Perfumes: The Guide
by Luca Turin, Tania Sanchez
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Book Summary Information
Author: Luca Turin, Tania SanchezEdition: Hardcover
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 2008-04-10
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 400
Publisher: Viking Adult
Book Reviews of Perfumes: The Guide
Book Review: advice on how to use this book
Summary: 5 Stars
EXCELLENT book, biting wit, right-to-the-point 1-liners. True, not a complete list, possibly somewhat biased (read the review mentioning Beyond Paradise by Estee Lauder), but there is no substitute for it out there... Read Turin's and Sanchez' words as a rough guide to inform your neocortex, but filter as much as you can (or care, or should I say wear?) through your own ofactory experience. You should only wear what you like, not what any one guru says is worth its while (but be mindful that others need to stand it also).
His star ratings are a good guide for what's what: hyped dross (*), flat/boring blah (**), good/wearable (***), excellent/exquisite (****), unique/the ultimate (***** MIND YOU: not necessarily wearable).
For those among you who are unsure/confused/need help/etc: most of the stuff you might want to wear is marked *** or ****. Tread lightly among the ***** rated, always test your "candidate fragrance" on a paper strip AND your own skin before plunking down serious money. Go to Neiman Marcus' or Saks' or Nordstrom's fragrance counters and ask for a few spritzed strips. Let them dry, then seal them inside (separate!) ziploc bags before putting them in your pocket, then walk away. Sniff "them" strips half-a-day or a day later, to see if you want to test them on your skin. Then go back. It's worth the trouble, 'cause it's gonna save you from making some very expensive mistakes...
Yes, the listing is incomplete, Turin's views are it's highly idiosyncratic and sometimes "wrong" (as his co-author TS says somewhere in the book), but always pithy and witty with a dry sarcastic edge, thus highly entertaining. (What better concisely worded characterization for Equipage by Hermès than scent of a "crumpled gentleman farmer"? And so on, and on, and on... I'm not sure, though, why he flames Santos by Cartier, though. It's just as subtle and close-to-skin in its dry-down as Equipage... Well, I quess he's totally not free from fads, his own words sy it: "...in a style that has aged badly... If you like this stuff, get Yatagan." Well, I do wear Yatagan, and it smells quite differently from Santos!)
For the ofactorily impaired or those whose sensibilities are (rather childishly) offended: you can read the lists of top-middle-bottom notes for 90+% of the existing perfumes on the [...] site for example (or on many of the Internet sites that sell perfumes). You can also read the various perfume blogs ad nauseam, often written by self-appointed "scent gurus" (is "gurette" the feminine for "teacher" in Hindi?). At most, you will get only a vague idea on how the various perfumes smell and very likely become REALLY CONFUSED, if you spend enough (actually: too much) time reading those reviews. There is no better telling about the esthetic experience elicited by the various perfumes than Turin's brief descriptions. Sample some perfumes that you're not familiar with, then read Turin's description, to get your own book-to-sensory-experience mapping (or key on how to decipher his critiques). Mind you, practicing (synthetic) chemists use their shnozolas as their first-line rough-and-ready alarm system as well as analytical tool, so Turin really knows what he is talking about. That said, "de gustibus et colorem non est disputandum" and that which you like might not necessarily have his blessing or be to his liking, but that's OK. After all, you use a perfume for causing you, and hopefully those around you, pleasure. Which also means: beware of loud, "foghorn" scents, out of deference for other people's personal space, if for nothing else. If you don't like someone to step on your toes, why should someone else enjoy having their nose "stepped on" by your fragrance?
If you are interested in what's popular, go to [...] for a bunch of user reviews. Although, mind you, this is a self-selected set and therefore biased sample, but if you rather have a popular vote (vox populis) than an informed professional opinion, that's as close as you can get, since the "silent majority" is just that, silent on the subject. (But not necessarily fragrance/stench free!)
Summary of Perfumes: The Guide
This title also features introductions to women's and men's fragrances, to trends and to history and chemistry; a glossary and many 'Top Ten' Lists; and, an informative section on frequently asked questions. It is a truly unique and useful guide, one written with a passion for its subject, and a perfect gift. It includes: Chinatown (Bond number 9); gourmand chypre (the endearingly plucky firm of Bond number 9 has produced its first masterpiece ...like a corner of a small French grocery in summer); a treasure in a beautiful bottle; Hugo (Hugo Boss); unexciting lavender, dull but competent ...suggestive of a day filled with strategy meetings; and, Gardenia (Chanel) - not gardenia ...a thoroughly unpleasant, loud airport-toilet floral.The first book of its kind: a definitive guide to the world of perfume
Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez are experts in the world of scent. Turin, a renowned scientist, and Sanchez, a longtime perfume critic, have spent years sniffing the world's most elegant and beautiful--as well as some truly terrible--perfumes. In Perfumes: The Guide, they combine their talents and experience to review more than twelve hundred fragrances, separating the divine from the good from the monumentally awful. Through witty, irreverent, and illuminating prose, the reviews in Perfumes not only provide consumers with an essential guide to shopping for fragrance, but also make for a unique reading experience.
Perfumes features introductions to women's and men's fragrances and an informative "frequently asked questions" section including:
? What is the difference between eau de toilette and perfume?
? How long can I keep perfume before it goes bad?
? What's better: splash bottles or spray atomizers?
? What are perfumes made of?
? Should I change my fragrance each season?
Perfumes: The Guide is an authoritative, one-of-a-kind book that will do for fragrance what Robert Parker's books have done for wine. Beautifully designed and elegantly illustrated, this book will be the perfect gift for collectors and anyone who's ever had an interest in the fascinating subject of perfume.
Picking a Perfect Perfume
For Perfumes: The Guide, Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez tested nearly 1,500 fragrances--some glorious, some foul. Here they offer some humble advice on finding something worth loving among the stinkers.
1. Smell top to bottom
Perfumes usually unfold in three (often very different) stages: the sparkling first few minutes are the fragrance's top note, followed by its true personality, known as the heart note, and ending with the base note, aka the drydown, hours later. Something you love at the counter you may loathe by the parking lot. We recommend top-to-bottom tests on skin and on paper, since some scents that disappoint on the heat of skin may shine on your shirtsleeve.
2. Write it down
Bring a pen to write names on paper test strips, so you're not in anguish hours later, trying to recall which is the third scent from the left that transports you to Shangri-La. Keep a cheap, possibly extremely trashy paperback on hand, so you can store strips between pages to keep them separate.
3. Rest your nose
Noses tune out, which is why you can smell your friends' homes but not your own. Smell no more than five scents per day on paper strips and try on only the best one or two, to keep your nose reliable.
4. Check the radiance
To get a good sense of how the perfume will smell to other people as you walk past, try spraying a test strip and leaving it in the room while you step out for a bit. Come back fifteen minutes later and breathe in: that's the radiance.
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