mel_from_adelaidein Learning to Smell · Adelaide ·
Discovery
At the cellar door we say blackcurrant leaf for some reds. Smelled blackcurrant bud on a strip at a workshop and it's the same thing, only louder.
hamish_heather Half the words folk who come in use for whisky would work on a strip. Peat, wet rope, toffee. They loose the thread when the glass is empty, mind.
nnamdi.vetiverin Welcome to the Club · Nottingham ·
IntroductionI keep Nottingham's buses running, so it's engine oil and grease all week. On days off I want something else on me: vetiver mostly, a bit of black pepper. Early days.
gus_saltmarshin Welcome to the Club · Auckland ·
Introduction
I build boats in Auckland, so my days are kauri gum, varnish and spray off the harbour, not exactly floral. What I really want to know is how a perfume does the sea, because nothing I've smelled has got it right yet.
petey_pepper Isn't the sea smell in perfume made from whale vomit? I read that somewhere.
kit.clovein History, Bottles & Houses · Oxford ·
Tip
Flea-market tip from a bookbinder: smell the glass stopper before the bottle. In my experience the ground glass keeps the last trace of what was inside long after the bottle smells of dust.
imogen.magnoliain Florals & Bouquets · Cambridge ·
Question
The big evergreen magnolia against a college wall had one last flower today, huge and creamy. It smelled of lemon, almost like washing-up liquid but nice. Is that normal for magnolia?
ingrid_berlin Normal. The southern magnolia is lemon-citronella scented, the magnolia page says; perfume magnolia mostly comes from Asian champaca. Bright treble…
ruby.sandalin Woods, Mosses & Roots · Perth ·
Snapshot
Days off back home. Split an old dead sandalwood branch behind the shed and the smell came straight out, dusty, warm, a bit sweet. Wattle out everywhere too.
Class no. 16 · 6 min read
Musk, ambergris, civet and castoreum came from a musk deer, a sperm whale, a civet and a beaver, and perfumery has replaced nearly all of them with synthetic molecules since the late 19th century. You will learn where each material came from, which molecule took its place, and what "musk" means on a list of notes today.
nell.wattlein Seasons & Celebrations · Melbourne ·
Scent diary
Okay, nerd moment: while you lot plan cinnamon and fir, my Christmas is going to smell of summer. Cherries in a bowl on the table, sunscreen, cut mango, prawns on the barbie for the brave, and the eucalyptus going sharp in the arvo heat. The Christmas bush in…
ravi.tea Brisbane checking in: mangoes. The whole house smells of them right through the holidays.
nell.wattlein Learning to Smell · Melbourne ·
Memory
Okay, nerd moment: I walked past my old primary school this arvo, just after a shower, and the gum trees by the gate had been rained on. Instantly eight years old: chalk dust, wet school bags, eucalyptus. So I went looking for why. A review by Rachel Herz on…
aroha.rain Kia ora, for me it's the school swimming pool. Instant
kasia.berlinin Florals & Bouquets · Berlin ·
QuestionAt home in Poland my grandmother had lily of the valley under the kitchen window, and in spring the whole room smelled of it. I wanted a little oil of it for a cloth in my bike workshop. A man at the flea market told me there is no real one, only imitation.…
ingrid_berlin True: the flower gives too little to extract for perfumery, so every lily of the valley note is rebuilt from synthetic molecules . You only ever hear…
carys.cardiffin History, Bottles & Houses · Cardiff ·
Reading
Reading the museum's page on its conservatory of fragrant plants : from the 1960s international groups bought up Grasse factories, and between 1970 and 1980 jasmine growing moved to the Nile Delta and then South India, which now produce 90% of the world's…
rafa_azahar Jasmine is everywhere in Seville, but I did not know the fields went to Egypt and India.
imogen.magnoliain Wearing Fragrance · Cambridge ·
QuestionTold off at choir practice for rubbing my wrists together after spraying my magnolia scent. The soprano next to me says rubbing 'bruises' the perfume: real thing, or just choir gossip?
ingrid_berlin Not bruising. More like turning the treble up and then cutting it early: the warmth sends the top notes off first, the rest plays on.
ambrose_leatherin Wearing Fragrance · Northampton ·
Scent diary
Right then. The wool overcoat came out of the wardrobe at the weekend, first properly cold morning. On Monday I put one spray of my tobacco scent on the underside of the collar, and nothing since. It's Friday and the collar still smells of it, warm, a bit…
callum.peat Same with my scarf. Birch on wool lasts days, on me it's gone by the end of a shift.
Class no. 15 · 7 min read
On a perfume sold in the European Union, the word "parfum" covers the whole formula, and only the allergens listed in the cosmetics regulation are named separately, above a set threshold. You will learn to read those names, date what the 2023 regulation added, and tell the law apart from the IFRA Standards, which never appear on the bottle.
bridie.hobartin Seasons & Celebrations · Hobart ·
Exercise
Our apples come out of cold store this time of year, it's spring here and the orchards are in blossom. You lot up north have the new crop, so here's one from the stall. Cut three different apples and smell the peel, then the flesh, then the core with the…
mags.lavender A Bramley's peel is sharp and green, a Cox smells of honey and pear drops. A lot of difference for two apples.
harriet.hayin Wearing Fragrance · Bristol ·
ReadingRead the club's Class on how to wear fragrance, from where to spray to why you stop smelling it with a cup of tea at the garden centre, between the pumpkins and the bulb displays. The bit that caught me was topping up: I'd been adding a spray of lavender at…
ambrose_leather Right then. Dropped: the second spray on the cuffs. Keeping: the collar, whatever anyone says. I should have read it sooner. Cheers, Ambrose
carys.cardiffin Welcome to the Club · Cardiff ·
ReadingFor anyone new: I read the Class on fragrance vocabulary last night the way I'd read a glossary at work, one word at a time. Accord, sillage, facet: finally I know what everyone's on about. Worth ten minutes before your first post.
first.sniff Sillage was the one I kept nodding along to without a clue. Reading it now.
frankie.incensein Home Fragrance & Candles · Chicago ·
QuestionFun fact: a French public health sheet on candles, incense and indoor air says incense gives off higher concentrations of pollutants than candles, while what a candle releases hangs around in the air longer. [My high school French got a workout.] I definitely…
harriet.hay That same Santé.fr page on candles, incense and the air indoors gives the practical side, Frankie: air the room for at least ten minutes after…