Frederic Malle’s New Madison Avenue boutique

With personal objects from Malle's collection and art deco exteriors hiding the futuristic "smelling columns" that were popularised for the ultimate sniffing experience in his other shops, the first free-standing F.Malle boutique in New York is reality. His 18 fragrances composed by some of the star-perfumers of today along with his new home fragrances collection (which we highlighted previously on this article) are waiting for the takers.

"Frédéric Malle’s new Upper East Side store — his first free-standing location in the states — is much like his fragrances: refined and multilayered. Nestled in a former doctor’s office at 898 Madison Avenue, the jewel-box boutique was designed by the French architect Patrick Naggar, who drew inspiration from the building’s storied Art Deco exterior."

Read the rest of the article on The New York Times clicking this link.

Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle, 898 Madison Avenue; (212) 249-7941.

Pic by Frances Janisch

Ormonde Jayne Tiare: fragrance review

Radiant, yet weightless, Tiare radiates the sharp, bright light one notices reflected on sunny days in the northern extremities of the Northern Hemisphere rather than the tropical beaches evoked by the name (coming as it does from the national emblem of Tahiti). Possessing an arresting optimistic streak of intense hesperidic notes ~lime and mandarin~ along with shimmering, diamond-like florals in the heart, the composition of Tiare projects with an unexpected verdancy and a scintillating aldehydic shimmer akin to sipping champagne on ice. In its way a discombobulating fragrance, but all in the best possible sense!

With the citrus touches, the (unmentioned) lily of the valley sweetly-piercing floralcy, and the delightful white florals (green jasmine and a subtle budding gardenia/tiare note) underpinned by a mossy-woody base I feel I ought to be out hopping along in a brightly reddish-coloured tartan skirt, getting the kind of frivolous and topsy-turvy fun we see in 50s and 60s black & white photographs that requires a cunningly naughty (gay?) male friend, a well-decked bank account and a big dollop of sentir bien dans sa peau. The amazing thing about Ormonde Jayne's Tiare is that it manages to give that feeling even if you do not possess any of the above, instantly putting you in the brightest mood as if the world is your personal buffet and you're choosing your hors d'oeuvres with gusto!

Linda Pilkington, the founder and creator of Ormonde Jayne, has used Tiare Absolute from Tahiti (extracted in Tahiti, refined in the US and furthermore in France before it reaches the OJ studio in London). The process is labour-intensive: the Tiare flower is hand picked whilst still unopened and laid in oil for 15 days to extract the fragrance. “From the moment I first encountered Tiare, the search was on to find the purest oil extraction. Tiare is a flower that doesn’t give up its secrets easily and it took many different incarnations, finding a subtle progression from citrus to flower, before I felt that we had an exceptional perfume.[...] Like the woman who wears Tiare, this is a perfume that totally ignores seasons and the time of day, a perfume so artfully blended and infinitely refined... but with a dash of scintillating appeal".

While talking with Linda, among other fascinating stuff, she had intimated that in her youth she had been an enthusiastic perfume wearer who mixed Diorella and Eau Sauvage. With such illustrious specimens as amulets, it's not hard to see how the best elements of both have sneaked their way into her latest creation. The initial impression of Ormonda Jayne Tiare is similar to the one I get when spraying Cristalle by Chanel, the folding of mossiness and cool grass into hesperidia. The kinship is more pronounced with Cristalle's Eau de Parfum concentration, in which the floral heart shimmers underneath the sharper elements, lending creaminess and descreet sensuality. In Tiare the gardenia, ylang-ylang and jasmin take the role that in the former was reserved for honeysuckle, imparting a mild sweetness that never becomes too much. Another example of the delicious champagne-bubbles-feel I am getting would have been Miller Harris Fleur du Matin and lovers of either scent are strongly urged to sample Tiare. You can thank me later...The lasting power is beyond amazing, which is usual with Ormonde Jayne scents (if you notice they tend to leave a tad oily film on the skin which proves just how generously rich they are in pure essence).

What is most impressive however is that despite Cristalle's pedigree it can often come across as bookish-secretary-in-a-sterile-office which limites its romance-wearing after-hours potential, but somehow, someway Ormonde Jayne managed to bypass that and combine both worlds: the intellectual and the sensual, the upbeat and the romantic; in a word, I'm hooked and my dithyrambic isn't at all misplaced! Tiare could be panseasonal, easing its way from the coolest of winter to the humid days of summer. In fact I long to wear it on the brightest snowiest morning when all the world looks like a tabula rasa for my writing, under the silent blanket of white...

My credit card trembles with fear at the prospect of having fallen hard for its charms. So should yours!

Notes for Ormonde Jayne Tiare:
Top: Mandarin, Orange Flower and Sicilian Lime
Heart: Tiare, Freesia, Water Lilies, Jasmine, Orris and Ylang Ylang
Base: Cedar, Vetiver, Sandalwood, Patchouli, Moss and Musk

Prices: £68 for Eau de Parfum 50 ml spray bottle and £ 180 for pure Parfum (50 ml with stopper). Available from The Royal Arcade, 28 Old Bond Street , London W1S 4SL and Ormonde Jayne at Boutique 1 Jumeirah Beach , Dubai as well as online at Ormonde Jayne (worldwide shipping) from November 19th.

Related reading on Perfume Shrine: Ormonde Jayne news & reviews.

Photo of model Suzy Parker and Robin Tattersall in Scottish tartan wear by Richard Avedon via schukina/photobucket. Art photography by John Ralwings for Vogue (March 1943) via vsnrydrmr.com. In the interests of disclosure I was sent a sample vial from the manufacturer.

Le Labo City Exclusives online!

You had been saddened to find yourself bound in your own city when fragrant treasures were issued exclusively for other destinations? Now you can sigh with relief. "They are making only 25 bottles of each scent, so if you’ve been pining for the tuberose and white flower laden New York fragrance or the woody, sexy vanilla-bourbon-drenched smell of the Paris perfume Vanille 44, now’s your chance to grab a bottle, without having to travel across the world. Previously only available in the Le Labo stores for which each scent was created, the six City Exclusive fragrances are now available on luckyscent.com in limited quantity until Nov. 30".
They are: Aldehyde 44 (Dallas), Vanille 44 (Paris), Gaiac 10 (Tokyo), Musc 25 (Los Angeles), Poivre 23 (London), and Tubereuse 40 (New York).

Info from Los Angeles Times.

Issey Miyake A Scent: fragrance review

After the definitive 90s bestseller L'Eau d'Issey and the definitive 90s commercial "tank" Le Feu d'Issey (affectionately termed "Phew d'Issey" by its detractors, but rhapsodised by fragrance critic Luca Turin for its undoubted olfactory innovation), Miyake who has been held on public record saying he doesn't like perfume and never wears it, launches his third "elemental"-inspired scent. A Scent, inspired by air, no less! Much like this would seem like a joke, I assure you it is not.
The fragrance is very, very pleasant if not groundbreaking and I would like to think that the inane name is merely a break-down of Ascent, denoting ascendant, a rising and optimistic sign that points to the skies above. After all, air can be charged with its own aroma, especially before and after a springtime thunderstorm! A Scent by Miyake does reprise an airy electricity-charged green smell that recalls spring mornings of crushed greenery underfoot, still holding dew on it, and it's a mystery why it was launched for the autumn-winter season. I suppose they figure it will pick up sales-wise come February, when people are sick and tired of the drab days of sleet and mud-trampled snow and will want the promise of sharp cool air in the tall grass, the touch of a dryad...

Created in collaboration with perfumer Daphné Bugey of Firmenich (who I am reminding you is responsible for those reportedly amazing Coty classics reconstructions and the mean vanilla of Kenzo Amour), designed by Arik Levy and produced by Beauté Prestige International, the Paris-based fragrance division of the Shiseido Cosmetics Corporation, A Scent had all the prerequisites to become a new "classic". Will it? Only time will tell, but it doesn't seem as original as it should for it to become so. Then again, technically neither was L'Eau d'Issey: In the aqueous ozonic stakes, drenched by gallons of Calone (the melon-fresh aroma-ingredient that characterised the decade), New West by Aramis beat it by three years coming out in as early as 1989.

Is Miyake's A Scent “a scent as simple and beautiful as the air we breathe” as purported in the ad copy? I would venture that for the average urban dweller this would be an ironic line, but let's not digress. The green notes of galbanum (nothing too bitter in this interpretation) and hyacinth, reminiscent of the re-issued Vent Vert, Guerlain's Chamade opening and Chanel No.19's verdant patches ~before the iris takes over in plush~ fold the floral heart while a lemon note echoes throughout. The core is garlanded by vivacious hints of citrusy-green notes (verbena apparently) and a carnal-devoid diaphanous jasmine. The remaining tonality is a white-musk-infused base that whimpers off skin infrequently with slightly soapy reminiscences like just showered bodies. Comparisons with Estée Lauder's Private Collection Jasmine White Moss are pretty obvious, as the same citric and green spike emerge on contact and the common lineage is none other than Chanel's Cristalle, especially in the more hesperidic-toned Eau de Toilette. Arguably however the predecessor is much more daring and stealthy, while the limited-distribution parable by Lauder is more polished and lasting (especially in the wonderful extrait de parfum), leaving A Scent in some kind of limbo state despite its surpreme wearability by both sexes.

Green chypres are becoming popular again (just contemplate Cristalle Eau Verte, a twist on the refreshing classic) and they have taken on a new mantle it seems, one of intense subtlety (there's your oxymoron!) and seeming attenuation, one of less conviction if you please. More an environmentalist-streak running through the market, rather than a "let's get back to nature" 60s song, they seem catered for the urbanite who is commuting to work with i-Pod at hand. But in a world that is almost faced with complete extinction of that venerable fragrance family I can live with that rather than hundreds of fruity-florals and fruitchoulis, I guess.

The bottle looks like a slice cut out of a block of transparent slob (jn fact it is) which is perfectly cool in its own tongue-in-cheek way (there's luxury products for you!) and fitting with the scent image.

Notes for Issey Miyake A Scent: galbanum, hyacinth, verbena, jasmine, "crystal moss" (A Firmenich patent on a mossy substitute for oakmoss)

A Scent by Miyake is available in department stores in a 5 oz Eau de Toilette ($115.00 USD), a 3.3 oz Eau de Toilette ($89.00 USD), a 1.6 oz Eau de Toilette ($65.00 USD), a 6.7 oz Moisturizing Body Lotion ($48.00 USD) and a 6.7 oz Moisturizing Shower Gel ($42.00 USD).

Tree in the form of a woman via heandfi.org, bottle pic via popsop.ru

Christmas '09 Gifts ideas: Annick Goutal limited editions

The bestseller of Annick Goutal, the bracingly lemony Eau d'Hadrien with its refined cypress and citron accents is issued in a limited edition Noel 2009 in a precious flacon boule (ball bottle) with a butterfly top and printed gold stars.
The bottle is numbered, issued in only 639 pieces around the world and signed by Camille Goutal.
Additionally there is a Coffret Noel with 5 small candles of 35g each retailing for 40 euros, as well as Christmas coffrets offerings of the popular Eaux de Toilette in 50ml bottles along with the crème corps parfumée tube (100ml).
Available in Un Matin d'Orage, Eau d'Hadrien and Petite Cherie.
Retail price: 65 Euros for each set.