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Maria Casares in Robert Bresson Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne - Vol de Nuit evasion hints at the retro glamor of Parisian ladies wearing oakmoss-laden perfumes
Vol de Nuit Evasion starts with a fairly pungent animalic powdery aldehydic and fruity overture that smells promising. As it develops it becomes slightly sharper and reminiscent also of 31 Rue Cambon by Chanel with its sweetish spicy amber-y body softened by iris, as well as of Chanel no. 18 with its strong emphasis on the fruity tipsy note of Ambrette Seed. The scent further mimics the acrid smell of sweat as it evolves with a woody undertone of oakmoss and slightly marine extravagance of ambergris. At this point one thinks that Vol de Nuit Evasion is an exercise in recapturing the borderline offensive sexual charm of the Parisienne of olden days.....
Vol de Nuit Evasion might have felt a bit thin for an elegant Parisian at the turn of the 20th century used to wearing richer Guerlains, but it might just work out for today's Guerlain woman.
Continue reading "Guerlain Vol de Nuit Evasion (2007) {Perfume Review}" »
First, the news. Estee Lauder, which is one of the best companies at doing both business and keeping in mind the public good, have decided to continue producing a replacement for the beloved - no strike that - the wildly popular Tom Ford Azurée Soleil. As the Tom Ford contract with Estee Lauder expired recently, this was the best move to undertake for legions of fans of the summery oil and skinscent. The new version is called Bronze Goddess after a pre-existing makeup line of the brand. How does it compare to the previous two summer Tom Ford editions? Very well....
Continue reading "Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess Eau Fraîche Skinscent (2008) {Perfume Review} {New Fragrance}" »
With its new perfume Dreaming, Tommy Hilfiger is hoping to reach a slightly more mature cohort of women aged 18-35 than with the Tommy fragrances and colognes, which were aimed more at teenagers. The brand also wishes to offer a more sophisticated image by harking back to old Hollywood and enlisting super model Mona Johansson glamed up as Marilyn Monroe. The new project is at its most creative in its marketing approach to enticing consumers. A special interactive website for the US and Italy has been set up, Dreaming About You, which demonstrates once more the interest in and development of online interactive marketing but going a step further fully explores the dreaming thematic by enlisting a dream specialist, Craig Webb, and opening a dream board called "Dream Confessions" where one can pen down and have one’s dreams interpreted. According to the press release, three dreams a week will be picked and interpreted by the expert. However "For visitors whose dreams are too personal to share with the world, they will be able to use the automated dream interpreter. A special feature in this section, which will also be available on March 17th, allows visitors to receive automated dream interpretations via keywords they submit regarding their dreams, as well as forward their dream interpretation to a friend." The pure parfum version of a Tommy Hilfiger fragrance is also a first for the brand and only that concentration comes with a book that enables you to decipher your dreams.
Hilfiger went as far as commissioning a study on dreams amongst the US population to Harris Interactive. The results offered are short of complex and reflect a surprisingly simplistic consumerist and materialist bent only mitigated by an altruistic orientation. According to this survey,....
Continue reading "Tommy Hilfiger Dreaming (2008) {Perfume Review} {New Fragrance}" »
As previously announced, Ralph Lauren added a new scent to their franchise towards the very end of 2007 with Ralph Wild. The image of the scent is young, hippyish, and revivalist 1970s. The perfume itself is uncomplicated but not too schematic. It is like a teen, laid-back, and Americanized (linear, fresh, unfussy) version of Miss Dior Chérie.
The perfume is a thick, nectar-like fruity-floral, which balances out well the sweet and tart facets of strawberry avoiding the common pitfall of bland candied notes. Its nectar-like texture evokes the feeling of a potion and the potential transfigurative powers of such scents; it is always interesting to observe how a "thick" jammy scent will evolve on the skin as it cannot remain as concentrated as in the bottle.
If you like fresh strawberry jam and always fantasized about being able to replicate its smell on skin, this is as good as it gets. It smells like a jar of Bonne Maman strawberry jam. It is both yummy and sexy.....
Continue reading "Ralph Lauren Ralph Wild (2007) {Perfume Review in a Nutshell}" »
 A Garden By The Beach & The American Dream
In the often decried world of celebrity fragrances, Jennifer Lopez has managed to be both a 21st century trend-setter and standard-bearer of good quality mass-marketed perfumes that aim to please without being condescending to the masses. Balance, prettiness, even beauty, and quality ingredients can be expected from her brand. Deseo continues to keep these values active.
Deseo in terms of semiotics or image is a significant departure from the rest of the Jennifer Lopez franchise as its packaging is unique to the brand, seems to break loose with the amphora-inspired flacons, and the name, for the first time, pays homage to JLo's Hispanic heritage. The bottle was designed by JLo herself together with the Coty Prestige team. Deseo means "desire, wish, dream" or "I desire". From the name to the shape of the flacon, Deseo positions itself as an aspirational perfume. While it is more usual to see aspirational fragrances for the individual, Deseo is clearly an aspirational perfume designed for a whole community, the Hispanic one, with possible identification for the rest of the potential customers through representations of social mobility, general experience of immigration, or the luster associated with celebrity glamour....
Continue reading "Jennifer Lopez Deseo (2008) {Perfume Review} {New Fragrance} {Celebrity Fragrance}" »
Cabaret by Grès was launched in 2002 but did not have the impact it deserved and rather quickly joined the ranks of discounted perfumes. Why did this happen? Instead of being a fragrance much cared about, it is one that one can call "underrated". Without having studied this case, one can assume that a relatively modest budget launch, the fact that it was a chypre creation when chypres were not yet on the rebound, and its mature, distinguished, elegant, somewhat austere, and refined personality all have contributed to some extent to its lack of broad popular appeal.
The advert did read "Cherchez la femme" (look for the woman) and apparently it landed in a market crowded with girls.
The perfume was composed by Michel Almairac. It is a beautifully balanced classic chypre and in it the rose note is never opulent but rather transparent, sparkling, and dry, fusing together with the near-austere spirit of chypre instead of affirming her floralcy. The rose here tinges the perfume and is very delicate making you think of a dry sparkling rosé wine without any literal boozy connotations....
3 iconic cabaret women characters. In the perfume "Cabaret" the cabaret fantasy remains internalized. We have to note that when we think of Lisa Minnelli's character wearing this perfume, the patchouli facet becomes more aggressive and comes to the fore. When we think of the Blue Angel, the perfume becomes rosier. And when we see Satine wearing it, it becomes more powdery. (Images: IMDB)
Continue reading "Grès Cabaret (2002) : An Elegant Rosé Chypre {Perfume Review} {Smell-The-Roses-Till-Valentine's Day - Day 27}" »
The 1996 ad for Aimez-Moi "Love Me - this is just the name of my perfume" from Couleur de Parfum Aimez-Moi by Caron, created by perfumer Dominique Ropion, was first introduced in 1996 and relaunched later in a different packaging (the peppercorn one). It is reported to be a modern adaptation of N'Aimez Que Moi also by the same house, a rose (and sandalwood) perfume that was created in 1917 to coincide with the beginning of World War I and the then felt need to release a memento perfume, one that would be offered as a sign of sworn faithfulness between lovers on the eve of a fateful separation for many. In fact, linking emotions released by perfume with the alleviation of war suffering was an idea that was pursued by Guerlain as well with L’Heure Bleue at around the same time. It was at one point dispatched to soldiers on the front to scent their handkerchiefs and remind them of home and civilization in the midst of barbarity. Who ever said that perfume was superficial and for laughs? It epitomizes civilization, the good and the beautiful even and especially when hope is nearly lost. If the 1918 perfume said in English “Love Only Me”, 78 years later, the message is less dramatic, just intimating a quieter but no less self-assured, “Love Me”......
Continue reading "Caron Aimez-Moi (1996): Buried Roses: Rose & Violet {Perfume Review} {Smell-The-Roses-Till-Valentine's Day Challenge - Day 26} " »
Estee Lauder have released a new bottle packaging for their classic fragrance Youth-Dew released in 1953. They re-edited the bathroom tile blue flacon of the 1950s according to the Estee Lauder website. Advertisings from that era show that actually, the small-waisted bottle was also commercialized in the late 1950s some time after the initial introduction of Youth-Dew as a bath oil and beauty product......
Continue reading "Estee Lauder Youth-Dew Goes Retro Style: New Packaging = Updated Scent? {Fragrance News} {Perfume Review}" »
Jo Malone Red Roses is like a fastidious gardener's dream of a red rose scent. It is the second red-rose composition included in this series after Comme de Garçons Red Series: Rose. Of the two it is the less apparently stylized and the more natural-smelling one. If Comme des Garçons Red Rose appeared to be a hyper-realistic rose in the sense of conveying the impression of being intellectually constructed and painted with progressive, economical little touches, Jo Malone Red Roses just feels as if you had crushed crimson rose petals on your skin in an attempt to release and retain their scent.
The scent evokes the sensation of smelling ripe red roses in a dewy garden in the early hours of the morning. The flowers are fragrant, subtly spicy, crisp and heady as when one is struck by the natural richness of a cut flower scent rather than the headiness of a perfume. The accent here has been put on freshness thanks to the balancing out of the floral, fruity, and metallic nuances of red roses by green sappy ones. The perfume is included in the family of light green florals by the brand and like their other perfumes offers a clean signature......
Continue reading "Jo Malone Red Roses (1996) {Perfume Review} {Smell-The-Roses-Till-Valentine's Day - Day 23}" »
A 1954 ad for "La Rose de Rochas"
This review ought perhaps to go under the heading of "antiquing" as we have only sparse information available at this point on this relatively little known fragrance by Marcel Rochas called Eau de Jeunesse La Rose (Youth Water, The Rose, in that order). It was a find and we decided to include it in our Smell-The-Roses-Till-Valentine's Day Challenge Series.
What we know is that La Rose was created by perfumer-composer Edmond Roudnitska and launched in 1949, the same year Caron released Or et Noir and Rose. The perfumer himself recounts in a 1993 interview published on the site Art et Parfum owned by his son Michel Roudnitska, who is also a perfumer, that it was then the pretext to - we can imagine at least - a lavish launch party that took place at the rose garden of L'Hay-Les-Roses, near Paris. This rose garden was bought in 1894 by Jules Gravereaux and landscaped in 1899 by Edouard André. They claim that it was the first rose garden ever to see the light of day in the Western world, but this is somewhat of an exaggerated claim as Joséphine de Beauharnais is known to have helped found a roseraie or rose garden at the Jardin des Plants in 1805 and was herself the founder of an important rose conservatory at Malmaison. Rose gardens have existed since times ancient. L'Hay-Les-Roses is more prudently characterized sometimes as the first modern rose garden. A view of the rose or greenery theater In 1905, a Théâtre de la Rose or Theater of the Rose was added to the garden that allowed for performances to take place, which contributed to the popularity of this elegant site during the Belle Epoque. The Rose Theater no longer stands as it was demolished in 1970. Edmond Roudnitska recounts that the launch party was accompanied by a music by Henri Sauguet. The bottle is the trademark voluptuous feminine form reported to replicate Mae West's curves. The cap of our bottle appears to be an early plastic, maybe bakelite, with the words Marcel Rochas Paris forming a circle on a pink painted background. The cap is black. The outer packaging was at some point made of a minimalist pink cardboard and at another featured the Rochas lace on a pink background....
Rose garden of L'Hay-Les-Roses today
Continue reading "Rochas La Rose Eau de Jeunesse (1949) {Perfume Review} {Smell-The-Roses-Till-Valentine's Day Challenge - Day 22}" »
Tocca offers a line of more sophisticated scented detergents mirroring their collection of perfumes that is called Laundry Delicate. They are meant to be used for your lingerie, hosiery, cashmeres,... anything delicate really. Florence in particular rests on an accord of rose and orris root.
According to the press fact sheet, it is about, "The sophisticated essence of the old European Garden rose known as Centifolias combined with iris root anchoring the scent." ......
Continue reading "Tocca Laundry Delicate Florence, Orris Rose Fine Fabric Wash {Perfume Review} {Smell-The-Roses-Till-Valentine's Day Challenge - Day 21}" »
L'Or (Gold) by Torrente was released in 2001. It was created by perfumer Jean Jacques for Torrente, a French fashion house that was established in 1969 by Rose Met-Torrente, one of the few women that managed to be at the helm of a couture house. She is also known as Rose or Rosette Lapidus-Met (she is the sister of fashion designer Ted Lapidus). She retired in 2003 after selling her fashion house, and wrote a book of memoirs entitled Le Droit Fil (2005). When L'Or came out in the US in 2002, it was described as being a "nontraditional floral" and a "unique scent" that was expected to "do very well in the U.S. market" (WWD, June 7, 2002). Six years later, one could legitimately wonder at the possibility of retrieving a hidden gem from the discounters. The bottle is conventionally gorgeous; it was created by Herve Van Der Straeten and was clearly seen as a selling point by the brand. The perfume boasts a coffee and rose accord, an intriguing combination that made it worth seeking out for the rose-challenge series. The rose note is either described as being " rose absolute", "rose essence", or "rosebuds"......
Continue reading "Torrente L'Or (2001): Coffee & Roses? {Perfume Review} {Smell-The-Roses-Till-Valentine's Day - Day 19}" »
If there is a rose perfume that embodies the spirit of Valentine's Day in a typical Hallmark-card way that screams "It's Love Day!", that would be 100 % Love by S-Perfume.The style of this rose perfume evokes the glaring obviousness of pop art after the fact; it is like a representation of love made accessible to all - almost cartoonish - and made iconic at the same time by selecting characteristic images of mass culture: the rose, the chocolate, and the good feelings....
Continue reading "S-Perfume 100 % Love (2003, 05, & 07), 100 % Love (More) {Perfume Review} {Smell-The-Roses-Till-Valentine's Day Challenge - Day 18}" »
Rose Kashmirie is the latest Les Parfums de Rosine and as its name indicates, it is inspired by an Oriental theme and the spices of India in particular. The composition is based on a discreetly spicy saffron and rose accord enhanced by green nuances and voluptuously folded into rich ambergris and vanilla. It is a warm oriental rose with fresh notes peeking through discreetly, evocative of both a rose garden in the spring, and wintry snow. The style can be characterized as that of a classical perfume with an updated feel.
The rose is the specialty of Les Parfums de Rosine; it is a flower fascinating to perfumers as it can reveal a number of facets for an aroma that is naturally composed of over 300 fragrant molecules; not all of them have been reproduced but more and more are. Here the rose was made precious, coquettish, like the rouged cheeks of a belle marquise on her face made up with blanc de céruse. But also natural like the vision of a rose orchard. The freshness of the rose is enveloped by a cashmere-like impression as soft as a white shawl...... Saffron flower in the fall with its three filaments of spice
Continue reading "Les Parfums de Rosine Rose Kashmirie - A Wintry Rose {Perfume Review} {Smell-The-Roses-Till-Valentine's Day Challenge - Day 17}" »
Amor Pour Homme by Cacharel was composed by perfumer Sophie Labbé together with Pierre Wargnye in 2006. Thanks to 22 Perfumers in Creation by Clara Molloy, we learn that just like for her other fragrances, the perfumer used a code name to inspire her efforts and in this case it was "Men's rose", in English, that she repeated to herself from time to time to keep her eyes on the prize. Labbé also further explains that when the idea came to her (date unspecified), it was difficult to impose this concept of a floral for men, which literally obsessed her, but that after Dior Pour Homme, which was released in 2005, this concept of a paradoxical fragrance for men based on a flower - a note commonly perceived as being feminine in Western perfumery culture - became much more established. We have to understand that this remark applies essentially to the mainstream market. Thus in 2005, there was an iris for men, in 2006 a rose for men, and in 2007, an orange blossom for men with Fleur du Mâle by Jean-Paul Gaultier.......
Continue reading "Cacharel Amor Pour Homme (2006) "Men's Rose" {Perfume Review} {Men's Cologne} {Smell-The-Roses-Till-Valentine's Day Challenge - Day 13}" »
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