“It’s true, some people have a very, very sensitive sense of smell, a natural way of identifying scents,” Penot says—but even some world-renowned perfumers do not fall into that category. “I’m not naming names,” he laughs. “I know some perfumers who are very bad at recognizing ingredients in a perfume—really bad. But they’re amazing artists doing beautiful work.”
— Fabrice Penot of Le Labo, quoted in The Scent Detective: How to Sniff Out Fragrances at Elle magazine.
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I guess it’s sort of the difference between some musicians who sight read and play and those who can’t sight read music for anything but play wonderfully by ear.
Perhaps!
I’ve always been under the impression that being able to decipher notes has more to do with experience with the note rather than natural ability. For instance, I had no idea what “ambrette seed” smelled like until this morning I put on some of a sample of Chanel No. 18. Now I think I could pick it out anywhere!
I am not that good…I recognize ambrette in a few fragrances, but most definitely not in all, and I frequently don’t pick up on even obvious notes right away. I also have a terrible memory, and I think that’s an important component too!
Well, I may not be able to pick it out if it were more subtle but in No. 18 it is just so overwhelming. I’ve heard that cumin has a similar quality to ambrette in a fragrance? Now my big question is what does Geranium smell like?
I wonder, too. Sometimes it seems that a “note” of some natural substance doesn’t really smell like the object in the real world (so does “geranium” note smell like a stemmy green, metallic-tinged geranium plant?)
Yes, I think they change character. I never thought that rose in fragrance smell like real roses at all for example.
Bergere: The geranium essential oil is from a scented cousin to the ordinary garden geranium, and the rosy scent found in the perfumery geranium oil is unique to it. Nothing metallic in the rose geranium as with the garden geranium.
I wanna go to perfume school (and get paid to do it, like that Elle writer)… sadly, that is not going to happen.
Yes, I think we all have a secret . . . or not so secret . . . desire to make our own fragrances.
Seriously! Except I’d definitely be one of those who can’t identify specific notes. Maybe I’d at least be an amazing artist doing beautiful work.
I don’t think I’d even make that level. I’d settle for being able to recognize and critique the great work.
True that!
I am coming with you to this school
Oddly, I really don’t care to. Not sure why.
Maybe it’s because it’d be like Anna Wintour taking a sewing class.
HA! No, I really don’t have a “sensitive” nose, and as I said, my memory is terrible. I’m just persistent, that’s all I’ve got going for me.
But I also don’t particularly feel the need to be an “expert” about fragrance notes — for me personally, that would not add anything to my enjoyment of fragrances as a consumer. My eyes (still) glaze over when people start rattling off the names of synthetic molecules — I just don’t care.
I’m also really interested about whether it’s possible to be really knowledgeable/interested in perfume without a great nose.
Yesterday I read a great quote from Chandler Burr, which made me think that identifying the component parts is not the most important skill. What’s more important is recognizing beauty when you smell it:
“Perhaps the most impoverished way of conceiving of a perfume (or of describing one) is listing its raw materials. It’s like experiencing Ravel’s “Pavane” by reading the sheet music, or smelling James Heeley’s Menthe Fraîche by looking at its lab formula.”
The quote is from this article:
http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/28/scent-notes-leau-de-tarocco-by-diptyque/
Yes, he says that frequently. But in all truth, listing the notes is very helpful to many people who are trying to decide which among the 1000 new fragrances they want to take the time to smell — it doesn’t tell you what something smells like, but it gives you some clues, and that’s often better than nothing. If you know the brand name, the fragrance family and the notes, it’s often enough to make at least an educated guess about whether or not it’s something you might (or might not) find it worth your while to seek out.
I can recognize a few notes in a perfume, but it takes me a while. I sniff threw each stage about a zillion times until my sense of smell exhausts itself and even then, I still can’t pick up on all of it. Oh well, at least I can tell what pleases it.
That’s all that matters…
Great read! Identifying notes is just one aspect of experiencing smell. Being able to tap into memories and associations is just as important, or even more imho. I also find it intriguing how we “borrow” from other sensual experiences and call scents “warm”, “vibrant” or “golden”. Perfume commercials annoy me because they never take these parts into accounts enough but keep relying on boring, non-sensual stereotypes.
Yes — would love to see a commercial that actually tried to convey the experience of wearing fragrance!
Thanks for such a considered response to my comment. You’re absolutely right of course.