Trivia from Chandler Burr's article in O Magazine (Oct. '07 issue)

Chandler Burr wrote an article titled 'If Perfume be the Food of Love..." in the October 2007 issue of O Magazine (Oprah Winfrey's magazine) and although the article itself was mostly a promotion of Mr. Burr's Scent Dinner series at Rosewood hotels - the article offered a few things (new, atleast, to me) I thought I'd share with you Basenoters:

1. Angel by Thierry Mugler uses ethyl maltol, the molecule that gives cotton candy its smell
2. He mentions a ginger fragrance, Eau de Gingembre by Roger & Gallet, that I don't think I've ever heard anyone on Basenotes mention. It sounds divine.
3. To create the 'green mango peel' note in Un Jardin sur le Nil by Hermes, perfumer JC Ellena warmed the mango peel with a natural carrot essence.
4. When the perfume executives at Estee Lauder were introduced to a natural pink peppercorn material made by Fermenich (a scent pure and exotic and lovely), they made a decision to buy 100% of the entire inventory from Fermenich so that noone could get their hands on it at any price, for a premium price. The Lauder perfumers mixed this pink peppercorn into their scent (for women) Pleasures
5. Sel de Vetiver by The Different Company was made to smell like salt and perfumer Celine Ellena made the scent of salt with, principally, three raw materials: liveche feuille, an herb that grows in France; a synthetic molecule called salicylate; and iris resin
6. Black Orchid by Tom Ford contains an extract of sugarcane from the rum distillation process
7. Annick Mendardo, created Hypnotic Poison by Dior with a slightly toxic vanilla scent - you smell vanilla but with an edge of the plastic bottle it comes in also

Yes.

Much different in IMO.

In VIW the sugarcane is underneath the lime and rum and it tends to be even more hidden by the coconut. I think also that's why the coconut accord in VIW is so subtle and not so 'synthetic smelling' (like Marc Jacobs for Men's) because of the sugarcane accord sweetening it.

Black Orchid's sugarcane is MUCH more pronounced and highlights the middle and basenotes which (after the truffle note fades) become the smell of decomposing fruit sweetened with sugarcane. In heat it become quite treacly (believe me I know this firsthand, here in Miami) but Black Orchid applied at the right time (nighttime, cool weather, as little clothes as possible) and the dark rotten fruit/sugarcane accord really is fascinating.

Next to the picture of it, the blurb reads: 'Eau de Gingembre, by Roger & Gallet, captures the bracing essence of ginger, sharp and smooth, tart and sweet.' In the article his comments are: '...Eau de Gimgembre, By R&G, which transforms the natural ginger into a finished superlative fragrance. I've seen people gasp on smelling this perfume - a balance of sharp and smooth, tart and crisply sweet.'