I recently met Odette Toilette, the perfume expert behind the Scratch and Sniff’ salons. She describes them as ‘a blend of literary soirée meets perfume sampling meets social club, and a way to raise our enjoyment of the very underappreciated sense of smell.’ Held at the Book Club in Shoredtich the third or fourth Tuesday of every month, Odette invites experts to talk about the origins and history of perfume and provides lots of opportunities to sample and buy the scents.
Most recently she has teamed up with the Scent Salon at Les Senteurs’ new shop in London’s Marylebone where she will be hosting The vintage Sessions on Saturday afternoons, every other month. They will offer a chance to immerse yourself in a specific period of fragrance history.
The next vintage session on the 28th of January is The 1920s: The Lost Generation, Nuit de Noël and the silent era, which will feature perfumes of the 1920s and some of the artistic, literary, fashion, and culinary contexts behind the scents. there will be cakes, vintage cocktail dresses displayed by Juno Says Hello, and lots of opportunities to sample. Les Senteurs will also give each guest £10 to spend in the shop.
If you are a perfume lover (Amanda’s MAD if you are reading – Christmas present perhaps?) or just fancy learning a bit more about it, they sound like a lovely idea.
