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It’s difficult to decide how to start an interview with Chantal Roos. Although her name may not be well known, her work couldn’t be more famous. Ask someone to list the most successful perfumes of the last 40 years, and it’s likely that Opium, Kouros, Paris, L’Eau D’Issey and Gaultier’s Classique and Le Male will come up. It just so happe…

Fashion designer, Oscar de la Renta, died yesterday at his home in Kent, Connecticut. He was 82. The designer had been diagnosed with cancer in 2006.De la Renta was born in the Dominican Republic in 1932. He moved to Spain when he was 18 to study painting and went on to begin an apprenticeship with Cristobal Balenciaga. He went on to work…

(Re)-launching today is Stella McCartney's 2003 fragrance, Stella. The scent was originally developed by perfumer Jacques Cavellier with YSL Beauté, but the fragrance license was taken over by P&G Prestige last year. According to WWD, the packaging has been updated, the fragrance is "fundamentally the same". (Make of that what you will.)T…

Following on from our earlier Top 10 discontinued fragrances for men article, we're following up with the same article for women's fragrances. So, here is the list of the greatest discontinued fragrances for women as decided by Basenotes members. It has been interesting researching the reasons that fragrances has been disco…

Today sees the start of a new series on Basenotes – The Top Ten. Each time we'll take a look at a category of fragrances, and countdown the top ten as decided by the ratings of Basenotes members. Our first Top Ten is discontinued fragrances for men. (Note: eBay prices are a guide based on prices from mid-2014) Click NE…

Unless you've spent the last few months held hostage in E-Space by a horde of Marshmen, you'll be well aware that a British television institution is about to celebrate an important milestone. Doctor Who, the time-travelling sci-fi series which embarked on its first voyage on the 23rd of November 1963 has reached the half-cent…

When I meet him at the London launch of Thameen, the soft-spoken Saudi entrepreneur, Basel Binjabr, is insistent that his venture should not be seen as a Middle Eastern brand. "It's not Saudi," he says. "It's a company based in London, using German-made oils made by German and French perfumers. I created the company in the UK. It's called…

Basenotes are pleased to announced the winners of the 2013 Reader Awards. The Basenotes Reader Awards are the chance for fragrance consumers to decide which fragrances are the best of last year.The results were previewed to attendees of the last London Perfume Lovers meet up, and we are now officially revealing the winners. Finalists can …

Basenotes is pleased to announced the finalists of the 2013 Reader Awards. The Basenotes Reader Awards are the chance for fragrance consumers to decide which fragrances are the best of last year. Below is a slideshow of the finalists, followed by a text list. Basenotes Reader Awards 2013 : Finalists from basenotes Best New Fragranc…

"Yves Saint Laurent expresses a unique style between elegance and freedom, sophistication and daring. The brand embodies the spirit of a very strong and virile man, who also assumes his great sensitivity. Garrett Hedlund expresses this duality to perfection. He has also taken on some real cinematic challenges which show a man with a stron…

As the year draws to a close, my thoughts wander to holidays and trips that have taken me into foreign climates in the past year or two. As the nose bracing chill of January looms up ahead and everywhere the damp, mushy odour of rain soaked vegetation litters my local journeys, I try to recapture the warm, mellow smells of a sunshine soak…

An Incomplete History of Men’s Fragrance was presented by Grant Osborne and Lila Das Gupta at the New Cavendish Club, London on 26th Sept 2012. Here are the highlights and some of the fragrances the attendees smelt: What would Napoleon Bonaparte wear today? Eau de Cologne Chanel (selfridges.com) Not the most historically accurate cho…