S D Anugyan on furthering olfactory exploration
in the shadow of the cherry blossom
complete strangers
there are none…– Issa
My previous essay on the subject of perfume (A perfume called Ignorance) seemed to have covered pretty much all I had to say on the subject at the time. Since then though a number of questions have been answered and more arisen – it is an ongoing exploration that has no end in sight anymore than that of other mysteries of the universe.
One aspect, of which I was dimly aware, became more prominent as I continued my research. This was that the world of perfume is an excellent example of a balance of art, science and spirituality, which I always argue should be in balance for humanity to have any chance at flourishing. The spirituality aspect has been lacking in the past, as shown in the callousness with which the perfume industry would experiment on animals simply to make money by indulging in people’s selfish needs. Compassion, a natural result of any spiritual awareness, was sadly absent. Even though there are bans on animal testing in several countries now, it’s still a moral maze. Some brands like Lush seem genuinely ethically driven while others are just whitewashing their activities. One fragrance I recently bought I have only just found out was created by a company that has been boycotted at least twice. I find it tragic that people capable of bringing such beauty into the world are also adding to the ugliness, no matter how philosophical I try to be about balance. I will continue to navigate the maze as best I can.
Another question, that of how to approach perfume intelligently without overdoing it, was more or less answered at the end of the previous essay when I referred to the maxim at Delphi: Nothing in excess. When people use a particular scent over and over, it’s like listening to the same music again and again, which I’ve known people to do when they’re stuck in a certain mind-set and can’t get out. What I realise now with scents is they should be treated like symphonies, to be experienced occasionally, not all the time. Most of the time now I don’t wear any scent, and would easily be admitted into Buddha Hall. I also show this consideration when meeting friends who have allergic reactions; the only downside being I like to use scent after shaving so I put off any grooming, possibly cultivating a reputation for being hairy and unkempt. Long live the natural man!
The real revelation for me in using perfume this way is just how powerful a therapeutic technique it can be. I mentioned before how smell affects the etheric body. What I didn’t know is that if done right, it transforms a stuck space immediately. It doesn’t hang about.
I recall Osho saying how witnessing the mind is straightforward compared to witnessing the emotions. This struck a chord with me, for instance how I would feel a meditation to be ‘bad’ or ‘good’, which is an emotional reaction and therefore part of the body-mind mechanism. So I learnt to witness my emotions best I could. But sometimes an emotion would get stuck, like that record going round and round. In the past I would wait it out for ‘this too will pass.’ Now though I find if a destructive feeling is dragging me down indefinitely and not facilitating the rest of my life, I can ‘aim’ a particular scent at it and – wham! It’s effective immediately, the result often being wildly ecstatic, providing energy I can ride upon for a night and day. The trick is – and this is where it gets difficult – to select the scent that will transform rather than mask or block the emotion. I’ve experienced aromatherapy before but find this much more powerful. The trouble is, it can be learnt, but I’m not sure it can be taught. It’s up to the individual to experiment and find out.
Another aspect of the perfume world that I didn’t expand on before is how social it gets, transcending not only distinctions of gender but also of age. When two enthusiasts meet they’re delighted to discover someone else who speaks the same language. I’ve noticed that those in the online community tend to be very respectful to varying tastes, there is no bad language. This contrasts strongly with what I’ve experienced in music, movie, even literary forums, where there are always several individuals who become abusive towards others simply for saying or thinking something different.
In ‘the real world’ it is mostly women I meet at perfume counters. I guess stores didn’t get the memo that there are no longer rigid gender roles as far as perfume is concerned. To be honest, I find those who have been there too long become a bit jaded and are not very forthcoming, just wanting to sell something. Those who are more new to the business often have a fresher, almost Zen beginner’s mind. As I don’t know much myself we share knowledge freely to mutual benefit. We all acknowledge to each other that not one of us has ‘The Nose’ associated with the experts. One Saudi girl almost grabs me every time I walk near her counter, keen to subject me to fresh scents. I didn’t even know what oud was until I met her. Now I have an exotic library of Arabian perfumes, and a world of discoveries I would never have known if not for her forthrightness.
Similarly, a teenage enthusiast I know, Kara, put me onto the Sol de Janeiro range, which I don’t think is taken seriously by ardent connoisseurs. To be honest, I doubt a company whose most famous product is called ‘Bum Bum Cream’ is much bothered if it is taken seriously or not. Rather controversially, they are marketed as Brazilian but the company is American, so it is more fair to say they are inspired by Brazilian culture.
Without opening that Pandora’s box any further, all I can say is that they got something right as far as I am concerned. Their joyful exuberance varies in tones and ambience considerably – there are many hues of joy! – the names of the bottles often containing numbers of significant years in Brazil. ‘Cheirosa 62’, for instance, is linked to the release of ‘Girl from Ipanema’. A favourite of mine, the ‘59’, is likewise inspired by another bossa nova classic ‘Chega de Saudad’ (‘No More Blues’), or at least I think so. The internet is not sure whether it’s that or an address. Listening to the song, it does seem close in essence to the scent, being lush, pleasantly joyful and beautifully melancholic. I wish Sol de Janeiro would publish a guide to their various scents and their background.
Their scents all appear to be very extrovert. Not so long ago I went out to dinner with a few friends. During it I was treated to wafts of rose that enhanced my enjoyment of the meal. It was coming, I assumed, from the flowers at the centre of the table. It was only when I picked them up to smell them I found them to be odourless. The source was the young lady across and to my right who was wearing, it turned out, ‘Cheirosa 91’ which – according to the maker’s website – was ‘inspired by Rio’s pop remix era. With notes of passion fruit, Rio pink rose and honey caramel for electric energy’. Luca Turin reminds us in Perfumes: The A-Z Guide that ‘perfumery becomes art only when it adds something to nature’, and in this case Sol de Janeiro proved just that.
These days I can’t travel much for health reasons, and money that would once go for train and plane tickets now often goes to perfumes. It is my own way of travelling. As you can see, I’ve even been exposed to aspects of Middle Eastern and Brazilian culture within two miles of where I live, and they’re available to me instantly.
This summer though, the heatwave in the UK was like a lockdown, I really couldn’t travel more than two miles. Out of frustration, I spent money that once upon a time would have gone to a flight abroad, on a perfume that everyone knew about but few in my circle had experienced: ‘Chanel No. 5’. It was a bit out of my price range as I can’t afford the more expensive brands (fortunately price is not necessarily a sign of quality), but I was desperate to compensate for my being so trapped, and this was supposed to be like the Shakespeare of perfumes.
In the shop I had one of those more jaded assistants who wasn’t very forthcoming, so couldn’t get more than a quick sniff of the scent, the top note, but it seemed okay, so I bought it. When I tried it back home, allowing the deeper layers to unfold – the heart and base notes – I was severely disappointed. It did absolutely nothing for me. I tried several times and it just seemed quite boring.
Yet when I next saw Kara and she tried it on, it was electrifying. Something worked immediately for her. This is one of the mysteries of perfume, which I’m sure more experienced people know all about, that a lot depends on the interaction with the skin and, indeed, the whole person. One scent definitely does not fit all. I’m still learning how to identify the ones that do work for me.
Perhaps a bit frustrated with the Chanel disaster (at least for me), I felt eager for something else. Then I came across rave reviews of an Estée Lauder perfume called ‘Beyond Paradise’. It used scents I hadn’t come across previously such as hyacinth and orchid, with the long-lasting base notes including plum wood and hibiscus. I felt very drawn to and fascinated by this, the only problem being it was discontinued. Great scents being cancelled or altered is an ongoing issue in the perfume industry, which tends to make decisions based on commercial rather than artistic merit.
Despite this setback, I found there were still some bottles in their unique rainbow designs available online. I took the risk and ordered a bottle. This time, it was worth it. The scent is extraordinary and so unique my brain did somersaults attempting to comprehend what had just hit its sensory network. It’s certainly mysterious but without the coconut overkill one gets with so many of these exotic scents, there are complex layers and a subtlety present which I am at a loss to describe.
The difficulty of tracking down this perfume, the awareness I might be one of the last few owners of it (‘few’ probably meaning several thousand) and the awareness of how beautiful scents disappear so easily from the world after only a few years, put me in mind of the Japanese emphasis on impermanence in much of their art. Thus I am drawn to a new area to explore. I have been to France, America, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Russia and a few other countries in recent months with hardly leaving my apartment, now I’d like to go further east.
Research proves difficult. Many of the more popular Japanese scents do not get great reviews. My taste sometimes goes contrary to general opinion though, and I am drawn to a rather mysterious and contradictory scent that seems very intriguing. However, it has been discontinued – of course it has – and I can’t find any bottles for sale in the UK. There are some stores in Norway and Paris that have some but the delivery costs are prohibitive and I might not even like the scent when I receive it. It will be a risk…
The adventure continues.
Related articles
- Smell can be made an object of meditation – Osho speaks on the topic of ‘Perfume’; “Each sense has two possibilities: if the energy falls …downwards, then it is sexual; if the energy rises upwards, then it is spiritual.”
- A perfume called ignorance – An essay by S D Anugyan
- Smell is ‘information’ (and ‘dis-information’) – Random thoughts by Punya
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