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As announced earlier, makeup guru Bobbi Brown has launched a new perfume called Almost Bare because she does not like obtrusive fragrances and prefers barely-there scents that remind her of smells rather than complicated luxurious fragrances. She explained why. I am sure she is not the only one. Almost Bare is a well-made, well-balanced clean white floral perfume that is pretty and subdued. It is no wall-flower though. Although a tad more perfume-y than you might expect at first, it keeps its promise of bringing up smell associations found in the real world...... This summer's bronzed pink look
Continue reading "Bobbi Brown Almost Bare (2008): Almost Real {Perfume Review}" »
 Estée Lauder is gearing towards their big launch this summer. Their new fragrance called Sensuous (see previous report) billed as the first of its kind, a "woody amber", puts the spotlight on woods no longer seen as supporting roles but main characters. A new "Melted Woods Nature Print" accord is part of the equation. For starters, a micro-website www.SensuousIs.com goes live today May 30th 2008. Visitors can discover more information about the four models incarnating different facets of femininity, the fragrance, as well as register in a sweepstakes for a chance to win a grand prize. "The sweepstakes will run through June 15 on “Sensuous Is.” We will award one lucky winner and a guest a trip to New York City to attend the Estée Lauder Sensuous launch event in July and meet our models. The grand prize also includes two $500 Bloomingdale’s gift certificates, a pampering spa experience, two Estée Lauder Sensuous gift baskets and luxury hotel accommodations."........
Continue reading "Estée Lauder Sensuous (2008): More Info, Sweepstakes Etc. {Fragrance News} {New Perfume}" »
 Guerlain is preparing to launch a new perfume for men starting in August 2008 called unequivocally Homme. The brand owned by LVMH has the ambition of making it a pillar fragrance on a similar standing as L'Instant and has invested in it accordingly. The main concept is that this man recognizes that he has a dual nature, both human and animal.......
Continue reading "Guerlain Homme (2008) {New Fragrance} {Men's Cologne}" »
Perfumer Céline Ellena, the in-house nose for Parisian niche brand The Different Company has created a new fragrance called Sublime Balkiss introduced in May 2008. The new perfume is described as a "modern chypre" evoking after a few accords the chypres of old. It was composed without the addition of any natural or synthetic oakmoss - an ingredient deemed indispensable to the family of chypre perfumes normally - and without any animalic materials.....
Continue reading "The Different Company Sublime Balkiss (2008) {New Fragrance}" »
The Different Company has opened a new boutique in the Marais neighborhood in Paris. The whole district which dates back to the 17th century and today offers an arty flavor is fast becoming yet another perfumista's haven in the French capital city. A new Diptyque store recently opened there too. The brand has also revamped their website.
The picture shown here features the new perfume Sublime Balkiss in the window display. More about it anon. New address: The Different Company
10, rue Ferdinand Duval
75004 Paris
Métro Saint Paul
Tel: 01- 42-78-19-34
Open from Tuesday to Saturday, 12 pm - 19:30 pm (private appointments upon request)
A Precious Rendition of Musk With its name vascillating like a flame in the direction of Serge Lutens Muscs Koublaï Khan, you might have expected Annick Goutal Musc Nomade to smell like what your imagination of a nomad of yore conjures up, one who faithfully and with great discipline would disregard the distinction between the clean and the unclean as Koublaï Khan once ordered it. If Muscs Koublaï Khan may suggest some of the martial hardiness of the mores in the steppe region of the center of Asia, Annick Goutal Musc Nomade only keeps that other facet found in the first fragrance: an idea of preciousness linked with the utilization of musk experienced as a much sought-after aromatic material purloined from the musk-deer for centuries by nomads who would trade "musk-bags". Musk and its adjective "musky" may point to a certain roughness of style, a naturalness that is borderline offensive especially in North American culture today, but at the same time, it is also the musk of luxury brought back from distant lands with its ascribed aphrodisiac, soothing, beautifying and gustatory properties. The other side of musky as in the French word "musqué" is that it came to mean at one point the reverse of what the ring of the word "nomad" seems to contain, that is an excess of affectation and also coquetry betraying foppishness in 19th century France......
Continue reading "Annick Goutal Musc Nomade (2008): The Inner Orientalist Motif {Perfume Review}" »
Collectors of rare perfumes can rejoice. Morgane Le Fay is preparing to launch four perfumes in June of 2008 which will be limited to 1000 copies, only distributed through 150 doors internationally including 25 in Italy. They are called simply Fragranza Blu, Verde, Rosa, Gialla. Fragranza Blu is apparently distinct from the perfume known as Blue which is already part of the fashion brand's permanent collection of fragrances together with Morgane Le Fay Classic, although the official descriptions of the notes includes common ingredients.
The perfumes have been colored with food-grade coloring so as to color-code them. The scents Blu and Rosa were created by perfumer Alessandro Gualtieri who is also the owner and nose for Nasomatto. The green and yellow perfumes were composed by nose Nathalie Cetto....
Continue reading "Morgane Le Fay Fragranza Blu, Verde, Rosa, Gialla (2008): 4 Scents for 4 Types of Women + Poll {New Fragrances}" »
 Following an earlier post on the upcoming new fragrance by Creed, Love in Black, the counterpart to Love in White, here are more details about it. Information is still scant, but we learn that the new scent has notes of violet (in the top), iris, clove, and Tonkin musk. It was created by master perfumer Olivier Creed. Worldwide launch takes place in September 2008 but before that, it will be available exclusively at the Paris Creed boutique. Concomitantly, the perfume house has decided to downsize its international distribution network in an effort to control its image better and accentuate its selective character......
Continue reading "Creed Love in Black (2008): More Info & More Selective Distribution for Creed {New Perfume}" »
Etienne de Swardt tells it like it is in an interview with The Australian. The article is interesting, in particular, in that it clarifies the relationship between the Parisian niche perfume house Etat Libre d'Orange founded by de Swardt and the much more behemoth-like Geneva-based fragrance company Givaudan. This David-and-Goliath privileged partnership allows the house to maintain its competitive edge in their access to cutting-edge raw materials and technology.....
Continue reading "On The Workings Of A Niche Perfume House: Etat Libre d'Orange {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
Fashion designer Paco Rabanne known for his daring use of metals in the 1960s-1970s on fashion runways as well as for his life-long interest in astrology and numerology is bringing together these two sources of inspiration in a new fragrance for men to be launched in August 2008 called 1 Million. The new cologne is said to feature a coppery note seldom used in men's perfumes and is packaged in a spray bottle looking like a gold bar.....
Continue reading "Paco Rabanne 1 Million (2008) {New Fragrance} {Men's Cologne}" »
 In September 2008 Design brand Dsquared2 will add a feminine counterpart to their debut Masculine fragrance He Wood, just a year later. The new scent not only mirrors the name of the first one as it is christened She Wood, but was also directly inspired by it. Dean and Dan Caten, the owners of the brand explain, "they wanted to create a modern woman's scent for the "cool girls who wear men's scents." ......
Continue reading "Dsquared2 She Wood (2008) {New Perfume}" »
Dear Readers, Let us wish you a very happy Memorial Day and share with you our ongoing hope for the day when war will be no more. -- The Scented Salamander Image: All Posters
 Singer Christina Aguilera, who is no stranger to fragrance developing, will launch yet a new perfume called Inspire on September 1st 2008 starting in the US. Apparently her previous eponymous fragrance Christina Aguilera, which debuted last year, encountered some timing issues with distribution in the US market, so P & G is attempting a new introduction with a different product. This time Inspire is inspired by both Andy Warhol (like Bond No. 9?) and Tokyo (like Gwen Stefani?).
It is striking to see how Aguilera keeps launching fragrances in different markets and always tries to make it sound like a first of something (see A Tale of 3 Christina Aguilera Fragrances). In fact, her older European fragrances are sort of hushed up about in the US mainstream media.....
Continue reading "Christina Aguilera Inspire (2008) {New Fragrance} {Celebrity Perfume}" »
Lancôme Peut Etre (2008), meaning "maybe" in French (usually written "peut-être") is a feminine rose-iris fragrance accented with fresh and green vernal notes while offering at the same time a warm ambery-musky counterpoint consisting in a sumptuous, seemingly endless incense-y and resinous drydown as if offering two distinct atmospheres. It should delight amateurs of old-manner perfumes with lasting yet elegant sillage. According to the Financial Times, “La Collection brings together original masterpieces whose compositions reveal surprising complexities,” says Liz Mearing of Lancôme. “These fragrances also capture a recent trend for beautiful, vintage scents that are created to the highest standards. It’s very exciting to be able to offer something so special to a discerning, niche audience.”
The images it evokes, as it turns out, are very close to the intent of the vintage form of the perfume.
Lancôme initially launched Peut-Etre in 1937 and it is ascribed to Armand Petitjean, the founder of the brand in 1935, a former managing-director and arguably apprentice of François Coty, the father of modern commercial perfumery. This spring Lancôme reintroduced an offspring of the original scent in La Collection series of "haute parfumerie classics". The original scent was reportedly updated and recreated by perfumer Nathalie Lorson and is classified on paper as a musky floral, which is a simplification for a scent that presents other meaningful facets. In our case what took place was an eerie moment of revelation. We experienced an authentic shock of discovery after having described the perfume and written about some of the images it suggested as then we happened on a 1940 advert for Peut-Etre by E.M. Pérot where the iconography seemed to mirror our description of the new scent (see after the jump). This seems to indicate that Nathalie Lorson worked closely with the original formula as the imagery found in the 1940 advert is not hinted at in any way by the new press release (no incense is mentioned for example). It suddenly felt like a slightly disturbing pythian incursion into the realm of archetypes. If you look at the first ad below (also seen after testing the scent), you can see a reiteration of the fundamental theme we describe in the review and which comes through much more powerfully and precisely in the second 1940 advert. These publicity images therefore do speak about the perfume and about its main thrust as well as important secondary facets. Due to this "revelation" the review is layered, one more unaware and the other more informed, post-epiphany.....
Continue reading "Lancôme Peut-Être (1937-2008) {Perfume Review} {New Fragrance}" »
It is all about image, image, image and co-branding, co-branding, co-branding. This October 2008, Avon will launch a new fragrance called Bond Girl 007 which offers a still under-exploited twist on the celebrity perfume concept: the association of a fragrance with a movie franchise, James Bond in this case, and the hiring of a spokesperson who is part of the universe of the film, Gemma Aterton, the latest Bond girl.......
Continue reading "Avon Glams Up with Bond Girl 007 (2008) {New Perfume}" »
Japanese company Nihon Chemifelt has found a new way to recycle the green tea leaves used at an industrial level by tea brand Ito En while proposing an eco-friendly deodorizing solution for your toes: the green tea shoe insoles. Ito En is committed to a green policy and has launched a research program several years ago to come up with solutions to recycle its mountains of refuse.....
Continue reading "Green Tea Insoles To Deodorize Your Feet {Fragrance News}" »
If there is one mainstream Yankee perfume I would pull out of the drawer to demonstrate, that no, after all, not all perfumes in America are clean, just-showered-like and asexual, that would be Obsession by Calvin Klein. It breaks the stereotype and does it well. Apparently the new Calvin Klein will continue to weave the dirty-sexy theme.
This September 2008, Calvin Klein is launching a new feminine fragrance in the Obsession series called Secret Obsession. The ad campaign features Eva Mendes and already the buzz is naughty and the TV networks reportedly unhappy about the heavy sexual inuendos, "It really taps into the secrecy of a private moment — where it's clear that Eva is having illicit thoughts," said Lori Singer, vice president of global marketing for the brand at Coty Prestige, "It's somewhat up to interpretation — because of how it's shot, and what you see and hear, and what you can't see and hear. You hear her voice, talking about having a sexy secret." ......
Continue reading "Calvin Klein Secret Obsession (2008) {New Perfume}" »
Perfumer Jean-Michel Duriez who is the in-house nose for Jean Patou has created an anniversary fragrance for Procter & Gamble Prestige Products' 15th anniversary. P & G acquired Jean Patou in 2001. It is called Coming Up Roses and showcases a central note of Bulgarian Rose. Duriez based his inspiration on the fragrance name borrowed from Stephen Sondheim's song Everything's Coming Up Roses: "Things look swell, things look great, Gonna have the whole world on a plate. Starting here, starting now Honey, everything's coming up roses.". Other notes include Ambrette oil, pear, white flowers, lily, white musk. Says Duriez "I think of P&G Prestige Products as the rose and the fragrance ‘Coming Up Roses' as the dew on the petals." Read more......
After the initial launch of a trio of debut fragrances last year, the brand Filles des Iles (Island Girls) have introduced a new creation for this summer called Floral Solaire (Solar Floral) and subtitled Golden Floral. It was composed by perfumer Céline Ellena.......
Continue reading "Filles des Iles Floral Solaire subtitled Golden Floral (2008) {New Fragrance}" »
Miss Ferling Baume de Dalmatie Baume de Dalmatie is the latest cute and cool hand-cream from Miss Ferling, a French brand. The packaging, a fun-looking tartan-decorated cardboard tube containing a slim and petite 15 ml metallic tube, is attractive although the cream tube looks a bit reduced and makes you think that the cream better be ultra-concentrated to justify the down-size. Described as a "spotted hand cream for velvety paws" the Baume is cool-looking because it indeed contains black spots on a white background although these are not as numerous as on the spotted packaging. One squirt and you get 2 dots. The black dots are licorice and lily and advertised as ultrasoftening agents.....
Continue reading "Miss Ferling Baume de Dalmatie & Herbacin Kamille + Glycerin: 2 Hand-Creams Go Mano a Mano - Beauty Review {Bath & Body} {New Product}" »
 On May 15th 2008, the first meeting of the Congrès Cosmétotextiles (Cosmetotextile Congress) took place in Tours, France one of the annual conferences that are part of the activities of the competitive pole of the Cosmetic Valley. It introduces to the wider public a new generation of cosmetic products dubbed "intelligent textiles" (textiles intelligents) part of a branch of the beauty industry called "sensory cosmetics" (cosmétique sensorielle) A slimming outfit below by Lytess, not thanks to elastic pressure but to the release of active ingredients..... 
Continue reading "Cosmétotextiles: Intelligent Beautifying Textiles {Beauty News}" »
 Diptyque has now opened a new boutique in the Marais neighborhood on the right bank not far from the place des Vosges. The first historic standalone for the brand is located on boulevard Saint-Germain in a quiet area that is a little off the different centers of the hub on this Parisian artery. Le Marais is slowly becoming another significant center of perfume shopping and olfactory hedonism in Paris......
Continue reading "New Marais Boutique for Diptyque {Scented Paths & Fragrant Addresses}" »
Ferragamo will launch a new perfume in September 2008 called Tuscan Soul. Its name by the way is the exact English translation of Isabel Derroisné Ame Toscane, a bestseller of the brand. “...Tuscan Soul is designed to express the unique association between Tuscany and the Salvatore Ferragamo group.[...] “This is a long-term project for us, and we have put into it all our energy, creativity and commitment. It also represents a significant investment for our group. Tuscan Soul is the beginning of a lifestyle project for us…and it will be a massive brand.” ......
Continue reading "Ferragamo Tuscan Soul (2008) {New Fragrance}" »
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