Serge Lutens Nuit de Cellophane: fragrance review (and a draw!)

The breakdown of a new fragrance by Serge Lutens often resembles an exercise in Sibyllic prose deciphering. As announced a while ago, the newest Lutens oeuvre is built on a floral pattern and bears the surrealistic name Nuit de Cellophane (ie.Cellophane Night). Much fanfare had been consequently made on how the elusive, cryptic meaning of the text by Lutens would effectively line with the actual scent of the new creation. The nocturnal character of the little tale can only be brought to life through the realisation that those are night-blooming flowers, exuding their best under the veil of night. But the mysterious, the dangerous or the arcane have been eschewed for a luminous composition that is poised between the commercially celebrated and the expectedly orthodox. Canonical in the Lutens portfolio however Nuit de Cellophane is definitely not, in the sense that the sequestered feature of most of his visions is the inclusion of a bit of deliberate ugliness; jarring and mismatched yet generating subliminal beauty. To quote a commentator on Pascal Bruckner's comparable opus "the ability to induce a feeling of attraction, lust and temptation for things which would otherwise seem repulsive, outrageous or disgusting". Serge Lutens and his combatant "nose" Christ Sheldrake have successfully managed to make the bizarre (Serge Noire), the uncanny (Tubéreuse Criminelle, Mandarine Mandarin), the somputous (Vétiver Oriental, Muscs Koublaï Khan ) and the peculiar (Douce Amere, El Attarine, Cèdre) seem alluringly otherwordly like a savant figure in a world of duds and to entice us into not only being intellectually awed but actively clutched into their olfactory tentacles with no hope for escape. What is the truth for the rupture with this tradition of 45 scents so far, fortunately refreshed just last year by the introduction of not one, but two polarising scents under the spell of which I fell instantly?

It might have to do with the hermetically shrouded kind of collaboration that entails Chris Sheldrake's input in the range's compositions, as he has been weaned back at Chanel although allowed to continue to work for Lutens. It might also have to do with the opressively pessimistic climate shaping the market right now which bodes dark clouds that need a much sought after silver lining to give momentary ease of mind to the average consumer: Not impossible, but not very probable either as the scent has been the object of adjustments during the previous two years as per Lutens' own admission. It might even have to do with a retrogade desire of niche firms en masse to sneak up on the seasoned pefumephile who has been expecting a heavy artillery orientalised baba ghanoush spiced within an inch of its life and is instead served a mandarin and orange blossom cordial that quenches the common thirst a treat.
"The name evokes Paris before the war", intimated Serge Lutens. "It's almost an insult, a shock, a name that communicates the idea of pleasure but also of chic", he continued. With Nuit de Cellophane, Serge wanted to "enter the universe of nuances". This leaves me wondering whether he deems the previous fragrances in the canon as lacking of nuance, but I am leaving peripheral matters out in my eagerness to dwelve into the composition itself.

In Nuit de Cellophane Serge Lutens unfolds a fruity floral sympony of what seems like the tartness of mandarin, the lushness of champaca and some joyful jasmine, hiding its natural indolic glory in mock-demureness, extracted from the flower in a gust of "clean" volatility. A white rose note of great balance with shades of fruitiness is emerging amidst the other blossoms ~aerated, transparent, seen through the clear crisp "window" of cellophane. The scent of osmanthus is not realistically rendered in the apricoty-suede-like tonality it renders to other compositions like Osmanthus Intedite. (I am however holding out on the possibility of its blooming more convincingly in the hot weather ahead). The overall sensuality is subtle, hushed and too discreet in the form of creamy sandalwood and possibly a smidge of civet combined with "clean" synthesized musks. It took me a while to shake off the mind-proding disturbance of alarming familiarity with a commercial fruity floral I have known and it only dawned on me upon Octavian's likening it to Dior's J'adore L'Absolu (a beautifully crafted composition that is superior to the competent and pretty J'adore). My mind had veered into less sophisticated directions initially, despite Grain de Musc's enthusiastic rapture. I admit that like Beige by Chanel before it, it is pretty, will probably be one of the most wearable and popular in the Lutens line and not at all an bijou de plastique like feared going by the name alone. But is it really beautiful? The much needed soupçon of weird Lutensian ugliness is sorely missing I'm afraid...

Nuit de Cellophane by Serge Lutens is available in Eau de Parfum concentration in the standard oblong bottle of 50ml/1.7oz as part of the export line launching in March 2009 at the US (at the usual suspects carrying the Lutens portfolio). It's already available in Paris for 79 euros.

Two more fragrances by Serge Lutens will be announaced in the course of 2009.

One lucky reader will receive a sample of Nuit de Cellophane!

Related reading on Perfume Shrine: Serge Lutens Fragrance Reviews & News

Brigitte Bardot pic from Henri-Georges Clouzot's film "La Vérité" via mooninthegutter blog
Bottle pic via velduftende.com

Vera Wang's Look: fragrance review

Vera Wang is synonymous with nuptials, wedding gowns, flower arrangements to compete with the roses in all of Surrey and generally romanticism in the 9th degree. Her original fragrance, Vera Wang, as well as Sheer Veil and Truly Pink, were romantic affairs of flowery fragrances that would fit the entourage of a bride ~or the bride herself~ effortlessly. Imagine my surprise at smelling Look, her newest fragrance, which takes the path of a fresh approach that is more upbeat and contemporary, less traditionally floral. Where is the white-gown in all that? Nevertheless, it wouldn't be terribly misleading to think that the perfectly-cut flacon of Look which resembles an emerald-cut diamond when faced from the front, is Vera's allusion to the sine qua non of a wedding proposal.

According to the press release: "The bold, modern, captivating scent of Vera Wang Look embraces a woman’s confidence and creates a seductive effect through complex textures and layers of fragrance notes. It introduces notes of mandarin, watery greens, lychee and golden delicious apple in the top notes. The heart incorporates lily, freesia and jasmine, while the base notes introduce a rhapsody of sweet vanilla, musk, oak moss and patchouli."
Look was created in co-operation with Firmenich by perfumer Annie Byzantian, the creator of mega-blockbuster Aqua di Gio and co-author of Pleasures and Safari pour Homme. Whether following her individual vision or not, the above fragrances should give you an idea of where Look is veering to. To me Vera Wang's Look is poised between a fresh fruity floral with all that entails and a "modern" chypre: one definitely wouldn't mistake it for a fragrance heavy in the classic perfume-y ingredients that characterise the chypre family. And it's definitely not a white floral affair either no matter what the given notes would denote. The refreshing burst of the greenish mandarin opening cedes to a lathery cleanness and a microscopic vanilla and sweet patchouli hint in the drydown. Despite initial impressions, it has a suggestion of sweet powderiness that reminds me of cherry blossom scents and which would likely it make it quite popular with young women. Opposed to the very uncharacteristic teeny-bopper Princess, Look takes its place in the Vera Wang line-up nevertheless; although it does so with a less traditionally feminine or romantic approach than her first ~and in my opinion best~eponymous fragrance. I see it as more of an everyday, office scent choice which lasts satisfactorily. I suspect the Parfum Elixir is a more sensuous concentration that might be highlighting the lusher aspects compared to the sparer Eau de Parfum.

The advertising prints, featuring model Anna Selezneva, were shot by Steven Meisel and they are poised at an intriguing angle since the bottle, a glass prism, is set in the foreground, while the model dressed in bright mandarin hues is standing behind it and is looking into us through it, as if she is watching the world through this prism. Which I realize is the whole concept behind naming a fragrance Look of course...

Look has benefited from a classy presentation: A modern geometric prism flacon with facets polished to perfection. Inspired by Vera Wang’s pret-a-porter, contrasting proportions are architectural and refined. The slender silhouette of the clear glass cap is a reflection of simplicity. The packaging utilizes matte grey with light grey contours visible on the box and on the name Look, which is written in vivid orange in the middle of the box.

Notes for Vera Wang Look:
Top: mandarin, green notes, lytchee, green apple
Heart: lily, freesia, jasmine
Base: vanilla, musk, oakmoss, patchouli


To learn more visit the Vera Wang site and listen to Vera Wang explain the concept here.

The perfume is available as Parfum Elixir in 30ml/1oz flacon with crystal stopper and wand (300$), and as Eau de Parfum in 30ml (1.0oz) ~outside of US~, 50ml (1.7oz.) and 100ml (3.4oz)bottles ~in the US. Look is accompanied by a line of body products: body cream, body lotion and shower cream (200 ml each). Available at travel retail worldwide and Nordstorm.

Pics through Vera Wang and Moodie Report .

Insolence Eau de Parfum by Guerlain: fragrance review and comparison

If the description "Godzilla floral" doesn't scare the horses, perhaps the addendum "Guerlain decided this thing should not even try to be classy and has embraced it as the most deliciously vulgar perfume on the market today" could. But before making hasty assumptions that the above words of Luca Turin are meant derogatorily (they're not), wait for it: Insolence in Eau de Parfum, much like the previous Eau de Toilette incarnation, is seriously good and reminiscent of the Guerlain lineage in all its violets glory. Even if it's wearing a lilac dress illuminated in neon, it doesn't brush shoulders with the highlighter pens of Gaultier's latest, Ma Dame. Which is a good thing.

Guerlain would want us to think it's "created for an eccentric and chic woman, who thrives for perfection". Insolence Eau de Parfum is certainly eccentric if eccentricity can be defined in etymological terms: έκκεντρος from which it derives means "out of center" in Greek. Insolence Eau de Parfum therefore arrives as a skewed, even more intense, intoxicating brew in a purple-coloured twin of the Serge Mansau dishes-in-the-kitchen-sink bottle for the Eau de Toilette, itself no shy violet! Maurice Roucel has been working on violets intently lately, masterminding the earthy intrigue of the unisex Dans tes Bras for Frédéric Malle, full of salicylates and Cashmeran to give diffusion and emollience to what would have been the harsh nail-polish remover and hairspray accord that he first used in the Eau de Toilette version of Insolence.
Violets, often married with roses, as in the embulient romantic Paris by Yves Saint Laurent, have provided the intriguing conspirator in perfumes of variable constituents and antithetical moods over the years: the feminine playfulness in tutus in Malle's Lipstick Rose and Drôle de Rose for L'artisan Parfumeur, the magical realism element in Alice in Wonderland by Konstantin Mihov's Parfums d'Imperfiction, or the astrigent leather and tweeds of Balmain's Jolie Madame. And in the case of the Guerlain house violets have been a sine qua non: from the brief inclusion in the cassie and heliotropin wonder Après L'Ondée to the delectable pastilles resting on amber in Guet Apens/Attrape Coeur and Vol de Nuit Évasion all the way to their makeup product Météorites; in turn lending its star-struck name to a violet-infused potion of limited edition that mimics that softly powdery feel of their pastel-coloured spheres of delight. When Insolence Eau de Toilette first came on the market a few years ago it had elements of the above and L'Heure Bleue (or Farnésiana?) as well, making me pronounce it the first step in the right direction for the Guerlain mainstream line in a long time.

For Insolence Eau de Parfum the composition is resting atop the familiar sweet violets with subtle iris accents and enough of the red fruits tartness of the previous Eau de Toilette to which Roucel allegedly added tuberose, orange blossoms and peppery greens. You would be hard pressed to seperate them however and there is a gourmand quality which according to Albert might hark all the way back to Angel. The initial impression is even sweeter and more powdery on top rather than at the base compared with the Eau de Toilette, linear and without the initial flou and Aqua-Net note of the latter, which I admit I was not opposed myself. Constrasted, the two come off as sisters, but with the younger being more sensual and exhibitionist, the older a little more neurotically appealing and with the powdery progression reversed. Both are fronted by Hillary Swank in the print ads.

Summarising the Eau de Parfum is more approachable if you're into big, loud, sweet florals, quite close to Météorites indeed, with a liquorice flavour woven into the body of the fragrance resulting in a sci-fi rococo. Exceptionally long lasting too, wittily compared to the half life of uranium, therefore judicious use with the spray is highly recommended.
Although it was another fragrance that has been tagged as "a violet hit by a meteorite" recently, Insolence Eau de Parfum gives me the impression it has been circling eccentric orbits around a black-hole-sun since forever.

The sizes and prices for Insolence Eau de Parfum start from 52 Euro for 30 ml, 75 Euro (50 ml) to 105 Euro (100 ml). Available in the US as well by the end of the year.

Guerlain Insolence editions include: Insolence EDT, Insolence EDP, My Insolence.

Pic of Insolence Eau de Parfum advertisement via Fragrantica

Ma Dame by Jean Paul Gaultier: fragrance review

Ma Dame, a spoof on the French word "Madame" which could be translated as "my lady" is Gaultier's latest feminine fragrance. A fresh floral blend of rose, sour orange, grenadine, musk and cedar Ma Dame aims to distill the essence of a modern-day garçonne, or "Une fille au masculin, un garçon au féminin" (a masculine girl, a feminine boy) like the song goes. “Ma Dame is not a Madame,” declared the designer (in the sense of a brothel-keeper or bourgeois lady). He puts the emphasis on the "ma" more than the "dame" part. “She is my muse. She amuses me.” (quote via the Moodie Report). I like word-plays. I like that he used a word-play to explain one, too!

Gaultier also explained he loves the bright pink of highlighters and attempted thus to bottle the imagined "scent" of one of his favourite shades. “It’s almost electric,” Gaultier says to Elle magazine. “The perfect color to make into a fragrance.“ Liking the highlighting almost fuschia shade is nothing ground-breaking, as press releases would like you to think; so do I, as I use it to highlight much more "agressive" art listings that depict ancient warriors and cthonian deities and my tastes run a more conservative gamut than dear Jean Paul's. “I didn’t fit in well with the kids in school,” Gaultier continues the confession to Elle. “While the other boys were playing sports, I was busy sketching!” At this point I am beginning to think that Gaultier and I share some degrees of Kevin Bacon! (something that would have my father in stiches)

The commercial for Ma Dame directed by Jean Baptist Mondino has supermodel du jour Agyness Deyn (also seen in Burberry The Beat commercials) literally tearing up the scene, snipping a long platinum wig, ripping off her sleeves, cutting her pant legs with a scissor (an allusion to the ripping that needs to be done in order to access the bottle inside the carton), all the while dancing to the beat of dj.Miss Kittin ~in a remix of "3rd Sex" by French group Indochine. She ends this on the sweet side with a kiss on the cheek of Gaultier himself.
Supposedly the aim of Ma Dame is to shed the cumbersome ideals of femininity for a rebellious, modern, cutting-edge interpretation. The French catch phrase is: ‘Interdit aux dames’ (NOT for ladies), but they changed it to “For the woman who is unique, unconventional, different” in English. Tag anything with a prohibition and you create intrigue. The rectangular bottle that features in its heart the torso bottle of Gaultier's best-selling Classique (by perfumer Jacques Cavallier) set in relief gives the game away though: we're far off the land of controversy or rebeliousness and the only thing that is ambivalent about this fragrance is the decision quota of its intended clientelle. Seeing the street credence of punky (but perfectly angelically-featured) Agyness Deyn makes one think they're buying into a slice of the wild side and the brand is obviously aware of the public being in the know about Gaultier's edgy reputation (how ironic that it is his jackets cut with scalpel-precision that are the best hidden thing about his line)

Sniffing or spraying Ma Dame is a violent surprise at first: an intense, eye-searing blast of citrusy sweet shampoo latheriness jolts you like the lightsabers used in Star Wars, this time hued Bright Fuschia for the person who teeters between Luke Skywalker and Prince Leia (this is the 00s!). The shade and feel has been described as "lurid pink" by Mrs.Veneering on POL and I couldn't find a more perfect description. The composition by talented, almost in-house* nose Francis Kurkdjian (from the Takasago team) revisits the canned peach-candy orange-pink lotus in hysterics of Classique smothered in vats of vanillic powder and a prolonged white musk drydown that is anodyne more than androgyne; in fact the more they dry-down the more they're indistinguishable to me. Thankfully Ma Dame is not cloying like Classique can be, mostly thanks to a very fresh treatment of alleged cedar which veers on aquatic: it's utterly synthetic-smelling and sanitised like being dressed in futuristic tinfoil which is a new direction that Gaultier ommited to include in his amazingly wonderful costumes for the "Fifth Element". Ma Dame is mischievous and diabolical enough in that it will make you wonder whether this is good or bad which I hope reveals humour behind its creation. To take you out of the dilemma I have one admission to make: it's nothing I would wear myself. Consider yourselves accordingly advised.



Nota bene the creative prowess behind the bottle design: the transparent spray mechanism is invisible!

Official notes for Ma Dame
Top: Orange Zest, Grenadine
Heart: Fresh Rose velvet, floral Notes
Base: Cedar, Musk

Available at major department stores since September, 50ml/1.7oz for $95 of Eau de toilette (also available at 100ml/3.4oz). Matching body products as well.

*taking into consideration he's responsible for Gaultier's Fragile, Gaultier 2, Le Male and Fleur du Male.

Pic of Agyness Deyn and Jean Paul Gaultier via zimbio.com Pic of bottle via Vogue.com

Liaisons Dangereuses By Kilian: fragrance review and brand presentation

"L’Oeuvre Noire" (The Black Masterpiece) by Kilian evokes a Faustian atmosphere that casts an iniquitous alluring spell, pervading the spirit and senses, while transporting the soul to nirvana. Inspired by a search for perfection, the poetry of Rimbaud and Baudelaire, as well as the lyrics of modern day poets like Pharrell Williams and Snoop Dogg. The black masterpiece "by Kilian" is revolving around ingenues, artificial paradises and Parisian orgies". With a rather pretentious manifesto as the above (surpassing even the Nasomatto one) and the coronas by Turin on perfumer Becker's work (she of J'adore, Tommy Girl and Beyond Paradise notoriety), is is any wonder it took me so long to review any of the By Killian fragrances? Even Killian Hennesy himself noted in a small interview by Mffan310: "The two perfumes that Sidonie Lancesseur created for me, Straight to Heaven and Cruel Intentions, got only two out of five stars, whereas the ones created by Calice Becker all got four stars becuase he loves Calice Becker's creations. Still, I welcome perfume critics... the industry needs more of them. Look at movies: what if there was only one or two movie critics, all giving the same films the same ratings? That's why I welcome more critics."
Having spent a good part of summer testing and re-testing some of them and spurred by a reader's recounting of how one worked on a particularly sensitive moment of his life recently and questioning my hitherto silence, here I am trying to be fair to a collection of varrying degrees of comptence. After all, like Yourcenar used to say "There's no reason to fear words when one has consented to things."

Killian Hennesy, the admittedly very handsome and privileged grandson of the LVMH Group founder (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennesy), grew up around the family's (excellent, btw) cognac reserves and studied Information and Communication Studies in the Sorbonne, becoming interested in the intricacies of odour semantics which brought him into work for the luxury houses under the LVMH umbrella. The progression to his own niche line was but a small leap away and luckily for us he spared no expense on raw materials which is always a good step in the right direction.
The L’Oeuvre Noire portfolio currently includes 7 fragrances, the first 6 intended to be juxtaposed in a play on a common theme: Liaisons Dangereuses, Cruel Intentions, , A taste of Heaven, Straight to Heaven, Love, Beyond Love and the newest Prelude to Love.
The presentation is in black taffeta with a black tassel and the shield of Achilles (!) to protect from harm ~coincidentally and for their information, according to the Iliad the shielf of Achilles was made from several metals and contained anthropomorphic depictions. Perhaps the most intriguing aspect is that the bottles can be refilled through the barrels that contain a 1L reserve of the precious juice, once you have purchased the original bottle.

Liaisons Dangereuses (Dangerous Liaisons), tagged "Typical Me" is composed by Calice Becker like most of the line's fragrances and was inspired by the homonymous epistolary novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, first published in 1782. The novel was adapted into film by Roger Vadim (1959), by Miloš Forman (1989) and -the best known version- by Steven Frears (1988)as well as a rather abysmal TV adaptation featuring Catherine Deneuve and Rupert Everett (Perhaps this link might be of interest to those who want to compare). Then again the plot was twisted into a modern younger spin set in NYC in Cruel Intentions which is sardonically the name of the mirror scent By Killian, with the tagline "Tempt Me". Although both intended as a continuation of 18th-century libertine tradition to symbolize transgression, the pleasures of the flesh and defiance of prohibitions and conventions, the scents themselves do not lend themselves to orgiastic proclivities.

Liaisons Dangereuses is not a dangerous or evil creation despite its connotations. Centered around a very sweet rose aroma with the richness and incadecence of fruity liqueur in crystal tumblers, it possesses fruity chypre tonalities but without the dense, overripe feeling of the traditional peachy-plummy bases (Persicol) like in Femme, Diorama or Que sais-je by Patou. Instead the fruity aspects are interwoven into an almost gourmand jammy effect that is light, with the surprising hint of sugar-dusted Turkish Delight, and quite trasparent denoting a resolutely modern composition that sings its notes in unison. There is no obvious spiciness or animalic muskiness, nor is there the emerald background of a forest's floor; nevertheless the fragrance lingers for a long time melding with the skin pleasurably. The traditional feminine ideal of rose has always held me in check because I find it unimaginative and not particularly human-like the way indolic white florals or even anisic (lilac, cassie) and spicy ones (carnation, lily) reference the intimacy of feminine skin and its secretions. Rose as an erotic symbol stood as the triumph of optical semantics, and possibly tactile, in the very field (blossoms) that I always felt should be left to the olfactory. And yet, there is no doubt that Liaisons Dangereuses is glowing its cherubically smooth cheeks in a Watteau painting, not "redolent of an alcove inhabited by languid lovers".
The fact that conversely to the film in the novel Marquise de Merteuil ends up disfigured by pox, a fate considered much worse than having her reputation tarnished, is but an otherwordly notion in the frame of Liaisons Dangereuses By Killian: there is no way one could picture this as anything but pretty and certainly it is not "typical me".


Notes for Liaisons Dangereuses: coconut flesh, prune absolute, plum, blackcurrant buds absolute, crystallized peach, cinnamon bark oil, ambrette seed absolute, rose Damascus, geranium bourbon, sandalwood Australian oil, oakmoss extract, vetiver java oil, clear woods, vanilla extract, white musks.

By Killian Liaisons Dangereuses comes in 1.7oz/50ml (225$)refillable bottle of Eau de Parfum and a candle version. Available from Printemps Haussman, Parfumerie Victor Hugo, Bon Marche in Paris and Monaco, La Mure Favorite in Lyon, Verso at Anvers, Oswald in Zurich, Skins in Amsterdam, Bergdorf Goodman and Aedes (also online) in NYC, Apothia and Luckyscent in Los Angeles, Saks in San Francisco, Las Vegas and Beverly Hills and Holt Renfrew in Canada (Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal and Calgary). Also from their site.

The line will be completed upon reaching the goal of 10 fragrances, whereupon there will be another By Killian collection on a different concept.

One sample will be offered to lucky reader! State your interest.

Pics of Matisse special edition bottles and candle provided By Killian. Pic from Dangerous Liaisons courtesy of Wikipedia.