The Smoke of Fragranced Experience: per-fume

Smoke and scent is ancient — and in reaching back in the etymological bridge to the past — you will find that fume is drawn from the Proto Indo European *dhumo. The PIE are primeval tongues, and fume, in the distant and ancient heart of our seed languages, is Sanskrit: dhumah, Old Church Slavic: dymu, the Lithuanian: dumai, Old Prussian dumis “smoke,” the Middle Iranian dumacha, or “fog,” and finally the bridge from the ancient world to the “modern” — Greek: thymos which is “spirit, mind, soul”. These are ancient words, expressions which thrived centuries before the Greco-Roman era. The bridge to the Latin, fumare, “to smoke, steam” and to the Old French — fum “smoke, steam, vapor” is a more recent positioning — 600 years back, to 1000 years ago. But that underlying concept of a scent mist or fog — that might be many centuries before the common era. And by the conceptual and linguistic bridges of centuries, smoke, reek, funk, toke, smog, smother, smolder, camouflage, dust, flue, vaporize and yen — there are strings.

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Review: Parfum Sacre Intense Perfume- The House of Caron’s Fabulous Flanker

Whereas I was not a huge fan of Parfum Sacre, I love Parfum Sacre Intense; in this case the flanker outshines its predecessor. It is a more erotic, carnal and resinous version of the original. The woodsy accords are more prominent on my skin, and the floral notes are supporting players, (with the orange note the most prominent) as the clove, cinnamon, warm amber and smoky vanilla take center stage. It is truly one of the most complex and sultry fragrances I have encountered this year.

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Perview: Symine Salimpour, Founder and Owner of Hors Là Monde Bringing Beauty through Art

   Symine Salimpour brings to us a ‘world out of time'.  Some Cafleurebon’s readers may not be familiar with her beautiful fragrances, inspired by her own life experiences. It is Symone's tenacity, her personal ideaology, spiritualism, and dedication to the art of perfumery that sets Symine  apart. When I reunited with Symine at a recent Sniffapalooza event, …

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Eau de Cologne- Johan Maria Farina 1709 and Penhaligon’s Eau de Cologne-Back To The Future

  Just like Marty McFly in his souped-up DeLorean time machine from the movie “Back To The Future” there seems to be times in perfumery where it's earlier history makes a revival.  During the past few months, we have seen Eau de Cologne make a comebac; some  ground -breaking work such as in the Atelier Cologne series of five fragrances  (my review …

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