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by Michael Edwards, is adopting "a more inclusive vocabulary" for his [sic] Fragrance Wheel and doing away with the outdated fragrance term "oriental."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.

A movement was underway in Western perfumery

Posted by Robin on 11 May 2021 5 Comments

What I could not have known, as an “oriental” boy growing up among oriental smells, was that, from the late 1970s through the mid-1980s, a movement was underway in Western perfumery, in which the scents of my childhood, known in fragrance as the “orientals” — ambers and aromatic woods, vetiver, patchouli, musk and sandalwood — were being repurposed. Their rise, culminating eventually in the popularization of oudh in our century, spoke of profound societal changes in the West, such as women’s liberation, sexual freedom and the global dominance of the United States.

— Read more in The Fragrances That Changed the Field at The New York Times.

Hiram Green Voyage 2019 ~ fragrance review

Posted by Angela on 11 November 2019 20 Comments

In autumn, I tend to lean on the fruity chypre portion of my perfume collection. But when the weather cools further, and nights become longer than days, I turn to oriental fragrances. A good oriental offers an olfactory blanket that warms better than a chinchilla coat.

The trouble is to find an oriental that doesn’t smell like a spice cookie or doesn’t pack so much amber that it fries your nasal hairs. Lately, I’ve relied on Guerlain Vol de Nuit, Arquiste Anima Dulcis, Etat Libre d’Orange The Afternoon of a Faun, and judicious spritzes of Serge Lutens Participe Passé (wow, is that stuff powerful) — among many others stuffed in a box labeled “cosy” in my perfume cabinet. If I had a bottle of Hiram Green Voyage 2019, it would fall into rotation, too…

Read the rest of this article »

Papillon Bengale Rouge ~ fragrance review

Posted by Angela on 7 October 2019 22 Comments

Say you adore Guerlain Shalimar’s feel of silk velvet amber and stained glass, but its lemon is too sharp or its civet turns your stomach. Or maybe Shalimar is too recognizably Shalimar, and you don’t want to be so easy to peg. It could be you simply crave a throwback oriental fragrance with more sophistication than the average department store amber. If so, try a sniff of Papillon Bengale Rouge…

Read the rest of this article »

Older articles »

Now Smell This

a blog about perfume

A more inclusive vocabulary

East of where

A movement was underway in Western perfumery

Hiram Green Voyage 2019 ~ fragrance review

Papillon Bengale Rouge ~ fragrance review