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Label:Henry Holt and Co. Languages: English,English,English, Manufacturer: Henry Holt and Co.
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Product Description:
From the New York Times perfume critic, a stylish, fascinating, unprecedented insider’s view of an industry and its charismatic characters No journalist has ever been allowed into the ultrasecretive, highly pressured process of originating a perfume. But Chandler Burr, the New York Times perfume critic, spent a year behind the scenes observing the creation of two major fragrances. Now, writing with wit and elegance, he juxtaposes the stories of the perfumes—one created by a Frenchman in Paris for an exclusive luxury-goods house, the other made in New York by actress Sarah Jessica Parker and Coty, Inc., a giant international corporation. We follow Coty’s mating of star power to the marketing of perfume, watching Sex and the City’s Parker heading a hugely expensive campaign to launch a scent into the overcrowded celebrity market. Will she match the success of Jennifer Lopez? Does she have the international fan base to drive worldwide sales?
In Paris at the elegant Hermès, we see Jean Claude Ellena, his company’s new head perfumer, given a challenge: he must create a scent to resuscitate Hermès’s perfume business and challenge le monstre of the industry, bestselling Chanel No. 5. Will his pilgrimage to a garden on the Nile supply the inspiration he needs? The answer lies in Burr’s informative and mesmerizing portrait of some of the extraordinary personalities who envision, design, create, and launch the perfumes that drive their billion-dollar industry. | |  | |  |
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The Perfect Scent: A Year Inside the Perfume Industry in Paris and New YorkAmazon Price: $16.50
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Customer Reviews: Average Rating:  Rating : - "Lilac smells like soiled underwear" the author writes,
and I happen to like lilacs! His nose can't possibly be right all the time, can it? Maybe he just wanted to see if people will actually sniff soiled underwear and compare it with the smell of lilacs. Or, buy a Godiva chocolate bar to see if it really has a hint of "the smell of sh**." Well, I didn't do either one of those scratch n' sniff challenges. Thought about it, but...nah, no thanks! However, the Tonquin musk comparison challenge sounds intriguing; I just don't know where to get the Tonquin musk! ;-)
Anyway, I'm not at all into perfume, but after reading this book, I found myself stopping at perfume counters, spraying test strips and sniffing as many of the perfumes mentioned in the book as I could find. As other reviewers have said, the author has a such a fluid writing style, that he both entertains and educates the reader with wonderful ease; that is, if you like lots of metaphors and similes (I think it would be rather tough to write a book about scents, otherwise).
Years ago, MTV showed a 30-second clip of how JLo was developing her follow-up to Glow; I saw it and I wasn't impressed. JLo didn't seem involved at all with creating the scent: she was sniffing and rejecting fragrance blotters, that was all. The description of how SJP developed the scents for Lovely and Covet couldn't have been written better than her own PR person. Clearly, the author is a fan, and influenced my own positive views about the actress, even though I'm not crazy about the actual scents of Covet or Lovely.
If I hadn't borrowed and read the book, I would not have discovered Jo Malone's great scents at my local Nordstrom's. Now, I'm saving my money to purchase a bottle of Hermes' Un Jardin sur le Nil. But, then again, if it's true that 'Miss Dior' "smells like the armpit of a woman who has not bathed in a week," I can just save my money (and water) and go fragrance-free for the rest of my life. Isn't that good to know? + See Full Customer Review | | | | |
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