New Diptyque Candles: Patchouli, Roses Rose, the Basile collection

Diptyque might have discontinued some of their most interesting candles (and fragrances!) but they're busy expanding the rest of their stable with new additions. After the trio of hesperidic colognes (L'eau de l'eau, L'eau de Neroli, L'eau des Hersperides, all by nose Olivier Pecheux), which they issued last year, they are adding new candles in their lineup now.

"Patchouli: Its long blue leaves, steam distilled on tiny plantations way up in the hills of Indonesia, effuse a surprising woody scent.
The freshness of patchouli stems, humus and moss, wrapped in warm wood and resin. Deep yet luminous, it rekindles with its exotic roots and delicate accords.

Patchouli scented candle : € 47

The Roses Rose candle is nestled in a very British-style box. Its design is inspired by Liberty fabrics and pays tribute to the Diptyque founders who originally created textiles for this historic department store.
The Roses Rose candle is a mixture of antique rose petals and aromatic geranium leaves".

Roses Rose scented candle (limited edition) : € 50

The Roses Rose candle is timely coinciding with the shopping onslaught of the St.Valentine's celebration...

These come as an addendum to another Limited Edition that Diptyque issued a little while ago: the Basile collection of three scents (Amber, Scotch Pine and Briar Honey) which optically replicates the design of one of their first fabrics, in its turn based on the rich motifs of Byzantine architecture. The three scents, intended to make winter days and nights a little more luminous and warm, are as follows:

"Amber: The mystery of a substance so rare that Arab merchants once used it as a currency as precious as gold. The enchantment of ambergris with woody, leathery notes.
Scotch Pine: Being green in winter as well as summer is only one of the virtues of Scotch Pine. Its vigorous, resinous notes evoke the scents of a majestic pine forest and the freshness of the fleeting winter.
Briar Honey: It is difficult to find a sweeter, fruitier nectar. You almost feel like you’re in the middle of a moor full of fresh, scented briar".

Basile Collection scented candle : € 55 each

Pics and info via Senteurs d'Ailleurs

CK One new campaign: Musings on an All-Inclusive Marketing Culture

The emblematic fragrance of the 90s, the unisex CK One by Calvin Klein is relaunching with a new television and print ad campaign (shot by the legendary Steven Meisel), a beautiful song written by British musician and model Jamie Burke and a special, limited edition fragrance bottle packaged with an mP3 speaker.
The idea behind relaunch of the CK One fragrance is about bringing people together, regardless of their differences in age, culture, race or gender. It's about coming together, through the common and universal language of music.
From WWD by Julie Naughton (issue 01/09/2009):

"Calvin Klein plans to bring new attention to its CK One franchise with a new TV campaign to be launched Jan. 20. [...]"The CK One ‘We are one’ campaign is inspired by a social movement of people coming together in the spirit of unity,” said Catherine Walsh, senior vice president of American fragrances for Coty Prestige, noting the campaign’s centerpiece is a song commissioned from British musician Jamie Burke — who appears in the print and TV ads for this campaign, as well as two Calvin Klein Jeans spots. “There is such a natural synergy between the message of the campaign and the essence of our new president’s platform that it seemed the ideal moment to share the TV spot. The campaign — and its original song — give voice to an optimistic new generation, that certainly made its voice heard in the latest election. This is a celebration of the power of coming together as one.” Charlotta Perlangeli, vice president of global marketing for Calvin Klein Fragrances, added that the song will be available as a free iTunes download and on Ckone.com. “We believe it will help consumers relate more personally to the campaign,” she said. A print ad, featuring Burke with models of all shapes, sizes and skin tones, will begin running in February fashion, beauty, lifestyle and music magazines in the U.S. The campaign will also be online at CKone.com. Both campaigns were created with Laird and Partners; Francis Lawrence filmed the TV spot, which includes 30- and 60-second cuts. Steven Meisel shot the print ad.
Coty is reinforcing the music ties with a limited edition version of CK One. The bottle, which is emblazoned with the words “We are one” in a number of languages, is set into a base which includes a removable MP3 speaker. In addition, Coty will launch an all-over body spray in the CK One franchise. It is intended to be a lighter version of the CK One scent and is dispensed with an oversize pump, said Walsh. It will retail for $26. While Walsh wouldn’t discuss projected spending or sales figures, industry sources estimated the total media spend globally could top $25 million. Sources also estimated that the two limited edition products and the campaign’s effects could add $30 million to the franchise’s bottom line in the next year. More than 90 million scented impressions are planned globally".

Not coincidentally this relaunch coincides with the optimistic, all-inclusive spirit that has been instilled at the inaugauration of the new US president Barack Obama and his speech. The time is therefore prime for anthropological marketing that takes into consideration the very sensitive sensibilities of a culture founded on the principles of inclusion of all races, all religions and all sexual preferences. Unfortunately for many, the "One Drop Rule" seems to have been a custom in the United States for a long time, ie. "a historical colloquial term in the United States that holds that a person with any trace of African ancestry is considered black unless having an alternative non-white ancestry which he or she can claim, such as Native American, Asian, Arab, or Australian aboriginal. It developed most strongly out of the binary culture of long years of institutionalized slavery.[...]The one-drop rule was a tactic in the U.S. South that codified and strengthened segregation and the disfranchisement of most blacks and many poor whites from 1890-1910[..]Legislatures sought to prevent interracial relationships to keep the white race "pure", long after slaveholders and overseers took advantage of enslaved women and produced the many mixed-race children". (The following article is interesting to peruse).

In the historic times we're living, when the president himself is of black ancestry, it makes sense that such customs are better being left behind. Although it is no doubt of great importance to honour one's roots, an individual's human right is to feel however he/she wants to feel about them and not being dictated on how to, the right of self-definition becoming of paramount gravity; choosing to wear a label by ones'self or not choosing to. Subtler and more voluntary than hereditary traits such as religious choices should follow, naturally. And as to whether someone self-defines in the issue of gender, this is something that although still quite controversial is curiously often regarded with more lenience than religious or racial differences, perhaps due to the comparatively much smaller scale of those deviating from what is considered "average". Still, in a time when a transexual man gives birth to a baby, everything seems possible!
So even such a small thing as an advertising campaign that encompasses people of mixed races is a good thing! Nevertheless, I am looking forward to Coty Prestige choosing to show people of all ages in their advertisements, as the concept, placement and execution of the relaunch is clearly geared towards quite young people. As to the tyranny of beauty in advertisng (all the faces and bodies I see on the current advertisements are simply gorgeous) this is a general phenomenon in the market for fragrances and cosmetics. Due to my classical education and ancestry I personally embrace beauty for the ethical value that it definitely is in my own mind; yet I wouldn't be happy considering less than beautiful people excluded from such a thing as an all-encompassing campaign. Food for thought, dear advertisers!

For more information about CK One, you can visit the official ck one Facebook page, as well as the CK One YouTube channel.
The limited edition of CKone packaged with an mP3 speaker is available at Macy's retailing for for 50$US.

News & pics via press release, commentary my own.

The Unicorn Spell by Les Nez: fragrance review

In a line full of engrossing and unusual fragrances, The Unicorn Spell , despite the predisposing to overlyricism name, is perhaps the most arrestingly riveting due to both its unusual treatment of the violet note as well as the juxtaposition of shiny, vegetal leafiness with finespun woodiness.

This unconventional path to violet has been recently reprised by Maurice Roucel for Dans Tes Bras for F.Malle, proving that in a market chokeful of violets lately, there is still some room for wiggling one's toes. The Unicorn Spell forms part of the Les Nez (parfums d'auteurs) line, a niche brand from Klingnau, Switzerland founded by perfume lover René Schifferle. The perfumer Isabelle Doyen, who worked on a similar iris-green (absinthe in that case) theme in Duel for Annick Goutal, envisioned a violet on a cold, frosty morning waiting for the sun to warm it up with its first rays: "If by dawn still linger on your skin mixed scents of leaves, frost and violet blooms, and that relentless yearning for stellar sights, you will know that, at night, you felt the milky breath of a unicorn".

The atypical opening of shelling raw harricots verts in The Unicorn Spell is so transportingly vegetal as to make one become confounded and furtively search for the basket of green beans and the knife of the woman who is peeling them away for an alfresco Friday lunch. (Friday because that's the customary day to prepare a non-meaty dish in Med cultures where this dish is very common). This idiosyncracy of knife cutting onto raw legume is bringing spring in the very heart of winter and invites me closer to inspect the slow unfolding of a delicate floral heart. Comprised of violet leaf (rather than the candied tone of Violets de Toulouse, it is closer related to Goutal's La Violette or Verte Violette by L'artisan) and hazy-toned iris as seen through a gauze, the more it stays on the more it gains in violet-ness and loses in iris-ness. The two merge into a piquant middle in which the borders of green and tart are merged into a fey collage. The images which you might superimpose over this unconventional composition by Les Nez are purely individualistic and left to your own imaginings. The spell distends on ethereal woods, subtle and hushed, so as not to risk scaring away the enchanted creatures that the cool night has invoked.

The Unicorn Spell is available as a 50ml/1.7oz Eau de Parfum, directly from the Les Nez website, through Aus Liebe zum Duft or Luckyscent.

Related reading on Perfume Shrine: Les Nez fragrances, Violet scents, Iris: how to build one.

In the interests of disclosure I got sent a carded sample of each fragrance from Les Nez as part of their sample giveaway upon launching Manoumalia.
Photo by Chris Borgman courtesy of his site.

L'antimatiere by Les Nez: fragrance review

In "The Fisherman and his Soul" by Oscar Wilde a fisherman falls in love with a mermaid and eschews everything, even his very soul to go and live with her under the sea. After proposals of wisdom and wealth in order to re-unite with his immortal part fail to entice him back to land, he returns to see the beautiful legs of a dancing girl.

If you have wondered how it would be even possible to make love to a mermaid, then L'antimatière might provide an olfactory accompaniment to the age-old enigma.

"Thou shall not cheat the customer with a misleading headnote", the motto behind the concept, should have been the cardinal rule of perfume making. Alas, to the chagrin of myriads it is not usually so. All too often there is some initial first impression when testing fragrances which sways our best intentions and make up deposit our hard-earned cash for something that will disappoint once we fully test it at home (but it's too late by then!) Les Nez decided to abandon top notes completely for their L'antimatière. This is the reason for the initial shock which might leave you with mouth open, as the fragrance goes from alcohol to seemingly nothing. Yet give it a couple of minutes and it starts to "bloom" in ways unexpected.

L'antimatière means "anti-matter" which "is the extension of the concept of the antiparticle to matter, where antimatter is composed of antiparticles in the same way that normal matter is composed of particles"[...] the apparent asymmetry of matter and antimatter in the visible universe one of the greatest unsolved problems in physics".
In archaeology, we are accustomed to bagging every trace found in an effort to protect remains from cosmic radiation, much like the forensics experts do to protect evidence from physical tampering. I have never really detected any ill-effect caused by cosmic radiation although I have seen plenty due to mishandling, but this is another point for another day. Suffice to our discussion is that L'antimatière acts as anti-matter: It's a game of prestidigitation!

L'antimatière belongs to the Les Nez (parfums d'auteurs) line, a niche brand from Klingnau, Switzerland founded by perfume lover René Schifferle, and was composed in 2006 by Isabelle Doyen, along with the rest of the triptych, Let me Play the Lion and The Unicorn Spell. She presents it thus: "An invisible ink that leaves a trace, foreseen rather than felt, persistent yet whispered, of creased bed linen wandering along your curves".

From the slightly Band-Aid smelling opening to the mineral quality that reminds me of some highly-diluted vetiver varieties, L'antimatière is on the whole the closest thing I have ever smelled to natural ambergris tincture and it shares the sensuous undercurrent that belies the process of formation of that priceless, rare ingredient. Natural ambergris has a wonderful tinge of saltiness, almost brine-y, encompassing elements of skin-like musky tones, and even a subtly sweetish accent. Of all the natural animalic ingredients it is the one which could be worn neat and the only one which can be harvested in a completely ethical (non animal-cruel) way, as whales resurgitate the material in the sea where it floats for years before being deposited on the shores. L'antimatière, although not divulged as such, must surely contain copious amounts of this precious ingredient, as the comparison with the natural is so telling. The unexpected lack of top notes means that it swiftly goes for the memory of times past instead of the flirting stages.

Due to its very nature of subtly caressing, smoothing out, suave character, it might be very discreet to the point of practically undetectable to noses accustomed to stronger commercial perfumes or fans of concentrated "full bodied" fragrances in the old style; and spritzing instead of dabbing is highly recommended anyway. It also tends to have a different nuance according to the spot applied, which I am hypothesizing is its reactioon to the natural warmth of the skin. This element might discourage the majority from splurging on a full bottle, and indeed I am fairly certain that Les Nez issued it as a dare. However, for all that, for anyone who has smelled real ambergris and is appreciative or anyone who hasn't and is curious, this is emninetly sample-worthy!

L'antimatière is available as a 50ml/1.7oz Eau de Toilette, directly from the Les Nez website, through Aus Liebe zum Duft or Luckyscent.

Related reading on Perfume Shrine: Les Nez fragrances, Amber & Ambergris.

In the interests of disclosure I got sent a carded sample of each fragrance from Les Nez as part of their sample giveaway upon launching Manoumalia.

Photo: Bob Carlos Clarke exhibition via 20ltd..

Let me Play the Lion by Les Nez: fragrance review

"Scents of dusty trails, of lightly sweetened ochre, of sun-weathered wood. Of silence swept by mild breezes, of skies open like an endless azure cut oozing signs of the coming storm". Thus is how Isabelle Doyen, perfumer for Les Nez (parfums d'auteurs), a niche brand from Klingnau, Switzerland founded by perfume lover René Schifferle, presents Let me Play the Lion (introduced in 2006).

The playful name is inspired by a phrase appearing in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream: "Let me play the lion too: I will roar, that I will do any man's heart good to hear me; I will roar, that I will make the duke say 'Let him roar again, let him roar again" (Act I, Scene 2). And playful indeed is the treatment that Isabelle Doyen, famous for her delicate, graceful watercolours for Annick Goutal, is saving for the composition in question.

Let me play the Lion starts on a spicy, peppery orange warmth, a subdued pomander note pettering out to scents of pure frankincense smoke curling lazily upwards towards a serene sky and of seared woods. If you are familiar with Poivre Piquant or Poivre Samarkande, the spiciness is on the same wavelength. Cedar is prominent among the woods, a touch which should appeal to lovers of Gucci Pour Homme, while the incense is its own recommendation for those belonging to the incense-loving sect. However by no means is this a gothic, dark incense; the note reminds me more of the French curiosity Papier d'Armenie ~little aroma-infused booklets redolent of benzoin which are burnt to make their scent waft~ than the mould-infested crypt. It's sunny and fuzzy. There is also a mossy, dry, almost dusty feeling upon finish, while the overall tone is warm and with an ever so delicate touch of sweetness that makes the composition fit for both sexes. Let me Play the Lion lasted exceedingly well on both my skin and on the blotter with the volume turned down: this lion's roar is vibrating on the lower frequencies!

Let me Play the Lion is available as a 50ml/1.7oz Eau de Toilette, directly from the Les Nez website, through Aus Liebe zum Duft or Luckyscent.

Related reading on Perfume Shrine: Les Nez fragrances, Incense series.

In the interests of disclosure I got sent a carded sample of each fragrance from Les Nez as part of their sample giveaway upon launching Manoumalia.

Art photography Nick Brandt Lion before Storm, via young gallery photo.
Cat photograph © by Helg