purples and blacks.

Watch through the window as I cause a reek, a stench, a pong and, worst of all, a… STINK!!!

Megan (winner, Years 5-6)

www.fragrancefoundation.org.uk

SMELL OF SMELLS I smell the scent of the aroma It took me long to discover That smell is such a wonder.

Before that, I could not smell: The city streets, bothered by pollution.

The country side, Always full of grass, The sheep, the cows they smell all together.

They smell rich aroma – The scent of life and nature.

The Animal It’s dinner time yum, yum.

You cannot guess what I am.

I am a mole I cannot see at all So I have to smell.

Hum, hum.

I smell flesh, a mouse, a rat.

I smell lots of panic.

I smell all the life and death.

I smell all the hurry.

I smell all the rush.

I smell the meat that needs seasoning.

I smell dinner, lovely dinner.

My dinner is ready.

Eve Hobsbawm (winner, Years 3-4)

Undesirable smells On the island of Murano The smell of glass is hot but wet odour Not as in a wet like the rain or a shower but of dew on rainforest and moisture on cold iron.

The glass forgers looking like machines in their grey lead helmets twirling the glowing spirals of amber into twisted, alien like shapes.

The scent is pungent, looking like translucent glass fibre cables It smells salty and diverse The smell of water in a ford is unrecognisable and invisible It wafts around a lot, crisp wolves, making icy crystals settle on their black noses.

In your mind, it depicts queer, weird like, azure images that make your mind spin like a roundabout.

Hamish (runner-up, Years 5-6)

Adam Moec (runner-up, Years 3-4)

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events

RSVP

Through our contacts in the perfume world, The Perfume Society has amazing access to places, people and happenings – and we want to share that with you. So you’ll find many other exciting events on our website: just visit www.perfumesociety.org/events for info.

Crabtree & Evelyn ‘Fragrance & Beauty Secrets’ Events Date: Tuesday 3rd June 2014 (Sheffield) Is there a need-to-know beauty tip your mother gave you, that you simply must share? Or are you always on the lookout for more extra little tips to make you feel… or smell(!) fabulous? To celebrate over 40 years of passing on beauty expertise to their customers, Crabtree and Evelyn will be hosting in-store events in flagships around the country focusing on sharing beauty tips across the generations.

And The Perfume Society Co-founder, Josephine Fairley has teamed up with

Crabtree & Evelyn to bring you a very special evening event in Sheffield at C&E’s store for Perfume Society VIP’s. Jo will be handing down all of her fragrant tips and offering advice and guidance for finding your perfect scent, as well as answering any of your questions about fragrance.

Attendees will be offered luxury hand treatments, a goody bag, £5 voucher to all customers when they add a tip to the Crabtree & Evelyn interactive tree (£15 minimum spend), and will be in with a chance of winning a family photo experience worth £600! In this instance, the event is open to all, not only to subscribers to The Perfume Society. Please book via www.perfumesociety.org/events

One-day Hands-on Introduction to Perfume Course Date: Saturday 26th July 2014 (London) All day Karen Gilbert, a truly inspiring and inspired teacher (and author of Perfume: The Art & Craft of Fragrance) is offering a one-day workshop for anyone who wants to learn hands-on how to make perfumes, and deepen their appreciation of fragrance and scents.

By the end of the day, you will…

• Have an understanding of the historical significance of fragrance • Have learned about the different ingredients used in perfumery • Easily be able to classify aromatic ingredients into the different fragrance families • Have practised blending top middle and base notes to create simple fragrance The workshop is priced £175 and is available to subscribers of The Perfume Society; we also have some places available if you’d like to bring a friend (for the same fee).

Please book via www.perfumesociety.org/events, where you’ll find more in-depth details of the workshop.

An evening of ‘Perfumes & Powder Puffs’ with Caron Date: 15th July at The Drawing Room at Fortnum & Mason, 6.30 – 8 p.m.

Caron fragrances combine old-world glamour with contemporary sophistication, and this promises to be a really enjoyable evening – in Fortnum & Mason’s elegant, silk-lined Drawing Room (recently opened by HM The Queen!)

Perfume expert Odette Toilette (who you can read more about on p. 14) will be leading you through some of the Caron’s most influential fragrances – and also showcasing the classic collection of tinted face powders with their goose down puffs, the epitome of French boudoir-chic!

Tickets cost £15 for the evening to include drinks and canapés, and are bookable on our website.

Do bring friends, andif you’d like, and make a beautiful outing of it!

NB This workshop is hosted in the downstairs training room at Les Senteurs and is therefore not suitable for wheelchairs.

NB At time of going to press, there was availability for all the events above. We apologise if all spaces have been filled since then, and encourage you to revisit the Events page for updates. We also send bulletins to Perfume Society subscribers announcing new events.

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first whiffs

latest launches Welcome to the round-up of our edited ‘finds’ from among spring and early summer’s gorgeous launches.

Most are widely available (and where they’re not, we tell you). So now, as a Perfume Society subscriber, head out with your booklet of blotters - and sniff them out for yourself…

TIPS FOR TESTING Nothing beats actually smelling fragrances for yourself. So look out for fragrances marked here with a H, as introductory samples of these fragrances feature (among others) in our very first, limited edition ‘Fragrance Edit’ Summer Scentsations Box, launching exclusively to Perfume Society subscribers on 11th June 2014 at perfumesociety.org, to be priced at £9.95 (inc. p&p).

1 First write the name of the fragrance you’re trying on the square end of the blotter, and dip or spray the pointed end.

2 Allow a few minutes for the alcohol and top notes to subside, then smell the blotter.

3 The heart notes and lingering base notes – which come next - are what you will live with, and are crucial to whether you’ll enjoy wearing a scent.

4 If you like a fragrance at this stage, try it on your skin – but never more than two on the body at a time.

Don’t rush a decision; really live with those base notes - then you’ll know if it’s love...

THE FRAGRANCE FAMILIES

DY

CHY

O W O

EN

L

RI

NTA

O FL

ORIE

PRE

As scentophiles know, fragrances fall into different ‘families’. So we’ve used the same classification system for launches as on our www.perfumesociety.org website. Just look for the coloured strip above the name of the perfume, which is your visual clue to the families. (These are listed below.) Most of us are drawn to a specific family/families: once you know which you fall into, that colour can act as a cue – and help you take a short-cut to the ones you may want to try first…

L TA

FLO

RA

FRESH

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L

GO

U

A RM

ND

FOUGERE

Atelier Cologne Cedrat Envirant h

BALMAIN EXTATICh

BULGARI OMNIA INDIAN GARNET

What’s cedrat? This uplifting citrus fruit’s also known as citron. Along with generous elements of Mexican lime and Calabrian bergamot, Moroccan cedrat opens this sense-awakening new creation from Atelier Cologne, the exciting perfume house which specialises in creating ‘longer-lasting’ Colognes via the use of to very high concentrations of essential oils. Mint, basil and juniper make for an aromatic heart, with elemi, vetiver and (for a touch of vanilla-y sweetness) tonka bean, in the base notes. Citrus bliss. £75 for 100ml at lessenteurs.com

In a bottle designed to echo the spot-it-at-30-paces chainmail detail seen on many Balmain accessories, discover nashi pear, osmanthus and Bulgarian rose, drifting towards a floral heart of night jasmine, iris and starry baby orchid, before Extatic’s shimmering sensuality takes centre stage: amyris wood, cashmere wood and Barenia leather – a tribute to the leather used in Balmain’s key fashion pieces. ‘A collaboration between rock & roll and sophistication,’ we’re told.

From £32 for 40ml eau de parfum at John Lewis

Just in time for summer: the jewellery house takes Indian garnet as the inspiration for a vibrant, seductive fragrance which ‘portrays the sensuality of a woman at dusk.’ Indian tuberose - the flower of desire - is the opulent floral at its heart, following on from sparkling top notes of mandarin and a touch of saffron. Osmanthus adds to the exoticism, and in the dry-down of this sensual floral, discover intense Indian woods, softened by the warmth of amber. £45 for 40ml eau de toilette at House of Fraser

BYREDO FLOWERHEAD

Calvin Klein cK one summer

Cartier La Panthère

Byredo’s Swedish creator Ben Gorham goes back to his sensory roots to uplift us with this florabundant eau de parfum. Flowerhead is inspired by the Indian wedding, where flowers are a focal part in the festivities. The perfume celebrates top notes of fresh Sicilian lemon, angelica seeds and lingonberry, blended with heart notes of tuberose, sweet rose petals and enriched with the potent flowers of wild jasmine sambac and a romantic base of amber and suede. £88 for 50ml eau de parfum www.liberty.co.uk

Anyone for tequila? At the heart of iconic Ck One’s summer limited edition is a cooling cocktail which swizzles around an intriguing ‘tequila accord’. Zingy citrus notes open the scent – frozen lime, grapefruit and juicy melon – and introduce a beautiful heart of white freesia and fresh cypress. The notes which linger on the skin till you (beach) party till dawn include coconut water and cedarwood, with soft touches of crushed sugar. One for Ck One Collectors, for sure. Chin, chin! £32 for 100ml at Debenhams

At La Panthere’s Paris launch, Cartier perfumer Mathilde Laurent explained to us that the whole chypre fragrance category is ‘endangered’, as oak moss becomes less available via suppliers. It will be tragic if that magical scent family disappears; we want to be able to go on enjoying fragrances like this: a sexy ‘feral floral’, built on accords of musk, chypre and flowers (including rich gardenia). It’s velvety and modern - but with a vintage elegance. And the bottle’s a stunner: the peach-tinted juice is captured in a panther, etched into the flacon. £49 for 30ml at John Lewis

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CARVEN L’EAU DE TOILETTE

LES EXCLUSIFS DE Chanel 1932 EXTRAIT

LES EXCLUSIFS DE Chanel JERSEY EXTRAIT

Perfumer Francis Kurkdjian gets several name-checks this edition here, for this breezy, almost fluttery scent. First, encounter the Italian lemon, peony and sweet pea, before it moves into the heart of wisteria, white hyacinth and peony. Francis’s idea, so he says, was for a scent ‘like a lightweight piece of clothing, with an elegant cut and decidedly “city” look.’ The notes which linger on the pulse-points, meanwhile, are creamy sandalwood, white musks and amber. £35 for 30ml eau de toilette at Selfridges

Chanel’s so-sophisticated, sparkling white floral 1932 is now available in an ‘Extrait’ - a new and luxurious way to enjoy Jacques Polge’s creation. Jasmine garlands 1932’s heart in this velvety, crystalline scent (one of three Parfum introductions showcased here).

Refreshed by a pear and grapefruit accord – so wonderfully airy – you’ll then experience the jasmine wafting in, alongside vetiver and an ‘almost shameless quantity of iris butter’. Perfect for dressed-up summer evenings. £155 for 15ml extrait de parfum at Chanel in Covent Garden

This second new Extrait addition to the Les Exclusifs collection, Jersey takes its name from the fabric – generally used for work-wear - which Gabrielle Chanel used to create a softer, more sensual (and oh-socomfortable) style, for women. This is just as easy-to-wear: Jacques Polge again fuses lavender with vanilla, but enriches them here with jasmine and May rose absolutes – and in the base, musk delivers Jersey’s superb, touch-me sensuality. £155 for 15ml extrait de parfum at Chanel in Covent Garden

LES EXCLUSIFS DE CHANEL BIEGE EXTRAIT

SEE BY CHLOÉ EAU FRAÎCHE

Beige has always been about understated elegance – and this is so effortless, yet so-so-stylish: existing Beige-lovers are going to swoon for it (and any floral-lover really should take a detour to explore it, we think).

Honey, flowers and spicy vanilla notes become even more rich and opulent in Jacques Polge’s hands, here: romantic, feminine… If a fragrance could have curves, this would be it. A hat trick for Chanel’s Les Exclusifs, with this last of three new arrivals. £155 for 15ml extrait de parfum at Chanel in Covent Garden

Star perfumer Michel Almairac created this new Eau Fraîche interpretation of much-loved See By Chloé - and it’s almost ‘gauzy’. He sought to conjure up a walk through Paris, before stepping into a garden. What do we find blooming in that ‘secret’ garden?

Water hyacinth and apple blossom, with jasmime scampering through them, on a lingering, ‘grounding’ base of our favourite vetiver. Gorgeous multi-faceted glass bottle, too, shimmering with soft pink reflections.

From £47 for 50ml eau de toilette Stockists: 0800-083 6312

The

scented Letter

CLINIQUE CALYX

Calyx – the pioneering fragrance by Sophie Grojsman - has been revived

by Clinique. One of the first of its kind in 1986, floral-fruity Calyx defined a new era in the perfume world - and is poised to be as widely-loved as ever, in 2014. The revitalising cocktail of grapefruit, passionfruit, guava, mango, mandarin and green leaf in the top is blended with heart notes of muguet, freesia, lily, neroli, jasmine and marigold, with oak moss, orris, sandalwood and vetiver in the base. £46 for 50ml eau de parfum at Clinique counters

CRABTREE & EVELYN PEAR & MAGNOLIA

DIOR la collection privÉE cuir cannage

ELIE SAAB L’EAU COUTURE

The alluring essence of late springtime, bottled and ready to spritz. A fresh, floral and fragrantly ripe fragrance, it creates an aromatic impression of pear and magnolia, in turn allowing the scent of delicious fruits and delicate flowers to linger.

With notes of lemon, red pear (which is renowned for its perfume-like odor), creamy lemon, apricot-scented osmanthus and pink magnolia, Pear & Magnolia embraces the sensuous greatness of the natural world. £35 for 30ml eau de toilette crabtreeandevelyn.co.uk

‘Open a leather bag, plunge into the depths of lived-in leather - and breathe its secrets.’ That’s what this latest launch from Christian Dior’s exclusive line invites you to do, to discover Francois Demachy’s sophisticated work. It showcases Russian leather, blended with sweet flowers of ylang ylang and orange blossom, rose and violet notes.

‘Where a fine leather bag meets the warmth of tobacco and the sweetness of sugar.’ And trust us: it really works. £150 for 125ml at Harrods www.harrods.com

Yet again perfumer Francis Kurkdjian has worked his magic for Lebanese designer Elie Saab - this time inspired by ‘the velvety, soft feel of a crêpe dress against the skin’. Francis’s luminous pale green ‘juice’ evokes a sunny springtime in the city: a floral bouquet of bergamot, magnolia and orange blossom, with a touch of leafy green about it, unfolding to reveal subtle gourmand notes of green almond on a vanilla accord. You have been warned: it’s addictive.

From £31 for 30ml eau couture at John Lewis

GUERLAIN LA PETITE ROBE NOIRE COUTURE

GUERLAIN TERRACOTTA LE PARFUM

HERMÈS JOUR D’HERMÈS ABSOLU

Sun-wamed skin, suffused with tiaré flower and sweet, seductive ylang ylang: this is an exotic holiday, in a bottle. As a 30th anniversary tribute to Guerlain’s legendary Terracotta bronzing powders (the signature golden sun is showcased on the bottle’s label), Guerlain’s Thierry Wasser also created this voluptuous eau de toilette, which raises the temperature with those tropical florals, gradually giving way to gentle vanilla notes. A truly luminous, languid floral that has us longing for sun-loungers. £45 for 100ml at House of Fraser

Pierre-Alexis Dumas, Jean-Claude Ellena and Pierre Hardy have reshaped the ‘floral symphony’ of the original Jour d’Hermès. Ellena explains, ‘I wanted an assertive signature closely related to a woman’s body. We see the shoulders, the neck, we can touch and smell...’ An illuminating, uplifting fragrance, what you’ll discover here is a true floral bouquet, not just one flower, hundreds: garden flowers, evening flowers, including gardenia, jasmine sambac, apricot flower... £53 for 30ml eau de parfum at House of Fraser

Fans of La Petite Robe Noire: meet its utterly glamorous sister scent – created, of course, by Guerlain’s master ‘nose’ Thierry Wasser. The composition is a woody floral delight, with a definite gourmand and fruity edge. Mouthwatering accords of raspberry, bergamot and rose play their part as delicately feminine top and heart notes, while the chypre base of patchouli, moss and vetiver makes for a sophisticated, woody dry-down. £63 for 50ml eau de parfum at Harrods

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ISSEY MIYAKE PLEATS PLEASE L’EAU

A fresher and slightly more feminine scent has joined the already coveted (and CEW Award-winning) Pleats Please family. With overtly floral top and middle notes - namely wild roses, young green buds and neroli blossom - the new addition evokes a fragrant rose garden in the height of summer. It’s light and transparent, yet has a woody facet in the base notes, for a musky, delicate veil. £35 for 50ml eau de toilette at House of Fraser

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JEAN PATOU JOY FOREVER

The legendary house of Jean Patou has appointed a new in-house ‘nose’, Thomas Fontaine, whose first assignment was to update one of the world’s most iconic fragrances for the 21st Century. (Though don’t fret: the original Joy remains!) It’s been done so brilliantly: Thomas added light touches of orange blossom, iris and galbanum; the so-essential rose de Mai and Grasse jasmine heart remains – but here, underpinned by woods and white musks. A new classic, we predict.

From £68 for 50ml eau de parfum harrods.com

MARC JACOBS DAISY DELIGHT EDITION

NICKI MINAJ MINAJESTY

Is it the daisy-topped bottles that have us stampeding to scoop up the latest Marc Jacobs Daisy editions? No: it’s the so-pretty, ‘juice’ inside. (Though we always love the Daisy flacons, too...)

This sun-drenched edition offers a posy of fresh-picked floral notes: quince flower, freesia, gardenia, peony and iris, brightened by the luscious ‘crunch’ of crisp red apple. And as your skin warms Delight, you’ll be embraced by warm notes of soft, creamy sandalwood, cedarwood and musk. £48 for 50ml eau de toilette spray at Debenhams

Likening her latest scent to a ‘passionate love affair’ and coyly adding that the smell is ‘mysterious, sexy and unforgettable,’ Nicki Minaj’s second fragrance is as sweet as it is powerful. It’s a fruity, fresh and floral blend of red berries, peach, magnolia and orchid, finished off with a dash of pure musk and creamy vanilla. So: if sugary scents are your cup of tea, this is most definitely the ‘juice’ for you.

(And who can resist the bottle? Not us - and we mean that.) £23.50 for 30ml eau de parfum at The Perfume Shop

The

scented Letter

JO MALONE LONDON SILK BLOSSOM

Be swift on your feet: this tasseled piece of gorgeousness from Jo Malone is a limited edition, and we’ve a hunch it’ll fly. Created to celebrate summer’s ‘silk blossom’ season, it’s petal-light and airy – and petal-powered, too, with the nectar-like silk blossom flower (apparently irresistible to butterflies and hummingbirds), at its heart.

Adding to the cloud-like powderiness is a touch of heliotrope, on a bed of moss. £82 for 100ml Cologne jomalone.co.uk

NINA RICCI LA TENTATION DE NINA

Do you love macaroons…? Perfumer Olivier Cresp approached this mouthwatering gourmand floral as if it was just that, working with Ladurée’s New Creation Pastry Chef to confect this so-moreish eau de toilette. First bite: citrussy bergamot and grapefruit. Second bite: raspberries, lemons, almonds and Bulgarian rose, for the intriguing ‘macaroon’ accord.

Final bite? Savour white musk, Bourbon vanilla and sandalwood in this seriously sensual indulgence – a real delight for the eye, too. £40 for 50ml at Debenhams

L’Occitane en Provence Néroli & Orchidée h

Created by L’Occitane ‘nose’ Karine Dubreuil for their fine fragrance Collection de Grasse, this ‘evokes a pearly white flower, tied with a piece of silk’. Fresh at first (mandarin and orange), it gives way to romantic orange flower (néroli), which scents the whole of the Grasse area, in spring. With white orchid from Madagascar, it becomes creamily fruity. The lingering impression? A voluptuous base of iris and soft musk. £49 for 75ml at L’Occitane stores uk.loccitane.com

SALVATORE FERRAGAMO SIGNORINA ELEGANZA

This, we’re told, is ‘a luxurious fragrance that celebrates feminine grace and seduction.’ Perfumer Sophie Labbé (who created the original Signorina) also worked on this floriental chypre, blending top notes of grapefruit and pear, leading to a heart of golden osmanthus petals and almond powder. In the base, you’ll be charmed by patchouli and white leather. The luxurious bottle has a gold base, adorned with a two-tone grosgrain bow in two shades of beige. £31 for 100ml eau de parfum at Debenhams

PENHALIGONS TRALALA

PRADA CANDY EAU FLORALE h

Meadham Kirchhoff have been scenting their whimsical catwalk shows with Penhaligon’s fragrances for years, so it is fitting that the two have now collaborated to create the label’s own floriental signature scent. Top notes include fizzy aldehydes with saffron, violet leaf absolute, whisky and galbanum. The heart mixes carnation, leather, tuberose, ylang ylang, oris and incense; and in the base, myrrh, opoponax absolute, patchouli, vetiver, musk, vanilla - and moreishly more... £150 for 100ml eau de parfum penhaligons.com

Perfumer Daniela Andrier has worked personally with Muiccia Prada to create this third Candy fragrance. Only the best will do for the fictitious Candy – so Prada have conjured an imaginary flower for her! Candy Eau Florale is springtime floral-fresh - but Prada are rather coy about ingredients. The official line is that it includes notes of ‘tender’ and ‘sparkling’ (!), but we think it may have Limoncello in the top, peonies in the heart and benzoin, musk and caramel in the base. £38.50 for 30ml eau de toilette at stockists nationwide

TERRY DE GUNZBURG BLUE PARADIS

TERRY DE GUNZBURG FRUIT DEFENDU

Terry de Gunzburg excels with a pair of perfect-for-summer ‘juices’.

Always crazy for colour, this ‘haute make-up artist’ offers up two beautifully-tinted new fragrances – pale blue, here, for a scent with the juiciness of lichi, setting the tone for this tropical treat. As with Fruit Defendu (read on for more), the heart pulses with a beautiful rose - but as you live with it on the skin for a few hours, a delicious amber base emerges. £105 for 100ml eau de parfum houseoffraser.co.uk

A second fragrance from Terry - and this sweet, sparkling fruity launch is as elegant as we’ve come to expect from someone who’s had a lifelong passion for perfume. The lime green juice sings with notes of Italian bergamot, pineapple and mango, and a lush Turkish rose at its heart – but with a modern, mouthwatering green edge. If you’re not usually a fan of fruity fragrances, do try this on your skin: we think you’ll be enchanted. £105 for 100 ml eau de parfum houseoffraser.co.uk

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Tom Ford Neroli Portofino

For an instant summer cooldown, there’s almost nothing to rival Neroli Portofino: a so-refreshing Cologne, which invigorates from the word ‘go’ with its crisp citrussy oils and airy floral heart, before revealing sunwarmed, sexy amber undertones. It’s available as a limited edition 30 ml size for summer – or enjoy Neroli Portofino as a top-to-toe spray (£42 for 200ml): a lighter formula that lets you mist, deliciously, from décolletage to toe. Pure Italian Riviera, bottled. £90 for 30ml at Selfridges selfridges.com

VIKTOR & ROLF BONBOn

An haute couture, deeply indulgent dessert of a scent, dripping with sugary caramel top notes. Viktor & Rolf’s new gourmand encompasses all that is great about that sweet, seductive fragrance family, thanks to masterful perfumers Serge Majoullier and Cécile Matton. The almost edible blend of caramel, peach and orange blossom is given a grown-up edge, via a base of guaiac wood, cedarwood, sandalwood and amber. £68 for 50ml eau de parfum at Selfridges

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TORY BURCH

VAN CLEEF & ARPELS RÊVE ELIXIR

’I was going for tomboy meets feminine, and I wanted the vetiver because not only did my father wear it, I did too - and so did my brothers.

Then we looked at how we could mix it with citrus and florals - I’ve always loved tuberose.’ That’s American fashion sensation Tory Burch talking about her debut scent, which is ‘unexpected but fresh’, as she puts it.

Notes of mandarin, grapefruit, cassis, pink pepper, peony, jasmine, cedar and sandalwood are the co-stars. £60 for 50ml eau de parfum at Harrods

A ‘sunnier’ take on the ever-ethereal Rêve – and the lyrical story behind this scent makes it all the more appealing: think magical gardens of lilies and a summer night’s dream. The fruity floral composition by perfumer Nathalie Feisthauer opens with notes of pear, neroli and peach blossom, followed by a rather exotic heart of frangipani, osmanthus, iris and lily.

And as the sun goes down on this sent, the base is seductively warmed with amber, sandalwood and cedar. £55 for 50ml eau de parfum harrods.com

WOODS OF WINDSOR Pomegranate & Hibiscus

YARDLEY JADE h

The latest edition from ageless apothecary Woods of Windsor – Pomegranate and Hibiscus – is an up-to-date fruity floral straight from the English country bottle, captured in a timeless bottle. Flirtily, it blends mandarin and bergamot in the top notes, with an effervescent mix of cassis, ginger, mimosa (and of course the all-important pomegranate and hibiscus flower) in the heart, slowly giving way to sensual touches of sandalwood and vanilla. £14.99 for 100ml eau de toilette woodsofwindsor.co.uk

Yardley has 240 years of fragrance creation behind them - yet they manage to be utterly contemporary with this exuberant green floral chypre, created by Anne-Sophie Chapuis. Enjoy fruity, aromatic top notes of peach, galbanum and bergamot, at first. Then at the airy heart of the scent, you can bury your nose in rose, jasmine, orris (iris) and ylang ylang. The chypre base makes this seriously interesting: sandalwood, patchouli and so-green mossy notes. £19 for 50ml eau de toilette yardleylondon.co.uk

the men’s room

ARMANI EAU D’ARÔMES ARMANI

COMME DES GARÇONS SERPENTINE

HERMÈS EAU TRÈS FRAICHE TERRE D’HERMÈS

Eau d’Arômes is the third in line in Mr. Armani’s Eau Pour Homme collection.

It is the quintessence of understated cool – multi-faceted but modest – and described by the perfume house as ‘the essence of Italian chic’. Spicywoody, this is masculine to the core, with bergamot, mandarin and a twist of ginger in the top notes, gathering heat in its heart with chilli pepper, cardamom and sage - and ultimately seduces us with ambergris, patchouli and vetiver in the base. £50 for 50ml eau de toilette armanibeauty.co.uk

In collaboration with London’s Serpentine Galleries, CDG’s latest unisex fragrance (by perfumer Emilie Coppermann) recreates ‘the scent of spring in Kensington Gardens’- with a twist. Cleverly distilled into a Tracey Emin-decorated bottle, the aromatic ‘juice’ contains a whole host of unusual ingredients: notes of pollution (yes!), oxygen, benzoin and aldehydes, alongside other more ‘everyday’ ingredients of grass, green leaves, iris leaf and juniper. Intriguing. £56 for 50ml eau de toilette at Dover Street Market

Since its release in 2006, Terre d’Hermes has become ‘one of the cornerstones of contemporary fragrance’, seducing countless men.

(Oh, and the women who get close to them...) In this vibrant new chapter, in-house ‘nose’ Jean-Claude Ellena takes inspiration ‘from the energy and vitality of water surging up from the earth’ - which translates as icy aldehydes, fresh bitter orange and plenty of sensual masculine warmth on the skin, from woody elements. £77 for 50ml eau de parfum at House of Fraser

LINARI MARE PACIFICO

RICHARD E GRANT JACK

ROJA DOVE H

From all we’ve seen, we predict ‘saltiness’ is poised to be a fragrance trend - because yes, through clever use of ingredients, perfumers can conjure up a truly salty sensation. Here, ‘nose’ Mark Buxton delivers that salty tang entwined with a bouquet of tart lemon, aquatic calone, maté tea and Turkish rose absolutes - so you get touches of seaweed and ozonic notes on a captivating, warmly woody base.

The sea meets the woods – making for an eminently shareable treat. £145 for 100ml eau de parfum at Liberty

Yes indeed, Richard E. Grant has made a perfume (as you’ll read more about in the next edition of The Scented Letter). But this is an atypical celebrity scent: complex, an earthy woody floral with a suggestive, unisex aroma. At first spritz, it opens with zesty lime, mandarin orange and heady cannabis (!); followed by pepper, nutmeg and cloves in its heart, settling into a smoky base of tobacco, vetiver agarwood, white musk and frankincense. £95 for 100ml eau de parfum at Liberty

In celebration of his 10 year love affair with Harrods, Roja Dove has created ‘H’ in honor of his ‘spiritual home’. It’s where it all began for Roja - and what better way to commemorate the iconic store…? The top note of bergamot is combined with a luxurious fusion of geranium, oregano, jasmine de Grasse, rose de Mai and valerian oil in its heart. The base then settles into a wonderfully woodsy blend of labdanum, vetiver, patchouli, oudh, nutmeg, birch, benzoin and cypriol oil. £325 for 50ml parfum at Harrods harrods.com

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Chlorine Like almost nothing else, scent has the power to Tardis us through time and space, rekindling emotions, bringing back memories. In each issue of The Scented Letter, we share one person’s most evocative fragrance smell – starting with Andrea Jenkins’s musings on swimming pools…

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The scent of chlorine stings my nose and instantly, I am flooded with memories. More specifically, of overnight trips to the Holiday Inn when I was a kid, when my parents just couldn’t take it anymore and would decide (on a whim) to load us all up into the car and get out of town.

We’d check in at the front lobby on a Friday night, go rambling down the hallway in search of our room, nubby green motel carpet beneath us, buzzing fluorescents above, the faint scent of chlorine in the air. A scent that meant one thing and one thing only: Indoor Pool. With the promise of this indoor pool came the promise of so much more namely, of glorious uninterrupted hours spent swimming in said indoor pool. (And splashing, jumping, floating, flipping, diving, dunking and more...)

We’d swim until we were so tired we could barely pull ourselves out of the water. Then we’d squish back down the hallway, sopping wet and wrapped in scratchy, white motel towels, slip into warm, dry pajamas and order pizza, watch movies in the dark of another familiar yet mysterious motel room. We’d fall into a deep, boneless sleep only to wake with one thing in mind: Indoor Pool. One whiff of chlorine and all this comes roaring back to me. In a nanosecond: this is the power of scent.

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The smell of road being tarred, of the insides of old library books, a new box of crayons, a brand new pink eraser, an old gymnasium. The smell of melted birthday candle wax, the burning of leaves, the baking of bread, of caramel popcorn, honeysuckle bushes, fresh-cut Christmas trees and jasmine perfume. These scents conjure up scenes so vivid, it’s as if I’ve tapped into some secret home movie reserve.

Certain scents permeate pockets of air around me and immediately, movie clips begin to loop inside my head.

With scent comes a picture so exceptionally and emotionally clear it almost feels like a parlour trick.

According to research, it’s nearly the same for everyone.

Different scents evoke a particular brand of nostalgia, take us instantly back in time. It’s no real surprise to discover that we have that three pound mass of mysterious, magnificent mush we call the brain to thank for this, but how does this work, exactly...?

In the simplest of terms: when you take in a We’d fall into a particular scent, it travels deep, boneless through the cranial nerve all the way through to the sleep only to wake olfactory bulb, which is the with one thing in part that helps sort and process scent. mind: Indoor Pool.

As it turns out, the olfactory bulb is One whiff of chlorine embedded within the and all this comes limbic system and the amygdala, where roaring back to me. emotions are born and memories are stored.

This may explain why scent, memory and feeling get all tangled up together.

When we first encounter a new smell, we connect it to an event, a person, place or thing, or even a particular moment in time.

Our brains create a link between this scent and the memory so that when we encounter it again, however many years down the road, the connection is already there.

As humans, we tend to emphasise vision above all others but it’s our sense of smell that often evokes the strongest and richest of memories. And because we experience most new smells as children, the majority of scents we encounter now inevitably remind us of childhood.

The urge to skip town every once in a while is something both my parents passed onto me. Recently, I felt the need.

So, on a whim, my husband and I gathered the kids, packed up the car and headed for the coast. And while we were grateful to get out of the house, engage in a little adventure and see the ocean, truth be told, it was our room at the Holiday Inn we were most excited about. After we checked in, we made our way down the motel’s hallway towards our room. As we pulled our luggage along, my son happened to mention just how much he loves the smell of chlorine. And I turned to him and smiled. Me too, kiddo. Me too.

This article was originally published in UPPERCASE magazine issue #17. http://www.uppercasemagazine.com

it takes me right back

NÉROLI & ORCHIDÉE La Collection de Grasse

For the first time, L’OCCITANE unites the essence of Mediterranean orange flower with an exotic white orchid from Madagascar.

www.loccitane.co.uk

In the next edition of The Scented Letter...

ROSES, ROSES EVERYWHERE

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THE FRAGRANCE FOUNDATION AWARDS

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RICHARD E. GRANT’S SCENT MEMORIES