About Now Smell This

I am an avid perfume fan living in a small town in Pennsylvania, far from the nearest perfume store. If you are wondering what qualifications I have for writing this blog, the answer is simple: none. I just like perfume.

I wear men's, women's, and unisex perfumes. I love woods, incense, citrus, florals, spices, vetiver, and green notes. I am very fond of chypre perfumes, or anything with oakmoss for that matter. I am not so fond of patchouli or amber, and with a few exceptions, I don't care for very "clean" perfumes, marine fragrances, or very sweet gourmand-dessert type perfumes.

I am also addicted to high-end chocolates & teas, and I waste massive amounts of time online, mostly reading other people's blogs. You can see what caught my eye while surfing at my Google Reader Shared Items page, or you can read more of my perfume chatter at Twitter.

You can reach me at nowsmellthis at comcast dot net.

Angela Sanders writes about Pacific Northwest culture and history, and now about her secret love, perfume. Her interest in fragrance started when, as a graduate student in Paris, she got up the nerve to walk into the Annick Goutal boutique in Place St. Sulpice. Either that, or when she first scraped together her babysitting earnings for a bottle of Babe at Long's Drugs.

Erin creates lists of fragrances for Now Smell This. Her love of perfume blossomed out of her first love, reading: while working as a librarian, she found an article on aromachemicals and the fragrance industry, which started her obsession with all things scented. Currently, she lives in Toronto, Canada, with her husband and a perfume-addicted toddler. Erin is particularly fond of men's fragrances as well as woods, chypres, green or herbal scents and soft orientals. She haphazardly maintains her own blog, Emergency Backpack.

Current Guest Shoppers, who file reports on brick 'n mortar perfume stores, include Jessica in New York (see Jessica M, below); Karen in Los Angeles County (Karen is fragrance collector who posts on MakeupAlley as SoCalWoman); and Nina in London (Nina is a writer who posts as Vanille on Perfume of Life).

Jessica writes about scented bath and body products for Now Smell This. She is an art historian working in New York, and when she is not doing research in a museum or a library, she can often be found browsing at various perfume counters and beauty-product boutiques around the city. Her love of fragrance is rooted in early memories ranging from Baby Magic lotion to the bottle of Bellodgia on her grandmother's dressing table.

You can reach Jessica at jessicanowsmellthis at gmail dot com.

Kevin reviews home fragrance products (incense, candles and room sprays) and men's fragrance. Kevin began his perfume education early in life at the "University" of Bullocks Wilshire in Los Angeles, where he was tutored by a Parisian sales clerk who taught that one could, without guilt, purchase at least one bottle of perfume every week. He is a senior editor at an international newswire service and also gives gallery talks on Buddhist and Hindu art at the Seattle Art Museum/Seattle Asian Art Museum.

You can reach Kevin at kevsta11 at gmail dot com.

Marcello writes about perfume books. He is currently working on a research project entitled Perfume and Gender Identity, in which he explores the social origins of the gender distinction in perfumery. On the side, he earns a living as a freelance Italian proofreader. In 1997 he wrote his graduation thesis on the rise of unisex-perfumes in the nineties, and he has been reading about perfume ever since. His own site, ScentedPages, is a virtual library catalogue dedicated to the culture of perfume. Besides perfume, he has a passion for motorcycles.

You can reach Marcello at scentedpages at zonnet dot nl.

Pia reviews home fragrance products. Her love of all things scented started with the Barbie perfume maker at age 6, and really took off when she discovered aromatherapy and noticed the impact of scent on mood. She loves to use scented products to create an ambience for entertaining or relaxing, as well as to delight the senses in every day activites (hooray for Persian Lime counter top cleaner!). She is a freelance consultant who works in international affairs, focusing on religion and peacebuilding.

Anjali wrote about scented bath & body products from September 2005 through June 2007.

Marlen wrote about men's fragrance from August 2005 until October of 2006, and now concentrates on his own site, Perfume Critic.

Victoria covered home fragrance products from August 2005 through June 2006. You can still read her opinions on perfume at Bois de Jasmin.