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Re: Article: Book Review: The Diary of A Nose by Jean Claude-Ellena

I kept thinking of Peter Sellers in 'Being There':

Chauncey Gardiner: 'Yes! There will be growth in the spring!'

President: 'Hm. Well, Mr. Gardner, I must admit that is one of the most refreshing and optimistic statements I've heard in a very, very long time.'

Just bought it on Amazon! :o

I'm looking forward to checking this one out.

interesting, I'll try and get it!

I got it in Hampstead Oxfam for three quid. In parts it did my head in: 'Fed up with work, I stopped for the day at 11.00am, phoned my wife and we motored to the tiny village of blah in Italy - only an hour away across the Alps - and there I buried my face in a market stall of fresh pears and - oh! - the vintage parmesan they sell there!'. Just jealousy on my part, really, but there's only so much of this I can read without wanting to throw the book across the room.

Completely agree with David Ruskin and others who've signalled the impossibility of buying today a perfume one loved many years ago. Where has Ellena been living?
Does he have access to some secret store cupboard where we could still find the original L'Heure Bleue or Mitsouko?
Though I found some parts of the book interesting, on the whole I thought it was slight and didn't justify the price tage. I bought it, but I wishes I'd ordered it from the library instead. Will pass it on to my younger daughter, who's just beginning her perfumista career!

Thanks very much for this review. I can see why the book has divided opinion, but I definitely fall into the camp which finds the prose intriguing and thought-provoking.

By the way, in case anyone's interested, on my blog, I'm currently holding a draw for a signed copy of the book. Click here for more info.

~ "... a few infidelities" - Just a few ?? - By these standards, we must be complete and utter irrevocable 'hoes' then. :D

Re: Article: Book Review: The Diary of A Nose by Jean Claude-Ellena

Originally Posted by David Ruskin

“I like the idea that a man or woman can choose a perfume at twenty and is still able to buy it when he or she is sixty, having indulged in a few infidelities.”

Nowadays this is no longer possible. Due to reformulations and deletions; the name may remain, but that is all.

You're right!

Sounds a bit patronising. Will the 'mainstream perfume consumers' be interested in the book in that case? I wasn't knocking him for including them, but I think a better description would be fascinating rather than 'brave'.

They aren't recipes for 'fumes, they are some of his "olfactory illusions". I think it's interesting that they are even there, let alone being able to make them. It would give mainstream perfume consumers a surprise that they aren't magical essences extracted from a flower by some divine process, but in fact chemical constituents. Therefore, I think it's very brave of him to put them out there.

I'm looking forward to reading it -- he seems a likeable person. Apparently the book closes with a list of about 20 basic recipes for perfumes, all of which include a couple of unpronouncable aromachemicals -- as though we all have a couple of bottles of the stuff tucked away somewhere (bless him).

LOL. It's funny expect a Shakespeare or Kafka book on a diary. It's even more fun expect a perfume formula or the secrets of your work being shown.

I agree completely with gandhajala, my review was a little less maturely written :')

I didn't really enjoy it, but glad others did.

I have a passion for the essence of perfume and the purchase of this book will add to this passion. The artistry of a perfumer is much like that of a visual artist, only the final product is in a stylish bottle versus a canvas.

I can easily see people who don't like the concept of his work transferring their aversion to Ellena's wise words. He's not just a great perfumer. Also a great mind.

Re: Article: Book Review: The Diary of A Nose by Jean Claude-Ellena

Unfortunately I had a very different view on this book! I wish I shared the passion of Thomas here.

What David Ruskin said is very much true. Sticking to a fragrance for decades is a Romantic fantasy nowadays.

I MUST buy this book, it would be fascinating to be ale to read one of the greatest perfumers thoughts!

Re: Article: Book Review: The Diary of A Nose by Jean Claude-Ellena

“I like the idea that a man or woman can choose a perfume at twenty and is still able to buy it when he or she is sixty, having indulged in a few infidelities.”

Nowadays this is no longer possible. Due to reformulations and deletions; the name may remain, but that is all.

Article: Book Review: The Diary of A Nose by Jean Claude-Ellena

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