Belle en Rykiel: fragrance review

This is the time to test your span of attention, dear readers. Remember how I had talked about the upcoming new fragrance from Sonia Rykiel, madame de tricot, full of anticipation, back in the day? It was last October on my previous venue, on another host. You can read what I had written and the official info on the new perfume here.
Today I will occupy myself with accounting my actual sniffing experience for your delectation.

Sonia Rykiel is a true Parisian eccentric lady with elegant daughter Nathalie as precious accomplice in their adventures in knit, navy clothes Breton-style and the ubiquitous black. Her signature frizzy red mane is only a hint of her willingness to participate in outré concepts like their new boutique with all the naughty props...
In perfumery she hasn't made any faux pas, starting their fragrant stable with the great dry woody Sonia Rykiel Le parfum in 1993. It was as late as 1997 that they issued their next one, named simply Sonia Rykiel in the sweater torso bottle with the strass on the chest, boxed in an orange rectangle and smelling of sweet fruits mingled with vanilla and caramel, inspired by the success of Angel, making this one for gourmands in every sense of the word. The following year saw L'eau de Sonia Rykiel, a predictably aquatic "blue" scent to satisfy the end of the market that had moved on from L'eau d'Issey because of its mass popularity and wanted something a little more private and subtle; while 2000 was the year Rykiel catered for men as well with her dark Rykiel Homme. The collection now seemed complete.
However when something is good saleswise, perfume houses and marketing teams want to capitalize on that: enter Rykiel Rose (2000) in a version of the original sweater bottle, this time tinged in a very becoming pink hue, redolent of succulent tarter fruits and a sparkling interpretation of the king of flowers (for most folks, I'm not one of them!)
By the same token Rykiel Grey (2003) was a male tart and sexy musky version in another sweater bottle, while the true masterpiece came out that same year and was emphatically and irrevocably destined for women: Rykiel Woman, not for men!(in eau de parfum; the eau de toilette that launched two years later is sadly different and not on a par).

The newest Belle en Rykiel , created by nose Jean Pierre Bethouart (working for Firmenich), crossed my path for real this time like an accidental rencontre with someone you had heard lots about half-remembering what that someone was like. Time had passed and I did not remember any notes or description, just that it was a promising new release from the designer who captured my heart with Rykiel Woman,not for men! rich crayons of a dusky, musky hue. I was therefore a complete virgin in regards to sampling it when the genuine surprise of seeing the heavy architectural bottle subsided. Surprise, because although I had been informed that it had already launched since last autumn I had not yet located a tester. This is an irritating phenomenon that has to stop: how is it possible to sell something, a new product on top of that, without a tester available for the buyer to sample from? Some mysterious clairvoyant act of genius must transpire, I guess...

The official description promised an aromatic oriental, presumambly because of the inclusion of one of the most traditional aromatics in perfumery that has done a comeback -much like the also for long forgotten violet note- that is lavender. Now, lavender is usually a masculine element, both because of its traditional and somewhat expected inclusion in so many men's scents, from Grey Flannel to Goutal's Eau de Lavande. And to tell you the truth it is not my personal favourite note in a women's perfume, because if it is the real stuff it smells quite medicinal which I find offputting, and if it is not it's even worse; a travesty smothered in easy to swallow vanilla cream like kid's pills. If you have to have something, be a man and take it as it is, is my motto!
However, truth be told, in Belle en Rykiel it smells neither very prominent, nor masculine.
Its celebral coupling with incense, as promised by the promotion text, gave me an idea that maybe it would be an echo of Encens et Lavande by Serge Lutens, a Paris exclusive with the most gorgeous drydown (final phase) of smooth olibanum/frankincense that recalls the heavy damasc drapery of a baroque cathedral in the time of the Spanish Inquisition.
However in Belle en Rykiel, I am a little disappointed to report that the final impression is not as dramatic or richly evocative of similar decadence with the resplendour of such historical periods.

Upon spraying the light golden liquid on my wrists the tartness of mandarin and berry overtook any possible medicinal tendency lavender has, with a projection that at first seemed a bit strong for my taste. It took a while for it to unfold the powdery and sweet heliotropin which emerged triumphantly in the middle along with a garland of light incense that is nowhere near the eclesiastical dense cloud of Avignon or the sheer drama of Norma Kamali Incense.
Patchouli seems like such an ubiquitous element in half of today's perfumes that frankly, although I love its aroma, it's getting me a little bored. Here it offers its sweet ambience in compliance to the amber, never overstagging it. The bois d'acajou (mahogany) note listed is something to which I am unfamiliar with, excluding the eponymous limited edion by Etro and furniture of course, but admittedly the composition smells more like a woody oriental to me than an aromatic one.
On the whole, although Belle en Rykiel starts with somewhat of a blast it soon becomes soft and subtly sweet staying close to the skin the way another sensual Lutens scent, Chergui, does or even evoking the baked skin of L de Lolita Lempicka, the whole lasting quite a while.

Would I rush out and buy a bottle? Probably not, because I feel that it is not terribly original to warrant a purchase since I have similar things in my collection already; however it would not disappoint the woman who is tired of fruity florals or overtly foody scents and out to purchase a modern oriental that would never garner comments of it being out of synch with today's sensibilities, yet manage to smell feminine and inviting.

Belle en Rykiel comes in Eau de parfum concentration in 40, 75 and 100ml priced 40, 60 and 75 euros respectively. Available from major department stores in Europe. Soon to be released in the US and rest of the world.

Pic came uncredited to me via email, probably courtesy of Lavazza calendar campaign.

It's the end of the world as we know it (perfume ingredients banned)

The above line from a well-known REM song unfortunately does not leave me feeling fine, like the song repeated time after time again in its refrain. Maybe it has to do with my abhorrence for state intervention of any kind in what I perceive as my consumer’s choice. Maybe it has to do with the prospect of endangered aromas, in the manner of endangered species that is looming in the horizon very shortly. Or maybe, just maybe, I am one of those who safe in their well-arranged existence likes to live precariously through the sensual pleasures that are given us, who knows for how much longer: a vivere pericolosamente mentality of eating medium-rare bovine steak, listening to alternative underground bordering on satanistic some would argue rock with covers that might bruise sensitive feministic sensibilities and -last but not least- using perfumes containing real oakmoss in amounts exceeding the prescribed percentage set by IFRA (the International Fragrance Association) and the EU (European Union).

In view of the whole debacle of oakmoss use as stated in a previous article, I was just about to resign myself to searching for vintage bottles of my favourite chypre perfumes such as Mitsouko, Femme, Bandit and Chanel#19. Not an easy task all the same, as perfume unlike wine does not come with a production year, despite the fact that we perfume-users use the oenological term vintage so often to convey a particularly good aged masterpiece. But it seems oakmoss were to be the least of our troubles.
As Anya McCoy, a talented natural perfumer whom I have interviewed in the past in this venue and the president of the Natural Perfumers Guild, brought to my attention, there is a whole list of ingredients that are about to be eradicated or strictly controlled in the formulae of perfumes produced from now on. The control of the percentage of certain natural ingredients to minute amounts in a given formula might bear no great value in the creation of a new perfume, as it could fuel the imagination of a given nose into composing new wilder arpeggios of unprecedented combinations. It would certainly signify however the destruction and bastardization of several revered masterpieces of the past, rendering them but ghosts of their former glorious shelves leaving a generation that has never smelled the originals with a skewed perception of what greatness really is all about in the olfactory kingdom.

The alphabetical catalogue of those nature-derived aromatics that are restricted follows:
Angelica root oil
Bergamot oil expressed
Bitter Orange Peel Oil Expressed
Cade oil
Cedar moss
Chenopodium oil
Citrus oils and other furocoumarins containing essential oils
Costus root oil, absolute and concrete
Cumin oil
Fig leaf absolute
Grapefruit oil expressed
Lavender
Lemon oil cold pressed
Lime oil expressed
Massoia bark oil
Massoia lactone
Melissa oil (genuine Melissa officinalis)
Oak moss extracts
Opoponax
Peru balsam
Petitgrain Mandarin Oil
Rose oil
Santolina oil
Savin oil
Styrax
Tagetes oil and absolute
Tea leaf absolute
Tree moss extracts
Verbena absolute
Verbena oil

Perusing the list one cannot but drop one’s jaw. Lavender? The quintessential essential oil that is recommended for pacifying even babies? Citrus, bergamot and bitter orange peel oils? Seriously, do they know that here in the Mediterranean we make a dessert out of the inedible bergamot fruit, using exactly the peel of the fruit boiled in syrup made with sugar? We eat the stuff for heaven’s sake. How much more harm could it do if we applied it on our skins? Yes, I am aware that those oils are photosensitizing. Surely a warning label on the box on not wearing it on exposed body parts could serve the purpose of protecting us amply? Not to mention rose oil (whose petals we also use in a dessert….the way I am going you must have formed the impression there’s precious few things we don’t make into desserts….well, it’s true, not counting the IFRA executives in those numbers….)

But the whole scenario would not bring doom futuristic Blade Runner echoes in our ears had it been chosen to just use warning labels on the boxes, stating exactly what the dangers are, so that the consumer can make an informed choice and suffer what consequences he/she has brought upon him/herself through that choice. Much like smoking…..
To cut a long story short, this whole dirty business smells more of money and lost revenues for the companies who produce aroma-chemicals and the law-firms that defend cases of demented “victims” of allegedly dangerous perfumes, than real flower and fruit oils.
It reminds me of the notorious case of an electronic goods company who lost a fortune to someone who was sick enough to microwave his cat and then plead his case in court successfully stating the instructions never warned about not putting an animal in the microwave appliance in the first place…I mean, geez…

If you want to make a difference and want to be vocal on the subject, there is a petition issued by Cropwatch, an independent watchdog for natural ingredients used in perfumery; you can vote against the 40th Amendment of IFRA that restricts those ingredients and make them come into discussion about this practice.
You can do it here



Pic of Tim Burton's "Corpse bride" comes from athinorama.

New perfumes by Francis Kurkdjian : the Indult line

A new ultra luxe niche is being explored by young prolific perfumeur Francis Kurkdjian, famous for his Le Male for Galutier, Narciso For her and Rose Barbare for boutique Guerlain. Indult is an old french word from 1498 signifying the privileges given by the french King or the Pope to esteemed individuals. With the desire to launch something that has comparable exclusivity rights as those bestowed upon by a king, Indulte is comprised by 3 scents that are issued in only 999 bottles each. The ingredients are rare and precious, largely dependant on natural essences, which seemingly is the way to go for trully luxurious fragrances.
No sampling programme is scheduled, to retain exclusivity.

The 3 fragrances will be:
Isvaraya (‘divine’ in hindi): a fruity chypre with jasmin sambac, indian prunes and patchouli
Tihota (‘sugar’ in polynesian): an exotic concoction of fresh vanilla pods and various muscs.
Manakara (deriving from a region in Madagascar famous for its litchis): a fruity rose blend of turkish and bulgarian rose married to succulent litchi


The bottle is an architectural rectangle with a black rounded cap, much like the classic Chanels and it will be encased in a pallisander wood box designed by Etienne de Suza.
The three perfumes come in Eau de parfum concentration in 50ml/1.7oz bottles at 160 euros each. They will be exclusively sold at french Sephora stores (call +33(0)8 92 707070 to find the store nearest you) and Indult site
Please note that for now only the french version works (click on "Entrer" on the left)You may contact +33(0)1 58 18 38 67 to become a member or click on the Membre button to enter your data. A personalised card will be made and then you can order what you want. You can also email them at: contact@indult.fr


Pic of black caviar courtesy of Fauchon. Pic of bottles from osmoz.fr

Beautiful Love: new from Lauder

With the tagline “a perfume to celebrate the love that you share”, Esteé Lauder is trying to catch the Valentine’s Day shoppers this year with its latest interpretation of one of her established perfumes, the intensely floral Beautiful.

Beautiful has always been presented as a wedding perfume, sometimes set to beauties such as gorgeous Paulina Porizkova, other times accompanying less gorgeous Elizabeth Hurley. It has proven to be a bestseller for ladies who want a romantic touch and the images of the advertising have proved very receptive from males about to purchase fragrance for their wives and fiancées, according to Lauder reports.
The fragrance came out originally in 1986 and it purportedly contained over 200 ingredients that took 4 years to find their proper place in the “perfect” formula that elicited the comment “beautiful!” upon being smelled by friends of Mrs.Lauder sampling it. So the name stuck. Or so the legend goes…
Personally I have always found Beautiful a little (OK, a lot) over the top in its big, bright, groaning with white florals (tuberose, jasmine, orange flower, lily of the valley) composition and although it reacted well on my skin on various testings, I never gave it the benefit of a doubt, never purchasing a bottle for myself.

Beautiful Love comes exactly 20 years after its big sister as the prodigy to follow in the successful steps of the revered relative.
This marketing technique of flankers, companion perfumes to already established ones bearing a variation on the original’s name has worked well for Lauder. With the exception of White Linen Breeze, all the others worked well and proved commercially viable and even successful. Around the time the company first signed with Elizabeth Hurley there was an attempt to modernize the classic soapy aldehydic White Linen, boosting it with marine notes and making it less potent and abstract. The experiment went well for a while, as it was the 90s and marine frags were de riguer. Lauder had no other marine in its stable. Soon however it became extinct, as Pleasures got launched to a staggering success, bringing back the vogue for “clean” floral smells.
Then came Garden of Pleasures, around 1999-2000, a limited edition trio of scents each highlighting one specific floral note in the original Pleasures – therefore there was Moon Lily (a glorious floriental whose passing I lament), Peony and Lilac. Being limited editions to coincide with the launch of an homonymous makeup line, they soon disappeared. I still to this day regret I did not stock up on Moon Lily. It was the best of the lot….
The next logical step was Pleasures Intense (a sharper, more intense floral) and soon after Pleasures Exotic for summer, with the addition of tropical fruits and citrus.

When Tom Ford came on wheel, he had the brilliant idea of revolutionizing the classic of the house: Youth Dew. A classic that smelled anything but what its name suggested. As mr.Ford is first and foremost a great marketer he instantly knew that he had to keep the sensual notes, but lighten the load, freshen up the image and inject sexiness in both the smell and the image. Youth Dew Amber Nude was the final result and it was pleasurable enough to re-ignite interest in the Lauder brand in young people’s minds (where the house did not register as hip). His Azurée oil interpretation last summer was also quite successful.
Pure White Linen, fronted by Gwyneth Paltrow, was the house’s latest effort to capitalize on another classic name, especially since White Linen Breeze had long ago disappeared from shelves. The final product is quite decent and I say that straight faced. It’s a likeable clean smell for instances when you don’t want to bother too much with what you wear, you just want to smell carefree and nice. Even the bombastically floral Beyond Paradise came to meet a little cousin by the name Beyond Paradise Blue, which I haven't tested yet.
Beautiful had already experienced a little watering down when the mood for lighter scents became the norm with Beautiful Sheer, one of the formulations that are supposed to be used during the humid season when the original version would seem suffocating.

Beautiful Love is the newest in that long string of “flankers” exposing a modern, creamier and more sensuous side of the Beautiful floral fragrance.
Karyn Khoury, Senior Vice President, Corporate Fragrance Development Worldwide, Estée Lauder Companies describes it as having less intense green notes and a greater emphasis on the classic’s white floral elements, ‘Beautiful Love captures the emotional depth of shared love’ she is quoted to say.
The official notes according to Osmoz are:

Top note : Pomelo, Cantaloupe, Mango,Pink Pepper, Freesia,Ivy
Middle note : Tiare, Tuberose, Jasmine,Other Flower, Black Violet
Base note : White Orris,, Whipped Cream, Tonka Bean, Vetiver, Cashmeran,Other Woods

The classification is woody musky floral, which is not sounding bad at all.
The effect is much lighter in feeling and less perfumey, with the fruit notes opening a tart impromptu going on to softer, creamy florals and a velvety base.
Packaged in a bottle that stays close to the feminine lines of the fluid crystal of the original Beautiful one, it features a pink-gold cap.
It comes in eau de parfum strength in bottles of 30ml/1oz, 75ml//2.5oz and 100ml/3.4oz.

Pic of bottle from Osmoz, pic of Beautiful ad courtesy of Parfum de pub.

Ava Luxe Madame X: a fragrance review

There are some perfumes that sing of female emancipation, of confidence, cool and the power of the go-getter. They are high brow at all circumstances, they are professional yet elegant, the mark of a successful woman in all areas. They have class, sophistication, refinement and a je ne sais quoi that sets them apart and makes them the object of admiration.
Madame X by Ava Luxe is not one of them.

Instead it recalls all the carnal knowledge that has a primitive root in out psyche, the call of the wild, the chase, female surrender, complete abandonment in the open arms of hell. Like an erotic adventure in a distant bruised past it has the rare ability to entice with the memory of the basest and lowest one has ever been to and actually had fun out of it. To call something sexy is a cliché and we do not condone clichés at Perfume Shrine, at least to the measure that is within our abilities. Madame X has none of the mysterious aura of a femme fatale nor the coolness of her calculating demeanour. She is no Bridget Gregory /Wendy Kroy from "The Last Seduction", as played by Linda Fiorentino, cool as a cucumber and only acting vulnerable in order to get her case made, improvising with the same black goal all along.
Madame X is a vulnerable woman, all open for the plucking, a little mature, a little pained and you have to approach her with the fervour and candour of a considerate lover, that for reasons of his own would be willing to explore the possibilities of reaching God.




Her trail of soft, deep, sensual labdanum in all its erotic permutations blooms on the skin, coupled with the slight fresh pepperiness of coriander. The initial impression it made mingled the spicy jolt and sweet richness of Cinnabar combined with the depth and raunch of amber, vanilla, sandalwood and the civet accord of Obsession. I do love both of those perfumes so the association was not simply interesting but positively mesmerising. The leather is so soft it almost makes one shed a tear of longing, while the lasting power is good although the volume at which this gem projects is low and discreet.
The viscous consistency of a drop of parfum upon my skin held the fascination of the imaginary prototype virgin in Grenouille’s pursuit for perfection. I can be brazen and say that it has captured my heart and draws its strings as we speak. Were I a man I would fall deeply in love with the mature person that would only spontaneously raise her legs for a reason only she herself knows, allowing me to harvest her most precious essence: Madame X.

Madame X is described as a "sheer ambery veil of labdanum and leather that wears close to the skin but lingers through the night" by its creator and comes in Parfum and Eau de Parfum concentrations.

Official Notes: Coriander, Acacia Farnesiana, Freshly cut hay, Jasmine, Rose, Labdanum, Leather, Incense, Patchouli, Oakmoss, Civet, Ambergris, Castoreum, Sandalwood Mysore, Precious Musks, Vanilla

You can purchase samples or order directly from the Ava Luxe site here:
Ava Luxe index page

I know I for one am eager to explore more of her creations.


Pic of Charlotte Rambling originally upoaded on POL. "Last tango in Paris" comes from Brando fan-site.