|
|
July 2006 Archive
Page 3 of 4 • 1 2 3 4
 Greenpeace issued an in-depth study in 2006 on the level of toxicity of beauty products commonly used by consummers. A chapter on perfumes is included with a color alert classification of the perfume houses and manufacturers depending on their level of commitment to sound ecological and health-conscious practices. Green is for companies who guarantee that they are not using any of the toxic components targeted by Greenpeace. Orange is for brands that admit to using these targeted toxic substances but who have announced that they are in the gradual process of finding substitute ingredients for these components. These companies could either move to the green or red zones when information is updated. Red, which sadly regroups the overwhelming majority of perfume (and cosmetic) brands, codes companies who do not want to guarantee that they are not using these targeted toxic substances and who most of the time are not interested in implementing substitutive policies. The red-coded brands usually prefer to point out that they are following official legislations which, as Greenpeace stresses, were formed in a permissive context and are therefore lacunary...
Continue reading "The 5th Sense in the News: Guide Cosmetox by Greenpeace" »
 There is an article on sculptor and scent artist Nobi Shioya a.k.a Sacre Nobi by Chandler Burr in V of summer 2006. The article is downloadable in pdf format here.
Nobi Shioya is also the originator of the project Made by Blog which chronicles the creations of two perfumes thus bringing into the open a process that is usually shrouded in secrecy. Altar Boys in Water, 1995 Image source: www.artnet.com
Aedes de Venustas has just received a batch of hard-to-find European fragrances including the relatively recent releases Cèdre, Tonka, and Pivoine eaux de toilette by Estéban. I very quickly tested these in Paris and, at first sniff, thought that Cèdre was the most interesting until the dry down, that is, which I seem to recall was paradoxically less rich and deep than the body of the perfume. Pivoine, as I recall, was the least exciting, smelling nice but a bit banal. However, I should certainly try to test them again more at length. Aedes has also received Paestum Rose by Le Sirenuse. Image source: Aedes
 Lonestar Memories is the latest creation by Andy Tauer. People who are familiar with his first two perfumes, both introduced in 2005, Le Maroc pour Elle and L'Air du Désert Marocain, will find that it departs from the previous two in that it is not a perfume with Oriental references but rather an ode sung to the naturalness and freedom expressed by the myth of the American West. I will add that it is also, to me, a perfume that contributes to defining without any ambiguity or restrictions a classic ideal of rugged masculinity as conveyed by a fragrance; it is rather efficient. In case we had forgotten, Tauer reminds us that certain perfumes just might smell more erotic on a man's skin than on a woman's if we are to recognize that to be able to provoke "trouble" (in French) could be a perfume's ultimate mission...
Continue reading "Perfume Review & Musings: Lonestar Memories by Andy Tauer" »
 Benetton following the current marketing fashion for "scent triplettes" is releasing a new trio of fragrances for men, women, as well as one that is unisex. A common note shared by all three perfumes is a cotton note. Nose Alain Astori of IFF composed Woman (orange flacon) while Alberto Morillas created Man (in blue) and Unisex (in green). The Italian brand views these fragrances as being both selective and accessible (25-45 Euros). Thierry de Baschmakoff designed the three bottles. It will launch in 2 phases, first at the end of September 2006 and in a second stage in the first half of 2007 in remaining parts of the world, including the USA. Source: Cosmetic News
 "I've learned, that when you turn out the lights, you don't see a woman's dress, or her jewels, or the hairstyle she's worked so hard to achieve. You smell her scent, which is the most intense form of memory. And my secret is that love has been related to every fragrance I've created. As my grandfather told me when I was 16, we should always create perfumes for the women whom we love."
Please tune in again this coming Monday as I will post a review of the latest Serge Lutens, Chypre Rouge.
 Exclusive! The newly released Sensuelle Russie (Sensual Russia) by Esteban in their Le Bain collection does not disappoint. It is a delectable and rich gourmand Oriental blend that will be perfect for this coming fall and winter. Imagine a pot of succulent, idealized honey (let me specify that I do not like honey as a note in general but here it is a wonderful dark honey) a nectar fit only for the gods which would have accidentally or by design spilled onto a giant rough-hewn table made of fragrant cedarwood and as it slowly spread out would have mixed with tobacco and strange spices laid out there for no practical reason. Fate. The concoction thus created would have then macerated for a long, long time forgotten in the kitchen of the gods to reach, enfin, the perfect stage of aging at which point an enterprising human being would have come in and copied the molecules released by the mix and made it into a perfume...
Continue reading "Perfume Review & Musings: Sensuelle Russie by Esteban & Sample Giveaway (Updated)" »
If you don't have enough time to read through The Scented Salamander's archives, I would recommend that you read the following articles as being two of the most popular. The first one, My National Parfum deals with nationalism, politics, and perfume, the other is a review of the latest perfume by Bond no 9, Fire Island. Both articles by Mimi Froufrou have been recenty featured on the online fashion community's blog Coutorture. Anya from Anya's Garden of Natural Perfumery also featured the article on nationalism and perfume on Perfume of Life. The beauty blog, Are You A Beauty?, is also featuring the Fire Island Review which Ivy enjoyed very much. You can read her presentation and visit her blog as well here.
Finally, this has already been said but it doesn't hurt to restate it, fashion journalist Kristopher Dukes "ooh la loved" the review of Fire Island as well and featured it on This Next Blog. All these sites are great resources for your beauty and perfume needs by the way. Photo of cheering Steelers' fans from the LA Times from a suggestion by Mr. Froufrou.
 Red Chypre is an unusual olfactory construction, a chypre reinterpreted to the point of nearly losing its identity as a chypre and being recognized only with hesitation, seemingly serving essentially as a symbolic crossroads for Serge Lutens' memories and impressions. The perfume here is biography and quest speaking of soul-searching and soul-finding tracing a path leading us from the present to the past or, perhaps it would be more correct to state, from the author's days as an adult to the chapter of his childhood. It also reflects his life journey from West to East. How significant are these elements in his creation of perfumes is made explicit by Lutens, "A perfume can only emanate from a memory, from something you have known earlier on, or from a cultural path."
Serge Lutens offers us clues that reinforce the mystery and secrecy of Chypre Rouge. It is a perfume that will offer its wearer the charm of strangeness; it exudes it. 
The scent refers to a red oakmoss that is half-dreamed, half-remembered and that we are not sure is really present as a significant chypre ingredient...
Continue reading "Perfume Review & Musings: Chypre Rouge by Serge Lutens & Sample Giveaway" »
 Perles de Lalique (Pearls of Lalique) is the most recent women's perfume edition by the house of Lalique. It was released in May in Europe and will be introduced in the USA in September. This modern take on a chypre was composed by nose Nathalie Lorson of Firmenich. Ideas behind the perfume were both a desire to tip one's hat to the Roaring Twenties as well as herald a revival of the chypres in modern perfumery. The flacon for the perfume is designed after the famous boîte à cactus created by founder and glass artist René Lalique (1860-1945.) The rectangular flacons for the edp are also inspired by it but in a more indirect fashion only keeping the opalescent white coloring dotted with onyx but still referring themselves to an art deco style...
Continue reading "Lalique Perles de Lalique (2006) {Perfume Review}" »
 Following the launch of their first eponymous fragrance, Miss Sixty, the Italian fashion label will introduce at the end of August in Europe a new women's perfume called Miss Sixty Elixir. It is described as an ultra-modern, unconventional, and incredibly sexy fruity oriental, destined to women who are ready to play the game of seduction. It was created by nose Marie Salamagne of Firmenich. The face for the perfume is artist Asia Argento. It targets women aged between 18 and 25 years old, a group seen as being highly fashion conscious.
Top notes are star anise and grapefruit. Heart notes are lotus flower and borrachero, a rare tropical flower originating from Colombia and Ecuador. Base notes are vanilla and sandalwood. The eau de toilette version will retail for 15.50, 26, and 34 Euros for 15 ml, 30 ml, and 50 ml flacons. The eau de parfum in a 50 ml flacon will retail for 39 Euros. The interesting-looking perfume bottle was designed by Cent Degrés. Source: Cosmoty.de
 • The house of Hermes has announced that it will launch a 6th perfume in the collection Hermessence called Paprika Brasil. Jean-Claude Ellena, the in-house perfumer was inspired by anthropologist Levi-Strauss' description in Tristes Tropiques of the impact made on European culture by the introduction of the "bois de braise" indigenous to South America.
In the 15th and 16th centuries this wood was massively imported to Europe to serve as a natural red dye. The name of the country Brazil derives from the Portuguese, "pau-brasil" meaning ember-wood due to its orange-red color as it was "discovered" by the former. It is also called brazilwood or pernambuco. The wood is considered uniquely suited to making violin bows. Paprika Brasil will retail for 135 Euros for a bottle of 100 ml or 350 Euros with a special red leather sheath.
• Hermes will also also introduce Elixir des Merveilles, a variation on Eau des Merveilles, in the fall. They consider it to be a major event. Notes include sandalwood, ambergris, chocolate, and orange. The edp will be priced 60 and 95 Euros for the 50 ml and 100 ml bottles. "In parallel, a luxury limited edition (450 bottles priced at €1,100) of Parfum des Merveilles will be offered in a blue Saint Louis crystal bottle by French designer Serge Mansau." Source: Cosmetic News
 The British fashion label Agent Provocateur specializing in sexy, provocative lingerie has unveiled their new upcoming fragrance, Maîtresse ( Mistress). The flacon recalls their previous signature fragrance, Agent Provocateur, except that it is now made of gold-lacquered glass instead of an opaque pink glass. The bottle was designed by Agent Provocateur. "The modern aldehydic floral scent is by Azzi Glasser of CPL Aromas. Ingredients feature white ylang ylang flower, lotus petals, osmanthus, jasmine sambac, rose absolute and violet leaves with a pheromonal composition of musk, iso E super and hot amber.(...) In line with the signature scent, the new EdP line is positioned at the top end, from €54 the 30ml and €110 the 100ml." It will launch first in September in the UK, Russia, and Asia before coming to France, Spain, Portugal, the US, and the Middle East in 2007. Rectification: Azzi Glasser is the marketing director for the fragrance and Christian Provenzano is the author of the perfume. (source: Christian Provenzano).
Source: Cosmetic News
 The draw, as usual, was performed by my 3-year old's innocent hand. Papers were folded in four so that my son would not be tempted to recognize his favorite letters of the alphabet:) And the winners are....Rachel and....Anya. Congratulations!
Ladies, please send me your addresses. Poster is from art.com
July 2006 Archive
Page 3 of 4 • 1 2 3 4
|
All original content and translations herein copyright © 2006. All rights reserved; reproduction requires the author’s prior written consent. You are however welcome to provide a link back to the posts on this site as long as you explicitly mention their authorship, recognize the original source of the information you give, and acknowledge the site of origin.
Powered by Movable Type 4.32-en
|
Digg This
Stumble
Facebook
Del.icio.us
