Perfumes: The Guide by Luca Turin, Tania Sanchez Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Perfumes: The Guide
Book Review: This book is a joke
Summary: 1 Stars
I am always interested in trying out new fragrances so i was really looking forward to reading this book. Alas, i was destined to be dissapointed. Authors are beyond condesending and bitchy, putting down perfumes that they are "gasp"consider too common. I don't mind reading other people's reviews but this, as one reviewer said, reminded me of junior high. And finally, how can i tell anything about a fragrance if review is one line? Boucheron is classified as "dismal oriental" and what is so dismal is not explained. There is no notes for fragrance listed so at the end, you won't know anymore about certain perfume, than when you started. These, so called "reviews", are not "cutting", they are mean spirited and nasty, with no useful information offered. Total waste of money.Book Review: Well written and handy guide to perfume
Summary: 4 Stars
The Guide is a likable introduction to perfume. The chapters on the basics (genres, difference male/female, bit of chemistry, etc) are informative and to the point. Most of the reviews are pretty fair, well written and, not unimportant, at times very funny. The top-10's aren't without controversy and probably should not be followed/purchased blindly. The only problem I found was that some popular, albeit older male perfumes (for instance Quorum, indeed all of Puig is absent, Drakkar Noir, Lagerfeld or YSL pour Homme) are not graded although they still are in production. Well, you obviously can't review them all. Recommended reading if you want to have an overview of the field before you walk into a store for your next fragrance.
Book Review: advice on how to use this book
Summary: 5 Stars
EXCELLENT book, biting wit, right-to-the-point 1-liners. True, not a complete list, possibly somewhat biased (read the review mentioning Beyond Paradise by Estee Lauder), but there is no substitute for it out there... Read Turin's and Sanchez' words as a rough guide to inform your neocortex, but filter as much as you can (or care, or should I say wear?) through your own ofactory experience. You should only wear what you like, not what any one guru says is worth its while (but be mindful that others need to stand it also).
His star ratings are a good guide for what's what: hyped dross (*), flat/boring blah (**), good/wearable (***), excellent/exquisite (****), unique/the ultimate (***** MIND YOU: not necessarily wearable).
For those among you who are unsure/confused/need help/etc: most of the stuff you might want to wear is marked *** or ****. Tread lightly among the ***** rated, always test your "candidate fragrance" on a paper strip AND your own skin before plunking down serious money. Go to Neiman Marcus' or Saks' or Nordstrom's fragrance counters and ask for a few spritzed strips. Let them dry, then seal them inside (separate!) ziploc bags before putting them in your pocket, then walk away. Sniff "them" strips half-a-day or a day later, to see if you want to test them on your skin. Then go back. It's worth the trouble, 'cause it's gonna save you from making some very expensive mistakes...
Yes, the listing is incomplete, Turin's views are it's highly idiosyncratic and sometimes "wrong" (as his co-author TS says somewhere in the book), but always pithy and witty with a dry sarcastic edge, thus highly entertaining. (What better concisely worded characterization for Equipage by Hermès than scent of a "crumpled gentleman farmer"? And so on, and on, and on... I'm not sure, though, why he flames Santos by Cartier, though. It's just as subtle and close-to-skin in its dry-down as Equipage... Well, I quess he's totally not free from fads, his own words sy it: "...in a style that has aged badly... If you like this stuff, get Yatagan." Well, I do wear Yatagan, and it smells quite differently from Santos!)
For the ofactorily impaired or those whose sensibilities are (rather childishly) offended: you can read the lists of top-middle-bottom notes for 90+% of the existing perfumes on the [...] site for example (or on many of the Internet sites that sell perfumes). You can also read the various perfume blogs ad nauseam, often written by self-appointed "scent gurus" (is "gurette" the feminine for "teacher" in Hindi?). At most, you will get only a vague idea on how the various perfumes smell and very likely become REALLY CONFUSED, if you spend enough (actually: too much) time reading those reviews. There is no better telling about the esthetic experience elicited by the various perfumes than Turin's brief descriptions. Sample some perfumes that you're not familiar with, then read Turin's description, to get your own book-to-sensory-experience mapping (or key on how to decipher his critiques). Mind you, practicing (synthetic) chemists use their shnozolas as their first-line rough-and-ready alarm system as well as analytical tool, so Turin really knows what he is talking about. That said, "de gustibus et colorem non est disputandum" and that which you like might not necessarily have his blessing or be to his liking, but that's OK. After all, you use a perfume for causing you, and hopefully those around you, pleasure. Which also means: beware of loud, "foghorn" scents, out of deference for other people's personal space, if for nothing else. If you don't like someone to step on your toes, why should someone else enjoy having their nose "stepped on" by your fragrance?
If you are interested in what's popular, go to [...] for a bunch of user reviews. Although, mind you, this is a self-selected set and therefore biased sample, but if you rather have a popular vote (vox populis) than an informed professional opinion, that's as close as you can get, since the "silent majority" is just that, silent on the subject. (But not necessarily fragrance/stench free!)