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The UK is on fire, and ladies are to blame. Or, to be slightly more precise, essential oils in linens washed at low temperatures have caused a "spate" of house fires around Britain, according to the Telegraph. More »
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The new scent Eau Flirt claims it's "the world's first perfume clinically proven to make men flirt with women." But can a perfume really make you into a dude-magnet? More »
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I was approximately 12 years old when my mother bought me my first stick of deodorant. She gave it to me right before I entered sixth grade, and it was, at the time, the most grown-up product I'd ever owned. More »
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When I was in elementary school, we had a very fashionable guidance counselor who could be spotted from miles away, due to the clicking of her super-high heels on the linoleum and the overwhelming scent of her perfume. More »
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Scratch ‘N Sniff, made from scented oil and "microencapsulation technology," was invented in 1965 and in its heyday found its way into children's books, perfume samples, Wonka-like scented wallpaper and, of course, stickers. [MentalFloss] More »
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Apparently, along with our newfound love of 80's power dressing, we're all enamored of heavy, potent, Reagan-era perfumes, too. You know: Shalimar, Opium, Poison and a bunch of new ones that just smell like them. In general, I'm kind of baffled by these mysterious forces that are supposed to be dictating all our actions, and in this case, particularly so: isn't the way we smell supposed to be kind of, well, personal? And can people stop acting like we've surrendered our individual wills to some kind of creepy demographics genie? More »
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So there's a story by Jim Lewis on Slate about perfume. Not just about perfume, though — about writing about perfume. The story is linked to a book called Perfumes: The Guide, by husband and wife team Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez. I used to write about music, which I always thought was really tough; somehow the vocabulary ("upbeat, sing-along, power-pop" or "the songs meandered, looped, tinkled out or built to a dramatic orchestral crescendo") always seemed forced and limited. But describing a scent seems even more challenging. Lewis points out that the words perfumers use: amber, citrus, floral — are pretty vague. But! Luca Turin describes Fracas thusly: "A friend once explained to me how Ferrari achieves that gorgeous red: first paint the car silver, then six coats of red, then a coat of transparent pink varnish..." Can you smell it? Glossy, bright and sharp. More »
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