The 9th installment in the By Kilian line L'Oeuvre Noir is announced: Love and Tears (Amour et Larmes).
The fragrance is centered around jasmine, with facets of iris, hesperides, white flowers and animalic notes garlanded around it. With such a composition, what other subtitle would you expect but Succumb? (In the manner of all the little commands of L'Oeuvre Noir scents in the By Kilian line). Love and Tears by Kilian will be officially launching in September 2010 and will cost from 45 up to 165 euros, depending on packaging and size. (Yes, that means there will be travel refil options for you)
“Having admired for years & years the huge bottles of perfume that Chanel & Dior have used in their adverts, I felt the time was right for Ormonde Jayne to have one of our own & celebrate Ta’if.” This is how Linda Pilkington explains the giant bottle of Ta'if which was designed and photographed at Harrods to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the scent. Feast your eyes on it!
Ta'if the fragrance is made with the pink ta’if roses that are grown on a dusty hilltop in the Arabian mountains & picked at dawn. This "sophisticated gourmand" Ormonde Jayne scent includes pink pepper, dates, saffron, freesia, broom & amber.
Among the four variations on the original Féminité du Bois, which in 1992 catapulted Les Salons business into the niche market (namely Bois de Violette, Bois et Fruits, Bois Oriental and Bois et Musc), this one is possibly the most polished, the most seamless, the most like natural skin scent and yet the lesser known. The latter possibly because it has never so far been issued in the export line, resolutely remaining a Parisian exclusive. Alongside Un Bois Sépia, Un Bois Vanille, Santal Blanc and Santal de Mysore, these woody fragrances form part of an informal family pegged as "Les Eaux Boisées" which cemented the Lutensian canon as we know it today.
Bois (pronounced "bwah") means of course woods and Bois et Musc is a fragrance which marries the two components of the name exactly as promised, in equal measure; first experienced in rapid succession (woods first, musk second), then in unison. The synergy of Moroccan cedar and smooth musk is at the core, while the usual Lutens accord of spice & dried fruits, with which he has invested his orientalised compositions for long, is subdued to the point of transparency. I seem to detect a creamy note of rosy sandalwood too, even though it is not officially mentioned, like those traditional incense beads fashioned in India and the Middle-East. The effect cannot be described as anything less than silky... This is a fragrance which enters the scene like a shy guest who radiates the room with their quiet presence even though they don't utter a single word and are bespectacled. You'd be hard-pressed to find dainty features, or beauty writ large over them, but they just exude a positive energy that surrounds every living thing within a one-foot radius. Contemplative, sensuous, brainy with the kind of wits that don't show off. Compared with the other Bois variations on Féminité du Bois, it is closer to Bois de Violette, but without the shadowy ambery backdrop.
Bois et Musc is totally unisex, completely ageless and a superb skin-scent (i.e. smelling like human skin would if only angels and devils had cradled it), what the French call "à fleur de peau". Possibly, the idea which perfumer Christopher Sheldrake had in mind when describing a "sexy", attractive scent. And this is even more so the case than in Clair de Muscwhich misses by an inch via its opaline soapy florals that read as ethereal. In contrast this is nothing like a white musk: In fact it's closer to intimate and impolite, but it's so noble that it invests naughtiness with impecable manners. A sort of Fanny Ardant in a François Truffaut film, totally French.
Amidst subtle woody musks, this Lutens stands as a personal favourite ever since I had sampled it during a rather rushed visit (I had exited craddling a bell jar of La Myrrhe which had just been issued and which is also beautiful). Bois et Musc would make a wonderful musk choice for anyone who finds the concept of animalistic and outré Muscs Kublai Khan ~which I love, love, love~ quite attractive, but is leery of wearing such a potent musk outside the bedroom.
Bois et Musc is a Paris exclusive, sold at Les Salons du Palais Royal only, in the beautiful bell-jars of the exclusive line 75ml Eau de Parfum for 110 euros.
For our readers: One lucky reader will receive a big-sized decant of this exceptional, Paris exclusive fragrance. Comment if you want to be eligible. Draw will be open till Sunday midnight.
Related reading on Perfume Shrine: Scented Musketeers (musks reviews), The Musk Series: ingredients, classification, cultural associations
Photo from the film La femme d'à côté (Woman next door) by François Truffaut, 1981.
Contrasting Clair de Musc to heavy-lidded, grimy and intimate Muscs Kublaï Khan by the same house, they couldn't be furter removed from one another in either concept or execution: Celestial creaminess on the one hand, afterglow raunchiness on the other. One feels platimum white, the other tawny.
Clair de Musc is ~atypically in the Lutens canon~ an angelic semi-vegetal musk (ambrette seed alongside synths, Habanolide I would wager); aldehydic, yet not totally soapy (Fleurs de Citronnier has a soapier musk base) neither "sharp" (à la L'Eau par Serge Lutens). It twists the idea of musk into an ethereal version of talcum-powdered chubby-peachy cheruvim with a floral underside, hold whatever "dirty aspects" i.e. indoles those flowers initially possessed; a skin-scent of juvenile, crisp flesh which almost "cracks" underneath the teeth. Which might explain why men love it on women. In our eternally seeking the youthful culture, Clair de Musc is a seduction that doesn't pose as seductive: The "innocence" of shorn pubes...but without a iota of crassness or malice.
In formula terms, there is a clear reference of aldehydics and florals of the past, intertextuality scatterings amidst the authoring, of which perfumer Chris Sheldrake surely was fully in control: the luster of both Chanel No.22and No.5, the cool vibrancy of powdered class of Iris Poudre by F.Malle, even the drydown phase of Le Male by Jean Paul Gaultier (a cologne formula almost entirely comprised by musks anyway)
For what it is, a delicate "white musk" composition, this Lutens creation issued in 2003 can be deemed overpriced, as there are indeed lots of musks of that concept (albeit not exactly of that stature, this is smoother than most) across different price points. And it is no match for more complex musk fragrances such as the delightful and lamentably discontinued Helmut Lang. It is superb for layering purposes nevertheless, if you're after that sort of thing, and it is among the easiest to approach in the eclectic Lutensian portfolio. However, my own personal preference is always the dirtier, cosier brother with the heavily-bearded visage, Muscs Kublaï Khan...
Although to any lover of classical music the instinctive association would be with Claude Debussy's Clair de Lune, I chose a different, less troden path, which is none the less evocative: "Dance with my own shadow" from Gioconda's Smile album by Greek composer Manos Hadjidakis. (set in a beautiful video by Omiros2)
Notes for Serge Lutens Clair de Musc: bergamot, iris, neroli, jasmine, orange blossom, sandalwood, musk.
Clair de Musc is part of Serge Lutens export line, fragrances carried at select stores around the world, presented in the familiar oblong bottles of the brand.
There are few images more precious to an adult than one that involves angst-ridden teen years, when we spent our time snatching vintage stuff of our mother's wardrobe, coupled with a few of our dear father's, lining our peepers in black khol like some Siouxsie wannabe and riding the Coty Wild Musk shelves out of their inventory stinking up every place we went to in the process. But now that Wild Musk is becoming increasingly difficult to find (and a reformulation or two have been implemented to disfigure a little of that fresh raw face that smiled beneath the angled fringe that recalled Flock of Seagulls) we view it with the nostalgic melancholy reserved for bruises that are slowly fading into yellow, having pained us for so long we sort of miss them when they're gone.
Musk notes are experiencing a revival lately, especially vintage animalic stuff which growls a bit teasingly when you approach, and Wild Musk is among the very best in a field that is becoming crowded with more pretentious and more expensive upstarts. But what sets apart this inexpensive beauty apart is that there is a cozy barber-shop atmosphere about this floriental, hot towels and shaving cream paraphernalia on smooth skin, a little rose and sandalwood powder in the air as well. And yet this is a fragrance that although can be unisex it has a very cuddly quality about it. Gentle, yet bawdy, warm and unobtrusive, but with a flirtatious edge, it deserves to be carried into adultdom with no intersections along the way. Not to mention that there is a special synergy between this creamy scent and the smell of sweat, carrying itself into intimacy without vulgarity. Compared to Jovan Musk the similarity is there, although I find Wild Musk creamier, a little sweeter and softer, especially in the oil edition. Not "dirty" or spicy as Muscs Kublai Khan or Khiel's older oil, yet not sanitized "clean" like the plethora of white musk offerings around (from Musc Bleu to The Body Shop White Musk), Wild Musk with its great lasting power on clothes and its vanillic trail stands at the utopian crossroads between the two directions.
Wild Musk came out in 1973, just when Coty and Coty International were united after being sold to Pfizer & Co ten years earlier (Imprevuis another one which is a follow up after this take-over), issuing a handful of popular products including Styx, Sweet Earth, and Wild Musk fragrances and the Equatone beauty-treatment line. This is also the time when the production facility relocated from New York City to Sanford, North Caroline, thus heralding a new era for the brand. Perhaps the most characteristic trait is how Wild Musk had been taken over in that time-frame by arty types and carried over as a small hint that underneath the existentialist ennui and their assertions that culture is going through an agonizing death they were sensitive, affectionate souls after all.
Notes for Coty Wild Musk: A solid note of musk is accented by bergamot, lavender, jasmine, rose, sandalwood, amber and vanilla
The formula of Wild Musk by Coty circulated as both an oil and an alcohol-spray version. The oil is superior in aspects of smoothness, although the spray is not bad either. The newer version does bear a difference to the older, due to the substitution of the musk components for reasons of biodegradability (see Musk Series part 2 for more info on nitro-musks) which makes it significantly tamer and with a more alcohol-prominent top. Intermediary-age boxes of the Cologne concentrate spray carry the swoosh design in a single ribbon instead of the flou, hazy rendition that the newer ones have. The even older ones had a completely different graphic as depicted in the ad, some of which had a rectangle bottle with a red cap and label (similar to Musk Patchouli).Bottles of the latest edition are carried at Walmart, Target's and drugstores, while older versions circulate on online etailers and Amazon.
What about you? Did you wear musk fragrances when you were (very) young? What were your choices?
Nina Ricci augments the Nina line in the apple-shaped bottle with Nina L'Elixir, to be launched in middle of August 2010. The perfumer behind the new flanker to the gourmand Nina issued in 2006 is Olivier Cresp again backed up by Firmenich. The concept rests again on a philtre d'amour (love philtre) which will include notes of red fruits, green Caipirinha citron, jasmine, and "cotton musk"*. The bottle will reprise the familiar shape of apple, with all its fairy-tale and sin connotations.
*"Cotton musk" refers to a synthetic musks mix which exudes a billowy soft ambience, less strident than the usual white musk inclusion.
The advertising campaign will be fronted by Florrie Arnold, the 21-year-old British sensation, who will be featured in a musical clip vested with Nina Ricci fashions and the music of Blondie hit Sunday Girl. The new fragrance comes as a follow-up to the take-over of the company by the Puig Group, thus breathing a desire of new beginnings. Let's see...
"The desire to smell good — without the aura of chemicals — did not seem to wane in the flop sweat of the recent economic panic. Ms. McCoy sells her creations at $60 to $125 for a half-ounce — not cheap. Yet “since 2007, I’d say my sales have increased 25 percent every year,” she said. The great majority of these perfumers buy all their ingredients from natural scent companies, in stores or on the Web, and then blend them at home. But Ms. McCoy also uses a heady variety of homegrown scents from her lush garden in Miami Shores, Fla., a village just north of Miami. Mandy Aftel, who helped spur the modern natural perfumery movement with her 2001 book “Essence and Alchemy,” said she has “observed an absolute explosion of interest.”
In a very interesting article chronicling the rise of all-naturals perfumery that relies on small batches of harvests and growing one's own plants for tincturing, appearing in the New York Times online by Micheal Tortorello, we come across names which have occupied these pages before, namely Anya McCoy and Mandy Aftel, gurus of natural perfumery. The article named "Making Flowers into Perfume" can be accessed here and contains such priceless imagery as comparing overflowing, lush jasmine vines at McCoy's "like chest hair on a ’70s sex symbol that cannot be kept under the collar". Congrats to the natural perfumers mentioned and a shout-out for Mandy and Anya, well-done ladies!
If you're stumped while deciding what to get to your father figure for this upcoming Father's Day, we have selected a few aromatically-laced suggestions for you here, with a personal editor's choice element woven in, of course.
For those looking for something rustically French
Grasse-based perfume factory Molinard is offering a 15% discount on all their wares from 1st till 21st of June to celebrate Father's Day. Their products are fun and good quality, encased in beautiful, sleek packaging. You can find the link here. And if you order 50 euros or more, you will received a complimentary Campus for Him cosmetic product. I'm tempted personally by their discovery set: it would make a cute gift.
For aesthete types
And if you're really monied (495$ for 1.7oz/50ml! my eyes!), you can look out for The Infidels by Agonist. An art object more than just a perfume, featured at both Luckyscent [code june10 would get you free shipping in the continental US] and Aedes, its intricate crystal presentation respendid with what looks like an antenna is designed by Åsa Jungnelius for Kosta Boda. The Nordic sensibility of the exterior is counterbalanced by the Grasseois content of the interior; we'd like to think, at least...
For eco-green hunter-gatherers
Roxana Villa of Roxana Illuminated Perfume was the first perfumer to tap into the native Californian woodland known as Chaparral®. This is an organically-made unisex fragrance of all natural essences. Its main fragrance notes are: Bay, Sage, Frankincense and Woods. The evolution on the skin is particularly interesting as it moves from citrus and spice to herb and dry vegetatal wood. Chaparral was conceived as a celebration of the aromatic landscape of the State of California, with an almost incensey scent devoted to the California Native American Indians. The pure parfum extract can be bought on this link. She also offers cute perfume solids in plastic (great when you're on the go) or in metal tins (very handsome looking)
For those of you with a tight schedule (or an olfactory-adventurous father), all-naturals indie perfumer Ayala Moriel suggests their MR. MORIEL COFFRET of 8 bold and distinctive fragrances that are the most popular among the gentlemen who frequent her boutique. If you're looking for a traditional masculine touch, she recommends l’Herbe Rouge or ArbitRary, or the soapy-clean Sabotage, which adds the final touch of after-shower crispness.
If you want to go mainstream
You can always rely on a dependable classic too, the following choices are quality, trusted to bring a smile on and smell very good indeed: Eau Sauvageor Dior Hommeby Dior, and Green Irish Tweed by Creed, for the more traditional guys. For a little more adventurous types John Varvatosor the half-forgotten but still good Jazz by YSL (and while I'm at it, I'm sorely temped by that book!). And if you want to savour the smell whenever you hug your dad as well, get him the now discontinued but still available here Gucci pour Homme in the squat bottle with the square cap. Yummy! Also a good idea that is a treat for the eyes as well as the nose is the Classico Gift Box by Claus Porto luxury soaps: it contains 5 handsomely wrapped European 7-times milled soaps in Vetyver, Verbena, Pear Sandalwood, Vanilla Orchid and Lime Basil. If he curls up his nose at the Vanilla, grab it for yourself and leave him the rest...
Finally, for those of you too lazy or very, very busy
To make picking the right thing 100% foolproof, Amazon has Gift Cards for the gift of his choice for 50$ or alternatively for 100$.
...for the Guerlain cologne sample is La Bonne Vivante. Congratulations! Please email me with a shipping address, using the contact email on the Profile or About page, so I can have this out to you in the mail soon. Thanks to everyone for your enthusiastic participation and till the next one!
"Françoise Caron's long line of perfume creations reads like a diverse and stylish list of artistic accomplishment, with nary a misstep, yet always with the harmonious feel one gets upon wandering amidst a Greco-Roman glyptotheque: From one of the most enduring classics of modern perfumery, beloved by anyone who comes into contact with it, L’Eau d’Orange Verte for Hermès, to niche offerings such as three Eaux de Cologne and four candles for Astier de Villate, all through the formula for the signature scent of the Angel body line (Thus befittingly augmenting her brother’s, Olivier Cresp’s, oeuvre, since it was he who composed the original Angel scent).
L’Eau d’Orange Verte began its career on the bathroom shelves of dandies and chic bourgeois girls as well as traditional men who just wanted to smell good, with another name: It was issued as Eau de Cologne d’ Hermès in 1979 (the name was changed in 1997) after a brief was issued to perfume-producing companies in which Jean Claude Ellena, current in-house perfumer at Hermès, had also submitted an entry. Triumph ensued very soon: This was seriously good cologne; tangy, bright, and happy-smelling, projecting at a cool radius to everything it touched, remaining timeless and effortless to this day. Its panoply of classical arms is its success: the traditional Eau de Cologne weapon, the sour tang of bitter orange, cutting through heat like a scimitar; the herbal-green accord rustic and Arcadia-evoking...
“An eau de cologne needs to be simple, with top notes that aren’t heavy, that don’t purport to stay on long; yet simplicity doesn’t mean absence of personality either” she notes, upon the 30th anniversary of the fragrance’s launch. “It also needs to be cooling”, its alcohol content a major constituent of the refreshing feeling it produces upon evaporation.
The effect is reinforced through the secret inclusion of a little mint and that ace in the sleeve, blackcurrant buds, offering a fruity touch with a catty whiff. Françoise is still profoundly touched whenever she encounters her creation amidst the hotel toiletries offered at some of the world’s choicest hotels..."
"I really want the client to interpret my fragrances on a personal level. I anticipate ‘weaker’ moments in my perfumes, so that clients can take the time to get used to them and make them their own. This is very important to me, but it is totally out of synch with the current market." - Jean Claude Ellena
The master perfumer at Hermès and legendary nose among this eclectic set of artists, Jean Claude Ellena, has been generous to us with both his time and his mind yet again into sharing his views on what constitutes art in perfumery on independent platform Perfumism.com, the venue where industry insiders and perfume aficionados meet.
You can follow this link to read his fascinating and very honest views on perfumery and how he chooses to work. And leave a comment there (click "comments" under the article to do so), if you'd like to ignite discussion with like-minded people and get heard by Jean Claude himself!
We have referenced the gastro-olfactory synergy which writer and perfume journalist Chandler Burr has been creating for his guests at his Scent Dinners. Now for those of you who missed them, there is video footage to watch so you can get a glimpse of what they entail. Next best thing to actually being there... The first video is from Burr's dinner at The Four Seasons Restaurant with chef Fabio Trabocchi. The second video comes from Nathalie's, an expensive but wonderful restaurant in Camden, ME, where Burr collaborated with chef Lawrence Klang. Click to watch!
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The fragrance is centered around jasmine, with facets of iris, hesperides, white flowers and animalic notes garlanded around it. With such a composition, what other subtitle would you expect but Succumb? (In the manner of all the little commands of L'Oeuvre Noir scents in the By Kilian line).
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