Three perfumers talk about their creations for the new IFF Slow Smelling collection. First, Domitille Michalon-Bertier, then below the jump, Fanny Bal and Anne Flipo.
The (almost) daily lemming
Speed smelling is so 2019. This year, IFF is going slow, with "... the theme of “Luxury, Calm, and Pleasure” (after Baudelaire’s “Invitation to the Voyage”). The luxury of creation without looking at price tags. The re-connection to oneself and to suspended time. The rekindled pleasure of re-learning what they already knew, seeing with fresh eyes, away from the frantic trance of day to day. Join them in the Slow Smelling, close your eyes and partake in their imagined worlds: Luxury, Calm, and Pleasure, indeed." Slow Smelling 2020, with 10 ml fragrances by Fanny Bal, Nicolas Beaulieu, Caroline Dumur, Jean-Christophe Hérault, Bruno Jovanovic, Juliette Karagueuzoglou, Delphine Lebeau, Domitille Michalon-Bertier, Julien Rasquinet, Anne Flipo and Dominique Ropion, $185 at Luckyscent.
Flavor and fragrance corner
But the news from the industry’s flavor and fragrance corner is different. At two leading players—Givaudan and Symrise—both sales and earnings were up, and sales fell only modestly at International Flavors & Fragrances. It turns out that demand for the consumer products their ingredients go into has held up during the pandemic—and in many cases has even grown.
— Don't forget this does not necessarily relate to perfume sales; these companies fragrance and flavor just about anything with a smell or a taste, including all those bleach wipes and hand sanitizers. Read more in Flavor and fragrance firms dodge pandemic sales blow at Chemical & Engineering News.
My secret garden
A spot from a Paris event featuring IFF's last Speed Smelling set. About 7 1/2 minutes long, including brief appearances by perfumers Bruno Jovanovic, Domitille Michalon-Bertier, Delphine Lebeau, Caroline Dumur, Nicolas Beaulieu, Sophie Labbe, Anne Flipo, Juliette Karagueuzoglou, Dominique Ropion, Julien Rasquinet, Alexis Dadier, Fanny Bal, Jean-Christophe Herault and Nelly Hachem-Ruiz.
The daily lemming
IFF's Speed Smelling set ("With total freedom, and occasional self-imposed constraints, 14 of IFF’s perfumers– rising stars, confirmed stars, and superstars of perfumery– open the door to their olfactive intimacy, providing just a glimpse into the richness of their worlds") for 2019 is now available at Luckyscent. Fourteen 10 ml bottles, including a "mouthwatering and sensual pistachio-and-sandalwood" by Fanny Bal and a "portentous and powerful Mandragora" by Dominique Ropion, plus booklet and blotters, $150.