Perfume As Art, Not Second-Hand Smoke + Twisted Lily Fragrance Boutique 2017 New Year Draw

Anti-Fragrance Activists want to eliminate perfume

Today I read an article in The Huffington Post (Canada) titled “Fragrance is The New Second Hand Smoke.” The feature was written by Lisa Borden, Eco-Advocate and Strategist, who stated “we are conditioned to understand that littering is bad, and that pollution is toxic but using fragrance in your home (or workplace, or on your body) is also polluting our shared air and world”.  I cannot imagine for a moment that Ms. Borden has smelled the beauty of vintage Rochas Femme or Guerlain Mitsouku nor any of the dozens of niche, designer, natural and artisan perfumes, (created with synthetic and/or natural ingredients) that are as important to global culture as any art form. Still want to move to Canada?

Erte Perfume Bottle

When CaFleureBon was two days old, (March 23, 2010), I wrote an article warning that “Our fragrant future is at stake. We are living in the 21st century, where open office environments and anti-fragrance activists may turn our love of perfumery into a crime…There may be a time,  in the near future, where we will become actual olfactive offenders; huddled in our apartments or homes, or standing out in the freezing cold just to wear our favorite fragrance.  I am assuming if you are reading this, you take the art of fragrance seriously, and that know better than to pour half a bottle of a scent all over you. If you live in the USA, you must have noticed that you are no longer bombarded by the “perfume ladies” in department stores spraying you without your permission; instead, you are discreetly asked to smell a scent on white blotters, and can choose to spray at your own risk.Many natural perfumers have told me that they were allergic to non-botanical fragrances, which inspired them to create chemical free scents. Yet, all-natural ingredients can cause allergic reactions as well. The new fragrance-free zones sweeping America at a record pace, will affect their perfumes as well.”– Michelyn Camen, Editor in Chief March, 23, 2010

Close-up of The Different Co. Rose Poivree, Jean Claude Ellena (2002)  Installation at “Le Grand Musée du Parfum” (photo Sophie Gabriel of TDC)

On December 2016, Le Grand Musée du Parfum in Paris opened its doors, showcasing the scentsory experience of French perfume. 

Saskia Wilson-Brown Founder of The Institute of Art and Olfaction 

Since 2013, The Institute of Art and Olfaction, located in Los Angeles and headed by Saskia Wilson-Brown     encourages education, nurtures creativity, and awards excellence in fragrance.

Esxence 2016 in Milano photo Darryl

All over the world, artistic perfumery is exhibited and created (this will be the 9th edition of Esxence, March 23, 2017). Michael Edwards, of Fragrances of The World, has been chronicling fragrances by classification and type for over 30 years.  These are just a few institutions and initiatives that support artistic perfumery.

So what do you as a lover of fine fragrance do? Buy perfume. Support Olfactive art. Become a Fine Fragrance Advocate. Don’t Be Complacent.

–Michelyn Camen, Editor-in-Chief

Start today. Thanks to Twisted Lily Fragrance Boutique and Apothecary we have a $30 Gift Certificate for a registered reader in the US to help you get started on that new perfume for the New Year. To be eligible, Please leave a comment with how you feel about the anti-fragrance activism and what you would use the $30 GC to buy. Please name a fragrance you want to experience as art. Draw closes 1/15/2016

 

 

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28 comments

  • allaces says:

    I can see if someone was allergic to a fragrance it being a problem…but that’s over the top comparing putting fragrances on to pollution or second hand smoke. I agree with Michelyn that most people know better than to pour half a bottle of scent on themselves.
    I would use gift card towards purchase of fragrance from house I haven’t tried yet but am very interested in(which are many)

  • Steve A says:

    I go to a spinal care center that has a sign on the reception desk that reads, “This is a fragrance free office”…blah blah blah. I wear it anyway. There actually is something I’d like to buy from Twisted Lily right now. It’s by William Eadon called #11 and as it happens he is an artist. U.S.

  • Toblerone says:

    Well, I am not talking about really excessive use (which is extremely rare), but I think saying that perfumes “pollute our shared air and world” is crazy… Our workplace or health is often much more affected by our negativity, conflicts and the desire to control everyone and everything…

  • sserser says:

    I’m from Canada, and let’s just say this lady’s opinions do not reflect that of the entire country! Anti-fragrance activism is a bit of an overkill… I get that some people have allergies and/or other health issues, and it is important to keep their concerns in mind, but to equate it to second hand smoke is nonsense.

    With the GC I’d probably buy some samples or a small bottle of Maria Candida Gentile’s Hanbury. I’d like to experience more of Le Cinema Olfactif’s line, as well as Asphalt Rainbow by Charenton Macerations. Thanks!

  • BostonScentGuy says:

    Ha! Second-hand smoke? That’s a bit dramatic, I’d say. I understand being miffed by getting fumigated with a crappy cheap scent or Axe, and those heathens definitely ruin our good names. I always wear fragrance for myself as a piece of fashion; if others smell it great, but I aim for modesty.

    Thank you so much for the gift card opportunity! With it, I would subsidize a purchase of Arquiste El OR Ella…possibly Cuiron, Salome, or Lonesome Rider. All very artistic fragrances I’d use to protest anti-scent activism! I’m in the US.

  • MikasMinion says:

    What a load of… Anyway, I always try to be courteous with my fragrance wearing and would happily move away from anybody who complained (assuming they did it nicely), but this kind of activism makes my blood boil. I used to take a dance class with an appalling woman who wanted everything she didn’t enjoy to be banned, including fragrance, and used to occasionally stage a fit of “illness” when someone wore deodorant or hair product that had a noticeable odor. I always assume this is the type of person raising a ruckus like this and crusading against pleasures they can’t grasp.
    I realize there are people who have anxiety attacks, migraines, sneezing, and asthma triggered by scents. I have had all three of the former and my MIL suffers from the latter. Neither of us would dream of trying to get a scent banned nor asking an offender to stop wearing a perfume they enjoy (even Angel, which is like instant ice pick to the brain for me). My understanding is that almost all substantiated perfume reactions are fairly mild, of unpleasant, and most are topical reactions from direct contact.
    I’m not trying to be unreasonable or insensitive. I really do understand that perfume makes some people very uncomfortable. Occasionally I am one of them. I would still prefer to be doused in Angel and locked in a room full of chain-smokers than spend any time with the kind of people who crusade against fragrance or any other fairly harmless pleasure.
    I think a nice bottle of Salome might soothe my ruffled feathers if I am lucky enough to win. I’m in the US.

  • GrandmaGaga says:

    In general, I wear my scents for myself and therefore use my perfumes quite sparingly and mostly at home. That said, I have very rarely come into contact with over-sprayers; I think people are well-enough aware what is appropriate and there is no need for laws to enforce it! I would use a gift card to purchase samples of a few Amouage scents that I’ve been wanting to try, which I consider quite artistic! I am in the US.

  • Elizabeth T. says:

    Allergies aside (a legitimate complaint), this way of thinking really irritates me. That someone would want to regulate me out of my perfume? No way! I’m with MikasMinion.

    I’d choose something from Apoteker Tepe to be sure, and would love to smell the Auphorie line as art – they are all very moving. I’m in the USA. Thank you!!

  • Peter says:

    your article raises some Great points about perfume as art and it seems fair that when at work you take it easy on the cologne
    But no one is going to tell me I am polluting the air or that fragrance is toxic.
    If I won’t be twisted lily giftcard I think I would use it for the Sauf fragrances not sure which or Cdg black pepper
    I would love to go to Paris to see the musee de Parfum

  • Rox says:

    I had a co-worker who was obnoxious about her hatred of fragrance. Would cover her nose with her jacket as she walked past me. I even quizzed others in my workplace to make sure I wasn’t overdoing it and everyone had to be very close to catch a whiff. Fortunately she moved to Costa Rica!!!!!! I will never give up good fragrance, I am new to the niche world (3 years now) and my collection is now 25 bottles. I would ad Etat De’libre’s new Yes I do to my collection. Thanks for the draw.

  • Robert H. says:

    Absolutely ridiculous. I place it in the same arena as folks who object to breast-feeding. Shameful article. As a fragrance lover and reviewer with a spouse who just happens to be allergic, it is not a problem in our house, and I wear a mix of commercial or natural perfumes every single day. Doesn’t the article’s author have better and more pressing things to write about?

  • Ellen M says:

    I agree with most of the above in that I think this is overkill. We are surrounded by fragrances in nature…what does one do then? I’d use the gift card on something special, haven’t decided yet. Thanks for the draw. I live in the USA.

  • fazalcheema says:

    I have a mixed opinion on this issue. My love for perfume is almost known to everyone who is even a little close to me in real life. When they ban perfumes at workplaces, I may not like it but I can deal with it as some people are allergic. But I may be less supportive of a ban in social places because our perfume is an extension of our personality just as our clothing and other accessories are. But I am also the kind of person who believes perfumes should never have huge sillage and should only be detectable by those within your personal space. Those who overspray or want sillage that covers a radius of a mile do not only contribute to anti-perfume sentiments but also violate basic social etiquette. While I find IFRA’s restrictions on ingredients ridiculous, I do sympathize with those who have perfume allergies that are often triggered because someone poured half a perfume bottle over himself/herself. If more people follow basic perfume etiquette, we may not see such huge backlash against the perfume culture.

    I have not yet made up my mind what I would use $30 for because there have been many releases from last year that I have my eyes on. I am in the US.

  • Gail says:

    The Huffington Post article is unconvincing.
    I have various allergies to all kinds of
    things and am from a family with the same problems.
    Thoughtfulness and descretion, rather
    than an all out ban, are what we need.
    This woman’s sensationalistic crusade seems to have something
    to do with air pollution. My cause is
    noise pollution. There is no doubt that
    loud music/noise can cause hearing loss.
    Should we ban loud music – and then who will
    define “loud”?

  • Patty P. says:

    I live in an area of the country where not many people wear perfume let alone wear it so you can smell it on them when you are near them. I’m not sure how many people are really allergic to perfume or just getting on the current popular bandwagon of control of others. I haven’t decided on what to purchase should I win this great prize. But something strong. 🙂 usa

  • Dusk says:

    Honestly, I can sympathize with people who are against perfume. I think comparing it to secondhand smoke is overdramatic in terms of health consequences, but being near someone who has oversprayed can be a truly unpleasant experience on par with being next to a smoker, as a non-smoker. And there are people who give perfume-wearers a bad name – I was once sitting in the seat next to a woman in a crowded auditorium who took a bottle out of her purse and sprayed herself three times right there, even getting some in my face, and when I started coughing because it was so potent, she didn’t even apologize!

    Even as someone who loves perfumes, big doses of calone and white musk (and I believe helional) give me splitting headaches. They are in so many mainstream fragrances that I used to generalize “most perfumes give me headaches” – and it took me a while to narrow down the culprits, so I can’t really blame other people for making the same assumption about their own sensitivities.

    I think it is ridiculous to try to ban fragrance all together, but I do not think it is unreasonable to ask people to act politely and be responsive when people ask them to go more lightly on the trigger.

    At any rate! I love Twisted Lily, and I would use the $30 gift card to pull the trigger on a sample order that I have been itching to make – among many other things, I want to sample Parfums Quartana Wolfsbane, Tauer Une Rose de Kandahar, and Euphorium Brooklyn Cilice. I would love to experience all of them as art – as I do with all perfume! No bland, conventional scents for me. And I am in the US. 🙂

  • Frankiecee says:

    Well done commentary Michelyn, the lady complains too much methinks!! It’s apparent that Lisa Borden is a perfume Nazi and people like that are so anal retentive that she probably squeaks every time she sits down!! Jerry Seinfeld had his ‘soup Nazi’, I’m afraid you’re stuck with a perfume Nazi now…but don’t let the bas*ards grind you, or us, down!!! She’s not the voice of the people she’s just a very outspoken, obnoxious kind of person who is probably a very lonely person. But who knows, maybe she was chided or coerced into doing the article? And in this age of litigation gone wild, who knows what tomorrow shall bring. Yet, we shall stand united and remain as such until our collective last dying breath, or spritz from our atomizersZ!!! Fragrance Forever!!! We are one!!!

  • doveskylark says:

    I sometimes get headaches from aquatic fragrances, so I do understand the issue at hand. I know some people at my work place are anti-fragrance, but what I do is wear different fragrances all the time. I haven’t had any complaints and it keeps my me on my fragrant game.
    I have heard so much about the artistry of the Turkish line Nishane. I am very curious about Afrika Olifant.
    I live in the USA.

  • mozaik says:

    Ridiculous. There are so many more important factors causing environmental pollution and health problems. This sounds like a bad joke.

  • Cynthia says:

    I think it’s ridiculous. This might have been a good argument in the 80’s, when we sprayed BIG perfumes with abandon. I think people need to get over themselves. I have a long list at TWisted Lily…maybe another one of the Berdoues Colognes. USA.

  • missevelynwang says:

    While I can certainly sympathize with people who
    are bothered by excessive perfume spraying (dudes who bathe in Aventus, anyone?), Lisa Borden’s approach seems to be less about “spraying responsibly” and more about being holier-than-thou. I wouldn’t mind a PSA for people who overspray because they don’t understand olfactory fatigue, but her criticisms don’t appear to be based in much research. I mean, toxic ingredients in synthetic perfumes are the whole reason we have IFRA regulations and so many awful reformulations. With the industry already self-regulating so excessively (imho), what more does she want? If I got the $30 Twisted Lily gift card, I’d use it to buy something defiantly IFRA-non compliant. Aka Slumberhouse’s glorious New Sibet. (My current signature is Bogue Maai, which is rumored to be the olfactory equivalent of “Screw IFRA!”)

  • karo says:

    Anti-fragrance activism is absolutely ridiculous. I can understand the concept of over spraying, especially synthetics. But if natural ingredients cause less allergic reactions, it could be sort of a positive thing. There are way to many synthetics used in fragrances. Even in the high end ones. If more blends had to use more natural ingredients and synthetics are only added to enhance performance, I’m all for that. Using just the bare minimum amount of synthetics where it’s necessary. Like a vanilla blend. I would use my Gift Card to buy samples of some of the spectacular Houses that Twisted Lily sells. Arbole Arbole is a fragrance I want experience as an art. I live in the US. Thank you so much for the draw.

  • txterryo says:

    I can’t even with the smoking comparisons. I mean, sure, we’ve all been in a place where we’re inundated with “too much cologne” man, but it’s not an everyday thing. Smoking, on the other hand, is. Ugh. Really, it’s silly.

    I’d dig trying Musc Mon a Moi. Sounds warm and decadent.

  • tiffanie says:

    I do think about the impact my interest in fragrance has on my health, my family, my workplace, the general population, and the health of the earth. But prohibiting scent makes no sense. It would be more reasonable to suggest an industry effort to make perfume bottles reusable or easy to separate into recyclable components.

    Fine art such as painting, sculpture, and metalwork all result in expended resources and toxic leftovers. But our lives and our world would be poorer without them. In the same manner the beauty of fragrance outshines its cost.

    Please do not enter me in the draw, but I would like to share a trio of perfumes I dream of experiencing as high art. They are L’air du Temps L’Aube and Le Crépuscule both by Calice Becker, as well as Francis Fabron’s original spicy floral recently released as L’air du Temps Le Zénith.

  • valerie says:

    I have allergies to lactose but OMG could you imagine if all milk was taken out of stores or restaurants. It is crazy that there are people that would even consider perfume toxic. Thanks for this thoughtfully written article. I think I will spray some Tabac Blond on me now and at Twisted Lily I would love to finally buy Helmut Lang edp. I ahve wanted it forever

  • Laurels says:

    Air pollution, really? I will give up my perfume when the rest of the world gives up their cars. And airplanes. And all use of fossil fuels. I think I’m too late for the drawing, but in case I’m not, I’d put it toward Hiram Green Dilettante.I am in the US.

  • Heather says:

    Do some research for yourself. The ingredients in perfume today are nowhere near the pure ingredients previously used. The fragrance that you are hoping you are putting on your skin and in others lungs involuntarily, is not decadent, it has become harmful. Research “fragrance”. It is appalling and insulting that parfumeries would distribute such trash and that we, as consumers, are unaware. Just research then voice an opinion. Things are changing and are not in a safe or even ethical manner.