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    The Perfect Scent: A Year Inside the Perfume Industry in Paris and New York

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    Description

    From the New York Times perfume critic, a stylish, fascinating, unprecedented insider's view of the global perfume industry, told through two creators working on two very different scents. No journalist has ever been allowed into the ultrasecretive, highly pressured process of originating a perfume. But Chandler Burr, the New York Times perfume critic, spent a year behind the scenes observing the creation of two major fragrances. Now, writing with wit and elegance, he juxtaposes the stories of the perfumes -- one created by a Frenchman in Paris for an exclusive luxury-goods house, the other made in New York by actress Sarah Jessica Parker and Coty, Inc., a giant international corporation. We follow Coty's mating of star power to the marketing of perfume, watching Sex and the City's Parker heading a hugely expensive campaign to launch a scent into the overcrowded celebrity market. Will she match the success of Jennifer Lopez? Does she have the international fan base to drive worldwide sales? In Paris at the elegant Hermès, we see Jean Claude Ellena, his company's new head perfumer, given a challenge: he must create a scent to resuscitate Hermès's perfume business and challenge le monstre of the industry, bestselling Chanel No. 5. Will his pilgrimage to a garden on the Nile supply the inspiration he needs? The Perfect Scent is the story of two daring creators, two very different scents, and a billion-dollar industry that runs on the invisible magic of perfume. Read more

    Publisher ‏ : ‎ Henry Holt and Co.; First edition (January 22, 2008)


    Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 22, 2008


    Language ‏ : ‎ English


    File size ‏ : ‎ 4.0 MB


    Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled


    Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported


    Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled


    X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled


    Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled


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    Top Amazon Reviews

      • Captivating
    For me, this is the best book on perfumers and perfume making. Chris Burr's personal experience was unique and amazing and the way he told the story was brilliant. You will discover a world you never even imagined existed, a world of passion, of imagination, of creation and hard work, all repaid by great satisfaction in the final products and the glamor of the industry. A definite buy! ... show more
    Reviewed in the United States on November 29, 2024 by CS
      • A Fascinating Journey Into The World of Luxury Fragrance
    I enjoyed this book tremendously. It was definitely not a page-turner for me. Rather, I savored it steadily over several weeks. Still, rest assured that this will remain one of my favorite books. By the time I was done with it, I had a huge admiration for both the author and his subjects - both American and French. I attribute this to the skillful writing and crystal-clear honesty of the author. I thought it was wonderful to see discussions end with complete candor when things went "off-record", as well as full disclosure when sensitive topics and "hot" documents were discussed. I admire Burr's journalistic integrity, which is unfortunately an increasingly rare thing these days. Before reading this book, I was, I will admit, a bit of a Francophobe, with no particular desire to ever set foot there again. Not even finished with the book, my wife and I began planning a family trip there. This is purely a product of the author's sensitive but unforced treatment of his French subjects. As noted in other reviews, he takes pains to provide complete yet flowing translations of French dialogue, which actually makes for a wonderful, engaging read. Many authors would toss out the French with an air of linguistic superiority and force the reader to sink or swim. Instead, Burr clearly wants everybody to get on board the train before it leaves, and it works. Whether it was the author or the editor or both, my hat is off to them. The book teaches - almost unbeknownst to the reader - an enormous amount about fragrances. As a scientist, I can assure you that he does a marvelous job with the scientific aspects, and that he made even the "old hat" science interesting to me. The history, economics, marketing, and politics of fragrances - about which I know far less - was even more fascinating, and - I have no doubt - just as accurate. And the really neat thing is that he made it so damn interesting. I could almost feel the starched lab coats and smell the test strips, and I wanted to be there. To my fellow fragranauts (or "fragra-nuts"), I offer this. Before reading this book, I knew next to nothing about the Hermès line of fragrances ("Hermès? The scarf people? You mean, they do fragrances?"). By the time I was done, I was *positive* that I would take a liking to "Terre d'Hermès". Sure enough, when I tested about a dozen newer fragrances in Sephora, I walked out with Terre d'Hermès. If you're a fragrance fetishist like me, this book will talk to you. ... show more
    Reviewed in the United States on April 16, 2008 by Cologniac
      • That Perfume Costs WHAT?
    Review Image by Jane Jane
    Review Image by Jane Jane
    Review Image by Jane Jane
    Easy reading, humorish, behind the scenes look at the perfume industry. The author spent a year in Paris to watch the makings of perfumes from the big industry and marketing houses of today. The very fragrances you and I wear everyday. Perfumery has, sadly, has changed from the days when perfumers experimented with various scents to create that million dollar perfume. Now, such a large industry, the money spent to find the masterpiece fragrance is absurd! We're talking millions of dollars for one fragrance! WHAT? The author seems obnoxiously full of himself, but if you read through his ego to the crux of what he is saying, it is an informative, at times humous, book. If you are interested in the art of perfumery, this is a good book and, I would recommend it. There are many other books were you will learn more about real artisans, where they get their ingredients, and how they put it all together for that perfect aroma. Recommend. ... show more
    Reviewed in the United States on August 4, 2017 by Jane Jane
      • Smell This, SJP!
    Chandler Burr has been a museum curator, newspaper scent correspondent, and writer of fiction and non-fiction. Lately he has moved from the New York Times to New York's Museum of Art and Design, which is not as MAD as it sounds. In this book, Burr documents two recent adventures in the fragrance industry. For the first story he received unprecedented access to the development of a celebrity perfume, here starring Sarah Jessica Parker, one of the war horses of Sex and the City on TV and film, and the perfumers and retailers of Paris, Grasse, and New York. SJP uniquely takes an active role in the creation, development, and marketing of her juice. She meets with technologists to learn the market and the molecules, and ultimately is persuaded to come up with something more commercial than her initial plan for a sex-laden masculine musk. The second caper features the development and ultimate commercialization of a new perfume, starting with an ideation trip to Egypt reminiscent of the Victorian era tales of Dame Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot. For reasons only clear to Burr, these two generally unrelated non-fiction stories have been told chronologically, so we jump from Egypt to Greenwich Village to Grasse to Hollywood. Burr's writing is better suited to features and magazines than full-length books as he seems to want to fill up pages with long recipes, price lists, verbatim quotations from various discussions with starlets, photographers, and marketers, and descriptions of his childhood and alternative lifestyle wishes and adventures. While I don't like the writing style, construction, and weird detours, I find this to be an important book. I have no sense of scent or fashion but I have worked in the industry, implementing commercial agreements and negotiating with the Big Boys. As Burr points out the procurement people are considered the buzz-killers in the fragrance industry as we implement long term development agreements with selected strategic core suppliers, with a goal to limit the number of suppliers and reign in current and future costs. Burr focuses on the creative side but he brings out some points on the financial and practical issues with commercialization. A lot of retailers expect the fragrance houses to work on their product development briefs with no likelihood of commercial success. Burr's sections on the history of the industry, especially the development and proliferation of synthetic molecules, is the key to understanding the commercial relationships. Burr's other insight is that the perfume industry is suffering compared to movies, books, cars, fashion, and food for not inviting the public behind the scenes to see this fascinating creative process. There is no Universal Studios ride through the world of perfume, and no project runways or open auditions for perfumers. ... show more
    Reviewed in the United States on February 9, 2013 by john purcell

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