Nez, the olfactory magazine – #20 – Telling the story of perfume

"We are – until proven otherwise – the only species on Earth capable of telling ourselves stories. We invent, we transmit thoughts, facts and gestures that exist only in our brain, then our speech, or our writings. Most of the time, we believe it, and we even manage to convince others. But we can also sometimes decide to change these narratives, to question them and to transform them. Our sense of smell, originally designed to alert us to urgent, even vital, situations (fire, food, predators…), has become more refined over time, capable of stimulating our imagination and memory, and offering us an augmented reality of countless memories, images, landscapes, and emotions… But this sense, lacking education and therefore a vocabulary, sometimes plays tricks on us. Thus, the narratives offered by most perfumes are essentially projected by those who sell them, without leaving us the space to create an intimate story linked to our personal feelings. Through patient and regular learning, which we are all capable of, smells can gradually make their way into our minds, and give rise to our own images, characters, words, poems, scripts or plot twists. So, the next time someone talks to you about "the expression of a free and bold woman", a "skillful blend of elegance and energy", or an intense eau de parfum that "encapsulates the spirit of men of action", turn around and go sniff at "real" perfumes instead, the ones that tell stories... that belong only to you. " EJeanne Doré (Editorial Director of Nez) said the same. Nez invites you to discover the world through our sense of smell, with a multidisciplinary approach encompassing art, literature, photography, science, history, gastronomy, and perfumery… To understand the essential role of smell in our lives.