by Jim Peterson | Jun 28, 2020 | Uncategorized
A perfume’s “top” notes evaporate fast. Within 15 minutes or so there’s little left of them. This makes them no less important to the finished creation. They are the first aromas one smells and, in fact, are often experienced by those who wear them and no one else....
by Jim Peterson | Jun 28, 2020 | Uncategorized
Perfumery: Practice and Principles, by Robert R. Calkin and J. Stephan Jellinek describes the “heart” notes, also known as “middle” notes, of L’Air du Temps. A floral bouquet builds on the base notes (see last post), and becomes the heart and central theme of the...
by Jim Peterson | Jun 28, 2020 | Uncategorized
Perfumery: Practice and Principles, by Robert R. Calkin and J. Stephan Jellinek, is my favourite perfume book. First published in German in 1954, it came out in English 40 years later. My first copy fell apart and I’ve had to order another. Chapter 12, “Selected Great...
by Jim Peterson | Jun 28, 2020 | Uncategorized
When I was a toddler, things smelled very strong. Vegetables were revolting–cauliflower smelled like vomit, Brussel sprouts like something long dead. It wasn’t until my twenties, that I began to use this sensitivity for more pleasurable effect. In the 1970s,...
by Jim Peterson | Jun 28, 2020 | Uncategorized
When I was a boy, I played with a fan my grandmother got in India in the 1920s. It was made of sandalwood and had an entrancing smell, woody and very dry. When I first smelled sandalwood essential oil, I was surprised it didn’t smell like the fan; it smelled even...
