A more inclusive vocabulary

Posted by Robin on 25 June 2021 3 Comments

"Fragrances of the World," first published for nearly 40 years [sic] by Michael Edwards, is adopting "a more inclusive vocabulary" for his [sic] Fragrance Wheel and doing away with the outdated fragrance term "oriental." Beginning in July of this year, Edwards will instead adopt the term "ambery."

In addition: Soft Oriental will now be known as Soft Amber; Floral Oriental will change to Floral Amber; and Woody Oriental will shift to Woody Amber.

— Read more in Goodbye 'Oriental,' Hello 'Ambery' at Global Cosmetic Industry.

East of where

Posted by Robin on 27 May 2021 2 Comments

Orient comes from a word meaning ‘East’. The question is, East of where? In this case, France, where the perfume genre was born. This vague, ever exoticized, mysterious Orient includes the Persian Iran of the carpets, the Taj Mahal of Shalimar, and what is sometimes called the Far East. It’s far from France, at least. China and Iran have little in common except their East-ness from Europe.

— Tania Sanchez on the use of the term "oriental" to describe the fragrance family. Read more in Why Are We Still Describing Perfumes as Oriental? at Harper's Bazaar.

Fragrance Families Your Way

Posted by Angela on 25 September 2017 101 Comments

Iris fragrances at Fumerie

At Fumerie last week, I saw testers grouped by fragrance families: citrus, floral, woody — well, you get the idea. It inspired two thoughts. First, is there a way to organize fragrances that might speak more directly to what perfume shoppers really want? Next, do I have a personal fragrance classification system?

My guess is that most non-perfume-fiend fragrance shoppers would be happy in a store that classified fragrance fairly simply. Five categories come to mind. “Clean” is the first. I bet “clean” is the first descriptor lot of perfume shoppers utter…

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Floral fragrances aren’t fading away

Posted by Robin on 25 March 2014 3 Comments

“Floral fragrances aren’t fading away, but less traditional scents are gaining more of the attention from female consumers than ever before,” said Karen Grant vice president and senior global industry analyst, The NPD Group. [...] “With the emergence of more artisanal scents on the market, women are welcoming the opportunity to experiment and explore different options.”

[...] Woody oriental is the only one of the larger blended fragrance families to experience growth in 2013.