Oh yes, that did just happen! 🙂
Organized again by Juraj of Bl’eauOG, we were in for a great talk made by Mr Monegal. In French! I really was very happy with the fact that I spent so many years learning it because I could follow what he was saying without any problems. And he had LOTS to say.
I’ll try and give you the highlights. One thing that I’m upset about though, when I had the chance to ask him questions, I couldn’t come up with a single thing. Now that I’m home writing this, I have a full head of questions I would really like to hear his answers to. Oh well…
Basically, what I believe is the most important thing he said and one that resonates through his perfumery and his approach to clients is that we all don’t know how to use our nose for anything that is not stomach related – e.g. food. And it’s a learned thing, conditioned by our culture as babies can smell their mothers but then, at some point, we all forget to use our nose for enjoyment and identification of the world around us (like animals do).
He said that one of the main reasons for using perfumes is communication and nowadays
people don’t have an olfactory image (like we do with the clothes we wear). They are not even aware that something like that exists. Well, we obviously are, but there were many people present today for who I could tell he was saying new things. And for him, that is the main reason perfumers came out of their labs – to educate the public of the importance of knowing the terms and recognizing the olfactory image.
Mr Monegal also explained his idea of why a perfume is like a book – with the introduction, the main part and the end. And how different notes communicate different things. I really enjoyed the idea that he so obviously espouses about it all being about communication.
I learned a lot about some notes which I’m not going to repeat here. Just that I wasn’t aware it was so difficult working with iris as it doesn’t have much longevity (and what with how expensive it is, it’s good we even have iris perfumes). 😉
I’ll leave you with one gem I really liked. There is no good/bad perfume in his mind, it’s all about the olfactory image again and the fact that perfumes can be either well worn or not well worn (depending on what you want to express with them and how they fit you). I actually like that idea as I definitely know that I cannot wear some of the perfumes I own at any time I like (Serge Lutens’ I’m looking at you).
I got to try Dubai Next To Me and I like it a lot and I basically fell in love with Impossible Iris. 🙂 The name is a reference to how difficult it is to work with iris (the longevity issue again).
A mini bottle waiting for each of us
Tagged: Dubai Next To Me, Impossible Iris, iris, perfume, perfume talk, perfume thoughts, Ramon Monegal, Zagreb
All I am - a redhead 
Dublin next to me 😉 Haven’t heard of that one, giggle… Honestly so jealous, I wish meetings like that happened here- in the meantime I love that you let us all part-take with your wonderful write-up. I wanted to love Impossible Iris, since I love iris in general, but I didn’t quite get it the first time around. It didn’t seem irisy enough, but now I need to go and try it again, perhaps I just ‘didn’t wear it well’ at the time. 🙂
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Oh hell! 🙂 I changed it now. I have no idea what is it with me and names…
Luckily though it’s not Dublin as that wouldn’t smell nearly as nice as Dubai obviously does.
I didn’t fall in love with Impossible Iris the first time around but the more I smell it, the more I appreciate the fruity lightness it has. It’s kind of very likeable and easy to select for wearing. Which I would say is the thing I appreciate in the line the most.
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I demand to see a picture of your mini-bottle? (BTW, what did you get? ; -) ).
I haven’t tried all of Monegal’s perfumes on skin but I liked several of them and if they were to come in smaller bottles – say 15-20 ml – I’d probably got a couple to keep a company for my Impossible Iris.
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Undina, I took a photo and I’ll be putting it up just for you. 🙂 I received Kiss my name and I’m very happy with it. 😀
It’s a bit more neroli and jasmine than I prefer in my tuberose but I still love the way it smells.
And it’s a 15ml bottle. Although I’m not sure those are sold…?
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It’s soooo cute!!! Thank you! Too bad they are not sold separately. But I’ll start trolling eBay now: somebody might be less happy with their mini bottle of Curelle or Ambra di Luna…
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Honestly, I would seriously wonder at the person who wouldn’t be happy with their Cuirelle. Because of their obvious lack of taste I mean. 😉
And I see Vanessa would agree with the same sentiment regarding Ambra di Luna…
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I found what he said about perfume and communication and the comparision with books really interesting. Thanks for sharing this with us, Ines. Sounds like you had a great time.
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Oh, I did! And did I mention it was in French? Mr Monegal speaks really good French. 🙂
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I wish I could speak/understand French. It would come in so handy with this hobby. I’m impressed you could follow everything he said.
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Well I understand much better than I speak it. Then again, I did take lessons for longer than half my life. 😉
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Oh my gosh, I would so love to have been there. French also no problem, as that was my degree Well, I say that, though it was *laughably* rusty when I made a phone call to ELDO today! I am utterly haunted by Ambra di Luna at the moment, and one day I will simply have to bite the bullet and buy a bottle. I am also increasingly curious about Impossible Iris – this lemming has been further stoked by your post. (Can you stoke a lemming? You can now!)
Love the insights from the talk on ‘olfactory image’ – I am sure that is true that any perfume would smell great on someone, and some great scents may smell good on only the favoured few.
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Vanessa I always wonder what my problem is that I understand perfectly but cannot speak in such a manner. I mean I obviously know all those words…
I think lemmings can be stoked, you forget about it for a little while and then a post comes along and boom, it’s at the top again. 😉
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[…] warm sunny weather. So this time around I turned to some white flowers by Mr Monegal. Ever after hearing him speak several weeks ago, I’m more and more leaning toward acquiring several more of his perfumes […]
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