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Breaking news: actor Patrick Dempsey well-known for his role in Grey's Anatomy as Dr. Derek Shepherd has signed a multi-year contract with Avon to be the face of a new men's fragrance scheduled to launch in November of 2008. “This will be arguably the strongest franchise in the company’s history,” said Andrea Jung, chairman and chief executive officer of Avon." [...].....
Continue reading "Patrick Dempsey to be the Face of New Avon Men's Fragrance {Perfume News} {Celebrity Fragrance}" »
In an interview in French with Cartier in-house perfumer Mathilde Laurent, the "nose" reveals how the process of customization of a perfume goes. The tab is pretty steep at 60 000 €. The perfumer talks about her transfer from Guerlain to Cartier, which she already evoked in previous interviews. She explains how a keen sense of smell is not a gift but the result of training and linked with qualities of intelligence and creativity. Someone can have a very sensitive sense of smell, yet lack creativity for example. And one does not just smell with the nose but with the brain. In brief, it is a refutation of the Grenouille myth whereby a superhuman sense of smell explains the success and inevitability of a perfumer's vocation however warped in that case.....
Continue reading "Mathilde Laurent: Perfume is a Weapon of Seduction {Fragrant Reading} {Scented Quote of the Day}" »
Trussardi released a new perfume in February of 2008 in Europe called Trussardi Inside Delight, a re-interpretation of the coffee and teak wood notes found in both Trussardi Inside for women and men. The Espresso notes are replaced by lighter coffee blossom notes. The fresh fruity-floral was composed by perfumer Nathalie Lorson from Firmenich (Kate Moss, Perles de Lalique, Encre Noire...)....
Continue reading "Trussardi Inside Delight (2008) {New Fragrance}" »
Jo Malone will introduce a new unisex duo of limited-edition perfumes in May of 2008 inspired by the Japanese incense ceremony of Kohdo. The collection which includes two incense-based scents that are meant to be worn, one by day, the other by night, or layered together (you are free) is called the Kohdo Wood Collection and the two fragrances associated with it are Lotus Blossom & Water Lily (day), and Dark Amber & Ginger Lily (night)......
Continue reading "Jo Malone Kohdo Wood Collection by Day & Night (2008) {New Fragrances}" »
The Huntington in San Marino, California is organizing an exhibition about the historical role Joséphine de Beauharnais played in developing the cultivation of modern roses in Europe through her passion for them. It is titled La Rose Impériale: The Development of Modern Roses. The show takes place as part of the 100th anniversary of the rose garden at The Huntington. Rose lovers will be able to see these: “ ...110 rare illustrated herbals and rose books, including a first edition of Pierre-Joseph Redouté’s glorious multivolume work, Les Roses (1817-24)...... (Image is from from Redouté's album)
Continue reading "La Rose Impériale: Exhibition at The Huntington Until April 28, 2008 {Scented Paths & Fragrant Addresses} {Rose Notebook}" »
You can watch 2 rare Estonian TV fragrance commercials from the 1980s during the Soviet period. They were both made by Harry Egipt who seems to have been the advertising guru or Estonian Jacques Séguela of the period. As Whatarebirds comments, "These ads are all for regular, unbranded items. They were made because Estonia is very close to Finland and picked up some of their television ads displaying all the spectacular products of capitalism. They are always unintentionally hilarious."
The first ad is for Severnoe Siyanie (Aurora Borealis) perfumes, whose factories are located in Saint-Petersburg.....
Continue reading "2 Soviet Estonian Perfume Commercials from the 1980s {Scented Images & Adverts}" »
The musée Christian Dior in Granville is organizing an exhibition on dandies called Dandysmes 1808-2008, which will take place between May 1st and September 21 st 2008. It celebrates the 200th anniversary of the birth of writer Barbey d'Aurevilly (1808-1889) who wrote a book on this fascinating topic entitled Du dandysme et de Georges Brummel...... (Barbey d'Aurevilly pictured on the right)
Continue reading "Dandysmes 1808-2008 at Christian Dior Museum {Scented Paths & Fragrant Addresses}" »
Mimosa is one of the most delicate of floral scents, hard to capture in a fragrance. It is simply intoxicating to inhale its scent in the South of France during the winter mimosa festivals in places like Bormes Les Mimosas.
There is an interesting article about its natural history and local adaptation on the French Riviera, as well as a list of perfumes in which the note appears as a main one or a more secondary one,....
Continue reading "Comprehensive Article on Mimosa {Fragrant Reading}" »
So cute. Fashion brand Oilily which caters to women of all ages who do not shy away from bright patterns have released a new limited-edition perfume called Oilily Flowers....
Continue reading "Oilily Flowers (2008) {New Perfume}" »
 If the title of the perfume, White Jasmine and Mint by Jo Malone, seems to suggest an unusually fresh and airy rendition of jasmine thanks to the addition of mint, in reality the perfume surprises you with its slightly more complex dual character, which reveals a warm and rich creamy facet.
The perfume opens on a tapestry-like floral bouquet rather than offer any discernable singled-out note; it is delicately hemmed with mint (the “Jo Malone mint accord of wild mint and peppermint leaf”). The first moments offer variegated nuances: soapy, subtly animalistic, savory, creamy, green, woodsy, and perfume-y. In fact and in reference to the latter, the scent combines a fresh natural simple-girl spirit with a dash of sophistication. The scent sharpens a bit too much to my nose for a little while seeming to screech a bit, but next a mellower cardamom milky creamy sensation follows letting out lightly mentholated notes while further blending with a crushed green-foliage impression. A little savory-sweet nuance is unexpected and adds a discreet edible nuance to the blend......
Continue reading "Jo Malone White Jasmine & Mint (2007) {Perfume Review}" »
 Because the web 2.0 is a little too much like the wild, wild west at times, we were thinking some folks should really think about creating a web police corps. That might help hold in check some of the verbal garbage, oops, abuse, oops, excesses seen on unmoderated boards and things like gratuitous death threats that you could call the police for in real life or sue people's arses for, plus content stealing......
Continue reading "Off Topic Now But Could Become On Topic: Fingerprinting The Web with Advestisearch {Fragrance News}" »
Incensing The Veil by John Singer Sargent - aquarelle version of the painting by the same author, Ambergris Smoke (1880) JSS Gallery Well, you cannot deny it now, ambergris is making a prolonged comeback. In a world where perfume trends can be short-lived (is the mega 2007 iris-trend still alive this year?), a classic material like grey amber that is not exactly pedestrian is seducing anew. The trend is essentially taking place within the niche sector of perfumery in an effort, we can assume, to find notes and accords that are rarer, i.e., neglected by the mainstream market, and offer a stronger personality. Interestingly, the contrast between the niche/mainstream iris-trend and the ambergris-trend as a solely niche one tends to show that the latter is slower to combust but more enduring.
So what noteworthy ambergris perfumes do we have here?.....
Continue reading "Ambregris' Comeback 2006-2008 {Trend ALert}" »
Balmain Ambre Gris - the cap represents a couture thimble and grey amber is evoked through the elegant grey coloring of the jus. Following our previous announcement about the upcoming Balmain Ambre Gris, more details are now available. The fragrance was composed by perfumer Guillaume Flavigny from Givaudan who created La Môme as well for Balmain in 2007.....
Continue reading "Balmain Ambre Gris: More Info (2008) " »
Fragonard have introduced a collection of concreta versions of some of their best-selling fragrances: Cologne, Ile d'Amour, Suivez-Moi, Beau Gosse, Eau Fantasque, and Eclat. Each little pill box is decorated with a Paris monument. The set retails for 25 €. (via Profession-Beauté)
The new trio of perfumes by Annick Goutal titled Les Orientalistes is inspired by the tradition of the Orientalist imagination, which was at its peak in 19th century Europe. At the same time it pays homage to three main materials: amber, myrrh, and incense also called Olibanum or Frankincense. Isabelle Doyen and Camille Goutal have decided to literally interpret the familiar notion of an oriental fragrance by bringing out the figurative motif hidden in the warm, mysterious folds of compositions that today mix the intense, nonchalant, and sensual notes of amber, coumarin, vanilla, benzoin, patchouli...
In the 19th century, an Oriental perfume would have meant any perfume that included exotic substances evocative of the East, prime among them, patchouli, as can be seen in the reconstitution of writer George Sand’s Perfume by Nicolas de Barry. It is only towards the end of the 19th century with the introduction of Vanillin that orientals would come to canonically include this aroma originating from South America, most famously in Shalimar (1925)......
C'est là que j'ai vécu, dans les voluptés calmes,
Au milieu de l'azur, des vagues, des splendeurs
Et des esclaves nus, tout imprégnés d'odeurs,
Qui me rafraîchissaient le front avec des palmes,
Et dont l'unique soin était d'approfondir
Le secret douloureux qui me faisait languir.
(Extrait de "La vie antérieure " de Baudelaire)
Continue reading "Annick Goutal Les Orientalistes: Ambre Fétiche, Myrrhe Ardente, Encens Flamboyant (2007) {Perfume Reviews}" »
Camille Goutal, the daughter of Annick Goutal who co-creates the brand's perfumes with Isabelle Doyen, will be the guest of honor at a reception at perfumery Aedes in New York City on April 3rd, 2008, 6-8 pm. You are invited to join in for a preview of Les Orientalistes. Please RSVP at: Aedes at Aedes dot com
On a separate note, we just realized that the new perfumes as they are organized in the coffret compose the word "AME" (soul).
Paris-based niche perfume house Histoires de Parfums have introduced a new fragrance titled Ambre 114. It is a homage paid to ambergris. The scent is described as a spicy oriental and like all of their other perfumes is a unisex composition.....
Continue reading "Histoires de Parfums Ambre 114 (2008) {New Perfume}" »
Jeweler David Yurman has unveiled his upcoming debut signature fragrance, David Yurman. It is a floral chypre, which to us is an indication that the brand is opting for a certain measure of sophistication as opposed to going the fruity-floral or gourmand routes....
Continue reading "David Yurman by David Yurman (2008) {New Fragrance}" »
Le guide du parfum pour elle et lui by Rebecca Veuillet-Gallot is a popular, conveniently sized perfume guide first published in 1995 and last reprinted in 2005. One can only assume that most people in France who are seriously interested in perfume (as in the jus ), its descriptions and history own a copy of it or have read it at the library, especially so since its only alternative in French is the review guide by Luca Turin (1992;1994), which is out of print. We wanted to do a review of it because we almost bypassed it in favor of more copious tomes not expecting to find a tremendous amount of information in the rather slim copy. Once we started reading it, we had to realize that underneath its understated character, it is a wonderfully rich little book that one will go back to, finding new details each time depending on the questions you ask yourself.......
Dust jacket
Continue reading "Le Guide du Parfum by Rebecca Veuillet-Gallot: Book Review {Scented Thoughts} {Fragrant Reading}" »
Moschino have released a new perfume in their Cheap & Chic series. It is called Hippy Fizz and is described as a sparkling luminous fragrance in accord with the atmosphere of springtime. The perfume includes notes of cedar wood, raspberry leaves, rose, Parma violet, magnolia, lotus, musk, osmanthus. EAU DE TOILETTE NAT. SPRAY 30 ml 33,50 euro
EAU DE TOILETTE NAT. SPRAY 50 ml 51,00 euro
EAU DE TOILETTE NAT. SPRAY 100 ml 71,00 euro (via Sfilate.it)
Jean Paul Gaultier and Issey Miyake, which are both brands owned by Beaute Prestige International, have announced their limited-edition summer scents for spring and summer 2008. This year Jean Paul Gaultier dreams of Africa and proposes scented variations of Classique and Le Mâle bottled in the usual anthropomorphic bottles decorated this time with African adornments, "She is a queen, a sensual temptress wearing an ornament of wood and glass beads. He is a manly, sensitive Maasai warrior sporting a solar talisman." .....
Continue reading "Jean Paul Gaultier & Issey Miyake Summer Fragrances (2008) {New Perfumes}" »
Unforgivable Black and Unforgivable Woman Black by Sean John are the two latest additions to the Sean John perfume portfolio. His debut scent was Unforgivable for Men in 2006 which was a commercial success earning the brand $150 million globally. Last year Sean Diddy Combs also designed a women's version of Unforgivable, which he noted had nothing to do with the original men's version except for a subtle "synergy note" of bergamot as he wanted the feminine scent to stand on its own. He told Women's Wear Daily,
"I didn't want to take the easy way out as far as just making a feminine version of the men's. Women and men are totally different. I like a woman to smell like a woman, and a man to smell like a man."
After everyone has had time to take in this statement and digest it, we can point out that this time the Black duo takes the synergy route that was rejected the first time around. The two perfumes are very much two birds of the same feather but this time they seem to belong to one of those species of birds where the male's plumage is more colorful than the female's one due to male active sexual competition over female mates......
Continue reading "Unforgivable Black & Unforgivable Woman Black (2008) {Perfume Reviews} {New Fragrances}" »
The lingerie brand Victoria's Secret has launched a new limited-edition perfume called Isle of Pink meant to evoke the folly (added) of a spring break in the Carribean. To bring home the concept of the line, the perfumes are displayed on an island-type table that looks like a mound of pink. Walking past the door of one of their boutiques, it is hard to miss the pink aura from the corner of your eye. A few feet away from it near the entrance, the boutique smells of, essentially, cotton candy. I took a mental note and decided to take the plunge the next time around. But here's their tantalizing invitation....
Continue reading "Victoria's Secret Isle of Pink (2008) {New Fragrance}" »
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