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The Perfect Scent: A Year Inside the Perfume Industry in Paris and New York by Chandler Burr
paul_gallagher's review against another edition
5.0
The Perfect Scent takes you deep inside the perfume industry on both sides of the Atlantic, where we get to be voyeurs through the creation of two distinctive products - one for a celebrity in Manhattan, one the arcane art of a traditional french perfumer.
This is an excellent book that leads the reader into the strange world of an industry, tradition and set of skills that most of us would know nothing about. It makes no apology for getting into extreme detail, or for not dumbing-down the story for the novice. In fact it is this unrestrained embrace of all the fascinating details while following the personal stories of those involved which I suspect makes the book so successful in engaging all of us perfume noobs.
NB: the audiobook version is highly recommend, the narrator does a brilliant job of making the story very personal and the french accents are tr��s authentique (see http://www.bookjetty.com/books/1400106575/perfect-scent-year-perfume-industry )
This is an excellent book that leads the reader into the strange world of an industry, tradition and set of skills that most of us would know nothing about. It makes no apology for getting into extreme detail, or for not dumbing-down the story for the novice. In fact it is this unrestrained embrace of all the fascinating details while following the personal stories of those involved which I suspect makes the book so successful in engaging all of us perfume noobs.
NB: the audiobook version is highly recommend, the narrator does a brilliant job of making the story very personal and the french accents are tr��s authentique (see http://www.bookjetty.com/books/1400106575/perfect-scent-year-perfume-industry )
scunareader's review against another edition
4.0
I find myself wondering about how chance encounters can change ones life, as is the case with chandler burr. He's got a great life, and he may have had a great life before he met Luca Turin, but probably not as good as it is now, in reality, in the world of perfumery, where he gets, what appears to be, carte blanche entree into this wonderful world of olfactory joy.
As usual, the book is written very well, as Chandler Burr is a great writer. But who's paying attention to the writing itself when he's describing the amazing art (ok and business aspect too) of perfume creation. I found the business aspect less interesting than the art of it. That explains a lot about me and what I'm drawn to in life. However, I'm also a realist and understand that the savvy business aspect of perfume creation is the most crucial step in putting a newborn fragrance out into the big bad world of department store shelves.
As usual, the book is written very well, as Chandler Burr is a great writer. But who's paying attention to the writing itself when he's describing the amazing art (ok and business aspect too) of perfume creation. I found the business aspect less interesting than the art of it. That explains a lot about me and what I'm drawn to in life. However, I'm also a realist and understand that the savvy business aspect of perfume creation is the most crucial step in putting a newborn fragrance out into the big bad world of department store shelves.
rjkamaladasa's review against another edition
3.0
Technically, this shouldn't have been titled "The perfect scent". 'A year inside the perfume industry in Paris and NY' would've been sufficient. If you advertise your book as the Perfect scent, then that would entail giving details into how and why the receptors in our nose become sensitive aromas, and the science behind making a "perfect" scent. The book does not go that far. It doesn't even try.
But having said that, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. Being the very secretive industry that it is, Chandler Burr gets the maximum out of the chance he got to spend with 2 great perfume houses and writes elegantly and somewhat humorously about the time he spent with Sarah Jessica Parker, and the master perfumer Jean Claude Elena. The latter came as a pleasant surprise to me because I personally love Terre d' Hermes and how it stands out to be masculine but yet a refined, subtle and non-aggressive fragrance that you can wear without attracting unwanted attention. The book doesn't talk about the making of Terre d' Hermes (it talks about making the Jardin Hermes fragrance), but none-the-less the life and inclusion of Elena made the book so much appealing to me.
The book also goes dwells into the economics of the perfume industry, but it could have done better. There is a reason why there is a growth in the fragrance creation just like constant growth of hard-drives and CPUs. The author doesn't go as far. So I'm a little disappointed there as well.
But all in all, it was an OK book. Educational, somewhat humorous and a relaxing read. A bit more effort on fine tuning the broadness, and I would've given this 4 stars.
But having said that, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. Being the very secretive industry that it is, Chandler Burr gets the maximum out of the chance he got to spend with 2 great perfume houses and writes elegantly and somewhat humorously about the time he spent with Sarah Jessica Parker, and the master perfumer Jean Claude Elena. The latter came as a pleasant surprise to me because I personally love Terre d' Hermes and how it stands out to be masculine but yet a refined, subtle and non-aggressive fragrance that you can wear without attracting unwanted attention. The book doesn't talk about the making of Terre d' Hermes (it talks about making the Jardin Hermes fragrance), but none-the-less the life and inclusion of Elena made the book so much appealing to me.
The book also goes dwells into the economics of the perfume industry, but it could have done better. There is a reason why there is a growth in the fragrance creation just like constant growth of hard-drives and CPUs. The author doesn't go as far. So I'm a little disappointed there as well.
But all in all, it was an OK book. Educational, somewhat humorous and a relaxing read. A bit more effort on fine tuning the broadness, and I would've given this 4 stars.
missmim's review against another edition
4.0
YMMV on this one, depending on how much you know about the perfume industry. Since I knew zilch, this was a fascinating read and I couldn't get enough of it. From the super prestige scent-making at Hermes, to the more commercial celebrity scent-selling at Coty, it provided a really interesting, and contrasting, view of how the perfume industry works today. If you're interested in the subject, I'd definitely recommend it, despite Burr's tendency to translate French, etc. immediately after using it, and describing everyone's outfits and looks (which I appreciated, from a gossipy standpoint, but you might find distracting). I'm also reading Luca Turin & Tania Sanchez's A-Z Guide to Perfumes, and it was really amusing to compare Burr's opinions to Turin's.
esshgee's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this book and found it quite fascinating. I did blank out a bit on some of the technical details though. I do wear perfume but rarely, however it made me want to seek out some of the perfume names I read about. Particularly interesting was the insight into designing the Egyptian inspired fragrance - Un jardin sur le Nil.
tensy's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting review of the perfume industry. Alternating chapters between the launch of Sarah Jessica Parker's "Lovely" perfume and Ellena's perfume for Hermes, Jardin Sur Le Nil. I enjoyed learning all the interesting aspects of perfumery--the creation of the sauce, the bottle, the marketing and the differences between natural and synthetic molecules. However, the writing was very choppy (the book was based on several magazine articles) and I was annoyed when the chapter would turn to a totally different topic in random places. Overall, I liked reading the book because of my personal interest in perfumes, but others may not put up with the badly edited writing.
helenaliu's review against another edition
3.0
I am intensely fascinated by perfume so I wasted no time after hearing about The Perfect Scent in purchasing and reading this book. As an insider's view into the perfume industry, this book does not disappoint. Burr relays the conversations in meetings that led to both Hermès Un Jardin Sur Le Nil and Sarah Jessica Parker's Lovely at an almost gesture-by-gesture level of detail. The chapters that explored the chemistry behind perfume blending and the politics of the industry were wonderfully informative, if not gently pulled the wool from my eyes to much of the romance and fantasy constructed by the fragrance companies.
My absolute favourite chapter rationally and persuasively argued against a trend in perfumery to tout the alleged benefits of natural perfumes over synthetics. Having been a patron of natural perfumes for some time after unquestioningly buying into the mystique of that approach, Burr compellingly points out the technical, aesthetic, and ecological advantages to synthetics that I have never critically considered until now.
I agree with many of the existing reviews here on Goodreads that this book had two major weaknesses. The first is the sense that the end of this book was particularly rushed. The chapters of the book devoted to Parker's perfume appeared to set up for a grand finale where her personal fragrance vision is realised, but culminated in an anticlimactic end that matter-of-factly mentions the release date with no details of the final product or the experiences of those involved in its creation, including Parker herself.
The next weakness was the tone of the author, which ranged from amusingly biting to acerbic and cruel. I often felt like I was reading the account of an insecure adolescent who relayed the simplest information by navigating between derisive retorts of others (I would be reluctant to recommend this book to anyone French) and pretentious self-aggrandisement (I found it hard to avoid the notion that Burr is a cultured sophisticate who is trusted by celebrities, admired by the friends of those celebrities, and speaks French, Japanese and Italian in addition to English). Much of the richness of detail in this book also centres superificially around the appearance and dress of the people featured, which were more often snarky and insulting than complimentary.
My absolute favourite chapter rationally and persuasively argued against a trend in perfumery to tout the alleged benefits of natural perfumes over synthetics. Having been a patron of natural perfumes for some time after unquestioningly buying into the mystique of that approach, Burr compellingly points out the technical, aesthetic, and ecological advantages to synthetics that I have never critically considered until now.
I agree with many of the existing reviews here on Goodreads that this book had two major weaknesses. The first is the sense that the end of this book was particularly rushed. The chapters of the book devoted to Parker's perfume appeared to set up for a grand finale where her personal fragrance vision is realised, but culminated in an anticlimactic end that matter-of-factly mentions the release date with no details of the final product or the experiences of those involved in its creation, including Parker herself.
The next weakness was the tone of the author, which ranged from amusingly biting to acerbic and cruel. I often felt like I was reading the account of an insecure adolescent who relayed the simplest information by navigating between derisive retorts of others (I would be reluctant to recommend this book to anyone French) and pretentious self-aggrandisement (I found it hard to avoid the notion that Burr is a cultured sophisticate who is trusted by celebrities, admired by the friends of those celebrities, and speaks French, Japanese and Italian in addition to English). Much of the richness of detail in this book also centres superificially around the appearance and dress of the people featured, which were more often snarky and insulting than complimentary.
onceupon_longago's review against another edition
informative
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
4.25
After finishing this book, I immediately wanted to go to a department store to smell all of the perfumes. Silliness aside, this was a fascinating topic and I want to learn more. The author did a great job jumping back and forth between two stories and timelines, as well as explaining the many complicated parts of the perfume industry.
snarkyshibes's review against another edition
5.0
Eye opening inside view of the perfume industry. The anecdotes were nicely balanced with perfume theory. I definitely appreciate perfume much more now.