Huitième Art - Manguier Metisse

Have had some nice and relaxing days with my family. My husband has been at home all week, but works today. Of course, why work on weekdays when you can work on New Years Eve? Yet, he´s home at 8 o´clock and we´ll have some really good food to eat.

The middle daughter returned to Markaryd on wednesday and on monday our youngest son turned 18 (18!!!!).

When it comes to perfumes December is quite a mess, it´s hard to find time to evaluate and analyse a scent for real in the middle of Christmas preparations. But during a big part of December I´ve been constantly attracted to a certain fragrance...

Pierre Guillaume (the creator of Parfumerie Generale) has recently launched a serie of 8 different fragrance that he calls Huitieme Art (the eight art). 2010 seem to be a year where perfume creation has taken a step closer to art, now different kinds of olfactory art is available, created by not only by different actors within perfume/beautyindustry, but by artist and/or perfumers in collaboration with artists. To even have to state that perfume IS art can seem to be a little needles for those of us allready in love with perfumes, but for the mayority of people perfumes are synonyme with mass market realeses and celebrity scents, and that kind od scents aren´t really art or are they?

But, if different actors within niche and indie perfumes takes there fragrances and says "This IS art" what happens? Regulations that forbids use of some key notes within perfumes as they are looked upon as commercial products would surely be treated in another way if they where art? I find it very interesting to think about art and perfumes even though I´m not fully have the right tools to make a "real" analysis.

Huitieme Art offers eight different fragrances; Ciel D'Airain, Ambre Ceruleen, Fareb, Aube Pashmina, Naiviris, Sucre D'Ebene, Vohina and the one I´m going to write about today, Manguier Metisse.

Usually I´m not a big fan of tropical fragrances, tropical fruits and sweet flowers can easily become too sweet and big on my skin. Because of that it´s always extra fun when I find a tropical scent that I like and Manguier Metisse is definitly one of those. If I had tried a month earlier it has probably become one of the 2010 top scents.

Manguier Metisse opens with the most juciy, fresh, natural sweet mango you can imagine. I have never before encountered such a genuin mango note in perfume. The scent is orange golden, bursting with fruit juice, that soft but still aromatic and spicy smell that ripe mango got and also the smallest elements of tartness and freshness. The mango note is very dominant at first, but after a few minutes I discover a soft, but still obvious floral note. Mango and flower is voven together, mixes, takes one´s turn, one part of golden ripe mango and one part fully flowering tropical flower. It´s like a really beautiful lei. Like sitting on the beach at the most beautiful tropcícal island with a ring of flowers around your neck and eating mango so good that it has to be grown in paradise.

Manguier Metisse smells like if I suddenly become a model in a Gaugain painting. This is the Tropics, golden skin, sunwarm sand, a jungle so lush it almost become a caricature, flowers so beautiful, so big and over the top that they´re almost surreal.

December has been a extremly cold and snowy month here in Nyköping, can you imagine any better scent tgo wrap yourself up with then Manguier Metisse? No, me neither.

After a while (30 min+) Manguier Metisse becomes a little less lush, rich and juicy. The mango dries in, leaving a scent like mango powder, even though it could be a bit hard to iamgine, it smells so gorgeous. The flowers become alittle papery, but at the same time also a little more mysterious, wild and intoxicating, I can almost smell something reminding of menthol or eucalyptus. This is softer, but also kind of sexy.

I can´t think of any big tropical scent that I like as much as Manguier Metisse. It´s a bliss to wear in cold winter, but still not so big it couldn´t be really good during summer as well. Longlasting and with nice, but not huge, sillage, Manguier Metisse is a must try for everyone caring for big florals, tropical scents, grown up fruity scents, but also if you still haven´t got any tropical fave, this might be it!

There isn´t anything wrong with the other seven scents in the line, even though I haven´t fallen for any of them as bad as for Manguier Metisse. Fareb could be the most interesting, but also the most demanding among them (at least to me). Aube Pashima is a must try for every lover of green scents (Pierre Guillaume is really gifted when it comes to green scents, he manage to make them sexy). Sucre D'Ebene is something to try for gourmand lovers. Yet, Ambra Ceruleen didn´t impressed me that mush, it become very buttery on me, too buttery if to be honest. Anyway, I´m sure everyone can find at least one favorite among the 8 fragrances. You can read more about Huitieme Art and also order a nice sample set here:

http://www.huitiemeartparfums.com/

Pic: bestindoortropicals

2010 Toplist

I´ve had an incredible nice and cozy Christmas holiday and I sure hope you had that too. It isn´t that original to write a toplist today (all the perfume blogs seem to have it today!), but great minds think alike or something like that.

I also realised that my last post was a bit wrong, of coure it was a wishlist for 2011 and nothing else. I´m always a bit confused when the new year is coming and write the old year for a month at least. But this toplist is of course for perfume that I´ve tested during 2010.

I´ve tried a lot of fragarnces, but probably not really as many as during 2009. It seem my perfume interest has entered a new phase. I still gets a lot of samples, but I´ve been moving on to decants, split bottles and full bottles even more. I´ve also noticed that the more I´ve tried the more it takes to impresse me.

Fragrances that I´ve tried during 2010 and that really manage to capture my interest and that I want more of (or allready have more of):

January 2010: Histoires de Parfums - Tubereuse Animale. Wonderful, warm, full bodied, animalic, leathery, spicy with some tuberose elements. A demanding scent, but also so unique that it doesn´t remind of anything else. This I have a decant of, but wouldn´t mind more.

February: Parfums D'Orsay - Tilleul. I fell in love with this green, soft, sweet, complex linden blossom fragarnces and could hardly think about anything else for a month. To me this is a spot on late winter/early spring kind of scent so I didn´t wanted it as bad later during the year, but I suspect I´ll have cravings for it soon.

Agonist - The Infidels. Warm complex, animalic, strong, retro and all together wonderful fragrance from the Swedish brand Agonist that co-operate with glass artist Åsa Jungnelius frpm Costa Boda. Amazing multi dimensional scent that is hard to forget about, hopefully I´ll have more of it soon. :)))

March: Farmacia Annunziata - Ambra Nera. The most wonderful amber scent I´ve ever tried. I would easily go for a full bottle of this if I didn´t happened to stumble upon those Egyptian perfume oils. A MUST TRY for amber lovers.

April: Simone Cosac - Trama. Could be the best rose scent ever. The opening of this svent is among the best openings ever (also!!!) and it´s gorgeous. 100% realistic scent of how it´s smell when you unwrap a rose bouquet. I liked Perle di Biance, but Trama is even better on my skin. I´ve got some remainings in a tiny sample, but probably will need more of it. Also a absolute must try for anyone that wopuld like to be impressed by a rose scent.

Hors La Monde - Shiloh. Tart citrus, creamy flowers and oakmoss. Wonderful, and classic, strong, longlasting and modd lifting. This years birthday fragrance. This I recommend to everyone looking for modern scents with classical elements.

May: Was dominated by the super exclusive Xerjoff line. And even though I melted as snow in sunshine for several of the scents, I seem to be not really as impressed any longer. Partly thanks to the price tag as I realise I´ll probably never could afford a bottle of any of them. Despite that, I do think every perfume lover should give at least some of the scents a try. They are really worth trying.

July: La Collina Toscana - Girasole del Poggio. Sunshine in bottle, full bodied, nutty, creamy and very different flowery scent. Still got my sample, but when that is gone I´ll probably get more of it since it don´t remind of anything else. Very quirky.

September: Andrea Maack - Craft and Sharp. Interesting, personal, cold and Nordic scents fromicelandic artist Andrea Maack. I´ve got a bottle of Craft and wouldn´t mind splitting a bottle of Sharp. Really good pricepoint also.

Serge Lutens - Bas de Soie. Aquatic, strange floral with slimy elements. I haven´t yet figured out why I like it, but I do! Have some remainings in a bottle, probably will get more. It´s like a likeable version of Secretions Magnifique.

L'Artisan Parfumeur - Nuit de Tuberesue. First I liked it, then I didn´t. Now I´m back to lking it again. I´ve used my little spray sample much more the I belived I would do. It´s a winner in the long run and I wouldn´t mind splitting a bottle of it eventually. Different and cool version of tuberose. Works well on men too.

October: Amouage - Memoir Woman. Gothic, sad and a little melancholic. My big fave from Amouage. The question is if I ever could afford it?

My bargain of Egyptian perfume oils was a big and wonderful surprise also during october. Four out of five oils smells fantastic.

And not to be forgotten about: Etat Libre d'Orange´s Like This. It was SO close to be this years Christmas perfume (present), but the I found a bottle of Cuir Beluga for a really good price. I don´t regret buying Cuir Beluga, but I do wonders a lot about how to get me a big bottle of Like This as soon as possible. This is a MUST TRY!

Also two scents that I´ve used a lot:

Guerlains Cuir Beluga. I don´t think I have use one scent as much and as often as Cuir Beluga since the time when I use to have one signature scent at the time. According to me Cuir Beluga fits on all occations. Totally fabulous.

And Costume National´s 21, discovered at NK in may and re-discovered during autumn. Such a comfy scent with great personality. Have a decant of it and will buy more when it ends.

One thing that strikes me when I´m looking on my top list scents is that they are really different from each other. From soft, aquatic florals to bold animalic leathers and sweet gourmands and spicy orientals. I have a varied taste in perfumes and during 2010 I´ve learn to like oakmoss as well and also some vintage scents.

Of course I haven´t enjoyed all that ve tried. For instant the line of Boadicea the Victorious failed to impresse me, to many and to un-interesting.

Honore des Pres made a nice thing and gave away samples of Vamp a NY and I got one of them. Unfortunatly the scent wasn´t my style at all even though a lot of people seem to like it.

I also tried all scents from Czech & Speake and only one, Dark Rose was worth mentioning. Nice, but boring.

Annick Goutal´s Ninfeo Mio with an opening so beautiful and and dry down so hideous. Big dissapointment.

What has captured your interest during 2010? Some dissapointments? Some big fave or several? Have you tried some fragarnce that you haven´t reed about here but that you suggest me to try? What are you looking forward to try in the beginning of 2011?

I´m very curious about the new Serge Lutens that is said to smell like toast. And L'Artisan´s Traversee du Bosphore which sound interesting as well. And I have just found out about a very special scent that I really must try.

Happy New Year to all my lovely readers!

Pic: tacomadowntown

2010 Wishlist

Just a few days before Christmas. I think time never runs as fast as the weeks before Christmas. I have a lot to things left to do, but at least I´ve rolled the meatballs, baked the gingerbreads and boiled the Christmas candy "knäck". I´ve also manage to buy at least 2 Christmas presents if not 3...

A coupple of days ago I´ve got this years probably finest perfume, Guerlain´s gorgeus Cuir Beluga, and if not the finest at least the most expensive not only this year, but for all the perfume I´ve ever bought. Just a few days after that I´ve got a possibility to buy another fave scent and gosh, I realised I´ve really bought a lot of perfumes during 2010. Yesterday I composed a list of all the perfume bottles I´ve bought, and they´re quite many I have to admit.

But at the same time I´ve sold a lot of samples and decants, so I´m not totally broken. And the perfumes have a great varietyt in price, from about 1-2 € and up. Actually most of them closer to 2 € then to 100€. And also some of the most affordable have proven to be some of the most gorgeous one´s (like the Egyptian perfume oils).

Some toher day I´ll write more about favorites from 2010, surprises, dissapointments and which fragarnces I´ve actually used the most. But today it´s time for some wishes from my readers. A wishlist for 2010 we can call it.

Is it anything you miss here and would love to read more about? Is there any perfume house that you´re curious about, but that I haven´t wrote anything about? Do you feel you would love to contribute as a guest blogger, please let me know and we work something out. Of course I acn´t fulfill all wishes, some scents can be really hard to get samples of and other fragrances I might not be interested to write about (if you would love to read an analytic review of all Naomi Campless scents, this isn´t the right place), I also lack of knowledge in some areas as perfume chemistry and how all that is working. But if I can make someone happy in a simple way I will try my best.

Oh, buy the way, I´ve allready got questions about the next perfume meeting. That´s a thing I love to be asked about. It´s so much fun to meet my readers and spend some time with other perfume lovers. Don´t hesitate to contact me if you have any suggestions about a perfume meeting, probably in Stockholm.

I have pretty much to do the days before Christmas, but I promise there will be some fragrances all the way from Africa here shortly, and perfumes as art, a top list and something really new also.

1000 Flowers - Reglisse Noire

I am both a chocolate and licorice lover. Usually I´m also a sucker for gourmand fragrances. But, it has shown to be not the easiest to find gourmand scents with notes of chocolate and/or licorice that works on my skin. Licorice usually dissapears on my skin in a few minutes and a lot of chocolate scents ends up being to sticky and kind of soapy. Despite this I still would love to find a perfume with notes of licorice and chocolate, and it looks like I might have found it now...

1000 Flowers is a new indie perfume house started by the Canadian perfumer Jessica September Buchanan. Jessica has a history in aromatherapy, but have also studied at Institute of Perfumery in Grasse, France. You can read more about her, her work and of course about Reglisse Noire here:

http://www.1000flowers.ca/

With notes of mint, white pepper, star anise, licorice, cocoa and vanilla it´s easy to belive that Reglisse Noire is an overly sweet, foody and heavy kind of gourmand, but that sin´t at all the case. From the first seconds, Reglisse Noire manage to capture my interest. It´s soft and airy like a cozy cloud of licorice. In the opening the note of licorice is dominating, still it is as light as licorice steam. I belive the notes of ozon, mint and maybe also white pepper contribute to this nice opening.

Reglisse Noire continues to be a light kind of smell, but after about 20 minutes some stronger notes occurs. The licorice is still present, but now becomes more aromatic, woody and herbal. About now I´m also starting to feel the smell of chocolate, or actually cocoa. This is not that strong, overwhelming and sticky kind of chocolate note, no this is soft, airy and with some discrete bitter elements. The vanilla adds some sweetness and body.

Shortly speaking, I become impressed by Reglisse Noire, I can´t think of any other fragarnces where so heavy notes as chocolate, licorice and vanilla has been used with such delicasy and still without being lost. And, there isn´t any flowers listed among the notes, still there is something in Reglisse Noire giving it a kind of floral base.

Reglisse Noire is a complex scent, and during the heart phase of the scent I can smell to different layers. One is soft, slightly powdery and almost floral, the other layer is deeper and develops from soft notes of cocoa and licorice to more and more woody, dark and mysterious. Now, Reglisse Noire feels like being in a dark and adventurous forrest with licorice trees with chocolate leafs and the ground filled with little white flowers. I belive Reglisse Noire could totally chram most people and at the same time it´s among the most mystic among gourmand scents that I ever tried. (I can´t honestly recall any other mystic gourmand!) It´s also so much more than a gourmand, it is both woody and oriental too.

During basenote the patchouli is quite dominant on me, even though I can sense a papery note also, which is thanks to vetiver I guess. But, also the licorice is still there hanging on from start to end. It´s actually during base this scent really fulfills it name Reglisse Noire (Black Licorice). It´s now it´s really become mystic, dark and exciting, but also warm, sweet and cozy.

Reglisse Noire can be worn by both men and women and everyone fancy a fine gouramnd should give it a try. But, also if you´re not usually in to gourmand scents this could suit you, since it has a nice woody and oriental ffel to it as well. The sillage is discrete without being a skinscent and lasting power could have been a little better in my opinion. To me this is the only letdown of Reglisse Noire, I wish it to last longer and being a little more prominent. But at the same time I think it´s thanks to the softness of those strong notes it´s also so easy to wear and like. And since it ebing an eau de toilette I suspect it´s become a little stronger if sprayed instead of dabbed on.

Do you have any favorite perfumes with notes of chocolate/cocoa or licorice?

Pic: Basset´s licorice all sorts

Korres - Paeonia Vanilla Amber Pear

I´ve got a slightly doubtful relation to pears. Pears can taste wonderful, but usually I encounter pears that have the same juicyness and fruity as old winter carotts, or pears so hard that they are like wood or with that strange granular texture, and with hardly no taste what so ever. Maybe you have to grow your own pears for a pleasant taste experience?

My grandparents had a little cottage outside Malmö and sometimes we visited them during early autumn when all my grand fathers fruit trees where filled with ripe apples, plums and pears. Those pears was so good, juicy, sweet and almost melting in my mouth. Once when I lived in Umeå I bought some rare kind of bright red pears. They where probably twice as expensive then the ordinary one´s, but they where soooo worth it. Until this day those where the best pears I´ve eaten.

It´s that kind of pears I find in one of Korres new scents; Paeonia Vanilla Amber Pear, at least the scent of them. I wrote about another of Korres scents last year:

http://perfumenerd.blogspot.com/search/label/Korres

Jasmine Pepper Gaiacwood Passionfruit become a favorite for me and I´ve used it a lot. Even though I think Paeonia Vanilla Amber Pear is a really good scent, it´s not really manage to reach the height of Jasmine Pepper Gaiacwood Passionfruit on me. Not that Paeonia Vanilla Amber Pear doesn´t smell good, it does, but Jasmine Pepper Gaiacwood Passionfruit is a little bit more "me".

Paeonia Vanilla Amber Pear is one of the best scents with note of pear that I ever encountered. And just like Jasmine Pepper Gaiacwood Passionfruit it seem to have a built in charm, an exuberate personality that is hard to resist. This is a cherful and moodlifting fragrances with elements of euforia in it. The note of peony isn´t that strong, on me it´s more like an aromatic slightly rosy smelling backdrop, while the pear note is more forward. I haven´t tried that many scents with pear, but among the one´s I´ve tried the pear note usually are very soft and short lasting and sometimes even boring. That is not the case with Paeonia Vanilla Amber, as I said, this is equal to the best pears I´ve eaten. It´s juicy, sweet, fruity and very genuin. Do you have a weakspot for pears, this scent is a must try!

Despite notes of vanilla, amber and pear, this fragrances isn´t too sweet, it´s sweet, but more like a ripe fruity kind of sweetness then sugary, candy, cookie-like sweetness. It´s not heavy or sticky either, more like refreshing and cuddly, but a little to briks to be a spot on comfort-scent. Paeonia Vanilla Amber Pear make me feel alert, happy and filled with creativity, and that is so welcomed in dark december.

It has a medium sillage and lasting power is a little weaker then Jasmine Pepper Gaiacwood Passionfruit. i belive this scent would be liked by those of you allready liking Jasmine Pepper Gaiacwood Passionfruit, but also among those of you looking for a little more refreshing and light scent. And I must say it again, this is a MUST try if you´re a pear lover!

If you´re curious to find out more about Korres and their products, you can find it here:

http://www.korresscandinavia.com/

Pic: o-red-pears charles nowell

Vivienne Westwood - Let it Rock

I don´t write negative reviews so often. Partly because I like most fragrances that I test, not love, but most of them smells at least nice and pleasant. And that isn´t anything to write about. It´s also a matter of time, I have to keep up to manage to write about all the amazing scents out there, so where would I squeeze in the bad one´s?

Sometimes I do an exeption. Today is such a day.

Usually I like Vivienne Westwood´s fragrances, even though I have to admit that Anglomania, Boudoir and even Libertine kind of are perfumes from an earlier stage in my perfumania. Still I think they are interesting, obvious and very Brittish. Now Vivienne has launched a new scent, Naughty Alice, the bottle is almost hiddeous cute, but I don´t know about the scent, yet. Unfortunatly I do know everything about another Vivienne Westwood scent, Let it Rock...

When you don´t like a fragarnces there can be sevreal reasons. Some are headache inducing, still you can like the way they smell. Others makes you nauseaus, a little or way to much. Some don´t make your head ache or your stomach turn, but smells so disturbing, strong, cheap, screamy, synthetic or sweet that you can´t stand it. Let it Rock gives me headache and make my stomach turn and smells cheap, synthetic, sweet, vulgar and strong. It´s like a scent created by Jordan (above) rather then by Vivienne Westwood.

Actually Let it Rock is among the worst scents I´ve tried! Without suspecting anything I put on a few drops of Let it Rock from a sample. The very first minutes it was kind of OK and I almost belived that I would eventually like it. But then it starts to get stronger and stronger and stronger... It smells like if both patchouli and freesia was made of some strange plastic materials. Just plastic! Tranquilising fake flowers smushed with plastic and the worst kind patchouli that screams to you and makes your eyes watery.

Yes, Let it Rock becomes terrible on me. And I´ll never try to find out how it becomes on any other family member beacuse I don´t want it in my house. I would never want to encounter this scent ever again. Of course it´s a scrubber. And washing of just a little won´t help, you´d better get yourself in the bathtub with lots of lather.

As I said, it´s extremly rare that I react this strong to a scent, I think Etat Libre d'Orange´s Viergos et Toreros is one of few others.

I don+t recommend Let it Rock to anyone, because I don´t want to smell it on anyone. Fortunatly it seem to be very, very rare in Sweden.

Have you tried Let it Rock? Some people seem to actually like it, what do you think about it?

Pic: Katie Price aka Jordan

Annick Goutal - Eau de Charlotte

It has been a while since my last posting, about a week actually. I promise I´ll not go away for a while now. It was really fun to visit middle daughter and her boyfriend. I thought I was bohemian but... Well, let just say they give the word bohemian a new meaning. their apartment is filled with art but not so much furniture. It´s like stepping inside a strange art exhibit.

After coming home it feels like it´s time to start fokusing on the upcoming Christmas and all things about it. I´m not that much of a Christmas decorating type, but the more I like Christmas cooking, baking and candymaking. I think I´ll start with some Christmas baking this weekend.

What is your Christmas MUST, if any? How important are the Christmas fragrances to you? Which is your fave Christmas scent? I think mine are a cozy and homey mix between hyacinth (my fave Christmas flower), citrusfruits and cinnamon/gingerbread-spices.

One scent that´s smelling really cozy and nice, but not that Christmasy is Annick Goutal´s Eau de Charlotte. I´ve discovered that Eau de Charlotte is a chameleon like scent, that wears very different on different people.

usually it´s my middle daughter that seem to like Annick Goutal´s perfumes the best. But with Eau de Charlotte I actually think it´s smells the best on me. With notes of black currant, lily, lily-of-the-valley, mimosa, vanilla and cacao it isn´t really certain how a fragrance ends up.

On me, Eau de Charlotte, becomes soft floral with some tart berry notes (a little black currant but I also smell some more tart kind of berry like raspberry or red currant). This floral and tart scent gets accompanied by some milky vanilla and the chocolate never shows up on my skin, insetad I find something similar to tea with milk and honey. That sounds kind of good, doesn´t it? And yes it is, on me. It´s a cozy, caressing mix between floral and soft gourmand. A really comfort scent, like having breakfast at the veranda a summerday with the smell of the garden flowers surrounding you and blackberry jam, toasts and tea.

On my youngest daughter Eau de Charlotte gets a totally different character. The flowers are more noticeable on her and most of Eau de Charlotte ends up smelling like an expensive and creamy lipstick. There is a violet note coming through on my daughters skin that isn´t at all present on me. Both me and daughter also thinks that Eau de Charlotte wears much stronger on her then on me. But eventually it becomes more similar what it is on me.

On the middle daughter it explodes with notes of really tart and also sweet berries and a somewhat sharp and soapy chocolate note. I noticed that middle daughter didn´t liked this Annick Goutal as much as other scents from that brand. It´s like we´re wearing three different fragrances. I can´t think of any perfume that wear so different on the three of us. However it´s quite similar during basenote.

If you have tried Eau de Charlotte, how is it on you?

Well, after about an hour Eau de Charlotte develops to a soft, milky gourmand with some floral elements on the three of us. Lasting power is OK for a Goutal scent, about 3 hours on me. But the sillage was very different on me and the daughters, medium on me and youngest but quite strong and pushy on the middle daughter.

I think if you like Eau de Charlotte, you´ll also like Paul & Joe´s Blanc and other slightly soft and gourmand florals.

Pic: confiture and croissant 1watercolor by Carol Gillott

In my part of the pond...

Perfume blogging is usually a very peaceful occupation. That Swedish teen blogger like Kissy and Sissy get headlines and also making a lot of money on their blogs is totally un-beliveable for me.

My blog posting don´t attract any headlines and I don´t make any money on the blog either (OK, OK I actually have earned about 20 € this far this year, that´s the reason I cleaned away the commercials or stuffed it way down, If they´re not generating any money they don´t deserve to be in people´s faces).

Perfume lovers -and bloggers usually also are very peaceful, friendly and helpful people. Of course a person that has as his bigest interest to sit down peacefully and smell on different fragrances must be quite serene, nice and even a little withdrawn.

Perfume blogging isn´t that big, and in Sweden there are few other perfume blogs and non as I know of that update often and regularly. From a global point of view it´s of course bigger, but still only a small part in the total of all different blogs. Surely, there are room for new perfume blogs? Apperantly not, one of the old and established perfume bloggers feels that all the new blogs drains fokus in discussions which are supposed to be on that blog!

Some of the established perfume bloggers are hanging out with people in the perfume industry, that seem not to be a good thing either. I think it must be impossible to live for instant in Paris, write about perfume for years without learning to know a lot of different people in the perfume industry and among those surely there are a coupple that you happened to like so much that you eventually become friends. This of course make way to an insider look on perfumery that perhaps isn´t always good, but also hard to get pass.

Anyway, if I felt like having lunch or go to parties with Serge Lutens, Pierre Guillaume, Olivia Giacobetti and Kilian Henessy I so live in the wrong place! But on the other hand nothing stops me from having really good connection with some perfume folks, especially within the indiebrands, but also among large and established brands I´ve encountered so much friendly and helpful people when I´ve contacted them. It´s apart of my "job" to contact perfume people and perfumers.

Of course my blog is considered new if I compare with blogs that have been going for about ten years. But at least I´ve had it for more then 2 years and even more important, it´s regularly updated at least every single week for 2 years. If counting all my postings, I´ve got quite a few by now.

The thing is that newcomers has to find their own style. Style of writing is very personal and to review the same fragarnce can be done in so many different ways.

I can´t keep up with perfume bloggers that lives in paris and other big cities when it comes to having sneak pre-views. I don´t automatically get samples from the big brands when they release something new. And with a limited income (hehe, 20€ is a very limited income, right?), i can´t manage to order samples from every new release. So keeping up with news will not be my thing, that I realised a long time ago...

My thing is to find those small unknown indiebrands or perfume houses out for their first round. Maybe my blog will be the only one ever mentioning these scents? OR, they eventually become popular and then this little blog was the first one that you read about that brand on. As I am having a little reporter personality a scoop always feels good.

I also like to hunt down those un-familiar brands, which sometimes isn´t the easiest thing. A lot of mail that I send never get any answers, for instant, the Swedish niche company Byredo NEVER had answer any of my mails, I have no idea why, but I think it´s a bit sad...

I´ve also got so many boring answers, like this: I write a very polite mail presenting myself and my blog and pointing out that I have perfume interested readers all around the world and would like to write about the brand and evaluate their fragrances. "We dont give samples to customers, but we can tell you wear you can buy or perfumes" "Thank you, but I´m sure you don´t have a retailer in Sweden, I respond" "No, we don´t, the closest to you is in Paris" "OK, thank you, then I can´t write about your brand" Oh well, it´s not my problem if they haven´t figure out that to be mentioned on a blog (even though a somewhat small blog) is usually good and -almost- free marketing!

The perfume world (at least western perfumes with some arabic and japanese influences) is a small pond. All perfumistas knows about new releases from Serge Lutens, Frederic Malle and Guerlain in no time. But also smaller actors like Ava Luxe (you know the very moment Serena decide to re-launch Midnight Violet it will be sold out), Andy Tauer and Neil Morris is out on the street in no time, and much thanks to devoted perfumista followers. And when a perfumista has decided to get a certain fragrances nothing will stop her. It could take months to get it but eventually the sought after scent is arriving and the fealing when you opens that envelope... oh yeah!

This is something some in perfume industry knows a lot about, while some don´t.

Anyway, I´ll leaving town tomorrow, so you have to manage without me for a few days, during this time I suggest you read Brians post at I Smell Therefore I Am:

http://ismellthereforeiam.blogspot.com/2010/11/are-you-perfume-blogging-snob-take-this.html