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 18th century Muscadins (from "muschardin", an edible pastille perfumed with musk to scent the breath) are pre-dandy types who were known for their predilection for perfume The systematic quest for artificial musk started a 130 years sooner than is usually thought of. We enter the modern age of man-made musk odorants which was going to be so prolific and fashionable at different periods of history as early as the mid-18th century, in 1758 to be specific, when French chemist Margraf managed to create a musk-smelling substance by treating the oil distilled from natural amber with nitric acid. As reported by several works on chemistry, it had been known for a long time that the action of nitric acid on some hydrocarbons could produce a musky aroma but this moment is recorded as a landmark one and Margraf himself baptized the new substance "musc artificiel" (artificial musk)...  A 1973 ad for Macho Musk Oil in the midst of the musk-oil craze of the 1970s
Continue reading "Valentine's Day 2010: Exploring Musk Oils - Part 1 {Scented Thoughts} {Perfume List}" »
 Jeanne can offer a beautiful, simple connotation as a first name. It is the feminine pendant of "Jean" which like Pierre and Paul are de facto household given names in (Christian) Europe. Jeanne is the name of historical French heroine, Jeanne d'Arc, and evokes for those who have seen the masterpiece, the beautiful cinematography of Dreyer's Protestant-looking 1927 imagery about the saint. It is also the first name in translation of Jane Austen. It is furthermore, to go back to more immediate connections, the first name of couturière Jeanne Lanvin after which the perfume is named and to whom it pays homage in an updated yet faithful mode... 
Continue reading "Lanvin Jeanne (2008) and Jeanne La Rose (2010): Part 1 - The Scent of High Fashion, Suavissime Soap and Back {Perfume Reviews} {New Fragrance} " »
 It is with pleasure that I am able to report that independent Italian perfumer Laura Tonatto has now a new website which functions as an international e-commerce. It was until recently difficult to come by her fragrances unless you were in Rome or Turin.  To make the news even more delightful, I see that the lovely violet composition that is E Duse, a perfume which is a homage paid to the great actress Eleonora Duse (1858-1924) is back in her catalog. One of Tonatto's specializations which is conducted through her workshop Naso e Parnaso is historical interpretative work in compositions inspired by famous historical figures or even works of art. In 2005, for example, she created a perfume based on the painting The Lute Player by Caravaggio for the Hermitage Museum...
Continue reading "Laura Tonatto Notte a Taif (2010) {New Perfume} E Duse is Back & New e-Commerce {Fragrance News}" »
 This spring Chanel will launch a new, more delicate flanker of the original Chance (2003) called Chance Eau tendre (Chance Tender Eau). The new perfume is described as a fruity and floral interpretation of Chance Eau de Parfum...
Continue reading "Chanel Chance Eau Tendre (2010) {New Perfume}" »
 Lancôme will release a new perfume called Trésor in Love at the end of March 2010 which is characterized as a free interpretative exercise on the original Trésor launched in 1990 and created by Sophia Grojsman. It was a landmark perfume both in terms of composition and reception. The new jus was composed by perfumers Dominique Ropion and Véronique Nyberg...
Continue reading "Lancome Tresor in Love (2010) {New Perfume}" »
 Secrets de Rose (Rose Secrets) is the 16th rose composition by Les Parfums
de Rosine which specialize in sculpturing the different facets and
interpretations of the queen of flowers. It was created in 2009 based on particular qualities of natural rose and labdanum ingredients and launched this January-February 2010. This time, one is offered a dark-rose
interpretation, the scent of " a rose
dressed in black,' which was made to feel more shadowy thanks to notes
of prune, licorice, amber resin and labdanum while being spiced up with
saffron, ylang and cumin.
It is also, as it turns out, what l would like to term an
affective patrimonial perfume, a
composition destined to noses who can appreciate the continuities
of the living history of perfume, this olfactory historiography found
throughout contemporary compositions rather than in the pages of history books...
Continue reading "Les Parfums de Rosine Secrets de Rose (2010): Dinner with Chamade, with Notes on Patrimonial Perfumes {Perfume Review} {Rose Notebook}" »
 Dita von Teese, Jean
Paul Gaultier, Naomie Campbell and Guest attend the Fashion Dinner for
AIDS at the Pavillon d'Armenonville on January 28, 2010 in Paris,
France.
Fashion Dinner for AIDS - Sidaction
We get some quick thoughts about the sometimes symbiotic at other times more problematic relationship existing between fashion, fragrance and the new celebrity culture.
"But I can't help wondering whether
any of this would be possible without Gaultier's hugely successful
fragrances...
Continue reading "Quick Thoughts on Fashion, Perfume and Celebs by Jean Paul Gaultier: It's All Linked {Fashion Notes} " »
 Image via Wikipedia Here is an excerpt from Ode to the Nightingale by John Keats which was written in the month of May 1819. In it, as the poet imagines his vision dimming with the passing of daylight, his sense of smell becomes all the more perceptive of the invisible presence of fruit and flora. The feeble light which comes to him is gloomy-green and smells of soft breezy mosses. " tender is the night,
And
haply the Queen-Moon is on her throne,
Cluster'd around by all her
starry Fays;
But here there is no light,
Save what from heaven
is with the breezes blown
Through verdurous glooms and winding mossy ways."...
Continue reading "Scented Quote of the Day, from John Keats:" »
 Celine Dion, who strikes you as someone who could appeal to very different constituencies for different reasons - there is a counter-cultural streak in her despite her classic voice-based diva popularity (unconventional beauty, much older husband-mentor, unusual stage-kid past...) - proposes to draw a consensus on style with her new perfume called Simply Chic...
Continue reading "Celine Dion Simply Chic (2010) {New Perfume} {Celebrity Fragrances}" »
 Untitled (with a parenthesis if you are a purist) by Maison Martin Margiela is the debut perfume of a fashion label known for its untrammelled creativity. If you think that an interesting mind can apply itself to a medium which is unfamiliar and still be able to offer the same kind of aesthetic results thanks to its sense of criticism without being a perfumer in the technical sense of the term, then you would expect the first perfume by Martin Margiela to be worth smelling and even perhaps worth wearing. The conceptual apparatus surrounding the scent is undoubtedly signed Margiela. The non-name of the perfume to start with is consistent with the vision of the house founder, "Its [the perfume's] ambiguous title sits in harmony with the brand's philosophy of
collective work, anonymity and free interpretation, allowing the scent
to hold different meanings for different people. "...
Continue reading "Maison Martin Margiela Line 3 (Untitled) (2010): Dark Galbanum, Dirty Green Musk {Perfume Review}" »
 Hermès will launch a new major perfume for them in April 2010 called Voyage d'Hermès. The scent is part of the group of perfumes called " parfums-romans" (perfume-novels) dedicated to retelling the story of Hermès's patrimony. In a subtle evolution and interesting shift of policy of the house which had been giving extended free rein to their in-house perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena in the last year or so, they submitted to him this time a minimal one-word brief. As they put it, it is a carte blanche with a name on it...
Continue reading "Hermes Voyage d'Hermes (2010) {New Perfume}" »
 From February 2010, Donna Karan will launch a new women's scent called Pure DKNY named after one of their clothing lines but which most of all wants to affirm a certain way of life. The tag line is " Go Pure." A promotional website is already available in Spanish which invites online viewers to water a green plant before being able to access the video depicting the universe of Pure DKNY. It resembles a romantic family photo album portraying a happy couple in love and their child all bathed in a pure white light in an indefinite ethereal world set in a loft-apartment with glimpses of early spring and New York City.... 
Continue reading "Donna Karan Pure DKNY (2010) {New Perfume}" »
 Chloé have launched a trio of perfumes that have the looks and smells of sophisticated splash colognes. They are called Eau de Fleurs Capucine (nasturtium), Lavande (lavender) and Néroli. Capucine is a representative of the green family, Lavande seems to smell like a fresh and light oriental and Néroli is the closest to a classic variation on Eau de Cologne...
Continue reading "Chloe Eau de Fleurs Capucine, Neroli, Lavande (2010) {New Perfumes}" »
 Varsaw appears to be at the forefront of thinking on convivial perfumeries. Polish architect Marcin Kwietowicz created a perfumery enclave in the capital city of Poland which is atypical of most modern perfume shopping experience...
Continue reading "Galilu Olfactory Perfumery is the Nec Plus Ultra & not just in Varsaw {Scented Paths & Fragrant Addresses}" »
Jean Paul Gaultier Spring Summer Haute Couture collection for 2010 was truly haute-couture in the sense that it made you dream. It was extravagant, it affirmed the reign of fantasy and imagination over practical mundane limitations. It refused to be no-nonsense. The fantasy Hollywood adventure-movie strain was perceptible with inspiration seemingly taken from movies like Pirates of the Caribbean, Indiana Jones and Avatar. I thought there was also inspiration culled from outfits made out of chocolate for the Salon du Chocolat. So I am starting with the details instead of looking at the ensemble, i.e. the outfits but you are benefiting from my personal fascination for the colors that were used on the models' eyelids and the nail-rings that capped the real nails. Here is a selection of looks of eye makeup and colors from the backstage area. Makeup artist was Tom Pecheux using Mac cosmetics..
Continue reading "Jean Paul Gaultier Eyes & Nails for Spring Summer 2010 {Fashion Notes - Backtage Beauty}" »
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