Parfums du Monde

Michael Edwards
Michel Roudnitska

A simple and complete guide on the classification of perfumes to learn to know them better.
Michel Roudnitska’s illustrations give a very special charm to this book. (Bettina Aykroyd – Fashion Daily News)

Choosing a perfume has been made easy! Michael Edwards, the author of "Perfume Legends", proposes to the general public under a new title his famed classification of perfumes, written 17 years ago, essentially for perfume sales people and demonstrators in department stores.

Published in a bi-lingual edition, Fragrances of the World 2000 is a simple guide of approximately 100 pages, easy to use and, above all, with a playful approach. "The choice of a new perfume should be a pleasure, not a problem", Michael Edward emphasizes.

A total of 2,300 men’s and women’s perfumes from all over the world are referenced and classified into four olfactive families, each divided into three sub-categories :

• Fresh (Citrus, Green, Water)
• Floral (Floral, Soft Floral, Floral Oriental)
• Oriental (Floral Oriental, Soft Oriental, Oriental)
• Woody (Woody Oriental, Mossy Woods, Dry Woods)

"The guide enables the potential buyer to rapidly discover the other perfumes in the same family as the one he or she likes, and therefore, the fragrances they are mostly likely to appreciate." (Bettina Akyroyd – Fashion Daily News).

Fragrances of the World 2000 is a superbly illustrated work. Michel Roudnitska’s photographic compositions help to visualize instantaneously and intuitively the olfactive universes of each of these families of fragrances. The book is therefore particularly useful for improving communication between professionals and perfume lovers.

Hespéridé


From the zest of lemon, mandarins, bergamot, oranges and grapefruit come the citrus oils that lend these fragrances their distinctive, tanguy aroma.
Floral spicy and woody notes transformed the light, refreshing eaux de cologne into real fragrances.
A new generation of musk and tea accents adds an interesting dimension to the oldest fragrance family.

C'est du zeste de citron, de la mandarine, de la bergamote, de l'orange, du pamplemousse que proviennent les notes héspéridées qui communiquent à ces parfums leur arôme pétillant si typique.
Les notes florales, épicées et boisées transforment les eaux de Cologne légères et fraîches en de véritables parfums. Une nouvelle génération de tons musqués et de senteurs de thé ajoutent une dimension intéressante à la plus ancienne famille de parfums.

Green fragrances capture the sharp scent of fresh-cut grass and violet leaves.
Despite the outdoors imagery, the impact of the classic resinous galbanum accord is so potent that many green fragrances have a formal rather than sporty personality.
In recent years, a palette of softer, lighter green notes has given this fragrance family fresh appeal

Les parfums verts capturent l'odeur vive du gazon coupé et des feuilles de violette. Bien qu'ils évoquent des paysages extérieurs, l'accord de la résine classique (galbanum) résonne en eux avec une telle puissance que beaucoup de parfums verts font plus "habillé" que "sport". Ces dernières années, une palette de notes vertes plus douces et plus légères est venue donner à cette famille de parfums un rafraîchissant renouveau.

Redolent of the scent of soft sea breeze, the marine notes were created in 1990.
The early water note captured the ozonic aroma of wet air after a thunderstorm.
Today, the water notes are often used as an accent to enlive florals, orientals and woody fragrances.

Vivifiées par des senteurs de brise marine, ces notes on été crées en 1990.
Les premières capturaient l'arôme d'ozone de l'air humide et frais après l'orage.
Aujourd'hui, les notes marines sont utilisées le plus souvent pour avaver les parfums floraux, orientaux et boisés.

Florale

Florals  remain the most popular fragrance family. Their repertoire is vast, ranging from concertos on the theme of a single floral note to mighty symphonies of heady mixed bouquets.
Headspace technology has given perfumers an avalanche of exciting new floral notes: it allows them to identify and clone the scent of blooms from which no oil can be extracted by traditional methods.
Each year, unusual new notes are found, revitalising the traditional floral theme.

Les parfums floraux restent les plus appréciés. Leur répertoire est vaste, allant du concerto sur le thème d'une seule note florale, à la puissante symphonie de bouquets entêtants de fleurs mêlées.
La technologie appelée "Headspace" a développé pour les parfumeurs une kyrielle de nouvelles notes florales passionnantes: elle leur permet d'identifier et de reproduire la senteur de fleurs trop fragiles pour supporter les procédés d'extraction traditionnels.
Ainsi, chaque année apporte de nouvelles notes surprenantes qui régénèrent le thème floral

Fleuri Aldehydé

The marriage of sparkling aldehydes and delicate flowers creates a family of soft, often powdery, abstract florals. Aldehydes are found naturally in rose and citrus oils, but such in minute amounts that they have to be re-created in the laboratory. Their natural scent is not pleasant: some have a sharp, metallic fragrance, others a burnt, waxy aroma. Add them to flowers, however, and their subtle magic makes the blossoms sing.
Their soprano notes are muted by the powdery accents of iris and vanilla to create a fragrance that is both soft and flowery.

Fleuri Oriental



Soft, spicy orange flower notes meld with piquant aldehydes and sweet spices to create the heart of a floral oriental fragrance.
Born in the 1900s, Floral Orientals came back to life again in the 1970s.
In the past decade, lively, fruity interpretations dominated the floral   oriental category, but recent fragrances have developed a more subtile, muted personnality.

Oriental doux




Incense adds sensual overtones to fragrant flowers, spices and amber to create a softer style of Oriental.
The base notes of a modern Soft Oriental are not as sweet or as heavy as a true Oriental and the result - a melange of flowers and spices- is distinctly softer.

Oriental

Orientals are the most exotic queens of pefumery. Sensual, often heavy, blends of oriental resins, opulent flowers, sweet vanilla and musks are introduced by refreshing citrus, green or fruity top notes.
The new "shee" Orientals gained some ground in the late 1990s, but the appeal of the full-bodied, take-no-prisoners orientals endures.

Oriental Boisé



The liaison of rich Oriental notes and the potent scents of patchouli and sandalwood produced some of the most original perfumes of the 1990s.
This family emphasises the woody character of  floral Orientals.
The key difference is that their flowers and spices play second string to the dominant sandalwood and/or patchouli notes. The Oriental influence is more noticeable, too, and balances the deep wood notes.

Chypre boisé



Perfumers call these forest notes of oakmoss, woods and citrus "Chypre" fragrances.
The family takes its name from the first significant mossy-woody fragrance, Chypre de Coty, created by François Coty in 1917.
Chypre is the french name for the island of Cyprus, birthplace of Venus, the legendary goddess of love.
From Cyprus, too, comes the oakmoss that is at the heart of all Chypre fragrances.

Chypre cuir




A mossy-woody fragrance takes on a drier character with the addition of cedar, tobacco, and burnt wood notes.
The Dry Woods family is often called Leather, after the dry, smokyscent of   Russian leather.
Fresh citrus notes play an important role in most Dry Woods fragrances, lightening the deep, almost animalic heart notes.

Fougère


This is the universal fragrance family, with sexy cool-warm notes of citrus and lavender, sweet spices and oriental woods. It takes its name from a fragrance long since discontinued: Fougère Royale, introduced by Houbigant in 1882. Men grew up on Fougères. Most of key men's fragrances developed since the mid-1960s have come from this family. Most women ,too, find the blend of fresh, floral, Oriental and woody notes appealing. It is a winning combination.