In the recent film “Perfume: The Story of a Murderer,” based on Patrick Suskind’s 1985 best-selling novel, an 18th Century Parisian perfumer goes to murderous lengths to create a signature scent capable of placing anyone under his spell.
In reality, olfactory obsessions tend to be less farfetched, but no less captivating to those who have them.
Chicago author and “Rachael Ray Show” commentator Stacey Ballis, 36, speaks passionately of a favorite scent lost and regained.
When boutique perfumer Sarah Schwartz went out of business, Ballis mourned the end of the obscure scent she had worn since she was 18–a perfume called Lucid/Agony, whose name “just screams for a film noir commercial.”
But it was the scent itself that enchanted her–“clean and slightly vegetal” with a “hint of musk.”
“I had an eighth of an inch left and brought it to Tedd [Neenan, owner of the Aroma Workshop in Lincoln Park] and said ‘Get as close as you can,’ ” she recalls. “And he matched it.”
She has never asked Neenan about the formula–she’s just grateful to him for re-creating her signature perfume.
“I write Aroma Workshop into all [of] my books,” she says. “There’s always an excuse in a women’s fiction book to work in a fragrance shop.”
In return, Neenan creates a signature scent for each book release. For Ballis’ last title, “Room for Improvement” (Berkley Trade, $13), Neenan concocted a home fragrance called Room Improver ($9 for 8 ounces), with notes of fig and cucumber. An earlier perfume called Robin and Mike ($20 for 1.25-ounce cologne), inspired by Ballis’ novel “Sleeping Over,” has an ocean-and-juniper aroma she likens to “a martini on the beach.”
Ina Prouty, 30, the Chicago blogger behind Aromascope.com, boasts of a 100-plus bottle collection of perfumes, dominated by older fragrances such as Guerlain’s Mitsouko and L’Heure Bleue, Chanel’s Bois des Iles and Coty’s L’Origan–all created before 1930.
Her nose has developed as a wine connoisseur’s might.
“I used to like light, clean-smelling, marine scents–whatever was offered in the mass market–but now I have more of a love of the classics,” she says.
Fragrances by Guerlain or Chanel used a lot of bold ingredients, she said, “things that people wouldn’t necessarily love, like real animal musk or a lot of oak moss,” Prouty says. “It’s not appealing to people these days. I just love trying to smell the notes and understand the concept.”
Patty Geissler, 47, of Denver, who runs the popular fragrance blog PerfumePosse.com, also loves vintage scents but hunts for anything rare or discontinued. She got her hands on bottle 728 of the 1,000-bottle limited reissue of Hermes’ 1955 fragrance Doblis, and once paid $900 for couture designer Shalini Kumar’s fragrance Shalini in a Lalique crystal bottle.
Her current obsession: tracking down Juozas Statkevicius Eau de Parfum. Created for, and named for, a Lithuanian costume designer, it’s not distributed outside of Lithuania.
“It’s supposed to be an elegant incense scent that’s spicy and incredibly good,” Geissler says. “I’m doing this completely unsniffed. The harder it is to get, the more fun it is.”
A tiny boutique in Berlin is rumored to harbor a few bottles, so Geissler is enlisting a German friend to pick one up to ship to the States. “I contemplated a trip to Germany to drink beer and find this perfume,” she admits, “but that seemed a little unreasonable, believe it or not.”
One of Geissler’s earlier prized finds was Guerlain’s discontinued Djedi, a fragrance created in 1926 that was relaunched in a limited edition of 1,000 bottles in 1996. It’s no longer available, except to those, like Geissler, who are willing to undertake exhaustive eBay searches.
“It’s completely unique from most things out there in the market–dry, green, with an unmistakable Guerlain base,” she says. “It’s really dry, the way perfumes used to be made. It smells of a different age.”
The draw of older perfumes is that they were designed to say something, Geissler says, not to be inoffensive, like many of the trendier scents.
Despite her love of retro fragrances, Geissler, like most perfume fanatics, also keeps tabs on the latest releases.
“We get obsessed about those too,” she says. “It’s like girl hunting–you don’t want the next great thing to get away from you.”
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Perfume: The story of a quest
My own perfume fixation began in college. Searching for something unusual but not overpowering, I stumbled onto Shiseido’s limited-distribution scent Feminite du Bois.
Translating as “the femininity of the woods,” the perfume exudes a warm, spicy aroma, with notes of cedar, sandalwood, cinnamon and orange blossoms. If Chanel No. 5 calls to mind Marilyn Monroe, Feminite du Bois conjures Anita Ekberg in “La Dolce Vita”–it’s mysterious, seductive and a bit hedonistic. I was hooked. That is, until 2005, when it was discontinued in the U.S.
My supply dwindling, I bribed my mom to pick up two bottles for me on a trip to Italy. (It’s still widely distributed in Europe.)
Now I replenish my stock whenever I travel abroad, and beg friends and relatives to bring back bottles from foreign duty-free shops.
–H.M.
Delve more into uncommon scents
Sniff out rare fragrances–or create your own scents–at these standout perfume shops:
Aroma Workshop
2050 N. Halsted St., 773-871-1985
Blend pure essential oils at the scent bar to create a custom fragrance–or choose a pre-scented cologne, lotion, bath gel or massage oil. Owner Tedd Neenan maintains a file with the formulas for every scent created on the premises.
Odalisque
312 S. 3rd St., Geneva, 630-232-2070
Boutique owner Bridget Lescher sells dozens of unusual fragrance lines at her shop. Look for i Profumi di Firenze, Les Bains du Marais, Creative Scentualization, L’Artisan Parfumeur, Frank Los Angeles and Patyka. Or mix up a new, one-of-a-kind scent at the perfume bar.
3 more havens for uncommon scents
Nova Fragrances
5936 N. Broadway,312-479-7429 or800-785-3308.
Crammed with bottles from $5 to $150, this new storefront shop–open since December–specializes in hard-to-find scents from the likes of Dolce & Gabbana, Christian Dior, Armani and Balenciaga. Beginning this month, you can buy online at novafragrances.com.
Designer Perfume Outlet
5 Woodfield Mall, Schaumburg,
847-969-0677. 239 Golf Mill Shopping Center, Niles,
847-824-1354.
This local mini-chain features rare and discontinued brands at discount prices. Among the finds: Cerruti 1881, Arpege by Lanvin, original Anna Sui and Givenchy Hot Couture.
Endo Exo Apothecary
2034 N. Halsted St.,877-505-3636.
In addition to a well-edited selection of cosmetics and bath products, this modern apothecary stocks hand-blended Sage perfume oils, organic Jo Wood fragrances, elegant Tocca scents and the designer fragrance line “b.e.”
–H.M.
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Next week in Q: Our sniff-test will cut through the fog of new perfumes, just in time for Valentine’s Day.
