Friday! (Also, International Plastic Bag Free Day, plus a bunch of author birthdays: Franz Kafka, MFK Fisher, Tom Stoppard, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Rohinton Mistry, Dave Barry.) Our community project for today: wear a perfume with ylang ylang, if you have one.
What fragrance did you pick? As always, do chime in with your scent of the day even if you’re not participating in the community project.
I’m in Diptyque Eau Moheli. I suspect I will have many siblings today…
A short film from International Flavors & Fragrances' in house naturals facility, Laboratoire Monique Rémy, about the cultivation and processing of ylang ylang in Madagascar. Almost 6 minutes; perfumer Anne Flipo appears at about the 4:40 mark.
Dior’s François Demachy looks at the production of jasmine in Grasse, and then (below the jump) he goes to Nosy Be in Madagascar to look at the production of ylang ylang. (See also: Le Jasmin en Inde, The Land of Bergamot and Rose de Mai.)
There are some oddball niche lines out there, but it’s hard to imagine any other mainstream brand the size of Lush — much less a mall chain the size of Lush (over 900 stores) — launching a fragrance collection under the name Death, Decay and Renewal. The individual fragrance descriptions emphasize the renewal part as much as the death and decay part (the collection is “inspired by the cyclical nature of life”, and do watch out for that ear worm), but still, it would be a surprise from anybody else.
Even then, I didn’t necessarily expect Death & Decay, one of the nine scents in the series,1 to smell quite so much like, well, death and decay…
This month, independent perfumery Sonoma Scent Studio releases a new fragrance named Yin and Ylang, whose concept and inspiration were provided by Michelyn Camen of CaFleureBon. Yin and Ylang features “beautiful floral notes that meld into a woodsy drydown”: bergamot, blood orange, soft aldehydes, beeswax absolute, ylang complete oil, jasmine sambac absolute, tuberose absolute, rose damascones, ginger CO2, Mysore sandalwood oil, oakmoss absolute, amber, patchouli, vanilla and musk.
I was intrigued by Yin and Ylang’s description and notes when they were first announced, because I happen to love ylang ylang and I’ve enjoyed many of Sonoma Scent Studio perfumer Laurie Erickson’s previous floral fragrances…