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Bottega Veneta EDP is the debut perfume by the luxury Italian brand known for their trademark intrecciato style of leather weaving. This artisanal technique developed in their workshops was reportedly a source of inspiration for the very contruction of the fragrance itself, described as a leather floral chypre. More than leather, it suggests to my mind the idea of luxury as conveyed by leather. This displacement of meaning gives a much more immaterial leather composition than one might have expected at first. Here, the leather accord is mainly used to express refinement and to some extent, a seach for the absolute behind it. Leather, which is after all a beast skin, appears almost like a pretext, a passing embodiment of this spiritual quest. The perfumer who composed the fragrance, Michel Almairac of Robertet, seems to have wanted to dematerialize leather to the maximum possible effect of it, while still being able to recognize the material.The olfactive continuum goes from leather to skin, into peach skin, into angels' skin, and even becomes nearly preternaturally airy...
Continue reading "Bottega Veneta Eau de Parfum: Ethereal Leather as a Sign of Luxury (2011) {Perfume Review & Musings}" »
 Violet Blonde is the latest opus by fashion designer and movie director Tom Ford displayed in his more mainstream collection recognizable at-a-glance thanks to the ribbed, flask-like flacons which distinguish themselves from the apothecary-style bottles of his more exclusive, high-end boutique offerings.
The name of the new fragrance is just great. It mixes glamor, beauty and creative perfumery references while calling attention in the advert to a femme fatale with strange tastes, personified by model Lara Stone. Like for Black Orchid, the story of the scent is at least visually speaking a revisit of the noir atmosphere of the sensual and sensational crime scenes of the golden age of Hollywood in the 1940s. As one can see, the Violet Blonde woman is lying in a bed of violets rather than standing up. For some reason that his psychotherapist can better help him sort out, Tom Ford seems to prefer to see static, almost corpse-like women lying on the ground in virtually all of his ads, from Opium to Black Orchid and Tom Ford for Men...
Continue reading "Tom Ford Violet Blonde (2011): The Return of the Violent Neo-Muscadin Perfume {Fragrance Review & Musings}" »
 Phoenix is the debut fragrance by Keith Urban. The Long Hot Summer singer told USA Today that one of his sources of inspiration was his father, a drummer in New Zealand, about whom he said, "He was quite an aesthete. He always smelled good and had good clothes. He had an appreciation for the senses."
Apparently it's a family tradition because fans casually gush about how good the singer smells backstage, even going as far as locking the shirts he touched and imprinted with his scent in Ziplock bags. Amazingly, people don't say they want to listen to his music again, no, they want to smell him again...
Continue reading "Keith Urban Phoenix (2011): Edgy, Complex Cowboy Cologne {Fragrance Review} {Celebrity Scent} {Men's Cologne}" »
 Smelling Juniper Sling by Penhaligon's at first is like inhaling the vapors of a London Dry Gin followed by the fruitier accents of Orange Brandy. There you have your sling as it ought to be: a sweet citrusy gin. What lets you know this is no cocktail but a perfume are two clues: it soon smells like a sottish version of an Eau de Cologne and there is an ambergris-cedar-y base which appears fast on the heels of the initial accord... and that blend has yet to be integrated into an index of cocktail recipes.
As I noted earlier on, Juniper Sling marks the first foray of perfumer Olivier Cresp of fragrance company Firmenich into the more culturally biased atmosphere of niche perfumery. Why did the nose change his mind about designing for the cognoscenti rather than the cognoscenti plus the everyman, is a question that would need to be put to him. Meanwhile, one can well ask oneself how did Olivier Cresp approach the new enterprise?...
Continue reading "Penhaligon's Juniper Sling (2011): Paradoxical Minimalist Gourmand {Perfume Review & Musings}" »
 The latest perfume to come from Kenzo is Madly Kenzo!
What is so madly Kenzo about it? It seems that it is madly Japanese and madly interesting, and also madly Kenzo. The fragrance was composed by perfumer Aurélien Guichard for whom the only constraint stated in the brief was to create something which does not exist. The perfumer has shown that he is capable of being both a quirky mind (Bond No.9 Chinatown) and an empathetic listener to a brand's needs, codes and history (Robert Piguet reveals his curatorial leanings.) With Madly Kenzo! the nose seems to have melded both orientations. The result is a jus which is both an embodiment of Japanese minimalism in fashion painted the more lively colors of Kenzo, and a creative rethink of a rose-incense accord....
Continue reading "Kenzo Madly Kenzo! (2011): A Rose-Incense in Imagined Japan {Perfume Review & Musings} {New Fragrance}" »
Valentina is the new, upcoming perfume by Valentino destined to younger women. It is reportedly inspired by Rome and the image of a "modern heiress" who is embodied by model Freja Beha Erichsen photographed by David Sims. She also plays in the commercial directed by Johan Renk. "She sets home in a classical Roman palazzo but there is nothing she likes more than feeling the heart beat of the vivid city of Rome." The story behind the commercial is that Valentina escapes the confines of her gilt-cage life on the day of her 20th birthday to lose herself into the Roman night. Co-created by perfumers Alberto Morillas and Olivier Cresp, The perfume is offered as "an irreverent Italian floral oriental." Its mood is gourmand with its creamy, sweet and savory facets and overall dessert-y feel...
Continue reading "Valentina by Valentino (2011) {Perfume Review & Musings}" »
3 Days of Leather - Day 2 Cuir Fétiche by Maître Parfumeur et Gantier is the upcoming new perfume by the Parisian niche perfumery headed now by Jean Paul Millet Lage. The house was originally founded in 1988 by Jean-François Laporte, the founder of yet another reference name in the world of creative perfumery, L'Artisan Parfumeur...
Continue reading "Maître Parfumeur & Gantier Cuir Fétiche (2011): Jessamy Gloves {Perfume Review & Musings}" »
Burberry Body is one of the most interesting perfume launches to take place this 2011 fall and winter season. And not just because Rosie Huntington-Whiteley is fronting a high-profile advertising campaign which was launched on a global plane. Taking up the challenge of embodying the new Burberry woman, the perfume does so by relying on a note and a myth, the English rose. But the fragrance is very careful to avoid clichés...
Continue reading "Burberry Body (2011): New Rose {Perfume Review & Musings}" »
3 Days of Leather - Day 1 Vince Camuto Eau de Parfum is the debut fragrance of the self-described "fashion footwear and lifestyle designer." The perfume launched exclusively this month on the HSN channel and website. Camuto appeared to promote his signature scent with wife Louise Camuto; she is also the artistic director for the brand. Both were involved in the development of the fragrance through what sounds like a selective process, rather than a perfume development from scratch. One day finally, as Louise Camuto was wearing a new sample unbeknownst to her husband, she provoked an aha reaction in him. Vince Camuto, who had been rejecting mods after mods, that day wondered what that great smell was in the room. They settled on that mod. The scent is presented as a floral chypre and was created by perfumer Steve DeMercado. One can recognize his touch which he brings to several celebrity fragrances, in particular to Queen Latifah and Jessica Simpson. He has a knack for creating sophisticated, warm, gourmands accords thanks to sweets and cocktail-hour inspired notes. They could be too much of a good thing, but they usually manage to convince you that they are not just for soccer moms, but that a lady could wear them in the evening...
Continue reading "Vince Camuto Eau de Parfum (2011) {Perfume Review & Musings}" »
 Green Tea Camellia was introduced last spring and is the latest variation on the celebrated Green Tea by Elizabeth Arden. As summertime wanes with a pinnacle of heat courtesy of the dog days of summer, you might still want to reach for a crisp and dry perfume to revive your senses before seriously thinking about updating your library of scents for the fall.
The charm of Green Tea Camellia is first of all that the new accord is ensconced in an old, familiar one. Green Tea the original, signed by perfumer Francis Kurkdjian, was first launched in August 1999 precisely at this time of the year. It reprised the Calone-laden aquatic accord found in Elizabeth Arden Sunflowers introduced in 1993. It is also an Americanized version of Bulgari Eau Parfumée au Thé Vert created by Jean-Claude Ellena and launched in 1993 in the way that it is a franker, crisper and cleaner rendition of the green-tea accord...
Continue reading "Elizabeth Arden Green Tea Camellia (2011) {Perfume Review & Musings}" »
Kokorico is the latest masculine fragrance by Jean Paul Gaultier due to launch this fall 2011. It benefits from the unmistakable enfant-terrible touch by the couturier known for his unconventional outlook on life and his easy sense of risk-taking. The name behind one of the best-selling men's perfumes in the world, Le Mâle, cannot but be hyper-conscious that the public will expect both a good and challenging scent on all three meaningful levels: the olfactory, visual and story-telling planes. To some extent we get everything that is implicitly promised by the name of JP Gaultier. The name, the ads, the launch party, the bottle, which is great, ensconced in a movie reel box. There is also a "secret drawer" aspect to it: if you turn the flacon sideways, it recreates the famous silhouette of the leotard-wearing Le Mâle in charcoal black. The new cologne itself plays with both more classic and more extreme codes of masculine perfumery. As often with perfume, and in particular fashion-house born perfumery, the touch has to remain elegant and restrained even when expressing manifesto-like ideas. There is no way that a raging bull will be set free in a market destined for wider consumption although paradoxically revolutions are relayed by and do affect the masses. Kokorico is therefore an exercise in balance flirting with the extreme...
Continue reading "Jean Paul Gaultier Kokorico (2011): There was a Cry and then a Silence {Fragrance Review} {Men's Cologne}" »
Le Parfum by Elie Saab is the first fragrance by the fashion designer who readily acknowledges that while he knows what natural smells he prefers, he is more of a neophyte in terms of perfumery. He commented that he found the fragrance industry to be much more industrial than the fashion industry. But Saab sees the addition of fragrance to his portfolio as being essential to his couture house and as supportive of his projects for developing the lifestyle extension of his brand...
Continue reading "Elie Saab Le Parfum (2011): Orange Blossom Goes Couture {Fragrance Review}" »
The whiff that escapes from the burgundy-colored bottle of Mon Parfum Chéri par Camille (My Darling Perfume by Camille), to be soon exclusively launched at Harrods in London on July 1st, 2011, is very much reminiscent of old-school perfumes laden with oakmoss. It smells slightly musty, but in a chic way. Upon spraying the perfume onto the skin, what you get is a different sensation, one which is more iris-y, suede-like. It's a comingling of soft, powdery and root-y iris with sweet Coca-Cola-like amber and mineral, graphite-like, smoky Indonesian patchouli. Musk is present, enveloped by the other notes, never overly of the unbathed persuasion, although it is not clean and white.  The house of Annick Goutal announced the perfume as a reconstitution of an old formula, one that is that of a concrète offered by sensualist French writer Colette (1873 -1954) to the founder of the brand Annick Goutal (1946 -1999). It is a project very much rooted in nostalgia and filial love as the concrète can be seen as a baton passed on from Annick to Camille and back. Camille, the daughter of Annick, wanted to mirror the offering of her mother, the perfume Petite Chérie, in this altogether different fragrance, Mon Parfum Chéri par Camille. The composition is created to "honor the eternal beauty of her mother." There are no links except in names and intention, and perhaps via two fruit notes, pear for the first and plum for the second. Other than that, it is like contrasting two separate worlds of taste: a fresh fruity floral and a woody-floral chypre. And while usually the brand does not hesitate to feature their in-house perfumer Isabelle Doyen, this time Camille insisted on making her signature part of the name of the perfume.
"It all started with a precious present stowed away in their office : a small concrete that the author Colette gave to Annick Goutal. A woody, timeless fragrance that has survided decades with no signs of aging. Camille, obsessed with this unusual fragrance, was drawn back to her childhood memories of Hollywood's wartime movies. Tempting satin. Delicate lace. Actresses and their gloved hands and ruby lips. And a memory of her mother dressing for an evening out." ...
Continue reading "Annick Goutal Mon Parfum Chéri par Camille (2011): The Thickness of Memory & Perfume {Fragrance Review}" »
 Gucci Guilty for Men is the new masculine counterpart to Guilty for Women, which was launched last year. Described as an "intense and individual contemporary fougère" in reality, it further solidifies the fragrance vision of artistic director Frida Giannini who is apparently shamelessly prone to stereotyping and visibly values commercial acumen above all else. If Gucci by Gucci, her debut scent, was already commercial, it had a little something to it. But her perfumes of late - she is the official signature on the Gucci fragrances now - seem only interested in exploring the brand's codes as well as the ones that society is willing to accept without blinking an eye as they spray on cologne molecules in the morning. We will blink a bit for them here. Giannini is no moralist, it appears, preferring to sing to the chorus of well-entrenched prejudices, in particular the ones regarding gender roles. It all translates into a perfume to fit that self-soothing ethos.
 This is why it is not a problem for her to say things like,
"Everyone is in love with the Gucci Guilty man. He is a risk-taker, a thrill-seeker, yet he always remains sensitive to a woman's desires." Then she tries to top that by adding, "He [the Gucci Guilty man] embodies these desires." And finally, the climax, "Men yearn to be him, women to be his." The Gucci Guilty man, you would probably not wish to meet in real life, if given a choice. It is therefore amusing to watch the seductive dance of the brand presenting him as the epitome of irresistible charm, for the ages. "Young, fearless, with impeccable taste, the wearer of Gucci Guilty for Him is a hero for our age - exuding charisma and more than a little dangerous. His life may be under his control, but he refuses to exert any restraints over his passions. The spirit of hedonism that this unleashes is intoxicating. His power resides in knowing that power is a game, and he is ready to play this game to the full when he meets his female match....
Continue reading "Gucci Guilty for Men (2011): Eau de Boring Bad Boy {Fragrance Review} {Men's Cologne}" »
Last year, Parfums de Nicolaï released a new perfume dedicated to the heliotrope flower baptized Kiss Me Tender. While not totally absent from perfumery, it is not one of the most popular floral notes to be experienced today. Treated in a certain manner, it can come across as a revivalist note hailing from the 19th century and Belle Epoque era. Perfumer Patricia de Nicolaï decided to take a floral scent often perceived as child-like thanks to its fluffly, sweet and regressive gourmand nuances and turned it into a more challenging and difficult scent, making it come of age and enter the realm of the complex soliflore...
Continue reading "Parfums de Nicolaï Kiss Me Tender (2010): Complex Heliotrope Soliflore {Fragrance Review}" »
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Fin O'Suilleabhain on
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A Funny Post About Scented Candles {Fragrant Reading}
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Dance with Givenchy (2010) {New Perfume}
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Bint el Sudan, The Other, African Chanel No.5: Interview with Nick Evans of International Flavors & Fragrances, Inc. {Perfume Q & A - The Scents of Africa}
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