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  Saint and Sinner are the two new perfumes by "indie" brand Kat Von D for Sephora (the name is short for founder's name Katherine von Drachenberg -- the von Drachenbergs have a family castle in Germany that would look outstanding in a Gothic vampire story). The tattoo artist of TV-reality-show-Miami-and-L.A.-Ink fame also came up with a makeup collection that was on the shelves a little earlier than the scents. I had watched several shows of one of the city-based Ink series once but could not remember the Kat von D so it was an innocent approach to the beauty counter on my part. I then became very interested in the brand, because, frankly, her lipsticks are of superior quality, let's not mince our (kind) words here. Her Stiletto, a beautiful, perfect red-orange, was like a beacon of luminous red when I first set my eyes upon it and later just felt like foie-gras for the lips (it's a compliment). Sensing the demanding standards and beauty smarts of the belle, this made me hopeful for her, then, upcoming fragrances. They could only be interesting, was my belief, unless she had been completely hijacked by cynical fragrance developers (insert a cartoon strip here as the whole brand atmosphere has a gentle counter-culture and rebellious side to it) and did not know a thing about perfume. The queen of tattoos did mention her vast beauty closet where everything is organized by product and color, but no perfume collection. She also said that she knew a thing or two about lipstick because she virtually possesses them all, the Chanels, Diors etc. When time came to spring into action, she turned easily into a lipstick critic... 
Continue reading "Kat Von D Saint & Sinner (2009): Nice Girl in Tattoos {Perfume Reviews} {New Fragrances} {Celebrity Scents}" »
 Designer Anna Sui launched her latest perfume on September 17, 2009 called Rock Me!. The face for the fragrance is model Agyness Deyn who plays the role of a candied-colored, brooding rocker with an obsession for black and creamy-neon pinks and purples. Deyn can also be seen these days on the bottle of the special edition of Jean Paul Gaultier Ma Dame titled Pop Rock, which actually looks pretty cool in person. It seems like the Ma Dame success might have inspired this look for Anna Sui... 
Continue reading "Anna Sui Rock Me! (2009): Fronted by Agyness Deyn {New Perfume} {Celebrity Fragrance}" »
 Forever by Mariah Carey is the newest fragrance release by the pop singer who is also preparing to launch a new album, Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel on September 29, 2009. You will also be able to see her in Lee Daniels's movie Precious based on the novel Push by Sapphire this November. In it she appears virtually without makeup and unadorned to play her role as a caring and frumpy social worker. As the artist already stated when her second fragrance Luscious Pink was launched and in what sounds like a leitmotiv that she likes to rehash, Forever, like Luscious Pink "... reflects where I am in my life now." This appears to be her most natural and no-brainer way to relate to perfume as well as a non-too committal existential quote. No need to bring up aesthetics or anything really complicated like that but what it is saying in the end is that personal meaning is too complicated to be adequately explained. The mystery of Carey's personality and her perfume can thus be equally preserved except that the name Forever seems to allude to her marriage to Nick Cannon as well as her relationship with her fans.  From her debut fragrance M to the extrait version M Gold, to Luscious Pink and now Forever, Mariah Carey's perfumes like her ballads seemingly deliver pages torn out from her diary, or yours for that matter. It is a minimally honest proposition for this type of perfumery creation. One of the critiques plaguing the genre or marketing category -- some will prefer to say -- of the celebrity perfume is that they are sheer mercantile Trojan horses without any soul to them nor a drop actually of the personality of the celeb that gave her or his name to a perfume. The initial M however was built around some of her favorite smells, like the meeting of roasted marshmallows and sea air and incense from Morocco. Who would want to blend that if not for her? Carey's perfumes target her fans and she does not seem to be shy about letting out some particles of her intimate memories through the evocation of collaged impressions from the past... 
Continue reading "Mariah Carey Forever (2009): The Lady is a Gardenia {Perfume Review} {Celebrity Fragrance}" »
 Juliette Has a Gun is preparing to launch a new fragrance called Calamity J. Funny, because this time the confidential fragrance label is turning to French star power by hiring the daughter of popular actress Jane Birkin and movie director Jacques Doillon, Lou Doillon. When you say "Jane" in France, you don't think of Calamity Jane but rather of Jane Birkin, the ex-wife of singer Serge Gainsbourg, or maybe Jane Fonda too, the ex-wife of Vadim. It may also conjure up Jane, the companion of Tarzan. Lou Doillon has a rocker charm that will go well with the gun-smoking, hold-no-barrels-in-the-domain-of-seduction imagery of the perfume house. In fact, the advert shows a bare-chested Lou photographed by Sonia Sieff, a sight that will probably fly better with the authorities in France than in some other countries. I would not have noticed it so much if the thought that a niche perfume house was not only taking the celebs route but on top of that counting on the eternal appeal of nakedness to boost its sales, made me smile. Niche fragrance houses are deemed purists and in principle destined to fulfill more than others the difficult mission of calling attention mainly to the jus itself.  Another twist is that Calamity J is dubbed "a masculine for women" -- not a "unisex" mind you, what an ugly-fuggly word obviously -- in the sense, for founder Romano Ricci, that it rests upon a patchouli-musk accord evocative of " the perfume of a dandy, masculine yet sophisticated." The dandy is quintessentially masculine but can teach a thing or two to women in his field, elegance...
Continue reading "Juliette Has a Gun Calamity J (2009): Fronted by a Naked Lou Doillon: "A Masculine Scent for Women" {New Perfume} {Celebrity Fragrance}" »
 Confirming a rumor that had been circulating for a while on the wires, Coty have announced today that they signed a deal with singer Beyonce to launch her very first signature perfume in 2010 (US in the spring, the rest of the world in the fall according to WWD). Beyonce was on perfume ads before as she was the face of Tommy Hilfiger True Star Fragrance and the spokesperson for Emporio Armani Diamonds for Her, but this is a step-up. Hubby Jay-Z is also a celebrity-fragrance developer who has created a line of Rocawear scents. The main accord in the upcoming release (name undisclosed) is obviously Beyonce's "mega-watt aura" as the Coty company specializing in celebs juices put it...
Continue reading "Beyonce & Coty Partner to Create Fragrance in 2010 {New Perfume} {Celebrity Fragrance}" »
 After launching Fancy, her first full-blown signature scent, Jessica Simpson is now adding a second, more luminous and radiant perfume to her range with Fancy Love. The tag line is " The timeless fragrance of falling in love." The jus was composed by a team of four perfumers which includes Y ves Cassar, Céline Barel, Pascal Guaurin and Clément Gavarry...
Continue reading "Jessica Simpson Fancy Love (2009) {New Perfume} {Celebrity Fragrance}" »
 Notes: s ugar-coated raspberry, apricot blossom, blue peony, waterlily, red
sweetheart orchid, sweet vanilla wood, creamy musks, violet candy. Circus Fantasy is the latest fragrance by Britney Spears. It is a variation on the standard creamy, lactic fruity-floral that has been Britney Spears's signature scent running throughout her line of perfumes since Curious in 2004. You wouldn't fault her for lacking olfactory integrity. Instead of coming across as boring and repetitious, her latest scent twist, you have to acknowledge, is just better than many other offerings crowding the perfume counters today. The circus imagery meant to accompany the promotion of her current touring show may appear childish to some but the scent itself is a step-up in sophistication through a work on lightness, allusion and classic proportions. What the scent admittedly lacks in sheer originality, it gains in harmony, balance and subtlety. The over-enthusiastic spill of cream by a Fiesta breakfast bowl filled with canned fruits elevates itself finally to the level of an ethereal cloud of milk hovering over an abstraction of delicious fresh fruits and exotic flowers that smell fruity. This is how perseverance pays off: the more you polish an accord by believing in it, the more capable you are of mastering it and making it do what you want it to be. In other words, we are offered here a refined version of all the elements that have made Britney Spears's perfume success. The perfumer instead of falling asleep at the wheel perfected the basic idea. Absolutely do not fix what is working. A pop singer ought to know that better than anyone else. After the ear worm, we are presented with the nose worm...
Continue reading "Britney Spears Circus Fantasy (2009) {Perfume Review} {Celebrity Fragrance}" »
Added: Perfume Review of Forever by Mariah CareyMariah Carey unveiled the new advert for her upcoming fragrance, Forever. The ad is very much photoshopped to the point where it is hard to recognize Carey. They have given her the taut face of someone who has undergone a not-so-subtle lift surgery and who on top of that is addicted to Botox. Do you think some people are getting confused about what's the in-look? Could it be that the entirely fake "surgical look" might have become a status symbol in some circles?...
Continue reading "New Mariah Carey Forever Perfume Ad: She Looks Different" »
 Added: Review of Dolce & Gabbana Rose The One. Dolce & Gabbana just launched their Anthology perfume collection under the D&G label but they are not forgetting their The-One franchise with an upcoming launch based around the idea of a rose perfume. The image of the perfume will be embodied by their favorite feminine beauty icon, Scarlett Johansson, who was made to look like a total strawberry blonde to go with the fragrance and the strawberries she is eating in the commercial. Johansson is also the face of their new cosmetics line. Rose The One will debut on August 30, 2009 exclusively at Saks before being more widely distributed from October 1.  About the choice of Johansson, "It's a declaration of love for Scarlett," explained Dolce about
choosing Johansson for the Rose The One's campaign. "If we could do
everything with Scarlett we would, because she is the person that
represents actual femininity most in this world."
Filmed in a
Los Angeles studio, the commercial depicts Johansson in a custom-made,
curve-hugging Dolce & Gabbana rose pink tulle dress, lounging on a
bed in a boudoir, eating strawberries and recounting a story about a
past love...
Continue reading "Dolce & Gabbana Rose The One (2009): Fronted by Scarlett Johansson {New Perfume} {Celebrity Fragrance}" »
 Britney Spears will release a new fragrance in August 2009 called Circus Fantasy in reference to her current show tour and her Fantasy portfolio developed with Elizabeth Arden. It comes right after Hidden Fantasy. The singer already managed to insert the name and vaunt its allure in a joke on the Letterman Show in the Top-Ten segment the other night (see after the jump). Luscious fruits, tempting
florals and creamy musks capture the magical atmosphere of the show
with a colorful illusion of fun, sexiness and glamour...
Photos: extratv.com
Continue reading "Britney Spears Circus Fantasy (2009): "Welcome the Ringleader" {New Fragrance} {Celebrity Perfume}" »
 One of the most anticipated celebs scents this fall is Vintage by Kate Moss, the fourth fragrance launch for the top model. Vintage has been in the news for a while (see here and here), but now come the more concrete details. The scent is said to be a fruity-floral oriental with powdery and fresh facets...
Continue reading "Kate Moss Vintage (2009): The Ad, The Notes {New Perfume}" »
 Yves Saint Laurent is inviting you to count the days before their major feminine fragrance launch fronted by Kate Moss, Parisienne. You might be twirling your toes on the beach or taking it slow but meanwhile it doesn't mean glamor is taking a rest. So today is J-14 in the Parisienne calendar...
Continue reading "Who is Parisienne? -- Qui est Parisienne? by YSL" »
 Launch of Giorgio Armani "Idol" Perfume at Cafe de l'Homme on July 7, 2009 in Paris, France.
Armani is so excited to conquer the feminine segment of the market that is ready to worship the brand that after coming up with the right name for the project, Idole d'Armani, they announced two different feminine icons for their next big launch. In June the news reels were talking about model Kasia Smutniak. Dutifully reported here. Then in July, there was a little media explosion with the news that Angelina Jolie was going to save Armani from perfume stagnation -- ok, to be fair, just could-be-more-stellar-perfume-business. So it's hard to tell what is going on exactly but for people who thought that Angelina Jolie could not possibly be the face for yet another Armani for Women this fall/winter, please consider the pictures of the Paris launch for Idol with Kasia Smutniak dated July 7, 2009 that is, after the official announcement came in that Jolie was the next Armani bella donna...
Continue reading "Will Kasia Smutniak or Angelina Jolie be Armani's Idol? -- Update" »
 As previously announced with the early discovery of the story board for the commercial, singer Avril Lavigne has started to introduce her debut fragrance, Black Star. It will progressively roll out to different European countries. The UK will see the launch in 25 days. The perfume is described as a floral oriental by Douglas perfumery although Lavigne herself preferred to stress that it is very fruity and floral by pointing out a "high note" of pink hibiscus, a heart of plum and some chocolate...
Continue reading "Avril Lavigne Black Star (2009): More News {New Perfume} {Celebrity Scent}" »
 Country singer Faith Hill says she feels beautiful in the scent she created with Coty. As previously announced, this fall Faith Hill, her debut signature perfume will be launched at mass retailers. The singer hopes this is only the beginning of her venture into the world of fragrances under her own label " Faith Hill Parfums." Since her husband Tim McGraw is also working with Coty on his own portfolio of colognes, a marital duo might be in the works in the future. Celebrity fragrances imply different levels of involvement on the part of the people putting their names on the bottles of scent. In this case, it appears that Faith Hill took a resolutely hands-on approach as she underlined that she could not imagine her name being on a scent that she did not create (with the creative and technical help of perfumer Caroline Sabas of Givaudan)...
Continue reading "Faith Hill Parfums (2009): More News {New Perfume}" »
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