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smell + (5)
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Fragrance + (4)


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nickyskye (2)

Smell is our most primitive, least understood sense. Perfume manipulates that sense, reminding us of good times past, and speaking of glamour and sophistication to those who get close. --- "Perfume", Episode 1: Something Old, Something New [pt2/pt3/p4]. Guerlain are considered by many to be the essence of Frenchness in a scent. Ancienne école comme attendez! But the house whose founder/namesake wrote his first formulae in the 19th C. face the challenges of the 21st, including the first non-Family perfumer, updating a classic, and the fall of 4th generation family perfumer Jean-Paul Guerlain after his openly racist comments on French TV. We also follow the corporate entity known as Tommy Hilfigger as it tries to bottle and market the scent of Rock & Roll to the Drum 'n Bass generation [more inside]
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey on Aug 2, 2011 - 34 comments

There's a growing movement to make sure that smells are incorporated into historical records. Historians, perfumers, and florists all want to make sure we can smell the past.
posted by rageagainsttherobots on Jul 24, 2011 - 36 comments

Etat Libre D'Orange is a niche perfume house - the olfactory equivalent of arthouse cinema. So, in keeping with a company that claim to be challenging what we think of as perfume, it's no surprise that their most infamous scent is intended to smell literally like sex. [Here's a NSFW image of the label.] But what happens when you try it for the first time?
posted by mippy on Jun 22, 2011 - 59 comments

The Pope's Cologne - Does what it says on the bottle.
posted by saladin on Apr 20, 2010 - 38 comments

Take your nose on a stroll down memory lane with vintage perfumery. The Vintage Perfume Vault features fragrance reviews and articles on perfume history. Perfume Shrine offers articles on perfumery including essays on the science of fragrance and aroma materials, interviews with perfumers and industry professionals, trend-watching. Inspiration in Perfumery profiles Henri Robert, Andre Fraysse, Ernest Beaux and Edmond Roudnitska. More about olfactory delights from 1000 Fragrances. [more inside]
posted by netbros on Nov 6, 2009 - 24 comments

If you're loathe to invest in an e-Book because you long for the physicality of books, you can now purchase book perfume designed to replicate the smell of books. [via]
posted by grapefruitmoon on Jun 7, 2009 - 47 comments

The Science of Scent. An entertaining and enlightening TED talk by biophysicist Luca Turin.
posted by louche mustachio on Nov 11, 2008 - 20 comments

Perfume, a three-girl Japanese technopop sensation formed in 2001 now consisting of Nocchi, Kashikuya and A~chan, is about to release their ninth single, "Dream Fighter". Perfume's July 2008 single "Love the World" was the first technopop song ever to debut at #1 on the Oricon sales chart. The previous highest debut for techno was Yellow Magic Orchestra's "Kimi ni, Munekyun" 25 years ago in 1983. (original article citing #1 record translated via Google translator) [more inside]
posted by Unicorn on the cob on Nov 7, 2008 - 61 comments

Yesterday marked the release of Perfumes: The Guide a "ravishingly entertaining" collection of over 1200 perfume reviews by Emperor of Scent Luca Turin and his bride, Tania Sanchez. [more inside]
posted by ottereroticist on Apr 10, 2008 - 10 comments

Are you tired of NOT smelling like characters in Neil Gaiman books?? Well thank Morpheus, just like Alex Burgess in The Wake, your long nightmare is at an end thanks to this collection of Gaiman-inspired perfumes & colognes.
posted by jonson on Jul 23, 2007 - 50 comments

Game developer/ perfume critic Theresa Duncan has died, and longtime companion Jeremy Blake is missing. The art world is buzzing about the seeming suicide-by-water of video installation artist Jeremy Blake. The perfume blogs are fizzing with sadness over the death of Theresa Duncan, whose suicide preceded Blake's. The cops are not releasing the notes left by the late, pretty people, but a clue might be found in the paranoiac screed Duncan posted on her blog in May, in which Blake's ex-girlfriend, the CIA, FBI, Church of Scientology, Jeff Gannon, bloated plutocrats and many other bugbears of the psy-ops crowd were put on Duncan's mental merry-go-round and given a real strong spin.
posted by Scram on Jul 21, 2007 - 37 comments

The art of perfume and snuff bottles: Chinese snuff bottles and more, a variety of types, painted inside and about that technique. About snuff and its use in China. Images on Flickr, at Christie's. Perfume bottles, the history of perfume bottles and perfume. Beautiful glass bottles painted inside by disabled Burmese artist, U Nyo Lay.
posted by nickyskye on Jul 1, 2007 - 12 comments

Scents from the Bible The world's first spiritual perfume, "Virtue® was conceived out of our desire to provide a perfume that would allow a person to be reminded of their Spiritual Self, by a simple whiff of it's fragrant essence." Smell the holy! (Post not inspired by previous )
posted by SansPoint on Apr 15, 2007 - 37 comments

The world of perfume and fragrances: the International Perfume Museum at Grasse, France. International perfume bottles. Unusual perfumes, like Vulva [nsfw] or fun ones, like Play-Doh and cotton candy etc. [more inside]
posted by nickyskye on Apr 15, 2007 - 38 comments

Calvin Klein is releasing a new fragrance for our "technosexual" generation: A typical line from the press materials for CK in2u goes like this: “She likes how he blogs, her texts turn him on. It’s intense. For right now.
posted by monaco on Mar 8, 2007 - 65 comments

The Lovecraft Collection. Scents inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos.
via Cheryl's Mewsings
posted by thatwhichfalls on Sep 1, 2006 - 39 comments

Not safe for work: "Vulva Original: Authentically natural vaginal flavour." (Flash interface; much gratuitous nudity.)
posted by Gator on Mar 3, 2006 - 31 comments

Luca Turin on perfume and other things. The Emperor of Scent and CTO of Flexitral reviews perfumes and waxes philosophical in his blog. Also available online: Parfums: le guide (PDF, French).
posted by greatgefilte on Nov 5, 2005 - 6 comments

This is what you get when you cross an award winning actor, an award winning perfumer, and an award winning creative director (Jason Schell). May be NSFW in some offices, adjust volume where necessary.
posted by FlamingBore on Aug 3, 2005 - 37 comments

Doggie Perfume Sets Tails Wagging. Does this mean it was tested on humans first?
posted by Dark Messiah on Apr 22, 2004 - 3 comments

OsMoz. Inhale a little history, then follow your nose to the Sniffer Game. (Sorry, no scratch-n-sniff.)
posted by grabbingsand on Nov 3, 2003 - 2 comments

It was known as "dragon's spittle perfume" by the ancient Chinese and encountered by Sinbad in "The Thousand and One Nights". It was recorded by Marco Polo and mentioned in the literature of Shakespeare. Called "floating gold", "Neptune's niece", and a process of "divine chemistry", Ambergris, or "Grey Amber", was once harvested as a rare and costly perfume additive and coveted as an aphrodisiac. But...
posted by taz on May 2, 2003 - 9 comments

don't breath
google shoots out some adds for cheap perfume with a search for perfume allegies...apropriate. but really...it's could be bad.
posted by lightweight on Nov 28, 2002 - 15 comments

Over-aggressive trademark enforcers "advised to chill". Tommy Hilfiger's trademark is not infringed by Timmy Holedigger perfume for dogs. Perhaps this can be used as precedent in responding to silly cease and desist letters.
posted by kcmoryan on Aug 14, 2002 - 12 comments

"Eau de Antrax does not contain anthrax."
posted by skwm on Dec 14, 2001 - 3 comments

Love Me, Love My Scent eau d'immune baby
posted by stbalbach on Mar 10, 2001 - 0 comments

Is Metallica really concerned that a perfume will harm their bottom line and so they must sue? My question is why would Guerlain name a perfume after a heavy metal band unless it smelled like stale cigarettes and beer?
posted by thc on Dec 13, 2000 - 7 comments

Smellovision ("Digiscents") demoed at Comdex. Scan down to the fourth paragraph for an informal review.
posted by Steven Den Beste on Nov 16, 2000 - 15 comments