Jo's Scent Notes: The Scented Letter 'Fashion, Fragrance & The Last French Queen' edition

Not a perfume, this week. But I want to tell you about a whole magazine about perfume, which I happen to edit, bringing together two of the things I love best: magazines – The Perfume Society prints some copies, but is mostly it’s a download – and fragrance, which I’ve loved… well, I reckon most of my life.

I am sharing this because I think this latest 'Fashion, Fragrance & The Last French Queen' edition is the best issue of The Scented Letter to date, put together with a lot of blood, sweat, tears and a heck of a lot of love.

I had a fah-bu-lous time writing the cover story about Marie Antoinette – to mark the V&A’s astonishing, must-visit exhibition – and also the feature you can see a glimpse of above right, Pigment, Powder & Perfume, about the increasing number of make-up, skincare and even haircare brands launching their own fragrances. (Happen to be going to the launch of another one tomorrow, actually.)

To receive a link to the magazine, if you don’t already have one, you need to sign up to The Perfume Society’s newsletter, here. Alternatively, you can buy a glossy print copy (see below for link). And from then on, you’ll receive it quarterly in your inbox. (Well, kinda quarterly; we do the Christmas one a bit early.)

I am so incredibly proud of the fact that our teeny team has scooped a whole raft of awards for the mag – Jasmine Awards (from The Fragrance Foundation), Perfumed Plume Awards. The writer Suzy Nightingale and I are never short of fascinating fragrance subjects to deep dive into, and designer Jenny Semple – who designed all of the recent Beauty Bible books – makes it look utterly beautiful. (Naturally, we couldn’t do it without some help from the business team, headed up by my Perfume Society co-founder Lorna McKay.)

For a little taster of what’s inside this issue (and scroll down for visual previews…)

• Skin, Satin, Steam, Lavender: Suzy Nightingale explores the micro-trends sharping the fragrance landscape this autumn

• Véronique Nyberg – Paris-based perfumer Véronique Nyberg opens the door to her lab to share the secrets of (and inspirations for), in A Working Nose

• In Memories, Dreams & Reflections, we discover that revered milliner Stephen Jones is as mad about scent as he is about creating couture hats

• Plus, as always, discover ALL the Latest Launches – and get a whiff of news, in Nosing Around…

Print issue/£15 – buy here