Perfume

The locust trees are in bloom today. That's the black locust,  Robinia pseudoacacia , one of the last trees to bloom. In eastern Kentucky, where the tree is plentiful, those delicate white blossoms perfume the countryside, and it is by their appearance that I know that spring has well and truly arrived.  Duty has be editing copy for the forthcoming  Sun Magazine issue commemorating the paper's 175th anniversary (I got to edit...

The locust trees are in bloom today. That's the black locust,  Robinia pseudoacacia , one of the last trees to bloom. In eastern Kentucky, where the tree is plentiful, those delicate white blossoms perfume the countryside, and it is by their appearance that I know that spring has well and truly arrived.  Duty has be editing copy for the forthcoming  Sun Magazine issue commemorating the paper's 175th anniversary (I got to edit...

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia - Perfume is meant to provoke passion, but not the sort stirring this historic seaport. Halifax has become the first major center in North America in which the wearing of all cosmetic fragrances - from Giorgio to grandmother's lavender soap - is prohibited in most indoor public places, including municipal offices, libraries, hospitals, classrooms, courts and mass transit buses. With little fanfare, and less public debate, a city renowned for its sea breezes and friendly folk has declared underarm deodorant, herbal shampoos, colognes and other scented products to be hazardous to public health.

If winter is about cold and dark, autumn is about color and summer is about sweat, then spring, at least to me, is about smells. It hits me just about every May, though the specific day varies from year to year depending on the weather, but there's no mistaking when it hits. Stepping outside puts me in a sweet cloud of the flowers my wife, Anne, and I have planted outside our home. It's kind of strange: in our era, the easiest way for me to describe the smell is by comparing it to inexpensive perfume.

While perfume strips tucked into magazine ads have been known to cause hives, a new study suggests they also may worsen breathing problems in some people with asthma.Dr. Virginia Caradonna-Graham of Louisiana State University in New Orleans said that while for many people the perfume strips are just a nuisance, they may actually pose a health threat to some asthmatics.She said she realized the extent of the problem when one of her asthmatic patients in her waiting room was leafing through a magazine that contained a perfume strip, which the woman opened up and smelled.

When the designer Vicky Tiel introduced her fragrance last year, it was a big hit among Saudi Arabians in Paris but it was less than acceptable to the Saudi government.The perfume's bottle, which featured a stopper in the shape of a nude, turned out to be too risque for Saudi Arabian customs officials, who impounded the first shipments after the end of the war in the Persian Gulf.Tiel has redesigned the bottle, eliminating the naked touches. She expects to sell $1 million worth of fragrance in Saudi Arabia this year.

Legendary movie star and entrepreneur Elizabeth Taylor hits the road in September to push her latest perfume for women, White Diamonds. She'll be on an eight-city tour, stopping at Hecht's at Tyson's Corner on Sept. 13.During her stop, Taylor will hold a "Question and Answer" session with customers. The first 150 customers to buy the 1-ounce limited edition bottle, which sells for $300, will be invited to a private tea with the star. Each of the limited edition bottles is numbered and decorated with Taylor's signature.

Consumers these days have a "wardrobe of scents," say industry analysts. So someone close to you will probably enjoy getting a gift of perfume, cologne or eau de toilette. Here are the latest trends in scent, according to the Fragrance Foundation:Light, fresh scents"Shared" fragrances for men and women 25 or younger. (This is what used to be called "unisex.")Voiles, "veils" of fragrance -- a lighter version of classics like Chanel.Fruity, citrusy, floralSporty fragrances (whatever that means!

Jean-Paul Gaultier, the enfant terrible of the Parisian power designers, has created his first perfume. What can one expect from a man who wears skirts, lets his bleached-blond roots go and is best known for jutting Madonna into a satin torpedo bra? Classy trashy. The scent is bottled in a curvy female form overlaid with frosty or gilt corset and garters. Oh, and it comes in a can. It's quite lovely -- the surprise package and the fragrance. The irreverent presentation may undo some men, who are the frequent buyers of status fragrances and packaging at gift time.

Perfume offers eau de crud. Director Tom Tykwer, who created an international sensation with the contemporary thriller Run Lola Run, has turned this portrait of an 18th-century French serial killer into a Hannibal Lecter movie for aesthetes and highbrows. Tykwer proved himself a kinetic entertainer to his bones in Lola, whose heroine never stopped moving. But in Perfume he's saddled with an anti-hero whose nose never stops twitching. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (Paramount) Starring Ben Whishaw, Dustin Hoffman, Alan Rickman.

If you go Longwood Gardens "Making Scents: The Art and Passion of Fragrance" is open through Nov. 21 at Longwood Gardens. The exhibit includes lectures, displays and "Fragrant Fridays," a monthly event that will highlight one specific scent. The gardens are open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily through May 28; hours extend until 10 p.m. Thursday through Sunday thereafter. Admission is $16 for adults, $14 for seniors 62 and older, $6 for students ages 5 to 22 and free to children under 4. Parking is free.

Airlines need to tell passengers not to bathe in their stinky perfume. I am not allergic to perfume, but it is torture having to sit near heavy-perfume wearers all through a flight. It's not just women; men are just as bad about using too much. Also, some deodorants are far too strong. Is there any way to get the word out to people? Based on science and sociology alone, your chances stink when it comes to stopping what you consider an airborne invasion. But not completely. Some businesses, schools, even hospitals have instituted fragrance-free policies because they are concerned about reactions to odors.

For nearly three years, Aerin Lauder left a scent in her wake that people she knew couldn't get enough of. She smelled of gardenias and tuberose flowers, wearing a fragrance created exclusively for her. Now, others can get their hands on the Private Collection Tuberose Gardenia perfume, which costs $65 to $300. Yesterday, Lauder, granddaughter of Estee Lauder - the founder of the cosmetics company that bears her name, greeted customers from behind the Estee Lauder counter at Saks Fifth Avenue in Chevy Chase, promoting the fragrance she created as a tribute to her late grandmother.

Perfume offers eau de crud. Director Tom Tykwer, who created an international sensation with the contemporary thriller Run Lola Run, has turned this portrait of an 18th-century French serial killer into a Hannibal Lecter movie for aesthetes and highbrows. Tykwer proved himself a kinetic entertainer to his bones in Lola, whose heroine never stopped moving. But in Perfume he's saddled with an anti-hero whose nose never stops twitching. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (Paramount) Starring Ben Whishaw, Dustin Hoffman, Alan Rickman.

"Don't shoot the piano player, he's doing the best he can," said the sign on an Old West saloon, but these days, art theater customers may grumble, "Please, please shoot the narrator." In movies like 1993's The Age of Innocence or 2006's Perfume and Little Children, the voice-over is so incessant you feel as if you're watching storybook theater. The filmmakers over-rely on the voices of Joanne Woodward in The Age of Innocence, John Hurt in Perfume and Will Lyman in Little Children to set mood and tone.

NOTHING ELSE A WOMAN -- or man -- wears is quite so complex, suggestive or memory-laden as scent. Perfume styles come and go, and what seems new is often just a recycling of past successes. But attitudes are changing about scent, and with those changes are some genuinely new trends. Who would have guessed even five years ago that a rap star would have this year's biggest prestige fragrance launch -- for men or women? Personal fragrance is a paradoxical business. Sometimes it seems as if it's all about fancy packaging and overwrought marketing.

Airlines need to tell passengers not to bathe in their stinky perfume. I am not allergic to perfume, but it is torture having to sit near heavy-perfume wearers all through a flight. It's not just women; men are just as bad about using too much. Also, some deodorants are far too strong. Is there any way to get the word out to people? Based on science and sociology alone, your chances stink when it comes to stopping what you consider an airborne invasion. But not completely. Some businesses, schools, even hospitals have instituted fragrance-free policies because they are concerned about reactions to odors.

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. -- Come to public meetings in Marin County, but please leave behind your fragrant Chanel No. 5, your pungent Obsession and your aromatic $300-an-ounce dab of Joy.Sandy Ross, president of Health & Habitat, a foundation devoted to a healthy environment, is taking her crusade for the rights of the chemically sensitive to City Hall.She has asked for a ban on fragrances at parks commission meetings and intends to do so at other government agencies.Perfume odors inhaled by chemically sensitive people can lead to a range of maladies, from dizziness and disorientation to incapacitating headaches and seizures, she said.

HAVE YOU EVER walked past someone who had on the wrong perfume for the season? On a hot summer day you said to yourself, "It's too warm out here for her to have on such a strong scent!" Well, if you haven't, maybe that someone is you. The age-old rule, "A stronger fragrance in the winter and a lighter fragrance in the summer," still applies today. Thankfully, fragrance makers have kept the "cool rule" in mind when releasing new summertime scents. Givenchy, a fixture in the fragrance world, has just launched a new summer scent, Very Irresistible, which the company says has an icy and frosty effect, made possible by a clever combination of notes and new technology.

Scientists studying the human effects of hormone-mimicking chemicals have reported that compounds called phthalates used in plastics and beauty products, and widely found in people, seem to alter reproductive organs of baby boys. In the first study of humans exposed in the womb to phthalates, the researchers, who examined the genitalia of male babies and toddlers, found a strong relationship between the chemicals and subtle changes in the size and anatomy of their genitals. Phthalates are ubiquitous compounds used as softeners in plastics and to maintain color and fragrance in beauty products such as nail polish and perfume, among other uses.