But traditional ingredients like oakmoss still tied perfumery to its ancient past. Now that this link is being severed, the challenge for the industry is to use technology to replace what’s been lost—by developing new ingredients, both natural and synthetic, and using precise software-controlled machines to find new combinations that capture old essences. But with more ingredients getting restricted every year, the hunt for replacements has grown more complex, and perfumery is in danger of losing the scent.

— From Engineering Replacements for Essential Perfume Ingredients, a long consideration of the effect of IFRA regulations on modern perfumery, over at Wired.

In the past, changes were driven by Mother Nature—or accountants. One caused variations in the quality and availability of natural ingredients, the other substituted less costly ones... In recent years, there’s been a third force: industry efforts to cut back on allergy-causing ingredients, to avoid labelling requirements or outright ingredient bans.

— Kim Pittaway, writing in This ain’t my mama’s L’Air Du Temps at Maclean's.

The muffled world of perfume does not hide its concern and anger over European legislation continues to restrict the use of natural and synthetic materials for designers. "We're very worried, says, exasperated, Patrick Saint-Yves, president of the French Society of Perfumers (FPS). If you were running an association of painters and suddenly you are prohibited to use the blue?

— The Chrome browser's (middling, but what can you do?) translation from the original French in Parfums: chefs-d’œuvre en péril at Le Temps. The (long and detailed) article is about IFRA restrictions on modern perfumery. Found via the Tauer Perfumes Advent calendar; don't forget it's day 2!

The forbidden ingredients this time round are so extensive that I am asking myself, to give you an analogy, how could a baker make bread without flour? Substituting some materials with others is an option but it is possible that some fragrances will never see the light of day. This has already happened to me three times.

— Serge Lutens, talking about IFRA regulations, in There’s a bad whiff about this fuss over fragrance at the London Evening Standard. Thanks to Anya for the link!

We’ve got to combat what is going on out there. There are people coming after the industry. [...] We need to evolve, because the rest of the environment is evolving. I don’t want us [the industry] to be a dinosaur. We don’t want to become extinct.

— IFRA president Demi Thoman, quoted in Fragrance Industry Organizations Realign for a Stronger Global Voice at Perfumer & Flavorist. Many thanks to Alyssa for the link!

Nous vendons des parfums dont le plus vieux a plus de 150 ans. Si un jour, Bruxelles ne veut plus d’essence de rose, comment pourrais-je faire ? Il y a de la rose dans presque tous nos parfums… C’est un patrimoine à défendre.

— Perfumer Thierry Wasser of Guerlain, wondering what will happen to the iconic Guerlain fragrances if and when IFRA outlaws rose. Quoted in Les créateurs de parfums ont la Commission européenne dans le nez in Le Monde. The article also quotes perfumer François Demachy, and representatives from Jean Paul Gaultier and Paco Rabanne, among others…

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After immediately falling head over heels in love with Bois d’Iris, to the tune of $185, I took my time about the other five fragrances in the Collection Extraordinaire from Van Cleef & Arpels. As it turns out, they’re all nicely done, and I can see why Gardénia Pétale in particular has found admirers. But none of them made me catch my breath other than the Muguet Blanc, and my reaction to that one was not entirely positive.

Here’s what Neiman Marcus has to say about Muguet Blanc:

Muguet Blanc showcases the purity, innocence and much-anticipated beauty of one of springtime’s first flowers. A green, joyous and incredibly delicate arrangement, graceful lily-of-the-valley is enhanced with exotic white peony, radiant neroli and uplifting white cedar.

For the most part, that’s right on the money; the part I’m going to quibble about is mostly the “joyous”. To explain why, I need to back up. A little warning before I proceed: those of you who are sick to death of hearing me wax nostalgic about the lost glory days of perfumery, move on, there’s nothing else to read here today…

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One of the many hazards of writing about perfumes is that they’re not static objects. If you pick up a new bottle of Jean Couture Coriandre, what you’ll smell won’t be at all what I smelled when I first bought it in the late 1970s. It might not even be the same as what I smelled when I reviewed Coriandre a couple years ago, and found it to be an entirely different animal than the scent I remembered. The Coriandre you smell tomorrow, or next month, or next year, might have changed yet again.

This has obvious implications for anyone blogging about perfume or reading perfume blogs. When you read a perfume review, unless it’s about a perfume that launched recently, you can’t be sure that what you’ll smell in the stores is the exact same fragrance.

This article is meant as a very basic primer on reformulation, and most of what I’ll cover is well-known to seasoned perfumistas.

Perfumes get reformulated all the time, and they always have. Why? Well, there are any number of reasons. Sometimes companies substitute cheaper ingredients as a cost-saving measure…

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The perfume industry certainly needs a safety organisation to protect its interests – but maybe not this one, which is guilty of over-regulating the industry, and confuses the career interests of its composite toxicologists over and above its function to be a balanced safety policy-making unit for the trade.

— Tony Burfield of Cropwatch, writing about the IFRA standards for melissa oil in Robertet Reveals its Evidence on Melissa Oil to Cropwatch at The Aromaconnection Blog. You can also read more at The melissa oil scandal & IFRA at 1000 Fragrances.

Of the 50 products randomly tested from around the world as part of the IFRA Compliance Program’s third cycle (May 2008 to April 2009) one finished product has been identified as containing a recently banned fragrance material. [...]

“This is the first time we have identified a banned fragrance material in the three years of running the Compliance Program,” explained Jean-Pierre Houri, IFRA Director General. “Since the material has only recently been banned it is possible that the finished product is part of batch that is simply running its course through the retail pipeline...”

— From Fragrance industry spots non-compliant product at IFRA. Most unfortunately, they don't name the product or we could all run out and buy a bottle.