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Currently I am working on a book. Je travaille à l'écriture d'un livre. Featured Best Rose Fragrances for Valentine's Day: The 2012 Edition Latest Fragrance Review American Beauty Beloved Red Rose Fragrance Essays Bint el Sudan, The Other, African Chanel No.5 - Interview with Nick Evans of IFF Smelling Tommy Girl Now: When the 1990s Smell Like The 1940s White Accords in Perfumery: So Long The 70s Reviews of New Perfumes
Isabel Derroisné Eclat Eternel Parfum d'Empire Azemour Les Orangers Les Parfums de Rosine Glam Rose Clinique Aromatics Elixir Perfumer's Reserve 6 New Celebrity Fragrances to Try Out this Fall The Body Shop White Musk Libertine Cartier L'Heure Convoitée (English Version) Cartier L'Heure Convoitée (French Version) Maître Parfumeur et Gantier Cuir Fétiche Thierry Mugler Angel with Bitter Cocoa Powder Annick Goutal Mon Parfum Chéri From the Archives Reviews of Past Fragrance Launches First Impressions of the Thierry Mugler Coffret Based on the Novel by Süskind. |
Perfume Review & Musings Archive Page 16 of 24 • 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 May 30, 2007Liberté by Cacharel {Perfume Review & Musings} {New Perfume}
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May 29, 2007Fleurs de Sel by Miller Harris {Perfume Review & Musings} {New Perfume} Fleurs de Sel (Flowers of Salt, from "fleur de sel", "the best part of the salt") by Miller Harris is the latest creation by Lyn Harris. It is part of the Nouvelle Edition collection of more "unique and exclusive fragrances" from the house. We are told that it was inspired by a village in Brittany called Batz-Sur-Mer where the perfumer owns a vacation home and has spent some of the happiest moments in her life. The poetic title for the perfume, Fleurs de Sel, invited some daydreaming about wild flowers growing in an unruly fashion by the salt marshes of a little corner in Brittany. In reality, the scent surprises in two senses. First, it seems closer in spirit to two recent creations by Chanel, namely 31, Rue Cambon and No 18, than to a familiar haunt by the sea. And interestingly enough, Miller Harris specifies that “This fragrance was created and finalised in Batz sur Mer, Summer 2006”, in case we had any doubts about the originality of the composition and its use of the painting-in-the-field Impressionistic technique. Second, the scent is closer to a warm oriental than to a marine, airy scent, an effect that is actually advertised by the house itself as it describes it as "deeply sensual and earthy". The interpretation of a northerly remote sea-side village is therefore less than literal. Again, if one expected a realistic rendition of a bucolic spot in wind-battered Brittany, one will not find it. It seems rather that Fleurs de Sel is trendy and strongly derivative and inscribes itself in the neo-chypre movement, the one illustrated recently by Serge Lutens Chypre Rouge, but even more closely and recently by Jacques Polge for Chanel. A common source of supply might explain the similarities with the latter's works......
Picture of Batz-Sur-Mer by Tikipoof
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May 28, 2007Fahrenheit 32 by Dior {Perfume Review & Musings} {Men's Cologne}
Nearly 20 years after the introduction of the now classic Fahrenheit, in 1988, and several summer limited editions later, Dior has struck again, coming up once more with an unconventional men’s perfume playing with gender boundaries through the uninhibited showcasing of a central floral bouquet enhanced by salicylates, which are used to create a blooming effect. This time, like for Jean-Paul Gaultier Fleur du Mâle in 2007, it is based on orange blossom. Both the Fahrenheit and Mâle series skillfully display crossover qualities that make them easy to adopt by women......  Photo of iris glass flowers at the Harvard Museum of Natural History by cf071
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May 24, 2007Encens et Bubblegum By Etat Libre D'Orange {Perfume Review & Musings}
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May 22, 2007Belle En Rykiel {Perfume Review & Musings} {New Perfume} Photo of the Café de Flore in Saint-Germain-Des-Prés by Alex Segre Belle en Rykiel (Beautiful In Rykiel) by fashion brand Sonia Rykiel was introduced in 2006 becoming more widely distributed now in the spring of 2007. The perfume was created by nose Jean-Pierre Béthouart of Firmenich (Givenchy Ange ou Démon, with Olivier Cresp, Smiley, Caron Parfum Sacré, Boucheron...) and the flacon was designed by Thierry de Baschmakoff. The original idea for the fragrance was proposed by Nathalie Rykiel, the daughter of fashion brand founder and designer Sonia Rykiel, who wanted to create a scent inspired by the well-known archetypal passage from the fairy tale Snow White in which the queen asks her magical mirror: who is the fairest of them all is? Every little girl's dream is to be that crowning beauty is the assumption for the fragrance idea. The polished reflecting surfaces of the flacon in this manner are designed after the idea of a mirror while suggesting with its lines the signature soft pillowy textures of the Sonia Rykiel collections. Nathalie Rykiel also added that the new perfume is "very Saint-Germain-Des-Prés."......  Continue reading "Belle En Rykiel {Perfume Review & Musings} {New Perfume}" »
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May 21, 2007Encens et Lavande by Serge Lutens {Perfume Review & Musings} Encens et Lavande (Incense and Lavender) was introduced in 1996 in the collection "Les Eaux Anciennes" (Ancient Eaus) part of the exclusive, non-export line of perfumes by - rather, one should say in a standard fashion where the visionary from Marrakech is concerned, dreamt by - Serge Lutens. Like most of the fragrances from Palais Royal-Shiseido it was created in collaboration with perfumer Christopher Sheldrake. The official description for the scent is terse, listing four main notes: incense, lavender, vegetal amber, and clary sage. This initial description suits to some extent the austere character of a scent whose only concession to worldly pleasures is to smell elegant.......  Continue reading "Encens et Lavande by Serge Lutens {Perfume Review & Musings}" »
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May 15, 2007Le Temps D'Une Fête by Parfums de Nicolaï {Perfume Review & Musings} {New Perfume}
Le Temps d'Une Fête (The Time of a Celebration) smells like a spring perfume that would have been composed in the depth of winter. It combines the effervescence of green sappy notes with a deeper base composed of the stillness of a snowy landscape, the warmth of a burning fire in the hearth, and heavy velvet curtains hanging under very tall cold ceilings in an anciently built stone manor. The result is unusual on a certain level, making one think of a green fur scent. It could be the scent of a woman naked under a mink fur coat taking a stroll barefoot in the early dewy morning of a spring day in her park. She walks towards the edge of a small wood and decides to rest and then falls into contemplation as the green incense-y notes of the perfume call her mind to mirror their tranquility. Unfortunately, the more poetic, vital, and contemplative aspects of this perfume slowly fade into the less colorful region of, dare we say so, intellectual boredom.......
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May 8, 2007Don't Get Me Wrong Baby, I Don't Swallow by Etat Libre D'Orange {Perfume Review & Musings} {New Perfume}  
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May 7, 2007Passion Brésil by Esteban {Perfume Review & Musings} {New Perfume} Passion Brésil is the latest fragrance by Esteban in the Le Bain collection geared towards the pleasures of scented bathing rituals. It has top notes of bergamot and yellow fruits. Heart notes are coffee blossom, violet, and rose. Base notes are soft woods and musk. The perfume starts with a pronounced fruity accord on an amberey base with some initial nuances of fermented alcohol and nail polish. As the scent progresses it becomes more green and flowery. So far, the nose is not especially stimulated by the recognition of a rather standard fruity-floral concoction. There is a just a hint of something less pretty that is a little rough hewn and raw, which smells more intriguing and promising. The jus deepens, feels a bit more complex with warm resinous and woody accents......  Continue reading "Passion Brésil by Esteban {Perfume Review & Musings} {New Perfume}" »
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May 2, 2007Rose Essentielle by Bulgari {Perfume Review & Musings}
As the summer approaches I want to retain the mood of spring and crave freshness and dewiness more than at the end of winter when all one can think of is about the forthcoming warmer days. As the temperature heats up I anticipate some of the more scorching days of summer and realize that I want to cultivate a freshness that is precisely that of spring, not that of winter nor of summer's cooler days. Perfumes help us cultivate the moment and turn the wheel of time a little. Rose Essentielle by Bulgari feels just right for today's purpose of slowing down the advance of the season and put back the arm of the clock to that position in earlier spring when the new chilliness was too close to the rough cold to be fully appreciated. Especially in New England where temperatures can swing from one extreme to the other in record time, fragrances may prove helpful in making one not feel entirely deprived of these more subtle-feeling days.........  Continue reading "Rose Essentielle by Bulgari {Perfume Review & Musings}" »
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April 29, 2007Coney Island by Bond No 9 {Perfume Review & Musings} {New Perfume} Coney Island is the upcoming new release by Bond no9 which will be available from June 1st with pre-orders ready to be taken on May 15. It is the 29th addition to their collection and like The Hamptons and Fire Island, it is a fragrance with a summery sea resort theme. Coney Island takes the marine motif and brings to it a gourmand and fruity twist together with the showcasing of a savory and boozey accord of Margarita. The latter alludes to the relaxing image of a cocktail sipped on the beach and at the same time is the only perceptible reference to the sense of excess that seemed to inhabit that locale, at least in its heydays.  There are several Coney Islands and obviously the fragrance wishes to support the idea of the gentrification of the resort rather than allude to the mounds of hot dogs, knishes and the musky mingling of a million bodies, as could be experienced on Sundays from the 1920s onwards when the working class rushed to its shore thanks to the newly constructed subway in an era that came to be known as the Nickel Empire. Artists were so struck by the hard-to-fathom over-population of its beachfront that it became a common theme in paintings of Coney Island. If at other times, Coney Island served as the backdrop of a crime scene in noir movies where its lack of measure translated into an atmosphere flickering with too many lights, resounding with too many people and their screams hesitating between delight and terror all gorged with street food, an atmosphere condusive to the covering up of a silent shady murder, Coney Island the fragrance is the untainted version of its sinful unruly sides. There is even redemption in the ultimate message of distinction and exquisiteness it distillates.......  Continue reading "Coney Island by Bond No 9 {Perfume Review & Musings} {New Perfume}" »
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April 24, 2007Tom Ford Private Blend: An Overview {Perfume Review & Musings} {New Perfumes} The scents are described as perfumes constructed around a main note folded into secondary notes. In this manner and despite the richness of their textures the perfumes are not particularly complex. They offer dense, heavily textured sensations most of the time, but not necessarily deep and multi-layered in the longer term. The notes themselves have a certain depth - they are fleshy, often opulent -but the structures of the perfumes are rather straightforward. Often one gets an opening stage as discrete as the blasting of a police siren on an empty Sunday morning street followed by some relinquishing, a renewed, often invasive presence, and then a clean-shaved impression of a drydown. A line of continuity with Black Orchid is apparent as the concept of a sub-genre of dark tropical juices with slightly nefarious accents endures, meanders into new territories and draws a geographical map of Tom Ford's desires and obsessions. "It's rare that I like a very light floral," he says. "I'm rarely drawn to roses, for example. I'm more a tuberose, gardenia, jasmine, sort of deeper, sort of heady ... heady ... heady...."..........  Continue reading "Tom Ford Private Blend: An Overview {Perfume Review & Musings} {New Perfumes}" »
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April 21, 2007Iris Poudre by Pierre Bourdon for Frederic Malle Editions de Parfums {Perfume Review & Musings}
Iris Poudre (Powdery Iris) starts with a little olfactory shock: the name prepared you to experience a riot of powder, instead you are struck by the luminosity of the fragrance and associate two main notes, iris and aldehydes. The powderiness however is there but its presence is subtle enough to be felt more as an abstraction - powderiness - than a reality - powder. Instead of having the powderiness titillate your nose as all obvious interpretations of the dustiness of iris do, in this case it is present but as if it were far in the distance like a mist hanging behind a line of dark trees in the countryside. Iris Poudre is an ultra sophisticated rendition of iris, one that both accomodates its rustic references and its more elegant aspects, pulling it firmly in the direction of the latter. If Iris Silver Mist by Maurice Roucel for Serge Lutens finally gives away its rustic character underneath its elegant development, Iris Poudre considers it from the start but keeps it at a distance....... 
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April 12, 2007Hypnôse Homme by Lancôme: Fronted by Clive Owen {Perfume Review & Musings} {New Perfume} {Men's Cologne}
Hypnôse Homme is the latest release by Lancôme meant to be, in advertising terms essentially, the masculine flanker to Hypnôse Femme. British actor Clive Owen is the face for the fragrance bringing his well-cultivated rugged good looks to the representation of classic masculinity that the perfume stands for. His hand over the flacon, mimicking that of the feminine model for Hypnôse Femme (Daria Werbowy), seems more docile and sedate than one would wish for and dampens a bit, in my view, the sought-after image of a magnetic virile man. That is that it seems to me that the brand-recognition marketing effort comes in the way of the unadulterated perception of a man that "...embodies a certain hypnotic charm. With a flick of a smile and lift of a brow, he hints at mysteries." The perfume was created by nose Maurice Roucel of Symrise who said of Hypnôse Homme that "it's both modern and quite classic," adding "The idea was to have something flesh [sic], something watery on top and fiery in the dry-down,". An English touch in homage to Clive Owen is conveyed by a lavender note. But Owen himself confessed "...that the formula for Hypnose Homme was already in place when he arrived on the project." The personality of the scent is both conservative and sensual. There is nothing outwardly very original here, but a true sensual presence and an appreciation of rich sophisticated materials...... 
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April 9, 2007Reflection Pour Femme & Reflection Pour Homme by Amouage {Perfume Review & Musings} {New Perfumes} Reflection Pour Femme and Reflection Pour Homme are the latest creations by Amouage, a perfume house well-known for its image of luxury and the exceptional quality of their products. The Amouage perfumes seem to consistently offer a certain idea of polished cosmopolitan urbane and classic luxury but contrasted at the same time with the slightly unruly naturalness stemming from the sense of excess found in the opulence of their fragrance compositions. Luxury as an ideal of quality of life and luxury as lived experience are adequately expressed together, not one feeling lagging behind the other as can happen sometimes (See Fleur du Mâle). The fragrances made by Amouage offer a very sophisticated style yet also seem very close to the natural world, the latter aspect to the point where one is ready to ascribe an aromatherapeutic value to them. The scents add not just an element of olfactory beauty during one's day, as other perfumes do, but at night, they reveal an unknown nocturnal influence in their capacity to make one dream the most harmonious dreams. In this manner, they seem to unconsciously promote a sense of peace as they balance out one's oniric universe (frankincense?)...... 
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