Ask me what a diamond ‘smells’ like, and I’ll have to think about it (and probably spout some easy associations most people wouldn’t challenge — a diamond smells like icy champagne, silk, red roses, ‘gold’…). Ask me what turquoise smells like and I immediately have an idea, not based on the scent of the gemstone but on a place I associate with turquoise: Tibet. Tibetan Buddhist jewelry and religious implements are encrusted with blue turquoise — which can symbolize the sky (infinity), bodies of water, or spiritual transcendence. I’ve not been to Tibet but my imagined Tibet smells ‘cold’ and fresh, with mineral/salt, incense, and floral (think: devotional offerings) aromas thrown in for some heft. Olivier Durbano Turquoise Eau de Parfum* fits into my Tibet-turquoise fantasies.

Years ago at the Seattle International Film Festival, I watched The Salt Men of Tibet and was amazed at the dramatic landscape shown in the film, and the high-altitude lakes of Tibet (Lake Namtso is the highest salt water lake in the world). To my nose, Turquoise, the perfume, is a “salty” marine fragrance…

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