Live deer vs. synthetic musks experiment

So I decided to do something ridiculous and I wanted to see what live deer would think of a few different synthetic musks and how interested they would be in sniffing them (or if at all). Luckily I know where a magical pack of super-friendly deer live so I went over to visit them with a few dropper vials and scent strips.

For this experiment I took Galaxolide, Tonalide, Habanolide and Exaltolide as well as two controls (non musks) with me, ethyl vanillin and methyl anthranilate. I tested the deer as best I could by presenting the scent strips while my lovely assistant logged average sniffing times in seconds. Each average did not have the same amount of deer as they weren't infinitely patient but they ranged between 6 and 9 deer per material. We are fairly confident that we didn't record the same deer twice on each trial.

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ethyl Vanillin: (3.6 seconds)

methyl Anthranilate (2.2 seconds)

Galaxolide: (4.6 seconds)

Tonalide: (4.9 seconds)

Habanolide (4.7 seconds)

Exaltolide (4.1 seconds)

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Qualitative Data:

Above and beyond the information from the averages, we noted that the times for ethyl vanillin and methyl anthranilate had a wider distribution with outliers on the near and far ends of the spectrum, while the times for the musks were much closer to a bell pattern with future outliers.

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Conclusions:

It appears there is some support for the hypothesis that live deer prefer the scent of synthetic musks to non-musk chemicals. More testing is needed.

PS - no deer were harmed during these tests, in fact we fed them a whole bag of carrots after :) this was just for fun as is not intended as a real scientific study.

RIP Alexander McQueen - Kingdom

As many of you know, talented british designer Alexander McQueen passed away. As we mourn the loss of this great fashion icon, I would like to take a look back at the houses's perfume offering. The designer, who will be remembered for his innovative and bold designs, will also be remembered in the fragrance community for releasing an equally innovative and a true statement of a fragrance; Kingdom. Its heavy use of cumin a precursor to the wave of "sexual" scents released post 2000. While it may never be recognized as a landmark perfume, the combination of its innovation in defining an emerging "genre" (instead of characterizing it as an oriental we may lump it with Ambre sultan , Musc Khoublai Khan and Secretions Magnifiques as a "sexual" fragrance) and its amazing packaging (bottle, box) will surely earn its place in fragrance history.

Jasmine Grand Duke about to bloom...

Here is a photo of some jasmines (variety: Grand Duke) which are about to bloom in my window. I can't wait - its just a few more days until my living space is filled with the intoxicating scent of these regal flowers which have been used in virtually every significant perfume ever made...

Men's Grooming how-to: shaving with a double edge blade

This might be a little foray out of the general content for this blog, which has been mainly perfume and fragrance - but I feel that the area of men's grooming is strongly related, for obvious reasons. For this reason I would like to do a blog post about a now ancient way of shaving that is currently enjoying a renessaince among men of all ages; traditional wetshaving. This form of shaving is accomplished using a single razor blade, with bevelled edges on each side. This razor blade fits into a safety razor, which is run across the face in mostly the same way that today's cartridge razors are used. At the bottom of the first photo you will see a 1950's Gillette Tech razor. Often, traditional wetshavers will also skip the use of modern canned shaving foam, and instead will create their own laters with the use of shaving soap or shaving cream. For this example I will be using a slightly unorthodox soap, Chanel's "Coco" bar soap (hey, I had to make it marvelous, darlings!). There are however, many soaps designed specifically for this purpose from Tabac, William's, Art of Shaving, Floris etc.

The first stage is to adequately wet and warm the brush and the later mug, simply pour warm water into both for a minute or two.

To prepare the brush to be "loaded" simple squeeze once, you can also wave a few times to get out any extra water - the brush must not be very full of water otherwise you will just make a mess and your soap will not stick to the brush. A common mistake of the novice is to use too much water, you must really get your brush semi-dry! The dryness of the brush will not be a problem and you will see why in the next step...

To load the brush, one must first put a small layer of hot water onto their soap. Commonly, shaving soaps are made in a circular shape with a ridge around the top to trap the water. Otherwise, the soap is sold in a bowl shaped container which accomplishes the same thing. This hot water will partially melt the top of the soap making it soft and sticky. If you are using a shaving soap such as William's or Art of Shaving make circles around the top until you feel that your brush is beginning to stick slightly. When this happens the brush is fully loaded...

And should look something like this...

The last step before taking the razor to your face is to make your lather in a mug or bowl. I just use a mug for this tutorial because it is something that most everyone will have at home. There are specialized bowls available, and can range in price from $10 to $100 or more. This is just a preference thing of course, a mug will work just as well! In order to later, add a very small amount of water to the mug, maybe somewhere in the vicinity of one to two tablespoons (15-30ml). You dont actually have to use a tablespoon to measure of course, just turn your hot tap water on to a trickle and let slide the mug under the stream for a second. Start with less water rather than more, it is easier to add more if needed but much harder to take away if your lather is too airy!!

Now, Bon Voyage! start shaving! ( I will post another article that will deal with proper blade handling for the face and legs - ladies can use a double edge razor too ;)

Film crew (my wonderful friends) for a perfume movie shoot

Here is a still from last weekend's shoot in Montreal, Canada as part of a creative perfume brief. We are hard at work shooting in Montreal, Toronto and New York in January and February. The film will be a short somewhat similar to the style of Chanel's pieces with Nicole Kidman and Audrey Tatou (except less cheesy :). I will post up as much of the film as possible when it is finished although there might be some restrictions of what I can and cannot show. I will definitely throw up some more stills soon. I've been smelling alot of new releases and working in the lab also and I have some exciting news I'd like to talk about so please stay tuned and thanks for your patience while I am not updating as much :)

I'm back!

Hi everyone,

I haven't posted in a while and I am sure it seems like I have disappeared! I had a very busy December, and then into the holidays of course I barely had time to do anything at all! In any case, I am back, and will be getting more articles up soon! I definitely have some material I would like to share and a few things I would like to talk about. I can't write anything right now but I will throw up this photo and let you guys guess what it might be :) I'll have some more info soon

PS - the men's version of "Zen" from Shiseido is quite nice!

Francis Kurkdjian's mobile perfumer case

Here is something I just found out about: Francis Kurkdjian's mobile perfumer's case. I find this especially interesting because of one of my earlier articles in which I sketched out my vision for the mobile perfumer of the future, to serve the ultra-rich as a hairstylist or wardrobe stylist does today. In my vision the perfumer would carry such a box and be able to constantly whip up new fragrances or variations on a favourite theme for a client to wear at anytime. In this case, I believe the box is more for show than actual use - but it is still a very interesting concept.

The trunk maker behind this glorious creation is Pinet et Pinet and their website can be found by clicking the link :)

Just a quick note...

Just a quick note about something which happened tonight that was interesting to me... I was attending a political/cultural event at the Canadian Parliament and definitely caught a whiff of Apres l'Ondee - which was a bit of a shock to me as this is the first time I have smelled it on anyone in public. I wanted to follow the trail and hunt down the wearer but I was far too hungry and headed for the hors d'œuvres instead. After this I could not find the trail again, oh well :)

New Perfume Review : CK Free Calvin Klein

Thanks to the folks at Wiredset marketing for sending me a bottle of the new CK Free by Calvin Klein for review! I've just recieved it today and have been smelling it off the strip and off my skin for the past few hours. The official notes list according to the press release I recieved looks a little something like this:

top: thailand star anise, jackfruit, absinthe, juniper berry

mid: suede, tobacco leaves, coffee absolute, south african buchu

dry: patchouli absolute, oakwood, texan cedarwood, costa rican ironwood

This is a perfume that stays fairly true to its listed notes - as long as you aren't expecting a niche interpretation of them! There is absolutely no surprise with the first spray out of the bottle; This is not a groundbreaking fragrance, nor is it particularily attention-catching. However, despite its adventure-promising advertising campaign, uniqueness is of course not the intent of the perfume. Lets not forget afterall, CkFree is a massmarket release. It is a very easy-wearing fragrance - airy, ozonic, and very dry, a modern fragrance for men. Although there are sweet notes indicated, they are very toned down, along with the modern amber accord which barely manages to bring a sweetness to this composition. All the notes are fairly clear to me, with the exception of the anise and wormwood in the top and the tobacco in the mid. I do smell a certain fresh standard green note, which I am assuming is what they refer to as the absinthe. The base is a fantasy cedar accord which borrows its structure from He wood and Dior Homme. The suede note here is especially soft, and I think it is the best designed part of the fragrance. Although I do smell the jackfruit, I wish it would be more pronounced.

The overall spirit of the fragrance is something we have seen many times, upon application you will be reminded of the feel of many of the men's shower gel products currently on the shelves, albeit slightly less aggressive. The coffee note is CkFree is also executed exactly as it was in Adidas' Adrenaline deodorant sticks for men and EDTs. The base is following the latest trend of clear, dry, fantasy cedar/woody bases with fresh laundry musks. If I had to give a percentage breakdown of the way this fragrance "feels" to me, I would have to say 75% shower product 25% fine fragrance.

If you are looking for something along the lines of One, Obsession, or the original Calvin - you wont find it here. Instead, this cologne is ideal for someone looking to complement their line of mass market shaving, shower and deodorant products, or someone who needs to have a fragrance which will not stand out or cause too much attention. This could be worn for example, in an office setting where loud fragrance is frowned upon.

Here is the pricing info I was forwarded:

eau de toilette spray 1oz/30ml $32.00

eau de toilette spray 1.7oz/50ml $47.00

eau de toilette spray 3.4oz/100ml $62.00

aftershave balm 5.0oz/150ml $42.00

deodorant stick 2.5oz/75g $16.00

Enjoy!

A list of perfumes containing immortelle, helichrysum, everlasting flower

I am going to be working heavily with a certain raw material named immortelle absolute over the next few months, so I have been doing my research on it. In perfume it is a raw material that has been described as having the following characteristics: straw-like, dusty, syrupy, burnt. I find the odour to be somewhat similar to sweet fenugreek. It is used primarily in Chypres and Orientals. In medicine the flowers are used to make an infusion for the treatment of gall bladder disorders, as a diuretic. It is commonly used as an herbal tea used for medicinal purposes in the Middle East and Mediterranean regions.

It has been used in quite a few perfumes to date, so I will try and publish as complete a list as I can as I will be sniffing all of them shorty :)

l

Annick Goutal - Sables

Balmain - Ambre Gris

Boucheron - Initial

Christian Dior - Eau Noire

Diesel - Fuel for life

Escada - Magnetism

Lolita Lempicka - L

L’Atelier Bohème - Immortelle

Guerlain - Coriolan

Guerlain - Cuir Beluga

Guerlain - No. 68

Gobin Daude - Biche dans l'Absinthe

Iunx - Léau Interdite

Mona di Oiro - Oiro

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Seems as though this is quite a popular material with the team at Guerlain :)

Growing the flowers of perfumery : Jasmine (Jasminum Sambac)

Finally! after years of waiting (seriously) - I was able to pick up a jasmine plant on a business trip. Jasmine (true jasmine) plants are very difficult to find where I live because it seems that no nurseries carry them; They are not able to be grown outdoors in this climate, and I suppose they are not so popular as houseplants. They are easy to find on the internet, but importing them is quite difficult as they must be sent bare root and wait quite a while in customs. Thankfully however, after years of searching, and even trying to source the seeds myself, I have finally been able to get a plant. Mine is of the Jasmine Sambac Grand Duke variety, which is very fragrant but from my research quite slow growing. This is the second in my collection of the flowers of perfumery, my first was the Bulgarian Rose which is featured in a past blog article. I also picked up an osmanthus plant on this trip which is not yet in bloom - I will post some pictures when it flowers.

For those interested in growing jasmine themselves, you'll need a spot with at least 3 hours of sun - but 6 hours is most recommended. Also watch that it does not get too cold near the window as this is a tropical plant which is not very cold hardy at all. The fragrance however is beautiful! Prune often to create a bushy growth and remember that jasmine flowers on new wood growth :)

have fun!

Fragrant Facebook : Tiring and annoying

I guess I'll never really understand internet social networking. I barely use it for my social life, and I suppose a little more for business - but I honestly don't really see the point of it. It is so over-saturated and full of bizarre nonsense - like actual grown adults sending each-other e-Guerlain perfumes as wall gifts?

I'm sorry if its not my cup of tea, I just cant get into it. I'd personally rather do my social networking with a handshake and a conversation. On the other hand, I am all for email correspondence, and I love when anyone who reads my blog sends me an email... But I don't want to join anyone's facebook groups, play online games, or whatever else there is to do on facebook. - I simply don't have the time or patience!

The last thing that bothers me is the sheer amount of "friend requests" I get for my blog's facebook profile. This was initially created just to be able to link with other blogs and readers, but now I find myself with three new people asking to be added as friends per day. I don't blindly add anyone though, if someone's profile doesn't specifically state that they are involved in fragrance in some way (which is like 75%) I won't add them. I do send messages from time to time asking people what they do that is fragrance related so I may add them, but I have never gotten a response. I'm starting to think this facebook adding is just a game most people play where they click as much as possible so they can have 10,000 friends.

I know theres absolutley no chance that most of my "facebook friends" read my blog or have even bothered to notice that I have one, as my friends list is in the triple digits and my blog's traffic is still pathetically low.

Just something to think about I guess... And I'll try and get something more "quality" up as an article soon - been doing a lot of traveling lately.

Aramis Rebranding Arrives

Here is the Aramis rebranding that I talked about earlier. We are lucky that in fact no classics are lost and Havana is once again available. I have not yet had the chance to sniff any of these but I will let you now as soon as they are available to me. I'm not so sure that I like the bottles so much (they look cheap) but it will be interesting to see how the scents have changed (if there have been any reformulations). With the exception of the rather low pricing, it looks as if the brand is trying to position itself in a more niche zone, creating the look of a "collection". To further this point Aramis says that the fragrances should be treating as fragrances for different moods, as opposed to signature scents.

Dosing Ingredients: Some Advice for DIY perfumers

(photo of Mathilde Laurent evaluating scent strips)

I have learned that one of the most negative things you can do to the state of your psychology is to begin to create and behave with rituals. That is to mean that you create patterns in what you do that make you feel safe and secure. Although it may seem a bit abstract to apply this to perfumery, the way that I feel it applies most is in the dosing of ingredients. As students of perfumery when we begin to learn and more about the raw materials of the perfumers palette we find ourselves assigning relative strength associations to these materials. As a less experienced DIY'er we might become prone to be very careful with materials like vetiver and mace which we feel have a tendency to take over our blends completely. We may also even get so discouraged by "chemicals" like Maltol, IsoBQ and CIS Hex that don't seem to co-operate with us no matter how low of a dosage we use...

For the DIY'er out there who is trying to learn perfume the autodidact way I have some advice... Do not stick to your rules about dosage! For instance, tonight I have been trying to copy a man's scent from the 80's and my current dosage of coumarin is very far under 1%, however while copying Lagerfeld's Floriental I found myself dosing it somewhere around 3-5% (Caveat - I am not sure anymore the exact as I cannot find my formula, I am horrible with losing them! Another piece of advice - Don't lose your formulas!). Another example of an ingredient which I commonly use to underdose is patchouli - while it seems to have a tendency to dominate blends and therefore cause dosage paranoia, I have actually found myself dosing it somewhere around 10% tonight! Don't be afraid to experiment and always trust your nose not your heuristics!

Now, the second part of my advice on dosing comes in the arena of the dilution of your chemicals. Perfumery is an expensive hobby, so spend your money wisely. Do not buy as many raw materials as you can until your money runs out because believe me, you will lose more money this way than building your organ slowly and smartly. The smartest thing to do is to keep enouhg money aside to purchase DPG and dropper vials to create enough dilutions of your materials that you can always work with the fewest amount of drops possible. This is to mean that it is often wise to have not only the 100% dropper, but also a 10% and a 1%, or for chemicals that we know are really strong we can do 5% and 1% 0.1% and even 0.01%. I have some chemicals in dilutions such as 0.25% 0.1% 0.01% etc.. do whatever feels best for you. Also, if you are unsure of how fat to dilute your chemical, my experience says to dilute until you can evaluate the true facet of the material as many strong materials smell uncharacteristic of themselves at high concentrations.

Above all, do not scour the internet for formulas thinking they will "teach you a basic skeleton" - it doesn't really work that way. Be brave and challenge yourself, take your favourite perfume and try to remake it. You will probably not succeed the first time but if you get 50% of the way there pat yourself on the back - try to get to 80% within 5 trials :)

Tom Ford Grey Vetiver : Review

I was reading an article lately in Plastique magazine while waiting for my haircut. One particular interview stuck in my mind and I am not sure who I am quoting/paraphrasing anymore but they said something along that lines that we cannot expect many original artistic ideas in the coming years, and that we can expect to see more and more recycling - but unfortunately not the eco-friendly kind! I thought this was really cute...

A few days later I pick up a bottle of Tom Ford's Grey Vetiver, low and behold - I run into some of this exact recycling! Evaporating into my nose were the carefully aligned molecules of Eau Sauvage with plastic surgery to make it fit better in a 2009 outfit. They did not even really try to diguise it so much as Bois 1920 and their blatant ripoffs! I love Eau Sauvage, I know it inside and out. I have spent countless hours perfecting a copy of it... so if this is not a twist on the Eau Sauvage formula then I do not deserve to write this blog! I am sure this makes great business sense and in the end we know it is all about the bottom line, but I am not impressed!! Sorry that this is not much of a review but what else can I say?

PS. I love Tom Ford so this is nothing personal, I will continue to support his brand! This review is similar to my reaction to Dsquared's fragrance - they are one of my absolute favourite designers but I reviewed He Wood negatively, as I believe it deserved!

How world politics killed a perfume: Arsenal

Back in the late 1990's when I was still a teenager and not so interested in perfumes, I ran across a spray sample of Gilles Cantuel's Arsenal (Red and Blue) for men. I was so taken aback by this incredibly sweet and mesmerizing fragrance duo; they were very unique, both sweet and sour at the same time - delicious! However, at this innocent age I did not yet wear any fragrance as I considered wearing cologne to be a "macho" thing to do - I didn't dream to wear any out of fear someone might think I was "trying too hard".

A few years later when I began to wear fragrance more regularly I would spend a lot of my free time shopping around my local stores trying to find a fragrance that was distinctly "me". Some of my early favourites included Eau Sauvage and Arrogance - but I knew they weren't truly reflective of my personality at that age. I was a fresh, young, innovative, trendy kinda guy, with an appreciation for sweet and tart flavours. I also lived off the most vile synthetic candy and 7-11 slushies during those summers. This is when I happened to run into those samplers again; digging through some old belongings and found the red vial with just enough left for a few sprays... Upon application I screamed holy *(*#$! - I must have this!

I drove to the nearest Scentiments only to find out that they were unable to stock this particular perfume after the (then recent) events of 9/11. This was due to the fact that absolutley no air shipper would touch this perfume; Its bottle shape and packaging (see above) were just too dangerous and controversial. Rather than change the iconic grenade bottle of this heavily brand/image reliant product Cantuel simply pulled it from distribution entirely in North America. I am not sure of the full story, in terms of how it met its end in Europe - but somehow it has now become a discontinued perfume and I kick myself to this day for not picking some up when I had the chance. Then again I don't think I could have afforded it with my allowance in those days anyways...

another parfum "disparu" I suppose :)

Quick Drop-In

I know I haven't written on the blog much in the past few weeks and I should have put up a notice, however I have been extremely busy with perfume related things in this time which has passed. I will throw up a couple quick notes! forgive me if this looks like a twitter script!

- Bois 1920 Real Patchouly has taken way too much Ambre Sultan DNA for my liking, but good business move on their part, also Creed should have a bone to pick with them over Vetiver Ambrato. I really do not like this line!!!

- K.I.S.S is a great principal for formulation, some of my best stuff comes out when I think that way. Then again sometimes some of my best stuff comes out when I think the exact opposite way. Perfume is confusing!

- Collaborators are not always a perfect fit, in this industry (as in any other) you must know when to pull the plug on something thats not working!

- Its hard sometimes to separate the talkers from the do-ers

- The perfume business is work work work!

- The perfume business is only 25% perfume!

- There are many nice people that will help you along the way :)

I've been meaning to write an article about how politics have played a role in killing off a favourite perfume of mine, I'll try to get it up soon!

Brand New! Basenotes Print Magazine

Award-winning online fragrance resource Basenotes.net is celebrating its 10th birthday by launching a print version of its fragrance consumer website. The magazine will contain the news, reviews and interviews that have helped Basenotes.net become the long-standing website of choice amongst consumers and industry professionals alike and will also feature completely new and original content. It is the first ever print magazine of its kind and its release is being celebrated by the global fragrance community.

The magazine will published on a quarterly basis at a cover price of $6 an issue and will be available via online subscriptions from http://www.basenotesmagazine.com/http://www.basenotesmagazine.com/

Visit http://www.basenotesmagazine.com/ for further information about the publication and to subscribe or contact Danielle Cooper at Basenotes.net, BCM Box 1111, London, WC1N 3XX, +44 (0)203 239 9411.

I've got my subscription don't wait to get yours ;) I'll pop a couple photos of my first volume as soon as it arrives !

(text partially sourced from official basenotes press release)

Souvenirs from the Osmotheque: Parfums Disparu

Here is a photo of great pile of samples of "parfums disparu" brought back from the Ostmotheque in Versailles. Each perfume is sprayed on the evaluation strip, its name written on the cardstock - They are then they are individually enclosed in miniature envelopes as not to evaporate from the strips too quickly. In addition to perfumes, there are a number of strips which are just scented with individual raw materials, such as the banned "isoeugenol" or naturals like vetiver, patchouli etc. These strips were brought back to me by my business partner who was able to meet with Mr. Kerleo at the Osmotheque earlier this summer. The strips still smelled very fresh thanks to the little envelopes and there are a number of absolute gems that I had been dieing to try! My business partner also got the chance to sit in a great lecture led by Mr. Kerleo as he frantically wrote down everything he could, filling almost an entire small notebook! He received around 50 samples, but I will mention a few that I found most exciting (some of which I already have in perfume form in my slow-growing reference library)

Houbigant - Quelques Fleurs

Eau de la Reine d'Hongrie

Parfum Royale

Eau Sans Pareille

Iris Gris

Arpege (as it once was)

Rose de Grasse (raw material)

News from the rumour mill...

It has been made known to me that Aramis may be doing some rebranding soon, the SA I talked to said the representative reportedly would not discuss the fate of all the fragrances, hinting that something may possibly be lost?

We will wait and see... be watchful over the next couple months if you have any Aramis favourites