L'Artisan Parfumeur Fleur de Liane (2008): Variation on the Eternal Feminine {New Fragrance} {Perfume Review}
Fleur de Liane (Vine Flower) is a new upcoming scent by L'Artisan Parfumeur to be released this fall in September-October 2008. It was inspired by sensations gathered by perfumer Bertrand Duchaufour in the midst of a tropical jungle located in the island of Bahia Honda in Panama during the rainy season where he reportedly also produced visual materials to nourish and accompany his vision for the scent, such as photographs and watercolors.
The perfume is part of L'Artisan Parfumeur's collection of exotic, travel-inspired compositions called "Odeur volée par un parfumeur en voyage" (A Stolen Aroma by a Perfumer on His Travels). The series already comprises Bois Farine by Jean-Claude Ellena, which inaugurated this particular library of perfumes in 2003, followed by Timbuktu and Dzongkha, also by Bertrand Duchaufour who has recently been hired as L'Artisan Parfumeur's in-house perfumer.
Duchaufour is noticeably looking more and more the part, his look having evolved from professional to edgy perfumer-artist. It is a reminder that perfumers are part of the branding strategies of perfume houses, like Jacques Polge for Chanel, a current that should accentuate itself as more and more perfumers are coming to the forefront of public attention...
Elizabeth Arden 5th Avenue Nights & Red Door Shimmer (2008) {New Fragrances}
Elizabeth Arden will reactivate two of its most popular fragrance franchises, 5th Avenue and Red Door. After 5th Avenue and 5th Avenue After Five, the day continues to progress into the night with 5th Avenue Nights. Red Door is already looking forward to the festive Holiday season with Red Door Shimmer in what must be one of the earliest announcements and launches aiming the end-of-year celebrations and gift-giving rituals....
Adidas Passion Game & Energy Game: Limited-Editions for the Olympic Games (2008) {New Fragrances}
Aren't you excited about the forthcoming 2008 Olympic Games next month starting from August 8th? I know I can't wait to practice armchair-sports! 16 000 athletes are expected in the Olympic village, the competitive tension is mounting and meanwhile Beijing hostesses come up with cute hairdo ideas on how to wear the five rings. The tagline this time is "One world one dream".
Photo credit: Xinhua
Another soft way to pay homage to the Games - we are all about beauty here - is to wear sporty perfume and some that have been especially designed for the occasion at that, like Adidas Passion Game for Men and Adidas Energy Game for Women released as limited-editions in June 2008.
I think we will do something on sports perfumes in history to keep up with the excitement. Watch also for our guest contributor Pauline's upcoming two articles on beauty in China....
To Smell the Scents of Versailles Thanks To Francis Kurkdjian: Les Grandes Eaux Nocturnes {Scented Paths & Fragrant Addresses}
This summer the Château de Versailles is organizing a nocturnal revelry rivaling with the festive past of the French court at the time of Louis the XIV th. And just like in the 17th and 18th centuries, the grounds are open to the public. Les Grandes Eaux Nocturnes (Great Nocturnal Fountain Waters) started on July 26th and will continue to be performed on Saturdays August 2, 9, 16, and 23, 2008 from 9: 30 pm to 11: 30 pm. Additionally, a "Parcours du Roi" (King's Itinerary) is offered from 6: 30 pm to 9 pm to visit the royal apartments at Versailles as the sun downs.
Fragrance lovers will be glad to know that part of the spectacle has been entrusted to perfumer Francis Kurkdjian who has recreated some of the scents that permeated the air at the time of the splendor of Versailles...
Smell IQ Still in the Research Stage {The 5th Sense in the News}
There is an interesting article about our individual capacities to smell which, as the way the research is conducted, seems to depend primarily on rather solidified given cultural and genetic variables. Certain pathologies like Alzheimer show a link with the sense of smell.
There seems to be a regrettable propensity to interpret the current data as information to be taken into account when designing flavors and scents to target people that will find them pleasant, which appears to me to be on the static side. I wished that the role of education were better emphasized in showing how the senses of taste and smell can be educated, improved, refined etc. According to this article however, it would seem that there might be genetic and cultural limitations to such an optimistic vision about (the possibility is not even considered here) making people be more intelligent and sensitive smellers and tasters....
Following an earlier announcement in March, Avonunveiled their new celebrity perfume inspired by actor Patrick Dempsey at a launch party hosted by the company's Chairman and CEO Andrea Jung in the Skyloft Penthouse in Tribeca on July 22th 2008. The actor is no stranger to the company as Dempsey's wife, makeup artist Jillian Dempsey has been working with Avon since July 2006 as their Global Creative Color Director.
The new scent called Unscripted bears the tagline "Follow your passion", making a central reference to the mythical theme of the open road, and according to Avon, "...captures the true essence of Patrick and his belief that each individual should develop and write their own script for life."
Dempsey himself said, "I enjoyed the opportunity to play a different creative role by working on this fragrance from start to finish. Unscripted is about loving what you do and doing it in your own unique way."...
From jeweler Boucheron comes a new fragrance to celebrate the 150th anniversary of its founding as well as the 20th anniversary of its first fragrance, Boucheron (1988). The new perfume is simply titled B and despite its luxury-fragrance positioning was conceived in several ways like a niche fragrance with, reportedly, no undue concerns for price limitations and focus panels.
To add further to the blurring of neatly delineated categories, this time between natural and non-natural perfumery, B is said to contain about 20 natural ingredients...
Vera Wang Look (2008): It's More About Fashion {New Fragrance}
Fashion designer Vera Wang, especially well-known for her bridal collections and innocent-to- ingénue perfumes wants to make a broader and, what seems to be a more mature statement, with her new perfume dubbed Look. After the Vera Wang and Princess pillars, comes a more assertive and far-reaching fragrance which aims to make the point that, "It's also making the statement that we are now a fashion house which
does bridal, rather than a bridal house that does fashion. And we're
not about a skintight evening dress; we're more artsy." Vera Wang also added that,
"It's really about building on the fashion aspect of my business -- it
represents that desire and that energy. Look also has a bit of
confidence to it, from both visual and olfactory viewpoints."...
Ed Hardy Love and Luck for Men and Women (2008) {New Fragrances}
Tattoo guru Ed Hardy will introduce a sequel to their debut duo of fragrances for men and women in December 2008 called Love and Luck. It is a follow-up to their unexpected success at convincing younger consumers that they are the it-brand when it comes to spraying on an edgy scent. Just like the initial two perfumes, Love and Luck will present themselves in strikingly visual packagings, but this time Ed Hardy is trying to reach out to Japanese tastes and, no doubt, to tap into the reservoir of hyper-hip Japanese youth culture that we will see also at play with the upcoming Gwen Stefani's Harajuku perfumes...
More on Romano Ricci & Juliette Has A Gun {Perfume Images & Ads}
Thanks to Octavian, who called my attention to a video on You Tube where Romano Ricci is explaining his line of perfumes Juliette Has A Gun, you can discover more of the personality of the founder of this new-generation-Ricci (of Nina-Ricci fame) niche perfume house,
Romano Ricci, the founder and owner of young fragrance brand Juliette Has A Gun established in 2006, declares that his signature style is classic with a twist. Follows a list of his best addresses for food and clothes in Paris in this very laid-back interview with The National in which he discusses mostly of his tastes and mentions very discreetly at the end his upcoming perfume, Citizen Queen,...
Bijan V.I.P. (2008) {New Fragrance - New Perfume Ad}
Here is the ad for the new duo of men and women fragrances by Bijan called V.I.P., from Beauty Fashion, June 2008.
The ad concept: playing the celebs card without hiring any. Suggestion to the consumer: just pretend you are one, adopt the attitude and the accessories and subito presto you look glamorous and famous.
Ephemereal Garden in Paris, Best-Scented Rose Contest at Bagatelle {Scented Paths & Fragrant Addresses}
For nature-lovers and strollers, a new edition of the temporary garden has been landscaped on the cobblestones of the capital city of France right in front of the Hôtel de Ville in Paris, complete with a pond. The garden this year illustrates the theme of biodiversity in the city and will be in place until August 17th 2008. There will even be a mini-golf set up when the Paris-Plage program starts in a few days. For more details and pictures please go to L'Hôtel de ville au vert. For an interview with landscaper Martine Lambert, please go here...
Bond No. 9 Andy Warhol Lexington Avenue (2008) {New Perfume}
New-York-based niche perfumery Bond No. 9 will launch a new creation in the biographical Andy-Warhol series next month with Lexington Avenue, named after one of his early lodgings located at 242 Lexington Avenue in Manhattan's Murray Hill neighborhood.
Bond No. 9 is a brand dedicated to retracing an olfactory map of New York City and with the Andy Warhol venture, celebrity and biographical twists have been added to the basic concept.
Going the way of luxury and fashion accessory is another venue the perfume house continues to explore with its ongoing collaboration with jewelry designer Robert Lee Morris who previously designed a silver necklace for Union Square, the second scent in the series....
As announced earlier in April, Actress and singer Jessica Simpson will launch her debut signature fragrance called Fancy in August 2008. It was created by perfumer Alexis Dadier of Mane Paris and developed with Parlux Fragrances and the Camuto Group.
The scent is described as being fresh and flirtatious and an expression of floral femininity. Simpson said,
"With FANCY, I wanted to create a pretty fragrance, one that I could be just as comfortable wearing on the red carpet or every day with my favorite jeans," "This is a special fragrance - personal, whimsical, playful and romantic. To me, FANCY is just that: Fancy." ...
Kapsule advert, photographed by Karl Lagerfeld himself.
Fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld signs his first collaboration with Coty by launching a trio of perfumes titled Kapsule inspired by the fashion concept of the "capsule wardrobe" whereby all items have been carefully selected and the wardrobe downsized to allow for maximum mix-and-match play between the different pieces of clothing. Likewise, Light, Floriental and Woody are the 3 volumes in this mini library of scents that were created to be mixed and matched or worn alone. For Lagerfeld, the two worlds are indissociable,
"I love the world of perfumes," Lagerfeld said Thursday. "For me, the world of fashion doesn't exist without it."...
The Party Fragrance The Party in Manhattan (2007) & The Ten {Spotlight on a Perfume Brand}
The Party Fragranceis a very confidential Italian perfume brand (only 2 Italian internet sources mention it) that Roja Dove had indirectly mentioned previously on this site in an interview he gave to TSS last year. He had said that a new fragrance called The Party had been launched and was to be released in the fall of 2007. Then, no further particulars surfaced and I promptly forgot about it.
Serendipity made me happen on the brand's site which actually carries two fragrances, The Ten (not to be confused with The Knize Ten) and the more recent one, The Party in Manhattan.
First of all, the website is a pleasure to visit: it is atmospheric and sleek recreating an ambiance from the 1920s to the 1930s with the languorous jazz music playing on into the night. The flacons, especially the one for The Party, is an ultra-glam art-deco recreation and you are ready to fall in love with the perfume just by looking at the way it is so charmingly and luxuriously showcased. The name is also great...
Confessions of an Ex-Fragrance Model by Guest Contributor Christina Warinner
Part 4: Special Clients
At our store, we had two very special clients. Both were over sixty, fabulously wealthy, and committed shoplifters. They were distinct, however, in method and manner. The first, Mrs. L, repeatedly returned an empty bottle of Chanel No. 5 parfum, complaining that it smelled terribly. She couldn't wear it, and she would demand a new bottle to replace it. The trouble was that she did wear it, obviously, which is why the bottle was always returned empty. She had a grandiose style, and she'd fling her shawl over her left shoulder for dramatic emphasis as she described its terrible, stale stink to everyone in eavesdropping range. A few pages into the well-worn script at this point, I'd play along, abhorred, and call our store manager, who'd shepherd her into his secluded office. Thirty minutes later she'd emerge, beaming, with a new bottle of Chanel (I think he kept a case in his office). Then he'd discreetly send off a bill to her husband...
Regular Burning of Incense May Cause Cancer {The 5th Sense in the News}
A warning was issued by the Ministry of Environmental Health in Bahrain regarding excessive consumption of incense, Middle-Eastern style (on burning coal),
"A WARNING went out yesterday that one of the most ancient
traditions, which is still being practised in almost every Bahraini
home, may cause cancer. Smoke from Bakhoor (incense) can be a health
hazard if it is inhaled continuously and excessively, according to
health officials.
"The burning process of Bakhoor, with the use of coal or other
means, releases carbon substances that are harmful when inhaled," said
a Health Ministry's Environmental Health spokesman.
"Particles 2.5 microns in size are released in the process, but nose
hairs can only prevent 10 micron or larger particles from being inhaled.
"Such small particles reach the lungs and continued excessive exposure may result in cancer."
The trouble with the fragrance industry is that most of its jargon is in French. I do not speak French. In school, I studied German, which is pretty much the opposite of French. Thus, putting me in a position to stumble through a menagerie of French fragrance terms on a daily basis was in every sense of the word a massacre. At the end of the day, the French language lie dying and bleeding at my feet, only to be resurrected again the next day for a repeat performance. I got by with a horrid German pronunciation of vowels mixed in with a healthy deletion of random consonants until Champs Elysees became "Shons el-ees-us." Fortunately, working at an expensive new department store in a nouveau riche Midwestern suburb, my clients didn't know the difference and would parrot my ridiculous pronunciations of "grrr-lane oh-duh-noot" and "ives saint low-rent pear-us" with a naïve confidence that matched my own...
Poster for the German version of The Women by George Cukor, Die Frauen, via Rudolf Benda
Fleur de Liane (Vine Flower) is a new upcoming scent by L'Artisan Parfumeur to be released this fall in September-October 2008. It was inspired by sensations gathered by perfumer Bertrand Duchaufour in the midst of a tropical jungle located in the island of Bahia Honda in Panama during the rainy season where he reportedly also produced visual materials to nourish and accompany his vision for the scent, such as photographs and watercolors. 
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