Frédéric Malle should have quit while he was ahead. His perfume house, Editions de Parfums Frederic Malle, has a number of popular and well done fragrances. On top of enjoying regular publicity, Malle himself is an Allure magazine contributor and pens “The Fragrance Guy” advice column.

For someone who built a brand to put perfumers in the spotlight, his book Frédéric Malle: On Perfume Making is distractingly self-oriented. Memoirs inherently are, but On Perfume Making lacks the rich insight and detail that makes them so intriguing. Malle’s introduction focuses on his personal frustrations with the industry’s present fixation on blockbuster perfumes, mainly that corporate input and disproportionate marketing budgets are crippling the creative process. For the majority of blog readers, it’s preaching to the choir. Where are the cringe-worthy anecdotes of marketing department meddling? Or the depressing examples of brilliant ideas rendered lackluster by cheap inferior ingredients? Whatever stories Malle has to tell, he’s not telling them here…

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Demeter has launched Daisy, a new addition to their Fragrance Library…

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What is it: A 30 ml bottle of Aura by Swarovski Eau de Parfum and a 100 ml bottle of Elizabeth Arden Green Tea Cherry Blossom Eau de Toilette. Both were used for testing and are mostly full.

How do I get it: For a chance to win, leave a comment telling me that you live in the US. Also, please tell me about your favorite mainstream spring fragrance release.

Be sure to use the “Post a comment” box; do not reply to another comment…

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Thymes has launched Garden Alchemy, a new trio of fragrances (Lemon Geranium, Rosemary Sage and Wild Angelica) “where perfumery meets botany in a lush, intoxicating sensory expression”…

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New at sephora: Guerlain Aqua Allegoria Lys Soleia.

Indie perfumer Dawn Spencer Hurwitz has launched the YSL Retrospective Collection, six new fragrances created in collaboration with the Denver Art Museum and inspired by their exhibit Yves Saint Laurent: The Retrospective. The fragrances are Ligne Trapéze, The Beat Look, Le Smoking, Euphorisme d’Opium, La Vie en Rose and Ma Plus Belle Histoire d’Amour…

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The changing rooms look like cabanas, beach sounds waft from the speaker system, and the imaging machine is disguised as a giant sand castle. The piece de resistance? The place is perfumed with Ocean Breeze, a scent meant to evoke a seaside vacation.

— Florida Hospital Celebration Health tries to make your MRI more enjoyable; from The New Muzak: Scent Marketing, at Smart Money.

The Fragrance Foundation has announced the winners for the 2012 Fifi Awards, known as the “Oscars of the fragrance industry”. And the winners are…

Women’s Luxe (sold in over 250 doors) ~ Tom Ford Violet Blonde

Men’s Luxe ~ Gucci Guilty Pour Homme…

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Spending three weeks at a writer’s retreat in France — a country known for its dedication to the art de vivre — leads me to ponder the good life. What is the “good life” exactly? To me, it can be just about everything that happens beyond adequate food, shelter, and sound health. Living the good life doesn’t have to be expensive. The key is to pay attention and to take risks. As Auntie Mame, my guide in all matters spiritual, says, “Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death.”

Rather than pontificate, I offer some concrete examples on the good life I’ve experienced over the past few weeks:

Try new things. Oh, I know what an effort it is to get up an hour earlier or attempt a cartwheel twenty years after your last one or extract a saddle of rabbit when armed with nothing but a carving knife and instructions from the internet. It’s a pain. But it snaps you out of your groove and lets you tune in to the good life when it’s actually happening so you don’t miss it. Sure, negotiating public transportation from the Nice airport to my hotel was a challenge, especially when laid on top of jet leg, but it led to my meeting a terrific woman and having dinner at her house prepared by a sous chef from the Hotel Negresco. When life offers you this kind of challenge, see it as an and opportunity and take it. You never know where it will lead.

Take risks. Yesterday, the retreat’s dog and I wandered nearly an hour too far on a trail. I didn’t bring hiking shoes, and a storm had clouded over the distant, snow-capped Pyrenees…

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