Everything that is new, unknown and in high concentration generates a powerful emotion as well as those things which seem intangible, yet instantly recognizable, when the perfumer extracts their "essence". The universe of the lab is the land of beauties, 90% of ingredients are beautiful, and sleeping beauties, because a perfume lab is like a castle with "crystal vials" waiting to be presented to the world. Perfumers and consumers live on the same planet, but they do not quite share the same Universe. A perfumer makes things much in advance and has access to odors in "pure" form. A consumer experiences those odors for seconds (when it is not his perfume) and when they are bottled under the many shapes provided by the industry - from pure perfume to candles and detergents.
A true apple, a true pear, a true juicy pomegranate, a true galbanum extract, a drop of magnolia, a giant tomato leaf .... they are all a CHOC for the consumer who never had them in its hand for more than a second. Creating a sparkling illusion from several ingredients or showing the new cassis note to the novice is always like the card tricks performed by Jean Carles. Woooow. But is it really this the art of perfumes? All the "tricks" of the painter from the art history work for the consumer who had never entered a lab or worked in a studio. Pack your galbanum extract under a different name, sell a "ready-made", "paint" the exact details of a strawberry, mix coumarine with some benzaldehyde and sell it as "naturalistic"...There will always be someone with almost no knowledge about anything to fall in love with a toothpaste composition sold as the perfume of fresh herb. Or consider a small bottle as something fabulous because he can attach a pleasant memory to it.
For this reason, perfume and Venitian masks share many things in common.
Is the art of perfumes the CHOC you provoke deliberately to the consumer with no perfume culture, or the CHIC of those things you can barely recognize, identify, those notes blurring between the lines? People will always notice the magenta dress and not the man in black. But when there is too much magenta and green, the black dress will pop up.
The glitter, the surprise of those who discover the perfume or the scents, was the major trend in the past 5 years. But never underestimate the desire for abstract notes, for those things you cannot describe, like in art. Realism is the most naive philosophy about life.
The art of perfume starts with the things you read on the packaging and continues with the presentation. Despite its chemical aspect, it is one of the most sophisticated and mysterious arts, hidden under the instantly recognizable scent which goes directly and physically to the brain.
You are what you smell.
The Silken Lader - Venice 1812 - the action takes place in Paris.
There is always an "action" inside a perfume. All accords leave a trace in time. Like I said a long time ago, Perfume is an art of Space and Time which blurs the lines.
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Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art
