Join Amazon Prime and ship Two-Day for free and Overnight for $3.99. Already a member? Sign in.

Quantity: 

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
More Buying Choices
37 used & new from $16.06

Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
Tell a Friend
Perfumes: The Guide
 
 
Are You an Author or Publisher?
Find out how to publish your own Kindle Books
 
  
Perfumes: The Guide (Hardcover)
by Luca Turin (Author), Tania Sanchez (Author)
  3.7 out of 5 stars 46 customer reviews (46 customer reviews)  

List Price: $27.95
Price: $18.45 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save: $9.50 (34%)
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Want it delivered Monday, May 19? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. See details

Perfumes: Five Reviews
Preview five reviews--some glowing, some not--from Perfumes: The Guide, all for fragrances available in our Beauty store.

Best Value

Buy Sephora: The Ultimate Guide to Makeup, Skin, and Hair from the Beauty Authority and get Perfumes: The Guide at an additional 5% off Amazon.com's everyday low price.

Sephora: The Ultimate Guide to Makeup, Skin, and Hair from the Beauty Authority Perfumes: The Guide Buy Together Today: $35.98


Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

The Perfect Scent: A Year Inside the Perfume Industry in Paris and New York

The Perfect Scent: A Year Inside the Perfume Industry in Paris and New York by Chandler Burr

4.1 out of 5 stars (7)  $16.50
The Secret of Scent: Adventures in Perfume and the Science of Smell

The Secret of Scent: Adventures in Perfume and the Science of Smell by Luca Turin

4.7 out of 5 stars (9) 
The Emperor of Scent : A Story of Perfume, Obsession, and the Last Mystery of the Senses

The Emperor of Scent : A Story of Perfume, Obsession, and the Last Mystery of the Senses by CHANDLER BURR

4.3 out of 5 stars (39) 
The Scent of Desire: Discovering Our Enigmatic Sense of Smell

The Scent of Desire: Discovering Our Enigmatic Sense of Smell by Rachel Herz

4.1 out of 5 stars (9)  $16.47
The Secret of Scent

The Secret of Scent by Luca Turin

3.0 out of 5 stars (2)  $17.67
Explore similar items : Books (49)

Editorial Reviews
Book Description
The first book of its kind: a definitive guide to the world of perfume

Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez are experts in the world of scent. Turin, a renowned scientist, and Sanchez, a longtime perfume critic, have spent years sniffing the world's most elegant and beautiful--as well as some truly terrible--perfumes. In Perfumes: The Guide, they combine their talents and experience to review more than twelve hundred fragrances, separating the divine from the good from the monumentally awful. Through witty, irreverent, and illuminating prose, the reviews in Perfumes not only provide consumers with an essential guide to shopping for fragrance, but also make for a unique reading experience.

Perfumes features introductions to women's and men's fragrances and an informative "frequently asked questions" section including:
• What is the difference between eau de toilette and perfume?
• How long can I keep perfume before it goes bad?
• What's better: splash bottles or spray atomizers?
• What are perfumes made of?
• Should I change my fragrance each season?

Perfumes: The Guide is an authoritative, one-of-a-kind book that will do for fragrance what Robert Parker's books have done for wine. Beautifully designed and elegantly illustrated, this book will be the perfect gift for collectors and anyone who's ever had an interest in the fascinating subject of perfume.

Picking a Perfect Perfume

For Perfumes: The Guide, Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez tested nearly 1,500 fragrances--some glorious, some foul. Here they offer some humble advice on finding something worth loving among the stinkers.

1. Smell top to bottom
Perfumes usually unfold in three (often very different) stages: the sparkling first few minutes are the fragrance's top note, followed by its true personality, known as the heart note, and ending with the base note, aka the drydown, hours later. Something you love at the counter you may loathe by the parking lot. We recommend top-to-bottom tests on skin and on paper, since some scents that disappoint on the heat of skin may shine on your shirtsleeve.

2. Write it down
Bring a pen to write names on paper test strips, so you're not in anguish hours later, trying to recall which is the third scent from the left that transports you to Shangri-La. Keep a cheap, possibly extremely trashy paperback on hand, so you can store strips between pages to keep them separate.

3. Rest your nose
Noses tune out, which is why you can smell your friends' homes but not your own. Smell no more than five scents per day on paper strips and try on only the best one or two, to keep your nose reliable.

4. Check the radiance
To get a good sense of how the perfume will smell to other people as you walk past, try spraying a test strip and leaving it in the room while you step out for a bit. Come back fifteen minutes later and breathe in: that's the radiance.



Review
“While the authors embrace point systems and science, they also offer vivid, funny, evocative descriptions of the smells they write about…To enjoy Perfumes, you don’t need to know, or even to like, perfumes, such is the brio of Turin’s and Sanchez’s prose…This is fun to read – and a rare pleasure, too…The joy of Turin and Sanchez’s book, however, is their ability to write about smell in a way that manages to combine the science of the subject with the vocabulary of scent in witty, vivid descriptions of what these smells are like. Their work is, quite simply, ravishingly entertaining, and it passes the high test that their praise is even more compelling than their criticism…Its blend of technical knowledge and evocative writing is exemplary in the strict sense: people who write about smell and taste in any context should use it as an example.”
-The New Yorker

“This comprehensive book is unfailingly entertaining…Their passion for a few scents and their outrage at the others’ failings make for entry after entry of hilarious, catty comments interspersed with occasional erudite, eloquent disquisitions…This will be a must-have for anyone who already loves perfumes…and those who aren’t utterly perfume-obsessed will still appreciate the opening essays on olfactory science, the history of perfume, general types of fragrances and how to choose perfumes.”
-Publishers Weekly, starred review

“After spending the better part of a weekend reading a galley – often aloud to anyone willing to listen – I'm convinced Turin and Sanchez offer some of the most stylish, erudite and hilarious criticism in any subject field.”
-Dallas Morning News

See all Editorial Reviews


Product Details
  • Hardcover: 400 pages
  • Publisher: Viking Adult (April 10, 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0670018651
  • ISBN-13: 978-0670018659
  • Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 5.5 x 1.6 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars 46 customer reviews (46 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,292 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

    #1 in  Books > Professional & Technical > Engineering > Chemical
    #1 in  Books > Health, Mind & Body > Beauty & Fashion > Cosmetics
    #1 in  Books > Science > Chemistry > Professional & Technical: Engineering: Chemical: General

    (Publishers and authors: Improve Your Sales)
  •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images? (We'll ask you to sign in so we can get back to you)


Inside This Book (learn more)
Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Perfumes: The Guide
93% buy the item featured on this page:
Perfumes: The Guide 3.7 out of 5 stars (46)
$18.45
The Perfect Scent: A Year Inside the Perfume Industry in Paris and New York
4% buy
The Perfect Scent: A Year Inside the Perfume Industry in Paris and New York 4.1 out of 5 stars (7)
$16.50
The Secret of Scent: Adventures in Perfume and the Science of Smell
1% buy
The Secret of Scent: Adventures in Perfume and the Science of Smell 4.7 out of 5 stars (9)