French Perfume Pick Me Ups - Olfactive Studio

What are you using to help banish the winter blues?  I use fragrance as a pick-me-up sometimes, whether it's through a lovely rose scented face cream, a fruity perfume, or even a couple of drops of essential oil in a burner.  I also find photos can be a visual pick-me-up, and try and keep interesting postcards and images pinned around my desk.

But what about perfume, and photography, together?  That is indeed the latest concept brought to us by The Olfactive Studio, a collaboration between perfumers and photographers, or as it's more suggestively described on the website, an 'encounter'...

Here's a little bit more about the concept:

"Olfactive Studio is at the crossroads of a photographic studio and a perfume design studio. This is the first time ever that perfumers have teamed up with photographers to draw inspiration from their oeuvres. They sense the images to capture their essence.

Photography and perfume capture the moment and rekindle the memory of past experiences. Imagining a sensorial, intimate, and poetic relationship between images and scents is to reconcile temporal spaces."

I have to say I was intrigued when I received the press release and read the above!  I've always been a bit on the arty rather than sporty side, and I absolutely love photography.  I go to exhibitions whenever I can, but there aren't really that many in my area so often it's on a trip to London that I can squeeze an exhibition in.  Regular readers will also have noticed that recently I've been talking about trying to be a bit more 'French' in my style and attitude to beauty, so I jumped at the chance to try out these perfumes for myself.  Perfumes really can lift the spirit, something we all desperately need on these wet and windy days.

I received the 'Discovery Kit', which contains a sample each of the 5 fragrances, and a set of cards featuring the corresponding photographs.  Intriguingly, the fragrances are all unisex, so I tested them not only myself, but on the other half, to make sure I got a male perspective - he liked all of them but 'Autoportrait' was the favourite, whereas my favourite was 'Chambre Noir'

Flash Back - very fresh smelling, this scent has base notes of vetiver and cedarwood.  Very Spring-like.


Autoportrait - the other half's favourite, this one has a sweet note, although it's described as woody.

Lumiere Blanche - a zingy fragrance, described as mild with cold spices.

Still Life - the most effervescent, it's the opposite to Chambre Noir, but my second favourite.  Described as sparkling, I'd agree with that.

Chambre Noir - I found this one quite woody and spicy, it had some elements that you find in vintage perfumes, such as leather.  I couldn't stop sniffing my wrist with this one, it captures the cosy comfort of winter to me.

The Olfactive Studio range includes the Discovery Kit (35 Euros), candles (65 Euros), 50ml perfume (85 Euros) and 100ml perfume (125 Euros).  London stockist Bloom also has them if you don't want to order from France.

Photography is certainly a passion I'd like to indulge in more myself, but at present I am armed with only a small digital compact camera, and am yearning, with empty pockets, for a bridge, or full SLR so that I can really step up the photo quality.  Until then, I'll continue marvelling at other people's photographs - those photo cards in the kit are going up on my wall!

Do you like French perfume?  And do you go to photography exhibitions??

Photo sources: All from Olfactive Studio
Disclaimer: I received the Discovery Kit, but as always, my views are my own!