Scented Interviews: Francesca Faruolo and Smell Festival 2016.

Smell Festival 2016 – illustration by Casajordi

Gabriela Guidetti meets Francesca Faruolo

Today I meet a special friend, Francesca Faruolo. Francesca lives in Bologna, where in 2010 created one of the most artistic event in Italian perfumery universe, the Smell Festival, an international festival dedicated to the culture of smell and to the art of perfume. This olfactive journey has its highlight moment in May and covers the whole year with courses, workshops and events to offer the public a melting pot training of fragrant and sensory experiences.

"Then and Now": Bandit, de Robert Piguet.

If you love "leathery" scents, you should know Bandit. 

Alongside with Cabochard (Grès), Aramis, Knize Ten, Jolie Madame (Balmain), Cuir de Russie (Chanel), and a few others, Bandit is one of the most famous "leathery" scents ever made.

It's one of  the greatest perfumes (together with Fracas) produced by Robert Piguet, created during the Forties by Germaine Cellier.

There are a lot of articles about Bandit (and about Robert Piguet's perfumes) so if you want read reviews, you will find as usual a lot of references at the end of the article.

A bit of recent History: after many glorious decades, the "Robert Piguet Parfums" brand was sold in 1985 to Alfin Fragrances, then sold again in 1995 to Fashion Fragrances & Cosmetics Ltd, which currently own the brand. It took a certain amount of time to completely reformulate and relaunch the scents, in 1998, with the label of the "original formula, certified by Givaudan".

Recently, at the end of 2012, Bandit underwent a reformulation due to IFRA restriction laws.