Léa Seydoux for Louis Vuitton Spell on You.
A role in cannabis’ smell
Since skunks use several VSCs [volatile sulfur compounds] in their foul-smelling spray, lead study author Iain Oswald and researchers suspected these particles also play a role in cannabis’ smell. The team examined the flowers from 13 different types of cannabis plants using a custom 2D gas chromatography system with three different kinds of smell detectors.
— Read more in Why marijuana has skunk-like odor at Fox 5 San Diego.
The workaday side of the perfumery business
[Gary] Marr designs scents for the workaday side of the perfumery business, a vast and, in many ways, more demanding assignment. “I know fine fragrance perfumers won’t agree with me on this,” said Marr, “but I’ve always said that fine fragrances are relatively easy. It’s all about making nice, harmonious, round fragrances. Whereas you come to home care/body care—the fragrances have to perform.” Dishwashing scents must “bloom” when they hit water, but also slough off surfaces immediately, so your tableware doesn’t leave your food smelling of perfume; bleach can be made to smell nice, but the perfumer’s task is complicated by the fact that sodium hypochlorite tends to destroy everything it touches.
— Read more in The Odor of Things: Solving the mysteries of scent at Harper's Magazine.
Great power to protect yourself
Fragrance is an invisible cloth that allows you to do stuff you couldn’t without it. It transforms your behaviour and your mood. It’s your shining armour and it can be something that gives you great power to protect yourself when faced with the reality of the day – which can sometimes be grim. Your self-esteem can be challenged several times a day; fragrance is your barrier, your protection, your ‘invisible cloak’.
— Guerlain house perfumer Thierry Wasser. Read more in Guerlain’s master perfumer says fragrance should be like an “invisible cloak of protection” at Stylist.
It was the dustbag that really set people off
And so it went with the unboxing over eight more posts, in which Ms. Harmon revealed perfumes (good), key chains (not so much), lipstick and nail polish (mostly good, even if they were also mostly sample size), a mirror (not), a rope bracelet with a CC wax stamp (huh?), a plastic mini snow globe and … a Chanel dustbag, the bags used for shoes or other accessories. It was the dustbag that really set people off.
— In a shocking turn of events, not everybody who shelled out $825 for their Chanel Advent Calendar thinks they got their money's worth. Read more in Chanel, TikTok and the Beauty Advent Calendar Controversy at The New York Times. (And in case you were wondering whether your New York Times subscription was worth whatever you're paying for it, the Times does point out that "A dustbag with “Chanel” on it is worth more than a dustbag with nothing on it.")