Perfume

If sniffing the countless designer fragrances displayed on department store counters leaves you befuddled, or if constantly rubbing your wrist on the flaps of perfumed paper in fashion magazines has pushed your olfactory glands into revolt, you may want to consider a custom concoction. Blending a bespoke scent offers the experience of creating something tailored to your favorite notes and a chance to focus on the intimate details of who you are as a person. "People want to be taken somewhere else, yet they also want to locate something of their own familiar essence as well," said Alexandra Balahoutis, owner of Strange Invisible, a high-end perfume shop in Venice.

Police recovered Paris Hilton's designer perfume, a pistol belonging to actor Brian Austin Green and a handwritten inventory listing diamonds and other jewelry at the homes of suspects accused of burglarizing the homes of young Hollywood celebrities, according to a search warrant affidavit obtained by The Times. The affidavit by Los Angeles Police Department detectives names five alleged members of the burglary crew -- Jonathan Ajar, Courtney Ames, Roy Lopez Jr., Alexis Neiers and Diana Tamayo -- who were charged last week with residential burglary and other felonies in connection with at least 10 burglaries in the Hollywood Hills from late 2008 to last month.

A rising young composer from the U.S., Europe or even the Far East isn't necessarily a newsmaker. But how about a hot new composer from Israel? That's a rare occurrence sure to raise eyebrows among the classical cognoscenti. Avner Dorman, 33, knows that as one of the few Israeli-born writers to break into the classical major leagues, he often has to act as a national flag bearer, especially in the eyes of the category-happy media.

Question: Airlines need to tell passengers not to bathe in their stinky perfume. I am not allergic to perfume, but it is torture having to sit near heavy perfume wearers all through a flight. It's not just women; men are just as bad about using too much. Also, some deodorants are far too strong. Is there any way to get the word out to people? Carol Suggitt Surrey, Canada Answer: Based on science and sociology alone, Suggitt's chances of stopping what she considers an airborne invasion stink.

EBay Inc. lost an appeals court bid to halt a ruling that ordered it to stop online sales of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton perfumes. A Paris appeals court upheld a 50,000-euro ($80,000) fine for each day that EBay allowed the sales to continue, LVMH said. The order was part of a 40-million-euro verdict last week over claims that San Jose-based EBay didn't do enough to block the sale of fake goods.

Miryana Babic fell in love in a tiny perfumery in Florence. She picked up a bottle of Caterina de Medici by i Profumi di Firenze, dabbed a drop of the fragrance on her wrist and was smitten. "The scent is like a living flower," she says. "There is a sparkling quality that only nature can make because when you smell a flower, you're smelling the totality--the root, the leaves." Babic couldn't stop thinking about the perfume, so she set out to bring it home to Santa Monica. A few months later, the entrepreneur was importing the collection to boutiques such as Palmetto in L.A. and Planet Blue in Malibu.

A slender bottle of serge lutens' Fleurs d'Oranger, Sophia Coppola's favorite orange blossom scent; an apothecary jar of chartreuse-colored Absolute Absinthe, with hints of cannabis, black tea and lotus flowers; a faceted Art Deco bottle of L'Artisan Parfumeur Passage D'Enfer, evoking sweet roses and ginger until something slightly dark and intriguing creeps in, a whisper of frankincense, a smidgen of cedar. They're all on the shelves of Apothia, the jewel box of a fragrance boutique at Fred Segal on Melrose that is celebrating its 25th anniversary this month.

Dear SOS: There is a neighborhood restaurant on Beverly Boulevard, just west of La Brea, called Cayenne Cafe. An outstanding dish is its grilled chicken with pomegranate-walnut sauce. It is the most delicious sauce -- I could eat it alone. I would love it if you could get the recipe and publish it. Judy Hollander Los Angeles Dear Judy: We've got just a few more weeks before the end of pomegranate season, so it's great to find a new way to showcase them.

Dashanta Harris is the customer perfume makers dream of. "I'm a big fan of smelling good," the 21-year-old UCLA senior said as she left Nordstrom in West Los Angeles last week with a bottle of Jean Paul Gaultier cologne, "and I want other people to smell good too." The Jean Paul Gaultier was for her boyfriend. Her father is also on her fragrance-for-Christmas list, and she's given such gifts to her mother and brother for holidays past.