Dior Leather Oud Full Bottle Giveaway

You heard this right! A full bottle (250ml) of the new Leather Oud in La Collection Couturier Parfumeur, hailed as the most refined in the bunch, has landed on my lap and it is for the taking for a lucky reader, minus a 5ml decant I am keeping for reviewing purposes.
Enter a comment saying what inspires you in the range of Dior and what does not (doesn't have to be specific perfumes only, you can discuss company practices, style of perfumery, cohesion or distribution patterns, whatever you choose!) and I will pick a winner by Monday. International participation is welcome.

Here is how Leather Oud is described by Dior: "Christian Dior searched the world, looking for the most beautiful fabrics that exist. Like the Designer (Couturier), the Perfumer (Parfumeur) chooses the most beautiful raw materials, one of which is Oud Wood from Indonesia. Highly powerful, vibrant and deep, Oud Wood is rare and particularly recognizable by the leather scents that it diffuses when burned. Using this unique wood, François Demachy created an intensely masculine fragrance, with strong character in which Leather notes intertwine with those of Gaiac Wood, Cedar and Sandalwood. An intense Woody Leather scent created with Oud Wood, a rare and precious wood with powerful animal notes that add warmth to the fragrance when in contact with the skin."

Incidentally, I have been asked by an industry magazine to comment on Demachy's work for publication. Watch out for an article focusing on my views on these pages as well next week.

Hermes Un Jardin sur le Toit: new fragrance

Hermès is not shying away from industriousness, even in the shade of risk of hostile take-overs from the LVMH Group which we had discussed this past autumn. Thankfully, this has been prevented and they're still catering to the tastes and standards of a true luxe house. On that note, they're introducing the fourth scent in the Jardins series, called Un Jardin sur le Toît (A Garden on the Roof), following the success of Un Jardin sur la Mediterranée, Un Jardin sur le Nil and Un Jardin après la Mousson.


The newest Hermès Jardin scent will include fragrant notes of apple and pear, alongside tea rose and will belong to the olfactory family of Greens. Sounds promising if only because of the seemingly constrasting themes (fruits and green? and tea rose too?).
ETA: Newer information talks about the smell of compost, magnolia (one of the strongest "trends" lately) and of weeds entering the composition as well!


For the launch, Hermès went out on a limb, inviting the press into a cooking class, a gardening lesson and then a rooftop garden at Hermès HQ in Paris. Hermès’ head cook, guided the press representatives into making a fruit compote that would include the fruity components of the fragrance (apple and pear). Then they progressed into the potting shed with the house's gardener, where they planted up Tea Roses into orange ceramic pots, which echoed of course the famous Hermès signature orange. Finally they were greeted to a rooftop garden where they smelled the green fragrance in its entirety. Ah...

Un Jardin Sur Le Toît will be exclusively available at Harrods and the Hermès Boutiques from 2nd April priced £55 for 50ml in the standard Jardin series bottles. 

A full review of Hermes Un Jardin sur le Toit is now on this link. 

Related reading on Perfume Shrine: Voyage d'Hermes review, Iris Ukiyoe Hermessence review, Interview with perfumer Jean Claude Ellena

pics via Vogue blog. Thanks to Federico and blog.svd.se/ for additional info.

The winner of the draw...

...for the Dandy decant is Marina79. Congratulations and please email me with your data using the contact on Profile or About page so I get this out to you soon.

Thanks for the participation everyone and till the next one!

Teo Cabanel Early Roses: fragrance review

"One day, its Royal Majesty, our Self, should get out of the throne room and with its Court, the mind and the heart, sit down and decide about its life".
~Tasos Athanasiadis, The Throne Room

There are fragrances which are complex like symphonies and then there are fragrances which take on a gorgeous essence as a point of departure into exploring subtle nuances. Early Roses by Teo Cabanel belongs in the second category, imparting a morning-dew fresh rosiness with woody-musky undertones, as delicate and tender as that first kiss on the lips on a warm May's day when happiness is so overwheling that it's ripe with the burden of a budding melancholy already.

Jean François Latty (the perfumer of YSL's classics, Jazz and YSL Pour Homme) signed the latest and fifth opus of Teo Cabanel, a small exclusive perfumery originally established in Algiers in 1893 and reborn by a young heiress, Caroline Ilacqua in 2005.

Early Roses is a floral rose étude, subtle and pastoral like walking in a garden covered by dew, with fragrant notes of roses, red berries, jasmin, bulgarian rose, sustained by amber, musk and woody notes. Although Cabanel features another rose perfume in their portfolio, Oha, the comparison couldn't be more pronounced: While Early Roses is a budding young woman eagerly anticipating the miracle of life unfolding before her, Oha is a mature chypre floral when some heartache has left its indelible mark. The prettiness without vulgarity of Early Roses comes as confimation that Teo Cabanel, producer of the amazing warm floriental of amber & ylang ylang Alahine as well as another floral named Julia, is a niche brand to watch out for.

Early Roses pretty much begins as it ends, structured in an almost linear style. The first hit is unmistakeable fresh rose, cut with a little fruity tanginess, no powder or real sweetness, very fresh like in some Rosine fragrances. A complimentary rosy note of pink pepper is there as well, making the scent feel contemporary and keeping it from any sourness probably aided by some hedione (fresh green jasmine note). The warmer underscore of woodiness (comparable to that in Stella but a little bit creamier) comes almost immediately, blossoming into lusher rosiness. The floral core is flanked by clean musky notes, producing a skin-like effect throughout which lasts well although always in the lower, subtle register. If you are searching for the embullient roses of Paris by Yves Saint Laurent, or want your Eaux de Parfum to have ooomph, you might find it too sotto voce for your tastes.
Decidely girly, I think most men who are adventurous in their fragrance choices would find some challenge in borrowing it, but the experiment wouldn't be without merit.

Available as Eau de Parfum in 50ml/1.7oz and 100ml/3.4oz.



Music by Greek composer Evanthia Reboutsika from the album The Star & A Prayer.
Painting Roses by William Whitaker.

Doutzen Kroes Loves Perfume but doesn't Pick it Herself

Doutzen Kroes obviously wants to smell sweet for her man. In a short article in The Belfast Telegraph, the Dutch model and Victoria’s Secret Angel who wed DJ Sunnery James in November last year, reveals that she often asks his opinion when it comes to choosing her clothes, hair style and make-up looks (Somehow I find this a bit hard to believe for a model, at least regarding hair cut and colour). Sunnery is particularly good at picking up scents, she reveals, so Doutzen is glad to oblige. “I asked my husband to choose a fragrance that he loves on me, as I obviously want to smell good for him,” she laughed.

Doutzen also adds she rarely leaves home without a bottle of fragrance in her bag, as she likes to spritz herself with it throughout the day (Perfume Police are you listening?), while her other perennials are her favourite mascara (L'Oréal Telescopic we're told) and lipstick, as well as her iPod.

What about you? Do you indulge a beloved one or are you 100% firm in your stance to pick only what you like yourself?

photo of Doutzen Kroes by Mario Testino via christinaiak blog