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May 2009 Archive
Page 3 of 6 • 1 2 3 4 5 6
The flacon of No 5 as part of XXth century art iconography
Two icons meet, not fortuitously : the Dali moustache and the Chanel No5 bottle
But before that, Coco Chanel and Salvador Dali
Dali's nose disappeared given up in sacrifice to Baal
He doesn't need it anymore, it smells of the No 5
Surrealism gets pulled in the direction of pop culture
Chanel No 5 wins
  © Philippe Halsman/Magnum Photos, 1954
 Interesting concept. You can now create your own olfactory bubble while away from home. A booking site for hotel rooms proposes a service that allows customers to travel with a bottled scent of their most familiar surroundings. It can involve the scents of lilies, roast meat, spicy cuisine... but, please, no whiff of cat's litter (Editor's note: well, actually, lilies do smell like cat's litter at some point in their olfactory evolution). It is not clear how practical the implementation of the idea is, or how truly desirable, but apparently, it's not a spoof. Perhaps the service will be best appreciated by frequent travelers rather than people who want to explore the planet, with their noses too. "Holiday firm LateRooms.com has created travel kits which include a fragrance that replicates the smell of customers' houses. There
is also an mp3 player to hear the sounds of family life, a selection of
favourite refreshments and a pillowcase smelling of their washing
powder."
Read more...
 For queen and country. An assistant of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown inadvertently left, amongst other things, a document describing Brown's embellishing routine in a taxi cab. The press now also want to help with his beauty needs and are adding a few more tips. See what he uses and what are recommended further. "The make-up guide read: - 'Transparent Brush. Foam all over.'
This is believed to be an illuminating foam to make the Prime Minister's skin glow. - 'Small pot under eyes, dimple, creases, blend in.'
This is thought to refer to concealer to remove the appearance of bags and dark shadows. - 'Clinique.
Super balanced make-up. All over again, like painting a wall, and ears.
Shut eyes over lids then with make-up pad smooth over liquid.'
This is foundation designed to give Mr Brown an even skin tone and youthful appearance. - 'Powder (dark brush) terracotta Guerlain, all over.'
This is used to give a tanned and healthy look using a bronzer."
Sarah Vine critiques the PM's beauty bag and suggests better products for him here. Via Mail Online
Photo via 20minutes.fr
 Angel with Lit Wing by Joyce Tenneson, 2000.
You can read part 1: Scent of a Fallen Angel If you are interested in shades of olfactory whites, Tome 1 La Pureté is well worth considering If you like the idea of applying milk onto your skin, and smelling like it, you won't be able to resist it. If you are a Nostalgic of Le Feu d'Issey, please find here its heavenly white version. Zadig et Voltaire have called their debut perfume a "patchoulait", milky patchouli, and reportedly borrowed the theme of the fallen angel from the world of rock' n roll rather than that of religious art. The whiteness of the composition is meant to illustrate a vision of heaven. Thierry Gillier who calls himself a "Dadaïst entrepreneur" teamed up with Le Labo founders Fabrice Penot and Edouard Roshi to propose this first tome in a series of upcoming fragrances. The fragrance was composed by perfumer Nathalie Lorson. Tome 1 La Pureté interprets the theme of purity lost with a composition opening on subtle milky and "white-ambery" (my characterization) notes and ending on a hyper-realistic sweaty accord. There is actually a tendency in the top notes for the smell of alcohol to linger on a bit more than is usual, as if it had not been inhabited by perfume notes from the start, but after this lapse, the perfume appears. One should not ascribe too much depth to this theme of the fallen angel but it can be detected as a figurative motif in the composition. The perfume embeds a Nestlé-condensed-milk accord but weaved into a dream material rather than into a realistic and gourmand squirt of sugar-heavy milk syrup as in the comfort scent Matin Câlin by Comptoir Sud Pacifique. The copy uses the term "nurturing"; I am tempted to see milk here as a more literal and edgier replacement/complement for and of the nurturing and difficult-to-get-now Mysore sandalwood often noted for its maternal, lactic notes...
Continue reading "Zadig et Voltaire Tome 1 La Purete (2009) - Part 2: Patchoulait {Perfume Review} {New Fragrance}" »
 La grande dame terrible of British fashion Vivienne Westwood has released a new perfume called Boudoir Jouy to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the original Boudoir launched in 1998. The new composition is inspired by Madame de Pompadour and the imagined atmosphere of her 18th century boudoir, as well as by the famous toiles de Jouy that would have hung in that intimate room. Precious, coquettish, child-like, sophisticated, and newly fashionable, the toile de Jouy with its pastoral scenes appears on the new bottle while serving as the guiding theme for a fresher interpretation of Boudoir... 
Continue reading "Vivienne Westwood Boudoir Jouy (2009) {New Perfume - New Flanker}" »
 For Mother's Day (in France), L'Occitane have introduced a duo of fragrances in two different concentrations built around the May Rose. The new perfumes are called Intense Rose Nuit de Mai and Rose Nuit de Mai Eau de Toilette. They were created by perfumer Alexis Dadier of Mane ( A Travers Le Miroir and Le Miroir des Vanités in the Miroir, Miroir series by Thierry Mugler, Fancy by Jessica Simpson, Oxbow for Men, Courvoisier L'Edition Impériale...) "In May in Provence,
the young people from the Pays de Forcalquier celebrate the joys of the
first harvests. According to tradition, they dance and sing around a
tree decorated with rose garlands and colored ribbons. In the whirl of
the night, when the scent of flower petals blends with the woody trail
of bonfires, the perfume in the air bewitches and seduces...
The Rose Nuit de Mai Eau de Toilette evokes the atmosphere of those May festivities with a floral woody sensuality."...
Continue reading "L'Occitane Intense Rose Nuit de Mai & Eau de Toilette (2009) {New Perfumes}" »
 Parfums 137, co-owned by Alexandre Bigle and Richard Ekert have released their latest opus in their library of coffrets of perfumes-to-be-layered (or not) inspired by true yet little known chapters of the history of perfumery. Following Nara 1869, the new perfume set called Hollywood Stromboli 1950 follows the traces of Betty in Tinsel Town ca. 1950. She is a woman with a strong temperament who is this unusual combination of moll and dame-perfumer and who happens, not fortuitously, to be a descendant of perfumer Akimoff featured in the previous coffret. We don't know if Betty studied perfumery formally but it appears that she inherited some of the skills of her ancestor and started creating perfumes for the Hollywood crowd. They were a hit, so much so that mobster Jack D decides not only to date her but to exploit her perfumery skills. She is held against her will but is rescued by another thug, Mike R, with whom she escapes to Stromboli and where she continues to make perfumes. When Jack D is arrested later on, she will go back to the US to testify against him before returning to Stromboli and the arms of Mike R...
Continue reading "Parfums 137 Hollywood Stromboli 1950 (2009): Betty, a Moll & a Dame-Perfumer All The Way From Hollywood to Sicily {New Perfume}" »
 Jean-Noël L'Harmouroult, Make Up I
Congrats to Milaxx and Rita who have won 2 entries to the Makeup Show in NYC, 17-18 May 2009. The winning entries were selected by a random number generator. Please send me your names. Other interested parties can still purchase tickets. Please go here for more details.
 From the upbeat name, Flowerific, to the eye-popping colors of the petals on the flacon and finally hopefully ending on equally fluorescent perfume notes, the latest Flirt! fragrance promises that " This vibrant and exhilarating fragrance imparts a fresh, playful lightheartedness to those who wear it." Yes, this little number is advertised as your other Prozac. Flowerific does that with "A blooming blend of tingling fruits, water lily and blue freesia. And the tag line? Fresh. Floral. Flowerific." Repeat the mantra ten times for best results.
(Due to the contents of this product, we regret it cannot currently be shipped to Alaska, Hawaii or APO/FPO.) Only at Kohls, now at $29.99 instead of $35.00
  HSH Prince Nicolò Boncompagni Ludovisi have released two debut perfumes which can be called new and ancient at the same time. The multi-secular family archives as well as the art of Villa Aurora in Rome the ancestral home of HSH Prince Nicolò Boncompagni Ludovisi, have been put to contribution. The feminine fragrance is called L'Aurora and is named after a
ceiling fresco by Guercino depicting the chariot of Aurora making its way in the sky.
The masculine perfume is titled Giove Nettuno Plutone after the only known fresco of Caravaggio which was painted in the Alchemy Room of the Villa Aurora. L'Aurora is a reenactment of a feminine floral from the Renaissance and Giove Nettuno Plutone, that of a masculine perfume which used to be a signature scent of the first Prince of Piombino. They are the first in a series of fragrances that will be co-created and endorsed by the Prince and his bride to be, an American woman whom we only know by the name of Rita...  
Continue reading "HSH Prince Nicolo Boncompagni Ludovisi L'Aurora & Giove Nettuno Plutone (2009): Art, Love & Italy {New Perfumes} {Historic Fragrances}" »
 Chanel have announced that they will soon be offering the line of the 12 Les Exclusifs fragrances online on Chanel.com, date to be confirmed. This is a significant perfume marketing decision to take a boutique-exclusive collection to the internet to offer it greater visibility and accessibility online. "A virtuoso collection of rare fragrances created by Chanel master parfumeurs. Twelve pure forms, twelve identical bottles. Luxuriously simple."
In other words, "niche" is going to be more about style than the distribution policy and a hyper-constructed constructed sense of luxury....
Continue reading "All Twelve Chanel Les Exclusifs To Be Available Online Soon {Fragrance News} {Shopping Tip}" »
 Tova Beverly Hills just added a new fragrance called Tova Signature Platinum to the Tova Beauty line. More than a new perfume it is a newly baptized perfume officially aiming to recapture the original formulation and lustre of Tova Signature. With a war name like Tova Platinum, one will have gathered that the scent is also meant to be a new chapter in her communication efforts with her loyal customer base and fans of the Tova Signature.  As readers of this blog may have read about already, Tova Signature is arguably one of the most popular and beloved perfumes in America. People are very attached to it and the old version is consistently reported about as a major compliment-gatherer. The problem is that the flip side of this unconditional love is what could be termed reformulation rage. Just like there is such a thing as road rage, there is also a less prominently publicized phenomenon which exists nevertheless called reformulation rage #!?!!§! which affects long-time fragrance customers and seems to run the gamut from disappointment to heartache to anger to explosive rage over changes perceived in their favorite fragrances.... Picture: Untitled by Rosemarie Trockel (ceramics, glazed, platinum)
Continue reading "Tova Signature Platinum (2009): Trying To Recapture The Old Mystique {New Perfume}" »
 How It Wafts, At FirstWhat they say: A warm and romantic vetiver inspired by Paris in the late 20's and its
infatuation with African culture, art, music and dance. A mix of the
Parisian avantgardism and African culture shaped a unique and vibrant
expression. The intense life, the excess and euphoria is illustrated by
Bal d'Afrique's neroli, African marigold and Moroccan cedarwood.
Top: Bergamot, Lemon, Neroli, African marigold, Bucchu
Mid: Violet, Jasmin petals, Cyclamen
Base: Black Amber, Musk, Vetiver, Moroccan cedarwood
 The press release further states that the "croisière noire" by André Citroën, the so-called "black cruise" that took place across Africa in 1924-1925 was yet another source of inspiration.
Bal d'Afrique by Byredo, launched last February, opens on the scent of both soft grassy skin and violets succeeded by light sweet notes of marigold served on wood shavings soon followed by candied and juicy fruit sours (buchu?) notes of berries and grapes underlining the violet accord which recedes in the background. Buchu is said to have a sour smell and is used as a body ointment in Africa. The jasmine is very subtle and green with gourmandish indolic notes in the direction of angelica, which is actually the vetiver + cyclamen, and other things. The jasmine is used as an underlining facet rather than a focus. Dots of almond contributes to the sweet feeling operating at both the obvious and less obvious levels. The obvious level of candied notes is very in-your-face. This mostly exaggerated gourmand opening immediately strikes one as an interesting choice given the personality of the Byredo brand. In this context, the highly regressive accord cannot be mistaken for a lack of ideas but rather, is a willed effect. It is here with a purpose, but which one is not apparent right away. At first you think that it is as if the perfumer Jérôme Epinette had decided to take the candied facet of violet perfumes and pushed it maximally instead of just giving a tip of the hat to sugar-dipped violet petals as one of our most traditional violet associations. As Bal d'Afrique develops, it continues to defy the conventions of the well-bred, tasteful and urbane genre of a certain type of niche perfumery and next takes on a sticky, childish texture, to the nose, going now in the direction of syrupy but still counterbalanced by light green and woody notes, the vetiver facet, suggesting banana leaves, banana fruit and passion fruit. Cellophane-wrapped candies continue to impose their imagery. But in-between the literal scent of sweet-toothed sticky kids' fingers and banana - did I say banana, ah yes, of course, (a moment of enlightenment to the non-prejudiced), it is the banana girdle worn by Joséphine Baker in her legendary la danse des bananes - there is a more subtle and vague accord of vetiver introducing a bit more of the unstated quality of perfumery.... 
Continue reading "Byredo Bal d'Afrique (2009): Cake-Walking at the Bal d'Afrique {Perfume Review & Musings}" »
 "Glazman said living at the age of six in Russia, there were only two fragrances on the market and both were called Red Moscow. In a country where "everybody smelled the same," Glazman recalled one particular morning, when he and his mother rode in a cab in their pajamas for a half hour to buy French fragrance (which cost about one month's salary) on the black market. "There was this magic moment where her rollers fell off, the pajamas disappeared and we're standing there. I was a prince, she was a queen." Glazman said of his mother. Glazman admitted the power of scent drew him into the industry. "It starts with dreaming; it is a journey," said Glazman. "To deliver the true experience from beginning to end, it always comes from that place of passion. There has to be a reason and an emotional connection to the product."
Lev Glazman is co-founder and director of R & D for Fresh.Quoted and written by Belisa Silva at WWD; poster via communisme-bolchevisme.net
 Cartier have announced that they will introduce a collection of high-end fragrances called Les Heures du Parfum (The Hours of Perfume) this fall 2009 in the US saying that " The inspiration came from the fact that memory is always linked to time" and that the sense of smell is intrinsically linked to memory. It is a step-down from their high-luxury activity of bespoke fragrance led by in-house perfumer Mathilde Laurent billed at $79,630, but a step-up from their more mainstream offerings like Must or Le Baiser du Dragon or Déclaration (their best-seller). Cartier see the new collection as " a really haute collection of fragrances for connoisseurs." A 75 ml bottle will be priced at $255 and will be very selectively distributed...
Continue reading "Cartier Les Heures du Parfum: Number 1 L'Heure Promise, Number 12 L'Heure Mysterieuse & More (2009) {New Perfumes}" »
May 2009 Archive
Page 3 of 6 • 1 2 3 4 5 6
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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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