The perfect lemming for Book Lovers Day, courtesy of Oakland Fresca: the Scents Gift Box from The London Review of Books. "Beethoven beguiles the ear, Ingres the eye and Ferran Adrià the tongue, but of all the senses scent is perhaps the most neglected. Here’s our personal selection of books to make you smell wonderful." With Perfume by Patrick Suskind, The Secret of Scent by Luca Turin and The Emperor of Scent by Chandler Burr, plus a Made by Coopers Happy Room Spray in 100 ml (with lime, clementine and basil). £45 at the LRB Bookshop.
You really smell the tuberose
It has an unusually high concentration of straight tuberose, but is also instantly recognizable as a contemporary work. Partly this is on account of the fresh ripped leaf scent, and [Dominique] Ropion plays the flower’s powdery aspect at a very low volume, which makes the whole thing clearer: You really smell the tuberose.
— Chandler Burr on Frédéric Malle Carnal Flower. Read more in 52 Fragrances and How to Think About Them at The New York Times.
Etat Libre d’Orange You or Someone Like You ~ short review & a very long digression about fragrance notes
And the raw materials Caroline used are irrelevant. The scent is the scent. If you need to know what’s in it, “You” is probably not for you.1
That’s Chandler Burr, who is familiar to perfumistas as the author of Emperor of Scent and The Perfect Scent, as the New York Times’ perfume critic from 2006 through 2010, and as a “curator of olfactory art”. The “Caroline” is perfumer Caroline Sabas. The “You” is You or Someone Like You, Burr’s new fragrance under the auspices of French niche line Etat Libre d’Orange, and named for Burr’s first novel. Unbeknownst to Burr, Etat Libre d’Orange did post a few of the fragrance notes online (rose, mint, herbs), but they were removed shortly after, and I can vouch for the fact that they were not all that helpful…
The fragrance of a person that doesn’t exist
Author Chandler Burr talks about his new fragrance with Etat Libre d’Orange, You or Someone Like You. About 3 minutes.
Etat Libre d’Orange You or Someone Like You ~ new fragrance
French niche line Etat Libre d’Orange has launched You or Someone Like You, a new fragrance made in collaboration with author Chandler Burr, and named for his first novel…