MetaFilter posts tagged with perfume

"Dark glasses are like being behind a waterfall - daring and safe at the same time"

mippy — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 13:00:28 -0800

The 1992 BBC investigative documentary series The Look, aiming to examine the 'serious side of fashion', is available to watch online. The episodes cover the power of licensing luxury names, who benefits from catwalk shows, how the industry commodifies identity, the story of Yves Saint Laurent, the power of the press, and how fabric itself makes a difference. The series is both insightful and - pre the death of Gianni Versace and the rise of celebrity perfume (particularly in the UK) and the influence of the internet - a document of its time.

"Today, the body is undoubtedly the newest site to be perfected"

the man of twists and turns — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 15:05:01 -0800

edible frags and human atomisers

Swallowable perfume—! Is this the logical outcome of precarity, atomisation and hyper-individualism—to reassert yourself, now, as a human atomiser? The vagaries of genetic difference and skin chemistry now allow you, as the ad breathily encourages, to “Go beyond accessory. Express uniqueness. Swallowable perfume: a new cycle of evolution.” Only five years after the Lululemon sweatable perfume hoax debuted, it has already become reality.

Fashion for Friday

adamvasco — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 06:18:21 -0800

Remarked by her contemporary Coco Chanel as "That Italian artist who makes clothes" Elsa Schiaparelli (New Yorker - Janet Flanner) bought Surrealism to fashion. She was one of the most influential creators of Parisian haute couture in the era between the two World Wars. Starting with a knitted tromp l ‘oeil bowknot sweater she opened her boutique in 1927. For her; Fashion was Art; working with Dali and Cocteau. Her colleague and protégé Yves Saint Laurent, once said "She slapped Paris. She smacked it. She tortured it. She bewitched it. And it fell madly love with her." She designed Jewelry and had an exquisite range of perfumes. She designed hats and she was quite totally into Pink. She wrote an autobiography Shocking Life; had 12 commandments (scroll down) and has been described as The lost queen of Surrealism.

Ooh, that smell. Can't you smell that smell?

Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 12:46:05 -0800

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 Perfume is magic worked by science. It's job? to capture the moment. --- Episode 2, "Bottling The memory" [pt2/pt3/pt4]: In this episode we see three very different sets of perfumers: Jean-Claude Ellena, house perfumer to Hérmes, who lives like a reclusive philosopher/alchemist in his tower, descending only when he deigns to, when inspired, on nobody's schedule but his own: Christopher Brosious of "I Hate Perfume", renegade perfumer and purveyor of alternative scents, who travels to London on the quest to concoct a bespoke scent for an avid Anglophile in Brooklyn; And three apprentice "noses" at the elite Givaudin Perfumery School, who will create the next generation of perfumes in an atmosphere very different from school graduate Jean-Claude Elenna. What we like in a smell is determined by our environment and our culture... The Russians want rich and heavy. The Chinese crave light and airy. And the Brazilians go bananas for fruits. --- Episode 3, "The Smell of the Future" [pt2/pt3/p4]. While the taste of Paris, London, and New York have dictated perfume Western perfume styles for a long time, the future of global taste are likely to be influenced from parts East and South. The Brazilians are crazy for anything and everything perfumed and scented, and consume them in staggering volumes. Avon doesn't have a sale force in Brazil, they have an army of over 1 million reps. We see fragrance designer Anne Gottleib travel to Sao Paolo to answer the (quite literally) multil-million dollar question: Do 20-yr-old Brazilian men like this body spray? Givaudin moved Perfumer Thierry Bassard to Brazil permanently so his nose would adjust to the scents there. We also been Simon and Amanda Brooke who, once they discovered a family link to one of the oldest perfume houses in England, bought the then idle company and revived it. They now produce the rich, complex fragrances inspired by the (once) mysterious "Orient" that won Royal Warrants, using the original Victorian-era formulae and top-flight ingredients. Now Simon travels to the Gulf States where petro-luxury is equaled only by the heat, and the scents that were in fashion 125 years ago in England do well in the 125° noontime of modern Bahrain.

What did The Battle of Hastings smell like?

rageagainsttherobots — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 09:27:14 -0800

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.

Delicious Closet Queen

mippy — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 03:33:07 -0800

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?

Smell like a Pope

saladin — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 05:55:58 -0800

The Pope's Cologne - Does what it says on the bottle.

Where the Scent of Yesterday's Vogue Lives

netbros — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:17:31 -0800

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. Looking for that special fragrance to make the evening just right? How about: Dregs | Dirt | Earthworm | Funeral Home | Laundromat | Necco | Pinkitude | Redhead in Bed | Sex on the Beach | Stable | or the ever ubiquitous Play-Doh.

I Love the Smell of Books in the Morning. Smells Like... Literacy.

grapefruitmoon — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 11:35:27 -0800

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]

These molecules, they vibrate?

louche mustachio — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 19:16:58 -0800

The Science of Scent. An entertaining and enlightening TED talk by biophysicist Luca Turin.

The "Near Future Technopop Unit"

Unicorn on the cob — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 21:03:25 -0800

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) You may know them for their Japanese recycling campaign ads or annoyingly catchy single version of the song (complete with dance routine), "Polyrhythm".

Perfumistas Rejoice!

ottereroticist — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 16:33:10 -0800

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. The two met in the comments section of Turin's blog (previously), and Turin asked Sanchez to collaborate with him in revising and translating this work, originally published 15 years ago in French. Perfume enthusiasts have been holding their breath in anticipation, and apparently the book does not disappoint.

Smell Like Alan Moore's Swamp Thing

jonson — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 19:10:01 -0800

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.

Die for love, for art, for... what?

Scram — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 09:37:56 -0800

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.

pretty bottles

nickyskye — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 03:40:16 -0800

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.

The Smell of Virtue

SansPoint — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 06:05:30 -0800

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 )

scents and sensibility

nickyskye — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 05:00:46 -0800

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]

For right now.

monaco — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 01:50:47 -0800

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.

Ia! Ia! Cthulhu Fthagn!

thatwhichfalls — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 02:25:38 -0800

The Lovecraft Collection. Scents inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos.
via Cheryl's Mewsings

Vulva Original

Gator — Fri, 03 Mar 2006 08:44:16 -0800

Not safe for work: "Vulva Original: Authentically natural vaginal flavour." (Flash interface; much gratuitous nudity.)

The Emperor's New Blog

greatgefilte — Sat, 05 Nov 2005 11:16:11 -0800

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).

Cumming: the fragrance

FlamingBore — Wed, 03 Aug 2005 21:34:45 -0800

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.

Dog Perfume

Dark Messiah — Thu, 22 Apr 2004 21:13:39 -0800

Doggie Perfume Sets Tails Wagging. Does this mean it was tested on humans first?

Gee, you sure do stink pretty.

grabbingsand — Mon, 03 Nov 2003 12:20:24 -0800

OsMoz. Inhale a little history, then follow your nose to the Sniffer Game. (Sorry, no scratch-n-sniff.)

Ambergris: divine chemistry, death trade, or just #31 on the list?

taz — Fri, 02 May 2003 02:23:18 -0800

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...