The author is a scent critic for T: the New York Times Style Magazine. He took a year to follow Hermes' perfumer Jean Claude Ellena as he created a perfume and also followed Sarah Jessica Parker as she lent her name, and personal time and attention to the creation of a celebrity scent. It is quite a fascinating read showing the differences between the French and US perfume industries along with the the hows and whys of using natural and synthetic fragrances, and the laborious route to creating that perfect scent. Perfume the scent of life! Well I don't think I actually needed to know some of the things from this book, they came as a shock and I am still in disbelief! For instance I really didn't want to know that all perfume these days (20th and 21st century) are synthetic including my beloved Chanel No5, and that's because the allergic reaction is too great with natural scents as opposed to synthetic, Yuk! The author spends time with Hermes newest perfumer while developing their latest fragrance and the other half of his time with Sarah Jessica Parker while she is creating her hugely successful scent "Lovely". It's an interesting billion dollar industry but as the perfumer said to the author "the public can't handle the truth" and I am inclined to agree with him on this one! Very well written and interesting book if you can handle the truth!
A wonderfully entertaining look at the perfume industry. He is informative and can be wickedly funny
—kallu
Every girl who loves perfume should know what it's really about!
—shiloh
Sadly, 95% of perfume is marketing, 5% is the actual juice.
—Rimachan21
@ Weber.I like to smell things.
—islamallan
How the mighty have fallen.
—ndrobertson
