It’s time for the weekend poll — Aunt Violet: “What’s a weekend?” — and this weekend, we’re scenting the cast of Downton Abbey. Scent as many or as few as you like, and please, there is no need for historical accuracy — Julian Fellowes has not been stifled by such considerations, so neither will we.

If you don’t watch Downton Abbey, feel free to scent a character from your favorite TV show.

I’ve been thinking about Aunt Violet…

Read the rest of this article »

Twilight Beauty has launched Immortal Twilight, a new fragrance for women being released in conjunction with the upcoming Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn movie…

Read the rest of this article »

The CW Network reality television series America’s Next Top Model will launch Dream Come True, a new fragrance for women, in January at Target…

Read the rest of this article »

And there you have it: Vomit that smells like chocolate, candy that smells faintly like blueberry muffins, and bacon that doesn't smell like anything at all.

— Chandler Burr reviews the scratch 'n sniff cards for Spy Kids 4 in Poop or Chocolate? An Olfactory Review of Spy Kids 4’s Aroma-scope at Vulture.

Recently I saw The Silence of the Lambs again. When I first saw the film, just after it came out, my fragrance wardrobe consisted of Chanel Coco and Victoria’s Secret Tranquil Breezes bubble bath. This time, more attuned to perfume references, I chilled as Hannibal Lector met Clarice Starling for the first time. Lector stood straight-backed, arms at his side, and stared at Clarice on the other side of the bars. His nostrils flared and he half-shut his eyes. “You wear L’Air du Temps,” he said. “But not today.” Brilliant.

When I watch movies these days, my eyes are often fixed on the background as I look for perfume. In Guess Who’s Coming for Dinner, two 16-ounce, houndstooth Christian Dior bottles sit on a shelf in the bathroom. I think one of them is Miss Dior. In Auntie Mame, the Rosalind Russell version, Mame gives her housekeeper a giant clock-shaped bottle of something Guerlain I suspect is Shalimar. Another mammoth bottle of Guerlain, this one looking to hold nearly a gallon of Mitsouko Eau de Cologne, adorns the background of an Italian movie. I can’t remember the plot at all, only the Mitsouko…

Read the rest of this article »

Chandler Burr spends his life standing in his New York apartment, darting between the front door and his living room. The postman comes several times a day; packages are dropped off, the contents inspected and then sprayed, regularly and methodically, over different parts of Burr’s anatomy. “Ooh!” he’ll squeal occasionally. “Interesting.” Or: “No! Juicy Fruit! Pot!”

— Sound familiar? From a review of BBC 4′s three part series, Perfume;* read more at Last Night’s TV – Perfume, BBC4; Imagine, BBC1 at the Independent…

Read the rest of this article »

With each individual admission ticket, kids and parents will also receive an Aromascope card...As the numbers flash on the movie screen the audience will rub the corresponding number on their card. When each of the 8 aromas are unleashed you will get to experience a special moment in the film and be transported into scenes in the family adventure film. This fun added attraction takes the audience beyond sight and sound and into a symphony of scents as the movie is coming to life.

— From Latest Spy Kids Goes ‘4-D,’ Will Screen in ‘Aromascope’ at Movie Line, found via Perfumer & Flavorist at Facebook.

About the author: Diana is the author of the Feminine Things blog. She works in the insurance industry to support her art projects and perfume habit, and at any given time is probably the best smelling person with a law degree in the Pacific Northwest.

I love movies.

Don’t get me wrong. I love television. I love books. I love live theater and concerts and musicals and live dance productions, from Bill T. Jones to the London Ballet Company. I even have affection for the symphony, the opera, and live ice skating.

But there is little I enjoy more than seeing a really good movie. This Sunday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will come together for the 83rd time to celebrate the movie industry’s best and brightest. And one of my friends, by virtue of a parental connection, gets to go see The Academy Awards live and in person every year. Since I have been watching them from afar all my life, this makes me positively chartreuse with envy.

For my dear friend, though, the thrill wore off a few years ago. So she and her siblings, bored from their oh-so-many star sightings, decided to raise the stakes. They invented a game they call “Brush with Fame.” The goal is to see who, by the end of the night, can come the closest to an honest-to-goodness world-renowned celebrity — possibly even brushing against or bumping into them — without that star noticing. I believe there are bonus points if the famous person in question is also one of the night’s winners. The sibling pack are the arbiters of which star shines the brightest, and the winner gets family bragging rights for the year. Last year my friend, the baby of the group, beat out her siblings by getting close enough to ‘bump’ into Rob Pattinson, the world’s most famous sparkly vampire.

Upon discovering this game, I did what any obsessive film geek would do: I began imagining who I would try to ‘bump’ into. But as a diehard perfumista, I was equally enamored by a concurrent mystery: if I did get that close, close enough to touch them, what would they smell like?

If I were in my friend’s shoes, here’s who I’d be aiming for this Sunday and what I’d hope to smell as I was passing by…

Read the rest of this article »

Three new fragrances for the popular television series Glee have been launched in the UK…

Read the rest of this article »