Smell & Tell | Haute Skank: An Olfactory Menagerie of Animalics in Perfumery

When

Wednesday October 18, 2017: 6:30pm to 8:45pm  Add to Calendar /   Add to Google Calendar

Where

Downtown Library: 4th Floor Meeting Room

Description

Musk, ambergris, civet, and castoreum are historic ingredients used in perfumery. Whether they purr, hiss, or roar depends on the dose. They are generally used as fixatives to support the structure of a perfume and leave nothing to offend in their wake.

Character is another issue when it comes to animalic ingredients as many contain intimate odors that are polarizing in Western culture. We’ll smash this cultural relic to bits at the Haute Skank Smell & Tell, where synthetic and humanely derived animalics will be experienced for the purpose of understanding their alchemical effects in a perfume formula.

We will also investigate plant-based animalics like Black currant bud, cumin, and costus. Some of these materials evoke intimate human aromas, and remind us that a short line occupies the space between the perfumes of intimacy and animal archetypes.

The Smell and Tell series of lectures is led by Michelle Krell Kydd, a trained nose in flavors and fragrance who shares her passion for gastronomy and the perfume arts on Glass Petal Smoke. The Smell and Tell series debuted at the Ann Arbor District Library in 2012 and is ongoing.

Aroma materials for the Haute Skank Smell & Tell have been provided by International Flavors and Fragrances (IFF).