Re: C.B.'s Latest Ax-grinding.... Like aluminum foil on a metal filling

[Guest guest]

Andrine Olson-Kirschenman wrote:

> Well, I finally figured it out. Not like I spend much time thinking

> about it, because I've got better things to do with my time. Like

> clean out the cat box... But in reading the latest pap on raw

> materials at Basenotes (links below), I couldn't quite figure out how

> the author could possibly be having such a freakish, seemingly

> unbalanced reaction to some of the raw materials that we all know and

> adore.

>

>

Andrine, did you ever stop to think that these idiots may be doing us a

favour? After all, we have a niche market here. If the large perfume

houses start adopting our methods, suddenly the shops will be flooded

with natural perfumes and we small houslets will be out of business.

Though it would be good for humanity in general and the health of the

planet....

Ambrosia

[Guest guest]

> Andrine, did you ever stop to think that these idiots may be doing

us > a favour? After all, we have a niche market here. If the large

perfume

> houses start adopting our methods, suddenly the shops will be flooded

> with natural perfumes and we small houslets will be out of business.

> Though it would be good for humanity in general and the health of the

> planet....

>

> Ambrosia

>

Hi Ambrosia,

Yes, that thought does cross my mind from time to time. I just think

that the unsuspecting public is, well, so unsuspecting. That's the

part that bothers me. I mean, it's all well and good for folks like

C.B. to choose their poison and revel in it. It's another thing for

folks who don't have general access to the knowledge and who live

their lives using products thinking that " if it's not safe, the

government wouldn't allow it to be sold, so it all must be safe. "

Thanks for adding perspective!

Andrine

[Guest guest]

Hallo There,

I am new here and never posted before. Thank you for sharing this

article Adrine. Well this " description " below here happened to be the

one that I scrolled to when first opening the link. Was I on the

wrong link somehow? Apparently not I guess. While likes and dislikes

are subjective, this reaction to an aroma is one I've never

encountered before written or elsewhere...

" Petitgrain is a hardcore pornographic rape scent set in a forest. I

hate petitgrain. It's a violent smell.

Glad to meet you all. Many best,

G

[Guest guest]

>

> Hallo There,

> I am new here and never posted before. Thank you for sharing this

> article Adrine. Well this " description " below here happened to be the

> one that I scrolled to when first opening the link. Was I on the

> wrong link somehow? Apparently not I guess. While likes and dislikes

> are subjective, this reaction to an aroma is one I've never

> encountered before written or elsewhere...

>

> " Petitgrain is a hardcore pornographic rape scent set in a forest. I

> hate petitgrain. It's a violent smell.

>

> Glad to meet you all. Many best,

> G

>

Hi Genevieve,

Welcome to our group. And yes, sadly, you did gt to the correct link.

It's heartbreaking, really, to read of natural ingredients being so

ruthlessly smeared and blasphemed. It's like he's the

(of Hayden Lake, Idaho, not the lovely man who was the front man for

the Psychedelic Furs) of the " religion " of perfume. But we can't do

anything about what one person chooses to do in a blatant attack on

natural ingredients. What we can do is to continue to share the truth

about natural ingredients with others.

Cheers,

Andrine

[Guest guest]

>

> And why else, but if his brain has been altered by snorting synthetic

> chemicals, would he say that pure, unadulterated jasmine smells like a

> " an unwashed beast wearing dirty underwear and stinking from its

> armpits. Jasmine is a flower that has an a**hole. "

http://www.basenotes.net/articles/20080117chandler-burr-on-raw-materials.html

>

> http://tinyurl.com/2b5u25

>

> or

>

> http://preview.tinyurl.com/2b5u25

Hi Everyone,

Chandler Burr is a writer -- nothing else. Writers spend their

careers embellishing their words to make them eye-catching and

interesting to their readers. His interpretations mean absolutely

zilch other than a twisted bunch of flowery words meant to elicit a

reaction from people. That's what he was trained to do. He could be

writing about tasting fruit or a view of the ocean from a sandy beach.

He writes about natural raw materials " poetically " , using powerful

words reminiscent of what most people in our odor-phobic culture view

as vial human stench... this is a tool used precisely to mask the fact

that he knows nothing about the subject and couldn't tell HIS armpits

from a hole in the ground.

By the way, most people in the world would prefer the scent of dirty

jasmine's a**hole to Mr. Burr's, even though he's convinced his sh*t

don't stink.

Cheerfully,

Rose

[Guest guest]

>

> But then, there are people who can't abide any natural or human smell,

> who would encase themselves in plastic, cover their furniture in

> plastic, and never go out of the house for fear of contamination.

> Remember the kid who died because he sprayed so much antiperspirant

> all over his body? Maybe the person who wrote this on Basenotes is

> rolling happily down that road to looneyville too....

>

> See what you think:

>

http://www.basenotes.net/articles/20080117chandler-burr-on-raw-materials.html

>

> http://tinyurl.com/2b5u25

Andrine!

YOU are one seriously funny individual! It is curious how anyone

could perceive natural scents in the way described in Basenotes. You

may be on to something with your idea of that synths alter something

in the brain. I distinctly recall my first introduction to true

Lavender. I knew I loved the scent and had an expectation of what it

was and one whiff nearly knocked me over! NOT what I expected! I

have since developed a love beyond description for Lavender and it's

effect along with countless other naturals. Perhaps the exposure over

time has realigned my brain with nature? Hmmm, maybe we should dunk the guy's

head in a vat and see what happens...

Peace,

[Guest guest]

> Hi Everyone,

>

> Chandler Burr is a writer -- nothing else. Writers spend their

> careers embellishing their words to make them eye-catching and

> interesting to their readers. His interpretations mean absolutely

> zilch other than a twisted bunch of flowery words meant to elicit a

> reaction from people. That's what he was trained to do. He could

be

> writing about tasting fruit or a view of the ocean from a sandy

beach.

> He writes about natural raw materials " poetically " , using powerful

> words reminiscent of what most people in our odor-phobic culture

view

> as vial human stench... this is a tool used precisely to mask the

fact

> that he knows nothing about the subject and couldn't tell HIS

armpits

> from a hole in the ground.

>

> By the way, most people in the world would prefer the scent of dirty

> jasmine's a**hole to Mr. Burr's, even though he's convinced his sh*t

> don't stink.

>

> Cheerfully,

>

> Rose

>Folks,

Not to beat a dead horse....BUT, not only is Chandler Burr " just a

writer " , but you might be surprised at his " real " background.

http://www.chandlerburr.com/bio/

And if he's smelling undiluted absolutes and oils straight out of the

bottle, he's missing the whole point!!!

Chris

[Guest guest]

> >

> I have a slightly different take on it: when Luca's blog exploded with

> hate towards naturals in Dec. 05, Burr thought he found his niche

> audience to appeal to, but now his muse - and the perfumery world - are

> accepting naturals, and he can't escape the rut he's in. He seems

> clueless that the cab has left the station, and he's nobody will

respond

> to his hand flailing wildly in the air.

>

> --

> Sincerely, Anya

> Anya's Garden http://AnyasGarden.com - perfumes, aromatics,

classes, consultation

> Natural Perfumers Guild http://NaturalPerfumersGuild.com

> 1400 member Natural Perfumery group -

/

>

Agreed. He's trying (unsuccessfully) to use shock value to catapult

himself out of his rut. Beasts (humans included=) will always scream

and loudest and make the biggest scene just before their... hmm...

expiration?

But his rantings and ravings leave me with a little smirk on my face,

because he's totally undermined himself. Now that he's made his

virulent opinion clear, he couldn't get into naturals even if he

wanted to. He's backed himself into a synthetics corner, and now that

his audience is opening up to naturals, he's trapped like a rat.

Too bad for him.

Rose

[Guest guest]

> I have since developed a love beyond description for Lavender and its

> effect along with countless other naturals. Perhaps the exposure over

> time has realigned my brain with nature? Hmmm, maybe we should dunk

the guy's head in a vat and see what happens...

>

> Peace,

>

Hi , All,

To paraphrase our own dear , a Burr is nothing more than an

annoying weed.

Cheers!

Andrine

[Guest guest]

This article prompts me to write my first post on this forum. I

belong to Basenotes, where I met many wonderful people (with whom I

traded many beautiful perfumes) and wrote scores of fun reviews. I

had to stop participating because it took too much time.

I looked for a post on that forum in response to Grant's interview

with Chandler Burr. I could not find one on the men's side or the

women's side. This disappoints me. Did I miss the thread(s)? Or

was there no interest in the topic? (Please post a link to the

ensuing discussion if you find one.)

To be concise, I have joined here because of my support for the

sustainable farming of botanical ingredients and the ethically

created and marketed products of independent perfumeurs. I have

loved discovering the " true " aroma of real ingredients.

Many times, I felt that my mention of this topic elicted scant

response on Basenotes; therefore, I come here to discuss natural

perfumery with like-minded individuals.

To be sure, Chandler Burr's inflammatory language is his gimmick to

sell his writing, which is far inferior to that of Luca Turin. He is

entitled to his opinion, however inaccurate it may be. I hope that

people are not dissuaded from trying natural perfumes as a result.

However, negative publicity sometimes backfires and ends up promoting

a product better than the most expensive advertising campaign.

Sincerely,

purplebird7

Hodges

[Guest guest]

Hello all:

I went to look for the article and I was surprised to find that it was

actually pretty mild, overall. I expected, from the violent reactions,

to read Chandler Burr tearing through the essences like locusts

through a corn crop.

But it looks like he hates some things, he loves others, some he is

indifferent to. I personally love vetiver and petitgrain; so what if

Burr doesn't? He has a lot of visibility, true, but that's going to

work to the advantage of natural perfumers in the end. His writing

style comes across as strained and pretentious to me, but the fact is

the naturals just speak for themselves. The trick will be to expose

more people to them and let their brains do the rest.

I don't mean to be contentious but just to say that I don't think

there is anything to fear from a diversity of opinion, even if some of

it is negative and ill-formed, or even if there really is malicious

intent. Re-education about scent is going to take place in individual

brains, at which point no amount of PR will convince someone that the

synthetics are a better deal.

My two cents, Cecile

>

To be sure, Chandler Burr's inflammatory language is his gimmick to

> sell his writing, which is far inferior to that of Luca Turin. He is

> entitled to his opinion, however inaccurate it may be. I hope that

> people are not dissuaded from trying natural perfumes as a result.

> However, negative publicity sometimes backfires and ends up promoting

> a product better than the most expensive advertising campaign.

>

[Guest guest]

On " Perfumes: The Guide " by Luca Turin (Viking; $27.95)

>

> ... So taste is mainly smell, and smell is a profound mystery. Why

> is it that one molecule smells of spearmint, while its mirror image

> smells of caraway? No one knows.

It's this part of Luca's writing that I enjoy. When he wanders off

down the synth paths, he loses my interest, but when he writes about

the molecular structure of naturals, I'm enthralled.

Cheers!

Andrine