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January 2009 Archive
Page 3 of 4 • 1 2 3 4
 A gift-wrapped France by Fauchon
You could apply several different lenses to interpreting the problems faced by the luxury industry in France in the context of a global downturn, but one that is worth considering is the tilting in favor of a public discourse on values (on the part of the luxury industry players) and the promotion of a more low-key, intimist approach to luxury. It almost all seems to go back to the pre-industrial age in the 18th century when you hear Sonia Rykiel is planning to organize her next spring fashion show in two (no doubt, small) rooms. Mauboussin also preconises less ostentation, more real-world prices, and more reflection on values. Reportedly, the French's core moral values of balance (the Terreur notwithstanding) and dislike for show-off (Versailles notwithstanding), associated with their inherent conservatism will help them prevail, once more. Rather than trying to keep the machine running by pumping out
high-price hand bags, watches and other goods, he (Alain Némarq, the chairman of Mauboussin) proposed the
unthinkable: the entire luxury industry should slash prices. "We need a
return to reason, decency, discretion, beauty and creativity -- in other
words, to true values," Mr. Némarq said. (Mauboussin has led by
example. It has sold its one-carat diamond solitaire "Chance of Love"
ring for about $14,500, roughly a third less than its normal price, and
its lower-end 0.15-carat diamond ring was priced at $895, Mr. Némarq
said.)
Read more in the NYT...
 Sisley, in an apparent departure from their slow-life-applied-to-fragrance philosophy (my own interpretation) with so far a portfolio of three fragrances that were created over several decades will now launch three perfumes at the same time in the spring of 2009. Following Eau de Campagne (1974) , Eau du Soir (1990) and Soir de Lune (2006), Sisley goes back to the "eau" theme by proposing three new eaux de toilette inspired by three different " twirling summer dresses" as well as quite unabashedly put, the radiance of smiles of happiness. But this time there is a twist, one that seems to want to bridge the gap between the two main fragrance genres found in the Sisley library of scents: the eau fraîche (Eau de Campagne was incidentally created by perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena who loves these tonalities; Eau de Campagne is sometimes classified as a chypre, but I would personally need to re-smell it to gauge that) and the chypre. The perfumes are said to "...combine the freshness of water and the mysterious seductiveness of chypre, a true challenge for a perfumer." (cf. Dior Eau Fraîche; Diorella) To me, this approach is therefore in keeping with the gradualist method of the Sisley brand who despite the apparent acceleration of perfume launches this spring only 2-3 years after Soir de Lune are reiterating their personal commitment to deepening their olfactory signature rather than, say, offering the gourmand fruity-floral du jour. The scents in the Eaux-de-Sisley trio are simply called Eau de Sisley 1, Eau de Sisley 2 and Eau de Sisley 3 as the brand wanted to leave room for perfume-wearers to imagine the perfumes. " Each fragrance is simply numbered, so as to offer everyone the pleasure of naming it."...
Continue reading "Sisley Eau de Sisley 1, 2, 3 (2009): 1, 2, 3 Dresses {New Fragrances}" »
 Some further news to follow up on a previous announcement about the 3 upcoming MDCI fragrances in 2009: in fact I learned that a 4th fragrance will be launched this year as I had to realize after getting four of these upcoming releases. Only the name of the perfume Péché Cardinal (Cardinal Sin) is definitive. All three others have received for now temporary, evocative names but which are not made official yet and may change. 1st teaser and advance perfume review: Péché Cardinal is a beautiful fruity leather perfume with an indolic punch worthy of a boxer. It has a very bold signature that will ravish lovers of vintage perfumes who bemoan the near-extinction of fragrances with an attitude, the ones that know how to smack a man in the face to make them behave. Imagine a sleek dame in a 40s film noir graced with a hot temperament and a lot of sass. She wears leather pants or underwear under her immaculately tailored tweed suit and she wears them well...
Continue reading "Parfums MDCI Peche Cardinal (2009) Part 2: A Beautiful Homage to Female Fire-Raiser Germaine Cellier & More News About a 4th Perfume {Perfume Review} {New Fragrance}" »
 Parfums DelRae will launch a new perfume inspired by Paris called Emotionnelle (Emotional). The brand founder wanted to refer to the emotions she felt while in the city of lights and perfumes and asked perfumer Michel Roudnitska to transcribe those feelings for her into a fragrance...
Continue reading "Parfums Delrae Emotionnelle (2009) {New Perfume}" »
 As previously announced, Yves Saint Laurent will launch a new masculine perfume on March 2, 2009 fronted by French actor Vincent Cassel. In an interview the thespian gave the Votre Beauté magazine of February 2009, we learn that the new jus is called La Nuit de l'Homme (lit.The Night of the Man), a new installment in the L'Homme franchise the latter still being fronted by actor Olivier Martinez....
Continue reading "Yves Saint Laurent La Nuit de l'Homme (2009): The Nocturnal Side of l'Homme {New Perfume} {Celebrity Fragrance} {Men's Cologne}" »
After announcing the return of fashion house Balenciaga as a perfume house last fall, it still remained unclear what form the venture would take.
Would Balenciaga simply be used for new creations more adapted to the contemporary market and the new image of the house under Nicolas Ghesquière? Would the brand think it desirable to recreate their prestigious fragrances of the past and decide to delve into their archives?...
Continue reading "Major News from Balenciaga: The Classics Will Be Re-Edited! {Fragrance News} {New Perfume}" »
 Cosmetics counter, Detroit, Michigan, 1943 © Time, Inc. As part of a lawsuit settlement regarding price-fixing, there will be free nationwide distribution of cosmetics and perfumes starting on the morning of Tuesday January 20th 2009, coincidentally on Inauguration Day. Sounds really festive, doesn't it? Instead of bread and circus, clamor for your Chanel and Dior, "As part of the lawsuit's settlement, $175 million worth of cosmetics will be given away, one per person, in a first-come, first-served basis. Consumers will be able to choose one item per person as long as supplies last. At some Macy's stores, for example, the free products will be set on tables in the cosmetics department so consumers can just take them from there. Name brands being given away include Chanel, L'Oreal, Estée Lauder, Clinique, Lancome, Clarins, Guerlain, Givenchy, Boucheron, Cody, Calvin Klein and Christian Dior. The products involve mascara, skin care, moisturizers and fragrances, according to the Macy's release. The offer will last until all of the products in a particular store are given out."...
Continue reading "Free Cosmetics & Fragrances: It's Inauguration Day 2009 {Fragrance News}" »
 When the economy goes bad, there is always room for hope beauty treatments, it seems. As a sign of these times of change symbolised by Inauguration Day 09 today, people want to look their best in the hope of reflecting and helping to make come about a better and more ideal world. So, while we wait for things to pick up, what better quick fix but to look younger, fresher and more upbeat thanks to Botox and Hyaluronic acid? Some beauty professionals are NOT experiencing a downturn in business,
Continue reading "Prettying Up for Inauguration Day 2009 " »
Michelle Obama in a sparkly gold-looking but in fact green chartreuse Isabel Toledo outfit on Inaguration Day 2009 © Larry Downing/Reuters   Dress by Isabel Toledo An initial inkling of what Michelle Obama will wear today at the swearing-in of her husband Barack Obama has been revealed by WWD: she will wear an outfit by Isabel Toledo, a designer of Cuban descent, like Narciso Rodriguez whose designs Michelle Obama loves to wear as well. Update: she is indeed wearing a Toledo dress and overcoat in an interesting silverish green chartreuse color which comes off as gold-like. The material looks warm enough, but oh, my! no scarf and hat in this cold weather? Sigh of relief: she is wearing green leather gloves. A very 1960s, Mad-Men look, in keeping with her stylistic preferences expressed during the election campaign. I am wondering if this has anything to do with a homage to the defining era of the civil rights movement? At any rate, Michelle O loves vintage (I looove her huge 50s-60s brooches). She obviously loves interesting textures and hates boring. That color is unusual and I can't zoom on the material but it looks a bit like a cloqué, puffed-up effect, also very 1960s. I think that this sheath has a Venitian, Renaissance flair about it. It has been speculated that her predilection for outfits by Cuban-American designers carry a cryptic political message, which remains to be clarified and made more explicit than through fashion semiotics. We are all eyes and ears.
 Following up on a previous announcement on an art project by media artist Francesco Vezzoli devoted to capturing the essence of Greed, the perfume (I wonder where they got the idea of that association from?), here is an early teaser of the short movie by Roman Polanski. People love to see two women fight, say in a pool of mud. How exquisite that it should be over a perfume bottle...
Continue reading "Perfume Greed by Francesco Vezzoli, Part the 2nd {Fragrance News}" »
 Vanille Galante: Reflections, Musings & Notes on Context Vanille Galante is the latest addition to the Hermessence collection by the house of Hermès, a more selectively distributed collection of "niche" perfumes composed with the olfactory connoisseur in mind; it is purchasable only in the venues of the Hermès boutiques. Hermessence, a collection of "olfactive poems" was inaugurated in 2004, the very year perfumer-composer Jean-Claude Ellena became the house's exclusive in-house perfumer. The series started with an initial quatuor of scents: Rose Ikebana, Ambre Narguilé, Vétiver Tonka and Poivre Samarcande. All four were united by a common tactile thematic exploring sensations associated with four different textiles.These compositions were followed later on by Osmanthe Yunnan (2005), Paprika Brasil (2006), Un Brin de Réglisse (2007) and now the soon-to-be-introduced in February of 2009, Vanille Galante. To better understand the spirit that presides over this particular body of works, it might be useful to quote what the house perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena had to say in 2007, À chaque fois, j'essaie de raconter une histoire courte autour d'une matière que je transforme et d'un voyage. » Each time, I try to tell a brief story revolving around a raw material that I transform and a journey...
Continue reading "Hermes Hermessence Vanille Galante (2009) {Perfume Review & Musings} - Part 1" »
 The Hermessence Collection in 2009 Vanille Galante: The Olfactory Report and Review As pointed out earlier in the first part of our review of Vanille Galante by Hermès, although perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena voiced his personal issues having to tackle vanillin in the past, this did not prevent him from creating a vanilla perfume in 2009. Further back in his career, in 1993, and to reveal how ineluctable the scent of vanilla is for a modern perfumer, Ellena wrote an article on vanilla entitled "Un parfum fatal de vanille" (A Fatal Perfume of Vanilla) in the book Vanilles et Orchidées (Vanillas and Orchids) edited by Marie-Christine Grasse and the Musée International de la Parfumerie which is based on an exhibition organized by the museum. In that article, the perfumer drew a contrasting historical comparison between vanillin and natural vanilla pointing to the marginalization if not downright possible disappearance of vanilla absolute from contemporary perfumery due to its astronomical cost compared to vanillin, an aromachemical synthetized by Wilhelm Haarmann and sold from 1880, as recounted by Ellena. Yet at the end of the 19th century, vanillin used to be much more expensive than natural vanilla extracted using alcohol ("vanille naturelle alcoolée"). The author gives the price of 2000 Francs per kilogram for Vanillin as opposed to 30 Francs for the alcohol extract of natural vanilla. The article of the 1993 edition concludes with the following sentence, finally explaining the title of the article,...
Continue reading "Hermes Hermessence Vanille Galante (2009) {Perfume Review & Musings} - Part 2" »
 A japonisant ad for Mitsouko from 1967 on the left -- in 2009, the thinking is pushed a big step further (the right part is our view of the evolution)
Mitsouko purists will be probably feeling shivers running down their spines when they learn that Guerlain is planning to launch a flanker to the classic fragrance Mitsouko, a composition created in 1919 by Jacques Guerlain and which has already attracted heated controversy for the changes it has incurred in its formulation due to IFRA regulations and whatever else might have influenced the decision process. The new perfume to be introduced in the spring of 2009 is called Mitsouko Fleur de Lotus. The event is to be duly noted given the historical status of the original perfume. This flanker comes after another one of a classic, Vol de Nuit Evasion, which was launched in travel retail in 2007 and had absolutely nothing to do with the original created in 1933 by Jacques Guerlain, except for the Guerlain brand name, part of the perfume name and the upside-down heart stoppered bottle. Lights of Champs Elysées in 2006 also had no kinship, except in name, with the original Champs Elysées...
Continue reading "Guerlain Mitsouko Fleur de Lotus (2009): Mitsouko Goes Back To Her Roots... So To Speak {New Perfume}" »
 There are some fragrances you love so much that you are glad when you can rhapsodize further about them by laying another variation of them on your dressing table. Unconditionals of Shalimar will be pleased to learn that this spring, they will have one more, nay, two more reasons to re-buy their beloved fragrance. Guerlain will release two new limited-editions of Shalimar Eau de Parfum and Eau de Shalimar called Fleurs de Shalimar - Shalimar Flowers. The limited-edition collection wishes to pay a design homage to the vanilla blossom so characteristic of the Guerlain signature by decorating the flacons with white and black etched orchids. This floral motif is also one that is richly illustrated in the arts in general and will be of interest to orchid collectors. "Among all the marvels of the Gardens of Shalimar, vanilla is one of the most bewitching and sensual. Protective of its own rarity, it only blossoms for a few hours at sunrise. To celebrate this quiet, intimate moment with vanilla flowers and to capture a second of eternity, Guerlain etched its blossoms on the Shalimar bottle."…
Continue reading "Guerlain Fleurs de Shalimar - Shalimar Flowers Limited Editions: The Flower Behind The Pod {Fragrance News}" »
January 2009 Archive
Page 3 of 4 • 1 2 3 4
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Fin O'Suilleabhain on
Les Exclusifs: Bel Respiro, No 18, & 28 La Pausa by Chanel {Perfume Review & Musings} {New Perfumes}
: Hi ... can I ask about the Stravinsky / Chanel image. Is ...
Thalestris Dupont on
Fragonard Caresse (1929/2008) {Perfume Review}
: Lovely perfume! Reminds me of the spring 2011 when I was wearing ...
Karen Lindsey on
Long Lost Crabtree & Evelyn Fragrance: Help Please {Ask The Readers}
: I just found this site and I so need to find someone ...
Regina on
Happy New Year 2012!
: Valentine's Day will soon be here. Any recommendations?
C Sasich on
Easy Tricks To Create Golden Globes Hairstyles! {Beauty Notes - Hair}
: My fave was Michelle Williams - modern , effortless not overdone . ...
kelvin neo on
Victoria's Secret Life is Pink Wish Pink, Live Pink, Hope Pink (2010) *New Fragrances*
: Hi good day, Can i know where can purchase or order Pink ...
Alan on
A Funny Post About Scented Candles {Fragrant Reading}
: Hell-scent candle, lol.
Gina on
Two Organic Oud Scents: Sama Oudh Jasmin & Undergreen Black Classic (2011) {New Perfumes}
: I want to try Sama Oudh Jasmin but checked the websites. I ...
Tammy on
Top 12 Best New Department Store Fragrances of 2011 for the Holidays {Perfume List}
: Wish this came with a little print out sheet for my next ...
Toñi on
Dance with Givenchy (2010) {New Perfume}
: Where can I get Dance with Givenchy? It's impossible to find it ...
Toñi on
Dance with Givenchy (2010) {New Perfume}
: Where can I get Dance with Givenchy? It's impossible to find it ...
evageli karounzou on
Choppy Waters for Stella Cadente Miss Me {Fragrance News}
: at 2007 i was in paris an i bought this perfume.Since then ...
Mandy Aftel on
Aftelier Perfumes Secret Garden (2011): Featuring Real Civet & Castoreum {New Fragrance}
: Thank you so much Marie-Helene for your lovely review! You are great ...
Kay on
Mona di Orio Chamarré (2009): Perfume Review in Memoriam
: This is very interesting. First thing that came to my mind when ...
Maddy on
Bint el Sudan, The Other, African Chanel No.5: Interview with Nick Evans of International Flavors & Fragrances, Inc. {Perfume Q & A - The Scents of Africa}
: Interesting post. I've lived in Ghana but I don't remember encountering anyone ...
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