The Diary of a Nose: A Year in the Life of a Parfumeur [Hardcover]

This has to be one of the most sensual books I've ever read in my life, and its about perfume. I have never read anything so sensual in my life as this, not poetry, not erotica, not anything. The authors desribes smells with the colours of a true artist and his sensitivity to words as well as smells, in fact to almost everything around him is extremely, beautifully hightened. I could read it just for this wonderful writing style alone, so beautiful it almost makes you want to weep. I rushed out and hung around the local perfume counter for some time after this, sad but true, it cost me money, but I felt I knew more than many of the sales assistants by the time I got to the end of this book. Brilliant, heady stuff - read it if you love perfume and / or you love beautifully sensual writing that will blow your mind.

The diary of a nose.

The life of a parfumeur must have elaborate prose. To describe in such an elegant way what goes into the smells and fragrances of what is essentially smelly expensive water.

It's a bit like listening to a fashion expert describe clothes. Fascinating, but ultimately they are still clothes.

What did surprise me most of all is the author, Jean-Claude Ellena, is obviously French. To capture the poetry of the original French text is amazing. The translator should certainly be commended.

I rather like the authors turn of phrase. It doesn't surprise me though, as if you had to describe why you like your aftershave or perfume most people would simply say, "It smells nice" to at best, "it's a bit flowery"

But this author has had decades of being a "nose" so has gotten used to describing in elaborate, but lovely, prose the process and story behind a perfume.

If this has taken your fancy there is a lovely French best-seller that I could also recommend.Le guide du parfum pour elle et lui Or the film staring a nose.I Do (Prête-moi ta main) [DVD]

The author works in the epicentre of the perfume industry in Grasse in the South of France. I would warn you though that if the book has encouraged a visit-Don't. For such a glamorous, fragrant, expensive industry the town is rather drab.

Overall a lovely book that is a pleasant read.

The DIARY of a NOSE
A Year in the life of a Parfumeur
Jean-Claude Ellena
(Not to be confused with a short story by Gogol or an opera by Shostakovich)
A "Nose" is someone whose exceptional olfactory senses (sense of smell) makes them unique for the blending of fragrance oils to create inspired new fragrances / smells reproducibly.
These are the day by day observations of a creator of fine fragrances at the company Hermes over the period of one year covering his thoughts, feelings, emotions and his sources of inspiration as he creates new fragrances.
I come to this book as an organic industrial chemist who was involved, with the more "industrial" fragrance houses in perfuming household products and ensuring the stability of the "smell". This gives me a certain resonance with the subject but my experience was still a million miles from the creation of a fine fragrance. Just as knowledge of pigments and paint materials does not make one an artist (but is useful background knowledge), anyone could come to this book and be carried along by his daily thoughts and emotional responses to life and fragrance - a soul laid bare.
We start with a visit to his disorganised chaos of a studio at Cabris in the Grasse area near the Italian border.
We progress day by day through his development of projects, worldwide travel, many sources of inspirations and views of perfume development, changes in the market - all with a sense of humour and candour. As this is a translation, this has captured the spirit of the original well.
Each day recorded has a "topic" - sometimes his work on a specific project, meetings with suppliers of raw materials (natural oils from plants and animals are supplemented with new synthetic molecules) - mention is made of traditional extraction of oils and also newer techniques like liquid carbon dioxide extraction - giving purer and less "damaged" oils, many of which are chemically unstable in air. His views from visiting China and Japan give a different perspective of East vs. West cultural preferences .
The book ends with a compendium of oil bends giving simple "smells" . Only ( slight) criticism is that there aren't full proportions given for these. Evidently scope for people to experiment
Whatever your chemical knowledge, this is a fascinating insight into a creative process - not too dissimilar to painting. The influences of commerce, fashion and other "distractions" or "constraints" are also covered
Recommended!