Olfactics

  • Eau de Protection by Etat Libre d’Orange

    Eau de Protection is Etat Libre d’Orange at its audacious finest. It is a floral on edge – before climax and the intense emotional charge in preparation of good and exciting news. It is the risqué and sensuality of a woman in provocative attire, and the risqué and sensuality of a man…

  • On Oud: Grandawood Agarwood

    On Oud: Grandawood Agarwood

    I was inspired to really delve my nose into agarwood oils, and I figured it was only a matter of time until I’d do so. Anyone interested in perfume, professionally or as a hobbyist, realises quickly that a rose isn’t just rose – just as an addition of incense or amber in…

  • A Comparison – Habit Rouge by Guerlain: Eau de Toilette, Eau de Parfum, Parfum, and Dress Code

    A Comparison – Habit Rouge by Guerlain: Eau de Toilette, Eau de Parfum, Parfum, and Dress Code

    I wrote about Habit Rouge EdT two years ago in the position of beginner, a keen fragrance blogger and budding Guerlainophile. I was, to say the least, unfamiliar with the classics, and my perfume vocabulary wasn’t as versed. I knew of Apres L’Ondee, but the Parfum variant remained a myth.…

  • Ambre Sultan by Serge Lutens

    Ambre Sultan by Serge Lutens

    Amber as a perfume category is difficult to distinguish. Amber is one of those illusionary accords that expresses itself well in isolation. Take an amber with its spicy, herbal, sweet oscillations, bitter crunchiness and malted smoothness and you have a complexity done simply. An amber perfume is a perfume with a…

  • Eau de Néroli Doré by Hermes

    Eau de Néroli Doré by Hermes

    When I approach perfumery, I beg of people to go beyond literal descriptors. What I mean by this is that the process of taking in a scented artwork should transcend into new realms of texture, emotion, and senses beyond the nose. I not only want to describe a scent in…

  • Charogne by Etat Libre d’Orange

    Charogne by Etat Libre d’Orange

    Some flowers, like the lily, smell the most intensely rich when they approach death. As the lily flowers progressively decomposes, it loses its vibrant hue and starts to wilt limply. From something bleak comes something beautiful – the buttery intensity with its sweet floralcy moves between unctuous yellow and radiant white,…

  • No. 18 by Chanel

    No. 18 by Chanel

    Chanel’s No. 18 takes a glance into the past; from modern to yesteryear. Acting in retrospect is a very Chanel thing to do. To take something modern, and project it in a unique realm worthy of veneration. This is a modern vintage. A study of the degrees of animalics in…

  • Guest Post: Portia Turbo on Tauer Perfumes

    Guest Post: Portia Turbo on Tauer Perfumes

    A special surprise for readers: A guest post from the ever-so-venerable Portia. Please welcome Portia of APJ to the Olfactics blog …We’re close. Hey there Olfactics crew, Liam and I have done a blog swap today so you can check him out over on Australian Perfume Junkies. Why? Well there is some…

  • Poivre Piquant by L’Artisan Parfumeur

    Poivre Piquant by L’Artisan Parfumeur

    Les Epices de la Passion. The passion of spices. Take the substantial bite of spice, ranging from its vegetal rawness and spicy rush and taper it into a slim profile. A vertical rendering of spice within very tight borders.  Within this substantial olfactory breadth of pepper is pleasing laconic harmony. Spice held…

  • Plushness and The Synthetic Construction: Cuir Velours by Naomi Goodsir, Cuir Pleine Fleur by Heeley, and Cuir d’Ange by Hermes.

    Plushness and The Synthetic Construction: Cuir Velours by Naomi Goodsir, Cuir Pleine Fleur by Heeley, and Cuir d’Ange by Hermes.

    In Cuir Velours, a scent is constructed in a manner of sculpture. It demonstrates a process: from material, construction through manipulation, and then finally, a completed ready-to-sell perfume. Cuir Velours bothers me more than it should. For instance, it’s an easy perfume. It takes a synthetic material chunk and carves it down…