“Both bottles – which have to be at least 147 years old – are intact and sealed with their original contents inside. This is a rare and unique discovery, as usually bottles of this type are found empty or broken.

The cologne, a green-yellow liquid inside a narrow clear bottle, is embossed “Murray & Lanman, Florida Water, No. 69 Water Street, New-York.”

The oldest known sample of this famous American eau- d’vie, the bottle’s discovery was a revelation to the cologne company, which recently celebrated its 203rd year in business.

Now known as Lanman & Kemp-Barclay, Inc. and located in New Jersey, the company still makes Florida Water based on their original 1808 formula, and have offered to work with the team to analyze the contents of the bottle from Mary Celestia.

Analysis of the other bottle of perfume, with a clear liquid inside, sealed by a glass stopper has begun. Working with renowned perfume historian David Pybus in the U.K., who also analyzed intact perfume from the wreck of the Titanic, it appears that this bottle contains the oldest known sample from a now defunct high end London perfumery founded in the 1850’s. More details will follow as research continues.”

Read the full article: http://bernews.com/2011/08/150-yr-old-perfume-found-in-shipwreck/

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A couple weeks ago, I ordered some new supplies. Most are unremarkable and mundane (unscented body cream base, for example), but two items are fragrant: Coffee and Cocoa, both CO2 extractions.

Surprisingly, for me, anyway, the Cocoa is actually much more strongly scented than the Coffee. As of now, I haven’t used either one, except to put some of the Cocoa (which, by the way, is extremely thick and has to be scooped out of the jar!) in my oil burner.

I’m not sure what to use the Coffee for. I thought of some sort of bath or shower product, like body wash, but I haven’t done that yet. Mostly, I just like to open the bottle periodically and smell it. Hey, maybe I could use it the way you do coffee beans, to “clear the olfactory” when you’ve been smelling too many things? I admit, I don’t really think smelling one more thing (even something as nice as roasted coffee) clears anything at all (I’ve heard that breathing through a piece of wool, such as a scarf, for a few breaths will help, though), but it’s a fun idea.

For the Cocoa, I have some plans, but I’m not sure yet how I want to execute them. I happen to love the combination of orange and chocolate, so I’m thinking of doing something along those lines, but I don’t want it to be too much like candy. I thought maybe a nice wood base (Cedarwood and Australian Sandalwood, maybe?) with the Cocoa heart and an Orange top with just a hint of Lemon, perhaps?Also, the idea of Cocoa and Cinnamon is quite appealing, but I’m not sure if that would work or not (I guess the only way to find out is to try!).

Unfortunately, my spare time is quite limited these days, as I’ve undertaken to finally get my degree (started one, in Fine and Applied Art and Design, many years ago, and got pretty well into it, but then circumstances and life caused me to pause and I never finished it). My degree is not in anything to do with perfume, though some of the courses might mention it, since the degree is in Ancient History and plenty of ancient peoples were perfumers…

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The Fifi Awards are the perfume industry’s honours and awards system, like the Academy Awards in film and the Grammy Awards in the music industry, and so forth.

This year, for the first time in history, there are three (3!) indy natural perfumes amongst the finalists. They are: Candide, Honey Blossom, and Lumiere, all from Mandy Aftel.

Personally, I find this development astounding. Indy perfumers and natural perfumes have been overlooked and underappreciated by the perfume industry and, I think, the general public, and while I honestly don’t have anything against synthetic perfumes from big perfume houses, I do love the indy naturals and I’m so glad to see this recognition.

Here’s hoping that this opens some doors for indy and/or natural perfumeries!

When I was a teenager, I used to wear a now-discontinued fragrance for men, Hawk by Mennen. I often got compliments on it, from men and women alike. Nobody ever guessed that it was a “masculine” scent, and I felt oh-so-saucy wearing it (tee hee, a girl wearing boy’s cologne, how daring!).

These days, the men’s fragrance I wear with some regularity is Miracle Pour Homme by Lancôme (I also wear Miracle, which is much girlier and much pinker). I bought Miracle Pour Homme for my husband, on whom it does smell quite nice, but he prefers another fragrance (Caron Pour Un Homme, which I absolutely love on him), and so the poor Miracle Pour Homme was languishing… until I started to wear it.

I put it on one day because I saw it and just thought, well, why not? I was pleased to find that it works very well on me. I love the coffee notes in the middle (though the top notes are the typical bright citrus you find in umpteen million billion men’s fragrance; nice but extremely common), and I love the somewhat earthier base. It lasts a good long time on me, as well, and on my skin, it’s pleasantly fresh without being cloying.

Nobody has ever worked out what it is (including my husband, but he’s got a notoriously bad nose and usually can’t tell what I’m wearing, other than not liking Diorissimo because it’s “too flowery”). I like it, because, well, I like the fragrance, and I’m woman enough to wear a man’s scent and not feel like some sort of cross-dresser. It’s mostly marketing anyway; there are lots of men’s fragrances that work well on women, and plenty of women’s fragrances that work well on men, and there are a number of fragrances that are actually designed to be unisex.

Being not someone who is that easily swayed by what marketing people tell me to think about things. I like Miracle Pour Homme and it’s lovely on me. That’s all I need to know.

But it does remind me of a joke I saw on a specialty internet forum for perfume lovers.

Q: How do you turn a woman’s fragrance into a men’s fragrance?
A: Add the words “pour homme”.