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 Cellophane was invented in 1908 by Swiss chemist Jacques Brandenberger. The new term was coined as a contraction of "cellulose" and "diaphanous", transparency being one of its chief characteristics. If transparency is not a new effect in perfumery, the reference to the material cellophane is. Cellophane is used to keep food, but also flowers, fresh, and sometimes, women (certain rituals of beauty include the use of cellophane and olive oil, for example). It is both a functional and a beautifying material when wrapped around a bouquet of flowers, or candies, making them seem more fragile and precious, as if kept under crystal panes or ultra-shiny brittle silk. Its plasticky quality gives it a hard edge and a modernist sense of romanticism once you associate it with flower gifts. Even eroticism if you go farther into the night. There is also a sexual connotation attached to cellophane as it is an erotic inspiration for some to wrap a naked body in this thin, see-through film (the clingging kind often, but not only), which can nevertheless become more opaque as layers are added onto layers. Bondage fetishists make it one of their choice toys, together with latex or leather. But cellophane is special. Perhaps it is the most transgressive of those materials, associating in one stroke memories of cellophaned bread on the kitchen table, decent, flirtatious bouquets of flowers, and a metaphor on nudity. Precisely. Smelling the new Nuit de Cellophane by Serge Lutens one reaches a first conclusion that this work seems to be in its most characteristic aspect a work on the sensuality of floral notes, mostly jasmine, osmanthus, with a certain undercurrent of vanilla-and-magnolia softness, and narcisuss drenched in honey (as in Ozbek by Rifat Ozbek). Followers of Serge Lutens will recognize his palette of colors, his strokes, his self-referential quotes as he opens the boundaries existing between his different perfumes. But to what effect this time?...  Cellophane Show Girls, Rara Avis
Continue reading "Serge Lutens Nuit de Cellophane (2009) {Perfume Review & Musings}" »
 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}" »
 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" »
 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" »
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}" »
 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}" »
 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}" »
 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}" »
 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}" »
 Further news and pictures have now become available regarding the upcoming Un Matin d'Orage by Annick Goutal (A Morning After The Thunderstorm) to be launched in February 2009. As we wrote earlier on, the new composition by Isabelle Doyen and Camille Goutal centers on the evocation of the scents of a luxuriant Japanese garden after a shower. We now learn that Un Matin d'Orage recreates the perception of a gardenia chiaroscuro whose play with light and shadow takes place in a vaporous atmosphere, "Everything is peaceful. In these intangible veils, the bamboos further refine the lines of their shoots, the cherry trees stretch out their branches.
Near the patches of oakmoss, a penetrating scent lingers on in the air. The gardenia reigns majestically in the play of light with shadows. Delicate drops form on the buds; the white flowers sheltered by the emerald-green foliage catch the light on their rounded milky petals. A breeze carries away with it the scent of gardenia enshrouding the garden with its delicate sensuality (our translation)."...
Continue reading "Annick Goutal Un Matin d'Orage (2009): More Information {New Perfume}" »
 The house of Guerlain now owned by LVMH corporation is turning its eyes or rather nostrils to the world of fashion with the launch of a new composition evoking an iconic element of the 20th and now 21st century feminine wardrobe, the little black dress. Guerlain will introduce this new perfume called by the evocative name La Petite Robe Noire (The Little Black Dress) in February of 2009. But precisely, Guerlain was never a fashion house in the midst of a 20th century where the pull of fashion was felt in a major...fashion in the realm of fine fragrances. Chanel No. 5 is the epitome of this by-now-classic association. Therefore it is no coincidence that the little black dress sounds a bit like an idea highjacked from the house of Chanel, that perhaps the latter ought to have come up with themselves, except perhaps that they didn't feel compelled to layer it that thick or obviously. The fact is that Chanel themselves never issued a perfume called after this most Chanel of brainchilds and one can wonder what they will think of this semiotic kidnapping. If on the one hand the little black dress has become public property, rehashed in thousands of guises, on the other hand it still refers to the Chanel universe and they also make perfumes...
Continue reading "Guerlain La Petite Robe Noire (2009): In Need of a Little Fashion Touch Up? {New Perfume}" »
 Lancôme has introduced a new fresh twist on Magnifique, originally released as an Eau de Parfum in September of 2008. The flanker arrives to stave off the summer heat of 2009, or to be worn more casually during the day or at work. As is usual, a slight reformulation will ensue and here it seems that the composition was made to feel somewhat simpler and more linear while offering more of a thirst-quenching quality...
Continue reading "Freshen Up With Lancome Magnifique Eau de Toilette (2009) {New Perfume}" »
French couturier Christian Lacroix is pursuing his partnership with mass-market giant Avon with the launch of a third fragrance in March 2009 called Absynthe following Rouge and Noir.
Inspired by the mythical drink of poets and bohemian artists living in 19th century Paris, it comes in the midst of a renewal of interest for the jade-colored drink as it is now legally available again. In particular, the US is now allowing its commercial distillation since December 2007...
Continue reading "Christian Lacroix Absynthe by Avon (2009): The Green Faerie Is Back {New Perfume}" »
 MDCI Paris (Marchal Design & Créations Indépendantes), an exclusive niche perfume house founded by Claude Marchal which debuted in 2006 with a catalogue of five perfumes created by well-known noses Pierre Bourdon, Stéphanie Bakouche and Francis Kurkdjian will add three new compositions from early 2009. The house is known in particular for its attention to the aesthetics of the perfume flacon and its desire to offer truly luxurious designs. Their bottles are made of crystal and the stoppers represent antique sculptures made out either of biscuit de Limoges or crystal...
Continue reading "MDCI Paris To Launch 3 New Perfumes: Peche Cardinal...(2009) {New Fragrances}" »
 Jennifer Lopez who single-handedly revived the celebrity fragrance market at the beginning of the 21st century, as it had been left somewhat fallow before her is continuing to expand her franchise. A new scent called Sunkissed Glow will be launched in February 2009 in Europe. It belongs to the unofficial Glow collection which started in 2003 with her debut perfume Glow by J. Lo. This was followed by Miami Glow, Love at First Glow, Glow After Dark. It comes more recently after Deseo and Deseo for Men. I personally own three of those in full sizes and can only say positive things about them, in particular I think that the drydown of Glow is simply superior, one of the very best on the market in terms of evolution and unobtrusive, pleasurable tenacity. Love at First Glow I had to buy after realizing how exquisite it smelled on a paper strip left abandoned (well not quite) on my night stand, several days after it had been sprayed on...
Continue reading "Jennifer Lopez Sunkissed Glow (2009) {New Fragrance} {Celebrity Perfume}" »
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