Ground Zero smelled of concrete, smoke, dust, glass and death. And then, all too suddenly, it didn’t smell of anything. Perfume, I realized, is the scent of life itself: an intermingling of different smells which, at any given time, combine and pass a threshold, entering our minds as a whole.
One of the best discoveries last year was the Australian perfume house of Tommi Sooni. Creative Director Steven Broadhurst and perfumer Brent Schlitter have a very synchronized vision and I wanted to see a Tommi Sooni fragrance which was inspired by Australia and the rich floral environment that exists down there. Passerelle is that fragrance.
Guerlain introduces Shanghai the fifth perfume in its “A City, A Fragrance” collection. In the 1920s and 30s Shanghai was nicknamed “the Paris of the Orient
Every perfumista I know has, at one time or another, wanted their “own perfume” or has “osmagined” the perfect perfume. I was lucky enough to receive such a perfume (inspired by my suggestions and blended flawlessly by the perfumer Adam Gottschalk of Lord’s Jester) this past March, as a birthday gift. My bespoke perfume was named after one of my favorite stories in Greek mythology, Persephone.
Ben Gorham, the Founder and Creative Director of Byredo Parfums, envisioned his newest addition to the line as a true tribute to the Middle East, a part of the world he has visited frequently. I have never traveled to that part of the world, and might not in my lifetime, but if wearing Bullion takes me there, it’s a very fragrant place to visit.
I was intrigued enough to spend some time tracking down more of each of these two fragrances Black and White, which were released in 2011. While I was doing that I was also able to get samples of the two newest fragrances from Undergreen, Pink and Gold. These four fragrances promise a virtual color wheel of quality to come.
