Eye of the Beholder

What happens when the key ingredient of a blockbuster fragrance becomes scarce? For Thierry Wasser, the head perfumer of Guerlain, reworking recipes is a primary job responsibility. Along with reading Proust and traipsing through fields, naturally

By Linda Wells

When you were 13 years old, you may have ripped scent strips out of a magazine and rubbed them onto your wrists. Maybe you wandered through a mall every Saturday, spraying your neck with testers until your head throbbed. Did you douse yourself with Love’s Baby Soft? Bath & Body Works Cucumber Melon? The Body Shop White Musk? Axe (please, no)?

If you answered yes to any of the above, you clearly were not destined for a career in perfumery.