Perfumery Techniques in Evolution 2nd Edition by Arcadi Boix Camps is one of the books I invested in recently — and I’m really glad I did. This book is destined to become a reference for me in my library.
I was between this and a year’s subscription to Perfumer & Flavorist Magazine and while neither is cheap the book is definitely worth its weight in gold from a perfumer’s perspective. It gives a really good intro to some very little know chemical aromatics like:
“Myrcenile, ocymenile and citrile acetates, with fresh scents, somewhat grassy, almost like the citric part of bergamot, are of great interest. Thuione has a warm scent, herbaceous, which falls under the subgroup of the camphors.”
Boix Camps also presents a different way of grouping the notes for example, Agresticals, Radiants, Greens, Roots, etc. which introduces new perspectives for a perfumer. Each aromatic placed in the various groups is briefly introduced.
For a perfumer I find his writing style very different at times philosophical and poetic and other times very no-nonsense to the point of approaching arrogance. But it is nonetheless interesting and opens up a wider vista from which perfumers can both approach and deepen the art.
It’s words like these that keep me reading:
“True creation will be that which awakens all to a greater sensibility and a higher spirituality, not that which renders them insensitive by reason of its arrogance, or without understanding by reason of its complexity.”
Amen, brother!
Her Two Scents 