Jacomo Art Collection: Awakening of the Sleeping Beauty

The luxe brand Jacomo, which has graced us with the liquid emeralds of Silences and the elegant Anthracite pour homme and pour femme is back after its acquisition by the group Sarbec Cosmetics which had put it to slumber. A new art-inspired collection, of which the three first instalments ~in proper niche numerical fashion~ are being issued as we speak, is promising to put Jacomo back on the map of luxury perfumery where it deserves to be. Established in the 1970s, Jacomo has always travelled a bit under the radar for those not immersed in French perfumery. Yet their undeniable attention to detail in composing their perfumes has created a mini-cult.

Now, Jacomo hopes to revive the name by inviting artistis to paint for the packaging of the new perfumes, named 09, 02 and 08.

Gourmand 09 is packaged in orange and is a spicy fruity woody formula that combines notes of citron, orange pulp, pink pepper, mango, cinnamon, vanille, praline and sandalwood. The artist creating an aquarelle for the box is Stina Person, who drew women's legs in heels and fishnets to denote the playful character of the juice inside.
Oriental leathery 02 is packaged in yellow, encompassing notes of bergamot, lily, amber, vanilla, patchouli, and tonka bean. The illustrator Cecilia Carlstedt gives it a face of a bohemian woman from the 1970s, flower in her hair and all; perhaps as a nod to the past of the brand?
The aromatic 08 is embottled in shocking pink (the emblem of India) and illustrated by Daniel Egnéus in green sketches of ganesh protectors, an allusion that refers to the composition inspired by India's Massala tea, with its accords of cardamom, ginger, and black tea. The formula is extending it with notes of freesia, a milk accord, and dried fruits. Honey, cinnamon and amber contribute to the base notes of the third Jacomo fragrance in the triptych.



Art Collection by Jacomo will be available at Beauty Success, Passion Beauté, some Sephora stores and select department stores in eau de parfum in 50 ml (54 euros) and 100 ml (72 euros).
Related reading on Perfume Shrine: Jacomo Silences review, Upcoming releases

Midnight Gardens: the Inexplicable Pull of Nocturnal Blooms

"Daphne du Maurier’s nameless heroine in Rebecca describes the blooms at Manderley estate as “crimson faces…slaughterous red, luscious and fantastic…monsters, rearing to the sky, massed like a battalion, too beautiful…too powerful…not plants at all.” With this in mind we’ve decided to design our own haunting garden, one that smells sweetest, like cloves and honey, and whose flowers only come to life in the darkest hours of the night".


Part of an exciting article by Jaclyn Gallucci on Longislandpress.com which you can read here in its entirety, it reprises the haunting nature of some of the headiest and most impressive blossoms around: the night-blooming flowers! Moonflowers, night phlox, tuberose, four o'clock, woodland tobacco, August lily, evening stock and ebb tide rose all make an appearence with little snippets of history, gardening info and olfactory descriptions. Recommended reading!

Photo collage by Jessica on Polyvore

Etat Libre d'Orange Like This Tilda Swinton: Musing on a Muse

Etat Libre d’Orange, the brand of interesting scents and provocative names, takes on another unusual muse; after Rossy de Palma, the cubist-looking Spanish actress renowned for her work in Almodovar films, the visually striking and fiercely talented Tilda Swinton is their next "muse". The enigmatic, ambiguous, eternally pale and socially provocative actress (living a polyamorous existence in Scotland) broke into the scene with Virgina Woolf's Orlando film adaptation in 1992 never to divert far from our attention span ever again. Even though Tilda is not exactly beautiful (or pretty, in the conventional sense of big eyes, round contours, flowing mane) she is arresting and compelling to watch, making the camera love her. Etat Libre d’Orange dedicates their latest fragrance, inspired by the verse of the Persian poet of the 13th century Rumi and named Like This to Tilda Swinton, rendering the most unexpected "celebrity scent" in a long while. Perhaps the choice wasn't really that unexpected: Several perfume enthusiasts in the online community when asked which celebrity should have their own fragrance mention her name, adding that Etat Libre would do her justice (that remains to be seen, but I am willing to test the theory out!)

So what is it with unusual, non silicone-friendly beauties that could be termed jolie-laide lately? We had noticed the phenomenon when Balenciaga had chosen Charlotte Gainsbourg a while ago for their new violet-laced steely scent Balenciaga Paris. Even though Charlotte, Gainsbourg's daughter by Jane Birkin, has known controversy since infancy (Lemon Incest is a hard act to follow!), somehow her contemporary profile minus Antichrist is rather tame. Her family life, married to director Yvon Attal, is steady, even bourgeois. Tilda on the other hand enjoys a much more controversial profile, a patrician background and her Celtic features and high colouring are unpredictable and more distinctive than Charlotte's. The White Witch part in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) was plenty memorable.

What is more interesting is that there seems to exist a brave new frontier in fronting fragrances through faces that communicate a certain intelligence (Tilda has been involved in installation art and cutting-edge fashion, notably for Victor & Rolf) and visual bravado. The audience has been tired of mainstream predictability and needs new "flesh". Is it also an indication of feministic streak that re-awakens through a bras-de-fer with the cemented ideals of Hollywood-esque attractiveness? Tilda is a creature of subtle and underground sexuality, which highlights the mystique that fragrance can inspire admirably. And perhaps the female buyers of fragrance long for it to be again -after decades when it was forgotten- a discreet game of mapping their own identity, intelligently and cohesively. In the words of Tilda herself: "I'm basically interested in identity, and I still find fascinating the question, 'How do we identify ourselves, and how do we settle into other people's expectations for our identity?' "

Like This was composed by perfumer Mathilde Bijaoui, including notes of yellow mandarin, ginger, helicrysum (everlasting flower/immortelle), neroli, Grasse rose de Mai, heliotrope, musk and vetiver, as well as the new synthetic Potiron Jungle Essence (Mane laboratories) reinforcing the smell of pumpkin. The word pumkin ~alongside its echolalia and the findings of Dr.Hirsch about its scent augmenting penile blood flow~ makes me giggle a bit when contemplating the polyamorous environment of Tilda. Is this intentional? It would be fun to think that it were!

Like This by Etat Libre d’Orange will be available in Eau de Parfum 50ml and is launching on 13th March 2010.
Photo of Tilda Swinton via papercastlepress.com/blog

Esxence: exhibition in Italy news

Esxence: the scent of Excellence, the Art Perfumery’s Event takes place from 25th to 28th of March 2010 in Milan . The location is the renowned art museum La Permanente, in the heart of the City.
Esxence’s new location will welcome a lot of interesting friends such as Michael Edwards, well-known author of the book “Fragrances of the World”, Maurice Maurin, the Great French Master Perfumer author of the book “ La Sagesse du Créateur de Parfum”, of which Calé was the mover behind the Italian translation. L'Osmothèque, le Conservatoire International des parfums in Versailles and the Museo del Profumo in Milan and other supporters will propose workshops and events committed to improve the Perfumery Art knowledge.

Among participants who will attend we can quote the 7th descendant of Creed dynasty, Erwin Creed, or the 8th descendant of Floris family, Tom Marsh, but also the “nose” behind the Italian brands Calé Fragranze d’Autore and Profumi di Pantelleria , Maurizio Cerizza, the dynamic Parfums d’Orsay owner, Marie Huet and the “big Breton” Antoine Vuillermet, owner and creator of Lostmarc’h. The wonderful world of Humiecki&Graef will be proposed by Sebastian Fischenich and Dmitri Denissov will be happy to teach you the story of Mark Buxton . The world of wet shaving and men’s grooming, from Truefitt&Hill to Gentlemen’s Tonic, will be a huge discovery!

To get an idea of the special atmosphere you could brea the at Esxence last year please visit Esxence gallery.php.
If you would like to visit please remember to register yourself on the website http://www.esxence.com/ to receive by e-mail your personal invitation.

Annick Goutal Passion: fragrance review

All Annick Goutal perfumes have little stories behind them which adds to the enchanting, small scale appeal they have: Passion was the first fragrance which Annick Goutal created along with perfumer Isabelle Doyen in 1983 for her own use. The second one, inspired by the floral bouquets her husband offered her while courting, was Grand Amour; also a firm favourite of Perfume Shrine and to be tackled later on. Sables was made for Alain, Annick's husband, while Eau de Charlotte and Eau de Camille celebrate her daughters' childhood memories.

Passion dazzles amongst them with its headiness, its perceptible sillage and its great lasting power, "like a flower with translucent antennae and a mauve plastic heart.” Complicated, chewy, cruel, yet beautiful, like life itself, Passion made Tania Sanchez reserve one of her more poetic reviews of it in Perfumes,The Guide: "It feeks humid, narcotic, unsettling, like a moonless July night without a breeze". It could be one of those nights about which Raymond Chandler wrote: "Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks."

The artistry of course lies in how to manipulate the (excellent) materials: The exotic Ylang-Ylang has facets of banana and even coconut; sweet, buttery, creamy, almost bulemic. On its other end though it encompasses methyl salicylate which recalls wintergreens. Tuberose has facets of camphor which act as a counterbalance of its intense white floral sweetness. Pair them with a bitter green touch which supports the already present caphoraceous scheme (tomato vine leaves, the same as used in Eau de Campagne by Sisley and Folavril again by Goutal, plus oakmoss) and some vanilla to offset the "fruitiness" of the bouquet and you've got something unique!
Passion starts with a heady caphoraceous blast of what can only be sensed as vibrant tropical florals snowballing a cadenza of sweet and green notes that unify to the point where you don't know where the garden ends and the woman starts. There is something very ladylike about Annick Goutal fragrances, yet in classic French tradition the lady in question can forget all about ladylike manners in the bedroom. Passion is carnal, yet delicate and fragile at the same time, like a 22-year-old ready to be consumed by love. And even older ones...

Notes for Annick Goutal Passion: Jasmine, tuberose, ylang-ylang, vanilla, tomato leaves, patchouli, oakmoss.

Passion by Annick Goutal is available as Eau de Toilette (100ml) and Eau de Parfum (50ml, 100ml) in boutiques carrying the Goutal line and several online venues. Check Lianne Tio's Nederthelands boutique on this link as well.

Related reading on Perfume Shrine: Annick Goutal news & reviews, Interview with perfumer Isabelle Doyen

Photo from the film Betty Blue, 37.2°C le Matin via livejournal/Ohnotheydidn't. Photo of bottle of Passion by Elena Vosnaki.