1000fragrances: November 2008

Sunday, November 30

When Roudnitska met Beaux - chez moi

This weekend I had a lot of fun working with a formula inspired by my previous posts about art, style, composition. Inspired by several works of Picasso where he revisited classic masters I thought that a similar approach could be done in perfumery. What would happen if in a bottle I would produce the encounter of 2 philosophies, of 2 styles. What if Ernest Beaux would meet Edmond Roudnitska inside a fragrance?
The task was to express 2 styles of composition with their particular raw materials or ideas, and everything in a wearable modern form. I didn't want to mix 2 formulas but to express with modern materials (our times, not their), if possible, 2 universes. For those who know the subject this exercise can reveal a lot of fun discovering the quotes, for those who are less interested by fragrance history it could be just a modern, pleasant accord.
For Ernest Beaux I took the Chanel No5 idea thought around ylang-ylang, aldehydes and the sweet notes (the crème vanille as Beaux said referring to Shalimar). The jasmine and the rose notes are modern, as Roudnitska would have probably done. Following the idea given by Polge with his new version of No5 I wrote a modern shape built around a tiaré flower idea, with elements from No5 and No22 (plus Gardenia) and with the drydown notes reduced.
Having a bouquet already "modernized" in terms of freshness and clarity, as Roudnitska did for the lily of the valley, I thought to bring a touch of irony putting on the fragrance the melon "spécialité maison" found in Parfum de Thérèse. An irony because Ernest Beaux was more into other type of fruits. And an irony because you wouldn't expect a melon growing in No5. After that I brought even more notes that were used by Roudnitska and the concept of "across the perfume" like in ballet. So, citronellyl acetate, helional and indol were added to create the sparkling notes of a famous masterpiece and a very light chypre note. They can be smelled from the start because of the contrast with the flower but their amount will not turn the perfume into a chypre fruity. In the end I put a very small dose of cumin just to quote the master.

To resume my sketch
- a vanillic tiaré-ylang aldehydic note plus a melon plus a chypre touch and some accents.

No5 seen in a Roudnitska mirror, but in 2008

It opens with a short Roudnitska ouverture, then goes into Chanel ylang accord (the "hesitation walz" between No5 and No22) then new Roudnitska elements appear opposed to the very powdery Chanel touch and in the end it recalls a known chypre fruity accord.
Here you have the list of ingredients (In this first sketch I took out the orris, sandalwood note and the coumarine)

Bergamot ess
Lemon ess
Ethyl caproate
Hexyl acetate
Melonal, 1%
Cumin ess, 1%
Aldehyde C12 L, 10%
Ylang - ylang extra
Methyl Salycilate, 10%
Methyl Benzoate, 10%
Dimethyl anthranylate, 10%
Citronellyl acetate
Geraniol
Phenylethylalcohol
Helional
Hedione
Indol 10%
Amyl salicylate
Benzyl salicylate
Cis 3 hexenyl salycilate
Decalactone delta, 10%
Undecalactone gamma, 10%
Ethyl vanilline
Vanilla Bourbon SB abs
Maltol, 1%
Patchouli Indonesia ess
Vetiver Haiti ess
Sandalwood Mysore ess
Oakmoss, 10%
Ambroxan, 10 %
Ambrettolide
Ethylene Brassylate

The formula can be perfected with more ingredients in the woody-chypre section and another aldehyde plus the very small top raspberry used by both perfumers and even cardamome.

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Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

The Star Perfumer ?

For a long time unknown to the public and even to the press, the perfumer enters a new era - the Star - following a similar path seen in fashion (from Marc Jacobs to Karl Lagerfeld, even the youngest designers started to be/play the star&celebrity role). A change will occur in the years to come and we see already the steps:
- the name of the creator is given with the new launches and companies present their photo, even for the less known perfumers
- we see photos of perfumers at PR events
- they give interviews, conferences (Jean Claude Ellena, Christophe Laudamiel) and even video talks for the launch of a new perfume (Elle - YSL, but also for Avon or Yves Rocher)
- they receive awards
- they become in house perfumers (Hermès, Guerlain, Artisan Parfumeur, Rochas)
- they are involved in projects with a strong artistic concept (Le Coffret Mugler, AIDS project)
- we have brands featuring "parfums d'auteur" - like Frédéric Malle or Les Nez
- perfumers launch their own perfumes - Geza Schön, Mark Buxton
- several are already a "star" in the French press - Francis Kurkdjian, Jean Claude Ellena
As it happened in other related domains (I think architecture, design, fashion) something is about to change here and in my opinion it will change the face of the industry. I can only think what happened in fashion (designers were "fournisseurs" and with few exceptions a lady wouldn't seek the company of her couturière). This will affect not only the public perception but also the way perfumers will be paid and treated inside a company. Now as a brand you can still afford the luxury to have Ropion (IFF), Cresp (Firmenich), Maisondieu (Givaudan), Kurkdjian (Takasago), etc working for your brief and in the end you will chose only one. I doubt this will be possible in the future. The era of the perfumer as a worker in a mass production chain (like in the movie Metropolis) is about to change.
Because brands started to give the name of their perfumers a reverse action started to appear. On the internet the list of creation of a perfumer appears as a CV and not everybody is happy to be seen as a "commercial perfumer" doing variations of X or Y famous fragrances. Since a year several companies do not list the perfumer - will it be because of the fear of authorship issues in the future? A similar situation exists in fashion - designers from Zara, H&M, Mango, etc are less known if not unknown (also they have a big team).
I'm sure that in the next future the perfumer will tend more and more to the concept of star. Dior is not only the creations of John Galliano but it is also the image of the extravagant designer.
In the past it was arguable that the image of a perfumer would contrast with the image of the brand (mainly when it is a fashion one). But today with so many perfumes and brands we are lost - the names don't say very much. Some brands have zero image for the younger public as their fashion is no more present - Jean Patou or Rochas.

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Friday, November 28

What a Taste!

In the never ending discussion about taste in perfumery (good taste/bad taste, etc) one comment was about a conversation with a famous perfumer:" perfumers should rather speak about their tastes". It was of course a reference to artistic, cultural tastes.
What about the taste itself, about what perfumers like to eat or to drink, do they make a good "chef" ? What would you prepare if you would have a perfumer invited at home? We know by now that Jacques Guerlain was mad about aromatic herbs, that Ernest Beaux liked very good red wines and that both used vanilla in a different way.
When modern perfumery is more tasty than ever (and not abstract as it used to be for decades) and the boundaries between the bottle and the plate are blurred, is personal taste more important than ever in the creation?
Are certain perfumers more Pastis, Cognac, Xerxes, schnapps or Rain water from New Zeeland?
Are they "nouvelle cuisine" or Brillat Savarin?
For some of them is obvious, or at least the fragrances might give you several clues.
For me Olivier Cresp is the exact representation of Willy Wonka and his chocolate factory - he is the "chef patissier" of perfumery and all his great creations are like a new forbidden fruit - tasty, delicious with subtle nuances and not just an "gourmand" perfume. Think Angel, Nina, Ange ou Démon, Kenzo Amour and even the previous Kenzo fragrances have a particular "flavor". Many of them express for me (and that's strange!) that sensation of "joy" after you eat a good sweet pastry (it could be from Pierre Hermé). More the feeling and less its literal transcription into scent.
Another example, brought to me by carmencanada is Aurélien Guichard. In another age he could have been a curly angel in a Rococo painting. All his perfumes are powdered with vanilla. It's like the fragrance is a "petit éclair" floating on a cloud of sugar and vanilla, no matter what the subject is. Baghari, China Town and even other give me the sensation of an angel eating macarons with one hand and with a finger testing a drop of perfume. In a boudoir, of course for a "confidence gourmande".
Many fragrances created before the 70's had a certain bitterness, as seen in several chypre (except the fruity). Crêpe de Chine, Ma Griffe, Cabochard, Diorling might give a similar sensation to some red wines rich in tanin. Often that bitter effect was given by some aromatic herbs, IBQ, gardenia notes, vetiver, aldehydes. Sweet notes were used in great amounts but the fragrance was not sweet. I imagine that the word tasty / gourmand had a different meaning 50 years ago.

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Thursday, November 27

Honoré des Prés by Olivia Giacobetti

Creating a natural perfume in UE and observing all the rules plus those imposed by the brand (bio & other trendy French words) is not a challenge but a nightmare. Add to that all the rules of Art and only a great perfumer would be able to find a decent solution. Olivia Giacobetti did it with great talent and one of her creations Bonté's Bloom is extremely beautiful while all the range expresses a fresh modernity and purity. One has even a big orange and how IFRA's recommendation on limonene was observed is still a mystery for me. But there is a big problem here. They do not last, they are too volatile to be considered perfumes and not a variation of "eau fraîche"! Refusing the synthetics this type of perfumery goes back to a XIXth century question - "How to fix a perfume?" And that is a hard equation today when animal products are not suitable for a brand with an eco-philosophy and when balms/resins and other classic long lasting products do not fit exactly the taste for freshness/purity/air, notes provided with the help of lily of the valley, woody molecules and white musks (both very tenacious).

Fragrances (soon with a detailed review):
Nu Green
Bonté’s Bloom
Chaman’s Party
Sexy Angelic
Honoré’s Trip
Website

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Kremlin - Кремль

You do not smell every day a soviet perfume but when you do it is always a surprise because those smells belong to another era, unknown (in terms of sensorial experience) for many in the West. I've recently resmelled Kremlin from its characteristic tower shaped bottle. Like Red Moscow it is an iconic perfume with a strong message and mysterious history. It seems that a perfume with that name existed around 1900 and was produced by Brocard. In the 30's it was produced by TEJE trust and later is known as a Novaya Zarya perfume. I think that this bottle is still in production. Reformulation was not unknown to soviets but I do not know how it happened for Kremlin. The perfume I smelled seems to be from a period before the 70's.
It has a very strong impact where 2 molecules are noticeable - fresh linalool and terpineol. A big bitter and synthetic citrus bouquet is put over an accord of lilac-heliotrope powdery base, light jasmine and ionone alfa. The spicy sweet and cinnamon like note of cinnamic alcohol is noticeable from the top. After several hours of strong, light-fresh-soapy notes, the perfume changes into something familiar. It is reminiscent of Origan drydown with all the facets: orange flower, carnation, violet-orris plus sweet balsamic notes and musks. It starts to be very powdery and very musky (nitromusk like), but well blended. I had the strong impression that the perfume is made from 2 parts, the first being very harsh almost dissonant (I'm not sure about the deterioration).
To me it is also reminiscent of another old perfume - Tosca 4711 (from the 20's and again inspired by Origan).
As I noticed in several old soviet catalogues it seems that this perfume was masculine, fact that I was not aware during the "smelling session". Also, it was described as "the fragrance of roses in bloom at plantations in Crimea and Caucasus", another aspect that didn't quite fit with my impressions.
In terms of style there is a certain similarity with several perfumes from 50's and 60's - "Avon the Terrible".
For many years the history of fragrance, as seen in the books, was only French. Because history should not make distinctions of value or taste, I believe that both American and Russian perfumery deserve a place or at least to be mentioned.

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

The scent of Love

Ralph Lauren has big plans for Paris. He has just opened a new store on 50 av. Montaigne (the former Vionnet house) and another one in St. Germain near Sonia Rykiel will open in 2009. But there is something very wrong with this iconic designer. With his new perfume he has simply stolen an idea from the recently passed away Yves Saint Laurent. Do you remember when YSL celebrated the 30 and then 40 anniversary of the house? They released a special edition called Love (the heart as a symbol and jewel was used in many YSL collections), heart shaped with stopper decorated with a gem. Of course, nobody owns the heart or the word love, but in my opinion LOVE from Ralph Lauren, now available at Colette is an "ethical" mistake. I can understand when Avon copies the bottle of Chanel Chance but when an iconic designer is so close (at least in terms of concept and design) is something strange. The funeral of YSL took place this summer in a church just near Colette where Ralph Lauren put his own and expensive heart shaped perfume. The fragrance is rich and opulent, but very compact. There is almost no top, bottom or any vibration inside and from this point of view is close to the idea of Gucci Rush. The rose and jasmine accord are surrounded by a very round fruity note - peach/apricot/plum - like a marmalade infused with petals. Is has also a chypre touch in the direction of Miss Dior Chérie with a subtle ambery accent. It seems to be a perfect balance between the floral, ambery, chypre and fruity family, with a very tasty sensation (not Angel direction). The same day I smelled also Pulp (Byredo) and Love seemed to me the ironic answer to the question "What minor changes should I do to make a real perfume out of Pulp?"

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

5 (Jeremy Scott)

From the very good series of Six Scents from Symrise & Designer against AIDS one caught my attention while thinking about concepts like old/new/modernity/dated.
In the early 80's a perfume was released in Romania by the state owned fragrance factory Miraj. It was called Miss Otilia, after the character of a great Romanian novel and movie and was a floral aldehyde rosy fragrance. It was such a hit in several countries from the communist block that it received an award at Bratislava from the entire community of cosmetic companies in East Europe (The red "Oscars" of perfumery). Of course there was no rose absolute, no precious woods, no real musk. It is still a mystery if the perfume was created in Bucharest or supplied by Dragoco (now Symrise) a company working with Romanian factories that time.
When I smelled 5 - Illicit Sex for Jeremy Scott (LA) created by perfumer Philippe Roques I had a terrible "deja vu". It was like my bottle of "Miss Otilia", fresh and with good ingredients. 90% the same idea with all the softness of good products (with rose oil note on top). I doubt that the designer or the young perfumer knew that obscure Romanian perfume vanished 17 years ago. This brought to me 2 questions:
- is it an old idea (from Dragoco library) brought to light and adapted to our modern world?
- is it possible that a perfumer from 1978 and 2008 to work on an idea and arrive to similar results?
I found extremely interesting that an idea already used/old can appear after many years without any wrinkle. 5 - Illicit Sex is a floral woody perfume with a strong fresh rose note, very delicate, subtle, well built and tenacious. It is far better than the new Chloe which is written in the same spirit but is harsh, chemical and unfinished (it smells like a citronellol-Iso E Super luxury detergent formula).

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Monday, November 24

The smell of money

For the occasion of the 125th anniversary of Coco Chanel, Karl Lagerfeld designed a special 5 Euro coin. The coin features both a portrait of Coco Chanel and lots of other trademark graphics of the brand. I do not know if money smells but this coin should be scented with No 5. The gold coin costs 5900 EUR. Will they do a special offer with 5000, to be in the numbers? Or 5500 to remember that there was also a Chanel 55?

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Do you smell it?

That can be a metaphor for a heterocycle (pyrazines, the nutty odor) and for a macrocycle (the sensual muscone and civettone). It's all in the fur! The power of smell during the Ice Age.

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Civet in orchard

You think that civet is a little stinky girl and you would never put an animalic scent on your skin? How if you put something similar in your mouth and find the paradise?

Meet Durio zibethinus, a tropical fruit called durian - the epiphany of delicious stink! Every aspect that in our society is called stink - dirty socks, egg, garlic, rotten onion, etc - is inside. It's powerful and disgraceful for some, unbearable for many. You love or hate it like some well known perfumes. When you taste this fruit from South East Asia you have a strange sensation. It's strong, delicious, sweet, milky, buttery, almond and with a sensual texture in the mouth. In terms of sensorial experience it's a "Luca Turin fruit" (his work with strong, unusual molecules and smells). Inside, more than 43 sulphur-containing constituents and Firmenich found that molecules like ethyl (Z,Z)-, (E,Z)- and (E,E)-deca-2,4-dienoates, ethyl (3Z,6Z)-decadienoate and the ethyl (E,Z,Z)- and (E,E,Z)-decatrienoates contribute significantly to the fruity aspect of the unusual flavor. Durian does produce pretty high amount of calories. Some claimed that it can be the body "warmer" and act as an " aphrodisiac fruit".

Like truffle, it can be imagined in a fragrance. Why do I think again of Tom Ford and his description of Black Orchid?

Read also Musk&Civet in food on perfumeshrine.

Photo: DKIMAGES

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Miracle Fruit

This is not the top note accord of ginger infused Miracle Lancôme but a fruit with special effects. Synsepalum dulcificum has the amazing ability to change the taste of bitter and sour foods into something very sweet. You squeeze a lime and enjoy it like the best Florida orange. The fleshy part contains a protein called miraculin and it seems that it distorts the perception for 30min to 2 hours.
I wish that there would be something similar for fragrances (in terms of perception or fragrance release systems). For 2 hours you smell like an innocent lily and then you become a deadly sensual flower or something unexpected when you layer it with a fresh cologne. Tom Ford would love to have a "miraculin" fragrance.

Photo: Jan Davidsz de Heem (1606-1684), Nature morte de banquet avec un paysage

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

The monster molecules

They are kept in small bottles, in another bottle, in a third bottle. Not because they are precious or volatile, but because they are maybe the strongest molecules in the flavor / fragrance area. You cannot put a little, you have to dilute it like in homeopathy. Those are the pyrazines, heterocyclic aromatic (read 2 nitrogen atoms symmetrically disposed in a 6 atoms cycle) with a tremendous power. Their odor detection threshold is between 60 000 ppb and 0,001 ppb. Their smell can be nutty (all the nuts), roasted, cocoa or even green. Usually they are created by Maillard reactions as by-products of the browning reaction of sugars and proteins or amino acids (during heat processes in cooking). But other pyrazines were also found in nature and provide important notes to several plants.
Most of them were used in flavors, but since a couple of years they entered in several fragrances. They can provide very green galbanum-hyacinth notes, very peppery and green, the top smell of rice, the dry note of cocoa on top (to balance the over sweet drydown) and many special effect top notes (coffee, popcorn, nuts, bread).

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

The Schiff(er) effect

Is there any molecule that smells like blonde hair, like Claudia Schiffer, like all the stereotypes in the yellow orange spectrum? We might search a lot but at least there is a physical evidence, the color of the molecules. Schiff bases, usually bright yellow, are a chemical function with a carbon nitrogen double bond and the nitrogen connected to another carbon from an alkyl/aryl group - R1R2C=N-R3
To keep simple - a Schiff base is the child of a primary amine (NH2) and an aldehyde. They have a crucial role in perfumery and there are many of them - put by the perfumer or "obtained" inside a perfume under several conditions (the time and the presence of those molecule able to react).
With only methyl anthranilate or indole (the most used) and the great amount of aldehydes a lot of Schiff bases were obtained and used in fragrances. Many of them have a strong orange flower note with all possible accents, from fresh to green, pungent, fruity. They last for ever while in pure form they are very viscous. There are several ways to prepare them and many are very simple. If you put in a bottle the amount required by the reaction and heat a little … the smell will change and a new "scent" with a very yellow color will appear.
Schiff bases are used in tuberose and white flower notes. Giorgio could be considered the King of those bases.
Widely used are the products obtained from the orange flower-grape smelling Methyl Anthranilate and lily of the valley aldehydes like Hidroxycitronellal for Aurantiol, Lilial, Lyral but also with Canthoxal, Anisaldehyde, Triplal. They have power and tenacity while the orange flower note is one of the most diffusing! You cannot escape from a Schiff Base.:) Aurantiol is one of the most used from this family, but there are many other, sometime "secret", not available on the market and put into bases (though easy to produce). Some time ago I evaluated no less than 50 molecules of that type and it's not easy to find yourself inside. Citral plus indol result appears in at least 2 masterpieces created before the 60's.
Giorgio is of course the crown jewel, but I've got the feeling that more and more new fragrances are into this direction. First I noticed the smell in Paris streets, than I made an "investigation" in the celebrity scents universe where to my surprise I found it again. A Schiff base is not like vanillin - you cannot put it everywhere! Schiff base plus damascones and some spices are in the heart of one of the giants of XXth century. A bomb! Pure Poison (Dior) is a modern example: to me it's closer to Giorgio than to Poison. The latest Christina Aguilera is also a variation around this theme, so popular in the 80's.

Photo - Aurantiol molecule

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Sunday, November 23

He(y) Violet !

I love violets but I don't like very much violet perfumes - many of them are just ionone alpha perfumes and smell far from a violet bouquet with its green, soft, delicate and cold aroma. Fahrenheit Dior was a big fougère with a green violet top note as was the beautiful and strange Grey Flannel. Yesterday I smelled a true, almost photo realistic violet bouquet, an incredible note created for … men. I had the instant image of Empress Eugenie with her loving violet bouquets. That was He Wood (Dsquared2). The term wood is more a metaphor for this true violet note surrounded with delicate transparent molecules and some other, woody musky. If Fleurs du Male is not so much a floral but a variation with a floral note, this perfume is pure floral for men. A violet bouquet in the violent world of masculine fragrances. It is the opposite of Iris silver mist and they share many molecules but do not smell similar. The Lutens perfume is the metaphor of the root (the orris) while this one is the flower (the violet). With a subtle balance of almost the same ingredients you can obtain the flower, the root, the whole spectrum from earth to sky. He Wood is the the image of living small flowers growing under an old tree - the methapor of delicate innocence in the masculine universe.
The feminine version has a pink color and no interest.
Molecules to smell with - Violettyne MIP (Firmenich) and Dihydro beta ionone (Givaudan).

Photo - Viola odorata, Lindman

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Friday, November 21

Fragrance in the lab

This youtube video (in french) shows the process of creation but also manufacture of a fragrance. The robot is used to weight the trial formulas written by a perfumer and send from his computer. When several ingredients are not in the machine, a lab assistant will weight them (between 5 and 30 minutes) and finish the perfume before the perfumer will test his ideas. Before robots were used in big labs, a lab assistant would work several hours for complex formulas. If my memory is good, this video was filmed at Mane.

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Odourprinting?

A recent article from Telegraph kept my attention these days.

Jae Kwak, lead author of the study at Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, said that the research suggested that "odourprinting" could soon have a practical use.
"These findings indicate that biologically based odourprints, like fingerprints, could be a reliable way to identify individuals...If this can be shown to be the case for humans, it opens the possibility that devices can be developed to detect individual odourprints in humans."
It reminded me a historical documentary about the secret STASI in Germany. They kept an entire archive (in the late 60's I believe) with glass jars and inside were textiles with the scent of an individual. Trained dogs had to sniff that and then identify/follow those suspects.

There is an entire StasiSmell Museum in Berlin, with "Geruchsproben — smell samples", and here is a short article about that historical "curiosity": "After the fall of the Berlin Wall, many astounding revelations came to light about the Stasi, the East German secret police. One of the more bizarre activities the Stasi was found to have engaged in was the collection of Geruchsproben — smell samples — for the benefit of the East German smell hounds. The odors, collected during interrogations using a perforated metal “smell sample chair” or by breaking into people’s homes and stealing their dirty underwear, were stored in small glass jars."

Another article was published in The Independent:
"When the Stasi conducted interrogations, they asked interviewees to sit on their hands. It was, perhaps, a minor discomfort, given the serious discomfort of having one's life pored over by the state police. But it was an odd request, nonetheless. The reason? The Stasi wanted a scent sample. Human palms give out a strong smell. Seat covers that come into contact with those palms retain that smell."

Artist Maki Ueda (Scent Laboratory) worked this spring on a scent inspired by this historical fact for an exhibition at Reg Vardy Gallery (Sunderland UK) - "I've been composing the scent of a woman whose scent has been captured in The Stasi Smell Jar because she was a possible spy suspected by the Eastern German secret police." More on the blog.

It would be interesting to see if those totalitarian practices would become "democratic" in the next future. Sometime history is full of surprises.

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Thursday, November 20

Cabinet of fragrances - Barbara Gould

Believing that there is no such thing any more as a "one perfume woman" Barbara Gould brought out in the mid 30's a folding cabinet containing 4 perfumes, expected to meet the feminine demand of odours. Original colors were ivory and red. The perfumer behind 10, 25, 30 and 40 - the names of those Barbara Gould fragrances is .... Ernest Beaux. They were created mainly for the american market and are quite rare. If you find one, keep it well because those are special creations.

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Are masculine fragrances really boring?

One of the often heard complains is that masculine fragrances are not so … inspired and that they fall between few prototypes. Or is it that when we switch from the feminine variety our "nose" is unable to perceive more subtle notes? The feminine type is often based on something evolved from the "olfactive form" concept, you get the idea very quick. For a masculine perfume you don't get very often the whole idea. Is it a lack of creativity or another kind of creativity with more attention paid to details?

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Cuir de Russie (Chanel)

Cuir de Russie is without doubt the signature scent of Chanel house this winter. Karld Lagerfeld announced (quoted in Vogue) that the long awaited annual Maison d'Art Collection will be devoted to the slavic inspiration. The Paris-Moscow collection (in Paris, on 3 december) will feature the long love affair of Chanel with Russia and Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich. Will the clothes inspired by the splendours of the tsars be scented with Cuir de Russie? We'll see that very soon.

Photo - Chanel winter collection 1922

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Fragrance on the WEB - book

“Il profumo nella rete” is a book written by italian author Ornella Pastorelli, recently presented at Fragranze Fair 2008 in Florence and speaks about the new universe of fragrance - the internet - exploring the emotions and stories posted on the web by perfume lovers worldwide.

The book is published by Socialmente, where you can read more information about this project (in italian).

Ornella Pastorelli is also the author of other previous fragrance books, written between 2002 and 2005: Le parole del profumo, Il profumo dello spazio, Leggere il profumo.

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Cartier signature scents

An article from BusinessEmirates describes the custom made perfumes from Cartier where Mathilde Laurent creates special blends for russian or asian custumers.

It seems that the first perfume bottle created by Cartier dates back to 1908 and the great demand for precious bottles lead to the creation of Parfums Cartier in 1938.

"This hand-made perfume can then be locked up in a precious bottle, created at the Cartier workshops, especially made according to our clients' tastes, to capture their own unique 'made-to-measure' fragrance. Rare and exclusive, the bottle and the unique fragrance are together part of a very private collection, a perfume for the initiated, combined to a jeweller's know-how."

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Wednesday, November 19

Ironic fragrances

Mozart wrote a musical joke in 1787 to make fun of the mediocre composers of his time and each of the 4 conventional movements had a unique "ineptitude", disjointed melodic ideas, faltering cadences. In the conclusion he acts as being tone deaf writing maybe the first dissonant notes in western music. Can this type of irony be translated into fragrance creation? Making jokes and fun of some uninspired creations of the day, the so called trends, or making fun of the kitsch color of several popular products?
I had that feeling when carmencanada showed me the Humiecki & Graef line. I have no idea what was the intention of Christophe Laudamiel but at least 2 perfumes gave me the instant sense of irony. Multiple Rouge, which I called the Monstrous Red is the modern Frankenstein born in the J'adoreLand. Take J'adore with all the green fruits, violet, lily of the valey and inject all the side effects of a world that copied too much this perfume (even a Lenor product has its version). The result is the exageration, the deformed image with the purest sarcasm. It remembered me a recent collection from Comme des Garçons with its ironic and kitsch (pink and gold) twist on classic Chanel jacket.
I believe that humour is not something easy in the fragrance but maybe it is a new world to explore.
Mozart - Musical Joke (K. 522) - 1787
Part I

Part II

Part III

Part IV with dissonant conclusion

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Bulgarian rose oil

The history of perfumery in XXth century is a delicate balance between art, science and fraud. Like any other business, this industry is a land of temptations. Rose oil was one of the most famous ingredients and bulgarian rose oil from Rosa Damascena one of the most precious, used in many high quality perfumes. The original product gave birth to many other so called rose oils. Even Ernest Beaux doubted the rose oil he bought from a famous producer (he noted that he had always felt there is something too special inside!). After WWII when Bulgaria became a socialist republic, the rose oil production was organized by the state. Many researchers worked to unveil the secrets of the oil (and even the german producer Dragoco introduced Bulgaryol in the mid 50's). More you know about the product, more sophisticated is what you would sell. Because rose oil has always been expensive, every perfumer had its own rose extender formula, a simple rose base to be mixed 1:1 with the rose oil.
Bulgarian rose oil was also a commercial product, sold in many countries from the East Block. It came in a glass vial put in a wooden case with an ethnic decoration. It was famous in my country as it smelled very strong and for a while became a symbol for the communism.
I found recently such a small bottle, produced in the late 70's and the smell was amazing. Amazing because this bulgarian rose oil produced by the State owned factory in Kazanlak is a fake oil. It smells great but I detect with great surprise small doses of ionone a, trichloromethylphenylcarbinyl acetate, clove oil eugenol, geranium and a sweet powdery drydown. It smells like my childhood memories but it's not quite the bulgarian rose oil from my supplier. What is funny about this sample is a powdery rosy note very similar to several perfumes like White Linen or Paris.
Is it the secret rose that haunted the child memories of Sophia Grosjman?

You can read another story about rose otto and see a picture on this blog.

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Art Deco Inspirations

Loulou (Cacharel) was inspired by the legendary flapper girl, Louise Brooks. If the sultry and sweet lactonic fragrance created by Jean Guichard, was modern, the bottle was inspired by a classic Art Deco bottle. It was Hudnut - "Le Début Bleu", launched with other Début perfumes when the american company opened its store in Paris.

Another famous Art Deco bottle from Le Narcisse Bleu (Mury) inspired Ombre rose (J.C. Brosseau) - the powdery rosy perfume from the 80's. Karl Lagerfeld also was inspired for his Kapsule by a bottle from Ibry.

Photo from ragoarts

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Fragrance to pastry (1)

If fragrance is still inspired by the many delicious sins can we transpose fragrance ideas or fragrances into a plate? Marinetti would have cooked with perfumes for a futuristic menu, but that's not my intention.

N'aimez que moi - éclair with violet cream and rose water, rose almond cream, rose petals and letters written with clove syrup.
Mitsouko - a variation on Sacher Torte theme with peach heavy syrup, candied fruits, clove-cinnamon glazure, smoky roasted nuts and maybe a whipped cream with orange.
L'Heure Bleue - a macaron with a very sweet base + very scented marzipan, a violet cream, an orange flower cream and a light anis liqueur syrup or crispy decoration.
Angel - a Dobos Torta with pecan nuts, very sweet cassis marmalade or cream, cassis liqueur syrup and maple topping
Lolita Lempicka - a "religieuse" with licorice and rhubarb, vanilla filling, everything floating in a pastis syrup and a crisp Italian meringue with violet aroma.
Le parfum de Thérèse - the Mitsouko idea in an ocean of delicate Chantilly, several raspberries and sliced melon with lemon syrup decoration.
Une fleur de cassie - meringue filled with an orris paste (marzipan plus diluted orris resinoide), a small violet decoration, a lot of Chantilly with jasmine flowers and a drop of diluted orange flower water.
Poivre - an assortment of Tunisian pastry filled with hot spices (clove, pepper, chili, cinnamon), few drops of rose syrup and petals of honeysuckle. Served with a very dry scotch.

Read also the story of madeleines by AlbertCan on PerfumeShrine

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Zizan - the new Ormonde Jayne

Zizan is the new introduction from Ormonde Jayne, a masculine with character described as "powerhouse perfume", "sophisticated and cultivated", based on a refined type of vetiver and a citrus explosion. The notes given in the press release are:

Top - lime, lemon, bergamot, clary sage, pink pepper, juniper berry.

Heart - bay, violet, jasmine.

Base - vetiver, cedar, musk, amber.

further info on: http://www.ormondejayne.com/

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Tuesday, November 18

Taxonomy & the art of fragrance families

Is it Woody ambery? Light Oriental? Or is it the New Sensual Fougère? Maybe you noticed that a fragrance seems to be housed in many families. Taxonomy - the science of classification is less a science in perfumery and more a tool. In fact each classification is right and wrong, but all cannot be separated from their purpose and no one is purely "academic".
First, the classifications were used only by perfumers. They represented types of fragrances (according to what's inside), often molded after successes of the day and served as a guide. The first appeared at the end of XIXth century but it was in the first part of XXth century that we see the emergence of "types". Now they are useful for me to understand what was popular then. Near the flowers the many "fantasy" perfumes were put into categories named after the perfumes - there were Chanel type, Floramye Type, Origan type and so on. The abstract names (like today) were not used yet. Very soon, from the 30's another classification appeared and it was used to recommend perfumes. In fact the need to find an appropriate perfume or one similar to a given one, generated simple classifications used in retail. By then, almost every perfumer used a personal system to classify fragrances and one very much used came from Roure school. Something happened in the 60's and 70's. Marketing became very important when fragrances were produced on a large scale. There was a big need to understand the market, what sells and what not. Haarman & Reimer came with their Genealogy of fragrances, a very useful tool to guide the marketers. Of course it was not the only one and almost every producer (IFF, Firmenich, etc) had its own system, less known to the public. The purpose of this classification was very clear. French Perfumers Society came with another one, more complicated. It was more academic and based on what was actually inside the fragrance - done by perfumers and based on the structure of a perfume. Many years after, Michael Edwards came with another system, but this time the purpose was totally new - as it was used in retail, it was imagined to offer a new choice based on current taste (you like this, you might like that also). Since the 90's the family of a given perfume was no more a "secret" or a "technical" word but something said to the public. Taxonomy became Communication and the family was also a description (with "permitted" and "forbidden" words) of the perfume. Fantasy families appeared but also discrepancies. A masculine that technical is a fougere with fruity notes will be housed in a new family in the press release or websites. A man is not supposed to smell fruity, melon or pineapple! Every big house developed now "marketing" classifications to communicate with their clients. The most poetic is from IFF and the most complicated was used by Quest. Not to say that soviet perfumers had their own classification of perfumes!
Today there are as many classifications as many purposes can be: the structure of perfume, understanding the market, best retail work, communication tool. But they use almost the same words, each time with new meanings.
An example of personal interpretation is the story of Roudnitska and SFP. He was mad that they put Femme into the chypre fruity family.

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Lifetime of a fragrance

2009 - between a lab and an elegant bureau a new launch is prepared, the work of 2 men one being a perfumer. The real story is a secret. We might never know if the juice is a) the result of a reworked GC analysis b) a formula from a previous rejected project c) the result of an inspiring conversation between the 2 persons.
2010 - the perfume is put on the market - a beautiful and convincing story, an amazing bottle and many press articles. Very soon I discover the perfume and the reactions in the fragrance world. On a blog I read about the lack of inspiration, the inspiration from here and there. On another blog I read an amazing philosophical analysis hard to read and understand but I suppose I smelled a masterpiece. A critic gives only 2 stars and a journalist writes about several controversies around this perfume - why did they do that to women? Why did they put natural civet? Is it good to follow trends? I'm just amazed how many thoughts can live in a small drop. I smell again the perfume but I'm not convinced to buy it. What I read is too much for me.
2010 - 6 months after - Almost nobody speaks about the perfume and I almost forgot what I read and all the "connections" that were explained. When I smell the perfume I'm almost blind to all that buzz. I simply like the perfume and I buy a bottle. It's just pleasant, seducing and there is nothing to "shock" my nose. I still like wearable scents.
2010 - 9 months after - I finished 2 bottles but I will not buy a new one. I've just found a new article to flatter my snobbery and I do like the new fragrance.
2013 - Nobody speaks about the perfume. I forgot it, but you can still find bottles in silent corners of a perfumery shop. Ads are still produced and sales numbers are still good.
2020 - Next generation of perfumistas don't want to hear about the monster of 2009 - it represented such a lack of creativity and all the bad from the previous decade. Me too, I'm a new person. I changed fashion, color and home. I found several scented Grails and I'm not in the mood for changing them very soon. Do I get old?
2030 - In a book about history of perfumes I found a small picture of that perfume, now it's in the classic category. But nobody wears it. It was already discontinued just in time before the public anathema - "lady like smell".
2040 - The disappearance of the perfume from our world left almost no trace.
2050 - Somebody found a full bottle in an action. The mysterious perfume happens to be from 2009. It's an amazing discovery! The new generation of perfumistas thinks it’s a masterpiece. A treasure from the past. "Such an amazing perfume so different from those of our times". Those believing in futuristic perfumes qualify them as "nostalgic and old fashion".
2051 - The original formula is reconstructed in a museum. "It's indeed a masterpiece, from that glorious period!" A brand puts the perfume on a market. I do not know if they did the exact formula or not but everybody agrees that "it's not so good as the first version, they did it only for money." I smell the perfume but cannot tell anything. I remember only that it was a 2 star perfume with many opinions and maybe I bought it ages ago. But now I love it very much. Is it because it remembers my youth or because it is indeed a masterpiece? I read impressive articles on the ultimate masterpiece from an extinct world. A journalist founds the very old perfumer and asks him about the creative process. "It is only an artist who could have created such a beauty!" With a subtle smile he says "I do not remember the circumstances…"

Photo: 1973 ad for Rynelia (Everfast) "Rinelya for ever"

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Monday, November 17

Notes for a fragrance

One of the most useful exercises when you have a fragrance formula is to cut it into pieces or to extract accords, from the different flowers to the woods or characteristic top notes. Most of the fragrances are about rose, jasmine and lily of the valley notes but words do not say anything. Extracting the rose, the jasmine and so on from a perfume will "tell" you the approximate floral idea of the perfumer. In fact it is only the perfumer who know precisely how the engine works and what are the "true" accords. If in music you can extract with almost a mathematical precision the themes, in fragrance this is not so obvious and understanding a true creation is like an "initiation". Having a formula is not enough! This approach (extracting accords) is used from time to time while promoting a new perfume or during internal trainings. When Kenzo Amour was launched I could smell from 4-5 bottles the notes that were special in the perfume - all kind of woods or incenses that are not so obvious and cannot be reduced to one precise raw material. Modern fragrances often use "exotic" terms to describe several particular notes. They are not all the time "marketing bla-bla" but refer to specific notes, sometime so "special" that I have no idea what they could be - no botanical clue nor available accord. Here you have a small list of such kind of notes, particular to several new launches that do not evoke to me any scent.
Helleborus flower (I was told they do not smell)
Chocolate Cosmos flower
Camellia
Satin almond
Cactus flower & cactus
Iced tulip
Honey blossom
Cotton wood
Sleek wood
Blonde wood
Floating wood
Acacia wood
Botanical Musk (is it just ambrette seed, or ambrettolide???)

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Friday, November 14

Kenzo Fleurs d'Hiver

This week I made a wonderful discovery in an airport duty-free. Usually I do not pay a lot of attention to flankers, but this one is a special perfume. Released in the same Flower bottle, with a small serigraphic decoration, this fragrance is said to be inspired by several winter flowers, one being helleborus. The overall sweetness of Flower wrapped in several special musks (one is Helvetolide) becomes here a halo a protective halo, an aura around a very dry accord, almost botanic. Rose absolute and patchouli (plus lily of the valley molecules), a classical combination as seen in Aromatics Elixir, is presented here like a millefiori decoration in glass. A very small universe in a glass globe. You feel both the sweet and lingering powdery notes of the rose-violet(iralia)-lily of the valley theme with its hawthorn accent and the very dry and small new accord. The benzyl acetate is less present and the vanillin is enriched with caramel and subtle spicy molecules. A sublime contrast where the sensation of dried flowers and crispy petals is vivid and almost textural with a very beautiful mimosa absolute (dry and woody, and almost suggesting the solid state of the absolute itself). It has a special quality - virtuosity in terms of composition. It is a perfume worked like a jewel, in small and clear details with a very strong idea. I had the feeling that a small perfume was living inside the first one. A small poem written with barks and honey under a globe of musks and sweet molecules - Kenzo Fleurs d'Hiver
I was not happy surprised to read later that the idea (winter flowers and helleborus) has already been borrowed by Yves Rocher for their new Christmas perfume.
Note: mimosa absolute can lead to strange reactions - many refer to it as "baby diapers" :) I have no idea what camelia (from the official notes) can be, camelias usually do not smell unless they are Camelia sinensis - the green tea.

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Art & fragrance exhibition in Paris

Art and fragrance is an association that we make more and more in the XXIth century like art and fashion was representative for end XIX and XXth century. If in the fragrance universe we speak about art and how this can inspire the work of perfumers, the same can be said in the field of artists. Working with scents was not something traditional. We can see several examples in the avangarde movements before WWII, but it was more since the 60's when scent started to be used as a vector for artistic message (scents of decay, death, or other "limit" smells). Nobi Shioya brought a new dimension working with perfumers and exploring the "non disturbing" facet of smells.
Yesterday, another exhibition on fragrance, scents, art opened in Paris with the works of a French artist, Catherine Willis.

CHEMIN FAISANT, PARFUMS BOTANIQUES
13 - 23 November 2008
Diana Esnault- Pelterie/Ilan Engel Gallery
77 rue des Archives / Paris 75004

This time is a work on fragrance and scented materials, images, words, drawings. The harvest of memories, words, separate universes and scented things like scented path to an unexplored treasure. What I found interesting, reading on her website, is the mix of very ancient traditions - the art of preparing the paper, the vegetal colors from scented plants, the drawing. An accord happens when 2 notes create a different third. A fragrance is a place of meeting like an antique agora. For Catherine Willis it also a place of dialogue - installations, fragrant textiles, sculptures. The "fragrant" artwork evolves beyond its physical limits. The "geography" of a botanic drawing invades a 4th dimension (the 3rd being the texture) challenging the nose to a deeper relation with the viewer. Between the art that you see and the art that you eat (food art) this one is placed in the middle as an invisible link. A metaphor of the ancient "Incense Road", and its counterpart the "Silk Road" where the artist produces "impossible" meetings of things around the world and around the mind by the means of scent.

More information of Catherine Willis blog (where I took the photo) and website

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Bad Taste in perfumery????

The bad taste or the taste used to be a "hot" topic in classic art theory / system. But since the postmodern era it became almost an obsolete subject like many discussions in the value area - the distinction between major art and minor art, between superior and inferior and the idea of discrimination. This year Jeff Koons exposed his works in the Versailles Palace and whatever you think about the most expensive contemporary artist, his colored creations made an amusing contrast with the detailed opulence of Louis XIV's apartments. Beaux arts magazine had an essay about kitsch, consumerism and contemporary art.
The fragrance world is not spared about the discussions on bad taste or lack of taste. It is not something you will find in books or printed articles, neither in conferences. But it is a word/notion that is often used in private conversations. We are too "polite" to speak in public of products in terms of good/bad taste. There is and will be no authority to say what is good/bad taste in perfumes. I am more interested to see what a is considered beautiful and ugly at a certain time because this can hold precious information about a certain historical time.
In one of the notebooks of Ernest Beaux he wrote about Narcisse Noir - "parfum d'une vulgarité tapageuse" - fragrance of the most striking vulgarity. Perfumers often speak in terms of taste when criticizing the creations of others. It's either bad taste or the lack of taste as the ultimate explanation for a fragrance that is considered mediocre. Often I heard comments like - "look at her, she does not how to dress, how would she create a good fragrance when she cannot chose a good shampoo", or " she was perfect for functional products and she put that insect repellent spray power into all her perfumes", "she's got a very provincial tastes in decoration, no surprise that her perfumes lacks finesse".... A perfumer told me once what he thought about Chanel pour Monsieur - "a masterpiece with a citronella note that is of the supreme bad taste". In the classic period, Tabu was considered by many perfumers as a supreme example of bad taste - it was the summum of vulgarity (but we know now the intention). In the 80's, Giorgio (despite its huge commercial success) was considered by many as both cheap and vulgar compared to French perfumes of the time. The next decade, Poison was considered vulgar in the context of freshness and youth spirit. Often taste conversations are surrounded by words like - provincial, bourgeois, aristocrat, cheap, vulgar, elegant, tasteless. It is never around good/bad smell (the word bad is not often used by a perfumer to qualify raw materials) and often around technical qualities. If several perfumers would start to speak in public Luca Turin's worst critics would sound like the most angelic description.
But apart what perfumers think or speak about taste in fragrance - as consumers, can we speak today about good taste and bad taste for fragrances, about tasteful and tasteless?
We speak very much today about individual taste and about the abolition of "taste dictatorship" in fashion and related areas. But "bad taste" as a notion (and not a quality) is present even more in our society and sells very well - think the sites/blogs/lists about well and bad dressed movie stars and how "what is considered ugly" invaded the net in sites with high traffic and well paid ads.
The fact that you love a movie / book / dress doesn't make it better, or will not affect very much the inner qualities - that is the classic idea since the XVIIIth century that "taste is a universal quality", opposed to the "romantic" concept of individuality "beauty is in the eye of the beholder".
Sometime this discussion is also about the power of the fragrance. When it's too strong and too characteristic it has more chances to be considered "a bad sign" as opposed to subtlety and refinement, when notes are very well blended (I am not very in favor of fragrances that smell like a concentrated fruit essence).
Few variation can be brought here:
- a "simple taste" (un goût facile) opposed to the taste of simple things. Not every "minimal" perfume is a "minimalist" fragrance as a philosophy - not every building with slab, floor and several pillars and glass is Mies van der Rohe;
- an "opulent" taste (un goût compliqué) would be the negative meaning of baroque style, where there are too many things inside;
- an "exaggerated" taste would be the preference for overwhelming notes, what in decoration is referred to Napoleon III period and bourgeois houses in Paris where a room was already like a museum with an impressive accumulation of things in great size;
- a copy of another idea but without its depth and with the precise idea to please.

Can we speak today about kitsch fragrances or fragrances without any trace of taste/style?

Photo: Jeff Koons - Lobster in Salon de Mars at Versailles

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Wednesday, November 12

Cosmetic Valley Award 2008

Dominique Ropion (IFF) received on 5th november the 2008 Prix du Parfum from the French Cosmetic Valley (after Christine Nagel in 2007) while Jean Paul Guerlain received the "Grand Prix d'Honneur" for his entire work.

Dominique Ropion is the author of many excellent perfumes for Givenchy, Kenzo, Mugler, F.Malle, Lalique, etc.

photo: from Cosmetic Valley press release

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Monday, November 10

Emotionelle (Del Rae)

Today I had an aesthetic choc and an emotional (re)discovery. I smelled Emotionelle (del Rae), recently appeared in Paris. I've never seen such a huge and hyper realistic melon note, not even in the fruity reconstitutions. This is not a common fragrance. This is pure Salvador Dali! A scent statement that is impeccable built like any masterpiece of the masters. The entire day I had the feeling that I was under the spell of Parfum de Thèrese where by a magic word the melon became a gigantic hybrid from another planet. A fruit that you open and inside its succulent flesh you discover a fragrance bottle. I think than only Dali could see inside a melon the maternal space that bears a divine child. Michel Roudnitska is a perfumer like no other. I met him last summer in his garden but it is through the perfumes that I got a revelation. You might like them or not but all have several special qualities: they are well built, they have no relation with any perfume on the market, they are highly original. He seems not to care about the contemporary world and is not contaminated by any other fragrant idea. Another strange impression is that his perfumes do not bear any relation with the recent history of perfumery. It's like he never lived in the 80's or 90's and that's a great quality in terms of creation. I think he is a perfumer that deserves more attention and more briefs. There is something special there at Cabris in that beautiful garden on a hill.
Returning to Emotionelle, it is an excellent perfume if you tolerate the melon idea as an OVNI fruit. Usually a fruity note can crash everything when in excess, but here the fragrance is under control. Small flowers (rose, jasmine, honeysuckle), spices (cinnamon), light woods, violet molecules, lactones-chypre and vanilla are played in contrasts like in a Bach concerto and even a raspberry is noticeable in the end - a contrapunto effect like in Diorama. Like all other creations he did, this has an idea, a shape and an impeccable structure.

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Fragrant new reading

Today I discovered a new and excellent fragrance book for those enter for the first time in this wonderful universe. Plaisirs de parfums by Béatrice Boisserie & Coco Tassel (15 EUR) is a concise story of modern perfumery that solves in a way a difficult question - how to write an introductory fragrance book without rewriting other books but saying the essential. What I liked here is the concise and ludic aspect and the accent put in the discovery/training/exploration of scents from different angles rather than the classic brand story. There are many quotes from great perfumes and many aspects on the creation without being to abstract or philosophic. It is a sensible and easy to read guide in the vast and confusing realm of modern scents.
In the end a small list of sites and blogs is suggested to the reader and I was surprised to see my name there. I can only thank the authors I've never met for this surprise and for reading my thoughts on fragrance.

The book is on Amazon.fr

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Royal perfume from Mary Chess

For the coronation of Their Majesties, King George and Queen Elizabeth, Mary Chess released a special fragrance as it was the custom those days. Bottled in a square Chanel type bottle, it was a floral spicy perfume. Later Mary Chess will be remembered for her specific "chess" bottles. Some of them are conventional fragrances but several are really interesting compositions.

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Paul Poiret: Nuit de Chine (Rosine)

Paul Poiret lost control of its own company (Rosine fragrances) in the 20's but the perfumes survived him. Especially Nuit de Chine - a best seller in USA, produced in great quantities and one that is not so rare in the vintage area. This bottle is american, from the late 30's and was released for a movie called Marco Polo.
You can find additional information about Paul Poiret in the beautiful album Poiret (Metropolitan Museum of Art Publications) and about Rosine perfumes in Paul Poiret and His Rosine Perfumes.

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Sunday, November 9

Sampling Lanvin perfumes

One might think that Frederic Malle invented that "glass column" to test the fragrance in the air. But nothing is new again and I should credit again the pre WWII period for inventing almost everything in modern perfumery (and marketing). In fact it was Lanvin who presented and used in USA such a device to test their fragrances, that resembled a telephone box, both in size and shape. Inside a woman may select any of the famous Lanvin perfumes she wishes to sample. By pressing a button, a flush of clean , fresh air ventilates the cabinet and then a quick breath of perfectly atomized perfume fills the "room", followed by another flush of the clean air. By pressing another button a second perfume is sampled and so on. The device allowed a concentration on the sense of smell "shutting out" the senses of sound, sight and touch.
There is an amazing contrast between the 30's and today. The fragrance business was not so big as today, yet they were more inventive in promoting fragrances. Today big brands, with larger budgets than in the 30's did not spend a lot in devices to test the perfume or appreciate it. It was only with the emergence of niche that I saw creative ways to test a perfume (F Malle, Iunx). In fact, in many cases the modern consumer is not helped to test correctly the fragrance. Surprisingly, "the smell" is the last point in the so called "brand experience" inside a shop.

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Chanel 31

The first 31 from Chanel - a fragrance I'm very curious to know how it smelled.

The photo is from an auction in Paris.

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Saturday, November 8

Ormonde Jayne II

Inspired by exotic flowers and/or their exotic absolutes these perfumes seem to be composed as the jewels of the same garland, a tiara made of delicate petals, fragile as a spring breeze. Unlike their natural muse, the fragrances are not operatic or opulent but share a certain softens and innocence. They are all petaly with a soft fruity note and a certain evanescence. Nothing is too much in these perfumes, the flowers are reconstructed petal with petal with very small shades and delicate transition from one stage of evaporation to another. Frangipani starts lemony and green, Champaca is sparkling and fruity orange, Sampaquita starts fruity and herbal, Osmanthus is lemony fruity and almost minty. Their drydown is of an infinite delicacy - woody, ambery, sweet - like a trail of the flower in the wind, a "memento".

Osmanthus flowers with their highly diffusive scent based on ionone b, lactones, theaspiranes and other small molecules with high impact are rendered in Osmanthus in a bright aquarelle, a floral fruity note that evokes a cup of tea infused with barks and an apricot with a very soft skin. Green notes and yellow fruits are contrasted around a note that seem to be inspired by the osmanthus absolute and less by flower itself. A delicate suede note is present in the musky-ambery background without disturbing the airy floral quality. An original note inside is brought by davana and its whisky - dried fruit accents and for a moment I thought I was into a light oriental with one drop of ambrette seed.

Frangipani shows the surrounding breeze around those exotic flowers with their characteristic jasmine fruity note creating an illusion of the potent flower. The perfume has sparkling citrusy notes suggesting clementine-mandarine-lemon but very quick we enter in a buttery floral where the lotus note (a lily that is watery, green and rosy) is surrounded by other small flowers. It can be imaginary nectarine flower or pink magnolia surrounded by higher lactones.

Champaca is a very characteristic perfume with green notes and a powdery ylang with aldehydic sparkle like "champagne rosé". A delicate white rose and a lily of the valley with soft vanilla evokes No5 Eau Première and one magnolia like perfume from Kenzo Floral Waters, both perfumes launched 3 years after this one. It can also be seen as an apricot nectar blooming in a green tea accord with minty accents.

Sampaquita, a flower that has quite a potent scent, was rendered here in the most delicate way. It is a very light and herbal-dry jasmine that in the beginning has a green peppery note that evokes magnolia absolute only for a second. Then it gives place to an absinth note (maybe hemlock) that obliterates the feminine connotation of the flower. It could be easily transformed into a soft masculine fougère. It also smells of pollen and floral honey (from tobacco flowers!) with a very subtle note of litchi syrup.

Like a fresco of flowers they remember me a famous roman drawing illustrating the goddess Flore. Flowers of spring of an indefinite nature, they evoke nature like in a dream where shapes are not clear and things cannot be touched. The flowers here avoid definition. They are immaterial and appear to me as a delicate poetic evocation.

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Ormonde Jayne I

Several years ago I discovered these perfumes but in the chaos of new launches during the last 2 years, I almost forgot how they smell. Add to this that they are not available in Paris. This summer I sampled the fragrances but I think there was something wrong with the top notes. Now, I rediscovered the perfumes and their original touch and I was quite surprise to notice how their ideas were to be found later in other fragrances.

Ormonde Woman A dry jasmine over a sweet woody ambery base with vanilla, woods and amber suggest from far the sweetness of Ambre Antique. Again it is only an illusion because this perfume is rather dry and woody forest. The cardamom and hemlock contrasted with something like a liquor note reminds the classical chypre idea and the term "corsé". But we are not in a chypre nor an ambery context. The perfume is like an immense wood producing an imaginary agar - made out of vanilla, spices and aromatic herbs that give almost a salty note.

Ormonde man with cardamom, pepper and hemlock over a coniferic note suggests the dark forest near the sea with its salty breeze over the forbidden mosses.

Isfarkand is a pleasant mixture of pepper, cedar molecules and vetiver with a contemporary minimal drydown. It is an excellent woody perfume that shares several aspects with Terre d'Hermès, though it was launched before. With a certain bitterness and mossy quality it evokes the great forests of the past and the mineral universe.

Orris noir is a less conventional orris fragrance that I would describe as woody orris with cocoa and aromatic+camphor herbs. It's rather a delicate minty pastry with a soft spice bouquet served on a dry wood plate (guaiac and cedar).

Taif - a rosy perfume like an oriental dessert - loukoum with dates and rose water and powdered with sugar and vanilla. Unlike oriental attars, this perfume is again the breeze, the illusion, the souvenir. Nothing is heavy or intoxicating inside and the rose floats in a water where only one drop of syrup was added. It's like the souvenir of Alhambra gardens with its beautiful waters where pepper, rose buds and liquid honey stay side by side in the sun.

Tolu evokes the herbal but balsamic sweetness of dunes in the south in a classic oriental shape with a modern twist. Top green notes contrasts with the sweetness of the ambery base where small green jasmine flowers and carnations grow. A Must smell for those who love the mixture of contrasts. Tolu note was used in several classic balsamic fragrances like Youth Dew but also in hyacinth notes. Here, the balsamic vanilla sandalwood drydown is infused with amber and give depth to a rose-honey-green jasmine molecules accord.

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Friday, November 7

Modernizing

It seems that the fear of not being OUT and to please the modern consumer is not something new in the industry. Modernization of classics was not something rare since the 80's. It is now very difficult to appreciate how many of the first reformulations were caused by a true desire and reflection on modernity and how many brought the "modernization" as an excuse for other serious matters (like the price and the continuous change of the owners of the brand). Today you don't modernize a perfume… you just make it safer for the consumer and the environment. :)
Modernization appeared in an era when computers and compounding robots were not used as today and the manufacture process was quite different. The first step was to eliminate from a complex formula the so called "redundant" ingredients and simplify the shape. Then several "old fashion" ingredients were taken out - elemi, angelica, cascarilla, different pepper notes or spices. The third step meant to include modern ingredients in combination with classic ones - sandela/sandalore near sandalwood, vertofix near cedar, rose ketones near rose bases, lyral & co near hydroxicitronellal. The forth step meant to adapt the manufacture process to the modern one based on concentrate (and not on dilution) - tinctures and infusions were eliminated. Of course during these steps the prices were studied.
One classic example of "modernization" with bad effects and a story to hide the truth was Arpège. Michael Edwards presents the story and the arguments of l'Oréal (the owner that time) for their "mutilation". Because people got used to smell roses with damascones and lily of the valley with more than hydroxicitronellal, those who reformulated Arpege invented an entire set of arguments to justify the butchery and hide other facts - they had no money for such an expensive formula with tones of roses and french jasmine. By that time l'Oreal was more into cheap perfumes and modernization was the perfect excuse. For somebody who only reads the set of arguments they are very convincing but once you smell the original formula of Arpege you realize that there is nothing true about. I was very seduced by the idea of our perception that changed because of the damascones until the day when I had access to the original formula and smelled the perfume freshly weighted. Arpege had no wrinkle.
I do not believe that any perfume can be modernized - it is a mutilation and after, you can find all possible justifications.
But I believe that "modernization" can be (re)imagined as an aesthetic approach to explore the possibilities of a classic shape with modern ingredients - for a new perfume. I can only think of Iris Poudre from Pierre Bourdon or Shalimar Light from Mathilde Laurent or Yann Vasnier's interpretation of Chanel No22.

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Thursday, November 6

Is my fragrance IN or OUT ?

Fashion brought into fragrance its own system of references and perception of time / taste. Today this is more present than ever but how relevant the time of fashion and its continuous permutation and recycling is to fragrance? Already in the 20's and 30's "parfum à la mode" was almost a synonym for aldehydes and when famous fragrances were very long lasting on the market and women loyal to them, the notion of classic vs. modern had something true. Fragrance creation has always taken advantage of the latest molecules, methods of extraction, something called "fashionable ingredients". The question of "dated" perfumes can be seen from 2 perspectives - the producer and the consumer. For the first one there is a little chance to introduce now a perfume like Madame Rochas and hope to enter the top 20 when you know the sales numbers of that particular perfume. We can understand their definition of outdated perfume as something that is not the best investment:) But how relevant this economic approach can be to a consumer? Can a consumer say or recognize something as "outdated"? I believe that 15 years ago the answer was not very difficult to find. If you would be able to spot an outdated perfume… can you say what is modern or trendy like in fashion? Can the nose smell the sense of modernity? I doubt that our nose can put years near a smell as we can do in fashion.
What is the meaning of "it smells old"? Is it because we smell a certain perfume over 2 decades or is it because those we associate the smell with have a certain age? I also think that the industry does not think very much about the age of the consumer, unless he is very young. The simplicity of many feminine launches is close to the formulation of body sprays for adolescents. Unlike fashion, in fragrance there is no ideal age and we live in a multilayered universe of tastes with different speeds. The press (I think of Le Figaro now) should show more respect to the variety of ages. The fact that you might have 50+ and like Mitsouko should bring more reflection to a young 20+ when discarding the perfume as "outdated". If the brand discourse can have an economic justification, otherwise the notion "outdated" is not very respectful and lacks the aesthetic dimension. The variety is more important today than the distinction "classic-modern, old-new". Of course, when speaking about a new launch this term could also mean … lack of originality by the interpretation of a classic theme.
Trends in fragrance are more relevant to producers and often mean a "new idea" or an idea that would sell. But they are not obvious for the consumer and cannot be identified simply because they do not work as in fashion. Half a day in big store can offer to any women the idea of what's hot in the season and what items she could/ could not wear. It does not work the same way in a perfume shop were new, old and very old creations stay together in similar new designs. Even if you smell entire Sephora you cannot be sure about what's hot that season. :)
Often vintages are discarded by young people as … smelling old, confusing the effects of time (the alteration of the juice) with aesthetics. In fact the problem is that is quite impossible to smell a 1930 formula fresh or a new one not reformulated. Often aldehydes were discarded as being old lady. But now our mind is clean of aldehydes… there are very few worn today in our modern universe infused with woody notes. Try Capricci and Coeur Joie (new extraits - Nina Ricci) and tell me if they smell outdated.:)

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

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