Status Updates From Perfumes: The Guide

The cheapest techniques are also the most ancient, Luca. Calling them brutal is… interesting.

Omg @ calling mens fragrance condescending. “

“They seem to say that any man vain and stupid enough to be shopping for a new, different fragrance deserves to smell like a suicide cocktail of dishwashing detergent and rubbing alcohol, and that any person fool enough to spend a lot of time near such a man deserves to breathe unwholesome air. The fragrance seems to be a punishment for trying.”

The leather section of Luca‘s article on masculine fragrances reminds me of that Joan Didion quote about writing being a hostile act of imposition.

“Leathers, via their connection with aviator jackets, interiors of luxury, cars, and saddlery, have an unbroken set of association with luxuries involving remoteness movement in danger.”

Damn, they are obsessed with Tocade.

I’m intrigued by Sanchez’s recommendation to avoid wearing fragrances you believe match your style. I do see her point. Perhaps don’t chain yourself down to one image of yourself or to just what you’re comfortable with. Use fragrance as a tool for exploring the unknown. I see the value in that and yet, I have yet to be awed while venturing outside my wheelhouse.

I like the notion that perfumery is an art of abstraction. I also see value in Sanchez’s point that the finest ingredients do not guarantee a great perfume. If you don’t know how to combine those ingredients, it’s a waste.

completely disagree with her hatred of florals! the aromachemical complexity of florals is unmatched.

the drawbacks of perfumery as a subject of study, per tania sanchez:
- nothing can be smelled without disappearing
- perfume changes over time, especially when exposed to air and light
- direct experience is the only experience
- perfume companies don’t honor their art above profits
- perfume is lumped in with cosmetics
- We are not taught the vocabulary of perfume

really loved tania’s point about how equating scent to psychological and physiology (memory and sex) undermines perfumery as an art form.

A perfumer can cut and paste bits of successful formulae on her computer, have them made by the robot and brought up to her desk in minutes, evaluated in hours, and submitted to the client in days. Famous perfumers now compose at least one fine fragrance a month, usually more. Whereas perfumes used to be like novels, they are now more like blog posts, and as such they often recycle information from other blogs.