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ABC's daytime drama, All My Children, is turning a soap opera into a serialized perfume ad copy and a fragrance, Charm!, into a permanent advertising jingle for its show. To add to the emotional quotient, a romance novel also entitled Charm! All My Children pops out of the screen and can become yours too for the asking. Both the perfume and the novel are launched by a fictional character in the series, Kendall Hart played by Alicia Minshew, who is at the head of a cosmetics company and in the throes of developing a scent while in need of expressing her angst on the white page, "Avery Wilkins is in her prime. She's 30 years old, living in Manhattan, beautiful, smart, and the head of her own cosmetics company, Flair. But her enviable exterior hides deep heartache and painful secrets. Determined to launch a successful perfume, and hopeful that her relationship with handsome and supportive Marcus is getting serious, Avery is chasing her dreams--and running from her traumatic past." Believe it or not, it is on the best-seller list of the New York Times, at # 15. More of the same ragoût here...
Continue reading "All My Children Charm! (2008) {New Perfume} {Celebrity Fragrance}" »
As each year, Guerlain releases a set of two Aqua Allegoria perfumes to usher in the summer. This collection of scents established in 1999 wishes to explore in a less formal setting materials and main accords - of two notes usually - while elaborating upon the idea of freshness by tapping each time into different tonalities, shades and meanings of the notion of freshness. Jean-Paul Guerlain who composed Figue-Iris this year has said that he is personally very much interested in this sensation as conveyed by perfumery. Laurier-Réglisse and Figue-Iris are the two new odes to pristine, more transparent impressions or their indirect suggestions in 2008. We will review Laurier-Réglisse separately. Figue-Iris While it is still spring now, smelling the new Figue-Iris made the days of summer suddenly magically appear out of thin air like images projected by an invisible movie projector with no silver screen in sight. If one can sometimes judge perfumes as art-for-art, at other times it is also relevant to evaluate them as wonderful successful magician's tricks, examples of the art of the illusionist or alternatively, little scintillating nuggets of fool's gold that make you believe in and crave for the reality suggested by the illusion. Figue-Iris creates an exquisite sense of longing for summer......
Continue reading "Guerlain Figue-Iris (2008) {Perfume Review} {New Fragrance}" »
 Caron will launch a lavender eau de cologne in May 2008 called Les Plus Belles Lavandes de Caron (The Most Beautiful Lavenders by Caron). It was composed by in-house perfumer Richard Fraysse who took inspiration from the classic Caron Pour Un Homme originally created by Ernest Daltroff in 1934.....
Continue reading "Caron Les Plus Belles Lavandes de Caron (2008) {New Perfume}" »
Sycomore is the latest composition by perfumers Jacques Polge and Christopher Sheldrake appearing in the collection Les Exclusifs by Chanel, which purports to offer more elaborate works of perfumery utilizing finer ingredients and proposing more delicate art-pieces for the connoisseur.
The fragrance is also a new take on an old idea for the house of Chanel, which remains tradition-bound in order to preserve the spirit of Mademoiselle Chanel since an initial Sycomore perfume was launched in 1930 that aimed to be seemingly this contradictory object: an uncluttered woody perfume for women supporting an overall baroque interpretation. In Michael Edwards, Perfume Legends, Jacques Polge is reported to have characterized both Bois des Iles (1924) and Sycomore (1930) as baroque pieces. The old perfume Sycomore then very interestingly already provided inspiration to him for the creation of Coco as one of two perfect fragrance embodiments of what he saw to be the lost style of Coco Chanel, now seen predominantly through the prism of her clothes. That lost side of Chanel was her less-well known predilection for the complicated chinoiseries and opulence of gold-leaf work as revealed by her Rue Cambon apartment to the in-house perfumer who explained that he wanted to absorb her influence by mediating in-situ about her taste. Admittedly though, Chanel's taste for baroque opulence and excess is more clearly apparent in her accessories, jewelry in particular.
It is therefore also the second attempt at least on the part of Polge to recapture some of the soul of the original Sycomore, but it seems going in a new interpretive direction, more towards the idea of showcasing pure woods, although a baroque hint is present as well.
More recently, Jacques Polge is reported to have wanted to concentrate solely on vetiver (Vetiveria Zizanoïde) and its natural facets this time. Despite the reported express intention not to see the vetiver be overtaken by other facets (see previous post), it seems that the incense-y facet in Sycomore is almost as equally important as the vetiver one, an already smoky varietal here.
Sycomore is a beautiful, even stunning wood and incense composition that manages to awaken the combined evocative powers of vetiver and whirling incense, their decidedly exotic association in this case, while offering itself at the same time as an oh!-so-French study in ideals of understated refinement and elegance. A little baroque flourish is discreetly inserted in the signature of the perfume as an homage paid to the spirit of the Grande Mademoiselle, she who instinctively knew how to embrace the contrasted purity of monastic lines and the golds of aristocratic ostentation and excesses to feel complete. You are tempted also to recognize the influence of perfumer Christopher Sheldrake in this discreet exotic touch.
The perfume conveys its, if you will, French style or Chanel world-view through its intuition for pure lines - like a French window, a French garden - in its sense of refined, controlled, balanced and clear, Cartesian elegance. At the same time there is to be found a sense of Baudelairean voyage to the perfume, but without that hint of opiate-laden, heavy voluptuousness found in the weight of velvet curtains or sensual women's manes as populate that universe. Something airy and pure traverses Sycomore, suggesting the original spiritual, meditative qualities of burning incense and smoke (smoky woods) while alluding to a quiet, reserved and polite sense of mysticism......
Continue reading "Chanel Sycomore (2008) {Perfume Review} {New Fragrance}" »
Cattier, a cosmetics brand established in 1968 and specializing in natural products derived from organic agriculture have launched a new line of perfumes which includes 6 different scents, which are bio-certified (see explanation below).
They are: Eau Boisée (cedar, patchouli, sandalwood), Eau de Mai (rose, ylang, lavender), Eau du Matin (mandarin, mint, sweet lime), Eau Champêtre (bergamot, geranium, patchouli), Eau de Provence (lavender, geranium, petitgrain), and Eau du Verger (orange, cardamom, geranium).....
Continue reading "Cattier Bio-Certified Line of Perfumes (2008) {New Fragrances} {Green Products}" »
Annick Goutal have released a fourth perfume in their new collection Les Orientalistes. After Ambre Fétiche, Myrrhe Ardente, and Encens Flamboyant, the new fragrance is and ode to yet another mystical and sensual ingredient from the East, musk, and is called Musc Nomade. The scent derives its inspiration from Camille Goutal and Isabelle Doyen's impressions of the substance as they inhaled it from the hair of Qatar princesses who are customers of theirs, as they are in the habit of perfuming themselves with a blend of musk powder, rose essence, mixed with lingering traces of oud burned to scent their interiors.....
Continue reading "Annick Goutal Musc Nomade (2008) {New Fragrance}" »
To celebrate its 150th anniversary, the French stationery brand Clairefontaine used by generations of dutiful pupils including this one, will launch a limited-edition perfume called L'Eau Si Belle. It is named after a quote from a famous old ditty entitled A La Claire Fontaine, which also serves as the inspiration for the brand's logo representing a woman with flowing hair pouring water from a vase.....
Continue reading "Clairefontaine L'Eau Si Belle (2008) {New Perfume}" »
Parfumerie Générale have released a new opus this spring entitled L'Eau Guerrière (Warlike Eau). It comes not long after Louanges Profanes introduced in February 2008. The scent is described as a woody fresh and animalistic perfume that is "brutal, modern, and devastating"- "brutale, moderne, ravageuse"......
Continue reading "Parfumerie Générale L'Eau Guerrière (2008) {New Fragrance}" »
Lancôme is issuing a new perfume this spring called Peut-Être (Maybe), which is a re-interpretation of their original fragrance bearing the same name, initially introduced in 1937.....
Continue reading "Lancôme Peut-Etre (2008) {New Perfume}" »
 Demeter Fragrance Library is launching a new scent in a few days called Frozen Margarita inspired by the Margarita cocktail: 3 parts Tequila, 2 parts triple sec, and 1 part fresh lime juice. No sugar.
"It is fresh, crisp, cool and full of fresh lime-citrus - an escape from the mundane, anytime and anywhere."
Available for $ 20 and $39, 50. Also, in 1/2 oz. Humongous Mini sizes for $ 5.
Thierry Mugler AngelMen Pure Coffee is a new interpretation of Angel Men launched in 1996, four years after the original women's Angel which revolutionized our perception of the seductive oriental fragrance by pulling all the stops on extreme edible sensations such as chocolate, honey, and caramel but darkened and turned into a dusky-voiced femme fatale thanks to indomitable notes of patchouli. Shalimar had met its match in gourmand and alluring shock-value nearly seventy years later. One can well imagine that smelling the overdose of vanilla in Shalimar in the 1920s when Vanillin was but an unfamiliar sensation in the world of fragrances must have been the equivalent of inhaling Angel in the 1992 and finding it curiously voluptuous, intense, and almost edible.....
Continue reading "Thierry Mugler AngelMen Pure Coffee (2008) {Perfume Review} {Men's Cologne} {New Fragrance}" »
Fashion brand Izod is launching a new men's signature fragrance called Izod, targeting the 18-35 year-old market. For a month, it will be sold exclusively at Nordstrom......
Continue reading "Izod Fragrance (2008) {New Perfume} {Men's Cologne}" »
Mac Fafi meets and cross-breeds with Isabela Capeto while tapping into Coty's early tradition of novelty fragrances. Add a pinch of Avon flair too. Then also note the pluri-ethnic feel, with the advert featuring a blond model with blue eyes with a discreet Geisha look and Harajuku fashion-sense, as references to Japanese culture. But there is more. Singer Gwen Stefani is partnering up once more with Coty to launch this time a line of 5 new fragrances called Harajuku Lovers inspired both by her personal interest in Japanese pop culture and street fashion, as well as her perceptions of her 4 back-up singers in real life. The five new perfumes are christened Love, Lil' Angel, Music, Baby after the stage-names of her back-up "Harajuku Girls", and G for Gwen Stefani herself although she has purposefully decided not to appear on the adverts for the collection. The real names of the Harajuku girls are Maya Chino, Jennifer Kita, Rino Nakasone, and Mayuko Kitayama. You can find more fun paraphernalia about them on the Harajuku Lovers site...
Continue reading "Gwen Stefani Harajuku Lovers: Going The Way of Novelty (2008) {New Fragrances} {Celebrity Perfumes}" »
Italian niche perfume brand Eau d'Italie, whose line of fragrances is inspired by the famous luxury hotel Le Sirenuse, will launch a new opus titled Magnolia Romana. It follows Eau d'Italie, Bois d'Ombrie, Sienne l'Hiver, and Paestum Rose.
The new scent aims to capture the atmosphere of a place, "the romantic Villa Borghese. A place where the sun filters through rows of tall Magnolia trees that extend their branches across the sky, gently shading the centuries-old white marble statues. Where the air is thinly veiled with a warm softness created by the creamy-white Magnolia flowers that gently open their petals and release their generous fragrance.".......
Continue reading "Eau d'Italie Magnolia Romana (2008) {New Fragrance}" »
Naturelle by Yves Rocher is said to have been created for those women who are "always 20 years old in their heads". The new scent, which launches in April of 2008 in France, is described as a green fruity-floral which is fresh and easy-to-live-in. The perfume was composed by Michel Girard from Givaudan offering sparkling, spring-like notes of citruses, crunchy green apple, Tagete....
Continue reading "Yves Rocher Naturelle (2008) {New Perfume}" »
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