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 Helena Rubinstein Wanted was first launched in August 09 in Paris at the Printemps and on November 5 in the US. I thought, walking into the department store back in the summer, that it was worthy of a bottle purchase for a blog review, then got a richly illustrated press release, then left on a holiday, then smelled a string of milky fruity-florals in between now and then. I feel at this point as if it requires a certain amount of discipline, even stoicism, not to falter at the mere thought of having to review one more milky-floral (I am channeling the Stoics here). It is unfair to Wanted, because my initial impressions of it were fresher (it's a good thing I jotted down my impressions then). Fortunately, I have been used in my past to doing tedious, repetitive and necessary systematic gathering of anthropological data and this is no different in a sense. So I try to remember how exciting it felt to ask the same questions for the umptieth time because I was getting closer to the bigger picture. But that was when I was interested in detecting patterns and regularities. With perfume, it still remains interesting and even necessary for me to look at it from a social perspective -- I have been doing that from the start of my blogging days -- but since there is nevertheless this floating idea that creativity is expected and even encouraged, it feels at times downright grueling. Are You Wearing a Cherubato, a Lactone, a Milky, an Angel Milk, also called in French a Lait d'Ange ? Having said that, one has to temporarily conclude that the milky fruity-floral has become a genre in and of itself, like chypre is. We can be playful and propose names for it: a cherubato (cherub + rubato), a milky, an angel milk. I cannot imagine that with the number of, nay, the onslaught of releases in this category, it could be considered just as an accident of taste. One of the early, isolated then milky perfumes was Yin by Jacques Fath (1997) created by perfumer Anne Flipo....
Continue reading "Helena Rubinstein Wanted (2009): Are You Wearing a Cherubato, a Lactone, a Milky, an Angel Milk, also called in French a Lait d'Ange ? {Perfume Review & Musings} {Celebrity Fragrance}" »
 As I already remarked in 2007, there is a sub-branch of the celebrities fragrances business that is that of the dead-celebrity perfume. Now My DNA Fragrance which specializes in harvesting your DNA to propose custom-tailored scents replicating your pheromones has taken an even bolder step after POTUS 1600. It has now turned to the slightly lugubrious idea of creating perfumes based on the DNA of dead celebrities. The tag line is " ENGINEERED from the DNA of some of the most recognized Celebrities and Famous people in the world." The brand has partnered with the foremost authority on and collector of dead illustrious persons' hair, not that there must be a ton of such collectors attracted to the weird and the bizarre, nor that much hair around. John Reznikoff has the distinction of having earned the title of "pre-eminent hair collector" "My DNA Fragrance has analyzed Reznikoff's private collection of celebrity hair and has engineered exclusive fragrances of each one.
Reznikoff was an expert witness for the US Justice Department and has aided the FBI and other law enforcement agencies. He has appeared on The Wall Street Journal Video Channel, CNN's Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, ABC Nightline, and Good Morning America and has written for nationally circulated magazines. Reznikoff has the largest authenticated hair collection of famous people in the world."....
Continue reading "My DNA Fragrance Antiquity Line Based on the DNA of Dead Celebrities (2009) {New Perfumes} {Celebrity Fragrances} " »
 Natori by Josie NatoriThe perfume starts with a subtle, surface powdery impression soon followed by a beautiful both intense and understated aldehydic white floral bouquet like a cleaner but no less feminine Joy by Patou. It is a Joy Americanized, made easier to wrap your mind around, offering the clarity of lines of a beautiful race automobile. The impression of Joy came to me before I went to check some background information about the scent. Josie Natori said that growing up she was used to reveling in rich perfumes: Joy by Patou that her grand-mother wore, as well as Bal à Versailles by Jean Desprez, both which can be described as old-school French perfumes. This is just the introduction as it turns out. While you were checking the box next to the word "linear" in your mind as one more sign of Americanization in the jus, the fragrance starts to slowly fade into a deeper, darker and fruitier atmosphere reminiscent of the oriental base with myrrh in Gianni Versace (1981) which has aldehydic, fruity, and chypre facets as well...
Continue reading "Natori by Josie Natori (2009): Abstract Lingerie Perfume {Perfume Review}" »
 The ink on the packaging of Vera Wang Rock Princess has seldom dried, and my written thoughts on it have not quite gelled (it's good, but how good is it?), that it has now been announced that a new princess franchise perfume called Vera Wang Glam Princess will launch in December 2009. Why so many, so soon, you might ask? "The theory? That fickle younger consumers are constantly buying what is
new and different -- so new expressions once or twice a season offer the
best chance to keep that customer loyal."...
Continue reading "Vera Wang Glam Princess: Fronted by Zoe Kravitz (2009) {New Perfume} {Celebrity Fragrance}" »
 As announced earlier, Balenciaga have decided to revive their perfume label reportedly left fallow for some 15 to 20 years (they might be thinking of their more classic feminines with either Rumba (1988) or Talisman (1994) as representing the cut-off dates; Cristobal was launched in 1998 and Cristobal pour Homme in 2000). In February 2010, the fragrance Balenciaga Paris will launch in Europe and the US. It is described as a contemporary violet chypre and was created by perfumer Olivier Polge of IFF who just won the Grand Prix International du Parfum. The new perfume will be fronted by actress Charlotte Gainsbourg but the perfume will have much more to do with the universe of artistic director Nicolas Ghesquière. Gainsbourg is a friend of Ghesquière, the ad will reference Spain, his home country, the bottle is his idea, and the composition itself attempts to incorporate his favorite smells...
Continue reading "Balenciaga Paris Eau de Parfum (2010): Fronted by Charlotte Gainsbourg {New Perfume} {Celebrity Fragrance} {Sniffing Suggestions}" »
 We have the scoop on exciting celebrity fragrance news from French label Etat Libre d'Orange. As we indicated early on in the process, indie perfume brands have become increasingly interested in the celebrity fragrance market, just like the big dogs, so to speak (Coty, Avon, Parlux, Elizabeth Arden/Unilever...). You have to realize that this is a fun way to take a second, closer critical look at the notion of being an "independent" niche house, when you see that the movement was initiated by major fragrance labels first and that indies followed the lead. But as noted earlier, indies tend to pick celebrity personalities that are relatively more underground and quirky (as compared to Britney Spears, still quirky admittedly, and JLo)... 
Continue reading "Etat Libre d'Orange will Release Tilda Swinton & Josephine Baker Perfumes {Fragrance News}" »
 Kate Moss Vintage is the most recent launch by the Kate Moss franchise after Kate (2007), Velvet Hour (2008) and Kate Moss Summer Time (2009), just introduced in September. It is billed as a "fruity-floral oriental" and...shock!...was created by perfumer Olivier Polge of IFF who, as it turns out, was hired to play the role of the invisible man because just about anyone with good plagiaristic skills could have performed the job. The problem with calling attention to perfumers is that they do have their personalities and preferences but they often have to self-efface in order to be good listeners, to celebrities for example. In this case however I find that a threshold was crossed into the realm of odious copying. Honestly, if a perfumer cannot resist at his or her own level in the process of fragrance-making, they might just as well be replaced by robots and electronic noses. Note are: pink peppercorn, white freesia, mandarin, heliotrope, jasmine, almond blossom, tonka bean, vanilla and musk.  The main inspiration for the scent is Kate Moss's self-confessed love for anything vintage, except she quipped, for old men. If I were to find a time period and a style that encapsulates this brand of vintage olfactory form, I would have to say that it makes me think of a Gibson-Girl plate most, not even a photography, due to the sketch-like aspect of the perfume. Vintage by Kate Moss opens on both a very powdery and fruity accord (mandarin) which seeks to be slightly innovative, with a woodsy and almond-y undertone. The composition readily smells familiar besides the Johnson and Johnson baby powder accord which dominates, but I can't quite put my finger on it at first. I had to go on a little meditation retreat to reflect upon this puzzling sensation. The result: To me it evokes the olfactory ambiances of the following powdery scents: Teint de Neige by Lorenzo Villoresi...I Profumi di Firenze Talco Delicato...Hypnotic Poison by Dior...L'Instant Magic by Guerlain...Eurêka! It actually smells very, very close to Guerlain Lights of Champs Elysées (2006) with its plummy cherry-wood accord underlining a comforting powdery heliotropin. It is a simplified version of it using the main ideas from it. A travel exclusive, the perfume is not widely known and hence apparently safe for shameless plundering... 
Continue reading "Kate Moss Vintage (2009): Smells Familiar & Not Just Because It Makes Me Think of a Gibson-Girl Plate {Perfume Review} {Celebrity Fragrance}" »
 Singer Fergie of Black Eyed Peas has been signed up by Avon to be the inspiration for their next celebrity fragrance. It is arguably a bolder move than usual as Fergie is not exactly someone you would think of painting in soft pastel shades. But Boom Boom Pow being at the top of the charts for several weeks has convinced Avon that techno hip hop sounds and hard leather notwithstanding, Avon customers would appreciate a bit of a departure from the standard nice girl type that is their usual safe bet. Avon's stable of thoroughbred fragrances has grown more and more since 2006. The brand sees the Derek Jeter franchise which debuted with Driven as a turning point in this career path...
Continue reading "Fergie of Black Eyed Peas Signs up with Avon {Fragrance News} {Celebrity Perfume}" »
 Sarah Jessica Parker is going to go fruity, to her own surprise. She is proposing a new facet of her personality with the upcoming SJP NYC to be launched in February 2010. It is all intended to mesh with the New York cityscape while channelling her Carrie Bradshaw character of Sex and the City. SJP said, "A large part of the inspiration was what I now understand to be
people's impressions of seeing Carrie Bradshaw walk down the street and
what feelings that evokes for her and for them -- a real sense of
freedom and possibilities, a love for the city around her and, of
course, fashion,"
SJP NYC was originally the dry code name for the perfume in the labs where they were developing the scent but they thought it sounded sweet enough to stay.... 
Continue reading "Sarah Jessica Parker SJP NYC (2010) {New Perfume} {Celebrity Fragrance}" »
 Pamela Anderson and David La Chapelle at the 6th Annual Hollywood Style Awards -- Doesn't this dress look a little complicated yet almost made as if in desperation at the last minute? Is this a conceptual dress meant to express feminine angst prior to dressing up?
Pamela Anderson definitely has personal ideas about perfume. You have to hand it to her that she is not just a shallow sounding board for other people's ideas and that she does not let advisers dictate her tastes. About her upcoming Malibu scents, she said that her favorite notes are sandalwood, amber and patchouli and this is not knowledge based on recent meetings with fragrance developers, but gathered through her own familiarity with perfume since high-school. Also, did she say that her new perfume is a veritable ambrosia offered to Poseidon off the coast of California the gods of Malibu? Er, no, she says that it is "unlike a perfume" and that it "isn't too sophisticated..." "It's fresh, but chic, inexpensive, available in drugstores! I love that the most--I worship drugstores, it's hard to get me out.
Read more in Allure...
 Makeup artist Mally Roncal will add a new type of beauty item to her collections and launch her signature perfume on October 29, 2009. The name of the fragrance saves on the number of letter fonts: it is just called Mally. Described as a floral and citrusy fragrance, it pays homage to Roncal's Philippino heritage by showcasing the sampaguita or sampaquita, the national flower of the Philippines...
Continue reading "Mally Roncal Mally (2009) {New Perfume} {Celebrity Fragrance}" »
 According to British mass-market chain Superdrug, the Britons hold celebrity brand fragrances dear to their hearts. The *estimated*, rather massive figure quoted in an article in Hello Magazine, which specializes in celebrity coverage, is that out of £600 being spent annually on feminine perfumes, more than 40% would be going to celebs perfumes, an estimation that seemingly does not include simply celeb-endorsed fragrances where famous faces just grace the ads....
Continue reading "The Brits Love their Celebrity Fragrances {Fragrance News} {Celebrity Scents}" »
 The judging panel from the TV show the X Factor which includes Cheryl Cole, Danni Minogue, Louis Walsh and Simon Cowell have signed an agreement to develop a quatuor of fragrances which is set to be released for Christmas this year. They are just now going to meet this week to start working on the perfumes. You can just guess the level of attention and originality that is going to go into these by looking at the time frame: it sounds like blitz krieg perfume-making,...
Continue reading "X Factor Perfumes in the Making, will be Ready for Christmas {Fragrance News} {Celebrity Perfumes}" »
 Reality TV show popular actress Kim Kardashian of Keeping Up with the Kardashians has now a completed product: her eponymous, debut fragrance. The budding fragrance developer believes in participatory perfume designing and asking for feedback from her fans on her own blog; she was thus asking at one stage of the process, "Without naming specific brands, what types of scents are you most drawn too--vanilla, musk, fruity, floral, other?
"
At another step of the development, she asked for what color people preferred for a detail on the bottleneck of the future fragrance and while her blog readers favored dark pink, her Twitter and Facebook fans suggested light pink. She went for the last option as it was her favorite one too...  KK holding the unfinished product at an earlier stage of the development process.
Continue reading "Kim Kardashian Perfume (2010) {New Fragrance} {Celebrity Perfume}" »
 Some people like Justin Timberlake and Emma Watson simply hate the idea of offering their perfume incarnations to the public, but singer Cheryl Cole of Girls Aloud begs to differ. Like several other WAGS before her (hubby is football player Ashley Cole), a typical British tabloid phenomenon, she thinks it would be "amazing,"...
Continue reading "Cheryl Cole Just Got Hired by L'Oreal & Would Love To Have a Sig Perfume {Fragrance & Beauty News} {Celebrity Perfumes & Beauty}" »
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