Montale Mango Manga: new fragrance

Pierre Montale, the French brand which brings Oriental gardens closer to the Western lifestyle, is going to present his new fragrance launch Mango Manga at the Pitti Fragranze 2010 exhibition in September.


Created as an exclusive for the Japanese market in 2005, Mango Manga plays on the exotic allure of mango fruit and the very Japanese reference of Manga illustrations. Now it's hoping to catch the interest of Western perfumephiliacs as well. The fragrance is refreshed through the sweet note of mango, allied to neroli, orange, jasmine Sambac, and ylang ylang while the base rests atop the familiar oud note of the Montale line, alongside vetive, cedar and musk.

Available in Eau de Parfum 100ml.

Kim Kardashian Launches Second Celebrity Scent!

Kim Kardashian, the reality-TV persona and perpetrator of a celebrity to her name already, Kim Kardashian (which we discussed on this space) is issuing a second one in February 2011, since sales for the first one went so well. According to blurb on her own blog: "I am so excited to tell you guys that my second fragrance will launch in February of 2011!!!!! I wanted to let you guys know here first so you can all share the excitement with me :) I’m at the commercial shoot now and cannot wait to get all glammed up! Look at these amazing dresses I get to choose from!
I’ll keep you guys updated on all my fragrance news here on my blog!"

The devotion to celebritoids is blind as attested by one reader commenting [sic]: "Im so glad bc honestly your current fragrance didnt work for me, I really wanted to like it, I bought to support u bc I love u and am a big big big fan, but the scent was to “flowery” for me. Hope your new one is different, so i can wear. But regardless I will purchase it!" And in case anyone thought guys would be left hankering, here is a nudge from one of the XY chromosome type readers: "So cool, you need to do a men’s fragrance next!"

The photo is from Kim's photo shoot for the second, upcoming Karashian fragrance.

Etat Libre d'Orange Sex Pistols: Cultural Anatomy of a New Fragrance

Two new fragrances are getting issued from French-based brand extraordinaire Etat Libre d'Orange this coming autumn 2010. News had leaked at the beginning of the year, but now it is officially confirmed. And the first of them demands its own dissection since it hinges on several cultural axes and one relating the political with the "scentsical"; always within the scope of Perfume Shrine.

Le Parfum Sex Pistols, the brainchild of Etienne De Swardt, the owner of the infamous niche brand is "the scent of anarchy and rebellion worn to bring out your inner punk". Etat Libre d'Orange despite their French roots seems hell-bent on bringing out the most influential of the British: what with their collaboration with Tilda Swinton for Like This recently and now with the Sex Pistols, the revolutionary punk-rock band of the late 1970s whose motto was "We are not into music, we are into CHAOS". All too brief (just 2,5 years of presence and one LP album) and they're still being discussed, nevertheless. Not least because of the legend of "doomed youth" of its tragic man Sid Vicious (his name ironically taken off Johnny Rotten's pet hamster), dead at 21 after a heroine overdose following the accusations of doing his girlfriend in while on a drug-induced high.


The coincidental timing wanted the new fragrance to be scheduled right after impresario Malcom McLaren's death, the man who proclaimed he "used people like clay, like a sculptor would" in order to make the Sex Pistols, initially a subcultural manifestation aided by his lover fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, his very own anti-establishment art project, taking full credit years after the band's splitting for creating the social and cultural phenomenon. To wit, watch the Great Rock n'Roll Swindle. Yet critic Greil Marcus reflected on McLaren's contradictory posture: "It may be that in the mind of their self-celebrated Svengali...the Sex Pistols were never meant to be more than a nine-month wonder, a cheap vehicle for some fast money, a few laughs, a touch of the old épater la bourgeoisie. It may also be that in the mind of their chief terrorist and propagandist, anarchist veteran...and Situational artist McLaren, the Sex Pistols were meant to be a force that would set the world on its ear...and finally unite music and politics. The Sex Pistols were all of these things" [quoted: Hatch, David, and Stephen Millward, From Blues to Rock, p. 170]. Of course the underlying chasm between McLaren and charismatic (and intelligent) Johny Lydon -or "Rotten" as he was widely known "thanks" to his early-70s-British-teeth; the lads sport pearly whites now- makes the auteur's ambition on McLaren's part rather ambiguous. The political agenda was inchoate, the effectuation of change not really solid in anyone's mind, the identification with the working classes not really there [Campbell, Sean, "Sounding Out the Margins", pp. 127–130.]
If it had been any other perfume brand, I would have talked about spoliation... Yet something about Etat Libre makes the most unlikely projects seem acceptable! After all they did a scent after homoerotic sex artist Tom of Findland. And another one called Fat Electrician, sporting the (predictable) dawn of a butt-crack on the advertising images. McLaren himself had stated "[Punk's] authenticity stands out against the karaoke ersatz culture of today, where everything and everyone is for sale.... [P]unk is not, and never was, for sale." Then again, there is a lot of "watering the wine" with the passing of years, as even the mouthpiece of the band capitulated to commercialization. All right, it was to fund the reunion of his PiL group because Virgin Records (who had the Pistols signed) refused to sign them, but still...it looks incongruent. And nowadays when the international economic crisis is sending off people into their own little conservative cocoon, how does a conceptual project materialize in a product?

Also related is that De Swardt has "set up a new company, Editions des Sens, to create fragrances which are a little less niche and have a slightly wider market appeal". [source] A reverse concept of "editions" for a wider audience rather than more limited, the way it was back when Malle introduced his own. It's interesting to contemplate in the greater scheme of things.
The unisex juice for Le Parfum Sex Pistols by Etat Libre D'Orange was created by Mathilde Bijaoui from Mane and opens with lemon, grey pepper and ambrette notes. The heart has black plum, aldehydes and heliotrope, drying down to patchouli, orcanox and leather at the base. Luckily not the vomit note of warm beer consumed in punk concerts...we've been spared.
Anyway, the perfume hits international stores in September. Never mind the rest, here comes Le Parfum Sex Pistols!

"Your perfume is giving me the hives/ a headache/ asthma!"

How many times have you heard that line in one variation or another? Or are you one of the sufferers who feels like you're going to erupt any minute now from the fumes that are coming your way from down the hall? There are two sides to every argument and the modern (mostly Americanised) phenomenon of complaining about perfume-wearing in the workplace and public spaces is interesting to dissect, if hysterically overacted in some cases. Like the one involving Susan McBride, a Detroit city employee who claimed a co-worker’s perfume and room deodorizer caused her to suffer from migraines and nausea and in turn sued the city, claiming the scented workplace hindered her from working properly.

Most impressively, nevertheless, McBride actually won a $100,000 settlement and Detroit city employees in the three buildings where McBride works are now being warned not to wear scented products, including colognes, aftershave, perfumes and deodorants, or even use candles and air fresheners! Incidents like this and reportage from common folks who comment on MSN articles citing the incident as an example of a greater issue make me think. And the majority of interesting questions in this world begin with one simple word: "why". WHY has scent been given so much importance in today's society? Why is this annoyance greater now rather than decades before? And why is perfume and scented goods demonized in such a way? Is perfume wearing the new taboo? Or the new smoking?

Let's start by a typical example, taken from actual comments by readers. One woman complains about her co-worker constantly brewing fresh chai tea five times a day on her desk (Talk about a lot of constipation, but let's not tackle this right now). The smell of tea being brewed bothers her. She complains she's getting a headache. The other woman quips by saying she got a headache by the smell of the noodles that the other woman brought at the office the other day! The situation escalates to the point that the incident is reported to Human Resources and the floor manager. Chair brewing is brought to a halt. You see...nothing is as uncomplicated as a simple repulsion to the smell of something. Imagine how this can take on other shades of meaning when the offending item in question is a scented gift from a beloved one or even if it takes on the "enlightened" appeal of aromatherapeutic products. Or...the horrors, a humble deodorant (banning it risking a major case of the BOs) or the cleaning fluid for the floors!

Allergies and headaches triggered by scented products are a serious issue. I don't deny that for a minute! Let me repeat: I don't deny it. People battle with symptoms that can be debilitating. Some are even seizure-like, recalling epilepsy ("sensitivity to strong smells, flashing lights and certain noises"). For all that there is proper medical care, while common sense dictates to respect people and tone down whatever is making them ill, assuming the pinpointing has been successful. But how much of that is real and how much is simulated for various reasons? Even scientists are sometimes baffled. Where does one draw the line between having something hurt them ("I'm getting nauseated") and having something just annoy their aesthetic principles ("I hate that scent")? Reportedly the percentage of genuine medical conditions is very low. "Hey man, you stink!" is politically incorrect, whether the stink comes from body odour or perfume or smoke...Has this political correctness which has pervaded the American society prevented men and women from giving voice to what displeases them in a rational and level-mannered way, thus provoking secondary reflexes that lead to overacting and passive aggressiveness? I think it has.

Scent mapping is starting to become the equivalent of turf wars and a victim attitude that would "pay" for other things, some of which are tangible in the form of monetary recompensation. People have got ideas, after that $100,000 settlement. But it is the power trip which gives the thrill. Scent has always biologically been a way to mark one's territory and man (and woman), a grown-up animal out of the jungle, is refining the process by donning olfactory shoulder pads, marking one's personal space. Refuting someone's right to gnaw on your own personal space -within the public one- seems like resistance to usurped authority, claiming part of the common territory back, setting the line on someone's power. Doubly so, as perfume choice and individual odour is such an intimate, personal matter. It reads as rejection of someone on a deep, core level. How many times have you rejected a potential lover because you didn't like the way they smelled? And how many times have you felt flattered because someone praised your scent?

"A person doesn't necessarily have a right to wear perfume, but the person does have a right to be able to breathe in the workplace" is cited as reason for the indignation. Clearly perfume wearing is considered frivolous. The floodgates on entitlement to rights and the cult of "me" opened up at some point during the last 20 years, after which a major step back in basic manners and common sense ensued. Which brings me to another point: It's noted that the majority of complaints and the escalation of such cases is witnessed in the US (and to a lesser degree Canada). Other countries do not have such a problem (yet, at least). Why is that? I believe it has to do with a couple of reasons.

First of all, the frivolity of perfume seems ingrained in a WASP mentality, the glorification of soap and water of almost religious significance. "Cleanliness is next to godliness", right? Interestingly, the aphorism is similarly coined in other languages to extol the value of cleaning up; but the connection is not made to the divine, but rather with other values, such as social status. To further this syllogism, one might argue that by eschewing the god-prefered clean smell of soap and water, covering it up with perfume is "reeking" of suspicious motives. What are you trying to cover up, dude? Perfume wearing has for long being tied to members of the fair sex of low reputation in particular (parfum de puta), trying to cover up the smell of other men on them, or a witch-hunt mentality in which scent was used to ensnare men and control them through the subliminal medium of olfaction.

Another reason might be that the cubicle farm culture is most prevalent in the US rather than other countries. The tight-knit space does induce discomfort, conflict and ennui! Someone has to be blamed and perfume is so easy to target. Especially so since smells invade our space and trigger emotional responses. Which makes me further the thought: Has no one considered Sick Building Syndrome? Several of the symptoms described for perfume intolerance happen to be identical with those for the above condition.

What is perhaps even more intriguing is that I distinctly recall a perfumer saying that American perfumes are made with a higher concentration within the established Eau de Toilette and Eau de Parfum concentrations so as to satisfy the taste to have your perfume announcing you, a form of "olfactory shoulder pads" which used to be very demanded by the market focus groups on US soil. Historical fact confirms that some of the most potent, powerful fragrances first met with success in the US, such as Narcisse Noir by Caron, due to this preference. In a globalised market perhaps this isn't always the case, although several popular fragrances do get produced at different factories for different countries ("made in US" vs "made in France" etc., plus the difference in the alcohol used as a carrier vehicle for the essences) Several of the modern "clean" scents bearing American brand names (the Clean brand for instance) are so harsh and synthetic that they do pierce sinuses. In view of the above is it any wonder that lots of Americans are complaining? I don't think it's entirely their fault! But it does make for a new arena for the claim of personal space in an increasingly tight, overpopulated world.

On to you: Is perfume the latest taboo? Is it the new weapon to battle one's battles in the workplace? Do you have any problems from someone else's scent?

pics via legalblogwatch.typepad.com and dentalcollectibles.com

Mystery of Musk: Verdigris (Belly Flowers perfumes),Tallulah B (Jane Cate)

Reflecting upon the musk fragrance samples I have received (a couple still missing in action) for the Mystery of Musk project, I am reminded of how the mind works and what associations and -sometimes received- expectations we place upon things. The Mystery of Musk began as an innovative project in which natural perfumers tried to render a viable, sustainable animalic musk through non-animal (musk deer) sources. As we had announced, this was an across the globe project challenging us into coming with terms with different interpretations of what each of us holds as "the standard" of what musk should smell like. Some of them deviated from the path; fledging full compositions which gained independence and "indie-pendance".
What I mean by that: Most of the time, one cannot forget that they're smelling artisanal perfumes produced along a specific set of parameters, although they accomplish some of the aesthetic criteria we've come to expect. But in the arena of musk specifically, there are unexpected twists and turns to be taken and today we're tackling two of them. To cut a long story short, two musky versions which are not particularly...musky. But they have other things to recommend them, should you find yourself interested.

Jane Cate of A Wing and a Prayer Perfumes was inspired for her Tallulah B by classical Hollywood glamour and specifically the bon vivante Tallulah Banckhead who liked to proclaim she was "as pure as the driven slush". With role models like this... Still for Tallulah B the perfumer went for a subtle, botanical vibe which feels like a daguerréotype: the focus is not verisimilitude, but rather an impression of a person or object. The scent feels indeed like a woody floral, a delicate one with the trail of ambrette pods. Much like Connie Porter in Lifeboat (1944) by Alfred Hitchcock, it seems like it laughs in the face of heavy, seductive type musk recalibrating our perception of it, proposing a fragrance that utilizes the note in a roundabout way, underscoring subtly the soft florals (child-like linden blossom, a tincture of muguet...is that really possible? Would it produce a spectre of the little bells?). Cynical like Porter? Not really. More like a different take from someone who admits "I don't usually blend with musk".

Disclaimer & correction: Jane Cate has issued two versions of Tallulah B, recalling the first one (hereby reviewed) in favour of Tallulah B2 which is muskier, meeting the requirements of the project. Since I haven't received the 2nd version yet, I limited myself to the first (sorry for the confusion), but will amend when having sampled the second one. Watch this space!
Wing and Prayer Perfumes appear on the official site and on Etsy.


Verdigris by BellyFlowers Perfumes says it all by its name, a paronomasia uniting "ambergris" and "verdant" but also evoking the patina on copper or bronze metalware, the greenish tinge that the French called "vert-de-Grèce" (Greek green) when referring to the specific colour in painting. Probably inspired by both those references as well as the lush tropical feel of the Florida state where the perfumer Elise Pearlstine is stationed, which would be conductive to not only copper oxidizing into copper acetate but to inhibitions also, Verdigris is presented as "musky and green, rich and sexy".
Green, the scent certainly is, mating green accents of lavender, clary sage and violet absolutes, folded by a heart of powdery soft opoponax absolute. In the base, the muskiness is achieved through the synergy of ambergris tincture and labdanum absolute (the latter is clearly detectable). The opening has the herbal aroma that herbalists would prescribe for a case of rebalancing, while the progression veers into an earthier palette with the deep, hypnotic lappings of labdanum. Compared to sweeter and more body-conscious renditions, we're dealing here with a fragrance that doesn't aim to provide a heavy-lidded, khol-eyed musk and this is quite apparent: Whether it was the intended goal, I leave it to the perfumer, but something tells me that it was.
Belly Flowers Perfumes are accessible here.

Both fragrances have average tenacity, which means they perform pretty well for all-naturals compositions, considering.

Please refer to this list for the other participating sites on the Mystery of Musk project.

Photo of Tallulah Bankhead via Film Noir Photos blog and of verdirgis design of rbanches on black scalloped ring via Miss Fickle Media Com blog.