The Fifth Sense in the News Archives

A gift-wrapped France by FauchonYou could apply several different lenses to interpreting the problems faced by the luxury industry in France in the context of a global downturn, but one that is worth considering is the tilting in favor of...

A new term has been coined to designate those remnants of smoking that are not associated with visible smoke but with the smells it leaves, "third-hand smoking". Those odors, like the cold tobacco odor, ought to signal danger because they...

Photo © Gaetan LeeFrench physicist researcher Gérard Liger-Belair used to be an oceanographer before having to quit his profession due to an accident. Next, while he was feeling bluesy and contemplating beer bubbles he decided to research the dynamic of...

This morning both Cosmetic News and the Chicago Tribune are indicating that internet shopping appears to be the way to go for holiday bargain hunters this season. Indeed although the British Retail Consortium (BRC) reported a general slump in British...

Lucien Lelong dress from 1937An article based on Jacqueline Demornex's book Lucien Lelong retraces the career of the couturier and in particular his determining role in having prevented French haute couture from being transplanted from Paris to Berlin during the...

L'Artisan Parfumeur Mon NuméroThe International Herald Tribune has a piece on bespoke perfumery in which Cartier, L'Artisan Parfumeur, Guerlain and Francis Kurkdjian are featured. As long as the brands can sell a few or just only one perfume priced at...

With the glut of celebrity fragrances in the market, launching a new scent in that category can feel like playing with the lottery or taking that opportunity just to garner publicity on the pretext of a new bottle of exquisiteness....

Just as I was trying to do a comparison, in my head, of the most typical smells of New York City and Paris, I happened on this article in the Boston Globe which attempts to assess the scents of Boston....

The Irish Independent has the best article I have seen so far written about the new version of Chanel No. 5 - that eternal classic - called Eau Première. One of the reasons, besides the fact that it is a...

"Scientists in Italy have found bacteria in the root of a tropical grass whose oils have been used in the cosmetic and perfumery industries. These bacteria seem to promote the production of essential oils, but also they change the molecular...

Reading about the role scent may play in the mating behavior of Kakapos reads like a dream come true for a member of the human male species. Why? Because even more so than for women, the # 1 motivation for...

An interesting talk by perfumer Christophe Laudamiel entitled "Design for the Invisible" about orientations he sees for the future of perfumery defined very broadly as the art that has to do with olfaction in general not just fine fragrances as...

Stellar Spire Eagle Nebula, Wikimedia CommonsHere's a short article in the Times describing the smell of outer space and explaining why company Omega Ingredients is working on recreating it for Nasa. The guy in charge of the project is Steven...

An article in the American Chronicle discusses the issue of allergic reactions to fragrances, based on one illustrative case, and compares perfumes' toxicity to that of second-hand cigarette smoke. There is just one reference used: Lessenger, JE. "Occupational acute anaphylactic...

As all Chanel devotees and cultural observers are waiting with baited breath for the upcoming biopics (three, no less) about Coco Chanel, including the one by Anne Fontaine starring Audrey Tautou, Coco Avant Chanel, Lifetime Television was all ready to...