Osmoz, the consumer website operated by fragrance & flavor company Firmenich, has launched a series of "olfactory exploration" perfume kits, Les coulisses du parfum:
From the mysteries of creation to the magic of the raw materials, osMoz.com invites you to discover the secret world of perfume through a unique knowledge sharing journey of the fragrance palette.
• Experience the pleasure of an olfactive evaluation as trained professionals do
• Discover the accords and exceptional raw materials used in the creation of perfumes
• Train your sense of smell and your olfactory memory
• Develop your talent and open your mind to understanding a broader palette of scents
There are three kits, each containing an olfactory exploration notebook, 100 paper strips and twelve 7 ml bottles — do note that the essences are meant to be smelled, not worn. The three collections are:
Volume I, Mythic accords, with citrus accord, aromatic accord, white flowers accord and floral bouquet accord, woody accord, oriental accord, chypre accord, musky note, aquatic note, spicy note, fruity note, gourmand note. The notebook contains a foreword by perfumer Alberto Morillas.
Volume II, Original blossoms, with carnation, honeysuckle, magnolia, lily-of-the-valley, rose, violet, mimosa, orange blossom, jasmine, ylang-ylang, iris and tuberose; with foreward by perfumer Jacques Cavallier.
Volume III, Legendary woods & resins, with cedar, myrrh, sandalwood, benzoin, vetiver, patchouli, balsam fir, oak, galbanum resinoid, rockrose labdanum, oliban or incense and guaiac wood; with foreward by perfumer Olivier Cresp.
The kits are 59€ each, and can be ordered now at shop.osmoz; if you order before 4/21 you'll get free shipping. Once you have a kit, you can also find related content online at osmoz.com/Smell. (via press release)
I know I’m just being picky but 7 mL of each seems like an awful lot if you’re not meant to wear them, just to smell them. Even if you’re doing multiple trials, having sniffing parties with friends, and making blends to smell how different elements interact with one another, it’s a lot. I would have halved the amount and chopped the price by a third.
Still, nice idea for training the nose.
I am quite sure I would not be able to keep myself from wearing them.
You probably *could* wear them, properly diluted…though I’d want to check to be sure first!
7 ml seemed like a lot to me too, but I wonder if others would think, say, 3 ml was too small? The Le Labo Olfactionary includes 2.5 ml bottles, but then again, IIRC that one costs more than all 3 of these put together (although it is way more bottles). In any case, I’m quite sure I’d wear them too, so perhaps 7 ml is not enough
Correcting myself…it is not way more bottles…the Le Labo has 40, the 3 of these together would be 36. The Le Labo is now $520.
More chemistry kits for grownups! This would be a fun twist on a wine tasting party.
Yes! Actually it would be great to do a split w/ 2 others: each of you buys one kit, sends samples to the others.
That would work if only I had perfume friends in “real life.”
Not at all…it would work on Scent Splits or anywhere else people swapped!
Hey, Joe – We’re real life, don’t ya know?!
I want these. I want these SO. BAD.
… what do people mean about checking if you can wear them? Why wouldn’t you be able to wear them?
According to this article: http://www.eiderdownpress.com/Affordable_Olfactionary.html none of them are really meant to be worn on skin but can be mixed… but is that really true? Can’t you wear them as in?
Well, do note that that particular article is about different sets, not the ones from Osmoz, but the same thing holds…if they aren’t diluted for wear on skin, you’re taking a risk.
If they are distilled essential oils, they can really irritate (even burn) your skin if you don’t dilute them in say, grapeseed oil or something first. I just assumed that was what they meant when they said “meant to be smelled, not worn”, but of course, they could mean something else entirely.
I am assuming the same, although I don’t think most of these are straight essential oils…I think if you want actual raw materials, you’d be better off with the kit from Perfumer’s Apprentice.
They are meant to be smelled, not worn. Whether that means you can’t wear them, I don’t know, but it is possible that for smelling purposes they are at a higher concentration than you’d want to put on skin.
Ha! Logged in at last! I am undefeated by my own idiocy!
so these I think sound kind of fabulous, and like everything else that isn’t meant to be worn I’d probably wear them. Also they’d be fun to experiment with layering. Compared to Le Labo these are a bargain, and in theory Morillas, Cresp and Cavallier know their stuff, right? Although I’d rather have one of them design me a custom fragrance. Dream on…
LOL…we do try to make it as difficult as possible.
It’s a wonderful idea. Did you ever see/smell the Le Labo set? I don’t even know what’s in it.
I’d been wondering if there was something like this available (years ago I saw a similar sort of thing for wine-tasting, with samples of what “oak,” etc. smelled like). I have seen the Le Labo version (expensive!) and the ones from The Perfumer’s Apprentice, which just looked too intimidating—I’m still trying to reliably identify “tuberose” so I don’t think I’m quite ready for “Dihydromyrcenol.” Anyway, as soon as I read this, I went ahead and ordered these… compared to what I’ve spent on perfumes and samples recently, they seemed pretty darned reasonable! And so often I read a review or read the list of notes for something and it sounds wonderful, but when I actually try it it’s not quite what I expected—I realize that some notes just aren’t what I think they are, so this should help!
When you order these to be shipped to the U.S., they deduct the tax—about 3.07 ($4) per volume.
It’s true, you can buy a set for about the cost of a bottle of perfume these days. Not so bad. I know lots of people like the one from Perfumer’s Apprentice, but I’ve never seen/used that kit, & like you wasn’t all that interested in learning about the actual aromachemicals. This one seems more geared towards general “notes”.
Robin, where did you see shipping was free before 4/21?
Thanks.
In the press release.
It’s also mentioned on the ordering page.
I ordered the three kits, which magically gave me access to the related content you mentioned. For each volume they have a dedicated page, in which you can read a brief description of the 36 essences (about three sentences each). For each essence they also list three perfumes that contain that note or accord. Those are in turn linked to the Osmoz database, so there’s plenty to click and read.
M, I did not mean to say that you had to buy the kit to access the online content — but I did make it sound that way, sorry!
Lol! I hadn’t noticed that part of the site before. And somehow it made perfect sense to me, imagine that! **Note to self: stop being distracted, and get back to work!**
It might be new, I’m not sure. They’ve really expanded so much lately I’m sure there are parts of the site I haven’t found yet…
This sounds great. Must have the wood box!
Hey, they seem to have added two more kits to the set in the meantime: “Vibrations of Spices” (foreword Annie Buzantian) and “Delicious gourmand accords” (Honorine Blanc).
The full set can now be had for EUR 280, but I guess I’ll have to stick with one for now and save my money for more wearable stuff. Any news on CdG Wonderwood?
Yes, they actually released the 2 new ones last December. The only one I’ve tried so far is the woods:
https://nstperfume.com/2009/05/26/osmoz-les-coulisses-du-parfum-vol-iii-legendary-woods-resins-olfactory-kit-review/