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 Linden Blossoms in CambridgeThinking of Tagore I want to say, "Linden, linden, linden!"; the past few days have been an olfactory feast for linden blossom lovers. First, branches that were usually high-up in the sky have descended towards the sidewalks, escaping the confines of terracotta-colored brick garden walls as if eager to share their bounty; now they have started to reach woman height, then like an eccentric Alexander Mc Queen butterfly hat, but without any opening here to allow for normal vision, they also gradually descended upon my head, willing to coiffe me with their featheriness and ethereal pompoms and finally slapping me in the face as I walked, preferably, underneath them. At that point where the linden tree blossoms and leaves were hovering just above my hair, a cascade of pale green cotton mimicking heavy succulent grapes zeroing in on earth, and maybe before that getting off at a station to tickle the noses of children, it made me stop dead in my tracks. I was suddenly surrounded in the heat by the isolating capsule of a cool sensation smelling of fresh green melon and immediately I recognized it "Un Jardin Après La Mousson!" Then I asked myself, puzzled "who might be wearing Un Jardin Après La Mousson with so much assertiveness?" Nobody but the linden tree apparently; the blossoms were just displaying a hitherto unnoticed facet: an aquatic green melon one, which together with the natural buttery nuance of the flowers made for a sketch of a moment in the development of UJALM. Then of course I asked myself, "Was there any linden in the perfume and I mistook it for a green melon note?"... 
Continue reading "Linden Blossoms in Cambridge {Scented Thoughts - Journal}" »
Isabela Capeto is a Brazilian fashion designer who last year launched her debut signature fragrance, Isabela Capeto. The flacon in the shape of a toy-art logo-like red plastic doll oozes cuteness and hipness. It won a 2007 Worldstar prize for packaging. The perfume itself by Carmita Magalhaes from Mane is much less interesting than anticipated for a project that promised to be a creative one. The composition is reminiscent of a school of predecessors in the woody-spicy category of perfumes. In fact it elicits the general hard-to-grasp idea that the scent feels both familiar and niche, two terms that should never be uttered in the same breath nor in the same sentence in principle for those who live and breathe for niche-perfume discoveries. It creates a much more twisted and subtle effect than when a niche brand copies a mass-marketed perfume, say as in the case of Santa Maria Novella Angels of Florence copying Elizabeth Arden Fifth Avenue, which itself copied...we forget. In the latter case, it only reveals some commercial anxieties. In the first case, it has more of a perverse effect as it copies some of the hallmarks of the - according to common sense - more creative side of perfumery. Here is a good example of how "niche" can come to mean a phenomenon of stereotypical olfactory branding by integrating some signature effects such as "pared-down", "spice-overdose", "photo-realism", "back-from-an-olfactory-trek-from-which-I-brought-back-new-unknown-aromas, except here it is a local flower (Brazilian marshland lily)......
Continue reading "Isabela Capeto by Isabela Capeto (2007): When Niche is Niche-y & Not Much More {Perfume Review} {Scented Thoughts}" »
Le guide du parfum pour elle et lui by Rebecca Veuillet-Gallot is a popular, conveniently sized perfume guide first published in 1995 and last reprinted in 2005. One can only assume that most people in France who are seriously interested in perfume (as in the jus ), its descriptions and history own a copy of it or have read it at the library, especially so since its only alternative in French is the review guide by Luca Turin (1992;1994), which is out of print. We wanted to do a review of it because we almost bypassed it in favor of more copious tomes not expecting to find a tremendous amount of information in the rather slim copy. Once we started reading it, we had to realize that underneath its understated character, it is a wonderfully rich little book that one will go back to, finding new details each time depending on the questions you ask yourself.......
Dust jacket
Continue reading "Le Guide du Parfum by Rebecca Veuillet-Gallot: Book Review {Scented Thoughts} {Fragrant Reading}" »
There is an interesting article in The Earth Times on "sweet fruit and flowers are basis of summer fragrance trends" in terms mostly of interpretive discourse about perfume about how recently fragrances have become distinctive. If we are to follow them, the whole industry has decided to take risks, mainly by overdosing fruity and floral notes in recent compositions and lest this might be considered to be too daring, adding woody notes to counterbalance the audacity of the thought, in some cases like Burberry The Beat. "The new fragrances are not to everyone's taste. That's because the trend is going in the direction of distinct fragrances that don't necessarily appeal to the masses."
The fruity-floral category is probably the most commercial one in the women's market nowadays. One could decide that such fragrances are now de facto the least distinctive category if you just focus on the group itself as a perfume family.....
Continue reading "Power Gourmand Fruity- Florals Are In & What Do They Mean? {The 5th Sense in the News} {Scented Thoughts}" »
Pure White Linen Light Breeze inscribes itself in the direct genealogy of White Linen (1978), which had a Breeze version as early as 1996 and was adapted to contemporary tastes with Pure White Linen in 2006. Like each year, Estee Lauder put out their summer collection of fragrances, which are usually made to smell of-the-season with the addition of fresh notes and dressed in pretty shades and patterns to accent the mood of relaxation. So this year there is also a Pure White Linen Summer Fun. This review is for Light Breeze only which was issued in the beginning of 2008 to herald the early days of spring. By now our representations of what crisp linen smell like - and an immaculately white linen at that - has been heavily codified by a whole school of perfumes that aims to capture the quintessence of clean. Given this constraint and given the simple purposes of such fragrances, it is tricky to assess them beyond the fact that they appropriately seem to deliver the promise of an eternal youth for your white t-shirt. With this type of perfume on, your t-shirt will never age, wrinkle, nor smell bad. No, the Ozonic smell takes over and imparts a permanent jus-showered effect that even clean little babies can only dream of......
Continue reading "Estee Lauder Pure White Linen Light Breeze (2008): Reflections on Clean {Perfume Review} {Scented Thoughts} {Notebook: Fresh & Clean}" »
Some Thoughts on Class-Connoted Smells Around Avon Flower and PetalAt the time that David H. McConnell set up the California Perfume Company (1886-1939) the forerunner to Avon, perfectly desirable perfumes were designated with the term “odors”, a word that has come to be negatively connoted in the contemporary period in the English language. If a “scent” generally smells good today, an “odor” in 2008 mostly does not. This historical semantic shift recently took on a new meaning for us as we smelled the new Avon for Cynthia Rowley duo of perfumes for mothers and daughters called Flower and Petal, which will be issued this year for Mother’s Day. The scents which at first smell pretty in a standard albeit retro way for Flower and in a more interesting, unexpected way for Petal turn out both to reveal some suprisingly frank notes in their base notes. We were so surprised that it felt suddenly like experiencing a time warp and going back to a noisy malodorous street in a Victorian era city (for Flower) and a turn-of the-century Belle Epoque garden (for Petal) where children are playing, running and stopping to catch their breaths covered with summery perspiration. The perfumes at some point smell unnaturally and shockingly natural in a realistic manner..... 
Continue reading "Cynthia Rowley Flower & Petal Part 1: Slumming in Avonland & Encountering Odors, In A Good Way {Notebook: Fresh & Clean}" »
There is an article in the New York Times that attempts to interpret the drop in sales and perfume-wearing in the US which was reported recently by the NPD Group. Article is The Sweet Smell of Nothing Some comments: Interestingly, this exacerbation of invisible social tensions between people who are wearing and smelling perfume in the public space seems to be more characteristic of North America and Canada and has been frequently covered in the press in that region (this specificity was not expounded upon in the article). Taking a step back, one could think that it may be linked to over-sensitization and change of sensibilities as a result of anti-smoking policies in public spaces. Some people have noted that while they did not use to notice cigarette smoking so much twenty or thirty years ago, they have been made to be hyper conscious of the smell today. New social boundaries have been defined where volatiles are concerned and perfume may be logically following suit....
Continue reading "Perfume Tolerance & Consumption Is Down A Notch or Two in the US {The 5th Sense in the News} {Scented Thoughts}" »
If one is to attempt to diagnose the causes behind rose perfumes going officially out of fashion in the course of the 20th century, notwithstanding exceptions such as Tea Rose by Perfumer's Workshop, Trésor by Lancôme, YSL Paris, (Guerlain Nahéma was not a success), one is tempted to turn one's gaze in the direction of Gabrielle Coco Chanel as one possible culprit. Chanel had an enormous influence on the redefining of the woman's silhouette and her self-perception as being modern, updated, dans le vent. Rose as fashion may have well ceased to exist with one of the utterances of Coco Chanel who never felt shy about pronouncing aesthetic diktats. She claimed to hate natural flowers and instead pushed flowers cut out of material. She also pronounced real jewelry to be grotesque and pushed bold, fake costume jewelry. Would you wear real flowers? Ridiculous, so same thing for jewelry, she would snap. If you walk in the streets of Paris today, you can still feel this principle at work. Very few Parisian women wear real jewelry, it is almost considered impolite it seems. It may be both tastefully Republican (egalitarian) and Chanel-esque not to give in to any nouveau-riche foibles. Of course, never mind that a Chanel costume jewelry piece today may cost more than gold jewelry. Never mind.The subtext seems to be that it is much more stylish to wear fake pieces, affirm style rather than money, and hide your heirloom jewelry where it belongs, in the recesses of your jewelry box and your consciousness (you will wear them internally or know that you can). Real flowers in hair or in buttonholes are even more of a rarity as if people might be afraid to suddenly hear the sardonic laughter of Coco Chanel coming out of mouthpieces hidden in some street corners. How ridiculous! Real flowers! Ha, ha, ha! The Chanel police, somehow, has left its imprint and the violet vendors are only occasionally spotted in My Fair Lady.
Roses to her connoted of naturalness, too much so probably to merit her admiration. If you cannot improve on the perfection of the rose, is it really interesting to a creative mind? Chanel No. 5 may well rely on the magic of a superlative Rosa Centifolia cultivated in Grasse in fields reserved for the fashion house, this does not mean that it had not to be fully domesticated and stylized before being deemed suitable and couture.....
Emilienne d'Alençon, one of the inspirations behind Chanel No. 5
Continue reading "Of Gabrielle Coco Chanel & Roses: Chanel No. 5 As The Anti-Rose Scent {Scented Thoughts} {Smell-The-Roses-Till-Valentine's Day Challenge - Day 20}" »
Femme au chapeau bleu, Picasso, 1901 The rose-patchouli-amber accord was particularly popular in 2007 in women's perfumes although it is fair to say that it has always been popular. If a competitive exam topic had been handed down from the skies to the perfumers' community asking them to come up with their own rendition of this accord, it would not have felt any different. To some extent, it all goes back to the agricultural roots of the trade. Just like one might visit an annual agricultural exhibition where the best Camemberts and Charolaises from France are shown and compared, one might be standing in front of shelves with perfumes such as Gucci by Gucci, YSL Elle, Dior Midnight Poison on them and see who got the gold medal of excellence. It is perfectly respectable that perfumes be about the refining of a traditional idea. In this case, originality is partial, and like good perfumes, subtle. Or if you prefer a more palatable comparison brought about by the thought association between Midnight Poison and 'Round Midnight and the idea of circularity, it is like a jazz standard that would be interpreted each time in different, personal, and creative ways.....
 Femme au chapeau bleu, Picasso, 1944
Continue reading "'Round Midnight Poison by Dior {Scented Thoughts} " »
Daniel Craig by Sam Taylor-Wood in Men Crying
Skarb means "treasure" in Polish; it is the name of the first fragrance put out by the niche perfume brand Humiecki and Graef named after the two grandmothers of founders Sebastian Fischenich and Tobias Müksch, Helena Humiecka z Humiecina (1908-2000) and Katharina Graef (1906-2004). There exists here so many networks of meaning on which the existence of this perfume rests that it is worthwhile to try to present a few of them. First the fragrance is said to explicitly refuse the traditional order and hierarchization of notes. Skarb is an attempt to reflect the intricacies of life and history, especially as impacted by National Socialism in Eastern Europe, the points of rejoinder and departure, the memories and emotions that beset and nurtured human lives in that region, into the language of perfumery........ Anschluss Tears
Continue reading "Skarb by Humiecki & Graef (2007): How Men Cry - Part I {Perfume Review & Musings} {Scented Thoughts} {New Fragrance} {Men's Cologne}" »
Paris Hilton in Dadeland Mall, Dec 6, 2007 ©Vespa/Wireimage.com - Do not download without Wireimage's consent
If one has had the good fortune of getting an advance copy of the upcoming book by Chandler Burr entitled The Perfect Scent (release date, Jan 22, 2008) focusing on two case studies of fragrance development in the industry, Un Jardin Sur Le Nil by Hermès and Lovely by Coty, one then gets the full meaning of what "going to Dadeland" might mean when it comes to boosting fragrance sales. Is Paris Hilton visiting Dadeland (and other malls for that matter currently) because she is eager to meet her fans and do a little fieldwork or in anticipation of through-the-roof sales and to thank her fans? Not quite........ Paris Hilton in Dadeland Mall, Dec 6, 2007 ©Vespa/Wireimage.com - Do not download without Wireimage's consent
Continue reading "Paris Hilton Goes To Dadeland {Scented Images} {Scented Thoughts}" »
Three young perfumers from Drom, Pierre Constantin-Guéros, Valérie Garnuch-Mentzel, and Dephine Jelk offer liberal advice on dos and donts to perfume afcionados and attempt to debunk a few myths in passing. Guéros for example advises to overlook the shape of the perfume bottle and says, “You’d be surprised to know that a lot of drugstore perfume companies spend more on the juice,”. He does not believe in the alleged all-transforming power of each individual's body chemistry either, “Unless you eat very spicy food all the time, your body chemistry won’t change a fragrance,” explains Guéros. “That’s a bit of a myth—you’d have to have a trained nose to be able to distinguish how a scent smells differently on two people.”........
Continue reading "Perfume Advice From The Noses: Yay for Drugstore Fragrances & Nay for Body Chemistry {Fragrant Reading} {Scented Thoughts}" »
Some people remark that wine enjoys a status unparalleled by perfume despite the wide acceptance of the latter as an object of luxury. What is missing? First there is the suspicion that all that is contained in a bottle of perfume is not equally valuable: rare materials mixed with cheaper ones to offset the costs of producing a fragrance; the small percentage of “jus” that actually makes up the perfume, the rest being a much more common carrier. Finally and most importantly, it may be that what is touched by the hand of man, a little too much, deprives perfume of the natural nobility ascribed to the rich, unpredictable, and finally tamed products of the earth in traditional agricultural societies.......
Continue reading "Fleur d'Oranger 2007 by L'Artisan Parfumeur: On Agricultural Values in Perfumery {Perfume Short (Review)} {Scented Thoughts} {New Fragrance}" »
The perfumes issued by Jovoy the newly re-established house founded by Blanche Arvoy in 1923 and now revived by François Henin, Henri de Pierrefeu, and Marie-Laure de Rodellec (see also post on the "patrimony movement" in French perfumery) pose the interesting question, to us, of the significance of the name and concept behind a perfume in their influence over the composition of the fragrance and the communication of its personality to the wearer. If a perfume is art, then it is about the attempt to establish a bridge of communication between two imaginations, two universes, those of the creator(s) and the wearer(s). Perfumes named with non-particular names, but rather with names denoting the whole group or family of perfumes might well be in danger of blunting precise images, precise sensations. It is very difficult to assess how much a name influences our perception of a perfume without doing psychological tests about olfactory creation and perception and expectations. Perfumes might very well be inevitably linked to stories and names as the other halves of themselves, which includes the shape of the bottle, another story told with different materials........ 
Continue reading "Chypre, Oriental, Poudré by Jovoy & Chypre by Coty: On Perfume Names {Perfume Shorts (Reviews)} {Scented Thoughts} {New Perfumes}" »
Parallel to the activities of innovation and sense of sheer child-like liberty of creation in perfumery that are perhaps best exemplified by Etat Libre d'Orange who seem to be delighted to be sticking their tongues at starchy perfume wearers and complementary to it, we see a more curatorial-minded movement that aims to resurrect antique and vintage French perfume brands, some of which are all but forgotten. It would be interesting to see how this current (for the French-owned brands) parallels another cultural movement in French-movie making, that of the so-called heritage movies. The preservation of national patrimony has become a core Republican value of the French. Is its seeming equivalent in perfumery similarly minded or animated by a different spirit? More generally and beyond the French frame of reference (for Piguet for example) it certainly signifies an aesthetic choice......
Continue reading "Resurrecting Vintage Perfume Brands: Robert Piguet, Lubin, Jovoy, & Now Gabilla! {Fragrance News} {Scented Thoughts} {Trend Alert}" »
Iris Noir (Black Iris) by Yves Rocher is the latest and third installment in the brand's more upscale collection of perfumes called Secrets d'Essences (Secrets of Essences). This new perfume is already out in France but US-based customers will have to wait until the beginning of 2008 to be able to purchase it.
Iris Noir comes after Voile d'Ambre and Rose Absolue. Each fragrance is dedicated to the showcasing of one key exceptionally sourced ingredient be it amber, rose, or iris. The stress for the collection is put on both this use of rarer ingredients and the partnership with "talented perfumers" although it must be noted that Yves Rocher has always had a policy of recruiting excellent and even great perfumers, such as Sophia Grojsman, Annick Ménardo, and Francis Kurkdjian, even for their more mundanely presented fragrance creations. According to Osmoz, 86% of natural ingredients were included in the composition.......
Continue reading "Iris Noir by Yves Rocher: The Reassuring Smell of The Middle Class {Perfume Short (Review)} {Scented Thoughts} {New Fragrance} " »
 As advertised, each bottle of Dior Midnight Poison is said to be unique reflecting in this manner the demanding haute-couture spirit that presided over its creation. Here is a picture of the slightly more tantalizing bottle for the extrait or pure parfum. We cursorily reviewed Midnight Poison mostly under the heading of it being a smell-alike and should probably just smell it on its own to be both fair and realistic given the context of hyper-production of scents these days. This year is significantly more frenzied than last year. Could this get even more feverish next year? We're afraid to ask lest the gods have major plans for the exponential development of the perfume industry in the years to come. Somehow we are reminded of the episode of I Love Lucy at the chocolate factory where she has to frantically hurry more and more to try to wrap, then eat, then stuff her clothes with all the chocolates passing in front of her on the conveyor belt. Just put perfume bottles instead and do a remake of that scene. Enlightenment guaranteed. Perfumes are becoming more and more of a zapping activity. Why do we zap? That is the question. Because the program is shallow and bad? Because you are afraid you are going to miss a good program? Greed? Because it gives a false sense of freedom and choice? Because you are bored and hopeful? We are sure we'll have occasion to return to the topic, meanwhile......
Continue reading "Dior Midnight Poison Extrait de Parfum {New Perfume} Too Many Chocolates, Too Many Perfumes {Scented Thoughts}" »
The Italian group Eurocosmesi is going to unveil a new niche perfume brand in October of 2007 at the TFWA World Exhibition in Cannes, which was christened Memento. The collection is dedicated to presenting an olfactory tour of Italy. Their first creation is a women's fragrance called Venice. Interestingly, Italian perfume brands lately seem to offer an almost nationalistic flavor and derive inspiration often from the national landscape. It might be that it is this idea of turning perfumes into objects that tourists will feel moved to buy as souvenirs from their trips or it might be that there is some sort of ideological current running......
Continue reading "Venice by Memento {New Perfume} The Beautiful-Italy Trend {Scented Thoughts} {Trend Alert}" »
Perfume bottles this fall are adopting the sexy fishnet look to stress their sex appeal, sense of style, and surprise the consumer -- Le bas résille a le vent en poupe cet automne en parfumerie sélective et même dans celle dite de niche! Témoins, trois parfums qui optent pour plus de provocation vestimentaire et de références fétichistes à la Bunuel:......
Continue reading "Fishnets on Perfume Flacons are In! Les Flacons de Parfums Adoptent le Bas Résille! {Scented Thoughts} {Trend Alert}" »
Dear Andy Tauer, We learned about the passing away of your mother and wanted to express our sincerest condolences to you and your family. Thank you for the beautiful perfumes you create and the gift of happiness found in them that comes from your mother, from all mothers. May she rest in peace. -- The Scented Salamander
After having mentioned yesterday the iconic Revlon Charlie perfume ads of the 1970s as presenting the counter-archetype of the woman seen as object as proposed in several recent perfume adverts, we decided to revisit some of these 1970s and 80s ads to reconnect for a time with Charlie's bouncy step.
Many of us remember energetic Charlie walking with a conquering spring in her step. She wore pants and to show off that she really knew how to wear them, her stride was amplified, made almost exaggerated at times, like the stylized idea of independence and confidence. Man, she could walk some giant steps on behalf of all women.
Here are some images to remember Charlie who could even reveal herself to be on occasion (unfortunately) paternalistic, if provoked by the behind of a man; sexual harassment you said? Connais pas. What a change of scenes in the current adverts we talked about yesterday which contain allusions to a rather crude sexual assault, a woman with half a face who is really the dream of an inflatable sex doll, and submissive femininity in general. Blame it on cultural eclectism and trends rather than on an overall ideology but still.....
Charlie in 1978 for the UK
Continue reading "Remembering Charlie.....{Scented Images} {Scented Thoughts}" »
The other day, I posted a picture of a street in Paris, located in the IVth arrondissement, which is called "Rue du Petit Musc"(literally reading as "street of the little musk"), thinking that I should double-check its meaning and learn more about the history of that street. I have found a couple of books which will offer more complete information, but for right now I was already able to determine that the word "musc" here does not make reference to "musk", but to a history of illicit pleasures in the city......
Continue reading "Rue du Petit Musc, Quid? {Scented Thoughts} {Fragrances of Paris}" »
Happy 4th of July! We are reposting articles published last year on the blog regarding perfumes and politics and in particular what fragrances are good to wear on the 4th of July! Patriotic (American) Perfumes to Wear on the 4th of July: Some Modest Suggestions My National Parfum Photo from allposters.com
Guerlain will introduce a new feminine fragrance called L'Instant Magic on September 1 2007. As reported by the brand, the new perfume has no filiation whatsoever with the original L'Instant except for a sensation of freshness that cuts across the whole fragrance. Wouldn't it be more exciting to give it an altogether new name then? Apparently the needs of branding have overcome. Not only are the juices becoming more stereotypical, but the names of the perfumes are following that trend as well. Although please note that in this case, the perfume will be different, but the name will be confusingly similar to the original L'Instant........
Continue reading "L'Instant Magic by Guerlain {New Perfume} {Scented Thoughts}" »
Today, I was planning to propose a review of Serge Lutens Encens et Lavande followed the next day by the latest Sonia Rykiel Belle en Rykiel as they both offer a central incense and lavender accord. It amused me to no end to read that the perfumer for Belle En Rykiel had told his customer that this accord had never been done before. We can also have a pious thought for Guerlain Jicky and see it as an illustrious predecessor of that main never-done-before accord. I will however have to postpone this project for the next coming days, hopefully starting tomorrow. Instead, I wanted to share some thoughts with you about an upcoming reflection theme for the blog......
Continue reading "Taming The {Perfume} Notes {Scented Thoughts}" »
The Total Chanel Look in the 1960s In the weeks leading to the release of Les Exclusifs by Chanel |
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