The Perfect Scent

A Year Inside the Perfume Industry in Paris and New York

By: Chandler Burr

Narrated by: Mel Foster

Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

No journalist has ever been allowed into the ultrasecretive, highly pressured process of originating a perfume. But Chandler Burr, the New York Times perfume critic, spent a year behind the scenes observing the creation of two major fragrances. Now, writing with wit and elegance, he juxtaposes the stories of the perfumes - one created by a Frenchman in Paris for an exclusive luxury-goods house, the other made in New York by actress Sarah Jessica Parker and Coty, Inc., a giant international corporation.

We follow Coty's mating of star power to the marketing of perfume, watching Sex and the City's Parker heading a hugely expensive campaign to launch a scent into the overcrowded celebrity market. Will she match the success of Jennifer Lopez? Does she have the international fan base to drive worldwide sales?

In Paris at the elegant Hermès, we see Jean Claude Ellena, his company's new head perfumer, given a challenge: he must create a scent to resuscitate Hermès' perfume business and challenge le monster of the industry, best-selling Chanel No. 5. Will his pilgrimage to a garden on the Nile supply the inspiration he needs? The answer lies in Burr's informative and mesmerizing portrait of some of the extraordinary personalities who envision, design, create, and launch the perfumes that drive their billion-dollar industry.

©2007 Chandler Burr (P)2008 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Exhilarating....An unusually grounded depiction of a business built largely on artifice." (Kirkus Reviews)
"A thorough and often hilarious account of perfumery's colorful characters, the science and art of fragrance creation and the human experience of scent itself." (Publishers Weekly)

Extreme Marketing

This industry has a long and distinguished history. And the marketing gurus are masters. But the truth is that this industry and the world of high fashion is so far removed from my real life (I haven't purchased perfume in 20 years), that I had a very hard time listening to the whole book. If you are interested in the marketing and historical aspects and can suspend disbelief cc the product, there is a lot to be gained from this very interesting book. If you are into the lifestyle and understand the culture of stars and if you care about their world, you will enjoy it all the more. For me it is much adieu about not very much.

I Really Enjoyed This Book

I find the making of perfume a very interesting topic but I never realized how complicated the creation, packaging, distrubution and maketing was until I listened to this book. It was 99% entertaining and informative with the one drawback of the reading of a few lists of compounds in a specific perfume. Had I been reading the print version I would have quickly scanned the list but having them read to me was more I needed to know. The sections dealing with the creation of the Hermes perfume "Gardens of the Nile" and the Sarah Jessica Parker celebrity scent "Lovely" were especially entertaining and enlightening.

Escape into a new world..

I finished this book and wanted to run out and create "the perfect scent". This book touches on various areas, both human and commercial within the perfume industry. Simultanously objectively investigative and lovingly "inside" the business makes for an educational, but fun listen. There's some science, some business, and some "People Magazine" aspects that kept my interest.

Great book, wrong narrator

Fascinating account of fragrance and the path from concept to the shelf. Hearing about the creation of a Hermes perfume by Jean-Claude Ellena was delightful. However, as mentioned in the previous review, the narrator made frequent errors in French pronunciation glaringly obvious even to one who has only had French in school. These errors distracted greatly from the listening experience--like fingernails on old-fashioned blackboard--and they occured almost every time he narrated anything in French. I finally gave up listening about half way through and got the book to read. Compare to Julia Child's and Marcella Hazan's recent biographies which contains a lot of, respectively, French and Italian, and were both pleasures to hear. I hope when Audible chooses future narrators, it will pay more attention to the narrator's fluency in whatever foreign language the book includes.

Great information, poor language

Let me start by saying that I had just finished "The Secret of Chanel No. 5" by Tilar Mazzeo when I read this book, and that audiobook turned out to be a great segway for this one. The Chanel book was a lot more biographical, while this one delved into the closed-door realm of the perfume industry - its tricks, strategies, financial structure, scientific methods, and marketing. Chandler Burr follows the creation of two perfumes including Sarah Jessica Parker's Lovely from start to finish.

This was an extraordinary work in terms of the amount of research that went into it, and I thought that most of the writing was very well done. Chandler Burr did a magnificent job of presenting the facts of the industry without forgetting to present the art of it. He has a delightful off-the-cuff style that balances what could have been an overly serious take on the creation of perfume. He offers a lot of insight, but he also allows the listeners to create their own perceptions of the industry and the science and marketing behind it.

This book did not receive a perfect Overall score from me because it included unnecessary foul language that distracted from the material. The occurence of these terms are somewhat sparse, but I would say that they appear about 15-20 times throughout the book. I find the use of these terms (the F-bomb, profanity) to be tacky, distracting, and out of place in what could have been a five-star work. There are also descriptions of some scents that, while they do exist in nature and are used in the industry, I could have lived without knowing about. I didn't subtract stars for that because those scents are part of the perfumery world, but I subtracted stars for foul language that could and should have been omitted.

Beyond the language, this would be a fascinating read for anyone who is interested in perfume, how it is made, how it is marketed, and how much it really costs in terms of money, time, and resources. Just be warned that after hearing about certain scents that are used to create perfume, you may never be able to wear some of your favorites again.

Oh yes

I did like this book. I listened to this book while driving from Portland, OR to Boise. I sure know now a bit about the perfume industry. I'!m still not happy about paying so much for my Gucci.

Narrator mangles the French

Brace yourself for that. I'm bilingual in French and English and had real trouble at times figuring out what he was trying to say, when he does French words/names it's like he goes full Maurice at the Cafe Boeuf, it's utterly ridiculous and makes the book a hard listen.

A Thoughtful Book

Chandler Burr deviates from his past books and approaches perfume differently in "The Perfect Scent." The New York Times perfume critic teaches the reader so much about scent, human nature, the perfume business and other interesting things that the book is hard to put down (or turn off as we listeners might say). This book is a glamorous travel travelogue through the industry and the development of scents.

The most interesting story Burr follows is the development of a scent by Sarah Jessicah Parker. The detail, sensitivity to people and circumstances, and story telling ability are just great.

Though Adam Gollner's "The Fruit Hunters" was different in approach, it makes an interesting companion listen to "The Perfect Scent." Where Burr informs about scent, Gollner approaches fruit and those who search the world for it.

The book is well written and read. If you are unfamiliar with the fragrance industry and are looking for something that will inform as well as entertain - this volume just might be for you. Burr kept my ear lobes in his hands for hours!

Good, could have been better, well worth the time.

This was a very interesting book on perfume, the making, marketing and enjoyment of it. I was fascinated by the details of perfume history, how it is developed and how it is marketed. Not being much of a tv watcher of "stories", I had no idea who Sarah Jessica Parker was, but am now a fan of hers (although I am still not sure who she is except I would recognize her perfume lines).

Very well written, until Chapter 10, when he seemed to descend into crudeness, which I did not expect or appreciate and it kind of turned me off on the whole book. I am not going to apologize for not appreciating the crudeness, it was absolutely unnecessary.

Some areas went into too much detail, but I as fascinated the New York Times has a "perfume specialist" and I will watch for his articles!

This opened up a whole new world to me, which is what I enjoy about books like this.

Dull

Glimpse of an industry I know nothing about. Too many lists of chemicals. Not much of a plot. Characters not very captivating.