BEAUTIFULLY designed and written, thoughtfully organised and laid out, The Perfume Companion: The Definitive Guide to Choosing Your Next Scent is a compendium of delights.
The Perfume Companion: The Definitive Guide to Choosing Your Next Scent
by Sarah McCartney and Samantha Sciven
The book includes almost 500 perfumes and is organised into fragrance family chapters starting with a general note like “herbal” which then goes on to discuss the aspects of that note such as classic, green, lavender, mint scents and so on.
A page from The Perfume Companion: The Definitive Guide to Choosing Your Next Scent
From exclusive brands – for example Tauer and Creed – to the high street scents like Impulse and Avon, the book also covers much-loved classic scents as well as introducing the reader to more unusual niche perfumes – all of which are lovely and well worth exploring.
The book also offers a brief history of fragrance; the perfumers behind scents; a helpful glossary; a price guide; information about what is in your perfume and it different concentrations as well as suggestions about how and where to wear scent.
Written by insider experts Sarah McCartney, the founder of the independent west London-based perfume company 4160Tuesdays, and the writer Samantha Sciven – who founded the influential blog iscentyouaday, The Perfume Companion is well and wittily written with each inclusion being a perfect length – not too long – but long enough to give fascinating background information as well as a clear and enticing description.
If you are a new to the world of perfume or a seasoned traveller on your own personal fragrance odyssey, The Perfume Companion is an ideal guide for your journey.
by Caroline Simpson
The Perfume Companion: The Definitive Guide to Choosing Your Next Scent by Sarah McCartney and Samantha Scriven
retails at £20 (pp288)