Pheromone Perfume in Crystal

Pheromone ... An organic scent signal used to communicate. From the Greek pherein (to carry) and hormon (to excite). It all began over a decade ago with Marilyn Miglin's desire to give her clientele what they had been clamoring for ... a Miglin fragrance as special as the makeup for which she was renowned.

Ms. Miglin went to New York to speak with a perfumer. He assured her he knew what she wanted and offered seven samples from which to choose. When she told him that she wanted to participate in the creation of the fragrance, not just sniff scents prepared by someone else, he told her that was simply not done. Next she went to Grasse, France, where she received almost identical treatment, this time in French. The only difference was that the French chemists offered her a choice of nine samples. When she gently protested that she wanted to be involved in the creation of the fragrance that would bear her name, she was informed that was quite impossible.

Frustrated but determined, Ms. Miglin began researching the history of perfume. She soon learned that in the early Egyptian civilization certain scents were considered more precious than gold. "These sophisticated people knew that perfume did more than make one smell pretty," Ms. Miglin explains. "They actually used fragrance to evoke behavioral responses." "As I delved deeper, I learned that when unguent jars thousands of years old were unearthed, they still retained the fragrance of the original oils. I became more intrigued. How could perfume last for centuries?"

Further research in Egypt was a must. There, she discovered that the rooms of temples which housed the precious oils for priests and royalty had perfume recipes etched in hieroglyphs. She became so fascinated that she hired an Egyptologist to study these recipes and translate the mysterious writings. "The results were astounding," according to Ms. Miglin. "The recipes we found contained ancient secrets that made perfume intriguing, long lasting, and communicative." With this knowledge, Ms. Miglin returned to New York and employed a perfumer. "He was amazed at the highly developed technical knowledge and sophisticated techniques used to manufacture perfume five thousand years ago, Ms. Miglin recalls.

And so PHEROMONE, at $500 an ounce, was born. What does PHEROMONE smell like? According to its creator, "PHEROMONE is a balanced blend of 179 rare and expensive essences. The essential oils are derived from flowers, wild grasses, exotic bark, seeds and rare wine resins. No one ingredient predominates; it is a true blending of full bodied florals, exotic green notes, spices, and wood tones."