PerView: Yael Alkalay of RedFlower -Sustainability,Health, Esthetics & World Traditions

May 20, 2010

Yael Alkalay, a sloe eyed, exotic beauty of Sephardic descent, proves the adage that "beauty" comes from within. As a cultural anthropologist, world traveler, organic formulator and advocate of sustainable trade, Yael founded her company, based in SoHo New York City, by joining time honored beauty rituals and the environment. Yael brings the traditions of Japan, Morrocco, Costa Rico, and Finland to thousands …

Etat Libre D’Orange Like This Tilda Swinton- “Celebuscents” Should Smell Like This

May 20, 2010July 1, 2010

As Rossy de Palma before her, the choice of Ms. Swinton is a good fit with Etat Libre D’Orange. Owner Etienne de Swardt brought in perfumer Mathilde Bijaoui in to help shape Ms. Swinton’s vision into a fragrance. Her inspiration for the fragrance comes from the love sonnet “Like This”, by Sufi poet Rumi…If anyone wants to know what “spirit” is,

Or what “God’s fragrance” means,

Lean your head toward him or her.

Keep your face there close.

Like This.

Christine Nagel’s English Garden: Jo Malone English Pear and Freesia

May 20, 2010May 21, 2010

Jo Malone English Pear & Freesia is the new fragrance for Fall 2010, inspired by one of the last great English Romantic poets, John Keats, and one of the most perfect short poems in English literature – ‘To Autumn’ – the fleeting moment of “mists and mellow fruitfulness” when the last days of summer are edged with fresh, …

Anya’s Garden Part 2: Fairchild -Memories Of My Grandfather-

May 19, 2010July 1, 2010

I’ve probably written well over 500 reviews at this point in my perusal of perfumes and most of the time when I write about them I am able to turn a dispassionate critical eye towards them. Then there are the rare fragrances that hit me so deeply in a memory and do such a good …

Anya’s Garden Part 1: Dancing in the Moon Light

May 19, 2010May 19, 2010

What it must be like to dance in the moon light… "In My Vertigo In my dizziness In my drunken haze Whirling and dancing Like a spinning wheel I saw myself As the source of existence" – Rumi Fragrance has a way of taking us on a kind of surrendered journey …

Laboratorio Olfattivo Fragrances -21st Century Alchemy

May 18, 2010July 1, 2010

An olfactive laboratory is where you imagine the mad scientists of perfumery performing alchemy; mixing potent concoctions of raw materials in beakers, dressed in white lab coats. Perhaps there is an explosion or two. In my mind’s eye I see frenetic perfumers, with gleaming eyes, adding a pinch of ambergris, a dollop of rose absolue, a soupcon of …