[Perfumer Suzy le Helley] says she’s been asked to make perfumes with concentrations around 50 percent of late. “It’s very crazy,” she admits, “and it definitely affects the way you are formulating, because the regulatory impact is much more difficult. You can’t use some raw materials that you use in normal concentration. And it’s not the same evaporation, when you put more concentrated fragrance on your skin. It’s evaporating more slowly because the oil tends to retain on the skin longer.”

— Read more in That Perfume Is Very Strong—and That’s the Point at W Magazine.

The [British Library] would be putting on display a thirteenth-century edition of a remarkable Latin manuscript called “De Ornatu Mulierum,” a compendium of beauty and hygiene advice for women. [Tasha] Marks had obtained ingredients listed in the manuscript to re-create the smell of a breath freshener and of a hair perfume that would have been applied as a powder, like dry shampoo. (“Let her make furrows in her hair and sprinkle on the aforementioned powder, and it will smell marvellously.”) The text didn’t offer exact recipes—no proportions were provided—so there was an element of improvisation, allowing Marks to act as both historian and artist.

— Read more in Remembrance of Scents Past: At museums, curators are incorporating smells that can transport visitors to a different time at The New Yorker. (Sorry, the Medieval Women: In Their Own Words exhibit ended in March, but you can read more about it here or see a review at The Guardian.)