Perfume handbook shows you how to separate the divine from the good from the breathtakingly bad

(19/10/2009)

Forget everything you’ve ever read about perfumes and read 'Perfumes: The A-Z Guide'.
The first ever paperback edition of this instant classic reviews over 400 new scents, with pricing information and additional top 10 lists. The definitive, no-holds-barred perfume handbook from two aroma-experts shows you how to separate the divine from the good from the breathtakingly bad.

In 1995 biophysicist Luca Turin came up with a new theory about how the nose works that rocked the scientific establishment. Then in 2002, The Emperor of Scent was published, a book dedicated to his quest for recognition and the story of a remarkable man fascinated by perfume and how we are able to smell.

Turin is a rogue aesthete and devoted purist when it comes to perfumes, but the global business is worth hundreds of millions of pounds a year and renowned for packing a powerful punch when it comes to public criticism. Yet now every celebrity has her own signature scent, how can we smell through the glamorous ads, ambiguous endorsements and fancy packaging? Together with Tania Sanchez, Turin has sniffed and swooned over almost 1500 scents to come up with this, the first and only no-holds-barred assessment of what’s behind the counters.

Combining scientific authority with experience, their starred (* awful to ***** masterpiece) reviews separate the deeply divine:
***** ‘a towering masterpiece’ (Jicky by Guerlain),
***** ‘it’s love’ (Badgley Mischka)
***** ‘basically perfect’ (Bois des îles by Chanel)
from the staggeringly bad:
* ‘a secret not worth keeping’ (Secret Wish by Anna Sui)
* ‘tooth decay’ (Princess by Vera Wang)
* ‘I hope I live long enough to see this sort of faceless dreck wiped off the face of the earth. Nice bottle.’ (Le Parfum by Lalique)

Perfumes: The A-Z Guide is the culmination of Turin’s lifelong obsession and rare scientific flair and Sanchez’s stylish and devoted blogging about every scent that she’s ever loved and loathed. Together they make a fine and utterly persuasive argument for the unrecognised craft of perfumemaking.

Perfume writing has certainly never been this honest, compelling or downright entertaining. With an introduction to the history and chemistry of perfume-manufacture, top 10 best-of lists according to type, instructions on how to apply scent properly, answers to FAQs and a glossary of terms, this is the ultimate celebration of the art of perfume. It will make everyone who reads it reconsider their tried-and-tested scent and wonder how they lived without this essential insight into the sublimely subtle world of perfumery.

Perfumes: The A-Z Guide £12.99 Paperback

Related categories:  Celebrity fragrances   Fragrances for her   Fragrances for him