Idylle"
means love, or the dream of love. The word refers to a poetic genre which in
Greek antiquity sang of the amours and erotic encounters of a shepherd boy and
girl in a bucolic setting. An idyll is also a song of innocence lost, expressing
feelings such as the fear of seeing beauty vanish and youth fly by all too
quickly.
As
the poet Theocrites penned in one of his idylls, "Soon your youth will fade away like a dream," thereby inviting
the young shepherd girl to experience love before it is too late.
Perfumer
Thierry Wasser, who created Idylle, explained that in keeping with the Guerlain
family tradition of seeking inspiration in love to compose their fragrances, he
had wanted to pay homage to this long line of spiritual forefathers. The word
"youthful" also appears as
a key term in his presentation published on the dedicated Guerlain website. The
notion of youth befits the idyll genre and the stylistic choice made here: a
crisp, young yet antique rose tinged with green, which offers a millefleurs aspect like a floral
tapestry (in the sense of a composition incorporating several distilled
flowers.) But the approach is also more externally motivated by the house's desire
to create an affective link with the younger generations of women, the
customers who will ensure Guerlain's prosperity into the 21st
century....
A Californian company called Parfumologie came up with the project in 2008 to dedicate an entire line of perfumes to the armed forces of the United States of America. They decided to launch the officially licensed line entitled TheAmerican Line with five masculine fragrances and are planning a similar collection for women in the future. The five colognes introduced with the tag line "Uniquely crafted fragrances for the men of the United States military" are Patton (Army), Devil Dog (Marines), Liberty (Navy), Stealth (Air Force) and Riptide (Coast Guard). 10% of the proceeds for each cologne go to each individual branch and an additional 15% will go to the Veterans Affairs.
The inspiration for American Line is based on real-life face-to-face interviews with dozens of active servicemen and veterans.
"[...] Being sensitive to the feelings of the men and women that the
item represented was a top priority.
From these meetings, Parfumologie learned that the idea had
strong appeal, as long as it was carried out correctly.....
Leslie Blodgett the founder and innovator behind the Bare Escentuals mineral makeup line has turned to scents with a skin thematic in mind and is readying for the launch of her debut fragrance in October 2009 called Bare Skin by Leslie Blodgett in the Perfume Diaries collection. It will be a limited-edition exclusive to Sephora followed by another launch in the spring of 2010. The perfumes are based on memories preserved in her personal diaries which she has been writing since she was a little girl.
Parfums Nicolas Danila is a new French fragrance brand which has decided to address itself in priority to consumers who both relish exclusivity and are concerned about allergic reactions to perfume. As real and imagined allergies (remember the mold allergy scare several years back?) are becoming more and more widespread and IFRA is sorting through all the potential allergens to be taken out of perfumers' palettes, Parfums Nicolas Danila decided to ride the wave of change instead of looking towards the past.
The label debuts with a collection of seven perfumes inspired by seven types of gardens from around the world called Les Jardins d'Aladin which includes: Les Jardins Aborigènes, Les Jardins Amazoniens, Les Jardins Asiatiques, Les Jardins Polynésiens, Les Jardins Amérindiens, Les Jardins Arabes, Les Jardins Européens.
The perfumes were designed by company Charabot and composed by several of their noses including Laure Jacquet...
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...
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...
British designer John Richmond has launched his debut fragrance simply called John RICHMOND. The idea behind the scent is to wear it like an accessory and to emphasize this point, a silver-plated lock bracelet is found in each package because you use a lock to keep everything that is precious to you. About Richmond's fashion style, we learn that,
"John Richmond is a celebration of the energy, creativity and unpredictability of youth and street culture. Each line is heavily influenced by musical movements, blended with "street chic", John's own irreverent style and luxurious precision. These fundamental elements of the philosophy have led to the iconic slogans "Destroy, Disorientate, Disorder", "Diamond Dog" and "Eat Cake". John's close ties with the music industry have led him to dress stars such as Madonna, Mick Jagger and Annie Lennox. "...
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...
Kenzo launched a new variation on a perfume inspired by this most eloquent source of inspiration, the non-existent, imaginary scent of a red poppy.
FlowerbyKenzo Essentielle is said to be a streamlined and essentialized version of Flower by Kenzo "...made with ingredients of uncompromising quality", that is with absolutes. It was created by perfumer François Demachy of LVMH....
British perfume house Penhaligons will release a new perfume from October 12, 2009 called Amaranthine. The name's meaning is interesting and multifaceted. In this case it refers to a particular shade of red-purple color as the limited-edition crystal bottle reveals, but more poetically it would also be an allusion to the myth of an imaginary flower that never wilts and is forever beautiful.
The tag line, I note, is: "Amaranthine: the daring new fragrance from Penhaligon's." It might not struck you as very original. Like for the Anthology collection issued last summer, the composition was entrusted to perfumer Bertrand Duchaufour who normally is attached to the house of L'Artisan Parfumeur (See his two other opuses coming out his fall, Havana Vanille and Al Oudh). The reason I pause when I see the word "daring" here is because beyond what may appear to be standard marketing spiel, this is exactly the vibration that emanated from the Anthology series, one that I did not expect to experience in a Penhaligons's offering, to that extent at least although their compositions like Hammam Bouquet can be bold, but still classic...
Manhattan-based men's retailer Odin will launch a collection of three unisex fragrances called 01 Nomad, 02 Owari, 03 Century in late October 2009. The scents were developed with perfume company Drom.
01 aka Nomad has notes of
juniper berries, Himalayan cedar leaves, bergamot, palmarosa, Indian black pepper, creamy heliotrope, tonka bean,
West Indian sandalwood and grey musk...
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...
After an initial post about the upcoming Al Oudh by L'Artisan Parfumeur, I have received further news regarding the atmosphere of the perfume and more detailing of its notes.
The composition goes all the way in the direction of an intense evocation of the riches of the Orient, a theme that has fascinated Europeans since they came into contact with the spices, foods, incense, scents and flavors of the Arabian world. See also Amouage Epic this fall for a similar vein of inspiration. Here we have the taste of dates, the smoke of incense, the effluvia of African civet, the preciosity of saffron,...
Trend Alert: Fragrances' Semantic Love Affair with Love in the Fall of 2009
Bath and Body Works have added a new scent to their Signature Collection called P.S. I Love You.
Love is apparently in the air this fall because you can also expect to have to decide if you prefer this perfume or the upcoming Love Etc...by The Body Shop. A bit more up-market, you will have further the option of an In The Mood for Love by Gianfranco Ferre or Idylle by Guerlain which translated into English means Love Affair. JLo is also tapping into our sentimental selves with My Glow (that of fulfilled motherhood). Last spring we had a Love by Nina. This summer there was L'Amoureux by D&G. More subtly put, we also have L'Humaniste by Frapin this autumn that is, the lover of mankind...
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...
Digg This
Stumble
Facebook
Del.icio.us
