Is real jasmine really worse for you than the synthetic version? It might sound crazy but that's exactly what the International Fragrance Association believe – and it’s making life tough for organic and natural perfumers. Ruth Styles reports
We are obsessed with our odour. We slavishly scrub off all that makes us distinct as members of a species, and then spray ourselves liberally with a homogenous fug of the latest mass-marketed musk. Jeremy Smith wonders why