Dior's New Maison De Parfums At Selfridges + FiFi USA Public Vote

For several personal reasons, I've got huge affection for Dior. Ever since I was about 7 years old, many of the firm's perfumes have become synonymous with significant people and moments in my life, which is why I desperately wanted its new Maison De Parfums at Selfridges in London to be an all-out triumph. But having visited it twice, I'm sorry to say that it doesn't quite come up to scratch.

Sample Give-Away & Review: Opus V from Amouage (2011)

Some orris perfumes accentuate the material's austere, chilly demeanour, whereas others are clearly an exercise in taking its characteristic feature - the parched, poetic, woody bleakness - and placing it within a more hot-blooded context. An excellent recent example of the latter style is Dior Homme, which used baked fruit notes to warm up iris' glacial heart.

Zeta Winner + Smelling Oud For The First Time

Boozy fruit = Boozy Simnel

I could do with a Bloggers' Retreat. I've got so many things I'd like to tell you about, but the clock keeps ticking and the Invasion Of The Day Job is just around the corner. Sadly, some topics will have to be left by the wayside.

Review: Coeur De Vétiver Sacré from L'Artisan Parfumeur (2010) + Guerlain Bottles + Kurkdjian's Advice

Vetivert oil is such a multi-faceted material that people in some countries wear it as a complete fragrance all by itself. It's capable of appearing both woody and green, earthy and ethereal, spotlessly unimpeachable and very, very dirty indeed. Perfumers present it either with minimal add-ons - allowing it to speak for itself - or they devise complex means of obscuring some of its aspects so that only certain traits come through.

Orange Star Wins At The FiFis + It's Official: Persolaise Is Sexy

I'm sure you all know this by now, but please, just indulge me, because I'm going to get a real kick out of typing the following words:

Tauer Perfumes' Orange Star won the award for Best Niche Perfume at Thursday's FiFi UK ceremony.

MDCI Winner + IFRA Interview + Meeting Monsieur Le Male

I'm just taking a few moments out of what's proving to be an enjoyably eventful week to send a couple of updates and reminders your way.

First of all, meeting Francis Kurkdjian was a real treat. I'll do my best to blog about him at greater length some time soon, but for now, I'll share something rather amazing about Absolue Pour Le Soir... well, I thought it was amazing...

Sample Give-Away + Review: Zeta - A Linden Blossom Theme from Tauer Perfumes (2011)

Although I haven't got the world's greenest thumbs, I've somehow managed not to kill all the trees in our garden, two of which produce an annual crop of rich, dark plums. A few of weeks ago, I opened our back door and was instantly surrounded by an ethereal, beguiling perfume carried on the wind. As I looked around, trying to locate the source of the scent, my eye was caught by one of the plum trees, its branches covered in thousands of ivory blossoms. I walked up to it, buried my nose in its petals and there was the smell again. Smooth and serene, its sweetness was of the sort found only in nature: gentle without being weak, substantial without losing its sheerness.

You can see where this is going, can't you?

Did I Complain About Not Having Enough Time?

You know what they say about waiting for buses? Well, I think the adage could probably be applied to my appointments diary for the week beginning 11th April. After a recent dearth of perfume events, I'm about to go into headless chicken mode. Not that I'm complaining for one moment! After all, it isn't every day that one gets to meet Francis Kurkdjian, the man who gave us Fleur Du Male and the ever-so-naughty Absolue Pour Le Soir.

Sample Give-Away + Review: La Belle Hélène from MDCI (2011)

If there's one thing Bertrand Duchaufour can do with envy-inducing finesse, it's using smell to paint incredibly precise, near-holographic visual images. La Belle Hélène, the latest release from MDCI, showcases this skill as successfully as the finest of his creations.

Perfumery Pause + Orange Star Draw Winner

Pardon me for going on and on about the Day Job, but this is the time of year when it starts demanding a disproportionate amount of my attention. As I've said before, in May, June and July, it goes into a higher gear and takes over almost all of my free evening time. This is, in itself, taxing enough. But of course one of the consequences of going into virtual hibernation is that in the run-up to May, I have to think ahead and pre-emptively take care of various bits and bobs of business, in order to ensure that I'll actually be in a position to be able to wave goodbye to the world for 12 weeks.

Top Tens

This entry is intended to be a polite nudge… or three nudges, to be precise.

Nudge #1: You’ve only got until the end of today to enter my give-away draw for a full bottle of Tauer Perfumes’ Orange Star. If you’ve already entered, you may be interested in reading everybody else’s comments on the subject of secrecy in perfumery. They’ve certainly given me ideas for at least two blog posts.