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Trend Alert Archive
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 Green Tokyo by Ryoko Watanabe, 2009 I would like to take a look with you at the green-perfume trend which started last year, one less prominent than the oud one but which nevertheless colored the second half of 2009 and will continue to leave its signature on 2010 [if only because perfumes bought in the second half of last year will in all likelihood still be worn in 2010.]
Since I wrote the first paragraph above, more green-smelling compositions have been introduced and so the last comment ought to be replaced by "...because even more new green perfumes are now available."
I had said in April 2009 when reviewing the now discontinued Sous le Buis by Victoire Gobin-Daudé (Under the Boxwood) - the brand seems to be on a permanent hiatus - that committed green fragrances had become much rarer. I felt like there was somewhat of a void in this regard. By green scents I mean perfumes that have thought about the green theme in a focused and substantive enough manner to serve as future references...
 Profile of Time by Salvador Dali
Continue reading "Green Fragrances were Back in 2009 and will Stay in 2010 {Green Trend Alert}" »
 Spanish fashion label Mango launched a new mass-market women's perfume in December 2009 called Lady Rebel. The perfume's imagery and spirit is in the same vein as those of Lady Vengeance by Juliette Has a Gun, Paco Rabanne Black XS for Her, Ma Dame by Jean Paul Gaultier and Anna Sui Rock Me! The two latter scents are even fronted by the same model, Agyness Deyn who started to incarnate a spirit of reckless youth for Burberry The Beat and hasn't stopped since then...
Continue reading "Mango Lady Rebel (2009) {New Perfume} - Rock' n Roll Gen Y Ladies {Trend Alert}" »
Oud across the centuries has been designated by a wealth of names and orthographies due to its long history and wide geographic pattern of diffusion as both a much sought-after woody scent and luxury perfumery material. To track the presence of this aromatic material in the course of the history of perfumery, you would need first to round up as much as possible the terminology which amounts to dozens of different terms.
Oud was already known in the Antiquity and Dioscorides called it "agallochum." Later it became known as "xyloaloes." Less well-known terms today which reveal the complexity of the history of the material are "calambac", "calembour" which reveal the itineraries of long sea voyages from the Portuguese to the Italian and to the Malay and French shores. More frequently occurring terms today are oud, oudh, aloeswood, jinkoh, gaharu, eaglewood, agarwood, to name but a few of the possible lexical occurrences.
Highly prized in the Middle East, this material is less central to European perfumery but nevertheless present. The fervor it encounters in the Middle East is however not matched in Western culture where it is often perceived as a difficult material fit for a connoisseur nose only whenever it is showcased rather than blended in.
It also does not possess the same tradition of being seen as an aphrodisiac as in Islamic countries, as the body of texts we know of in Europe devotes that kind of central erotic value rather to musk and civet.
This aphrodisiac property was however examined in Europe. In the 19th century, experiments were conducted by French veterinarians on cows about the possible enhancement of their reproductive abilities relying on oud and concluded to the working aphrodisiac properties of the ingredient.
Today, some Europe-based brands such as Montale, Micallef, Oriscent have an ongoing focus on oud and are seen as specialists of this material but are not perceived precisely for this reason for being unexpectedly creative with oud.
This natural excretion from contaminated, diseased wood is rare, costlier than gold, which contributes to its mystique. Oud however is now also harvested. Synthetic blends created by major fragrance companies are now also part of the perfumer's palette such as Oud Blend F (Firmenich) and Black Agar Givco (Givaudan).
In 2009 an oud trend influenced by Arabian perfumery is perceptible with a rather large group of oud-centered perfumes appearing. This oud interest started gaining momentum in 2007...
Continue reading "Are You in the Mood for Oud Aromania? {Trend Alert} + Oud Timeline {Sniffing Suggestions}" »
 Antarctica 7 by Sebastian Copeland
Please see Part 1: Fiery colognes for the first installment While one notices this season a discreet tectonic shift in the direction of men's fragrances getting more uninhibited and sensual, at the other end of the spectrum this Fall/Winter 2009/2010 you can find extremely fresh to Icy colognes. Key words for this trend are: "Icy", "Snowy", "Chilly", "Cool", "Extreme Freshness", "Cologne" (in the French sense), "white", "fizzy", "electric"  Cartier Déclaration Eau de Toilette CologneThe new Cartier Déclaration Cologne, in fact an Eau de Toilette, borrows its inspiration from the grand tradition of Eau de Cologne. It is a markedly dry and oh-so-fresh-herbal-y twist on the original Déclaration. The brand alludes to " a singular freshness." Freshness does not need be transparent and devoid of character (the dry facet) and this scent proves it. An appealing slightly wild charm...
Continue reading "Men's Fragrance Trends Fall/Winter 2009/2010 - Part 2: Icy {Trend Alert} Holidays Gift Guide {Shopping Tips}" »
 Axel Hütte, Capulin Fire - 1, Dip., New MexicoThis fall/winter 2009 season men are offered very contrasted choices for
their personal fragrances. While at the end of the summer it looked like unusually deep
textures were going to prevail in men's scents heralding a gentle shift in mainstream masculine olfactory codes, it has now become clear
that gentlemen have two extremes to choose from: Fire and Extreme Freshness. Fragrance designers are envisioning men as sensation and thrill seekers and advertising perfume by offering sensory adventure bottled to them. All men might not travel to Africa or Antarctica but their fragrances can satisfy a deep need to do so. The 2009 Fall/Winter Fiery Fragrances for Men - Part 1There is a general push towards more intensity and this is not just
because it is the cold season, like every year. The new men's colognes of fall/winter 2009 are exceptionally rich and more explicitly alluring. They make sure however to evoke a sense of strength and intensity while borrowing traditional tools of seduction from the culture and language of women's perfumes. Men are invited to be in touch with their feminine sides and why not, try stealing
the show from women instead of counting on them to be the birds
with garish feathers perfume-wise. This trend even dares for the
first time in the mainstream to stick the label "Parfum" on
a masculine cologne bottle to entice men out of their comfort zone both
olfactorily and pyschologically. Parfum or extrait is the
highest concentration for a scent and is usually culturally constructed as an exclusive treat for women reserved for their pulse
points. Fiery key words this fall/winter 2009 in the masculine perfume alleys are "parfum",
"elixir", "intense", "absolute" and "liqueur"...
Continue reading "Men's Fragrance Trends Fall/Winter 2009 Part 1: Fiery {Trend Alert} Holidays Gift Guide {Shopping Tips}" »
 Red, as we all know is more often seen on lips, relatively less often on cheeks
(real red that is, like Exhibit A by Nars, say) and even less frequently
on eyelids. Making up your eyes in red can be dramatic, romantic, antiquated or Goth. It's a
look with historical precedents like the Geisha look, the Chinese Opera
singers look, the courtly lady's look with her rouge that was applied so high up on cheeks in
the 18th century that it went up to the eye level, the ethnic look like in the use of red mud
to adorn the body in Africa, or the vampire/Gothic look, and more. And no, not the rabbit look. In
Part 1 we present some of the makeup product launches this fall that have been inspired to make the color red migrate onto the eyelids. In Part 2, we will round up red eye
makeup from alternative brands. In Part 3, we'll take a look at the
runway looks that used red on the eyes. And how about a bonus Series on Red Perfumes?  This fall we are seeing a lot of red both on the runways and in the makeup pans. Chanel has launched its Venetian collection and one of the most interesting items in it is the eye-gloss quad featuring a deep antique red that could also make you think of a nature morte depicting a butcher's display. This red can be both kept saturated to the point where it looks like makeup for the stage to make believe you were bruised or be worked into a more classic red look.  Armani has a terrific mascara, Eyes to Kill, in Rouge Iron. The swatch on the Armani site does not do justice to the original color which is a rich terracotta red and makes me think most of an African color, like a landslide of red clay after the rain. It applies beautifully and although it will not make your eyes stand out as much as with a darker color, it's so luscious you want to find a way to use it to full effect. They also have the new Eyes to Kill Eye Shadow in Red Iron: 3 colors to apply at different levels of the eyelid. Isn't this a to-die-for coral-y tomato red?...
Continue reading "Take The Red Eye This Fall 2009 -- Part 1: Makeup Launches {Trend Alert} {New Beauty Products - Color}" »
 Trend Alert: Fragrances' Semantic Love Affair with Love in the Fall of 2009Bath and Body Works have added a new scent to their Signature Collection called P.S. I Love You. Love is apparently in the air this fall because you can also expect to have to decide if you prefer this perfume or the upcoming Love Etc...by The Body Shop. A bit more up-market, you will have further the option of an In The Mood for Love by Gianfranco Ferre or Idylle by Guerlain which translated into English means Love Affair. JLo is also tapping into our sentimental selves with My Glow (that of fulfilled motherhood). Last spring we had a Love by Nina. This summer there was L'Amoureux by D&G. More subtly put, we also have L'Humaniste by Frapin this autumn that is, the lover of mankind...
Continue reading "Bath & Body Works P.S. I Love You (2009) -- The Love Trend {New Perfume} {Trend Alert}" »
 In an age so characteristically drawn to images and by extension to celebrity dazzle, it is no surprise to see a trend of perfumes emerge that are inspired by this particular moment of modern-day glory: the red carpet. From Cannes to Hollywood, beauty parades on long avenues of plush crimson red and become haloed by the flashes of the paparazzi's light bulbs. But why this year? This past half-year and this half-year year is or was the recession. A perfume idea gets floated about two years in advance on average. Did designers dream of the red carpet a while ago or is it just appropriate to make people dream even more glamorously when reality is less than perky? Movie tickets have never sold better than in the current downturn in a recall of the Great Depression. Obviously the red carpet is the right kind of dream to have these days.
The Red-Carpet Perfume TrendJessica Simpson said it so herself. Fancy, her debut perfume was meant to prepare her/you for all the situations in life one might encounter " With FANCY, I wanted to create a pretty fragrance, one that I could be just as comfortable wearing on the red carpet or every day with my favorite jeans," To quote the classics, the 15-mn of fame dictum by Warhol anticipated that one day we would just need that kind of fragrance: the red-carpet ready one. The bottle was über-shiny but not particularly red-carpet themed unless you see an allusion to the Oscar statuette in the bottle topper. Let's call it a transition red-carpet perfume.  Badgley and Mischka wanted to pay homage to all of their glamorous women friends who are red-carpet regulars and highlights. Couture was born. The bottle is designed after a red-carpet-worthy gold lamé dress with the shoulders of the star peaking through nude.... 
Continue reading "The Red-Carpet Perfume Trend: Jessica Simpson Fancy, Badgley & Mischka Couture, Michael Kors Very Hollywood, Chopard Cascade {Trend Alert}" »
 After reviewing Vanille Galante by Hermès which showcased the addition of Vanilla Absolute as a sign of luxury and authenticity, as opposed to synthetic Vanillin, I started noticing a bevy of perfumes that had the much touted luxury vanilla touch. Some come after the release of Vanille Galante but many, in fact, were released before as, simply enough, a quick keyword search in The Scented Salamander blog search-box indicated to me. As I said earlier somewhere else on the blog, 2007 saw the beginning of the development of an interesting vanilla-perfume trend because it was very much linked to an authorial position in perfumery. What I mean by that is that the trend was not primarily commercially driven but came as the result of perfumers' interest in and ideas about the material injected into relatively confidential releases. The change also took place around the place accorded the ingredient: vanilla was made to leave its traditional and essential supporting role to take the lead role in compositions, namely Tihota by Francis Kurkdjian for Indult and Spiritueuse Double Vanille by Jean-Paul Guerlain for Guerlain in a limited-edition perfume. Vanilla, the commercial aroma if there ever was one (Vanilla Planifolia is also called "commercial vanilla") became the sign of rarity in these attempts at bringing the flavor vanilla into the fold of fine perfumery in its most exclusive incarnations, a little bit like what frayed blue jeans would signal if they made a come back on haute-couture runways and were pounded to become cashmere-grade soft...
Continue reading "Rewind on Vanilla Absolute in Recent Fragrances 2007-2009 {Trend Alert}" »
 Nina Ricci will launch a new flanker to its blockbuster French success Nina called Love by Nina in March of 2009. If the first fragrance featured a caramelized red apple, the new version goes for more freshness by replacing that central note with a tart and crunchy Granny-Smith one. The composition is by perfumer Olivier Cresp of Firmenich who is also the author of the original Nina (with Jacques Cavallier)....
Continue reading "Nina Ricci Love by Nina (2009): Color Code Green, Smell Code Cherries & Almonds: The New Youth Theme {New Perfume} {Trend Alert}" »
Pure perfume extracts are making a comeback this fall and winter 2008 and sometimes where you least expect them to appear. Synonymous with classical luxury traditionally, the extracts this fall and winter 2008 still want to impress you, and so they dress up and heighten the concentration of their oils and change a few notes to lure you in with more promise, but at the same time they have been adopted by brands that have a much hipper and younger, even laidback image than is usual to see in this category. Chanel, Guerlain, yes, fur and perfume, yes, but Aquolina, L'Artisan Parfumeur, Fragonard, (nice) tee-shirt and perfume (?) Yet they do come on the tails of earlier this year John Varvatos for Women parfum, Mariah Carey Gold and Usher for She. This must mean that everyone is now convinced that this is the in thing to do. What you can expect from a pure perfume extract is a higher concentration of perfume oils, from about 15% to 30 %, and also a higher proportion of natural perfume oils that add that extra multi-layered effect that can only come from the richness of natural essences made up of hundreds of naturally-occurring molecules, mixed with the more stable synthetics. Pure perfumes will be longer-lasting than in the other concentrations but often have an aura, a sillage that is closer to the body, more velvety and muted in a sense. Usually the pure perfume version is tweaked and rebalanced to slightly new effect. It is not just more of the same compared to the eau de parfum, eau de toilette, as if you had just amplified the sound on your stereo. 1- Kenzo Amour Le Parfum"A woody oriental composed of rich ingredients coveted in Asia. A fragrance sculpted by the woody tones of patchouli, the sensuous richness of benzoin balm from Siam, the roundness of amber, spices and incense like an offering. Bottle: A matte gold bottle inspired by the temples of Southeast Asia." 30ml $65.00 50ml $85.00 ...
Continue reading "Precious Pure-Parfums Trend, Fall-Winter 2008 {Trend Alert} {New Perfumes}" »
 Quirky Spanish design brand Custo Barcelona, with an unending affection for bold colors and prints, has launched its first signature fragrance bearing the same name. The perfume was created by perfumer Alberto Morillas and is reported to be both " appetising and innovative"; the novel twist is immediately conveyed by the name of the family of the scent categorized as a " fruity floral cypress", with cypress being more unexpected... 
Continue reading "Custo Barcelona by Custo Barcelona (2008) {New Perfume} - Cypress Is In {Trend Alert}" »
 Zero Otto in collaboration with Italian Gold-leaf conceptual artist Anna Carla de Leonardis just launched a new line of perfumes in Rome. The trio of scents is meant to interpret her vision of art and creativity into fragrance. The perfumes are called after three nuances of the precious metal gold: Or Blanc (White Gold), Or Rose (Pink Gold), Or Jaune (Yellow Gold) with the tag line " From golden pictures to perfumes: art is transformed into its essence." The new perfume brand is also inspired by the spirit of the Italian medieval alchemical tradition and by exotic materials brought back by travelers in past centuries... 
Continue reading "1528 Parfums Or Blanc, Or Rose, Or Jaune (2008) {New Fragrances} & Gold-Trend Alert" »
 Supermodel Kate Moss, who unbelievably looks like she is only 16 on some of her recent magazine ads, but looked more human in Berlin on June 13 in Berlin, i.e., 34, just went there to launch her newest and second scent titled Velvet Hour. The ad campaign is shot by Mert & Marcus and features a feline Kate Moss luxuriating in a scintillating deep blue lamé dress while her new perfume looks like a smoking gun of seduction. The tag line reads "Embrace The Night" and sounds like a more sophisticated perfume than her debut one, Kate Moss.....
Continue reading "Kate Moss Velvet Hour (2008) {New Perfume} {New Fragrance Ad} {Trend Alert}" »
 There is an interview with perfumer Annick Menardo in the Malaysian newspaper New Straits Times around the Diesel duo of fragrances. We thought in particular that it was interesting to learn that Diesel for Men was inspired by an anise and lavender balm that brand owner Renzo Rosso had Menardo smell. Interesting because it explicitly states that fine fragrances can derive inspiration from toiletry products and their scents.....
Continue reading "Interview with Annick Menardo in the New Straits Times {The 5th Sense in the News} - The Vague Toiletry Scent Trend? {Scented Thoughts} {Trend Alert}" »
Trend Alert Archive
Page 2 of 3 • 1 2 3
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Fin O'Suilleabhain on
Les Exclusifs: Bel Respiro, No 18, & 28 La Pausa by Chanel {Perfume Review & Musings} {New Perfumes}
: Hi ... can I ask about the Stravinsky / Chanel image. Is ...
Thalestris Dupont on
Fragonard Caresse (1929/2008) {Perfume Review}
: Lovely perfume! Reminds me of the spring 2011 when I was wearing ...
Karen Lindsey on
Long Lost Crabtree & Evelyn Fragrance: Help Please {Ask The Readers}
: I just found this site and I so need to find someone ...
Regina on
Happy New Year 2012!
: Valentine's Day will soon be here. Any recommendations?
C Sasich on
Easy Tricks To Create Golden Globes Hairstyles! {Beauty Notes - Hair}
: My fave was Michelle Williams - modern , effortless not overdone . ...
kelvin neo on
Victoria's Secret Life is Pink Wish Pink, Live Pink, Hope Pink (2010) *New Fragrances*
: Hi good day, Can i know where can purchase or order Pink ...
Alan on
A Funny Post About Scented Candles {Fragrant Reading}
: Hell-scent candle, lol.
Gina on
Two Organic Oud Scents: Sama Oudh Jasmin & Undergreen Black Classic (2011) {New Perfumes}
: I want to try Sama Oudh Jasmin but checked the websites. I ...
Tammy on
Top 12 Best New Department Store Fragrances of 2011 for the Holidays {Perfume List}
: Wish this came with a little print out sheet for my next ...
Toñi on
Dance with Givenchy (2010) {New Perfume}
: Where can I get Dance with Givenchy? It's impossible to find it ...
Toñi on
Dance with Givenchy (2010) {New Perfume}
: Where can I get Dance with Givenchy? It's impossible to find it ...
evageli karounzou on
Choppy Waters for Stella Cadente Miss Me {Fragrance News}
: at 2007 i was in paris an i bought this perfume.Since then ...
Mandy Aftel on
Aftelier Perfumes Secret Garden (2011): Featuring Real Civet & Castoreum {New Fragrance}
: Thank you so much Marie-Helene for your lovely review! You are great ...
Kay on
Mona di Orio Chamarré (2009): Perfume Review in Memoriam
: This is very interesting. First thing that came to my mind when ...
Maddy on
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}
: Interesting post. I've lived in Ghana but I don't remember encountering anyone ...
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