The Alembicated Genie is the second incarnation of a perfume blog formerly known as Scent Less Sensibilities on Blogspot.

I’ve been a reader of perfume blogs for years and years – indeed, at one point in my life, I was so poor it was the only perfume I could afford. But reading about perfume and writing about it are two very different things.

In the summer of 2010, I was in the process of finishing my second novel, of which excerpts are published elsewhere . I had the harebrained idea to create a perfume blog as a writing exercise, on the premise that the more you do it, the better you get.

I can’t write about perfumes as so many of my idols in the blogosphere do. This is not a perfume blog that deconstructs them and analyzes them and their development in any way you might be accustomed to. For one, it would bore me to tears, and for another, I can’t write like that no matter how I try.

I can only write as myself, only do what I feel I have to so I have as much fun as my readers hopefully will. One of my biggest passions is my passion for perfume, and if I can’t communicate that passion to my readers, then I’m a far worse writer than even I suspect! 😉

Instead, I sit down, I breathe in, and I let the genies in the bottles talk to me…and they usually do. Sometimes, they tell me stories of other times and places, and I write those stories down. Sometimes, the story is interwoven with my attempts at analysis, sometimes, it’s another kind of story.

Alembics are used to distill essential oils and absolutes that constitute what we know as perfume. Alembicated is a quaint adjective that describes an overly ornate, etiolated style of poetry or prose. Hence, the Alembicated Genie.

I always disclose if a sample has been sent to me for review by a perfumer, and indeed, perfumers are welcome to do so. That does not guarantee I will write about them, or even that my review will be favorable. I write about what moves me, transports me and takes me… elsewhere. I am never compensated for any reviews, and my opinions are my own.

I seek the extraordinary – in life as in perfume, and try to find the words to fit one of the highest, most evocative art forms I know.