YSL "new" Opium: Death of Classic, Reformulation, Brand Repositioning (& a footnote on Belle d'Opium)

Just when we were lamenting the death of Opium, the fragrance by Yves Saint Laurent which marked our youth and stayed the course as a faithful companion, Yves Saint Laurent is busy issuing new marketing tools introducing us to the "new" Opium.
"New", because reformulation was necessary due to the IFRA restrictions on spicy ingredients (eugenol and iso-eugenol) which were necessary into the creation of the carnation heart of the memorable modern classic from 1977. If you love the older, richer bouquet with its characteristic pressed linens accord and carnation spice, stock up. I have because I love it so. [click for review]

In the new site What is Your Opium we're not spared any truths. It's up there in black and white: "This week Yves Saint Laurent unveils an addictive new fragrance. Crafted by renowned perfumers who found inspiration in a modern floral oriental. A scent born from a thousand inspirations".



They go on to reveal that each day will see a new feature or video involving the inspirations behind the fragrance, especially to the noteworthy perfumer Honorine Blanc (mentored by Sophia Grojsman) who was working on the scent for four years and talks about what she notices in the video. And they invite consumers to join: "To fête this modern elixir YSL will host an exclusive event in New York City on June 17th. Each day we’ll take you behind-the-scenes to meet the people creating this extraordinary soirée. They’ll share their inspirations and below we invite you to share yours. Tell us what inspires you". There is also a launch party, which according to Twitter, Alexa Chung and Alexandra Richards will be spinning, and rumored guests include hipsters like “The Cobrasnake” Mark Hunter and model Cory Kennedy. Todays' teaser on the Opium site has a video of the preparations. Obviously blogs are the new teasing tool for big companies to create Internet buzz.



Yet, the old is now most officially proclaimed dead...Whan Honorine talks about in the vid, "When a fragrance comes on the market, it's unique, it has its own signature, it's a true fragrance...it stays forever", sounds ironic.
Never before has a death being banged about with brass playing upbeat, inspiring military tunes!

Edit to add (19th June):
Dear sirs at YSL communication, if you're issuing something "new", old, revamped, whatever, it would be best if you were absolutely clear about what that thing is unless you do want us confused. To witness, the first email communication I got read:
"Hi,
Just wanted to send over a note letting you know that yesterday afternoon YSL launched a blog to help celebrate the release of their new Opium fragrance.The link is here: http://www.whatisyouropium.com/Each day on the site there will be a new bit of content released leading up to tomorrow's launch party and then following up on the event a few days afterward. Today, you can watch the 'setting the stage' video to see how the party is coming together. Hope you enjoy."
Now, a day later, they send this (please note how there was no mention of name in the above, while there is one now):
"Hi!
If you haven't already seen coverage from last night's YSL party be sure to check out today's Belle D'Opium blog post with event photos: http://whatisyouropium.com/day_after/And not long from now The Cobra Snake photos will be live online too".

I mean, geez, Belle d'Opium! Can you be any more misleading and contradicting? Is this a new flanker, like the summer editions? Is the whole campaign utterly confusing or what?

The bottomline is the old Opium HAS been reformulated to its detriment, as attested by many fans. That doesn't change, no matter how it's marketed.

Fan di Fendi: new fragrance

Three years after Palazzo and one after the announcement of discontinuing their whole line, Fendi is issuing a new feminine fragrance as a turnaround move in the market of fragrance, Fan di Fendi. Hopefully, the brand believes it will do better commercially than the previous efforts. (On that note, it's ironic that everyone's discontinued fragrance is Fendi's very own Theorema and yet it remains discontinued). But the new fragrance presents several interesting subplots which is why I chose to highlight its launch.


The juice in Fan di Fendi has been developed by Delphine Lebeau-Krowiakj, working with Parfums Luxe International, while the new flacon bearing the familiar entwined F of Fendi was designed by Fabien Baron. Probably the F in Fan corresponds in the logo which had fashionistas everywhere amok with the handbags, earning them their own moment of history in Sex & the City. Talk about emblazoning one's brand name into consciousness. But I digress.

The most interesting part is that the artistic direction of the new feminine Fendi fragrance was monitored by Francois Demachy, head of fragrance development at LVMH and especially Dior (see the Escale cruise collection). The new group structure is going to be called LVMH Fragrance Brands and this is going to occupy the luxury media for a while, I bet! It points to very specific directions within the LVMH Group and a desire for an umbrella supervision which would be a bit troublesome for some brands within the group with more of a characteristic fingerprint (Guerlain, Dior...)

Fan di Fendi is aimed at women who are "free, sensual, joyful and electrifying" (Sounds like they would give you a nasty jolt, but fear not) . The TV commercials are going to be appearing next September, with a "hot and rock n'roll" image that is scheduled to shock.Starring Anja Rubik, Abbey Lee Kershaw and Karmen Pedaru will be art directed by Fabien Baron and photographed by Darius Khondji, while the Kills will play in the background. It remains to be seen...

Notes for Fan di Fendi:
Pear, blackcurrant, Calabrian mandarin, pink pepper from Reunion, rose from Damascus, yellow jasmine, soft leather accents and Indonesian patchouli.
(Via Parfumerie Hyves Nl, thanks to Jakub)


Available in 30ml for 52 euros and 75ml for 90 euros, from September 2010 at major department stores.

By Kilian Love & Tears (Amour & Larmes): new fragrance

The 9th installment in the By Kilian line L'Oeuvre Noir is announced: Love and Tears (Amour et Larmes).

The fragrance is centered around jasmine, with facets of iris, hesperides, white flowers and animalic notes garlanded around it. With such a composition, what other subtitle would you expect but Succumb? (In the manner of all the little commands of L'Oeuvre Noir scents in the By Kilian line).
Love and Tears by Kilian will be officially launching in September 2010 and will cost from 45 up to 165 euros, depending on packaging and size. (Yes, that means there will be travel refil options for you)


Related reading on PerfumeShrine: By Kilian news & reviews (scroll)

Info was brought to us as a heads-up first from the sweetest person imaginable.

Giant Ormonde Jayne bottle of Ta'if

“Having admired for years & years the huge bottles of perfume that Chanel & Dior have used in their adverts,
I felt the time was right for Ormonde Jayne to have one of our own & celebrate Ta’if.”
This is how Linda Pilkington explains the giant bottle of Ta'if which was designed and photographed at Harrods to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the scent. Feast your eyes on it!

Ta'if the fragrance is made with the pink ta’if roses that are grown on a dusty hilltop in the Arabian mountains & picked at dawn. This "sophisticated gourmand" Ormonde Jayne scent includes pink pepper, dates, saffron, freesia, broom & amber.

Serge Lutens Bois et Musc: Fragrance Review & a Draw

Among the four variations on the original Féminité du Bois, which in 1992 catapulted Les Salons business into the niche market (namely Bois de Violette, Bois et Fruits, Bois Oriental and Bois et Musc), this one is possibly the most polished, the most seamless, the most like natural skin scent and yet the lesser known. The latter possibly because it has never so far been issued in the export line, resolutely remaining a Parisian exclusive. Alongside Un Bois Sépia, Un Bois Vanille, Santal Blanc and Santal de Mysore, these woody fragrances form part of an informal family pegged as "Les Eaux Boisées" which cemented the Lutensian canon as we know it today.

Bois (pronounced "bwah") means of course woods and Bois et Musc is a fragrance which marries the two components of the name exactly as promised, in equal measure; first experienced in rapid succession (woods first, musk second), then in unison. The synergy of Moroccan cedar and smooth musk is at the core, while the usual Lutens accord of spice & dried fruits, with which he has invested his orientalised compositions for long, is subdued to the point of transparency. I seem to detect a creamy note of rosy sandalwood too, even though it is not officially mentioned, like those traditional incense beads fashioned in India and the Middle-East. The effect cannot be described as anything less than silky...
This is a fragrance which enters the scene like a shy guest who radiates the room with their quiet presence even though they don't utter a single word and are bespectacled. You'd be hard-pressed to find dainty features, or beauty writ large over them, but they just exude a positive energy that surrounds every living thing within a one-foot radius. Contemplative, sensuous, brainy with the kind of wits that don't show off. Compared with the other Bois variations on Féminité du Bois, it is closer to Bois de Violette, but without the shadowy ambery backdrop.

Bois et Musc is totally unisex, completely ageless and a superb skin-scent (i.e. smelling like human skin would if only angels and devils had cradled it), what the French call "à fleur de peau". Possibly, the idea which perfumer Christopher Sheldrake had in mind when describing a "sexy", attractive scent. And this is even more so the case than in Clair de Musc which misses by an inch via its opaline soapy florals that read as ethereal. In contrast this is nothing like a white musk: In fact it's closer to intimate and impolite, but it's so noble that it invests naughtiness with impecable manners. A sort of Fanny Ardant in a François Truffaut film, totally French.

Amidst subtle woody musks, this Lutens stands as a personal favourite ever since I had sampled it during a rather rushed visit (I had exited craddling a bell jar of La Myrrhe which had just been issued and which is also beautiful). Bois et Musc would make a wonderful musk choice for anyone who finds the concept of animalistic and outré Muscs Kublai Khan ~which I love, love, love~ quite attractive, but is leery of wearing such a potent musk outside the bedroom.

Bois et Musc is a Paris exclusive, sold at Les Salons du Palais Royal only, in the beautiful bell-jars of the exclusive line 75ml Eau de Parfum for 110 euros.

For our readers: One lucky reader will receive a big-sized decant of this exceptional, Paris exclusive fragrance. Comment if you want to be eligible. Draw will be open till Sunday midnight.



Related reading on Perfume Shrine: Scented Musketeers (musks reviews), The Musk Series: ingredients, classification, cultural associations


Photo from the film La femme d'à côté (Woman next door) by François Truffaut, 1981.