Scents and the City

Jason Logan, illustrator and author of “If We Ever Break Up, This Is My Book” takes us on a scented utinerary through the heated summer neightbourhoods of New York City in The New York Times (this has nothing to do with a niche brand marketing their products via this exact concept, by the way).

Much like our Scented Travel Memoirs here on Perfume Shrine, it seems like specific places hold captive certain distinctive smells which unlock the floodgates of memory and forever paint the picture of that place upon meeting that scent again. From the "territorial soapy cologne" of Harlem (along with its "crazy perfume" which has me intrigued as to what it might be or -to further the thought- what is considered "crazy" in relation to perfume), to the "musky-and-sweet" aroma that might or might not be deodorant at Fort George, The Cloisters, and on to the exhaust, the foods and the garbage that fringe any urban landscape, this is a must read to get a better appreciation of the big Apple. Read it here and be sure to move your cursor on the map (a little nose follows your moves).

Pic from Alexander Mackendrick’s drama Sweet Smell of Success, with Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis, set in New York City and based on the same-titled novel via altfg.com

The battle of the Nude: L'Oreal and Stella McCartney coup a small win

You might have heard about it and it might have turned you off slightly. Bono's wife, Ali Hewson, 48, objected to the use of the word Nude in the newest Stella McCartney fragrance called STELLANUDE (a flanker to her bestselling scent), on the grounds that Nude was copyrighted by her, via Irish Nude Brands Ltd, a skincare line with ambitions to launch a fragrance in the future called Nude.
"In May 2008, when asked for permission to use the trade mark 'Nude' for a Stella McCartney perfume, Nude - though great admirers of Stella McCartney - respectfully refused as a Nude scent is forthcoming," the statement said. "Nude considers the launch of 'Stella Nude' by L'Oréal to be a clear infringement of Nude's trade mark. To protect their brand, Nude was forced to take the matter to the English High Court." [source]
A L’Oréal spokesperson confirmed that the legal case had been brought at the beginning of August: “Yves Saint Laurent Beauté Ltd can confirm that legal action was started against it and Stella McCartney Limited by Nude Brands Limited on 3rd August 2009 in London. The case is ongoing," the spokesperson said. [source]

It had made an impression to me because Nude by Bill Blass was a well-established name already (I suppose the trademark has expired) and on top of that the whole issue reminded me of the kerfufle on the word Peace involving a big and a small brand some time ago. The whole axis of the matter according to one source relied on the use of capitals in this case and it seemed like a fine legal point to entangle.

The news is that judge Christopher Floyd from the High Court has overruled possible blocks from Nude Brands Ltd. in favour of L'Oréal and Stella McCartney: NBL may win in the trademark trial set to take place some time next year (2010), but the judge ruled "it was not appropriate to block the launch of the StellaNude fragrance nor bring the trial date forward". He further elaborated: “The risk of confusion between NBL's products and SML's [Stella McCartney Limited] is, in my provisional view, small. The evidence does not show any real basis for supposing that a customer would be led into thinking that some form of association had been created between NBL and SML" [...] and an injunction could cause “massive disruption” to McCartney’s business. It was specified that the copyright infringement argument wasn't without merit into bringing to court however and the issue will disentangle completely in 2010.
The September launch of StellaNude is postponed, initially planned so as to coincide with the runways, and now costing a fortune in lost revenue. Still, the launch whenever it happens, is assured lots of press because of this.

Painting by Joseph Stella via encore-editions.com.
Ad via beautyeditor.com.au

Ormonde Jayne luxury travel purse sprays

Wonderful news from posh niche perfumer Ormonde Jayne: it seems like the portability and easiness of small purse sprays has been materialized for our pleasure!


Until now, the Ormonde Jayne fragrances have been available in 50ml eau de parfum sprays or in 50ml pure parfum bottles. Today, responding to deafening demand, each fragrance comes in an elegant box of four 10ml eau de parfum sprays.

These black and gold sprays slip unobtrusively into the tiniest of clutch bags for evening glamour and are perfect for weekends away or in hand luggage for travel abroad. Hand poured in the company’s own studio in London , they perfectly reflect the levels of quality, luxury and service for which Ormonde Jayne is so renowned.

Created and privately owned by self-taught nose Linda Pilkington, the Ormonde Jayne range is composed of eleven original fragrances, eight for women (a ninth to be launched October 2009) and three for men. Spanning the perfume groups from floral through oriental to chypre and finally citrus, each fragrance has its own lineage.

Ormonde Jayne London Perfumery flagship store is in The Royal Arcade off London ’s Old Bond Street . The recently opened store in Dubai is located in Boutique 1 in Jumeirah Beach .
The online boutique http://www.ormondejayne.com/ ships worldwide in 3-5 days.

Luxury Purse Sprays retail for £54 a set.

Related reading on Perfume Shrine: Ormonde Jayne scents news and reviews.



Info via press release.

Dolce & Gabanna Rose The One: new fragrance and its pretty face

The One fragrance franchise is introducing its little progeny as soon as Rose The One hits counters exclusively at Saks next week (the fragrance will get wider, international distribution later on).

The yummy 24-year old Scarlet Johansson, D&G muse and the face of their makeup collection, is “the person that represents actual femininity most in this world,” (Dolce's quote, not mine, to WWD) and will front the campaign for the flanker, taking the baton from Gisele Budchen for The One. The print ads are shot by Jean-Baptiste Mondino. Scarlett was ecsstatic when she told People that Mondino “captured all of a woman’s graces, our quiet moments. That to me, is what makes this campaign so special, and it feels wonderful to have been a part of the collaboration”. Who can argue that the end result is pretty?
Fittingly Johansson is seductively (yet also romantically) "poured in" a custom-made, curve-hugging Dolce & Gabbana pink tulle dress. The typical for Johansson pose (accentuating the waist, baring the shoulders, pursing the lips) suggests lounging on a posh bedroom while her hair is changed into strawberry blonde to reinforce the rose-hued effect that name would suggest.


Coming to think of this, it was only the other day when I was questioning (in a comment to a friend's blog) the sagacity of marketing something fragrant in "rose" parlance, because to a young generation of perfume buyers rose can so often stand for "old lady" (No matter it is mixed in almost everything and most people don't discern it in the formula; such is the corruption our noses have suffered in this sanitized and techno-monopolised world, sadly). Thus naming the newest flanker to The One with the perfectly visible "Rose" moniker has me curious to its reception. I believe they're going on the visual strength of their muse, Scarlett Johansson, probably the best thing in young and feminine curvaceousness ideals since Beatrice Dall and those Alessi pepper mills. And there are several other fragrances which have the "rose" tag in the name (Rock n'Rose by Valentino anyone? Off the top of my head) while still appealing to a younger clientelle.
Predictably the fragrance sounds like a foregone conclusion with its berry-ish fruity top, clean heart of flowers and sweet base. Still, I am eager to see how this will play out commercially, especially in the huge American market. The D&G Anthology collection (issued this year) hasn't been very impressive according to reports so far.

Notes for D&G Rose The One:
black currant, pink grapefruit, mandarin, lily of the valley, rose, litchi, peony, Madonna lily, along with ambrette seed, sandalwood, musk and vanilla.

Dolce & Gabbana Rose The One will be available in 30ml/1oz, 50ml/1.7oz and 75ml/2.5oz bottles of Eau de Parfum.

Pic via style.com

Content poaching is ugly!

A very perceptive reader kindly alerted me to an alarming phenomenon that I hope doesn't catch on: There is a site called basenote.us (no relation whatsoever to Grant Osborne's reputable site basenotes.net) which routinely takes off content from Perfume Shrine along with other popular bloggers whom they present as "contributors"! This dubious, (apparently) automatically-generated piracy site is run by someone called Ari Driver who runs an internet store called Perfumeparadise.ca. in Canada. Usually I don't really give much attention to snippets of my thoughts and words floating on the Ethernet and let it be. After all I get hundreds of comments of spam every day masquerading as casual readers of Perfume Shrine who promote their business in an oh-so-subtle-way (they think!) which is plenty annoying as is!
But what particularly bugged me in this case are two things: 1) There was a plainly seen copyright sign on their pirate page, which is ridiculous under the circustances, and 2) It was attached to a commercial business that was pushing product through our confiscated words!
Ms. Driver has been republishing whole articles from the Perfume Shrine and other blogs without any prior given permission or even the courtesy of attribution to the respective writers. Which is unacceptable...and ugly. Luckily for us, Cait from Legerdenez filed an online report and it seems like it scared the rabbits into their holes again. At least on this occassion.

May I take this chance to please request the many others as well who use the words published on Perfume Shrine for reasons of pushing their business or promoting their Ebay sales to respect the time and effort put on this site.