Optical Scentsibilities -new feature!

Perfume Shrine has an eye for the visual as well as a nose for the olfactual, as has surely been apparent to our readers by now. In the interests of pursuing the investigation of common themes running through perfume images, a new feature is introduced: Optical Scentsibilities. A feature focusing on elective affinities among images concerning fragrances that will run regularly from now on.

The idea came up while releafing my art books, which abundantly depict what Umberto Eco has so infamously made an academic career out of: semiotics, of course. Like "books talk about other books", images draw inspiration from other images and perhaps instill a new twist on an older theme. In this sense there is no purpose of talking about "plagiarism", as it is well established that there can be no parthenogenesis in art. Basically, everything has already been said and there is nothing trully new under the sun. However it is interesting to contemplate just how some undercurrent runs through similar concepts.

Today we focus on two takes on the dark-silhouetted-profile hovering over a bottle resting on the top of the knee. Here is an example by Fidji, the green floral perfume by Guy Laroche. The brilliant tagline reads: "The bare essential. All it needs is you". There is a quiet anticipation in the picture, as if you are waiting for that face to turn into focus, into the light and speak. Which is obviously what the perfume does for you, anyway...

And there you can witness a comparable image advertising the floriental Boucheron Femme. There is a difference in more overt sensuality in the second paradigm, conveyed through the half opened lips, which is logical considering that the advertisement came out in 2003 (and it had a similar male counterpart for Boucheron Homme), while the one for Fidji is older (per my calculations late 70s to early 80s). In most other regards however there is an uncanny similarity.

Another case is within the same brand: Rochas did a very similar print campaign for two of their feminine perfumes. Lumière came with this advertisment in 1986 (the scent first launched in 1984 and got re-orchestrated in 2000, reportedly to its detriment): the nude feminine back holds an aura of subtle seduction, seemingly vulnerable and leading to other paths to sensuousness. In this image the soft focus of the lilac colour palette imparts a soft halo of romanticism.

Contrast with this one, for Rochas' Mystère (scent launched in 1978, the ad is from the 80s). The same position of the model, focusing on the nude back and with a coif to match, but this time with a more dynamic arm position which, with its arrow line, suggests a certain assertiveness and with a dark yet fiery colour palette that hints at more seductive intentions.
I am guessing that here we have a case of a brand wanting to establish an homogenous aesthetic in its products and I think it succeeds in providing a backdrop of reference. This intent is more apparent if we notice the taglines: "Vous laissez tant d'énigme derrière vous" (=you leave such an enigma behind) for Mystère and "Vous laissez tant d'éclat derrière vous" (=you leave such a luminosity behind) for Lumière. If you are extra attentive you will also notice that the names are analogous in number of syllables, intonation and way of pronunciation.
Bravo, Rochas advertising team!

Pics from cofe.ru, image des parfums, parfums de pub and Ebay

Fragrant News: Christian Dior La Collection Particuliere

According to latest news on Russian site Moon-fish, Christian Dior House celebrates its 60 years anniversary and to commemorate the event will release La Collection Particulière, a new exclusive line of feminine scents, named Passage No.4, No.8 and No.9, proposed by John Galliano. The three perfumes in the new collection are dedicated to three of Dior's favourite models - France, Lucky and Victoire.

The actual scents were inspired by three flowers - rose, iris and tuberose. The bottles will be crystal amphoras like those used for the first Dior scents, in the bandeau tricolore: the three colours of the French flag ~red, white and blue. They come in a 75ml/2.5oz spray.
The perfumer behind them, Francois Demachy, describes the scents as "jewelled flowers".

Official notes:

Rose (France) - fiery rose with orange, pepper, amber and musk.
Iris (Lucky) - violet with iris, plus musk notes from ambrette seeds.
Tuberose (Victoire) - tuberose with jasmine, soft patchouli and vanilla.

According to other sources (ie.Octavian Coifan) three supermodels inspired the type of woman represented by each of them: Stella Tennant for Rose, Kate Moss for Iris and Gisele Budchen for Tuberose.


La Collection Particulière will debut in 30 Dior boutiques around the world starting Nov.19th

EDIT to add official Dior descriptions:

Passage No 4 (Rose): "A sovereign rose, a fiery pimento, a journey, a garden."

Passage No 8 (Iris): "A velvet violet, a sophisticated iris, a dream, a burst of laughter."

Passage No 9 (Tuberose): "A dazzling tuberose, creamy woods, late nights, fireworks."

Also Octavian Coifan has been the very first to smell those and has great things to say too. Please go to this link to read his reviews:
Reviews of scents in La Collection Particulière by Dior, by Octavian Coifan (1000fragrances).


Perfume Shrine will focus in depth on the Dior chypres shortly. Stay tuned!!

Pic from parfumdepub

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween to all the readers of Perfume Shrine and may the benevolent ghosts of your loved ones be around you on the dia de los muertos. I like to believe that our cherished, most loved ones can escape the Night's Sultan on this special occassion and for some brief moments come to us and kiss us gently on the forehead while we are fast asleep...

Perhaps you might want to burn some scented candles for them, on this special night, like I plan to for mine, and leave some sweet treats for them on the mantelpiece to ease their journey back.

Personally I am very partial to the very cool look of L'Artisan Parfumeur candles that were specially made for the leather-goods (and recently fashion too!) brand Bottega Veneta. Their Intreccio one (click here) with its herbal notes and touches of pine and cypress seems autumnal to me. And isn't it a pretty sight?

Or you might want to go more traditional and focus on the pumpkin quest!
This Colonial Candle in Pumkin Pie would make a great room fragrance, scenting the place with the spicy smells of the traditional dish; while this Pumkin Strudel from Claire Burke is unusual and yummy.
If you want to go the way of the burner, then The Body Shop has a seasonal offering in their range of room fragrance oils, called Pumpkin Nectarine, with fruity notes on a bed of spice and vanilla.
For an inexpensive easy treat Bath and Body Works has a device called Fragrance Bulbs in the seasonal scent Pumpkin Pie Paradise that includes the aroma of rich pumkin with the addition of cinnamon and caramel. Sounds terribly fattening, but without the calories. Of course you would have to be the type who goes for those bulby things in the first place. Myself I usually prefer the tradition of the candle.

Snow White Dove has a whole list of fragrance oils which could be used in a myriad of ways and for this occassion Pumkin Spice is a great bouquet garni of cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamom. I am eyeing their Mulberry, with hints of pine needles, as well as their Vanilla Treasures with cranberry, cinnamon, allspice, cloves and roasted nuts for the upcoming winter months meanwhile...
At Specially Made by LLC, you can find a long list of fragrance oil as well, of which Eggnog, Gingerbread, Harvest Spice and of course Pumpkin Pie caught my attention.
Country Light Candles offer another wide selection, out of which yet another Pumpkin Pie raises its head.

Last but not least, if you have kids at the appropriate age for indulging in crafts, you might even consider making your own pumkin soap. You will find a lovely little recipe clicking here. Or just wash yourself with the handmade Soaps by Sarah in Pumpkin Cornbread. A Jack-o-lantern experience is guaranteed!

Pic of retro postcard from allposters.com. Pic of L'artisan candle from sybarites.org

Black Widow: fragrance review (in time for Halloween) & draw!

"Bob Rafelson's Black Widow with its good, flashy star-performances by Debra Winger and Theresa Russell, comes on with the seductiveness of an expensive perfume that inevitably evaporates before the night is over". When the New York Times critic gives you the opening line on a perfume review, you know it's one that has baggage attached. Black Widow ,the fragrance, has a name that might induce mirth, sarcasm or slight apprehension and would fit Halloween's fragrance choice to a T.
A while ago I was contacted by a small brand, Small Wolrd LLC who generously provided a bottle of the fragrance for me to test. (Which was a first!) I assume they went the same route with other bloggers as well, regardless of whether it was inferred or not. I don't flatter myself that I was the only one; decency dictates mentioning it.

Black Widow came with zero expectations, exactly because I was oblivious to its existence. A look at their site revealed a playful page full of catchy slogans, such as "What You Do With Your Prey is Your Business" or "At Least He Went With a Smile On His Face", which really made my evening.
To me nevertheless it is Bob Rafelson's 80s neo-noir that came to mind in a Nescafe-dissolving-in-a-styrofoam-cup kind of way: that is, instantly!

In the homonymous film

"The villain [...] is Catherine (Theresa Russell), beautiful, charming and intelligent woman that seduces and marries a whole bunch of wealthy men only to have them mysteriously die few months later. After collecting inheritance money, she disappears, takes new identity and begins her deadly scheme all over again. Her modus operandi, however, brings the attention of Alexandra Barnes (Debra Winger), workaholic Justice Department investigator. After obsessively tracking down Catherine all over the country, Alexandra finally reaches her at Hawaii. Catherine there wants to pull the same stunt on Paul (Sami Frey), local tycoon. Knowing that she would have to catch Catherine red handed, Alexandra meets her and tries to strike a friendship, not knowing that Catherine has some suspicions too."

(synopsis by Dragan Antulov (1988))

Forget the big shoulder-pads on bright-coloured garments and the at-times-bouffant hair, this was a seriously entertaining neo-noir with a slightly hinted-at lesbian flair which differentiated it from most of the run of the mill productions. It even featured cult cameos by Dennis Hopper, Diane Ladd and Nicol Wiliamson! And if it missed by a shot, sumbitting to the mania for ethical endings, what the heck, it was a fun evening watch.
In one memorable scene, Alex offers a wedding gift to Catherine: a black widow jeweled brooch. And we see Theresa Russell's face smirk both seductively and diabolically as she slowly says: "Black Widow; she mates and she kills. The question is: does she love? It's impossible to answer that unless you live in her world. {she pauses}. Such an intriguing gift..." And then, bang! all the homoeroticism that was latent manifests itself as she grabs Alex by the back of her neck and kisses her violently on the mouth.

Black Widow is a fragrance that could have been chosen by Catherine to prey on her wealthy victims as well as charm women who are on her pursuit. Saturated with spice, it opens up on an intense peppery accent that catches your attention like a razor blade touching your throat. It stays there poised for a while, mixed with a little hesperidic touch, until a cascade of rich, smoky clove weaves itself into the trap laid for the unsuspecting victim: you!
Clove is such an underappreciated note, mostly because of associations with medical appointments involving root canals. But moi, who has never had the need for one, can appreciate it for its qualities beyond: those embryo seeds of Eugenia caryophyllata , full of natural eugenol and caryophylenne, that grows abundantly in Zanzibar are unctuous and lustful for moisture, with a tinge of the sweet in them. In food products, such as biscuits, the aroma is replicated by 1-Acetoxy-2-methoxy-4-propenyl benzene.
Here, in Black Widow, you can appreciate the natural clove essence, as the fragrance is purpotedly made up by naturals, which comes nifty if one considers the aromatheurapeutical benefits of such aphrodisiac essences.
It is this phenolic scent that dominates the heart of the perfume, alternating the sweet with the dry accents throughout as it marries with rich amber, sucking on it vampirically. Other spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg also surface, albeit less prominently, on hair that shines like spiderwebs; and they weave a sexy spell from which the soft, slightly powdery silk of the trully lasting drydown cannot escape unscathed.


The official information provided on the site runs thus:

Black Widow is made from all natural essential oils.
Black Widow is a sweet and spicy oriental
with a rich amber scent, top notes of citrus,
and middle notes of musk and spice, including
cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg.
We realize it is hard to describe a perfume with words so we hope it helpsto say that Black Widow resembles a fresher updated version of Opium.

I believe that the comparison with Opium is perhaps unjust, as it places Black Widow on the shadow, not appreciated for what it is; especially given the fact that it lacks the orange-mandarin aspect of the former and its intense floral-woody accord, concentrating instead on the natural spices and the ambery base. However, if you like spicy orientals such as Black Widow is not a bad scent to start your seduction ploys with. And "Oh! what a tangled web you will weave". Until a Federal Investigator catches you, that is...


Black Widow comes as a lasting Cologne Spray in simple, round black bottles of 60ml/2oz in a black box nand can be ordered directly from the Black Widow site here and also from Henri Bendel NYC, Heebee Jeebees in Colorado Springs and the Pleasure Chest in West Hollywood (so you know it has something going on for it! *wink*)

Please note that shipping costs to Europe or overseas might be a little different than those stated for the US.

Since we have such an abundance of the fragrance at our disposal, I am offering samples to readers who comment and a lucky draw for a decant of it to one lucky winner!

Poster of the film through impawards.com

Chypre Rouge by Serge Lutens: fragrance review

It's not often that a perfume assumes a stolen identity to pass icognito under our noses, hiding its true nature under a misnomer. Chypre Rouge is not a chypre by any stretch of the imagination, even taking into account the new chypre contestants that assimilate the older façade. It takes the symbolic image of red oakmoss of Chypre Rouge to make one think of an interpretation of a fantasy in which darkness and light mirror the hues of the No-like makeup that Lutens has always opted for in one of his previous incarnations as makeup director for Dior and Shiseido. And much like those waxy materials that metamorphose plain features into studies in cubism, Chypre Rouge has a weird power in it that transports the notion of chypre into the realm of oriental meets occidental.

Chypre Rouge came into the public scene with one of the most impressive yet somehow incoherent press releases to date.
It ran like this:

“I remember looking at the forest ground, covered with dead leaves, and finding it both macabre and beautiful. Something caught my attention: a strange patch of moss at the base of a tree, it looked as if it were bleeding, purple and red. Ceremonial dress, splendid and dying, lit by the rays of a nearby clearing. “Don’t deny, you will confess!” In this doorless dungeon we look for an exit. Thin light comes from a murdering hole.
Eagle nest, precious stones, coat of arms, standards, what are we made of? Eternity, limpidity, freshness, beauty, velvet softness. A secret continent of which we would be the body, in golden darkness, moss of spices and vermeil. The kiss of a choirboy on the ring of an archbishop.
Softness and depth, secret in scents where, laying our cheeks we can only dream.”

(press release courtesy of Scenteur d'Ailleurs)

Now, before you get any naughty ideas about the choirboy and the archibishop's ring, I have to add that imaginative imagery has always been at the core of the Lutens canon, so we are to take this as a flight of fancy, a reminiscence about his childhood in Hansel and Gretel land.

And just where is this mythical land? Osmoz says a propos de Chypre Rouge that it "was inspired by Serge Lutens’s memories of fall in his native Vendée region of western France". Native? Please allow me to disagree on that score. Lutens was born in Lille which is quite far from Vendée. In fact as revealed here, he spent his youth in Lille too!
However I am perfectly willing to believe that he had some extended family or friends who stayed there and that his visits were coloured with the sweeping brush of vermeil and purple mentioned.
It is not without importance to note that he was a neglected child whose mother donned black on her second wedding day, perhaps a symbol that rang poignant in his id. The confessional tone, mingled with the religious overtones of the papal purple, hint at a desire to express some secret ache that needs to surface through the catharsis of the artistic. And so Chypre Rouge becomes deeply personal, psychological endoscopisis rendering it difficult to interpret by someone outside the circle.

Upon encountering Chypre Rouge one is hit with the earthy smell of celery. So vivid is the impression that doubting our artistic tendencies we do a double take wondering what came upon them to devise such a -shocking to many- opening. Of course Lutens is no stranger to exagerration and carefully constructed ugliness; which puts the essential final straw on a perfect specimen, like the demonic camphorous Vapo-rub opening of Tubéreuse Criminelle, another daring Chris Sheldrake creation. However the latter is to be distributed directly from Les Salons du Palais Royal being part of the exclusive range, therefore a touch of the outré is not particularly unexpected. Chypre Rouge forms part of the export line and therefore it stroke me as odd that such a choice of top notes was opted for.
The progression to fenugreek and immortelle (the note that accounts for the maple surupy hot sands of a deserted beach of Annick Goutal's Sables and the pronounced curriness in Dior Eau Noire) comes after some minutes to soothe sensibilities and transport into the territory of the spicy with subtle whiffs of flowers, dried, rolled into heaps of curried dust. Mace and coriander raise their beady heads out of this basket that recalls Arabic souks, like most of the Lutens creations, especially Arabie, influenced by his mysterious seraglioat Morocco that no one has ever visited. Named "Al Medina al Hamra", Red City because of its architecture, Marrakesh has served as a rich pool of inspiration for Lutens and his vision of perfume as a homage to a cross-reference of civilisations.
The final phase of caramelised nuts rolled into musky, smooth moss is the least challengening, but by then potential audiences will have either walked away or braved the initial coup in anticipation of the soft nucleus. It is unfortunate that I tend to the former group.

Chypre Rouge launched in 2006 as an Eau de Parfum Haute Concetration, a term that denotes higher concentration of aromatic essences because of the nature of the latter that demand a higher saturation point to be perceptible and is not meant to imply that it is louder in odour volume.

Official notes:
thyme, pine needles, pecans, fruit gums, honey, beeswax, jasmine, patchouli, amber, vanilla, moss and musks.

Instead of further commentary I direct you to Placebo with brilliant Brian Molko and their song "Meds":



(uploaded by dagonsio)

Please remind me to post "The Bitter End" (again by Placebo) if Serge Lutens trully retires from fragrance creation, per rumours.

Top pic from the film Carrie by Brian de Palma (1976)/Filmhai. Ad pic courtesy of autourdeserge.