Artisan Perfumery or Being Led by the Nose

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In a world of brash, big-brand gragrances, few of us today understand the complex and fascinating art of the perfumier. For more than 20 years, Alec Lawless has been hand-making fine perfume following the traditions handed down from antiquity. He explains the origins and use of fabled ingredients such as frankincense, ambergris, and attar of roses, essential elements in the beautiful, strange and beguiling smells that haunted the courts of Cleopatra and the salons of 19th century Paris.