Turtle Vetiver Exercise 1 by Les Nez: fragrance review

the Navagio beach on Zakynthos/Zante island in Greece

"In Lebanon, at the border with Israel, there is a turtle sanctuary. It is the result of being a protected area during the civil war. The almost extinct Mediterranean sea turtle was allowed to flourish. This is something good that came out of the war. This is poetry. I have gone through my own corporeal civil war and TURTLE is my sanctuary and celebration".

~Michael H Shamberg

"Outlaw Perfume in Progress" sounds like contraband that is waiting to change hands in some faraway country full of sailors with dirty pea-coats. But in reality it is Turtle Vetiver by Les Nez, perfumer Isabelle Doyen's contribution to the creative network Turtle salon, "an anarchic salon", masterminded by Michael H.Shamberg. The quirky, poetic and catchy name brought me memories of the endangered caretta caretta turtles (the loggerhead turtles) ~one of the oldest species in the world, alive when dinosaurs roamed the planet~ I had seen protected in the sanctuary of Zakynthos (Zante) island in Greece. Something so durable through the fabric of time itself, yet so fragile: The hatchlings have to complete an arduous journey to the sea once they've come out of their sand-buried eggs. Heading towards the brightest light, hopefully what is the moon's reflection on the horizon over the sea, before the hot sun comes up and fries them alive and before sea birds have them for prey. Only few survive, but those few are resilient, proud, swimming tall. But the affairs of man, never too far off the affairs of nature, lie close by on the ShipWreck or Navagio beach, one of the most photographed beaches of Greece, its name coming from the ship which was wrecked in 1983 while carrying smuggled cigarettes.
Turtle Vetiver seems to be a parallel story of surviving hardship, small or bigger personal tragedies and smuggling hope; and on its cragged planes one can feel the emotion of having come up victorious.

Turtle Vetiver Exercise 1 is a hard-core vetiver for true-blue fans of the earthy deliciousness that responds to the name of that miraculously tenacious root and I feel like it became a symbol for the project same as turtles. The rough opening of "dirty and gritty vetiver roots before the soil and sand grains have been rinsed off" as Ayala described it is a prelude to a leitmotif of dark, edgy, earthy treatment of the note; remakably close to the pure essential oil, yet more palatable with a spicy edge and an almost salty undernote. It feathers out slowly, becoming clearer and clearer all the while like mud water shifted through a sieve.
In a way I am envisioning a cross between the nautical, iodine-rich Vetyver of Annick Goutal and the craggy, wet cobblestones of Vetiver Extraordinaire.
If you are wondering whether it might be too hard for you, you might reconsider because it certainly would. But if you want to be surprised by just how many interpretations are possible in this fascinating material, Turtle Vetiver is an intriguing addition.

Isabelle Doyen makes small erratic batches of Turtle Vetiver and plans on changing the formula constantly. Therefore Exercise 1 is simply the version currently in stock at Les Nez, it might change later on. Samples can be ordered from the LesNez website.

Related reading on Perfume Shrine: Vetiver Series, Les Nez fragrances.



Song Ερωτικο/"Erotic", sung by Haris Alexiou, lyrics by Alkis Alkaios, music by Thanos Mikroutsikos. Written in memory of Marxist philosopher Nikos Poulantzas who commited suicide in Paris.

Lyrics translation by helg:

In a pirogue you set off and wander
when the rain gets stronger
In the land of Visigoths you wander
and Hanging Gardens seduce you
but you're sawing your own wings slowly.

Saltiness covered your naked body,
I brought you fresh water from Delphi
You said that your life would be cut in two pieces
and before I had the chance to deny you three times
the key of heavens had got rusty.

The caravan is rushing through the dust
chasing your shadow along
How could a sheet calm the mind,
how could the Mediterranean be tied with rope,
my love, whose name was Antigone.

Which melody of the night has tempted you
and in which galaxy could I find you?
Here is Attica, a grey pit
and I am but a shooting ground
where foreign soldiers train cursing.

Pic of Navagio Beach (the Shipwreck) on Zakynthos/Zante island in Greece by jjbach/flickr. (Beach accesible only by boat, leaving daily from Porto Bromi.) Song originally uploaded by kostasdiefhon on Youtube

Guet Apens/ Attrape Coeur and Vol de Nuit Evasion by Guerlain: fragrance review & comparison, with a footnote on Guerlain Ambre

Gustave Claudin writes about Marie duPlessis in Mes Souvenirs: “She was fickle, capricious, wild. She adored today what she hated yesterday. She possessed natural elegance to the utmost degree. One could certainly say she had style. No one could copy her originality. As long as florists were able to provide them, she always went out with a bouquet of white camellias”.


Marie Duplessis is none other than the inspiration for the character of Marguerite Gautier, famously known as “la dame aux camellias”. Her natural sensuality and maturity beyond her years are a logical fit for a perfume like Attrape Coeur, formely known as Guet Apens.


La belle de nuit aux violets that is Guet Apens was composed as a limited Christmas edition by nose Mathilde Laurent 10 years ago (1999) when Guerlain had its first inflow of funds from LVMH's initial investment. A slight retouche by Jean Paul Guerlain three years later resulted in another Limited edition called simply No.68 (not to be confused with the new Cologne du 68 ~for a complete breakdown of that entanglement please see my detailed article here)

Was the sobriquet non sonorous enough to English-speaking ears to keep it in production? The resinous, powdery, vanillic juice at the core of No.68 bore ties of consanguinity with both Guet Apens and Terracotta, you see.


Guet-Apens was finally renamed Attrape-Coeur and since 2005 has joined the ranks of the permanent collection of Guerlain to the rejoice of perfume lovers, reissued upon the occasion of the renovation of the flagship Guerlain store on the Champs-Elysées. Although the scent is usually credited to Jean Paul Guerlain (rumours want the then working on Guerlain project Insolence, perfumer Maurice Roucel to also having had a hand in it), the original scent was composed by Mathilde Laurent, the nose behind the controversial Pamplelune with its sulfureous grapefruit and Shalimar Eau Legere/Shalimar Light (the 2003 version) which was so fabulous. Tact prevents me from elaborating longer on the possible rupture, but suffice to say Mathilde Laurent is now composing scents at Cartier.


The phrase Attrape Coeurs means "heart-catcher" and it is lovely in its connotations, although it can have its adversaries too. Hearts are usually a corny matter, depicted in nauseating permutations as a symbol of romantic love. Guet Apens on the other hand means "ambush" in French, which makes for a much more intriguing name, but maybe that is just my opinion. For Attrape Coeur I think of a seducer, a woman who is out to get men entrapped in her tentacles, but all that done in a most elegant and non calculating, non vulgar way

In a way it goes way back to another era. It evokes the real Marguerite Gautier, famously known as “la dame aux camellias” and her influence on French society, both as the heroine of the novel by Alexandre Dumas fils and as a representation of the Parisian courtesans of the 19th century. Modeled after a real person, Marie duPlessis (real name Alphonsine), lover of Listz at one point and of Dumas naturally, dead at only 23 years of age due to consumption but having made her reputation already, Marguerite is a very alluring personality. With her pale complexion due to tuberculosis and her manners of a grande dame she captures the attention of the Parisian high society. Camellia of course in not featured in Attrape Coeur (it has no significant scent anyway), rather dark violet is, which is very apt taking in mind that Violetta is the name of the heroine in the opera version of the novel La Traviata (which literally means "woman who strayed") by Guiseppe Verdi and numerous theatrical versions, hence the association.
In the enchanting and nostalgic Langage des fleurs, a book by Charlotte de la Tour, violet stands for secret love. Violets then with a little underscoring of woods and iris form the core of the perfume.

Identifying Attrape Coeur as a Guerlain happens after it sheds its veils like Salome one by one. The opening of Attrape Coeur is as if iris got suspended in a snowy mirage, fresh, tingling, hazy, reflecting light in all directions, not unlike the charming disposition the demure Apres L'Ondee coyly reveals. A little fuzzy, fruity tone (reprised in MDCI Promesse de l'Aube and Chinatown by Bond no.9) smiles with the beatific smile of golden mosaics in Roman villas. The glycaemic nuance of violets, undescored by a mysterious greeness, a fleeting earthiness, is winking in a jar on the countertop of a French patisserie in Toulouse. And all is poised over an animal's warm, vibrating belly as it luxuriates in front of a blazzing fire.
Even jasmine makes a brief appearance, but then I regrettably lose it: it’s a lovely jasmine note like that in another Guerlain, Flora Nerolia: it remains fresh, green and dewy. Compared to other offerings from Guerlain the base is somehow between Shalimar and L’instant : not as animalic as the former, not as sweet and –dare I say it?- cloying as the latter, it combines the element of eathereal iris and sandalwood in order to give stability and powdery dryness that is much needed to bring balance to compositions based on sweeter elements. The creaminess and luxurious, plush feeling of Attrape Coeur remind me of the opulence of Bois des Iles by Chanel; but whereas the latter focuses more on gingerbread-like milky sandalwood, the former is anchored in powdery, warm amber. It's that alloy that gives the tone, with a little vanilla, tonka and perhaps civet (which I was not aware of particularly, meaning it is restrained), so characteristic of Guerlain perfumes. Attrape Coeur is formally classified as a "fruity chypre rose animalic" (although to me the rose is safely tucked in there) and gives me the feeling that were Parure composed with peach and violets instead of plum and lilacs it would be quite close in feeling.

Attrape Coeur has a lingering, creamy aura of ambery woods which makes it very popular with people enamored with comforting scents, blooming on the skin and lasting on my wrists the span of a whole day going on well into the night. This is especially satisfying rising from a plunging decolleté as it is such a wonderful perfume and a nice surprise at this time of fleeting perfumes that make us apply over and over again.

To add to the confusion ~noting the additional "s" in the name which appears by mistake in "Perfumes, the Guide"~ let me mention in passing that a special Bacarrat edition of L de Lolita Lempicka in extrait de parfum with golden netting and blue topaz is also nicknamed L'Attrape Coeur and that L'Attrape-cœurs is the French title under which the novel by J. D. Salinger more widely known as Catcher in the Rye circulates under. Talk about picking a popular name!

On the other hand, Guerlain themselves, further the confusion. Vol de Nuit Évasion , introduced in 2007, is despite the name a completely different fragrance than the classic oriental Vol de Nuit from 1933. The Guerlain tagline presents it as "a nomadic homage to a classic scent". But actually it is simply the Eau de Toilette concentration of Attrape Coeur !(This was confirmed, apart from my own nose, by official Guerlain representatives later on). Yet it is circulating only at duty-free stores in France at train stations and airports (contrary to Osmoz's quote linked); clearly aimed at the travel-retail market which is experiencing a resurgence. Considering it's 1/3 of the price of the exclusive Attrape Coeur, it's a great bargain and not to be missed if you get a chance.
The bottle is following the classic emblematic design of Mitsouko and L'Heure Bleue with the upside-down heart stopper (slightly vandalised in the upcoming La Petite Robe Noire) but with the "circle" design of the name which appears almost cinematically-styled on the Sous le Vent flacon now. A lower concentration means Vol de Nuit Évasion whispers in hushed tones whereas Attrape Coeur would sing like a dramatic soprano (which is indeed the direction in which La Traviata's Violetta is taking). It's a good middle ground.


Notes for Guet Apens/ Attrape Coeur by Guerlain:
Rose, violet, iris, vanilla, woods, amber.
And a different set of notes I found:
Top: rose, jasmine, tuberose
Heart: peach
Base: amber, musk

Notes for Vol de Nuit Evasion by Guerlain:
peach, rose, jasmine, iris, amber, precious woods, vanilla

Shopping:
Attrape Coeur is now part of Les Parisiennes line in Eau de Parfum concentrations, resting inside the big "bee" embossed 125ml bottles with the boule stopper; exclusive to Guerlain boutiques.
Vol de Nuit Evasion comes in 50ml/1.7oz bottles of Eau de Toilette, exclusively available (at the moment at least) in duty-free chains in France.
Guet Apens in the lantern-style bottle makes sporadic appearences on Ebay.

And a little footnote on Guerlain Ambre: Notice this is the bottle lantern design used in Guet Apens! And as to how Guerlain Ambre smells, I will leave you to perfume historian Octavian Coifan:

"Ambre (1890) is said to be the first perfume of Jacques Guerlain. It is a very delicate and refined perfume based on the smell of ambergris tincture. It is not a sweet perfume (the ambre 83 type) but dry and deep. It has incense rezinoid, woody notes, labdanum, some balsamic notes (benjoin), orris. It is profound and dusty as the church wood or the very old books. A simple perfume that evokes a ray of light in an abandoned sanctuary."

Related reading on Perfume Shrine: Violets, Guerlain series

Pic of Guet Apens, No.68 and Vol de Nuit Evasion by Fiordiligi (copyrighted), authorised for use on Perfume Shrine; of Attrape Coeur bee bottle shot by eowjdula/mua, of Guerlain Ambre via ebay. Artwork by Rafael Olbinski via allposters.com.

Blast from the Past

Perfume advertising has progressed a lot and never is this more obvious than upon viewing old cheesy commercials with a retro touch, such as my selection here today.

Sharon Stone appears in her overstyled, overcoiffed youth in a 1983 commercial for mass market Revlon fragrance Charlie.
Do note how similar the condo with the pool looks with the famous one shot for Chanel No.5 with Carole Bouquet from around the same time frame!



A 1992 Exclamation commercial reminds me of clothes designs from the 80s and shoots from the French Elle magazine.



And Coty relaunches L'Aimant in the 1980s with this commercial which not only mangles the pronunciation, but also manages to commit a grammatical mistake on the very packaging of the flanker fragrance, L'Aimant Eternelle. Sadly, l'aimant (=the magnet) is a masculine name in French...(therefore it should have been éternel). C'est la vie! Better luck next time.



Clips originally uploaded by Robatsea2008, macrosunshine, attariman1988 on Youtube

Note this date down!

On January 20th, select free cosmetics and fragrances are available to select consumers at major department chains in the States, according to MUA members who have been notified through mail.
Click the link for info on offers!

La Petite Robe Noire by Guerlain: Say What? (New Fragrance Musings)

Some time ago, last August to be exact, Perfume Shrine had speculated that Guerlain would be issuing new perfumes soon with city/travel names etc. (you can read that article here) Among the already registered, copyrighted names was Habit Noir (=black dress). The name was eerily reminiscent of the classic masculine in the Guerlain range, Habit Rouge. It was perhaps the stroke of unoriginality to name something "noir" amidst a plethora of products on the market termed Black-this and Noir-that. Even Guerlain themselves had recently issued the limited edition bottle Black Mystery for their iconic Shalimar! It took a reader of mine to point out that Aromamundi had been privy to interesting facts:

"This sweet gentleman had access to the new Guerlain Homme quite some time ago, and talks about new Guerlain releases for 2009, including ("including", goodness gracious!), I quote, a "Voyages à ..." series (might be the capitals you spotted?), "Une Petite Robe Noire" centered around a candied cherry note*, and the "Habit Noir" you talked about".

To which I had replied:

"Voyages must be the line with the capital cities, Habit Noir must indeed be another Habit Rouge flanker and the Petite Robe Noire (sounds like an Frenchified Avon that one!! LOL) must be a new feminine limited edition, perhaps".

Une Petite Robe Noire has materialized and is set to go it seems, according to this press release appearing on Vogue.fr, hence the picture:

The fragrance, a fruity gourmand, starts on notes of Sicilian citron, licorice and almond*, over a heart of rose and smoky tea to finish on a musky and vanillic background ~translation by Helg

*{NB: Please remember how often the cherry-pie note and almond are referenced in heliotropin-based fragrances, which is one of the key ingredients in Guerlain fragrances}.
The bottle is the classic Mitsouko and L'Heure Bleue design with a sketch of a negligée-looking black dress on it that reminds me of several things: for starters Plum Syke's heroines of the chic-lit novel "Bergdorf Blondes" (English mid-maintenance girl goes to NYC and conforms to high-maintenance lifestyle aiding her "catch" the perfect romantic suitor where she leasts expect it); then the illustrations by Ruben Toledo in Laren Stover's delightfully light and fun "The Bombshell Manual of Style" (a beauty boards' afficionados best-seller); and finally the "girly" stationnery that looks like something coming out of a Sex & the City old filofax.
If I judge by comparable "guides" to looking elegant or looking French (tongue-in cheek or not) or even more weirdly living a la Francaise there is a wide market for that sort of thing! (I urge you to click on the links and see for yourself; one of the basic taglines for the book is "perfect black dress". Come to think of it, it's interesting to search "little black dress" on Amazon by itself!). And no nation wants to be Frencher than the North-Americans (the love-and-hate between those two cultures is well-documented). It's interesting to note that all those guides are written by English-speaking individuals with various degrees of competency or indeed fashion sense/knowledge (this one commits the grave faux pas of attributing an emblematic Givenchy dress worn by Audrey Hepburn to Coco Chanel for instance!)

The above observations are completely my own and Guerlain is not corroborating (nor refuting yet) any of the above. Yet, they're there! A direction towards the American market seems Guerlain's latest strategy it seems, as discussed in detail in The Guerlain Conundrum article here. But more importantly I sense a further disorientation in strategic mapping out: As succinctly our guest writer AlbertCan noted on Now Smell This :

"The little black dress? How is this referencing the Guerlain heritage?(Getting into Chanel marketing territory--yet again)".

Another reader comments on the heels of that:

"As for the "invention" of the black dress which has become a classic, I think this is now in the public domain. Most designers put them out and black is worn ubiquitously outside of funerals."

and another

"there is some book cover with a little dress... and it's a white dress, but it reminds me of that bottle"

and yet another

"Is it just me or did Guerlain just scoop up a name that would have been perfect for a new Chanel perfume instead?"

Aside from the well-known fact that Avon already has a fragrance exploiting the concept of the "little black dress" since 2001 in -you guessed it!- Little Black Dress by Avon, the name alludes clearly to what is considered a "chic" French classic. Vogue.fr presents the new Guerlain fragrance with the tagline "un parfum déjà culte" (an already cult perfume). Clearly the "cult" is the harvesting of the iconic status of the little black dress, a concept synonymous with images from another era.

But the thing is, the little black dress matched with the set of pearls and the red lipstick is such a cliché now that no truly chic woman in French-inspired Europe (or at least in the circles I move in!) readily chooses to wear it any more. I am not disputing the ease, comfort and elegance of the little black dress idea. I even have several in my own wardrobe. It is a landmark in the history of fashion for a reason! I am merely commenting on the over-analysed, over-simplified "trickling down" of its appeal which has conspired to ultimately cheapen it ("wear this and feel like Audrey Hepburn" proclaim all the rock-bottom and mid-price lines ~sorry, that ain't gonna happen that easily..). Personally, Hepburn physique non-conforming aside, I would never pick a little black dress for a semi-formal/formal occasion now exactly because it's so expected, nor would I pick a fragrance "to go with it" as a result.

But here is the really interesting part and pay attention, dear readers: One of the quite frequent questions appearing on fragrance-discussing fora on the Internet is about what fragrance to match with a certain "look". There was this example on a very popular forum a while ago, which I am linking here for your perusal and no doubt interesting deductions. The question was paused by a lovely American lady from New Jersey:

"This Saturday I will be attending a pretty swanky wedding. Guests have been asked to wear black and white attire. A friend gave me a gorgeous designer cocktail dress which I had fitted perfectly. It's very Audrey Hepburn and I can't wait to wear it. My mother had vintage heels and a bag which are the perfect compliment to the dress. I have not been this excited to dress up since my own wedding. Now that my clothing and jewelery are selected I've turned my attention to fragrance. What shall I wear? So, dear POL members, what fragrance would you wear with your "Little black dress"? I hope to be inspired by some of your suggestions."

I will save you the trouble of wading through the thread if you lack the time. I did it for you: The resounding answer is "something from Chanel" amidst other recs, very few of which happen to be Guerlains.
Something tells me headquarters are paying very, very close attention to what is being discussed online (the new marketing is taking note of online communities) and trying to come up with the tricky part of reconciliating the appeasal of the core fans of the Guerlain brand with the commercial potential of their new products. The task is Herculean, it's easy to lapse, alas and I am not unsympathetic: We LOVE Guerlain around here, if you've been reading Perfume Shrine regularly. And until I get my own share of juice to judge I cannot proclaim whether it is good or bad naturally.
But the news of the launch do give pause for thought, so I decided it's interesting to bring it into the open discussion arena and therefore I would be genuinely interested in your opinion, dear readers; here in the comments or privately if you prefer. As always rest assured that Perfume Shrine is respectful of every range of opinion.

Oh, and I almost forgot: of course La Petite Robe Noire is going to be an exclusive at Guerlain boutiques starting February at 100 euros for 50ml., which I have to admit is not unreasonable (Should you be concerned for Habit Rouge, there is a Sport version out shortly, see our previous news)