Posted by Robin on Leave a Comment
What does expensive smell like? A common palette of notes runs through many of these new scents: patchouli, saffron, oud, woody and smoky notes, and spices. Whereas the big perfumes of the 1980s often overdosed on big florals, these new perfumes have a sleeker feel; the woods and spices impress themselves firmly but gently. They are big, but they are also clever.
— Read more in Is your scent in ‘beast mode’ yet? at Financial Times.
Posted by Robin on Leave a Comment
“Consumers are more conscious and concerned about the impact of what they buy and how products are produced,” says François-Raphaël Balestra, perfumer and director of new-ingredients discovery at DSM-Firmenich. One of the house’s ingredients is Dreamwood, a lab-grown iteration of sandalwood that has made its way into popular scents like Jean Paul Gaultier Scandal Le Parfum and Rabanne Fame. “Olfactorily speaking, Dreamwood is very close to natural sandalwood oil,” he says. “It is less smoky and thus more creamy, but it has the same long-lasting effect as sandalwood and is of course more sustainable.”
— Read more in These New Perfumes are Pushing the Boundaries of Scent Science at Harper's Bazaar.
Posted by Robin on 2 Comments
The findings suggest that the brain does make use of the different arrival times. When an odour was delivered to a single nostril, the side of the brain closest to that nostril reacted first, and a reaction then followed in the opposite side of the brain. “There seem to be actually two odour representations, corresponding to odour information coming from each nostril,” [neuroscientist Naz] Dikecligil says.
When the researchers provided a scent to both nostrils simultaneously, they saw that both sides of the brain recognized the scent faster than either did when it was delivered through only one nostril. This suggests that the two sides do synergize to some degree, even though one lags behind the other in encoding a scent, Dikecligil says.
— Read more in You smell your coffee in stereo: the brain records an odour’s spatial information at Nature.
Posted by Robin on 2 Comments
[Jack] Kelly and [Natalie] Coffen approach a bush that looks like rosemary, but with lighter green leaves and thinner stems. California sagebrush, Coffen explains while plucking an oily sprig, was an early form of perfume: “Cowboys used to rub it under their armpits.”Kelly gives it the first whiff. He says he smells eucalyptus, camphor, and menthol. Coffen smells something else – candied lemon peel. “Pine Sol, almost but sweeter,” she says.
— Read more in The nose knows! Get a whiff of LA during Griffith Park ‘scent saunters’ at KCRW.
Posted by Robin on Leave a Comment
And that the artifacts that are assembled in the book represent all of the origins of perfume and the great connection perfume has to healing, to sexuality, to rituals, to religion. And I believe that the whole world of artifacts -- books, maps, antique postcards of people harvesting flowers, essences – are all objects of great beauty and are the heritage of everyone who enjoys fragrance in any way.
— Perfumer & Flavorist talks to Mandy Aftel about her new book, The Museum of Scent: Exploring the Curious and Wondrous World of Fragrance. (And see also: This California Museum Is Home to Hundreds of Nature’s Scents at Smithsonian Magazine.)