It's my birthday, sort of. One year ago I started stephanmatthews.com, a twice-weekly observation on the perfume industry, and in that time we've had ninety four articles, two events, and an occasional "heated debate". One of the things that kickstarted my writing was the Perfume Society, and they have given me a wonderful birthday present ... five memberships to give away to my readers. Before we get to the competition I want to share with you my five favourite articles from the Perfume Society's magazine, the Scented Letter. It was great re-reading the current sixteen issues, and I hope that you enjoy the choices.
They arrive in a blaze of publicity and either hold onto their market share or silently disappear. I'm talking about CELEBRITY FRAGRANCES. There has been a lot of talk about the scourge of this genre recently, but in my opinion the reviewers are missing the point. The world has changed since Guerlain launched Mitsouko in 1919 and L.T. Piver gave us Rêve D'Or in 1889, not least because of the number of releases every year, so are Beyoncé and Rihanna being unfairly criticised? Let's compare a century of perfume habits and see whether twelve months might actually become the norm for a fragrance's life.
