The Book

Okay, I bought it. I bought this book. I was weak! I couldn't wait for the Amazon discount. After reading the reviews and author interviews on Now Smell This . . . after perusing endless debates about whether such an opiniated and sprawling (though not exhaustive) guide would be good or bad for novice perfume-lovers, the industry, the state of perfume criticism . . . I couldn't take it anymore. I bought it.

Favorite thing so far? The one-word review of Lanvin Rumeur: "Baseless."

Secret shame? Magical Moon compared (though not unfavorably) to Angel, the pole-dancing nose anthem of the nineties. Just when I was slowly gaining confidence that the shimmery-fruity topnote I smell is actually osmanthus flower and not fruit at all, Sanchez gives it three stars and a yawn, acknowledging there's something different but nothing very special about it. (Hey, at least it's "adequate"! Lindsay Lohan would be proud!)

It is worth noting that Angel itself gets 5 stars, as do many big, influential scents that the authors claim they never want to smell again because of the proliferation of knockoffs. Bulgari Black, which I've been meaning to get, rates 5 stars too; Songes rates 4 stars; most other scents I enjoy get 3.

Turin and Sanchez both claim, independently, that perfume is one of the most "affordable" luxuries available, which is a bit like saying that cutting off someone's ear is one of the most "forgiveable" atrocities or that organic chemistry is one of the most "gettable" of impossibly difficult sciences. However, be that as it may, it's certain that sharing the costs with another perfume enthusiast ("perfumista" is starting to grate) is a pleasant way to make scent-related things more affordable. La Niebla, you need to borrow this.