What’s in a name

Can you imagine a world in which none of the everyday use objects wouldn’t have their name? It would be so hard to talk about things by having to describe them every single time. Instead of toothbrush you’d have to say ‘that thing you use to brush your teeth.’ It would be even worse if people didn’t have names – you’d have to talk about them by describing their character and appearance. Or maybe by something unique that applies only to them & makes them one of a kind.

For perfume the name is a vital part. It needs to be chosen carefully and it has to go well together with the fragrance itself. Scent & its name should be perfectly synchronized so that the name feels right when you smell the scent. Ideally it should also convey the feelings the perfumer wanted to share and reflect the mood the perfume creates when it’s worn on skin. Some creators start with the name to build a fragrance around it – some do it the other way around. The latter case is of Pissara Umavijani of Parfums Dusita. She was working on an iris theme but during a preview in September (at Pitti Fragranze) it didn’t have a name.

Fragrantica organized a naming contest. Dusita sent a big number of samples and anyone could submit their idea. After almost 3 months the winner was announced last Saturday. New Dusita perfume which will launch around May will be called Splendiris, a junction of words splendor and iris. The idea I submitted after smelling the perfume – Reve d’Aurore, was among the finalists. I feel happy & proud that I made it this far. I think meeting Pissara just the day before was my lucky charm.

5th blog birthday – giveaway

Birthday is not a real birthday without presents. For Chemist in the Bottle 5th anniversary it’s not me who’ll be getting a present, but you. Let it be my way to express how grateful I am for having such lovely group of readers like you. All you’ll have to do is to answer a question, but nobody said it’ll be easy. You’ll have to get creative. Here’s a theme for 5th birthday challenge.

There are hundreds of perfume out there but is there a one that tics all boxes of an ideal perfume? No? Let your imagination do the thing – give a name to your ideal perfume and describe what it smells like. If you want you can even say with which perfumer you’d like to collaborate on your ideal scent or how the packaging should look like.

This is an exclusive giveaway for Chemist in the Bottle readers. To be eligible for participating you should be a blog follower until June 2017 or earlier. To enter the giveaway please submit your idea (1 per person) in the comments below before July 16. Once we reach that date I’ll have few perfume blogging friends help me to score all entries. Author of the highest scoring idea will win a 100 ml bottle of Atelier des Ors Iris Fauve. 2nd place will receive a mixed travel set from Aedes de Venustas. Rank 3 will get to enjoy Puredistance sample giftset.

Good luck to everyone! I can’t wait to read about what kind of ideal perfumes hide in your imagination. Who knows, maybe one day these imaginary scents will turn into reality.