Marc Jacobs Splash Apple, Pomegranate, Biscotti: new fragrances

THE MARC JACOBS 2010 SPLASH COLLECTION announces itself with the motto "Indulge in an array of macaroons at a patisserie on a sweet summer’s day..." Yup, their popular Splash collection in the homonguous glass bottles with the simple labels for -ahem- splashing all over are back and this time with culinary themes running through them. Don't knock them off-hand, remember when we really liked their light Winter Amber back in the day?

Marc Jacobs introduces three new limited edition Splash Scents this spring in APPLE, POMEGRANATE, and BISCOTTI , inspired by the decadent indulgences of a Paris Patisserie. (Duh! I suppose saying you're inspired by a Stockholm or Belgrade patiserrie doesn't quite cut it with fragoholics, eh? Anyway...)

MARC JACOBS APPLE
Deliciously fruity, apple is aromatic and energizing, built around a green apple impression full of freshness. Developed by Yann Vasnier of Givaudan, tart yet refreshing apple juice opens with juicy apple, lemon and grapefruit. The unexpected surprise of rosemary, jasmin and soft stellata magnolia playfully join in. At last, warm driftwood, coriander and cardamom gently delight. The crisp green tint reflects summer's breezy, garden-fresh color palette.

*Fragrance house: Givaudan
*Perfumer: Yann Vasnier

MARC JACOBS POMEGRANATE
Inspired by the sparkling radiance of this fruit of myth pomegranate exudes an inviting balance of elegance and brightness.
Created by Perfumer Patty Hidalgo of Fragrance Resources, the fruity floral fragrance invigorates with an blend of mandarin flowers, bergamot, and lemon chiffon, rhubarb and violet mix with uplifting pomegranate. The dry down is a sugared musk with a blend of vanilla, and amber.
The corresponding pink tint is a hint to the fruit.

*Fragrance house: Fragrance Resources
*Perfumer: Patty Hidalgo

MARC JACOBS BISCOTTI
Savory aroma and a touch of citrus for the most gourmand of the lot of these limited editions. Crisp yet also comforting and refreshing.
Developed by Richard Herpin of Firmenich, this citrus floral treat opens with the freesia, bergamont and orange flower, the heart of pistachio blossom imparts a sweet richness while creamy and soft vanilla add balance and a smooth softness.
The warm golden tint is reminiscent of a crisp biscotto.

*Fragrance house: Firmenich
*Perfumer: Richard Herpin

MARC JACOBS SPLASH SUMMER 2010 COLLECTION availability:
Marc Jacobs Apple, Marc Jacobs Pomegranare and Marc Jacobs Biscotti are available in 300ML/10.0 FL. OZ. for $68.00 from March 2010 at fine department stores (including Saks Fifth Avenue, Sephora, Bloomingdale's, Lord & Taylor, Macy's, and Nordstrom) and MARC JACOBS Boutiques while supplies last.

info & pics via press release

Annick Goutal Grand Amour: fragrance review

A sexy actress in her boudoir after her performance: Pensive , smiling hazily to herself as she lifts her hair off her forehead and gazes at her image in the mirror. Her most enthousiastic fan has sent her armfulls of liles , bunches of honeysucle and posies of hyacinth to fill the room and her lacy clothes with an initially fresh and sweet fragrance , with a penetrating aroma that becomes deeper and slightly decaying as time passes. The whole concoction is intoxicating somehow, yet it makes her think of him with nostalgia. She thinks she's falling in love... It's a Grand Amour. It has to be!

That had been my impression of this rich floriental, composed by Isabelle Doyen, redolent of heady flowers and a balsamic ambery base when I had tried it for the first time back in 1997 when it launched, on a trip to Austria. I recall that the splendid presentation of the butterfly bottle alongside the dewy flowers in the filigree vases around with their fin de siècle ambience had captured my attention and provoked the above image, which is still firmly with me after all those years. The recollection made me nod my head a little when I read Tania Sanchez in Perfumes,The Guide saying: "[it]has impressive ambitions, combining aloofness and warmth in search of that magical proportion that turns a starlet into a star".

Grand Amour immediately stroke me as a little decadent and "intimate", not as airy as the majority of the Goutals I had hitherto tried, and indeed, alongside firm staples Passion and L'Heure Exquise, most of my favourite Goutals fit into the category that the Goutal people term as "capiteux"; more or less "heady". Inspired as it was by the bouquets that the cellist Alain Meunier presented to Annick during their courtship Grand Amour is officially described as "A perfect balance of carnal flowers, lily, hyacinth, honeysuckle. A hymn of sensuality with notes of amber, musk, myrtle".

The atmosphere of Grand Amour is one of sustained uncertainty, poised as it is between the unctuous base of its resinous orientalia and the grassy, sappy, almost refreshing floral top; honeysuckle first reveals its yellowish, nectarous blossoms, reminding me of the exquisite moment when winter falls into spring, then hyacinth takes reign with its intoxicating pollen-like aroma. Its powdery, dry earthiness is the perfect accompaniment to these first days of spring when the longing to see new bulbs erupting sprouts is so ingrained into the melancholy of a long winter. In several ways (the soap, the powder, the hyacinth) Grand Amour is comparable to Guerlain's classic Chamade from 1969, another head-long dive into romance, yet I do not detect much of the characteristic galbanum and oakmoss of the latter (at least in its vintage form).

The Eau de Toilette highlights more of the romantic, soapy aldehydic hyacinth notes while the Eau de Parfum of Grand Amour is more base-heavy in the incense-like myrrh tonality and allover denser and sultrier. It is also naturally more orange-hued in contrast to the light straw-coloured Eau de Toilette, so don't be alarmed if you come across dark juice, it's not necessarily spoiled. If you really like that sort of effect and are that sort of woman, I guess you need both versions.

Notes for Annick Goutal Grand Amour:
lily, hyacinth, honeysuckle, Turkish rose, jasmine, French mimosa, amber, vanilla, myrrh.

Grand Amour by Annick Goutal is available as Eau de Toilette (30-50-100ml) and Eau de Parfum (50ml, 100ml) in the classic gadroon bottles and in a red butterfly bottle at 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 of Hanna Schygulla via Fromn Blank to Blank. Photo of Annick Goutal bottles rested atop Edouard Vuillard 's painting The Dress with Foliage by Elena Vosnaki

Jennifer Aniston Launches her Own Celebrity Fragrance: Lola Vie

In a sea of celebrity scents (ie.commercial fragrances fronted by celebrities who lend some of the glamour into pushing -often mediocre at best- juice) another newcomer is ready to strut her foot into the mess and with a flick of her honey-gold mane make us look and hopefully sniff long enough to buy: Friends show and several movies' star Jennifer Aniston, also known for her marriage to Brad Pitt.

"According to OK!, Jen has been developing the perfume for nearly two years, although she is apparently on the fence about what to call it. The actress "has yet to get 100 percent behind any name," says an insider, "but the one she favors is 'Aniston.'" Not so, says her spokesman, who calls the eponymous perfume speculation "wrong." "It will not have her name," he assures us. Another moniker that was apparently nixed: Echo. "It’s all about capturing the idea of romance and freedom at any age," the source explains to the mag, "but it's hard to do that in just one word." [source]
Tell us about it! No word on the juice...it's all about the name! We'll update when more info becomes available.

Edit to Add: According to UsMagazine "A rep for the actress, 41, confirms that her first fragrance will be named Lola Vie, which roughly translates into 'laughing at life' in French" {sic} and is being developed by the Falic Group which is also behind Eva Longoria's eponymous fragrance. I would rather think that it takes texting in mind, as in LOL @ Vie (where throughfully vie means life in French) "I've worked on it for over a year," Aniston recently said of her scent to London's Capital Breakfast Show. "When they asked, I don't think they really expected me to be [so] picky. But you've got to have it smell right."

According to recent reportage, Aniston, a former fan of Miss Dior and Anais Anais in her formative years, has progressed from the "heavier" scents and is now aiming for a "non perfume-y" scent that will have people exclaiming "What is that smell? You smell great!" I'm supressing a yawn as we speak, but maybe there might be something decent in the works, who knows?
The advertising campaign makes ample use of ms.Aniston's lithe body, clad in only a towel, sitting on the rocks of a deserted beach.

Photo collage created by Perfumeshrine. Photo of Aniston for the ad campaign through Popeater.com

Wandering Wonderland (Game & Giveaway)

Indie perfumer Roxana Villa of Roxana Illuminated Perfume has created a trial version of a green fragrance with rose at the heart titled "Smell Me". She will be giving away five samples of the fragrance as part of this blogging collective inspired by the tale of Alice in Wonderland.
GAME: To be entered to win a sample of "Smell Me" please visit each participating blog and determine which character from the story each blogger has assumed. E-mail your guess to Roxana (at) IlluminatedPerfume.com. Five winners will be chosen to receive a sample of the first edition trial of the fragrance!

"They are rattling breakfast plates in basement kitchens,
And along the trampled edges of the street
I am aware of the damp souls of housemaids
Sprouting despondently at area gates.
The brown waves of fog toss up to me
Twisted faces from the bottom of the street,
And tear from a passer-by with muddy skirts
An aimless smile that hovers in the air
And vanishes along the level of the roofs"
~T.S Eliot Morning at the Window

Years back when I started perfume blogging I began with the enthusiasm of the passionate collector who was trying the plethora of new juice on the market as soon as they were available. Even though it was plenty, it was nowhere the sheer mushroom-sprouting-quality that has sprung lately. It was impressive just how involved and meticulous I had been in the project, first and second and third chorus echoeing in my ears "try this", "try this", "try that"... It was hard finding one's way into this enchanted land of fragrance, but once one did, everything began to have meaning and a passionate discourse among aficionados began concerning the relative merits of this or that. I recall I was grinning on several pretensions, as I continue to do. Some call me stregatto, others prefer to call me sane. The crux of the matter is that several things have changed as online perfume writing and online discussion of perfumes has evolved and we're seeing an expansion from all strata. I continue to file all in my big library and note little cryptic notes, which might make no sense, in the borders. Can I help anyone find their way in the entangled fragoland? It all depends on where you're going. And if you don't need to delineate a specific course, then it doesn't really matter which way you go and you're in for the ride down the rabbit's hole if you walk long enough. It's all good!


Check for hints of the other characters:
Roxana at Illuminated Perfume Journal
Heather at Memory and Desire Won't be participating after all due to personal reasons
Lucy Raubertas at Indie Perfumes
Beth Schreibman Gehring at The Windesphere Witch
Tom at PerfumeSmellin'Things: The hint is "quote the raven: 'teatime'"

Picture stills from the Disney film Alice in Wonderland by Tim Burton with Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Mia Wasikowska courtesy of the guardian.co.uk for entertainment purposes. Alice illustration by Roxana Villa.

Parfums Piguet Re-issuing Another Classic

Robert Piguet is known for their excellent reconstructions of their old vintage portfolio, from Fracas and Bandit all the way down to the more recent Baghari, Cravache, Visa and Futur. It seems that the committee at Fashion Fragrances and Cosmetics and Joe Garces, who own the licence for the Robert Piguet brand of perfumes, have scored on the perfect resurrection: the magnificently individual and long-lost Calypso, on which we had rhapsodized in a manner befitting the ancient bard theme a while ago, is being re-issued with much fanfare. The official site declares: "A unique and powerful fragrance from Robert Piguet will be unveiled soon - check back often for release announcements."
Calypso then, you might as well get all revved up! Can you colour me super-excited!

The information is concrete, corroborated and beyond any doubt.

Related reading on Perfume Shrine: Robert Piguet news and reviews

Thanks to youstink and neoty26 for drawing my attention to it.