I have been enjoying the exchanges we have had during our Saturday Perfume Talks, and I am opening this thread to you: do you have any burning perfume questions or any scent related topics that you would like to discuss with others? If so, please leave a comment below and I will pick a topic at random.
Also, please feel free to use this thread to suggest any articles or reviews you would like me to cover here on Bois de Jasmin.
You are welcome to leave a comment here or email me at editor at boisdejasmin dot com
I would love to hear what you think about the new Dior Collection. Also, I would love a topic on baby scents. I am a mom of a five year girl. She loves to smell my perfumes, but I wonder if there is something lighter for her.
Also, on what classical perfumes to try first if you are new to perfume. Actually, I have a ton of questions, but these two have been on my mind lately.
Posted by: Janet | January 16, 2011 at 09:05
Hi, Victoria. Do you ever find yourself pre-disposed to like (or love) a scent, due to the "nose" that created it? In other words, are you ever biased? I find myself much more forgiving of film directors whose work has had a profound impact on me in the past.
Also, was there ever a "revolution" in the scent world? What scents would be the equivalent of the French New Wave in cinema?
Posted by: Skilletlicker | January 16, 2011 at 12:01
Hi
I've often heard people complain about fragrances by Bvlgari. Not the scents in itself but rather how long they last on your skin. Poor lastingpower.......
What is your opinion?
Posted by: Annica | January 16, 2011 at 12:36
I have been curious about your opinion of the Byredo line. Also Maision Francis Kurkdjian scents. And, of course, I second a review of the new Dior scents. Your culinary posts and photos have been enthralling- many of the recipes are now our dinner staples. Have you thought about writing about tea? There are so many fragrant nuances that mirror the notes found in fragrance.
Posted by: Yelena | January 16, 2011 at 19:14
Janet, I will start reviewing Dior la Collection next week. I am taking my time smelling this line. I was very skeptical initially, but so far I already found a couple of favorites.
Other topics are great too!
Posted by: Victoria | January 16, 2011 at 20:43
Interesting questions!
Lately, I find myself doing the opposite--I hold my favorite noses to an even higher standard!
I would be curious what others think on this and the other topic! Thank you!
Posted by: Victoria | January 16, 2011 at 20:45
Annica, I do not find that, apart from Au The Blanc, they last particularly poorly on my skin. However, I heard people complaining about Au The Vert, which is a very light and delicate citrus-tea fragrance, so its sillage is subtle. In general, fragrances with a light base avoiding a rich dose of musks may appear as fleeting.
Posted by: Victoria | January 16, 2011 at 20:49
I will add Byredo to my list. I still have not smelled them! As for MKF, I will go over to Aedes next week to buy some candles for gifts, so I will try them and report back.
Thank you so much, I am so glad that you are enjoying the recipes. I have only one article on tea here (a great piece written by Michelle Krell Kydd,) but you are right, it is worth exploring this topic further.
Posted by: Victoria | January 16, 2011 at 20:51
Hi Victoria,
I wondered if you would be able to talk sometime about perfumes that are cruelty free....fragrances that do not harm animals in any way in order to create them?
I love perfume. It's a passion with me :-) But I would feel best if I used perfumes that do not harm our animal friends. Just curious about all of that. Perhaps there is a list somewhere....
Thank you so much!
Linda
Posted by: linda | January 17, 2011 at 00:37
Maybe this is too specific. I got my bottle of Jolie Madame at fragrancenet.com a few years ago. The ingredients list includes "tree moss" so I think it's pre-reformulation. What do you think? It shouldn't matter, I just love it, but as far as I know it's the only one of my perfumes that lists "tree moss" on the box and I'm curious. (I haven't checked my Mitsouko box.) Maybe I should re-phrase the question. Has tree moss been banned by the IFRA? Thanks!
Posted by: Carla | January 17, 2011 at 04:22
My Mitsouko has tree moss! "Evernia Furfuracea"
Posted by: Carla | January 17, 2011 at 04:23
I just looked at most of my perfume boxes. Private Collection also has tree moss, as does Cristalle. Cristalle also has oak moss. Nuit de Noel has oak moss too. Do new perfumes ever contain tree or oak moss, or do perfumers now avoid those?
Posted by: Carla | January 17, 2011 at 04:27
Linda, I know that PETA has a list here:
http://www.peta.org/living/beauty-and-personal-care/companies/search.aspx?Testing=0
(you have to copy and paste in your browser)
Many of these companies are beauty and cosmetics, but many make perfumes too.
Posted by: Victoria | January 17, 2011 at 08:33
IFRA regulations are more complex than they seem (and confusing even if you work as a perfumer; which is why most companies have separate departments to deal with the questions of regulations and perfumer's workstations have in-built features that tell you when you've added a banned material or a material at the higher level than permitted.)
At any rate, both types of mosses are allowed to be used as long as the elements identified by IFRA as sensitizing are at the IFRA specified level.
The main culprits in mosses are atranol, chloroatranol and dehydroabietic acid, which have to be reduced in the moss essences to a certain IFRA specified low level. Now, there are IFRA compliant natural oakmoss essences produced by natural raw material companies, so it is likely that if your (new) fragrance lists moss, it is IFRA compliant.
Carla, I bet this is more than you've asked for! :) Trust me, IFRA regulations are arcane. One could write a tome on it!
Posted by: Victoria | January 17, 2011 at 08:46
ALL regulations are arcane! Thank you very much!
Posted by: Carla | January 17, 2011 at 09:23
Sometimes I wonder about the scent in other products...oh, forget it. I won't try to frame this intelligently. There is a product line by Boots, "Time Dimensions," and I like the way it smells.
How do I find out what company is behind the fragrance in that product line? Perhaps more importantly...what am I smelling?
:)
Posted by: ScentScelf | January 17, 2011 at 09:42
You are welcome! :) IFRA really is in the arcane category of its own for me.
Posted by: Victoria | January 17, 2011 at 09:43
Do you means scents in bath and body care products? There is no way to find that out, as they do not tend to mention neither the perfumers nor the suppliers
Many companies, especially those making detergents and other functional products, have very strict confidentiality agreements, by which the supplier has to abide.
I love scents in many beauty products, and that in itself is a very interesting area of perfumery, since it is much harder to make a scent for a non-alcoholic base, especially if it has an odor of its own to begin with.
Posted by: Victoria | January 17, 2011 at 09:50
Yes, precisely what I meant...and I wondered if perhaps it was guarded territory. Ah, well. This line includes lotions, tonics, and impregnated tissues...so the challenge you mention would have to cross bases/carriers. I figure I am playing into the very hands of the fragrance providing folk...hard for me to tell if I like the performance of the product, or the fragrance of the product, more. Kind of funny, as I usually don't want any sort of pronounced scent in my lotions, as they more often bother me than not. (Though I did notice your comment in an earlier post about how there really is not such as thing as "unscented"...an interesting business...)
Posted by: ScentScelf | January 17, 2011 at 18:47
The MFK candles have the bets throw that I have ever encountered. They don't even need to be lit. I am enjoying the Pour le Matin and I will also be heading to New York to buy others soon.
Posted by: Yelena | January 17, 2011 at 20:01
How about this topic: I have been looking for love but unsuccessful in finding it. I often dream of a scent that wraps me in its folds, that gives me the aura of one who is deeply loved, lovable and loving. Is there a perfume or perfumes which, in your view, have a nostalgic, amorous, warm quality that is at once comforting but alluring?
Posted by: [email protected] | January 17, 2011 at 20:55
I would like to see you give your thoughts on what well-known (or obscure)literary or motion picture characters would have or should have worn.
Posted by: Tracey | January 17, 2011 at 22:03
I have not smelled any of them, but I just jotted down your suggestions to my list. Will be sure to smell them at Aedes this week. Thank you, Lena, for expanding my must-try list! :-)
Posted by: Victoria | January 18, 2011 at 12:00
In this case, it may not be the guarded information necessarily, but it is just so difficult to find out this sort of information. There is no central database for beauty and bath products. Or candles... Same thing! The oils for candles are made by the same houses as the oils for fine fragrances, and sometimes the same perfumers work on different types of projects: a fine fragrance, a shower gel, a detergent... Usually though, most candles are the domain of young perfumers and a special beauty care perfumer teams. Candles are so much fun to make!
Posted by: Victoria | January 18, 2011 at 12:05
"Searching for one and only perfume love..." Great topic! Onto the list, it goes. Thank you.
Posted by: Victoria | January 18, 2011 at 12:06
That would be so much fun! Thanks a lot for the idea.
Posted by: Victoria | January 18, 2011 at 12:06
I would like to see reviews of perfumes that are made of natural ingredients. It would also be nice to see more reviews of perfumes made by smaller companies who don't sell their perfumes for an arm and a leg. Thanks!
Posted by: Jacqui MacNeill | January 18, 2011 at 13:47
Jacqui, worth exploring! I am always looking for a great perfume at a reasonable price, and I am sure others do too.
Posted by: Victoria | January 18, 2011 at 13:59
yes! do you think l'oreal's ellnet hairspray is as sexy a musk as i do? i mean, if that scent were perfume i would bathe in it. as it is, i love getting whiffs of it throughout my day. i wouldn't be surprised if this were one big reason why it's the top-seller. looove it. and i love musk.
Posted by: minette | January 18, 2011 at 15:54
You know, I only use it before the performances to set up my bun, so its scent is so strongly associated with the nervous anxiety before going on stage, with the scent of rosin I put on my pointe shoes, with the smell of pancake makeup that I probably cannot even consider the scent objectively...
Posted by: Victoria | January 18, 2011 at 20:57
ha. i use it to keep my spikes in place, and before a few months ago, had never encountered the scent. so it was a serious delight for me to find, being a musk lover.
will hope that you can one day associate it with the bows and applause following your dancing! it's a great musk.
Posted by: minette | January 19, 2011 at 16:33
:) I hope so!
Meanwhile, it keeps all of the flyaway strands in place!
Posted by: Victoria | January 21, 2011 at 13:15