shaky GROUND

What does making kimchi have to do with whales, Ambroxan, and the science of smell? Quite a lot, actually. In this episode of The Air Between Us, I start in my kitchen, preparing kimchi, and somehow find myself thinking about ambergris, sperm whales, and Ambroxan, one of my favorite molecules in perfumery. Recent research by Givaudan into the scent receptors responsible for detecting Ambroxan opens up fascinating questions. Do we all smell the same thing? And why has evolution given us receptors that respond to this particular molecule? I also share an encounter from a perfume workshop in Romania, where someone simply couldn't smell Ambroxan the way I do. As a chemist and perfumer, I find these discoveries fascinating. But they also remind me how little we still know about our sense of smell. And that's where things get a little shaky. My message to you? Don't worry too much about what experts, reviewers, or other perfume lovers tell you. Trust your own nose. Because your experience of a perfume is uniquely yours.