Perfume, like many things from which pleasure can be derived, is both an art and a science. Sure, there are qualifications, distillations, minute measurements of this and that, but what it really comes down to is… does itsmellgood? The answer, of course, is: it depends on who’s doing the smelling. For me, perfection can be found in bottles of Bond no. 9 Chinatown, Narciso Rodriguez for Her, Chanel Coco Mademoiselle and—my current obsession— Tom Ford Black Orchid. (It’s what I imagine a turn-of-the-century Parisian bordello to smell like. And yeah, that’s a good thing.) Thierry Mugler Angel, on the other hand? I respect it, I understand it, I bow down before its complexity…but it reminds me of cat pee, and I’d no sooner have it on my skin than work in said aforementioned bordello. One woman’s olfactory trash is another’s treasure, so fragrance guides must always come with a “just because I like it, doesn’t mean you will, too” caveat. Regardless, I’m excited to read Perfumes: The Guide, by Luca Turin, PhD and Tania Sanchez, containing reviews of 1200 scents. I ran across a review in my beloved Elle, which mentions that Turin counts Chanel 31 Rue Cambon as 2007’s best scent: “I cannot remember the last time, if ever, a perfume gave me such an instantaneous impression of ravishing beauty at first sniff.” I remain skeptical until I smell for myself…but with review like that, I must smell it immediately.
Perfume, like many things from which pleasure can be derived, is both an art and a science. Sure, there are qualifications, distillations, minute measurements of this and that, but what it really comes down to is… does itsmellgood? The answer, of course, is: it depends on who’s doing the smelling. For me, perfection can be found in bottles of Bond no. 9 Chinatown, Narciso Rodriguez for Her, Chanel Coco Mademoiselle and—my current obsession— Tom Ford Black Orchid. (It’s what I imagine a turn-of-the-century Parisian bordello to smell like. And yeah, that’s a good thing.) Thierry Mugler Angel, on the other hand? I respect it, I understand it, I bow down before its complexity…but it reminds me of cat pee, and I’d no sooner have it on my skin than work in said aforementioned bordello. One woman’s olfactory trash is another’s treasure, so fragrance guides must always come with a “just because I like it, doesn’t mean you will, too” caveat. Regardless, I’m excited to read Perfumes: The Guide, by Luca Turin, PhD and Tania Sanchez, containing reviews of 1200 scents. I ran across a review in my beloved Elle, which mentions that Turin counts Chanel 31 Rue Cambon as 2007’s best scent: “I cannot remember the last time, if ever, a perfume gave me such an instantaneous impression of ravishing beauty at first sniff.” I remain skeptical until I smell for myself…but with review like that, I must smell it immediately.