Category: Articles

A cluster of delicate jasmine flowers with soft pink and white petals is displayed prominently. The flowers are bathed in warm light, highlighting their gentle hues. Beyond the flowers, there is no distinct background visible, just a soft, neutral backdrop that doesn't provide specific details about the surroundings. The parts of the flowers, such as the petals and buds, are prominent and clearly visible, showing their delicate structure and suggesting the sexy scent of indole.

“Jasmine: the Indole Paradox” * Nonfiction * Fiona Lindsay Shen

aromatica poetica April 17, 2025

It starts as a faint whiff of horse sweat and stables. On Spring nights when I walk home from the subway through our compound in Shanghai, I can map where I am in relation to the jasmine vines surging over the rockeries. Under lantern light, these boulders look as though they are capped with snow. From twenty feet away, the scent is seductive – a mix of barely-ripe banana, paperwhites, and pony muzzle. Ten feet away, it’s intoxicating. Especially if …

A soft pink background sets the stage for this layered erotic lit perfumes collage. The base layer features a subtly blurred photograph of an elegant silver tray with curved, ornamental handles extending outward on both sides. The tray rests on a neutral-toned surface, holding an oval-shaped perfume bottle labeled “Les Cahiers Secrets”, with a gold spherical cap. Surrounding the bottle are scattered yellow flower petals, adding a delicate, natural touch. Superimposed on this background are five distinct perfume bottles, each slightly transparent, creating a dreamy, layered effect. These bottles are arranged in a balanced composition: 1. Far left: A rectangular glass bottle labeled “Delta of Venus” (Eris), with a black cap and a pale, translucent liquid inside. 2. Slightly left of center: A vintage-inspired bottle with vertical ridges, a golden cap, and a black velvet bow at the neck. The label reads “Marissa Zappas”. 3. Center: The original bottle from the tray, “Les Cahiers Secrets,” remains clearly visible, reinforcing its role as the focal point. 4. Slightly right of center: Another tall rectangular bottle labeled “Belle de Jour” (Eris), with a black cap and golden liquid. 5. Far right: A modern, minimalist square bottle labeled “Nishane”, featuring a gold cap and a warm amber-hued perfume. The semi-transparent effect of the superimposed bottles gives the impression of a layered memory, a sensual haze, or a soft-focus dream—an aesthetic that evokes elegance, nostalgia, and a sense of intimate luxury. The pink background adds a warm, romantic, and slightly playful touch, while the metallic accents from the tray and perfume caps create a subtle contrast.

“Erotic Literature Hits the Bottle” * Nonfiction * Beatriz Zimmermann

aromatica poetica February 12, 2025

You always remember your first erotic book. That deep unexpected stirring that comes from mere words suddenly pulsating on the page. It’s safe to say D.H. Lawrence’s long-banned Lady Chatterley’s Lover inspired a whole generation of lady of the manor fantasies while taboo tales like The Story of O and Venus in Furs swerved into a decidedly S&M space, immediately taking their place as classics for the whipped-into-a-frenzy crowd. Erica Jong’s Fear of Flying (recently feted for its 50th anniversary) …

A photorealistic image of a white woman’s legs wearing a black skirt and brown tennis shoes steps out of a subway. To her right is a pile of dog shit she is trying to avoid. Credit: Imagine.Art.

“Dog Shit” * Nonfiction * Ro Miller

aromatica poetica May 29, 2024

I stepped in dog shit right before getting on a Brooklyn-bound Q train and spent the remaining twenty-six minutes considering scent as a social factor. The first thing about dog shit is the feel of the sole of your shoe sliding beneath you. The squish is muted, but immediately there is an odor. Not one that you can smell but rather one that exists as quiet disgust in the back of your throat. A quick glance backward pushes the nausea …

A digital collage of the Basenote bitch exhibition in Olfactory Art Keller in all its pink glory: The pink sniffing table with scented scrunchies under domes with coordinated suckers and doodads from the photo installations, some of the bottles of the featured fragrances on a pink vanity, flanked by the four images featured here hanging on the pink walls of the gallery -- Fahrenheit. Dream, Love Spell, Country Apple – all of which get detailed image descriptions below…

Basenote Bitch * Elizabeth Renstrom * Fragrant Photos + Image Descriptions

aromatica poetica March 21, 2024

Hello, it’s Leona, Aromatica Poetica’s founding editor here. I was delighted to lead a verbal description tour and conversation with the artist Elizabeth Renstrom at Olfactory Art Keller last weekend. I wanted to share some of that fragrant, nostalgic fun with you! For the image descriptions, I chose four of the eight fragrant works and organized them chronologically: Fahrenheit (1988); Dream (1995); Country Apple (1997); and Love Spell (1999). For NYC friends, you can check out the Basenote Bitch exhibition …

A photograph of a serene winter landscape at sunset. The sun is low in the sky, casting a warm golden light that illuminates the scene. The foreground is dominated by a field covered with snow and dotted with dry, golden grasses and shrubs that glisten in the sunlight. The middle ground shows a few buildings, possibly homes, nestled at the base of a hill. The hill and the buildings are partially shadowed, creating a contrast with the brightly lit field. In the background, there are rolling hills that fade into the distance, and the sky above is a mix of blue and soft orange hues with some scattered clouds. The overall atmosphere is peaceful and picturesque, with the sun's rays adding a touch of warmth to the cold winter setting. Curtesy Florian Birkmayer, for “The Molecules of Connectedness.”

“The Molecules of Connectedness” * Book Excerpt * Florian Birkmayer, MD

aromatica poetica March 14, 2024

Aromatica Poetica is honored to present “The Molecules of Connectedness,” an excerpt from Essential Oils for Psychedelic Therapy Support: An Introduction to the AromaGnosis Method by Florian Birkmayer MD. Florian gave us one of our first interviews—way back in 2017! That interview details his journey from his first exposure to aromatherapy in childhood and subsequent medical training in psychiatry at Columbia University, to his practice with clients—most of whom suffered from trauma and PTSD, to the creation of AromaGnosis with …

A digital illustration of a white woman in a black sleeveless dress stands against a black backdrop. She holds a smoking object in her left hand, and, in her right, she holds a cord connected to a hanging cauldron. Subtle, amber light emanates from the right hand. From Ro Miller, credit: Imagine.Art.

“Scent of Faith” * Nonfiction * Ro Miller

aromatica poetica February 15, 2024

I was indoctrinated as a Catholic, so you will forgive the following several hundred words. I recently attended the Riverside Church Candlelight Carol Festival, an event aptly structured around a selection of Christian Carols. Upon sitting in the closely packed pews, wearing what now amounts to my Sunday best, I was thrust back into the bittersweet memories of Sunday mass. The proximity of strangers, the lukewarm dread at the approaching sermon, and the stoic resignation that worship was my reality …

Cabinet of Curiosities colored woodcut features a circular design with a border of small circles. Inside, there are four mythical creatures in different colors (pink, purple, blue, and green) at the cardinal points, connected by a chain that forms a cross in the middle. Behind them is a fiery background with yellow, orange, and red flames. Each creature is part human, part animal: the pink one has a bird's body, the purple a lion, the blue a monkey, and the green a sea serpent. The illustration has a vintage or antique feel, reminiscent of old alchemical or mystical texts.

“Cabinet of Curiosities” * Excerpt from ‘The Museum of Scent’ by Mandy Aftel

aromatica poetica January 7, 2024

Choosing which chapter of Mandy Aftel’s gorgeous The Museum of Scent: Exploring the Curious and Wondrous World of Fragrance to publish here was both pleasurable and painful. The pleasure was in lingering on passages and pictures that I loved, painful because we couldn’t excerpt the whole book! I highly recommend this generously illustrated book to the aromatically wise and naïve alike. The Museum of Scent was published last October and is a natural and cultural history of scent that was …

A panoramic view of the farm with photos of some of the barn animals—geese, a rabbit, Lady the cow, and a baby goat—overlayed with transparency so you can see the lush green land behind.

“Flight of Barn” * Nonfiction * Rebecca Blaevoet

aromatica poetica December 20, 2022

Today I would like to curate a flight you’ve probably never imagined. No barista course or sommelier training will teach you about the subject we will study today, but it is one all farmers know. Our barn is the staging area: it’s long and symmetrical, wood-paneled a la New Brunswick winter, weathered, rustic, unshakable as the hill it stands on. We swing through the little postern, and enter a palatial gallery, tall wooden doors marching down the length like theatre …

Olfactory Report 10 (Art, Science, Industry) stamp: white lettering on a purple background featuring a detail of organic material.

Olfactory Report 10: Art/Science/Industry Roundup (Includes a Perfume Analysis!) by Catherine Haley Epstein

aromatica poetica July 19, 2022

Art While I was unable to visit the Venice Biennale, I have scoured the internet, badgered friends who attended, and consulted various resources to unearth the one work that most directly pointed to the olfactory sense and olfactory material. Many of works included in the exhibition had tangential, suggestive and material aspects of scent. Simone Leigh’s extraordinary re-imagining of the US pavilion is called Sovereignty. Culturally potent materials like cowrie shells, plantains, raffia, and tobacco leaves have natural olfactory tones …