Why Is It Always Perfume?
Colognoisseur | Musings on the World of Fragrance
by mark behnke
1y ago
As I mentioned last week there is another regulatory crisis for fragrance on the horizon. For a comprehensive review of the details perfumer Pia Long has summarized it at this link. She explains the shoddy science being used to justify what is coming. I have always been astonished at the acceptance of it by the industry. There are enough big players and money to effectively push back. If they had the will to do it. The question I was asking myself after reading Ms. Long’s piece was, “Why?” Why is it that the perfume industry is so easy to take shots at? I am sure I don’t have all the answers ..read more
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Colognoisseur Best of 2021 Part 2: Perfume, Perfumer, Creative Director, and Brand of the Year
Colognoisseur | Musings on the World of Fragrance
by mark behnke
2y ago
Quantity versus quality is an eternal dichotomy. When it came to deciding these top categories for the year I was constantly faced with this dilemma. I ended up choosing two based on the quality of a couple perfumes and two from an impressive body of work. If you look at the runners-up you will see the choices I wrestled with. Perfume of the Year: Amouage Silver Oud– Prior to this year I was over oud in perfumery. It was too often cloaked in PR nonsense. It was a cynical play to convince consumers there was something worth the price they were paying. Silver Oud from Amouage creative director ..read more
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Colognoisseur Best of 2021 Part 1: Overview
Colognoisseur | Musings on the World of Fragrance
by mark behnke
2y ago
A year ago, I thought things might have been more normal by this time. Instead, 2021 has been like 2020 in that the usual ways of doing fragrance business pre-pandemic have been altered. I was able to try 621 new perfumes this calendar year. I want to thank all the people out there who make that number possible. I haven’t set foot in a store this year. The brands and stores I correspond with were almost always forthcoming in getting samples to me. I couldn’t go out into the world, but it showed up in my mailbox daily. That was because of these behind-the-scenes people. Nothing that I wrote abo ..read more
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New Perfume Review Sarah Horowitz Thran for American Perfumer Tapestry- Perfect Moment
Colognoisseur | Musings on the World of Fragrance
by mark behnke
2y ago
There are so many things I wish I knew that I found out later. One of those things is the knowledge that independent perfumers Sarah Horowitz-Thran and Dawn Spencer Hurwitz began their careers in a small DIY perfume shop on Newbury St. in Boston called Essence from 1989-1994. I blissfully walked past the shop not knowing two of the perfumers I would come to appreciate were steps away. Each of them was laying the foundation for their futures. In Ms. Horowitz-Thran’s case it was the formation of a nascent aesthetic encapsulated in her early perfume, 1999’s Perfect Veil. It is one of the best evo ..read more
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New Perfume Review Puredistance No. 12- Wait For It
Colognoisseur | Musings on the World of Fragrance
by mark behnke
2y ago
I am inherently an impatient person. During the Holidays every gift under the tree which had my name on it was thoroughly analyzed. I wanted to know what was in the box…Now! I am no different at the other times of the year. Once I get an itch for something I want it to arrive yesterday. All this is meant to let you know that one of the worst four-letter words for me is, wait. Except the creative director at Puredistance instructed me to do just that when he sent me my sample of Puredistance No. 12. Jan Ewoud Vos Jan Ewoud Vos has given me advice throughout the years on the eleven previous Pure ..read more
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New Perfume Review Phoenecia Perfumes Oud Elegance Rose and Oud Elegance Incense- Where the Real Oud Is
Colognoisseur | Musings on the World of Fragrance
by mark behnke
2y ago
There are so many things in perfumery which have started since the first number in the calendar year changed to 2. If there is an ingredient of the last 21 years which encapsulates the changes in Western fragrance it is the rise of oud from 2002 to the present day. To fragrance fans in the East oud is what many of them encounter in everyday life. For those of us who knew nothing of it the revelation was immediate. The craving for more almost insatiable, and so the brands gave us what we wanted. There was a time when it seemed every new release claimed oud in its ingredient list. In most of tho ..read more
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New Perfume Review Tauer Sundowner- A Holiday Perfume for the Rest of Us
Colognoisseur | Musings on the World of Fragrance
by mark behnke
2y ago
As I begin to sort through the new perfume, I receive at the end of the year there is a category that ties to the Holidays. Many of those which fall into this are designed to be so. They are limited editions carrying Holiday themes on their sleeves. There are always a couple that aren’t meant to be seasonal releases, yet they fall ideally into the themes of this time of year. I think of them as Festivus scents. Festivus is an alternative to the commercialism of Christmas popularized in a Seinfeld episode. It also doesn’t want to be part of the season while still being part of the season. Tauer ..read more
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New Perfume Review Zoologist Seahorse- Tropical Reef Technicolor
Colognoisseur | Musings on the World of Fragrance
by mark behnke
2y ago
Growing up in S. Florida I became certified to scuba dive as soon as I was able. With access to a boat there were lots of reefs easy to get to. I had a favorite one called Hens and Chickens. I spent a lot of early mornings motoring out there just after sunrise. By the time I would get anchored and into my gear the sun would just be above the horizon. This would give that effect you see in many photographs where there are shafts of light spearing through the clear water. I would dive down to the bottom and sit still. It would take a few minutes before all the denizens of the reef would return t ..read more
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Book Review The Ghost Perfumer by Gabe Oppenheim- The Emperor Exposed
Colognoisseur | Musings on the World of Fragrance
by mark behnke
2y ago
I’ve written about perfume for over ten years. For all that time I’ve been aware of the “Emperor’s New Clothes” aspect of the brand PR machines. An endless litany of BS encapsulating supposed celebrities who wear the fragrance. Or long pedigrees all the way back through every king and queen since Julius Caesar and Cleopatra. Blah, blah, blah, yadda yadda, yadda, who cares; just let me see what the perfume smells like. Where I draw the line is when the perfumer, the artist behind the juice is hidden to inflate someone else’s ego. This type of dishonesty is whispered about behind the scenes, but ..read more
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New Perfume Review Sarah Baker Loudo- A Cherry Cordial Goes Trekking
Colognoisseur | Musings on the World of Fragrance
by mark behnke
2y ago
One of the things which most interests me about perfumery is watching its evolution. Probably my favorite perch is observing the continuing expansion within the gourmand genre. It is the newest genre of perfumery which means it is the least bound by tradition and history, which makes it fertile ground for those who want to think outside of the box. The easy gourmand is to take vanilla give it a sugary boost to make a fragrant sugar cookie then add a topping of fruit or nuts. Even though this has now become a standard I find I haven’t become bored with it, yet. If the genre is truly going to ta ..read more
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