What's in a smell? A cocktail of molecules which get inhaled up our nostrils, absorbed into mucous membranes, analysed by our bio-receptor thingies and interpreted in our brains. Would a rose by any other name smell as sweet? Well not as sweet as the latest celebrity perfume which comes in a rhinestone studded pink bottle. What fragrance drives men absolutely wild with desire? It's a toss-up between frying bacon and wood smoke.

We're surrounded by smells everyday and yet our vocabulary for odour is woefully, pathetic. Describe an orange: the texture, the colour, the shape, the taste, the oily residue left on your fingers after wrestling with the pith and peel…. now describe the smell. Citrusy, sour…well like an orange?

Try to describe smells and the words get stuck in our throat. What's your favourite fragrance? What does it smell like, why do you like it? If you're describing one of the hyper real scent recreations by Demeter then yes, it's straightforward. The "Baby Powder" scent smells like baby powder. Let's get a bit stinkier…. What does "Miel de Bois" an infamous perfume by Serge Lutens smell like? Honey? Wood? Piss? Concentrated piss on the sidewalk on the hottest day of the year making you want to Usain Bolt-it far far away? (That'll be the phenyl acetic acid in both honey and urine…)

Talking about fragrance always brings up more questions than firm answers. Yes smelling Kenzo Amour is nice. The particularly thoughtful amongst us might say comforting but it's a mood rather than a description of the smell. Delve deeper and we find that there's basmati rice steam note in the mix and it all makes sense. The smell of cooking carbohydrates triggers a universal "Aaaah" in all of us.

The couture houses of Paris are built on the sales of smelly liquid in glass bottles advertised by peachy skinned celebrities. An estimated 900 new fragrances were launched in 2010.Whilst we have the fashion editrices to pick apart the gowns and accessories released in the fashion world, there's very little proper discussion of perfume, the sales of which prop up the glamour on the catwalks. Once sprayed on our skin, a perfume can hang around for hours, top, heart and base notes tenaciously hanging on and wafting up to the nostrils when you least expect it. It's potent stuff which deserves respect and consideration.

Here at Because we are going to talk about the smells. We are going to pull out those words stuck in our throats and discuss the elements that make up this bottled liquid gold. If I'm not here, you'll find me curled up in a corner huffing the fumes from my bottle of vintage Opium parfum. Go and inhale.

Davina Peace just glows. She really does. She glows with the genuine warmth of someone who has found their passion in life and without sounding overly gushing, it is uplifting to be around her. Before I met her I had to Google whether her final name was indeed Peace or just an addition to the brand name. After meeting her I can say that no one could be better suited to the name.

The life of Davina Peace however is not all rainbows and Greenpeace banners. Underneath her harmonious exterior lies a sharp thinking business woman from a Saatchi & Saatchi background. Her first and foremost skill is in marketing. She knows that women want luxury, not only in their beauty products but in their clothes, their food, their boyfriends, their holidays... Davina Peace is first and foremost, and I quote Davina's own words, a "Lifestyle Brand".

Davina realised that most eco brands on the market, with a few exceptions, are mid-range, inefficient and somewhat 'beige' in appearance. She also questioned why it is not a given that all luxury brands are eco responsible. When you pay £100 for a lip balm, you expect it to be responsibly produced right? Hell, for £100 you expect the brand owners to be saving the rainforest in their free time. But it's not just the marketing that she excels in. Davina has really put the time into researching the scientific side of the brand, enduring sleepless nights until she found the environmentally friendly alternative to Silicones. She eventually found that very same silky texture in nourishing British Cramble Oil, which, instead of coating the skin like silicone does, penetrates it.

The hint 'Lifestyle Brand' excitingly implies that there is much more to come from Davina Peace and that the range does not end at beauty products. The morning after my interview with Davina Peace, I awoke with a strong urge to save the world. Not many brands can boast that effect on a journalist.

Davina Peace is on our Line of Beauty

The Davina Peace range is available from Harrods.

My friend has a look on her face that I can only imagine to be comparable to Queen Elizabeth I's grimace when Sir Walter first handed her a potato.
'Oud' she repeats after me, 'it smells a bit dirty.' This is not, however, the same reaction that I get from my circle of beauty journalists and fragrance aficionados. To them oud is something exotic, fashionable and exciting.

For those of you in my friend's camp, I shall expand. Oud is a Middle Eastern fragrance originating from the resin of the Aquilaria tree, released to protect the plant from destructive fungus. It has been used for centuries to scent mosques, clothing and the wealthy in the Middle East. (Note how I say wealthy, oud by the gram is more expensive that rubies and whether you like the smell or not, you cannot deny that it requires an expensive taste.)

Oud is known for its dark, earthy scent. It has a pungent odour with an often overpoweringly sharp hit to it. This intense ingredient has gradually appeared on the western fragrance scene as an exciting back note in more contemporary aromas. It mixes well with woody base notes and warm heart notes like vanilla, giving an otherwise bland perfume an extra seductive oomph.

Further to this, in the last few months it seems that oud has become somewhat of an 'it' note. It's mysterious and expensive origins have placed it in the centre of risqué Parisian fragrance concepts and daring oriental concoctions.

Last month French perfumer Stephane Humbert Lucas launched his SoOud collection, a line of unisex perfumes that transcend fragrance boundaries. Stephane uses his Parisian delicacy to lift the heavy, unforgiving oud into the realms of the ethereal and the poetic. His fragrances act like a veil on the wearer, a translucent niquab that floats on the skin and provokes fascination.

The addition of the animalistic oud is, in my opinion, exactly what the clean-cut western fragrance industry needs. The exciting edge that our signature scents used to posses appears to have gone stale in a market of endless limited editions and celebrity fragrances. I will honestly scream if I have to sit through one more fragrance launch that half-heartedly boasts the 'exciting' notes of rose, bergamot and vanilla, topped off by a picture of a half naked pop star. Yawn.

Oud, with all of its heritage and associations, can give these tired ingredients the burst of life that they need to become fresh and on trend once again. It takes a sophisticated nose to understand the complexities within an oud fragrance and to unravel the story wound up by its components. I smell a challenge, don't you?

Oud is on our line of beauty...

Oud fragrances for the beginner:

SoOud Burqa £99 60ml (Selfridges): A fluid, elegant fragrance that has a leathery skin like smell. Light top notes of jasmine and violet.

Tom Ford Oud Wood EDP 50ml, £115 (Harrods): In true Tom Ford Style, even the strongest and strangest of ingredients can become refined, masculine and attractive. For men who pack a punch, but do so stylishly.

Trish McEvoy Precious Oud, £70 (Selfridges): Rich and sexy, this has warming notes of tobacco and whisky. That heavenly stayed-out-all night smell (in a good way!)