New fragrances from Cartier

Last week I discovered 2 new masculine creations from Cartier, both are flankers but exquisite.
Declaration by Cartier Cologne - is an excellent interpretation of the original with a delicious lemony top note (and not very much cologne).
Roadster Sport - a refined aromatic woody version with a mandarine top and a dry guaiac note.
Should we hope for a new feminine perfume (global launch) in 2010? My nose says we'll have a very pleasant surprise.

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Fragrance is the 8th ART:

Fragrance, formulas and a new book

Via google, I found the description of this new book (I've not read it yet):

"This is an unprecedented book with secret perfume formulas revealed from the private vault of Master Perfumer, Dr. Bobbie Kelley. This is a trail-blazing book in that, for the fi rst time in the history of the perfume trade that a perfume company has allowed such private information or intellectual property to be released publicly. Perfumer, Bobbie Kelley shares her provocative passion for perfume and the creation of fragrant scents in this informative technical and thought-provoking book. Being The Rogue Perfumer that she is; her book serves as an inspiration to perfume lovers and perfumers all over the world. This long awaited book provides the clandestine knowledge of not only secret formulas to make different families of perfumes, but also reveals the thoughts, ideas and genuine feelings of a perfumer as she creates"

The Rogue Perfumer by Dr. Bobbie Kelley (146 pages) is said to contain 99 formulas and it is rather expensive (cca 200 USD on this website)
To my knowledge no authentic fragrance formula of a modern or classic fragrances has been published yet, only some GC's / reconstitutions or interpretations (allways far from the "real stuff").

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Fragrance is the 8th ART:

Fragrance is not that Subjective

I'm one of those who strongly believe that Fragrance is not subjective & not personal (plus the beauty is NOT in the nose of the beholder) and that we should always make a distinction between we/our tastes & personal disposition and what we smell. The nose is never wrong, only the words/associations might not be precise. Of course, the perfumer like any artist should forget about any known or learnt rule to "reinvent" the scent and our evanescent universe.
Perfumers learn to smell, recognize and "see" beyond the obvious facets of a material but, beyond any artistic interpretation of a material (or if you put cyclogalbanate in the green or fruity family) the truth "belongs" to it.
Now, it seems that there is some science in that and it's less about "artistic" speculations.

"There are many fragrance lovers—this author included—who focus on the essential truth of perfume, caring little that it “smells different” on everyone. Such fragrance lovers are annoyed by the cult of subjectivity suggesting that a scent may actually smell different to Jim than it does to Jane. For such people, a recent paper by Manuel Zarzo and David Stanton reveals good news: Everything is not relative. Perhaps a rose is a rose is a rose is a rose. [...] There is a consistent basis for perfume perception and description despite variations in the way individuals experience scent."
You can read the article (under subscription) in Perfumer & Flavorist

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Fragrance is the 8th ART:

Sirocco (Lucien Lelong)

Sirocco is one of the most refined and underestimated perfumes launched by Lucien Lelong in the 30's. With this creation, Jean Carles takes us into an intellectual exercise around the oriental theme demonstrating his composition technique. In those years the opopanax bases were sold under different names by almost all RM houses. After Emeraude and Shalimar, Jean Carles creates the last perfume of this style (using similar materials) like a conclusion to an era. The next oriental creations will take advantage of the new molecules and will transform the accord. In Sirocco the theme is reduced to the most important notes like in a brilliant coda, leaving outside the facets. The perfume acts like a purified version of the previous masterpieces - an academic version of the oriental opopanax family. From Emeraude the perfumer takes the aromatic top note and transforms it into a beautiful and strong lavender theme. Lavender, vanilla and amber will give also for several moments the effect of Pour Un Homme (Caron). Being launched almost in the same period, the 2 perfumes are united by a symbolic link. From Shalimar, Jean Carles takes the essence of the oriental ambery note without the strong citrusy bergamot top but also without the burnt birch effect on the drydown (and less castoreum). In Sirocco the vanilla (followed by coumarine) is dominating the patchouli drydown, soft and sensual. In modern terms, Sirocco would be the gourmand variation of that oriental theme.
With this perfume Jean Carles gives almost a literal interpretation of what Sirocco is: a Mediterranean wind that comes from the Sahara, dusty dry and stormy. He combines the mediterranean bouquet based on lavender with the oriental note represented by the sweet opopanax accord (the scent of the precious resins). The perfume is both sweet and dry but not so deep and sensual like Shalimar. We can literally see this perfume as the Shalimar breeze from an oriental tent passing over a field of lavender and other Mediterranean aromatics. It was also something unusual in the era - a name that is a perfect metaphor of the scent, poetic but easy to understand.
The evolution of this perfume is very curious because what you feel is not that the top evaporates unveiling the heart but a general "compression" of the notes as if everything becomes more concentrate around the oriental and ambery sweet note. The floral heart is very small (rose, magnolia, jasmine) and acts like a modifier of the oriental sweetness with benzoin, patchouli, vanilla, soft incense and amber.
The perfume has an incredible power and even the cologne version has an amazing strength and tenacity. That was Jean Carles, building his perfumes on numbers, always surprising with his technique and his forgotten creations, 80% unknown to the public (and even to perfumers).

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Fragrance is the 8th ART:

Contessa Azzurra - vintage italian perfume from Giviemme

In the delicate and decadent Belle Epoque era there was a special perfume surrounded in mistery and uncompromising beauty. Contessa Azzurra was one of the very first perfumes of the house created by Giuseppe Visconti di Modrone and also one the the great successes until the 50's. This Giviemme perfume was trademarked in 1926 but it was created many years before. The bottle of the perfume and its box are a post WWI creation from the Art Deco period and it is interesting to notice that it is almost the same as the perfume "Chez Poiret". Was there any connection between the 2 creators (Visconti and Poiret)?
Contessa Azzurra from Giviemme was a leather fragrance, Cuir de Russie type, very sweet and soft with a tonka note. The drydown is created around a special methyl ionone - vetiver accord with a very sweet balsamic incense undertone. The floral bouquet is powdery and strong like the Quelque Fleurs type (salycilates-ylang-aldehydes).
In 1960 there was also a movie with Zsa Zsa Gabor called Contessa Azzurra, set in the Belle Epoque. The production of Contessa Azzurra was stopped many decades ago leaving few traces in our world. I found this name under an american brand called Joseph Palazzolo, a company that I know nothing about. The beautiful perfume became just a trademark losing an "r" from its original italian name and I believe that now there is nothing italian about it (just a story to sell). When you lose the italian name why would you keep the formula? Images: first cca 1922 from ragoarts, the other 30's from ebay.it

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Fragrance is the 8th ART:

Baudelaire - Byredo - new fragrance review

When Byredo appeared on the market it seemed a new and very cool brand with a design feeling. It became clearer in the next month what was hidden in the bottles, the white version of Frédéric Malle style.
After the detergent with pear called Blanche, the new fragrance couldn't be black neither back to black. The name of the French poet that gave us several poems with scented words and a beautiful interpretation written by Yann Vasnier, came as a shock to me. It is not the pretension to stick such a famous name on a bottle, but something worse. Baudelaire is a copy paste concept from Kilian with the same mainstream innocence found in Bond No9 (did you smell their Coco Mademoiselle with cocoa, the J'adore light and green, the Escape for Men and the subtle Angel?). I am totally disappointed by this trend in the niche area - being inspired by the ideas / successes of your neighbor with the same greed as the big commercial brands.

Baudelaire by Byredo is a generic aromatic-woody-leather soft spicy scent with tobacco accents. It is a soft version of famous masculine scents from the 80's (Antaeus, Davidoff, Equipage, Polo) where all the heavy notes were reduced. It evokes the breeze surrounding a heavy smoker with tobacco, musty notes, ash tray - hay effect, sharp spices (like nutmeg, bay or laurel) with a soft jasmine. You can see it as the masculine version of Jasmin & Cigarette (ELO) where the proportion was changed. Pleasant, harmonious but not very original for its name, it is a type of formula that was very common in aftershaves and body sprays 2 decades ago (there were one Axe, one Denim and maybe one 8x8 deodorants built on this accord with subtle fougère). The absinthe tobacco note via the patchouli shortcut was quite popular. Maybe it's easy to produce and people love the same idea sold more expensive when they forget the classics.

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Fragrance is the 8th ART:

Perfumes from Israel - Judith Muller

In an interview given in the early 70's in Israel, Judith Muller explains her unusual path in the cosmetic industry. Born in Hungary in a wealthy family, the dream of the "spoiled girl" ended very soon with the arrival of Hitler and then Stalin. With her family she moved to Israel forced to earn their living. She was in the army and set up her first beauty institute for her comrades. Then she went to Paris to train herself "I found out I knew more than nothing but less than something about beautician's work". Back to Israel she opened an institute with Bible inspired beauty methods and local ingredients. After the success of this adventure she entered the perfume industry in the 60's, researching biblical scents and traditions.
Bat Sheba was the first perfume in 1966 and very soon Judith Muller became known in Israel for her painted bottles in an antique style. Many of her perfumes were available in Israel as a gift set and they looked like an archeological souvenir and even more were produced for export.
The last time I saw her was several years ago in Hungary during an exhibition of Hungarian beauty queens and pioneers in the cosmetic industry. Her perfumes can be found on eBay and are always a beautiful surprise.

Bat Sheba (feminine) - an oriental perfume with very contrasted green-rose notes (cactus-rosewood) over a vanilla/cocoa/ balsamic/chypre-woody base. It is an original and strange composition that smells like a vision of the desert. It has a IBQ woody note mixed with soft powders. It is the most original from the line with a special dark honey effect on the skin.
Sharon - a floral (jasmine-rose) aldehyde perfume with soft chypre-fruity-ambery notes, close to Arpège and Madame Rochas. The main idea is a chypre-mossy-fruity accord.
Judith - a floral (jasmine-orris-carnation-orchid-hyacinth) aldehyde perfume with green chypre notes and powdery animalic undertones, close to Charlie, very radiant and tenacious. It's green, then floral, then powdery mossy.
Bat Sheba (masculine) - an oriental fougère with strong aromatic top notes over a very rich sandalwood-patchouli-mossy base like Men's Club / Balafre over a strong synthetic woody leathery base (like in Chanel pour monsieur EDT concentrée or Aramis).

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Fragrance is the 8th ART:

Grossmith fragrance review - new historical brand

The greatest surprise of this fall came from the resurrection of a very mysterious and fascinating British brand. Grossmith, known also in the past as J. Grossmith & Son (one of the oldest british perfume houses founded in 1835), will be again on the market with the help of Roja Dove and Baccarat but also because of the passion of a descendent of the perfumer who discovered quite recently the history of his family. Simon Brooke, the owner, is the great great grandson of the founder, John Grossmith. On the website it is said that "using the original formulae from hand-written books rescued in 1940 from the original Grossmith premises in Newgate Street, London, the three fragrances have been remastered for the modern world".
Between cca 1890 and 1910 J. Grossmith & Son produced an entire range of very beautiful fragrances with decorated exotic labels, inspired by different cultures - Japan, India, China, Arabia, etc. This fall Grossmith resurrected 3 of them:
Hasu-no-Hana (1887 or 1888) - a Japanese perfume (the scent of japanese lily)
Phul Nana (1891 or 1893) - bouquet of Indian flowers and Grossmith’s most revered perfume
Shem el Nessim (1906 or 1907) - the scent of Araby and named after an Arabian springtime festival celebrated in Egypt
In this image you have the vintage bottles, as seen in a Perfume Bottles Auction from may 2009 and presented on liveauctioneers website (you can notice the original name J. Grossmith & Son, London). Because my information and the website were not the same, I put 2 years.
I have never smelled the original Grossmith fragrances because of their rarity and this makes impossible my desire to study the authenticity of the new perfumes given the difficulties of historical recreations under modern legislation. Testing the perfumes, the first impression was really special. They do not smell very much like any modern example and they are an excellent example of the perfumery style of that time, very rich in naturals and maybe very curious to our nose.
Hasu-no-Hana is rich, opulent and shows similar facets with Jicky but without coumarine-very fougère and more accent on the flowers. It has very aromatic and bitter citrus top notes, a strong bouquet with orange flower / petitgrain/rosewood, rose oil, ylang, orris, jasmine, patchouli/sandalwood, sweet balsamic notes (like Peru or benzoin) and soft oriental drydown. It is reminiscent of a perfume type called corylopsis and another one called safranor (a pre chypre type with an oriental element). It has also a very soft carnation undertone and a very elegant musky undertone.

Phul Nana reminds me a very soft version of Tabu mixed with light flowers and roses (like in Idéal Houbigant). It has a strong bergamot-citrus and herbal top, then rose oil-orange flower-eugenol (clove) on a sweet oriental sandalwood coumarine patchouli drydown. Inside the perfume there is curious a lily of the valley-jasmine-lily note. But this note is very strange and not historical accurate. From what I smell, I'm 100% sure this is a formula written after 1922 and not at all in 1893. Neither hydroxycitronellal nor jasmonal A were not discovered before 1900 but much later. A similar idea, but very modern was used in a beautiful oriental Pierre Guillaume creation. The drydown of this rose-coumarine-patchouli fragrance is also powdery and reminds me the scent of some very old and classic masculine colognes with a lot of nitromusks (Canoe-Brut). It is a special blend between the fougère and the oriental family with sweet floral notes.
Shem el Nessim is a floral perfume with a very green hyacinth and carnation/lilac note around a soft florentine orris. It has also a soft rose-lily of the valley light bouquet. You can feel inside the delicate power of salycilates used in small doses but also a strong hyacinth molecule that was often overdosed in that period. On a metaphoric level I could say that it reminds me the curious scent of tulips. Was this the desire of the perfumer to evoke an oriental symbol ? A small lilac note is created with cinnamic alcohol (among other main ingredients). The combination of several pungent and strong flower notes over a very sweet coumarine and orris base creates the effect of a flowery version (sweet pea-hyacinth type) of l'Heure Bleue. It is not very Origan as it is presented on the website.
The new Grossmith perfumes are not easy creations to our nose and they really give you the feeling of another era.

You can also read a short article about Grossmith adventure in LondonEvening.

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Fragrance is the 8th ART:

Parfumerie Générale - Papyrus de Ciane - new fragrance

Pierre Guillaume has unveiled yesterday on his facebook page the new surprise for 2010. PAPYRUS DE CIANE is a woody green perfume and a modern interpretation of the classic and famous Mousse de Saxe base from de Laire (found in Nuit de Noel but also several great perfumes from Guerlain, Rochas, YSL and Chanel).
"Des Fontaines d'Aréthuse, aux eaux brunes des méandres de Ciane, sa noblesse se pare d'ombelles à l'éclat vert intense..."
In the conversation that followed the news on his page, the perfumer described with a lot of passion the inspiration behind his new creation leaving us without words and with the strong desire to test N. 24 - Parfumerie Générale:
"C'est un bois paradoxal, a la fois dense/ liquoreux et éthéré, dans le sens ou il donne un peu de "montant" au benjoin. […] Associée à un cocktail de muscs macrocycliques (dont Silvanone Supra), notre "Mousse de Saxe" devient moelleuse, crémeuse, elle se fait pénétrante et s'étire doucement et chaudement sur l'épiderme... la caresse d'une ombre. […] Papyrus est une note verte, lumineuse, la Mousse de Saxe y distille son cachet rétro en fond mais l'écriture de l'ensemble est je l'espère bien actuelle."
Pierre Guillaume explained the concept of Mousse de Saxe and his desire to dress this opulent note in green (" un joli fourreau végétal vert vif") for a creamy, soft and penetrating scent, warm and gentle like "the caress of a shadow".

The perfume is said to be released in february 2010

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Fragrance is the 8th ART:

Amaranthine - Penhaligon's (2009) new fragrance review

Sira des Indes was one of the most special modern creations of Jean Michel Duriez for Jean Patou with its accord of champaca-sandalwood-milk-banana set in a very oriental context. If this exceptional fragrance was set in an exotic Indian palace with opulent decoration, the new perfume from Penhaligon`s takes us to the jungle for an exotic experience of a rare scent. With a name that is close to a famous base used in the classic Jean Patou formulas, Amaranthine is the sensual and opulent cousin of Fleur de Liane. What was fresh, green, airy and somehow rooty by the use of patchouli, becomes now the 24 hours of a tropical imaginary flower. From the very green top, almost pungent, like the scent of vegetal buds (and curious banana flowers or several Thai vegetables) it goes through all stages, to the over-ripe fruit with its liquorish scent up to the very sensual stage, almost dirty-indolic-sweat-cumin that is hidden behind the apparent freshness.
The top note has that cumin-pungent metallic note find in many green flowers (even in lily of the valley or mock orange). The structure of the perfume is not easy - the scent evolves on several stages with multiple accords that could be summarized like this
- the exotic white flower with ylang-jasmine-vanilla
- the rain freshness with white rose, freesia and a very green lily of the valley
- the sensual feminine drydown with sweet sandalwood, musk, lactonic notes, spices
plus the accents that are very strong on all evaporation stages:
- the very green natural leaf top note
- the green fruity notes plus the over ripe fruits (pineapple-litchi-banana-fraise des bois)
- a soft and almost aldehydic fruity powdery note
The official description, "a corrupted floral oriental for those private moments when everything is anticipation", is very close to the scent - it smells indeed like some flowers or fruits when their perfume is a delicious mixture of pleasant and "corrupted" notes (fermented leaves, over ripe fruits, durian and passion fruit, indolic flowers) with that sparkling effect of champagne.
Special and unusual if you follow the evolution of the notes, Amaranthine is not about an easy prettiness.
There is something very risqué inside this flower and this effect can be noticed on all stages - it suggests the scent of a feminine skin delicately perfumed with Eau Première (Chanel), naked and posing in a cornucopia of exotic flowers with a lethal spicy nectar mixed with her salty sweat.

Official main ingredients for Amaranthine by Penhaligon's - green tea, white freesia, banana tree leaf, coriander, cardamom, rose, carnation, clove, orange blossom, ylang ylang, Egyptian jasmine absolute, musk, vanilla, sandalwood, condensed milk and tonka bean.

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Fragrance is the 8th ART:

Unusual Louis Vuitton fragrance

Seen on ebay this week - a perfume probably introduced cca 1985 as a gift. Eau de Voyage by Louis Vuitton. Plain bottle similar to Denim After shave and a very clean design like the one use today by Prada for their exclusive range. Last photo is from a 2007 auction. A must for Vuitton aficionados because the house is not selling any perfume today.

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Fragrance is the 8th ART:

La Prairie Life Threads - Silver, Gold, Platinum (2009) - new fragrance review

After a very sticky perfume called Silver Rain with its overdose of red fruits, caramel and sugar worn like a thick anti-age face mask, La Prairie has released a very curious set of 3 perfumes named after other cosmetic ingredients. Silver, Gold and Platinum are here not for their alchemical properties but because of their … supposed cosmetic action. Like caviar and pearls, they are used in expensive creams like those sold by la Prairie. Their scent is a perfect image of the hypothetical clients of the Swiss brands. They are not modern perfumes and not 100% original - all are a reflection of the past and of the perfumes that were popular 2 decades ago. The rich white flower - tuberose from the Giorgio / Jardins de Bagatelle era, the rose patchouli chypre amber from Diva's golden age and the more obscure (now) Cabochard an other soft leather floral chypre 3 decades ago. Is La Prairie playing Dr.Freud with their rich clients?

Silver offers an interpretation of the classic tuberose theme from Fracas in a very green spicy context. The tuberose becomes a classic gardenia with a strong green styralil acetate effect on top. It is less lactonic than Fracas and more peppery with a spiciness that reminds me Gardenia Absolute from Goutal on a very soft musk-sandalwood-vanilla-lactonic base. Between the 2 floral ideas there is a strong green lily of the valley-white rose-lily (salicylates). The white floral bouquet is reminiscent of a style very popular in the 80's and another more recent example with a lot of character is 3 Fleurs (Parfums d'Empire). Is Silver the result of a cross pollination between Ma Griffe and Fracas?.

Gold is another modern retro interpretation of an oriental type quite popular in the 80's and now found in one perfume from Amouage. The rose-sandalwood-cinnamon accord in a very sweet oriental context is classic like the floral bouquet rich in ylang and very rounded fruity notes (peach, plum). It reminds me a facet from La Nuit (Paco Rabanne) or Gem (Van Cleef & Arpels) with its chypre rose prune note, but Gold is more oriental with a good dose of synthetic sandalwood (80's overdose), powdery notes and incense. It is reminiscent of a period when fragrances were very baroque and perfumers tried to find the perfect balance between the chypre fruity and the amber family for an excess of sensual notes. Now, the rose-oud perfumes (Montale, Amouage) are doing the same. Another interpretation of the note but with a greater accent on the rose is Lumière noire pour femme.

Platinum rewrites the floral chypre leather note from Cabochard - Diorling with modern ingredients in a very retro interpretation. It is hard to evaluate if this is a new creation or an old formula adapted to modern needs. It is very mossy dry with patchouli-vetiver-cedar, quinoleine leather notes, a very soft delicate ambery drydown. The heart is dominated by the light jasmine and metallic green rose with the very refined methyl ionone surrounded by a delicate plum base. The dry note of the woods (almost smoke) is very well contrasted with the modern jasmine interpretation for an ash tray effect (It is not Jasmin et cigarette but has an effect). If you like it, try Diorling even the modern reformulation.

The perfumes are very well composed with great attention to details and notes but are not very original. For those who had never smelled the classics or some niche re-creations more recently they could be a surprise. For me … it is a very well known song.

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Fragrance is the 8th ART:

Cologne Ambre Nuit - Dior (2009) - new fragrance review

This year at the SFP, Firmenich presented a conference describing their 50 years of research on grey amber and the development of new molecules (the history of ambrox, cetalox, ambrinol, Fixateur 404, etc since the late 30's). The new perfume from Dior could be considered a beautiful metaphor of this scientific research and also a modern interpretation of the ambery family in a pure classic Dior style. It is one of the deepest ambery fragrances that evokes the scent of the natural grey amber with its tobacco, soft leather and dry woods shades. The precursors of this scent could be Eau de Merveilles, Ambre Narguillé, French Lover, but Cologne Ambre Nuit offers a contemporary interpretation of the nonsweet amber with a salty grapefruit top. There are no contrasts during the deep night and this idea was transposed to the composition - the notes are blended ad infinitum, no contrast, no noise, no excessive diffusion. It is a skin scent, not austere but rich and rounded like a plum, hiding a beautiful rose with deep and delicious fruity notes that evoke an oriental dessert. A small rose oud is wrapped in this ambery veil under patchouli leaves, balms, vanilla and very dry woods. The leather note is soft like a suede and has an embroidery with spicy notes (pepper, nutmeg?, cinnamom leaf or laurel?). The drydown is delicious like an exotic honey with almond/cherry notes from a flower that smells like Back to Black and tastes like Si Lolita. A soft lactonic touch with a tea note - osmanthus breeze modifies the warm effect of this salty amber, the opposite of Cologne Blanche.

With Cologne Ambre Nuit the amber molecules are again in overdose for a perfume that comes from another era.
I presented other modern perfumes in the same spirit in the Calamity J (Juliet has a gun) review.

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Fragrance is the 8th ART:

Calamity J., Juliet Has a Gun (2009) - new fragrance review

With Calamity J, Juliet has Gun writes a very curious page in the universe of modern creations. This is the opposite of their creations, most were more Juliet than the gun, composed around rich floral-rose notes (from the softest to the deep oud undertone). The new creation reveals the "gun", the masculine side of the seductress, the interpretation of the bullet, like the design of their new vapo. Calamity J. takes the codes of the masculine fragrances (the deep woods combined with dry ambery notes) and transforms them in a feminine cashmere wrap scented with dried patchouli leaves. The rose is no more the glorious bouquet but a skin tattoo. The central note of the perfume is a deep woody-ambery blend with a great amount of Ambroxan. It is ambery but not oriental, not warm, sensual or seductive. It is the dry side of gray amber, the tobacco note often found in combination with leather. Imagine an old leather jacket with dust and smoke (like those worn in Far West movies) hiding a divine body with the softest skin on earth, covered with just a small rose tattoo.
The inspiration is Calamity Jane, the first cowboy - woman (1853 - 1903) who drank and spoke like a man. Romano Ricci used the words « cataclysm, disaster, catastrophe, tragedy » something very unusual for the feminine creations. Aromatic herbs with a camphor sparkle, lavender, patchouli, cedar and dry woods mixed with orris (methyl ionone) evoke the fire and the mineral universe. The strong woody base reminds me the effect (and not the scent) of Dune and Samsara. But Calamity J. is a scent from a desert, an oriental in austerity with a very light sweet vanilla-tonka (coumarine)-cocoa note for a rum and whiskey effect. Between the aromatic effect of a classic fougère worn by a woman, the sensual sweet scent of her skin, the dry tobacco she smokes and the pure malt she drinks, the perfume recreates the image of a fighter. But unlike Bandit, another great example of reversed codes, Calamity J. is not so revolutionary and daring. This woman provokes but she wears the finest cashmere under the Prada jacket.
The fragrance has common facets with Attache Moi - IconoFly (another ambery scent), Boisé torride, Prada l'eau ambrée, Voile d'Ambre (Yves Rocher) and the ambery scent from Histoires de Parfum but also the soft tobacco-vanilla effect from the latest l'Artisan Parfumeur (but not gourmand at all). It is the opposite of the opulence found in Tom Ford perfumes.
A new interpretation of the Ambre 83 note, this time more abstract, dry and masculine like a real havana smoked with insolence and fronted by Lou Douillon. Musk-patchouli-ambroxan stolen from a masculine cologne.

The perfume is now available at Colette.

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Fragrance is the 8th ART:

Fragrances for fall in Paris

This morning I discovered a very beautiful article in French in l'Express about the scents of the season and the fragrances to evoke them.
"En ville, ça sent la pluie, le zinc et l'asphalte mouillé. Ça sent le préau d'école et l'écorce de marronnier. Le métro, aussi, et le p'tit noir au bar où l'on croise des femmes en trench au long sillage. A la campagne, c'est l'herbe ployée sous les gouttes d'eau, le colchique, le lichen, la verte âpreté de la sève encore vive. Dimanche après-midi, une éclaircie, on sort faire une balade en forêt, les enfants jouent au foot avec les marrons tombés dans la terre molle"
The article is here.

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Fragrance is the 8th ART:

Muscs Koublai Khan (Serge Lutens)

Muscs Koublai Khan is now in the export line and is sold at Sephora (cca 94 EUR). I indulged myself dreaming to wear one day the version with real musk inside.

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Fragrance is the 8th ART: