To entice auto buyers, insurer Liberty Mutual is running a print ad with a peel-back fragrance strip—the same kind used to sell perfumes. Only instead of citrus and sandalwood, it’s going for that heady and ambiguous cocktail of vinyl and plastic gases that come with a ride fresh off the manufacturer’s assembly line.
— Read more at Why an Insurance Company Created a Scented Print Ad That Releases the ‘New-Car Smell’ at Adweek.
A quick PSA: our annual Haiku challenge is next Saturday, and we have a freebiemeet coming up next month on June 8.
Meantime, our usual open thread poll, May The Fourth Be With You / Cinco de Mayo edition. Talk about anything you like — the fragrance you’re wearing today, the fragrance you're thinking will be your go-to this summer (or winter, as the case may be), whatever.
Or, ask a question about fragrance, then see if anyone else has asked a question that you can answer…
Note: top image is Soft Pink Lilacs [cropped] by Eric Kilby at flickr; some rights reserved.
Caswell Massey's Yellowstone collection, in collaboration with Yellowstone Forever, includes a series of five "Fragrance Tonics" (Eau de Toilette splashes) inspired by Yellowstone National Park. "Old Faithful Fragrance Tonic is an unusual fragrance derived from living floral captures near the Old Faithful Geyser, with wonderful base notes of Moss and Pinesmoke combined with a blend of aromatic notes, including Yellowstone Sage, Blue Lupine, & Larkspur. Derived from rare botanicals near the most active thermal features in the Park. Old Faithful is the most unusual and unique scent, with Living Sagebrush, Tree Moss, Birch & a strong scent of Smoky Wood." $48 for 100 ml, or there is a multi-purpose skin and hair oil, $42 for 30 ml, either way, a portion of the proceeds benefits the park. You can read more about the project here.
A spot from a Paris event featuring IFF's last Speed Smelling set. About 7 1/2 minutes long, including brief appearances by perfumers Bruno Jovanovic, Domitille Michalon-Bertier, Delphine Lebeau, Caroline Dumur, Nicolas Beaulieu, Sophie Labbe, Anne Flipo, Juliette Karagueuzoglou, Dominique Ropion, Julien Rasquinet, Alexis Dadier, Fanny Bal, Jean-Christophe Herault and Nelly Hachem-Ruiz.
I think many of us have a box or bowl of perfume samples that we’ve tried once or twice, weren’t quite sure about and plan to try again someday — the “purgatory basket,” as Robin dubbed it years ago. I can never resist trying rose-inspired fragrances, even ones that I have a sneaking suspicion I might not actually like, so I inevitably end up with more than a few semi-forgotten rose samples rattling around my desk.
Here are brief reviews of four scents I recently plucked from sample limbo and gave another wearing…