anyone else read it yet. it was not what I was expecting (what is?) the cover looks like the classic cardboard box for Chanel #5. but inside, the book is very scientific, chemistry up the wazzo, drawings of molecules and atoms. You will enjoy it the science behind perfume is your interest.

Yes I have read it and really loved it.

Here is the link to my thread.

http://perfumeoflife.org/index.php?showtop...5&hl=luca+turin

where has this been moved too? isn't a book "art?"

It's more concerned with perfume and the olfactory senses, so I thought that it would be better served on the perfume board.

I'm prepared for the science. Emperor of Scent had a lot of that too. But tell me...is there any perfume reviews/discussion? That is what I live for...

The other references to this book were also in the Perfume section so that's probably where people would look for it or pick up on it.

Mine is only slated to arrive in November! Sigh... C'est la vie.

got it last week but I haven't had time to even peruse the cover...will try for the July long, I seem to enjoy the heavy stuff in hot weather...hoping the weather will be fine.

One of my degrees is a chemistry degree. So, I am sure I will find it entertaining.

I read the Emperor of Scent, but I stopped paying attention to anything Turin had to say when he declared that Tommy Girl was the greatest fragrance ever created. Give me a break, here.

Someone on the old board once posted that this was some kind of Euro/US cultural glitch. Something about Tommy Girl being a vivid tea scent which was somehow a revelation to the European nose but very hohum in its homeland. I have no opinion about that, I'm just relating what I remember because it interested me at the time.

I have now bought the Emperor of Scent and will get around to reading it at some point. I like reading anything from someone as deeply interested and enthused about a topic as I am. I don't have to agree with them, it is just a rare joy to read about in book form (of course I have this joy every day on POL).

I received mine almost 2 weeks ago. (From Amazon.ca) Who did you order yours from? If you didn't use .ca you can cancel and re-order on .ca and not be charged. I do it all the time when I change my mind about an order.

Trinity, I just checked my order and I did order it from Amazon.ca. It says shipping estimate November 30, 2006. (???)

I'll save my hostility for someone who's trying to rip me off. It's really only differing opinions, same as any Art.

I think you should cancel this one:

The Secret of Scent: Adventures in Perfume and the Science of Smell by Luca Turin (Hardcover - Nov 2006)
Buy new: CDN$ 26.75 CDN$ 17.66 Not yet released
You save: CDN$ 9.09 (34%)

and order this one:

Secret Of Scent by Luca Turin (Hardcover - May 30 2006)
Buy new: CDN$ 29.00 CDN$ 19.14 Usually ships in 5 to 7 days
Used & new from CDN$ 18.95
You save: CDN$ 9.86 (34%)

It's not hostility, it's contempt.

Thanks, I'll look into it. That's weird. I wonder what is the difference between the two books.

This is the difference...

The British edition I ordered...
Hardcover - 256 pages (May 30, 2006)
Faber UK ; ISBN: 0571215378

The edition you ordered...
Hardcover - 224 pages (November 2006)
Language: English
HarperCollins Canada / Ecco Press ISBN: 0061133833

My Dear, I do believe you need some conditioner! I highly reccommend this brand:

http://www.aveda.com/templates/products/mu...D=CATEGORY10523

As you can see they have many to choose from :)

Jean Paul Guerlain stated when asked if Mitsouko smelled the same on everyone, something like, " Yes, if they wash properly". So, Mr. Lurin is in good company. Carnal, you did give me a good giggle with "So, he writes well. Big deal." Isn't that why we buy a book?

Gladly, since I never said such a thing.

Huh... Luca, I will gladly go back to The Emperor of Scent, and find the quote, I may have paraphrased some, but you were indeed gushing all over Tommy Girl.
It'll take me a little while, I'm kinda busy, but I propmise to get back to this because I'm sure you said it or something very close to that.

Well, it took less time than I thought:

PAGE 296 - The Emperor of Scent:

"Among the truly greats, Tommy Girl, which is quintessessentiallyAmerican and one of the greatest twenty perfumes of all time. It was done by Calice Becker. She's French. Actually she's one hundred percent Russian."

There.
So ok, you didn't say that TG is THE greatest, you saif it is one of the 20 greatest.
But come on, now, Luca... I'm sure anyone here can come up with a list of not just 20 but 40 fragrances that would take precedence over TG.

That said, there's no accounting for taste or preference, so please: Could you explain what, in YOUR opinion, makes Tommy Girl so fantastic?
I just sprayed some on my wrist and so far I just can't see it. I want to know what I'm missing.

Pretty please?

this?

http://www.online.ox.ac.uk/pheromones/wyat...t%20Science.pdf

Let me quote from an NZZ column I wrote some time back

"A few years later, Calice Becker's Tommy Girl proved that a tea base could make a floral shine as brightly as the inside of an alien spaceship. She went on to compose the wonderfully seamless J'Adore, where this brightness is dimmed to the glow of a sunset on snow. At this point it would have been legitimate to suppose that the idea was exhausted. Wrong ! Beyond Paradise begins with the most breathtaking floral chord ever, a hundred close-miked voices singing in unison. That alone would suffice, but what happens next is even more remarkable. A great artist at the peak of her powers, Becker has taken the bone structure from Cristalle, the tempting flesh from Diorella, the flattering hue of J'Adore and the radiance of Tommy Girl, and fused them all into a seraphic being we foolishly thought would never come: the Perfect Floral."

I like Tommy Girl too - it smells good to me!

You mean you do have some TG handy?
Why keep something you don't enjoy then (especially as it's not something rare/vintage/discontinued)?



I have no particular interest in defending anyone, but if one likes something there are two explanations :
1) the reasoning behind that preference ( in this case the brilliancy etc in terms of ingredients, formula, composition) and
2)a "je ne sais quoi " that can't be out into words, it just makes you feel.
I think we are not dealing with the second in the case of Tommy Girl, but the first may very well be applicable ( wouldn't know myself).

Hmmmmm. All I can say, then, is that it's all in the shnazz of the sniffer, Luca... Because I also hate J'Adore and Beyond Paradise!

I do like Cristalle and Diorella, though.

My favorite florals are (in no particular order) First, 1000, Joy, Mille et Une Roses, Paris, Bvlgari pour Femme, off the top of my head. (I wear others too... too long to list)
Anyway. Let's agree to disagree...




2 reasons: Never say never, and I have 2 teenage daughters who are also very much into perfume. One of them keeps a stash of old frags. (old for her, that is)
And my perfume room is loaded to the ceiling with a zillion frags. Some I like, some I don't. I keep retesting.
Now is that ok with you or do you have a problem with this?

Well, that it explains it - I have always had a strong negative reaction to Cristalle and Diorella - I am allergic to grass and somehow the green associated in both those frags gives me the feeling of being asphyxiated/choked, and I also get a negative olfactory sensation from fruity chypres, especially with peach notes LIKE Diorella, Femme, Yvresse or Mitsouko (though I can finally wear Mitsouko - I think thyroid medication has made certain scents I disliked smell better to me now). I enjoyed Tommy Girl but can't stand the aquatic note which comes through like salty mucus and does the same thing for me in Beyond Paradise (and Clinique Simply and Marc Jacobs) - that aquatic note almost always ruins an otherwise perfectly fine fragrance for me. The only frags with the aquatic note I enjoy are Allure Sensuelle and the light version of 24 Faubourg. Luca - if you could find the "perfect floral" without any water notes, I'd be thrilled. Have you ever tried Les Fleurs de Claude Monet sold at Giverny - a very old-fashioned smelling French aldehyde floral, kind of like Fleurs de Rocaille meets Liu ...

Never said that I have.
You make a lot of assumptions, obviously.

I still would love to hear an explanation as to why the so called radiance of TG, or why it is one of the greatest 20... Luca didn't explain this and I really don't understand what it is about TG that makes it so fabulous in his opinion.




You mean you do have some TG handy?
Why keep something you don't enjoy then (especially as it's not something rare/vintage/discontinued)?

Because of your phrasing Helg and you know exactly what I mean. But that's ok. That's one of the things that make you so... helgish. ;)

I detested the aquatic note in MJ and it wasn't even melon-y like the ones using Calone. I don't know how to begin to describe it.

That one you mention sounds intriguing!

Ok, that was cool, I don't know how to do that, I'll have to ask my teckie husband... ;D

My guess is that whenever a new "smell molecule" get synthesized or discovered, whether it be vanillin for Shalimar, or hediones in CKone or Eau Sauvage, or the aquatic notes in L'Eau D'Issey back in the early 90's, chemist, perfumers and people working in the fragrance industry get very excited. When a new perfume comes out combining new molecules and creating a scent that is a radical departure from what has already been done, it is considered brilliant and innovative by the industry, while old-fashioned romantic types like myself consider the same scent iconoclastic, and NOT in a good way - I tend to prefer variations on the classics, but I bet a perfumer would get bored doing what seems like "same/old/same/old". I wish they would move on from simulating water and air, and do something exciting and innovative with ... carnations!

Mr. Turin did a fantastic job explanning his sentiments towards TG in the above quote. I don't understand how one "cannot" understand. I think J'Adore is a fantastic scent and love the way Paradise drys down although I will admit the topnotes could be a tad sweet for me. Nonetheless, one cannot deny the craftmanship regardless.

Perhaps I see eye to eye with Mr. Turin because I am a chemist and my notions are not concieved through ignorance and austere evaluations. It is ok to have an opinion on what "you" think smells good. However, Mr. Turin speaks of fragrances not from the stand point of what he "thinks" but rather from the stand point of what he "knows" through science and technology. So, it is ok to say "I don't like paradise, it doesn't smell good" just as it is ok for Mr. Turin to say "Paradise is a great creation becuase of the way the compounds bond in the topnotes to form structures that are stabilized through resonace yielding a particular smell of high quality...etc etc etc." for example.

So, while most people offer up their opinion based on their nose and their personal convictions as to what smells good, Mr. Turin, like myslef and a few others, like to appreciate and acknowldge fragrances from their chemical components which in turn devlopes the nose further until a certain refinement is achieved. I know my taste has evolved the more I look at the science of things. Afterall, Mr. Turin does this for a living.

Not that I am taking sides here but, Mr. Turin has a Ph.D which is a tremendous thing to achieve and I feel proper respect is due. You don't walk off into a university physics course acting like you know it all because come test day, all will be revealed. I look upon Mr. Turin as a professional and a collegue and perhaps we can discuss one day why different isomers of the same compound take upon a different smell. So, instead of challenging him, lets treat him with some respect and draw upon his knowledge and experience and welcome him here as often as he would visit!

Yeah well his "Explanation" didn't register as one, for me and I still fail to see what is so brilliant in the frags mentioned above. I just retested them btw, and to me they smell generic, flat, uninteresting and boring, that's why I asked him to elaborate. I simply don't experience these the way he does obviously and I wanted details to try and figure out what I was missing. Oh well.

You guys are blind or what??

Obviously he 's been hired as a 'nose' consultant for those fragrances, there 's no way in the world the guy who worships Nombre Noir and Mitsouko would claim Beyond Paradise a great fragrance!!
Some talented experts always have an insulting condescending way to underestimate people!

Good point.

I wish ! Calice Becker does not need my input to produce these marvels, and neither do Hilfiger, Dior and Lauder. Still, I live in hope :-)

Yes, it would be an honor to have imput and direction into those companies, I wonder what you could come up with! Oh to have all those materials at your disposal (dreaming). I am loving and enjoying your new book. I cannot put it down! I read half of it in 3 hours! I was just trying to cut and paste the diagram of the auffbau (sp?) principle of electron shell capture as your book inspired something with me. It was going to work well in a thread I was going to start but as it seems, I might get booted of here for such a taboo subject. LOL!

I thought I might introduce a regular thread discussing one chemistry topic at a time in hopes that "chemistry" will not be so scarry to others and create public awareness of scientific involvement in the perfume industry. Needless to say, your book does a fine job so there is no need for me to do that. I laughed when I saw the aromatic rings because I was doing the mechanism in my head and then you went on to say that whoever can understand this rght away will have a brillant future! That was kind to say and I felt you speaking to me!

I also told a friend about the part where you talked about ###### attracting flies! LOL! I have never laughed so hard in my life!! Yes, that is true but it shows you have a sense of humor as well! It sounded like somethinig I would say! LOL! I have not finished the book yet but when I do, I am going to write a review!

Cheers Mr. Turin!

I haven't received my book yet but I'm glad it contains a lot about chemistry and I hope I'll be able to follow that. When I read all the perfume descriptions that describe just about every note in natural terms, and I know there are more synthetic than natural ingredients in most perfumes, it makes me feel like there is a wall between me and perfume reality. I think it's time customers started getting exposed to what's really in a perfume and how it's made. This demystification is to my mind one of the best things (of many) about Luca Turin's writing.

Ikkito, I look forward to your posts about chemistry--as long as it's about perfume, I'll be motivated to absorb it!

You contributed to turn NN into legendary cult perfume.
I own 60ML EDP full bottle (still in its original NN letters wrapping paper)and the black octogonal extrait bottle unfortunately empty.
Anyone that 's sensible can tell Beyond Paradise is a generic cheapo scent!
You can write as much as you want about BP even if discontinued people will never spend what they spend to own the (in)famous NN, no way!
Just my honnest impression and bitter feeling.

Why be bitter?

How much more betrayal can I take? LOL

because I would have loved to take this greatest perfumes ever thing seriously but obviously it was a joke, at least partially.
Again more reason to question authority and the system!

But.. do you really want an authority to tell you what the greatest perfumes are, an authority you will take "seriously"?

I don't. I thought his lists were interesting the same way I would see anyone who writes on the topic. They are not from an Authority, rather from a connoisseur. They are interesting precisely because of the writer's adoration of his topic. Surprises in a connoisseur's list shouldn't be a threat or an offence. JMHO.

I said it 's always good to question authority meaning the 'experts' in this case. I like consistency and I don 't see it when it comes to his reviews/recommendations.
As far as his praise on Beyond Paradise I 'm not afraid to take a stand on it and speak out while some respectable POL members who might/probably think the same wouldn 't.
The BP thing is a such a horrible joke; pathetic.

You all make valid statements. It is ok to disagree but I feel that it should be done with dignity and elegance. I find paradise too sweet for my taste but appreciate it from a chemical stand point reagarding quality. Mr. Luca is entitled to his opinion and has a wealth of knowledge that I'd like to hear more about. Even though he is being attacked and talked to like a dog, he remains mature about it and that is a mark of a professional.

Everybody knows he shut his blog because he couldn 't take it, the criticism. How funny someone whose reviews are critical doesn t like it when critical opinions are applied to him.
Remember his Guerlain article on Mistouko reformulation? Guerlain had to send many emails to deny everything that LT claimed!
I don 't care how much one knows about chemistry, I strongly believe the most talented 'nose' in his lab cannot create a great perfume if he has no coherance, little experience of life and no artistic vision.
It takes more than a great molecule to come up with a great perfume! Beyond Paradise may have a "genius" molecule in it but still it 's a boring generic fruity floral.

Well put. Makes sense.