Book: Nose, the olfactory review – #18 – The color of odors

“I perceive For a Man as an impressionist landscape in two colors: mauve and brown, with just a few light touches of yellow and green in places. » “The violet color is present from the first seconds, like a thick velvet, tending towards plum, almost purple, barely diluted in a little pinkish orange. » “When you read these excerpts from reviews published some time ago on the Auparfum website, you can guess that color has often been useful to me in describing and sharing what a perfume made me feel. Am I a synesthete? I never thought so. But like many, I like to use the other senses to express an olfactory emotion, of which colors have always been a part. However, according to numerous press releases, synesthesia seems to be used in all sorts of ways today, and especially against its intended use, like "this project which pushes the limits of synesthesia", or this "multi-sensory universe allowing you to experience a new perfume through synesthesia". As if simultaneous exposure to smells, sounds and colours had the power to suddenly give you such an ability. I will not elaborate here on what synesthesia means, since an article in the major file does it very well (spoiler, it is a little more complicated than that). But whether or not you are a synesthete, every time you smell, close your eyes, open your nose and let the olfactory rainbow unfold. » Jeanne Doré (Editorial Director of Nez) Nez offers to discover the world through our olfactory sensations, with a multidisciplinary approach: art, literature, photography, science, history, gastronomy, perfumery… To understand the essential role of smell in our lives.