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Selective Anosmia

The winter holiday season is fast approaching, and that means a lot of holiday markets for me; which in return means unexpected interactions with random market-goers. This can sometimes mean meeting a very surprising perfume-lover that I would never guess are remotely interested in scent - construction workers or lady truck drivers, for example. Or a stay-at-home mom who used to have a fine-tuned nose until she got a very bad sinus infection and lost her sense of smell for a few years. It was actually around Christmas time, and as she was picking a tree, she finally noticed the smell and cried with delight: "I can smell the spruce! I can smell it!". Everyone were of course weirded out by what we mostly take for granted - but for her she was finally able to enjoy food again (and not over-eat), she stopped putting too much garlic in the dishes she made and became all around a happier person.

But touching stories such as this are more of a rarity. More often than never, market-goers simply glance at my booth in polite amusement, and the moment they are offered to come closer to experience the scents, they would mostly decline. "I can't wear scent to work" is one of the most common reactions (then wear it when you don't work! I feel the urge to reply, but don't...); or "I'm allergic to perfume" is the more common reply. How do these allergies manifest is a totally different question, and more often than never you discover that they are allergic to food, not perfume. But the excuse is convenient. Other times, market-goers are more honest: "I'm not interested in scent whatsoever" is a reaction I heard last week at Porotbello West. Whoa! You are simply going to wipe out an entire sense? Seriously?!

Alright.
That's what I would call "Selective Anosmia". You're choosing to be blind.  Or deaf, for that matter. You're blocking out an entire aspect of your life simply because...? Well, in that case, please don't ruin it to the rest of us mortals who like to stop and smell the roses, and enjoy a dab of perfume from time to time. Please don't ruin my world just because you don't care about it. Let's just go our separate ways, and I will wear my perfumes, and you will just choose not to smell them. Then we can all live happily ever after and I might even be able to make a living out of what I love, because "selective anosmiacs" like you won't be aggressively advocating for scent-free world and forcing everyone else to go by their scentless rules. Amen.

Meet Laurax

"Meet Laurax, a not-very-bold, not-that-exciting new fragrance"...

A new study in the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel by Tali Weiss and Kobi Snitz discovered that blending together completely different molecules in identical intensity level produces an odour that is surprisingly lacking in character, and is hardly any different from another blend created with the same principles. "As long as the individual ingredients are different enough, and roughly equal in intensity, whiteness emerges".  

What are the implications of finding such a thing as "olfactory white"? It might help shed more light on how we perceive and process olfactory information (as did the discovery of white light and white did for understanding seeing and hearing). But it might also have some functional implications for perfumers - which to most of us might seem rather obvious: not to put too many things that are too different and unrelated at all in the same perfume, as it can take away from creating a definite olfactory statement.

I'm wondering if the smell of everything, all at once is somewhat like a white noise. It sure is to me, in the mental meaning of the concept - it gives a sense of olfactory calm, with a nondescript mishmash of my workspace that permeates the air of my entire abode and makes me feel at east. Much more so than the "neutral" scent of an unscented home, a space that is devoid of any personality.

How would you imagine a "white scent" to be? Leave a comment and enter to win a decant of No. 18 from Chanel's Les Exclusifs collection.

Coming To My Senses - Double Giveaway

"The thick wine scent of honey, viscous at the back of the throat, lit from within by the flowers it came from and the golden sunlight of late summer" (p.13).

Alyssa Harad's book Coming to My Senses is a wonderful journey of self-discovery through the world of scent, and perfume in particular. Alyssa has a poetic, genuine way with words and that is how she describes perfume - striking a chord yet without ever exhausting the readers like most of us bloggers tend to do. And to my delight - the book is dotted with evocative perfume descriptions that rarely disclose the names of the perfumes she's referring to. This serves two purposes -  not being too commercial (i.e.: promoting any particular brands), and also keeping some mystery going, which makes the book ever more accessible. Non-perfumistas will be able to relate to the descriptions from real life and their own experiences rather than get drowned in technical and commercial details. While perfumistas reading this will be having a blast trying to guess which perfumes are being discussed. 

So let's do just that: I will post 10 descriptions from Alyssa's book, and you can try to guess as many as you can - a task that is quite possible if you're a perfume buff. Naturally, some of them will be easier to guess if you've already read the book (in which case I've added a hint). Lastrly, you can search Alyssa Harad's blog for additional hints (not to mention it's an excellent read!) as she's revealing some of them for the benefit of us who can't stand the suspense any longer.

The person who guessed the most correctly, will win one of 2 books that Alyssa Harad has kindly gave SmellyBlog!

1) "The high, singing scent of lemons fading to the spring green of honeysuckle growing along a creek, and a bit of the muddy banks, too". (p.12)

2) "The scent of night-blooming jasmine, heady and heavy with fruit and a touch of ashtray - the lovers were smoking before they disappeared into the brush". (p.12)

3) "The smell of the air just after a summer thunderstorm - an astonishing scent of trampled grass, broken branches, bruised flowers, and electricity". (p.119)

4) "It was, precisely, the scent of lilacs in passing, a rain-freshened breeze carrying the scent from somewhere down the block, a scent of mercurial spring, made all the more lovey by the cold gray day". (p. 125).

5) "And finally, a grapefruit softened with vanilla and patchouli that left clean and bright behind for something dirtier and more interesting". (p. 142)

6) "...a fantasy in black leather, asphalt, rubber, and smoky vanilla".  (p. 142)

7) "The scent rose up all around me in a soft cloud. The sweetness expanded, lush and narcotic. I stood quietly in the middle of it, breathing. Then it roughened with a dusky bitterness that brought me back to myself just enough to open my eyes and begin walking". (p. 164); "Maybe I would leave the flowers in my hair. And I would still have my perfume - that beautiful dream of white flowers, that touch of honey". (p. 204). Hint: It's from Annick Goutal.

8) "This one takes you on a walk by the sea through a cypress forest, and then suddenly you stumble on a grove of lemon trees and just one fig tree, covered in rip figs. It's the perfect thing in hot, humid weather. Just one spritz and you can feel that salty breeze coming in off the ocean".(p.195)

9) "This one smells exactly like a creamsicle when you first put it on, but if you wait two minutes it turns into a rich, sophisticated amber. It's like you  put on a bright orange corduroy jumper and then it suddenly morphs into a little black velvet dress with pearls". (p. 195)

10) "I revisited a smoky incense-and-lilies that I have always wanted to like more than I really do". (p. 222). Hint: it's from l'Artisan Parfumeur.  

So - let's make some guesses! The winner will also receive extra samples/decants of perfumes relevant to the book (which I am not at liberty to disclose until the answers are revealed this Friday).

Monkey Monday: Smoke without Fire

oh, smoking monkey! by Bread Mouth
oh, smoking monkey!, a photo by Bread Mouth on Flickr.
Is there really is no smoke without fire?
Last week, I discovered yet another hidden use of fragrance when the fire department came for their regular smoke-alarm tests in my building to activate the dreadful digital monsters with a blast of musk-infested spray. It was perhaps subtle, but nevertheless smelled very similar to a cross between Kiehl’s Original Musk and The Body Shop’s ever so popular White Musk. Thanksfully they were gone in a giffy, just a few moments after the screaming monster was appeased and shut-off (I am convinced they were designed for deaf people who don’t ever cook – because every time I get any action in the kitchen they have to protest!).

While I agree that one should always look carefully into what are the ingredients in the products they use; I must admit that fine fragrances are misguidedly overly targeted and are the subject of far more attacks than they deserve. Even if you use a perfume that contains synthetics, the amount you use (unless you're over using it) is just a little dab on both wrists and maybe the neck too (or spritzes, if you use a spray application). You have control over how much of fragrance you expose yourself to with the fine fragrances (and these are parfums, eaux de toilette, eaux de parfums and eaux de cologne).

In my humble opinion, it is the functional fragrances that are to blame for our over-exposure to toxic aroma-chemicals. Most people don't know it, but almost any product you buy is scented - and this applies not only to body products or fine fragrances, but also to the following unlikely list:
Natural gas (it’s otherwise odorless, and is artificially scented so we can detect leaks)
Plastic products (any and all; including kids' and babies' toys)
Rubber (ditto)
Paint
Tires
Leather goods
House cleaning products
Paper
…and so on...

I wish perfumes were less attacked, because it is also an art form, and because of ridiculous regulations that were designed to make the fragrance companies stronger and richer (that is far more higher on the agenda list than the public safety, I'm sorry to say) - this art form is in danger of extinction now. These we have a lot less control over how much they affect us, because they are everywhere in products we are using.

And that is it for my opinionated Monkey Monday. I don’t anticipate a huge debate as most of the visitors to this blog are perfume lovers; but nevertheless – if you voice your opinion, or add more weird objects and unlikely scented products that surprisingly artificially scented - you will earn the right to be entered into my weekly giveaway. This time around it’s a sample package of solid perfumes by Sweet Anthem – which also has a shop in Seattle where you can buy perfumes made in the West Coast, including Ayala Moriel Parfums.
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