Grant Osborne was born in London, and now lives in Hertfordshire with his wife and 4 month old son. He launched the Basenotes website in 2000, and it has since grown into the largest online database and interactive community for men who are interested in fragrance. Last year he launched a forum for women, and expanded the database to include women’s fragrances. I asked Grant to tell me how he got started in fragrance…

How and when did you first become interested in fragrance, and what were a few of your early favorites?
My first fragrance was a present on my 18th birthday: a bottle of Yves Saint Laurent Jazz. I liked it, but to me at the time, it was just a fragrance. My interest in fragrance really developed later. I used to work as a Photographic Advisor at a major chain of chemists in the UK called Boots. After a few years, I got bored of cameras and photos, and a vacancy arose in-store for a Men’s Fine Fragrance Advisor. I thought it would be fun to learn about something new and went for the interview and got the job…

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