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Perfumes: The Guide | 
| Authors: Luca Turin, Tania Sanchez
Publisher: Profile Books Ltd
Category: Book
List Price: £20.00
Buy New: £9.99
You Save: £10.01 (50%)
New (25) Used (4) from £9.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 354
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 400
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.2
Dimensions (in): 9.5 x 5.7 x 1.5
ISBN: 1846681022
EAN: 9781846681028
ASIN: 1846681022
Publication Date: September 11, 2008
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
A splendid book October 31, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
This book is hugely readable. I bought it really out of curiosity - could anyone really write about perfume, surely you would need to sample them to appreciate their qualities? Not so. This is written so well, you can really get a feel for the product, the descriptions of the perfumes that I do know are so accurate, and actually make me appreciate all the complexities in them. Very witty, with some laugh-out-loud moments, I read this in two sittings and turned back immediately to start again. This is the next best thing to having a perfumery in your living room , without the hovering assistants. I read this on holiday in France, and on the ferry home took it into the onboard shop, reading, spraying & sniffing to the puzzlement of some passengers. I tried perfumes that I would have normally ignored, recognized the levels and descriptions from the book in each of them. A beautiful book, one you could read again & again. I do highly recommend this, it would make a great present for your best friends, male and female.
Refreshing honesty and splendid wit September 27, 2008
18 out of 18 found this review helpful
Quite apart from its sheer range and depth in tackling its subject, this book is really entertaining. It blows a welcome blast of fresh air through the fragrance business, exposing some of its frailties ('We *never* change our fragrance formulas' is the lie you hear most often) and gambolling in the glittering light of enthusiasm when reviewing favoured scents. The fragrance reviews are splendidly opinionated, but it's always clear that what's being praised is quality, coherence, balance, rather than 'niceness', so you're still free to exercise your own preference when you're shopping. I'm particularly impressed by the authors' recognition of the part appearance and presentation play in our enjoyment of fragrance, so they tell you when the packaging is the best thing about a scent, and when the opposite is true, too. They're also very good at pointing out that where fragrance is concerned, you very rarely 'get what you pay for', because some of the cheapest products on sale are very good, and some of the most expensive are not. Even if you fall into the least favoured category of person - someone who wears fragrance because they're frightened of smelling of themselves, rather than because they actually like what they're wearing - you'll find constructive suggestions here, with splendidly direct warnings about pitfalls you might want to avoid. A splendid read, and a reliable guide - which will need updating with new editions every few years!
A trip down memory lane.. September 18, 2008
18 out of 19 found this review helpful
I spent last night poring over this book with my friends, male and female, looking up the various scents we have proudly worn then laughing and reminiscing while reading out the dead-on reviews. E.g. Poison 'The fragrance that everybody loves to hate...a must for every collector but please don't wear it to dinner'! It's warm, witty and wise - unlike anything else I have read on the subject.
A must have for handbags and manbags alike! September 9, 2008
20 out of 21 found this review helpful
A danger to credit cards everywhere! This book is so evocative - descriptions of the good perfumes make you want to rush out and buy them without even smelling them first and reviews of the bad ones are screamingly funny. It's absolutely beautiful and a perfect present - also a brilliant way to drop a hint to your boyfriend, either because you want one of the scents or if you don't like his.
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