Past Ascribed Gender: Best Masculine Fragrances for Women, Best Feminine Fragrances for Men

How does the ascribed "gender" of fine fragrance impact our decision to try or enjoy something? Conservative mores, which for long viewed fragrance as essentially a feminine accessory, would frown if they could at the thought. But not long past, in the Victorian era men were enthusiastically drenching their lapels and their handkerchiefs with their preferred fragrance, usually floral-derived, to exude a polished, cultivated image. Ancient men and women knew of the power of aromatics and smeared them on their bodies without much regard for whether spikenard or myrrh was considered feminine or masculine.

Nowadays famous and not so famous people regularly bend the rules and cross over to the other side of the counter: My hairdresser's assistant admits she likes to use men's scents because she likes "heavy, spicy stuff"; she's a curvaceous dirty blonde with cherubic features. Angelina Jolie has been wearing Carolina Herrera for men and Bulgari Black for years, both marketed to the XY chromatosome carriers. Kylie Minogue goes for ApoM pour Homme by Maison Francis Kurkdjian. Ruggedly male Sean Connery loves Jicky by Guerlain, which is a gender bender perfume to end all gender benders; changing sex direction mid-stream in its illustrious career like an adolescent fulfiling a transgender urge. Quirky French actor Jean Hughes Angland likes to dab such bombshell fragrances as Boucheron Femme and Chanel No.5; he finds it unusual and more interesting. Cross-dressing can be sexy, not only in fashion but in intimate accessories as well, such as fragrance. When bodies come closer and the lights dim, the mind spins at the possibilities.

Of course most fragrances in the niche industry today, be it from Parfumerie Generale, Serge Lutens, Montale, Nasomatto, L'Artisan Parfumeur etc. do not put a specific label of gender on their products, or at the most, they say that fragrances can be shared between the sexes, even if intended mainly for one out of them. So, for our purposes, I won't include them in this small "top gender bender fragrances" list things which are obviously marketed as shared/unisex, but rather things that would surprise. You can feel free to bend any niche to your own devices and see if it fits; the creators won't raise any eyebrow.

Best Masculine Fragrances for Women

Cartier Déclaration
Déclaration successfully juxtaposes fresh tonalities with cardamom on top with more risqué animal magnetism in an idiosyncratic mix which is arresting.

Chanel Egoiste
The succulent mix of dried fruits and woods in Egoiste is Lutensian before Lutens and thus eminentaly shareable for the ladies. 

Dior Homme
Nothing predisposes one for the dusky, fruity iris hiding at the core of a fragrance tagged "Homme" so blatantly. Today's hommes are more liberal in their cologne choice and so should you be too!

Dior Eau Sauvage
The bracing tang of a good citric cologne with a floral heart of glass-smooth transparency is as good as anything for cheering men or women up. Eau Sauvage is a classic for a reason and has been relentlessly borrowed since its launch in the 1960s. 

Hermès Équipage
For days when nothing but a little butch, yet supremely elegant package fulfills a woman's needs, Équipage is a thoroughbred that gallops steadily.

Guerlain Héritage
The definition of rich woody, cuddly but not maudlin. Héritage is classy and pliable enough to wear with homewear when inviting that special someone over.

Guerlain Vétiver
So lovely that it's a shame not partaking of its effortless charms. A citrusy vetiver with a light tobacco background Guerlain's Vétiver is a marvel to be shared.

Goutal Annick Sables
Technically Sables is presented as a masculine and was indeed conceived for a man, but the sweet caramel background, fusing immortelle and smoky vanilla, is great on women too.

Best Feminine Fragrances for Men

Caron Poivre
Dense, peppery-tingling, warm, somewhat dangerous. Don't you want your lover to be so? I thought so. Poivre (vintage extrait) is a marvel for that sort of thing.

Chanel Coco Mademoiselle 
Now that this is code for 20/30 something cute woman out on the prowl at parties despite the "independent" ads, men can have a field day with this hesperidic fruits, rose, jasmine and patchouli harmony. 

Chanel Cuir de Russie
The aristocratic Chanel classic Cuir de Russie, with its iris fond on birch tar leathery accord, always spoke of tweed suits and a leather-upholstered Bentley and those are great things for a man to be seen in. Why not smelled in, as well?

Jacomo Silences
So bitter, starkly green and angular that men will find Silences totally approachable in small doses and not frilly at all.

Grès Cabochard
Really, Cabochard is so close to masculine standard Aramis (both leathery chypres with animalic tonalities, composed by the same perfumer, Bernand Chant) that the leap is self-explanatory. Just get the vintage version in this one.

Piguet Bandit
Bandit is an ash-tray and bitter green quinolines leather chypre. Its creator, Germaine Cellier, was dykey and inspired by models' sweaty underpants. Heterosexual men might find that idea...intriguing for their own reasons.

Tauer Perfumes Une Rose Chyprée
The name predisposes you for a supremely feminine composition. The reality of Une Rose Chyprée is a glorious fragrance for either sex uniting roses with the chypre accord for an intense, retro yet modern feel.

Yves Saint Laurent Opium
Opium by Saint Laurent possesses that classic iron-pressed-linens starchy feel that makes it smell "clean" despite the density of its chords. The spiciness is lifting it into a realm not miles away from masculine offerings.

And of course we can't exclude afore-mentioned Guerlain Jicky, Bulgari Black et al.

What's YOUR favourite gender bender fragrance you can easily pull off?

Pics:
Women as Men shot by Helmut Newton.  
Oliver Theyskens looking like Frida Kahlo, shot by Karl Lagerfeld for the Maison Michel Spring 2011 lookbook

Annick Goutal Sables: fragrance review

Sables flies under the radar amidst the masculine selection chez Annick Goutal, despite the fact that Harrison Ford is supposedly an ardent fan. I guess he's considered "old man" by now and not as hip for a celebrity endorsement. But Sables shouldn't suffer from malrecognition; this is an especially brilliant composition and a unique one at the time of its launch, in 1985. The burnt sugar aspect of helichrysum ~known also as immortelle or everlasting flower~ with its shades of curry, maple syrup and fenugreek aromata make this fragrance one of the most distinctive not only in the Goutal canon, but in general. The onle fragrance more daringly infused with this spicy-caramelic note is Eau Noire in the private line of Dior colognes, composed by Francis Kurkdjian (A scent for which designer Karl Lagerfeld is crazy about!). Asmar by So Oud (launched in 2010) is closer to Sables, although not exactly the same.

Immortelle is an aquired taste for sure. Not everyone feels comfortable smelling like Indian food and helichrysum italicum is called "the curry plant" by some. Still, the initially spicy fenugreek nuances (somewhat mentholated and bitter inky, like in good old Fernet-Branca digestif) in Goutal's Sables are mollified towards the caramelised smoky spectrum; a whiff of pyrazines and malt, for those who appreciate Jeux de Peau by Serge Lutens for instance. The curry note is joined by its conspirator in crime: cumin, with its perceived sweaty aspect, and by a little pepper. Yet one cannot exactly categorise Sables as "dirty", "skanky" or spicy, but rather as smoky sweet and cozy in either winter or summer. In my own personal experience, Sables is a child of the sun and the warmth, and performs best in minute amounts put on the belly or behind the knees in the heat.
Contrary to the standard perception of Goutal scents being ethereal and fleeting, this one is particularly projecting, leaving a memorable trail and lasts very long, so beware of overdosing. It's definitely not intended to be used solely a masculine, although the saltier quota of male skin brings out the herbal and more ambery facets to the fore (much like in Ambre Sultan), while it's sweeter on women. The longer the fragrance stays on warm skin, the more it manifests those burnt sugar notes allied with milky, woody facets of sandalwood without ever becoming cloying. On the whole, Sables's kinship is more with a Lutensian oriental oeuvre, or a more powerful version of Cuir Béluga by Guerlain, than with the Indian dish intensity of Dior's Eau Noire where immortelle contrasts with the medicinal-caramelic ends of spectrum of natural lavender essence projecting a more rustic, rugged edge. 

Sables saw the light of day after a journey in Corsica, imbued with the warm and spicy scent of wild immortelle. This fragrance is dedicated to men and women whose originality and subtlety make them just as they are–-that is, authentic. Annick Goutal created it especially for her husband, Alain, who played the violoncello, as a memento from a trip to the so-called Island of Beauty, where the scent of immortelle-sprinkled sand dunes had captured her mind.

To me Sables will always stand as the olfactory equivalent of a particular beach in Lesbos Island in Greece. It is a volcanic place, all hot springs and absolutely no fish in the water, a deserted sugar-like fine sandy beach near a fossiled forest. The warmth of the sun schorches the tree trunks laying in the background. A moment of eternity has just been mine and I can see the history of the earth in a long gaze...

Related reading on Perfume Shrine: Annick Goutal news & reviews, Immortelle: perfumery material, Pyrazines; maple & caramel notes, interview with perfumer Isabelle Doyen

helichrysum flowers pic via stopthatcat

FiFi Awards & Element Showcase: First Indie Fragrance Award

As Elements Showcase prepares to host its second design and fragrance showcase on August 15th and 16th of this year, the founders are pleased to announce their partnership with The Fragrance Foundation to introduce a new FiFi® Award for Best "Indie" Fragrance Brand at this August's show. Brands will be able to sign up to receive nominating forms at the show and via the websites of Elements and the Foundation. The winner(s) will be announced at the Elements Showcase in January 2012 and again at the FiFi® Awards ceremony in the Spring of 2012.
Elements Showcase is the brainchild of Frederick Bouchardy, Jeff Lawson and Ulrich Lang. The first showcase, in January 2011, presented curated offerings in the field of fragrance design. From its conceptualized space by Reddymade Design to its cutting-edge and experiential installations, industry veterans, retailers and media have praised Elements Showcase as an innovator in its field. "We are honored to partner with The Fragrance Foundation in the creation of a FiFi® for Best 'Indie.'"

An exceptional crowd of buyers from all over the globe, including Barneys New York, Saks Fifth Avenue and Henri Bendel attended the January 2011 Elements Showcase. These buyers were exposed to dozens of emerging and established visionaries in the art of fragrance design including Bond No. 9, Lafco New York, Dayna Decker and many more. It will be from a list of fragrance visionaries similar to these that The Fragrance Foundation and Elements Showcase will accept candidates for the new FiFi® Award based on criteria which will be shared in the weeks ahead. "The Fragrance Foundation recognizes the talent and artistry of the 'Indie' Brands and wants to acknowledge this category in the environment which celebrates their individuality and craftsmanship," says Rochelle Bloom, president of The Fragrance Foundation.The FiFi® Awards, sponsored annually by The Fragrance Foundation, honors the fragrance industry's creative achievements. The Fragrance Foundation was established in 1949 by six industry leaders affiliated with Elizabeth Arden, Coty, Guerlain, Helena Rubenstein, Chanel and Parfums Weil, to develop educational programs about the importance and pleasures of fragrance for the American public. Today, America is the largest fragrance market in the world and The Fragrance Foundation has become an international source for historic, cultural, scientific and industry related reference materials.

info via press release

Francis Kurkdjian: Star Perfumer to the Stars, Creator of Best-Selling Fragrances

Few perfumers in the course of the past 150 years have enjoyed such a sky-rocketing course to stardom as has the handsome Francis Kurkdjian, formerly a dancer, piano player and aspiring tailor and eventually a perfumer and co-founder of his own niche fragrance house, Maison Francis Kurkdjian. Kurkdjian (his name of Armenian descent pronounced “koor-zhan”) was the nose behind such fragrance best-sellers as Jean Paul Gaultier’s characteristic male-torso-flacon Le Mâle, Armani Mania, Miracle Homme, Elizabeth Arden Green Tea, Narciso Rodriguez For Him and For Her, Acqua di Parma’s Iris Nobile as well as the initial Christian Dior private "cologne" fragrances Eau Noire (2004) with its daring use of helichrysum/immortelle that recalls maple syrup and curry.

“Francis was behind around 30 blockbusters, from global blockbusters to blockbusters in niche industries,” says Marc Chaya, president and co-founder of Maison Francis Kurkdjian Paris (MFK). “He worked with Romano Ricci on niche line Juliette Has a Gun [ed.note: Miss Charming and Lady Vengeance, both based on delicate musky rose accords which he loves], and also did Rose Barbare for Guerlain's boutique exclusive line.” More impressibly Francis recreated Marie Antoinette’s scent based on a book about the French queen’s perfumer by Elisabeth de Feydeau, and he scented the palace of Versailles’ fountains for two special events with his beloved, trademark metallic rose accord.

Indeed Kurkdjian seems to have favourite themes which he manipulates into his compositions: two of them make a frequent apparition in feminine fragrances; the musky rose that feels fluffy and yet a tad dusky thanks to woody patchouli nuances at the background (Lady Vengeance, Rose Barbare), as well as the man-made, sweet, clean and fresh, piercingly bright orange blossom accord which he perfected  for Narciso For Her and respun in Lanvin's Rumeur in 2006. He also loves his musks and ambrox, especially in his masculine fragrances, fusing the warmth and clean feeling of the former into the soothing hum of the latter. For those reasons there's things to love and things to shy away from in his work, but the talent and consistency of his work is undisputed.
Francis's perfumer idol is none other than prolific perfumer Alberto Morillas, one of the greats in the business; with sales like the ones he's generating, however, Kurkdjian isn't far from being admired by fans. His work is respected by other perfumers, but mostly adored by discerning customers, often of the celebrity of perfumes-connoisseur Catherine Deneuve (who loves the rich Lumière Noire pour femme, which was born out of her comission for a private scent, but she later agreed to add it to the line when Francis opened his own house) Kylie Minogue (who wears Apom pour Homme) is another dedicated customer. Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge (formerly known as Kate Middleton) has been an inspiration for Kurkdjian: the occassion of the royal wedding made him picture her in something intimate and warm, like the new Elie Saab fragrance he created. (We now know Kate went with something completely different, but that's besides the point).
His bespoke service involves a travelling "crate" with bottles of essences which he brings along on a scented profiling of the individual: the process can be laborious and take from 3 months (sending back and forth samples for evaluation and recalibrating) to one year for those with very definitive views on the subject! The project had began casually enough; talking on the plane with well-heeled co-traveller Terry de Gunzburg resulted in a comissioning of a tailor-made fragrance, one which smelled of "orange groves in Italy and earth" (according to an article by Susan Irvine on British Vogue in the mid-1990s)

Francis Kurkdjian was born in Seine et Marne on May 14th, 1969, to a family outside the fragrance industry: his grandfather a men's tailor, his grandmother an inspecting eye in the family business. His first scented memories involved the aroma of sewing oil, clean cloth, tailor chalk and the spice rack sneeking in from the pantry, while an overseeing Art Deco panther was looking on the proceedings. His whole professional ethos was influenced by the ideal of giving pleasure, much like those in the tailoring business are brought up to do.
Francis studied at ISIPCA, the eminent French perfumery school, before composing Le Mâle at 23. He won Prix François Coty in 2001 and the rest is history. The irony is Chaya had no idea who Kurkdjian was when they met at a Jean Paul Gaultier fashion show. “Francis said to me, ‘I am a perfumer,’ and I said, oh, really, does such a thing exist? I thought that was Gaultier doing it himself.” Chaya eventually quit Ernst & Young to co-found and head Maison Francis Kurkdjian in 2009. “Founding MFK was about bringing fresh vision to the fragrance industry,” Chaya says. “It was about founding a modern luxury fragrance house and celebrating the talent of one of the most talented perfumers of our time.” Kurkdjian is more restrained in his evaluation of the company: "La Maison Francis Kurkdjian is an expression of my idea of beauty in perfumery and luxury in general. This House is a tribute to Paris - her spirit of freedom - and blends tradition and technology. My House is dedicated to small joys distilled into 24 hours of perfumed life. Each experience is an olfactory story that lives within my product".

Currently the Maison Francis Kurkdjian line comprises the following fragrances:

Aqua Universalis
A fresh unisex cologne based on the mock sweet orange note which permeats "clean" white floral compositions and laundry detergents (and indeed the house's own laundry product aromatized with the same scent), flanked by hesperidia on top and musk/ambrox on the bottom.
Aqua Universalis Forte
A more concentrated (40%) version of the "clean & fresh" Aqua Universalis theme with boosted Calabrian bergamot, added citron, added florals (rose and jasmine)and a more powerful musk.
Pour le Matin
The vision of a Mediterranean garden, replete with rustic herbs (thyme and lavender). Available as Cologne and Absolue (Eau de Parfum)
Pour le Soir
The vision of Francis's mother in a fur coat for a night out: powder and lipstick on, rich fragrance leaving a seductive trail behind.Uniting the holy (benzoin incense) with the profane (animalic and cumin-rich accords), it's a perfume to be noticed in. Available as Cologne and Absolue (Eau de Parfum), the latter featuring intense cumin and added ylang ylang.
ApoM pour homme & pour femme
Basically an acronym for "a piece of me", the duo was inspired by travels to Lebanon and the Lebanese people with their dark good looks. The scent speaks of orange blossom's beauty and cedarwood's austerity, while being infused with ylang ylang for the feminine version and with (sweet, narcotically floral) and amber for the masculine one (sportier and manly).
Lumiere Noire pour homme & pour femme
Spiced rose, cumin, hot pepper and patchouli, plus narcissus for her and mugwort herb for him mingle in the fragrance equivalent of a long evening gown and a tuxedo: the rich, decadent composition is truly luxurious.

At the end of t2011 MFK will release small, five-milliliter perfume roll-ons perfect for the purse and on the go. The packaging including the stoppers on the flacons are inspired by the zinc & gold rooftops of Paris.The line already incorporates incense paper strips (infused with benzoin resin), leather bracelets permeated with essences, deos, laundry detergent in Aqua Universalis scent, scented candles and room sprays and Les Bulles d'Agathe, soap bubbles in either mint, pear, cut grass or violets scents for the kid in us!

Visit Kurkdjian's official website at Francis Kurkdjian.com



Ref:
Interview on Ecodesign Canada
Interview on Vogue UK
Article on ParisBao
some quotes via the Philippine Global Community
portrait shot via vogue.uk, trunk via parisbao.com

Myth Busting: Coffee Beans as a Method for Fighting Nose Fatigue?

We all know the drill, as perpetuated on the perfume counter: After a series of enthusiastic spritzing of every conceivable fragrance on the shelf our nose registers .....nothing. (This can also be an effect of too much of a specific class of aromachemicals in fine fragrance, for which you can refer to the linked article). So what have the shops come up with to counteract that nasal tiredness? They devised a technique of fighting boredom of the nasal passages with an aroma so strong and different that the jolting sensation would recalibrate our ability to smell: coffee beans. Freshly roasted, dark and aromatically pungent. Does the trick work? Usually not so well, in our experience. But now scientific research backs this claim up.

Do without the perfume-counter coffee beans, say Beloit College researchers

Beloit, Wis. – In an effort to offer shoppers a nasal palate cleanser (and presumably, to sell more fragrances), department store perfume counters have long been topped with small jars of coffee beans. As it turns out, they shouldn’t be. New research published by a Beloit College* professor and two of her students suggests that the beans are no more useful than sniffing the air when it comes to clearing the nose.

In a recently published report titled “An Exploratory Investigation of Coffee and Lemon Scents and Odor Identification,” psychology professor Alexis Grosofsky and two Beloit students, Margaret L. Haupert (class of 2011) and Schyler W. Versteeg (’12), put this common practice to the test using four widely available fragrances (Babe, Confess, Prettiest and Tempt Me). After several months of work they found that, “Coffee beans and lemon seem to have no special refreshing properties.”  

“Fragrance sellers,” they suggest, “may wish to reconsider the practice of providing coffee beans to their customers.”

The research is outlined in the latest edition of Perceptual and Motor Skills, a peer-reviewed bimonthly research journal. Read the full article online.

*Beloit College, founded in 1846, is Wisconsin’s oldest college. Hailed as one of a handful of “Colleges That Change Lives” by former New York Times education editor Loren Pope, Beloit draws students from 48 U.S. states and 40 countries to its residential campus along the Rock River in downtown Beloit, Wis. Learn more at www.beloit.edu.