How does a cognac heir (Kilian Hennessy) come into fragrance?

Kilian Hennessy Talks Love, Tears, Surrender—And So Much More...

Kilian Hennessy’s name precedes him. As the grandson of the famed cognac-producer Kilian Hennessy, he has the rare privilege of being part of the legacy that put the H in LVMH, the world’s foremost luxury conglomerate. The younger Hennessy has steered clear of the family business, though, and instead chosen perfume as his métier. “I found fragrance by luck,” the handsome Frenchman says of his chosen profession, which to date has yielded two fragrance collections (L’Oeuvre Noir and Arabian Nights) and a worldwide fan base that extends from New York to the UAE (he’s huge in Dubai). Putting in time at Firmenich and holding marketing jobs at Dior, PUIG, Gucci Group, and the L’Oréal-owned Armani Fragrances gave Hennessy the olfactory chops to go out on his own, which he did in 2007, when he began working on a collection of ten fragrances that tells a story in three parts: four fragrances correlate to “love and its prohibitions,” three to “the artificial paradises,” and three to “the temptations” category. Love, Tears, Surrender, his ninth offering and the conclusion of his love theme, bows this month. This time around, Kilian played with jasmine, pairing the floral essence with a combination of ylang-ylang and what he calls “beachy notes.” Here, Hennessy discusses the differences between fragrance and cognac, what real luxury is, and why he just may have a future in screenwriting. —Celia Ellenberg

How does a cognac heir come into fragrance?

I did a program in college at La Sorbonne that specialized in semantics and literature and I wrote my thesis on the semantics of perfume—I don’t know why. Because I really wanted to understand what I would be writing about, I enrolled at Cinquième Scents to take a nose course. This school educates people who don’t want to be perfumers but want to work in the perfume industry, so it teaches olfactive families, essential oils, synthetic molecules, etc. I did ten crash courses over the course of the year and when I started smelling, it just clicked. I knew instantly that that would be my craft.

Was it a big deal to leave the family business?

Well, Hennessy was no longer a family business—it was LVMH. My grandfather is 103 now, but when he took over Hennessy after WWII he had to open markets to sell product—so everything I’m doing now, he did 60 years ago. We have the same name so whenever I see him he says, “How am I doing?” asking about my business. His favorite fragrance is A Taste of Heaven.

Well, that’s not really adorable, or anything. So there is some common ground, yes?

Fragrance is close enough to cognac so it was familiar, but it’s far enough away so that they had no power over me! The nose and the palate are similar—but the nose is much more complex. The issue about perfume and smell is that there is no vocabulary. With music and colors, the words used to describe them are the same—something is “blue.” We don’t have that in perfume. We can only refer to a code in your memory. And because everyone’s memory is different, there is no one vocabulary. But there is a connection between cognac and perfume insofar as the masters of a cellar work with coups or “a cut:” We have the VS, which means it must be composed with cuts that are three to five years old; then there’s VSOP that must be comprised with cuts that are five to eight years old; and the XO—”extra old”—which uses cuts that have been aged ten to 15 years. In order to offer XO to customers, you must mix different combinations. So the master of a cellar works like a perfumer, constantly blending and looking to create harmony.

Gotcha. Why did you decide to go solo?

The number one issue is that you’re never really happy with the products. Because you’re working with so many people and everyone has an opinion. At a certain point you want to create something that is actually luxurious, not just called luxury. The number two is that in the big groups, the reality is the end result has to be commercially viable. For me, it was about making a perfume that I would be proud of.

And now you have both: a personal project that you are obviously proud of and that is in fact wildly popular. How did you come up with the unique concept behind your fragrance narrative?

From day one, I knew that I wanted to create collections, like a fashion designer. In that sense, it allowed me to have a beginning and an end. When I launched L’Oeuvre Noir, I presented it as a Deca Aroma, ten scents—ten scents that were already conceptualized. The concept was very much within me. I wanted a name that would be complicated—with a title and a subtitle to create a better story. And they’re things everyone has experienced—the beginning of a love affair, the passion, the end of love. Then you have temptation. It’s very much a collection about life.

What about your other collection, Arabian Nights?

Before launching in any country, I go there to research stores and find which stores I want to be in. I have never seen a culture that loves perfume as much as the UAE. You smell it everywhere; they love very warm, very strong scents. When I came back from that trip, I wanted to do a collection that was my vision of that part of the world. There will be a new one in March that will either be an amber or an incense. I’m working on both simultaneously.

And your latest flacon focuses on jasmine. How did you arrive at the composition for Love, Tears, Surrender and where does it leave us in the L’Ouevre Noir story?

I work very closely with [perfumer] Calice Becker. She’s done seven of the nine. The way we work, I give her the name, then we decide which olfactive family will express the name the best. Then we smell every important fragrance that has been developed in that family that existed in the past in order to invent our own route. That’s the one thing I’m most proud of. None of my fragrances smell like anything that exists. The idea with this one is “lost paradise,” a place where you would feel at peace. The final chapter [of L'Oeuvre Noir] with be next year—it will be in the temptation theme and it will close the collection. I’m already writing about the next collection, too. It’s like a script.

Sounds sexy. Speaking of which, how would you advise women on picking one of your fragrances?

I love the smell of all of the Love perfumes on a woman. They’re all based on flowers—so maybe I just love smelling flowers on women.

50 Sexiest Women Over 50

Ten years ago, Madonna turned 40. It was, of course, a huge affair, as Madonna was (and still is) synonymous with celebrity, and cantankerous pop culture theorists found it a staggering victory on her part that she still managed to be relevant at such an age. Everywhere, the news of her birthday was upon us.  It was almost akin to the Y2K countdown.

This was 1998, before reality TV had killed the video star. VH1 made sure its viewers stayed well aware of the impending milestone by flickering "Madonna Turns 40 in _____ Hours!" across younger incarnations of the singer wriggling onscreen. Then she turned 40, and--to the shock of the entertainment world--it didn't seem to change anything.

Things have changed. In August 2008, Madonna turned 50, and while the paparazzi managed to get plenty of shots of her entering and exiting her London party, this birthday didn't seem such a big deal.

Perhaps it's because there are now so many beautiful women who are breaking barriers in a formerly youth-obsessed industry.  Sure, cynics may credit plastic surgery for the staying power of these women, but they're overlooking the fact that surgeried or not, these women are fascinating to watch.  Some we've loved for decades, while others hit their strides later in life.  All are alluringly mature, and all are sexy.  


The youth-obsessed style and entertainment industries may have convinced you that women don't age well, and that you can't have serious sex appeal once you've lived half a century. To put it simply: they're wrong. Here's our list of the sexiest women over 50. You may not agree with all our picks, but read through to find out why we think they sizzle.

See the fifty lovely ladies from the top...
Zimbio's 50 Sexiest Women Over 50:

50. Katey Sagal
49 Jessica Lange
48. Sigourney Weaver
47. Pam Grier
46. Leeza Gibbons
45. Janice Dickinson
44. Debbie Harry
43. Queen Noor of Jordan
42. Chrissie Hynde
41. Cassandra Peterson
40. Geena Davis
39. Joan Allen
38. Kim Cattrall
37. Susan Lucci
36. Cher
35. Ellen DeGeneres
34. Jane Fonda
33. Tina Turner
32. Susan Sarandon
31. Katie Couric
30. Lynda Carter
29. Dorothy Hamill
28. Beverly Johnson
27. Mary Steenburgen
26. Goldie Hawn
25. Ellen Barkin
24. Sophia Loren
23. Raquel Welch
22. Suzanne Somers
21. Olivia Newton-John
20. Peggy Lipton
19. Rene Russo
18. Sharon Stone
17. Ann Curry
16. Diane Sawyer
15. Cheryl Tiegs
14. Angela Bassett
13. Joan Jett
12. Jaclyn Smith
11. Sela Ward
10. Kim Basinger
9. Andie MacDowell
8. Jane Seymour
7. Madonna
6. Helen Mirren
5. Christie Brinkley
4. Iman
3. Jennifer Tilly
2. Michelle Pfeiffer
1. Holly Hunter

Nu Shu: A Hidden Language of Women in China

A film by Yue-Qing Yang
In feudal China, women, usually with bound feet, were denied educational opportunities and condemned to social isolation. But in Jian-yong county in Hunan province, peasant women miraculously developed a separate written language, called Nu Shu, meaning "female writing." Believing women to be inferior, men disregarded this new script, and it remained unknown for centuries. It wasn't until the 1960s that Nu Shu caught the attention of Chinese authorities, who suspected that this peculiar writing was a secret code for international espionage. Today, interest in this secret script continues to grow, as evidenced by the wide critical acclaim of Lisa See’s recent novel, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, about Nu Shu.

NU SHU: A HIDDEN LANGUAGE OF WOMEN IN CHINA is a thoroughly engrossing documentary that revolves around the filmmaker's discovery of eighty-six-year-old Huan-yi Yang, the only living resident of the Nu Shu area still able to read and write Nu Shu. Exploring Nu Shu customs and their role in women's lives, the film uncovers a women's subculture born of resistance to male dominance, finds a parallel struggle in the resistance of Yao minorities to Confucian Han Chinese culture, and traces Nu Shu's origins to some distinctly Yao customs that fostered women's creativity.
<A film by Yue-Qing Yang, Canada/China, 1999, 59 minutes, Color, VHS/DVD, Subtitled Order No. W00655>
Below: 
"Nü Shu" written in Nü Shu (right to left). More about NuShu at: http://www.crystalinks.com/nushu.html

Dr Oz colon polyps raises question of 'spontaneous disease' without cause

Dr Oz colon polyps raises question of 'spontaneous disease' without cause

....No matter what you do, they say, you can't be totally sure that you're disease free. Therefore, you need all their disease screening protocols, mammograms, and CT scans (which irradiate your body and can actually cause cancer, by the way).

What a bunch of nonsense. As any real scientist knows, everything that happens in our universe has a cause. It's a cause-effect universe, and unless you're God or can magically change the laws of the universe, you can't alter the laws of cause and effect.

So if you develop colon polyps, there is a cause for it, and that cause is without question related to the foods you're consuming, because that's what is in contact with your small intestine, large intestine and colon. (It's not the only factor, but it's the primary factor.)

And the more you eat meats, cooked foods, cheese, dairy products, fried foods and dead foods, the more likely you are to develop colon polyps.

The things that prevent colon polyps are raw foods, plant foods, superfoods, aloe vera and even water.

"Healthy" is relative... more at: http://www.naturalnews.com/029655_colon_polyps_Doctor_Oz.html

The woman whose new memories are erased each night

Psychologists have documented what they believe to be a clinical first - the case of an amnesic woman whose memory for new material is erased each night that she goes to sleep (movie fans will recognise this as a plot device in the 2004 film 50 First Dates). Referred to as case FL, the woman developed these symptoms after she hit her head in a car accident in 2005, aged 48. Brain scans and neurological exams revealed no signs of brain damage, thus suggesting the woman is exhibiting what's known as psychogenic or functional amnesia - that is, symptoms in the absence of any detectable organic cause.

FL claims that on any given day her memory for newly acquired material is fine until she has a night's sleep, during which the new memories are erased (unlike standard cases of psychogenic amnesia, she says her memories from before her accident are preserved). FL's performance on lab-based memory tests was largely in keeping with her claims, with one key exception. Christine Smith and her team deployed some trickery, intermingling test items (scenes) from earlier in the day with items from previous days. FL's memory for items that she thought were from earlier in the day, but were actually seen on earlier days, was intact and comparable to the memory performance of healthy controls.

So was FL faking it, perhaps in pursuit of a compensation claim? Smith's team don't think so. Although healthy controls who were asked to fake FL's symptoms performed similarly on the memory tests, there were also differences. For example, unlike the healthy fakers, FL showed deficits in motor learning, and her confidence for test items dropped with repeated testing whereas theirs increased.

The researchers' theory is that FL truly believes she has the memory deficit that she describes and that unconscious processes may be involved in its manifestation. FL denied having seen the film 50 First Dates, which was released a year before her accident. However, she admitted that the film's female lead, Drew Barrymore, was her favourite actress, so she may have been aware of its plot. The film 'may have influenced FL's concept of how memory could fail after a car accident', the researchers said. 'The brain uses preexisting concepts of memory and through altered brain function creates a particular constellation of symptoms.'

What about treatment? Reassuring FL that evidence had been found for the intact functioning of her overnight memory proved unsuccessful. What did work was testing the limits of FL's memory-washing system. Thirty-six hours without sleep and her memories were okay. An hour's nap during the day and they were okay. In the end, it was established that FL can sleep at night for up to four to six hours at a time without experiencing the sense that she's lost the day's memories. By setting an alarm each night to wake her after bouts of three and a half hours sleep, FL has managed to overcome her strange condition. 'At our most recent contact (March 2010), she and her husband reported that she continues to use this regimen successfully,' the researchers said. 

Digital Devices Deprive Brain of Needed Downtime

Time without digital input can allow people to learn better or come up with new ideas.

The technology makes the tiniest windows of time entertaining, and potentially productive. 

But scientists point to an unanticipated side effect: when people keep their brains busy with digital input, they are forfeiting downtime that could allow them to better learn and remember information, or come up with new ideas…

“Almost certainly, downtime lets the brain go over experiences it’s had, solidify them and turn them into permanent long-term memories,” said Loren Frank, assistant professor in the department of physiology at the university, where he specializes in learning and memory. He said he believed that when the brain was constantly stimulated, “you prevent this learning process.”

At the University of Michigan, a study found that people learned significantly better after a walk in nature than after a walk in a dense urban environment, suggesting that processing a barrage of information leaves people fatigued.

Even though people feel entertained, even relaxed, when they multitask while exercising, or pass a moment at the bus stop by catching a quick video clip, they might be taxing their brains, scientists say.

“People think they’re refreshing themselves, but they’re fatiguing themselves,” said Marc Berman, a University of Michigan neuroscientist.

Russian Women Have A Unique Mentality

Interesting article about Eastern European personality traits in Russian women. I would say,  most Eastern European women share similar history...

Although this could be generalizing, for the most part it is true that Eastern people have different mentalities compared to Western peoples. The Eastern attitude is still very much like it was of Western people long ago in the past. It is wrong to say that every person from a country is exactly the same but Russians do share personality traits. In the women it’s these traits that make them the most sensitive and caring in the world.

When you look at the history of Russia the women have always stood out. Without women, the communities and families would not have withstood all the hard times they have had to face. And it’s in times like those that a persons true character will come out. Their culture is thought to be one of the most caring and protective in the world. And this is why Russian hostesses have gained the reputation of being the most hospitable there is.

Communism is a major reason behind all of this. Being brought up in a communist society gives a person strong family values. And along side these values, a communist is brought up to believe in giving to society, self dedication and responsibility. They truly believe that a most important thing they can do is to help others, even if it means harder times for themselves. And it is these values that get passed down from mother to daughter.

Russian men often take these women and their loving and caring nature for granted as they experience it all their lives. And the men do not really no how to appreciate their wives, so end up treating them badly. Unbelievably, the women are expected to take care of the children, clean the home, cook all the meals and work an eight hour a day job, all on their own.

In recent years, a lot of Western influences have found their way into Russia. And this has shown the women there that not all men have the same attitude towards them as the Eastern ones do. There are now more and more stories of women making good lives for themselves outside of Russia. A lot of the women have a friend or have heard of someone who has moved abroad and loves the attitude of their new husband.

When Russian women see or hear how their friends are being treated abroad and compare it to how things are in their homeland, they soon realize they deserve much better. Russian ladies appreciate being treated kindly and with love and they get that from foreign men. Then they will dedicate their lives to making their new husband happy.

One letter on plane ticket says a lot about you

By Samantha Bomkamp, The Associated Press

NEW YORK, N.Y. - There are a few bits of information to pay close attention to on an airline ticket: the flight number, gate number and boarding time. Fare basis code? Not a common concern.

But the single-letter code can make a big difference in some parts of the travel experience, even though most passengers don't pay any attention. A fare basis code further divides passengers into classes based on how much they paid and how far out they booked. There are about a dozen in coach class alone.

When you're on the plane, there's no difference in service between a passenger who has a "Y'' or "Q'' — a full-fare and a discounted ticket — if you're both in coach. But the codes are still important: Some indicate your trip isn't eligible for frequent-flyer miles or an upgrade; others tell a ticket agent where to rank you on a standby list.

Deciphering the code

The letters airlines assign to certain levels of coach can vary widely, but a couple are universal. "Y'' class is a widespread denotation for the highest class in coach among most major airlines, according to Jami Counter, senior director of TripAdvisor Flights and a former pricing strategist at American Airlines. These tickets are usually fully refundable, last-minute coach fares purchased mainly by business travellers. They're the most expensive tickets, but they have the most flexibility.

Some others that are generally used among the airlines: "J'' or "C'' usually indicate business class. "F'' and "P'' denote first class or premium.

Why are the codes there?

Airline tickets weren't always so complicated. Codes were developed as the airlines created complex systems that let them make more money per ticket.

The fare basis code is found on most e-tickets by itself, but it can also be shown as the first letter of a longer code with a mix of other letters and numbers.

The rundown

The good news: The better code you have, the better your chance of not getting bumped. You also might receive more frequent flyer miles if you're in the top tiers. The bad news: The main way to improve your code is to pay more. Most leisure travellers wouldn't think of forking over double or triple the usual fare for a refundable ticket or more perks. But there are ways to avoid hassles without paying through the roof.

One way to prevent bumping with a discounted ticket? Check in early. In addition to ranking by price, airlines also prioritize passengers by check-in order. Get in the habit of checking in online 24 hours before your flight. You can even check bags online through most airlines, and just drop them off at a counter when you arrive at the airport.

But fare classes aren't just important when it comes to keeping your seat. Fare classes are also key if you want to upgrade your ticket. Generally, "Y," ''B" and "M'' are the only coach fares that are upgradeable. You can search by fare class directly on most airline websites.

If building up frequent flyer miles is important to you, avoid auction tickets on sites like Hotwire and Priceline where you name your own price, or don't see all the flight information before you book. Those tickets, like Hotwire "Hot Rates," are often ineligible for frequent flyer miles. The cheapest tickets doled out to certain travel agents also aren't always eligible, either. It's important in these cases to always read the fine print, because whether you're going to the next state or around the world, you may be out of luck.

On the other end of the spectrum, Counter said passengers with the highest-ranked fare basis codes are eligible to get more than the standard miles, sometimes 150 per cent, for their flight.