The author, JC Ellena is now retired and was the house perfurmer of Hermes for many years. He is definitely one of the most important perfurmers of all time having created many many problems including two of the most iconic perfumes of all time: Cartier Declaration and Terre d'Hermes.
I recommend everybody not familiar with perfumery to go to a Sephora or similar store and try these two masterpieces. They are so iconic (and popular) that you ll get memories of people wearing them in your past; the memory of smell is really strong.
This was a revelation to me when I did that before some years and made me really love perfumes after that!
For many years I didn’t appreciate perfumes. I didn’t understand them. I encourage you to take the advice above, watch a few Jeremy Fragrance videos, and get some feedback from your romantic partner. You’ll be thankful for knowing a thing or two about fragrances.
Learnt something new today! I never imagined that to have originated from Tamil (I am a native speaker of the language) and always thought it had some esoteric European origin. From the phonetics, this definitely sounds quite plausible that it originated in Tamil. Thanks for the pointer.
The one thing I do note is that modern perfumes/colognes seem to dissipate far too quickly. This gives them an overpowering presence initially and then they dissipate to nothing.
I distinctly remember a bottle of cologne I was given by a girlfriend back when dinosaurs walked the earth and secretaries still existed in companies. If I wore the cologne on Saturday night and any of the secretaries got a good sniff on Monday, I would get ribbed about having had a really good weekend. It was actively difficult to get rid of all the fragrance. That simply doesn't happen with modern scents.
I presume that some extremely key ingredient has been found to be horribly toxic or terribly inhumane to collect.
It's not just greed like other commenters might be implying. Like you say many reformulations happen because IFRA (the International Fragrance Association) updates their list of restricted or prohibited substances. Their work is necessary and important to ensure everyone's health. Just recently (March this year) the IFRA-imposed ban on Lilial (butylphenyl methylpropional) went into effect, which was suspected to lead to infertility. So it's important someone has an eye on this. Almost always fragrances end up significantly weaker after such reformulations.
Also after the 80s, where fragrances were much stronger, it's just a "trend" nowadays to have weaker fragrances.
Of course it's also greed, because very often fragrances get reformulated without an obvious external reason and they often end up a shadow of their former selves. If a fragrance has a critical popularity, you can simply cut it's potency in half and people will still buy it.
I also want to add that the performance of a fragrance depends a lot on the moisture of your skin. Fragrances disappear on dry skin much quicker. So if you moisturize your skin before applying a fragrance, you will have longer of it. My skin got much drier with age (and it's getting worse), so maybe this is also part of what you are observing.
No it is just brands being cheap.
Those colognes are still available. Just not in Sephora.
On high end there are Roja Dove, Killian's, Tom Ford, Montale,Mancera...
At low end anything by Bogart.
writing so interesting that it makes me wish I was into perfume.
I knew that historically perfumers took their job very seriously, but I was unaware that kind of artisanal appreciation was still around; I thought it was mostly a corporate laboratory kind of thing now.
There are both aspects in commercial perfumery, which makes it a pretty interesting industry. It’s true that there’s a definite laboratory slant when a fragrance needs to be validated and modified to meet regulatory standards for sale (which vary widely by region), and of course during mass production, but many big labels still tap independent perfumers who often work in pretty simple, bohemian digs, where a digital scale is about the most advanced gear in use. And there are legitimately thousands of independent perfumeries producing commercial fragrances at relatively small scale.
Many perfumers are trained chemists, but it’s definitely not a prerequisite.
You may enjoy the 2003 book, "The Emperor of Scent." The primary subject of the book, research scientist Luca Turin, theorizes that the human identification of scent is done through receptors that instantly identify the bonds — quantum vibrations — of a given molecule. Turin himself is an interesting character, and I thought the book a great read (at the time, anyway).
Honestly I read this less as the writing of a perfumer and more the writing of a master. This is just how people who know their subject intimately (and have some writing skill) communicate.
It is somewhat rare, as often the people who are truly good at what they do would rather do it than write about it.
From the book "The Excitement of Science", by Platt.
"But the remarkable thing about it is that among men who really know something, the looks quickly cease to matter. I remember very clearly the dinner party where I first met L. L. Thurstone, the engineer who became a psychologist and developed the powerful statistical method called factor analysis.
[...] within ten seconds after he began to talk, I could no longer see the face at all, for I was looking at a mind. The excitement of hearing his reasoning and his experience led the whole party out into an area of intellect where such trivia as looks and clothes, the room, the dinner, all faded into the background. I think we rose not knowing what we had eaten and had brandy afterwards up in the flow of the conversation. I suppose it was painful to our hostess that we did not notice much her careful preparations; but if I have forgotten her entrée, I have not forgotten her guest of honor."
I (re)discovered an interest in natural scents earlier this year when I tried eliminating petrochemical skin products. Coconut oil and aloe vera (about 80:20), olive oil liquid soap, and essential oils - including patchouli, cedar, oak moss, lavender, vetiver, (European) bay, tea tree, melissa. My best effort so far is a rosemary/eucalyptus/bay aftershave balm.
I guess a word to the wise, or others who may not have your experience, be careful about assuming natural stuff is safe. Some essential oils are irritating, and some can be bad for you unless carefully handled (eg jasmine oil should be well diluted into a carrier oil before it touches your skin).
Natural smells are very often poisons targeting insects, infections or grazers. The target isn’t often humans or mammals in general which is why things are relatively safe, but many are still active to some degree.
Yes, absolutely. Dilution to 1% for anything applied to my face (about 3 drops/15ml), and I test anything new elsewhere first (no reactions so far!).
Stick to good quality high purity oils suitable for massage, avoid photosensitising oils (citrus types, as a rule of thumb).
The only thing I use neat oils on is hardwood handled cutlery, a good use for expired citrus oils.
I read somewhere that basically all essential oils are dangerous because they are so concentrated. They have to be diluted to be safe. The article claimed that some individuals had given themselves an allergy to lavender by using the essential oil undiluted.
Unfortunately I don't have a reference (read that a few years ago). Would be interested to know if it's true.
Essential oils have high concentrations of lipophilic compounds which have little trouble crossing membranes.
As luck would have it chapter 7 "The safety issue in aromatherapy" of Aromatherapy Science (ISBN: 0 85369 578 4) is a freely available sample chapter (pharmpress.com)
As someone who has loved the Karma scent from Lush for so long, I totally love Patchouli! It's coming back. Let's bring it back.
On the other hand, it blows my mind reading this and feeling a bit stuffed up - one smell and about 3 seconds would be so much more information than this article. Not that the article is bad, but I can't even imagine what the scent would be without already knowing it. If only we had smell-o-vision.
I recommend everybody not familiar with perfumery to go to a Sephora or similar store and try these two masterpieces. They are so iconic (and popular) that you ll get memories of people wearing them in your past; the memory of smell is really strong.
This was a revelation to me when I did that before some years and made me really love perfumes after that!