Fascinating. I hope we can keep up with them until they complete the analysis. Perfume is a favorite topic for me.
Anyone else who is interested might enjoy the brilliant and witty Luca Turin, a biochemist who works in the fragrance industry and who has written a wonderful user-friendly book,
The Secret of Scent: Adventures in Perfume and the Science of Smell.
He and his new wife, also a “nose,” wrote Perfumes: The Guide, a review of thousands of perfumes. When he doesn’t like something he has you FOTFL with his scathing critiques. I.E., a famous, expensive Paris perfume smelled “like the inside of a Moscow taxi.”
Perfume is kind of a favorite of mine as well.
I remember reading aloooong time ago that tuberose was all the rage around the WWII (and prior)era, until women discovered that it was used in mortuary science. I think it was Tullulah Bankhead who ‘started’ the run.
Ahh! Ancient Egypt and perfume - two of my favorite topics!
Maybe we need a Luca Turin ping list. I thought The Secret of Scent was fascinating.
What do you wear? My favorite is L’Heure Bleue. I love the story. Guerlain knew what he was doing.