Gwen's blog

The first time I smelled Cèdre was from the bottle I owned. It wasn’t a blind buy; it was a gift from a very generous friend who thought I would like it. Well, I love her so I was sure I would like it, at least enough to honour her gift.   

Photo: perfumeniche.com

My sister and I were in Montreal a couple of years ago, just sniffing out some scents at our favourite haunts, when she picked up a bottle of Five O'Clock au Gingèmbre and sprayed it on her arm. WOW! What a stunner! The SA told us the story behind the scent. She said it was inspired by the idea of late afternoon English tea - think tea and ginger cakes in front of a fireplace. She gave us each a sample, and later we discussed it over drinks.

I know I’m a bit perfume obsessed, but even for me there are times when I get it into my head that this or that note de jour is overused, over hyped and over sold, and I develop a bit of resistance to it – “you can fool some of the people most of the time, but you are not fooling me with this…..”. That’s how I currently feel about vetiver. Sure, I own a few vetiver-centric fragrances, and I love the ones I own, but how many more does one person need?

Sniffin’ Warrioress
A One-Act Play
by
Gwen
 

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I never buy a bottle blind…anymore. I’ve been burned a few times – read and believed enticing product descriptions or reviews, suffered buyer's remorse, and frankly wasted my hard earned do-re-mi on a scrubber.

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I have been in Paris for the last week. In August most Parisians quit the city for the mountains or the sea. Small shops are closed for holidays and the city is a little quieter. Some people feel it lacks the excitement of other times of the year, but I love being in Paris any time even in August.

The first time I went to the Comme des Garçons store in Chelsea, New York, I was on a mission to discover their fragrances, but finding the place was a bit tricky. I had the address, but there was no sign, no indication it was store. Why the confusion?

Jean-Claude Ellena is a titan in the modern perfume world. He was born in 1947 in Grasse – destiny perhaps? He’s had a hand in the development of over 50 fragrances for such houses as Van Cleef & Arpels, Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle and L’Artisan. In 2004 he became the exclusive in-house perfumer for Hermès, where by the end of 2008, perfume sales tripled. Pretty impressive, I’d say.
 

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^{by Elcobbola, 8 Aug, 2010}