Perfume - Does it smell as good as it sounds?

I read a review of a new book entitled “The Perfect Scent” by Chandler Burr. What really is intriguing are some of the names given to some premium perfumes such as Kimora Lee Simon’s Baby Phat Goddess or Posh Spice’s Intimately Beckham or Olsen Twins’ Coast to Coast.

Where the names come from is anyone’s guess.

In his book, Burr describes some of the scents which can be quite enchanting. For example, “L’eau d’Hiver” smells of ultra fine ground white pepper and extremely fresh cold crab taken that instant from the ocean.

Yves St. Laurent’s Love Again is “like smelling a three story gas plasma screen over the Champs Elysees showing a bowl of the ripest tropical fruit.” Quite a mouthful.

I’m not sure his characterizations provide me with any clue as to how they really smell. I guess you just have to go out and buy a bottle for that special lady in your life.

I didn’t realize the perfume industry was that big. How much do women spend annually on perfumes? Try $31 billion a year spent on perfumes. In France alone, 170,000 bottles of perfume are sold daily. Pretty impressive.

- Dr. Brueck