Somerset House Perfume Exhibition: all about scent

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art, blog, Claire Catterall, exhibition, fragrance, Franziska Josteit, Geza Schoen, In-Imitable, Killian Wells, Lizzie Ostrom, London, Mark Buxton, marketing, Odette Toilette, perfume, scent, Somerset House

Sweat, blood, chlorine and ink. Not a list one would normally associate with fragrance, but a list, nonetheless, that welcomes all those heading to Somerset House’s newest exhibition, Perfume: A Sensory Journey Through Contemporary Scent, opening last week in London.

Arguably the sense we talk and think about the least: smell, has a peculiar place in our lives, with the average person having done little more than consider perfume as a last minute addition to an outfit for years.

For Curator Claire Catterall, and Co-Curator Lizzie Ostrom, AKA Odette Toilette, this newest venture is all about changing the tide. Pinpointing a shift in attitudes, the exhibition aims to stimulate and awaken the senses in a less than ordinary way.  “In the 21^st century perfume is changing,” said Catterall. “We want to smell different. Different from everyone else and different from before. We want to be taken on a journey, to a space in time or a space emotionally.”

This is an initiation into the world for the uninitiated, but rather than showcasing fragrances we’ve all known and loved over the years, 10 rooms champion the scents that break boundaries, the rebels of the industry that are doing things differently.

From Killian Wells to Mark Buxton and Geza Schoen, a cohort of perfumers that look at the industry in a completely different way take exhibit goers on an olfactory journey through experimental scents.

Great event, I wish I could go! Yours, Fran

 

The smell-taste experiment

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experiment, fragrance, Franziska Josteit, GMM, Good Mythical Morning, In-Imitable, perfume, scent, smell, taste

Rhett & Link from the daily morning talk show named Good Mythical Morning are tasting food with their noses. The hypothesis is that actually 50% of our tasting is smelling… Watch this video to get more insights:

Funny experiment to watch – the guys are just entertaining! Yours, Fran

Falling asleep with Oria

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blog, design, fragrance, Franziska Josteit, Givaudan, Health, In-Imitable, marketing, Oria, perfume, perfumery, scent, SensorWake, sleep, technology

Waking up to the smell of bacon every day may not be plausible, but you may be able to fall asleep to some equally pleasant (though less … meaty) smells. Meet the Oria from Sensorwake, described as a “smart, intuitive, and nonintrusive device that improves sleep quality and recharges our personal batteries using the power of scents.”

It’s a follow-up to Sensorwake’s first product, an olfactory alarm clock that woke you up with pleasant smells. The Oria, however, isn’t as interested in getting you out of bed as it is about enjoying your time in bed. By working with fragrance and flavor specialists at Givaudan, Sensorwake has created a device that employs sleep enhancing fragrances to help you sleep better and longer, and wake up feeling more refreshed.

In studies conducted by Givaudan and the Clinical Sleep Center at Loughborough University, scientists have determined that certain smells do indeed impact sleep quality. To that end, Oria is using two patented scents to help you get some rest.

Bedtime innovations are always welcome! Yours, Fran

Museum of Perfumery in Paris

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blog, fragrance, Franziska Josteit, Guillaume de Maussion, IFF, In-Imitable, International Flavors & Fragrances Inc., Jean-Claude Ellena, Le Grand Musée du Parfum, Osmothèque Versailles, Paris, Patricia de Nicolaï, perfum, scent, Sylvaine Delacourte

On December 1st, 2016, at Faubourg Saint-Honoré in Paris, in the historical building dating from the XVIIIth century that hosted before the Christian Lacroix fashion house, the parisian Grand Museum of Perfumery will be opened.

Le Grand Musée du Parfum, where there will be more than sixty fragrances presented, is created with participation of International Flavors & Fragrances Inc., and in collaboration with Jean-Claude Ellena and Osmothèque Versailles.

The president and founder of the Museum is Guillaume de Maussion. The Museum will be financed by the French Syndicate of Perfumery (Syndicat Français de la Parfumerie) which unites 66 perfume brands.

Autumn is coming, so let’s get prepared to visit some museums again! Yours, Fran

Electronic Nose to detect diseases in future

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alcohol, Belgium, blog, breathanalyser, cancer, disease, DNA, electronic, fragrance, Franziska Josteit, In-Imitable, India, KU Leuven, metal-organic frameworks, MS, nose, perfume, research, scent, signature scent

Researchers have built a sensitive electronic nose that can detect pesticides and nerve gas in very low concentrations, an advance which may help screen someone’s breath for lung cancer and multiple sclerosis (MS) for instance.

The best-known electronic nose is the breathanalyser. As drivers breathe into the device, a chemical sensor measures the amount of alcohol in their breath, researchers said. This chemical reaction is then converted into an electronic signal, allowing the police officer to read off the result.

Alcohol is easy to detect, because the chemical reaction is specific and the concentration of the measured gas is fairly high. But many other gases are complex mixtures of molecules in very low concentrations. Building electronic noses to detect them is thus quite a challenge. Now, researchers from KU Leuven in Belgium have built a very sensitive electronic nose with metal-organic frameworks (MOFs).

“The concentrations we are dealing with are extremely low: parts per billion – a drop of water in an Olympic swimming pool – and parts per trillion,” he added.

Other applications for this nose could be the signature scent of a product to find out whether food has gone bad or to distinguish imitation wine from the original,” he said.

The future looks promising! Yours, Fran

Largest flower in the world – a scented moment

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Amorphophallus, Belgium, blog, Botanic Garden Meise, flower, fragrance, Franziska Josteit, In-Imitable, insects, perfume, Peter De Cupere, pollination, scent

Peter de Cupere wrote about his trip to the Botanic Garden Meise, Belgium, and i wanted to share his story! He went to smell the Amorphophallus, which typically requires at least 7 years before it blooms. He says that it’s an amazing strong scent, not so pleasant 😉 Here some more background info of the fascinating flower.

Amorphophallus (phallos, “penis”, referring to the shape of the prominent spadix), is a large genus of some 200 tropical and subtropical tuberous herbaceous plants from the Arum family, native to Asia, Africa, Australia and various oceanic islands. A few species are edible as “famine foods” after careful preparation to remove irritating chemicals.

Once the spathe opens, pollination must happen the same day. In many species, the inflorescence emits a scent of decaying flesh in order to attract insects, though a number of species give off a pleasant odor.

Through a number of ingenious insect traps, pollinating insects are kept inside the spathe to deposit pollen on the female flowers, which stay receptive for only one day, while the male flowers are still closed.

These open the next day, but by then the female flowers are no longer receptive and so self-pollination is avoided. The male flowers shower the trapped insects with pollen. Once the insects escape, they can then pollinate another flower.

You can see a time lapse here:

There are so many fascinating flowers out there! Let’s keep our eyes open! Yours, Fran

Boost your sexual attraction with Pheromone perfume – Part II

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attraction, blog, chemistry, fragrance, In-Imitable, perfume, Pheromone, pheromone perfume, scent, Sex, sex appeal, sexual

About synthetic pheromon boosters

The benefit of using pheromone perfume is that they boost the natural power of pheromones without actually changing anything to your body chemistry. These are synthetically produced, but nature identical to the occurring human pheromones. Meaning that they do not alter your own natural pheromones; just simply add that little bit of extra attraction potential.

There is some research that shows that as a person ages their natural pheromone production decreases. This may, in part, explain why dating becomes so difficult as you age; there may just not be that chemical attraction between individuals anymore. Boosting your level of pheromones with synthetically boosted pheromone perfume could then be the answer to this age problem, when it comes to the dating scene.

A bit of extra attention did never harm anybody, right 😉

Yours, Fran

Boost your sexual attraction with Pheromone perfume – Part I

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attraction, blog, chemicals, fragrance, gender, In-Imitable, perfume, Pheromone, relationship, scent, sex appeal, sexual

There has been a lot of interest lately in the ability of pheromone perfume in increasing attraction between the genders. The results are apparently promising for men and women of all ages that wear the perfumes as they report increased attention and a greater likelihood of going out rather than staying home on a Friday night.

Pheromone perfume products are worn just like any other type of scent, but, unlike perfumes, they actually have no distinct odor themselves. Of course you can wear both together if you want both the scent of your favorite perfume as well as the ability to catch the attention of that special someone.

But what are pheromones exactly???

The human body naturally produces pheromones that attract members of the opposite sex. When they are released through the skin they create an invisible and odorless attraction. The pheromones of each gender are detected by specific receptors in the nose that send signals to the brain.

These signals then trigger the brain to release chemicals that cause sexual attraction, feelings of warmth and happiness and an increased attention to emotional attraction in social settings and situations. They also play a role in couples and help to sustain attraction, sexual appeal and interest in each other throughout a relationship.

Part II to go a bit further with the implications of this trend.

Yours, Fran

The beautiful tricks of flowers – a TED video

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flower, In-Imitable, Jonathan Drori, nature, perfume, scent, TED

In this TED video Jonathan Drori talks about our wonderful mother nature and about what flowers are actually doing all day long…

 

Enjoy the lecture! Yours, Franziska