TPM - November issue is out & it's THE MENS ISSUE

Thanks for the link.

Whoa! Talk about a big issue! I'm gonna be busy all weekend.

Thanks for the link !

Well, in the first edition there is a critique of frag bloggers:

"Now, I do appreciate freedom of speech. However, I’m rethinking this after reading comments that lead consumers down a false path of misinformation...

I’m just exhausted with the number of critiques and pontifications that mislead the consumer."

http://theperfumemagazine.com/Fragra...Love-Them.html

Who is misleading consumers? How about those note pyramids that seem to reference non-existent notes? And how about those reformulations? And who is Raymond Matts that I should care what he thinks? How many frags has he sampled over the last few years? Does he think that he should dictate what smells good to me? What is he going to do when I vomit because I can no longer tolerate the frag he suggested I wear? LOL.

Then we have: "Personally, I think many [bloggers] need to learn how to smell correctly and to understand what they smell without looking at the wonderful fragrance pyramids, better known as quasi-contrived fragrance ingredient lists."

Grand generalizations seem to be your forte, yet you criticize bloggers for "pontificating?" Yes, we get it, you think you are a great artist being held back by the unwashed masses. Good luck in life with that attitude. But to be specific, who created those note pyramids and why aren't you criticizing them? You think note pyramids and bloggers are leading guys to wear Le Male and Aqua di Gio? If not, exactly what are you arguing? Note pyramids have helped me immensely, even if they are inaccurate! The reason is that they indicate what I should be smelling, which I can concentrate on trying to smell. At least some of the notes will be there, while I can't think of many times when I smelled a clear note that was not listed. IIRC, this always happened when there were two pyramids, and one was obviously wrong. In fact, just the other day I was trying to figure out what I didn't like about Ricci Club, and when I saw peach listed on the pyramid, it was then obvious to me that this is at least one note that doesn't work for me in this frag. In my experience, this is the best way to "wire your brain" to detect notes very well, so that you won't be mislead by anyone !

thanks

Very interesting. Thanks for the link.

I will grace this e-mag with my presence

Very interesting indeed!!! Thank You very much!!!
Gary

Just listened to the first part of the Raymond Matts interview, which is here:

http://theperfumemagazine.com/VIDEO.html

He's got lots of interesting things to say (though I may not agree with every last detail), and I suggest everyone watch it. I just don't understand why he felt like he needed to lash out at unnamed bloggers in a generalized way. It seems like he is assuming these bloggers have a huge amount of influence, and that is something I find beyond ridiculous.

You constantly make coming in here worth the price of admission, PuddleMonkey.

thanks broseph!

Bigsly - I agree that this is an amazing piece of video, and I truly urge people to watch. His style is very, very understated, but SO much of what he says is extremely important. These sound like simple things, but they are truths that have taken me years to learn by listening to a lot of smart people in the fragrance world.

And let me jump in - as a blogger - to strongly defend what he's saying. He's not lashing out - in fact, he's definitely not lashing out. What he's suggesting very, very gently and kindly is that bloggers would benefit by approaching things more like designers - and I agree completely. Greater understanding is never a bad thing, and he's offering the path there, gained from years of industry experience. There are fans of every type of scent, and we need to avoid the journalistic temptation to descend into the hilarious bash-fest when stuff doesn't appeal to our personal taste. I totally agree.

One other thing I want to point out - as a programmer who often works with application designers (both users and IT pros). Perfumers - like programmers - often get creative credit, but scent designers and other creatives - like app designers - really deserve a lot of credit, too. Sometimes they really deserve most of the credit, even when they don't get it. Their names are often not as familiar to us as most perfumers, but I'm very glad to see some more focus on these folks who (IMO) are crucial in making great fragrance.

I enjoyed the Xerjoff article, but strongly disagree about Xerjoff XJ 17/17 Homme being the 2011 Best in Scent. Everyone knows Uden should come in first year after year.



One another note, lots of big words in that Holy Grail of Ofactory article. Thanks for knocking me down a few pegs.

Thank you to the staff for putting all the effort into bringing us the articles and interviews.

Thanks RHM. This was interesting reading.