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July 2006 Archive
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 Here's a little relaxing poll, if you'd care to share your thoughts: •Is there there any perfume that you think is particularly appropriate to wear on July 4? •IYO what is the best perfume to wear or what perfume will you wear to mill about the lawn at a barbeque party on July 4? •IYO what is the best fragrance to wear or what fragrance will you wear to watch the fireworks on July 4? I have tried to answer these gnawing questions here, please check my post on Patriotic Perfumes.
 Tre Noté has opened a new etailer site through which you can now order Rancé perfumes that were available not long ago only through their Milan and Rome boutiques. They carry several lines of Rancé perfumes as well as Bath and Body products...
Continue reading "Scented Paths & Fragrant Addresses: New Rancé USA & L'Aile des Anges" »
The lastest creation by Les Parfums de Rosine, Rose d'Amour (the Rose
of Love), is now available at Beauty Habit. It is described as a floral aldehydic perfume. Top notes are ginger, galbanum, bergamot, aldehydes. Heart notes are rose essence, iris, jasmine, narcissus, "rose de rosine." Base notes are oakmoss, nutmeg, pepper, and vetiver. Price is $75 for 50 ml. Image source: Osmoz
The June issue of Marie France has a fun article on perfumes. Different fragrances are recommended for wearing depending on the hour of the day. Hope you can find a copy at your local newspapers dealer to peruse. It is also possible to get an annual subscription to the French magazine for $63.39 through Amazon.com. Subscription to Marie France on Amazon.com
 "Fastidious women are as delicately refined in their selection of sweet odours as in every other personal appointment. A high-bred woman does not associate herself with musk or patchouli. The shadow of the clear pungent lavender may precede her but the most sensitive, refined women shrink intuitively from the odours that attract the parvenu. Some of us, in these days of musk and suffocating rose, have frequently wished the promiscuous use of these powerful odours might be restricted." Harriet Hubbard Ayer (1849-1903)
Coutorture is setting up a database which purports to include people's favorite stores in eight major cities that they have selected: NYC, BK, SF, LA, DC, Vancouver, London, and Prague. Do not hesitate to add your fave fashion and beauty addresses by using this form!
 I already reported on Insolence by Guerlain here but I thought that additional details might be of interest. I learned that the perfume was created not only by Maurice Roucel but also by Sylvaine Delacourte as they worked in tandem. They also worked together on L'Instant by Guerlain; Delacourte is a graduate of ISPCA and works mainly as an evaluator and a trainer, I believe. The perfume is said to showcase an electric, "highly charged violet" as well as sparkling red fruits. Also included are notes of iris, orange blossom, rose, and Tonka bean. The bottle is shaped like a whirligig and was designed by Serge Mansau. Hilary Swank is the muse for the Guerlain Insolence campaign.
 Patriotism on holidays which celebrate national independence is expressed through many semiotic activities and foci of symbolic activities worldwide. In America, manifestations of patriotism vary from region to region of the American motherland (or is it a fatherland we should be speaking of?) -- in Boston for example, people feel Bostonian by going to listen to the Boston Pops -- but we can rest assured of two things: there will be national barbeque-partying and fireworks illuminating the many corners of the sky all over the 50 United States tomorrow. From an olfactory standpoint, we can muse on and say that the 4th of July smells in the base notes of gourmand smoky burgers, burning hot coal, gunpowder, tangy, sweet and sticky tomato ketchup, rich boozy beer and maybe sweet cotton candy and apple pie with spicy cinnamon and let's not forget, musky sweat. In the heart notes there are green grass, tangy-green citronnella, soft wheat, aqueous cucumber, sweet corn, iceberg lettuce notes, and a dash of car interior and car polish. In the top notes you might find fresh mint, tart pink lemonade, coca-cola, frosted ice cubes, and light, cool, and fresh baby powder notes. This olfactory rêverie may smell hellish a priori to some but since each year the same note combinations reappear and people still throng the 4th of July events, you might have a formula of success here.
Napoleon once haughtily remarked, "Impossible n'est pas français" (something like, "the word 'impossible' is not to be found in the French language.") This seems to be the motto of many a perfumer today and since many of them are French you might get a phenomenon of double-whammy hubris due to the fact that they are French and due to the fact that they are perfumers.  In any case, since no one has yet dared to combine these multifarious aromas of the Fourth in a single bottle, let's turn to alternative, ready-made solutions to express patriotism and love of the motherland through perfumes. How shall we convey that patriotic message? It is often said that olfaction is the neglected sense and hence, in our case, a clearly neglected source of rich patriotic symbols. As of today, it is not consciously tapped into by the vast majority of the population to express patriotism alongside with wearing star spangled sartorial signs. So if you contemplate wearing something more celebratory of Americaness than just deodorant, please read on and see what my practical suggestions are.
Continue reading "Scented Thoughts: Patriotic (American) Perfumes to Wear on the 4th of July, Some Modest Suggestions" »
 Since with time our ideas tend to become simpler, the notion has struck us after writing our previous post on Patriotic Perfumes that a convenient way to address the question of the relationship between patriotism and perfume is to turn towards the testing of the whimsical project for now of creating a national fragrance. Countries have national anthems and flags with recognizable national colors but so far, to our knowledge at least, there has not been any governmental attempt at promoting an emblematic national scent or perfume. This may appear paradoxical because as we know, olfaction bypasses the conscious mind and is thus capable of recreating the past or transporting us to a place other than where our physical body is. This means that within the context of a nationalist project, the motherland or fatherland and the history of a country could theoretically be always present, contained in the few droplets of a national perfume and conjured up with each application. With such a powerful tool to influence people's consciousnesses one would think that it would have been deeply exploited. But, curiously enough, not really (Added: until Dec 2007 that is when the Korean presidential candidate Lee Myung-Bak is reported to use perfume as a means to influence voting)........
Continue reading "Scented Thoughts: My National Parfum" »
 Notes: Bergamote, menthe / jasmin, lys blanc,
rose, ylang ylang / oeillet, iris, héliotrope, vanille, poire. Terracotta Voile d'Eté fut créé en 1999 officiellement par le parfumeur Jean-Paul Guerlain mais en fait confié aux soins de Mathilde Laurent, le parfumeur plus "junior" de la maison à l'époque qui avait pu signer sa première création vraiment indépendante juste l'année précédente avec Pamplelune de la collection Aqua Allegoria. Elle officie désormais chez Cartier. Le prétexte de la création de ce floral oriental épicé fut le désir d'ajouter une fragrance à la ligne de maquillage Terracotta destinée à sublimer la beauté féminine estivale. A l'instar de Les Météorites, une autre ligne de maquillage Guerlain allait avoir son parfum. Plus récemment et chez une autre marque américaine cette fois-ci on a pu constater la popularité de ce concept avec Azurée pour Estée Lauder par Tom Ford. Ce parfum à odeur de plage et de lotion solaire fit un tabac parmi les férus de parfums de la blogosphère...
Continue reading "Terracotta Voile d'Eté de Guerlain (1999) {Critique de Parfum}" »
Notes: Bergamot, mint / jasmine, white lily,
rose, ylang ylang / carnation, iris, heliotrope, vanilla, pear.Terracotta Voile d'Eté was created in 1999 and officially signed by perfumer Jean-Paul Guerlain but in reality entrusted to junior perfumer Mathilde Laurent as a limited-edition fragrance. She had just been able to compose her first real independent work the previous year with Pamplelune in the Aqua Allegoria collection.
Like Les Météorites by the same house and more recently Azurée by Tom Ford for Estée Lauder, Terracotta is a perfume associated with a makeup line. One can thus guess that the marketing concept presiding over the launch of such a fragrance is to make the perfume be apprehended as an integral part of a beauty routine: the makeup is for the face and the fragrance is for the body. In effect, these fragrances are often conceived of as skin scents, evoking the intimate relationship one can develop with one's body through the mediation of scent. The powder for the face is mirrored by a fragrant powder or veil for the body.
I tend to like this concept. It puts the stress on the simplicity of the perfuming gesture envisioned as a complementary touch of beauty rather than as the exhibiting of a masterpiece of perfumery to be worn like a diadem.
It is an especially welcome mood for the summertime. It can suit you to wear this kind of relatively simple yet subtle scent as a preface to the summer holidays or to wear it to bottle the memory of these for later on.
When I say that Terracotta is simple, it is actually more complex and rich than many recent launches I have smelled lately, yet it is clear at the same time that it wants to play the card of summer far niente and lazy self-indulgence...
Continue reading "Guerlain Terracotta Voile d'Eté (1999) {Perfume Review & Musings}" »
 •Biba published a picture of the upcoming Mandarine Mandarin.
•Chypre Rouge is now available at the Salons du Palais Royal. It will be available in the United-States in mid-August at Barney's. Aedes will have it too sometime between mid-August and the end of August.
•There is a 6-page interview of Serge Lutens in the French art magazine L'oeil of July-August 2006. See newly added review of Chypre Rouge Sources: Autour de Serge and Salons Shiseido.
After Eau de Campagne (1974) and Eau du Soir (1990), Sisley is now preparing to launch its latest creation, Soir de Lune (Moonlit Night), on September 1. Philippe D'Ornano, the son of Sisley founder Hubert D'Ornano insisted the company favored long-term visions for their perfumes stating, "You can do a fragrance for a season, or a lifetime," (...) "We are choosing to build a fragrance that will last a lifetime." Soir de Lune is their third fragrance and was 7 to 8 years in the making.
The new fragrance is described as a floral chypre thus following in the footsteps of Eau du Soir which is a remarkable aromatic chypre in my opinion. The new scent includes top notes of bergamot, mandarin, lemon, coriander, nutmeg and capsicum pepper oils. Middle notes are May rose centifolia and mimosa flower absolute, jasmine, lily of the valley, iris and peach. Base notes are woody moss, musk, honey, sandalwood and Indonesian and patchouli. The 30, 50, and 100 ml flacons will retail respectively for $100, $145, and $200 and will be available at upscale retail stores like Saks Fifth Avenue and Bergdorf Goodman. Sources: Women's Wear Daily and Cosmetic News
 This is the day of wonderful (see Sisley below) and gorgeous over-the-top fragrance bottles. Wonderful eccentric and designer Betsey Johnson has officially introduced her signature fragrance which will be distributed exclusively at Bloomingdale's until September before being sold in other locations like Nordstrom and Sephora. The bottle and the packaging were designed by an independent Dutch firm, Colorful Licenses. The fan-shaped top is flexible to allow the flacon to be easily carried in a purse while offering all its glamour once it's released. A woman after my own heart, Betsey Johnson has confessed that she has been known to buy beautiful perfumes with despicable juices in them. Let's hope Johnson took care not to do the same thing with her juice. If the scent is as gorgeous as the bottle it should smell gooooood.
The tantalizing juice is described as a fruity floriental. Top notes are pear, tangerine, grapefruit and blackcurrant. Heart notes are freesia and lily of the valley. Base notes are cedarwood, sandalwood, praline, amber and musk. The perfume was composed by nose Bernard Blanc in collaboration with Mane and the Karis Group and Betsey Johnson. Betsey Johnson in 50 and 100 ml flacons will retail respectively for $55 and $75. Sources: The Moodie Report and Women's Wear Daily
July 2006 Archive
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