Editorial Development: Bonnie Brook Communications

READ THE PASSAGE
As you read, think about how where Céline Ellena lives affects her work.
A Nose for Business
Céline Ellena works at Charabot in the ancient perfume capital of Grasse, France. The town is 
surrounded by fields of flowers that scent the air for miles around. Ellena is a “nose,” or a creator of 
perfumes. Her father, uncle, and grandfather have also created perfumes. It was her grandfather who 
began Ellena’s education in smelling and identifying flowers and their scents. She has a degree in 
psychology, because she believes it is important to understand how people think when creating a perfume 
for them. Ellena also understands the chemistry of perfume. She knows which ingredients are necessary 
to make a perfume smell the way she wants it to, as well as what must be added to make the scent last on 
different types of skin.
When Ellena was first working as a nose, her own nose would grow very tired. She learned that to rid 
her own nose of the strong scents she smelled each day, she had only to sniff her own skin. Then her 
nose was refreshed, and she could return to her work, smelling scents and blending them to create 
expressive, imaginative perfumes.
When Ellena begins to craft a perfume, she creates an image in her mind. Then she writes a formula 
for the perfume, a job that she compares to drawing a picture of her mental image. Her inspiration comes 
from the people she sees on the street, from music she listens to—almost anything can trigger her 
creativity and lead to a wonderful, new scent. Creating perfumes is a true art form for Ellena. She often 
says that “a perfume composer writes stories with smells rather than words.”
SKILL PRACTICE
Read each question. Fill in the bubble next to the correct answer.
 1. The description of Grasse in the passage helps 
readers understand 
.
A 
why perfume is more important in France than 
in America
B 
what a perfume nose needs to know
C 
why that location is a good place to make 
perfumes
D 
how difficult it is to become a perfume nose