Armani Prive La Femme Bleue: fragrance review

The Armani Privé collection falls under the scope of "niche fragrances within mainstream houses" trend; exclusive, upscale compositions that are often several notches above the widely available scents by the same company (see Cuir Amethyste and Bois d'Encens). La Femme Bleue, setting you back for £375/400euros for 100ml of Eau de Parfum, is very much on the exclusive side, given that it has been made in only 1000 bottles worldwide (and it's not available in just any country! whoa!). So I was fully prepared to hate it (isn't that stratagem & pricetag obscene?), but, alas, I was hasty.

Giorgio Armani's La Femme Bleue is a lovely iris fragrance; nuanced, darkish, with its woody and incensey background and, despite the passing resemblance with iris extraordinaire Iris Silver Mist by Serge Lutens, soft, powdery, ultimately unctuous. Plus, despite having the word Femme in the name, the designer himself is quick to point out that this is a unisex scent, as is the whole Privé collection. What more can one ask for? Perhaps some dare.

The Armani Privé collection can be divided into three genres: fresh and clean-smelling Les Eaux; La Collection ~inspired by precious stones like amethyst or jade; and the decadent Collection Mille et Une Nuits (A Hundred and One Nights Collection). This is the range that includes Oud Royal, an opulent melange of amber, spice and myrrh resin. The line is not without its celebrity endorsement: Charlene Wittsock, Princess of Monaco, who wore an Armani Privé wedding gown, also wore an Armani Privé fragrance on her "happiest day"; reportedly it was the new ultra-limited edition La Femme Bleue.

The deep blue of the bottle is a direct reflection on the Spring/Summer 2011 collection by Armani, inspired by the blue tint of the Alasho of the Twareg people of the desert, nomads of North Africa.
The colour of the nighttime sky has often been an inspiration for perfumers and bottle manufacturers, starting with the iconic L'Heure Bleue for Jacques Guerlain as well as Dawamesk, passing through modern offerings such as Jacomo Deep Blue and Dark Blue by Hugo Boss, all the way to the upcoming Vol de Nuit Powder Spray bottle in gorgeous shades of midnight.

The perfumer Serge Majoullier is a talent to watch. He explains how he put the concept (the deep indigo) into fragrance:

"It’s not easy to translate the idea of deep blue, I found the way by blending oriental and vanilla notes, perfect to evoke a hot starry night; so I added black iris [ed.note: I'm assuming he's referring to iris chyrophrages], which is dark blue in nature, and whose scent at times verges on chocolate, a woody background. This way the fragrance is not just floral".

This Armani fragrance feels like Haute Parfumerie and not just hot air fanned on ad copy, as many niche products do these days:  The delicious undercurrent of cocoa dust laces the background of iris (this is an experiment that is also successful at much lower price points in Bulgari's Blv Notte and Iris by L'Erbolario) resulting in a fragrance that cannot be said to evoke funereal connotations like so many iris scents can; notably Iris Silver Mist, to which it bears a kinship of the spirit.  After all, iris susiana, a greyish species of Iris, is affectionately called "mourning iris", so the connection is there all right. But no; not in this case. La Femme Bleue is not exactly cheerful or bubbly either, opting for a distinctive and elegant arpeggio of woody notes that surround and temper the slightly gourmand, orientalised aspects of cocoa and vanillic-benzoin caramel hints with some musk. Softness and a delicious powdery feel akin to violets greet you upon spraying, with hints of sensuality evolving as the fragrance dries down, even though it is a delicate, timid drydown that you might want to press your nose on your wrist to fully enjoy. I could picture myself enjoying this ultra exclusive fragrance if it was any easier to get ahold of.

Notes for Armani Prive La Femme Bleue: iris, chocolate, woodsy notes, incense and vanilla.

Below is the clip from the summer 2011 collection by the same name featuring Elisa Seidanoui. Enjoy!



Painting Black Iris by Georgia O'Keefe (1906).

Tableau de Parfums Miriam: fragrance review & Giveaway

The dream of a hug, the vivid bitter sweet memory of her perfume,
her hair shining golden in the morning sun, so fine,
the violets from the garden in her hand,
freshly picked with the dew pearls dropping one after the other,
the green May roses on the table, lasting forever.
It is a dream of days long gone, with a smile on my lips.

Miriam Eau de Parfum is the first fragrance on the Tableau de Parfums line (you have a chance of getting to know it before anyone else, read on!), referencing the heady, diffusive fragrances of the 1940s and 1950s.

Some people who admired Tauer perfumes had asked on these very pages some time ago that he composes an aldehydic floral. Apparently he listens! Miriam is an old-school rosy-green aldehydic floral, like they don't make them any more; perfumey, rosy, with piquant notes that register between soapiness and fizziness, an armour of glamorous "clean". You imagine a highly strung classy woman that hides her woes behind an immaculate veneer; perfectly coifed & manicured, wearing delightfully constructed, tailored clothes and maybe a string of pearls. Male filmmakers of the 1940s tended to show this powerwoman stereotype having a meltdown at some point in the plot, perhaps a subtle nod to "punishment" for undertaking more than they should. Pamela Robertson explains that Mildred Pierce exposes this contradiction of female success and societal expectations, "because Mildred's success conflicts with the postwar ideology that demands that women give up their careers" [1]. There are even modern specimens like Amy Archer in "The Hudsucker Proxy". But not in Pera's universe. Miriam can be complex, alternating between regret, love, compassion, duty, longing...she's very human.  In the words of Ann Magnuson, who plays Miriam in the film: "The character of Miriam is kind of riffing not only on the forties women’s picture characters but also some of the characters that I’ve played."

Who is Miriam? The host of a long running home shopping network program (“The Miriam Masterson Show”), Miriam (played by well-known actress Ann  Magnuson) is the on air confidante to millions of women across the country, But behind the scenes, Miriam is at odds with the men who run the studio, a motley crew of suits who don’t understand her touchy feely appeal. At home, she struggles with a layabout boyfriend. Her mother has just been put in a nursing home suffering from dementia. What Miriam would like more than anything is the one thing she can’t have: the name of her mother’s signature perfume. What’s left of the fragrance sits in an unlabeled Baccarat decant on the edge of Miriam’s vanity. When it’s gone, it will take a world of memories with it. Does it remind you of something? I thought so. That perfume therefore represents the memory of her mother, the fragrance her mother actually wore, but also the images and thoughts that Miriam projects into her perception of her mother as a younger woman. Makes for contemplating sniffing.

Miriam the fragrance is vintage in spirit but with a contemporary character. “There is something slightly provocative in this perfume,” says Andy Tauer, its creator. “It isn’t naughty, but bold. It makes a statement, and its wearer needs a little bit of daring. A grand perfume constructed in the tradition of French perfumery, Miriam is the kind of fragrance they don’t make much anymore.” Indeed! When was the last time you actually heard of a major company launching an aldehydic floral? This is one of the beauties of discovering artisanal perfumers: They eschew trends into producing what they like.
The scent of Miriam Eau de Parfum is immediately expansive, filling the room with its citrusy aldehydes burst and violet leaf natural essence (coming from Biolandes), making an instant euphoric impression. Unmistakeably this is an old school rosy floral, fanning the tea rose variety into a soft woody base rich in irones. The woodiness is half and half Australian and Mysore sandalwood, giving a smooth underlay. I hear there's also ambergris/Ambrox, one of the notes that Tauer likes and uses as insignia. It's subtle here and very low-hum (resulting in less than plutonium-like lasting power in this case), while there is a hint of animalic warmth deep down (civet?), taking a sensuous path for a brief while. But never fear; like the corresponding character Miriam EDP knows how to behave, even if her heart takes her elsewhere from time to time.

Miriam Eau de Parfum was inspired by the character played by Ann Magnuson in Woman's Picture series by director Brian Pera. (It even has its own Facebook page! Check it out!)

Notes for Tableau de Parfums Miriam:
bergamot, sweet orange, geranium, violet blossom, rose, jasmine, ylang, violet leaf, lavender, vanilla, orris root, sandalwood.

We are hosting a giveaway! One purse sized atomiser (7ml) to a lucky winner and 5 deluxe samples (1 ml each), with a DVD included, shipped directly by Tauer Perfumes into the entire world. Draw is open till September 7th and winner announced at the end of next week. Just leave a comment re: this post.

Miriam EDP will launch in early October in Los Angels at Scentbar and Luckyscent. Tauer will not make it available on the Tauer website, but rather on Evelyn Avenue.

[1] Robertson, Pamela. Guilty Pleasures. Durham & London: Duke University Press. 1996.

A Fragrant Novelette & Film: Evelyn's Avenue & Tableau de Parfums Miriam

“All of us grow up in particular realities — a home, family, a clan, a small town, a neighborhood. Depending upon how we’re brought up, we are either deeply aware of the particular reading of reality into which we are born, or we are peripherally aware of it.”

Thus says Chaim Potok and today I am honoured to having been picked to introduce you an ultra cool project cinematographer (& man about the arts) Brian Pera and perfumer Andy Tauer will unfold in the coming weeks (We will have giveaways of samples and downloads and interviews, so stick around!).

Brian Pera introduced me to Evelyn Avenue, "a street in Memphis, Tennessee, located in the “midtown” area. There are tons of trees, old houses, people walking dogs or riding their bikes. [...]There are no garages, so you’re encouraged to say hello to your neighbors when you get in and out of your car, or to avoid them more creatively.". This neighborhood from real and lived in suddenly became an Internet small corner where the comings and goings of several creative minds are documented. They're also perfume related in a more tangible way, with a ten-year-long collaboration, with Andy Tauer's project Tableau de Parfums, portraits inspired by the shorts of Pera’s ongoing film series, Woman’s Picture; Woman's Picture is a series of short films involving childhood memories of the perfumes their mothers and grandmothers wore and what they represent to them. These shorts will be available for download on Evelyn Avenue and on DVD through the store at the time of each fragrance’s release, along with a novelette related to the character.

It is Perfume Shrine's honour to introduce you to Miriam's story today, through a perfume novelette:

"The sixties are saying bold patterns, geometric prints--and short, shorter, shortest--
but mother sticks to what she knows. Her nightgown is simple: a
pale floral design on a turquoise background, floor length, probably satin.

It has a mauve colored sash. She sits at the vanity, brushing her hair. At fifty, I’ll remember the feel of the fabric of this nightgown against my face, like the pillow on my bed, the feel of going to sleep, and how infrequently my mother let me near enough to touch it. The vanity is dark wood, possibly
mahogany. Mother got it from her grandmother, who got it from no one knows exactly where. It’s really just a table but mother has made it something more. Three generations of women have set themselves down before it, preparing, refining, thinking, rethinking.

The perfume mother wears, her signature scent, is its own little island, located at the farthest right end of the vanity. The crystal bottle reminds me of a tear drop. The stopper is long and sharp like a glistening dagger.
I’m seven years old. Mother is the world to me. Every morning, after I wake, I walk the hallway separating our rooms. I’m quiet so mother won’t hear me. I stop at her room and stand there in the doorway, watching her from behind. She finishes her hair and applies her make-up. She regards
herself for a moment in the mirror, pivoting to find the right angle.

I can’t read her face. It’s some kind of performance, it seems to me. It’s as
if she’s rehearsing. I pretend I know what she’s thinking, putting thoughts
into her head. I pretend I’m her audience and that in some way we’re
communicating through this performance. It’s the closest I come to under
standing her but I have no words for what I’m seeing and feeling.

She reaches for the bottle at the edge of the vanity, drawing it closer. She
lifts the stopper and dabs once on each side of her neck, observing her
reflection. Before she replaces the bottle she holds the stopper under her
nose and she closes her eyes, drifting off somewhere on the smell. She looks
like pictures I’ve seen, women lost in private moments, enacting some kind
of ritual no one else is meant to see. The pictures make the moments
public. Staring at them is like watching my mother from her doorway. You
feel you know these women. You might be them - if not now, then one day."

The Series launches its first episode of the portrait series, MIRIAM, on Evelyn Avenue, coinciding with the launch of the MIRIAM perfume, the first release by Tableau de Parfums. MIRIAM features Ann Magnuson as a home shopping network hostess whose life has reached crisis point. MIRIAM will be available for download in the third week of October, when there will also be a prequel of the companion ROSE. Miriam Eau de Parfum by Tauer Perfumes launches on October 7th at Scentbar (the brick & mortar store of Luckyscent) in Los Angeles, while the day before several of the Woman's Picture shorts will screen at the Royal T Gallery in Los Angeles.

There is a host of people participating as well so check them out for more news:
September 7: Persolaise September 14: Olfactorama September 21: Perfume Smellin’ Things September 28: The Non-Blonde October 5: Perfume Posse

Tomorrow on Perfume Shrine, a preview of Miriam EDP, a surprise and a giveaway!! Don't miss. 



Woman's Picture Trailer from brian pera on Vimeo.

Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier Cuir Fetiche: new fragrance

Leather fragrances have a rich and diverse history, but lately they're coming again to the fore thanks to their naughty connotations and the ennui with syrupy fruity florals. Maître Parfumeur et Gantier, a brand with class founded in 1989 by Jean Laporte, formerly of L'Artisan, revisits the theme with Cuir Fétiche.

The fragrance began with a trip to the Massif Central, a mountainous region in the south of France, in search of raw materials for their luxurious line of leather gloves, recounts head of the house Jean-Paul Millet Lage. Hence the new fragrance is advertised with the image of a naked woman, wearing nothing but leather gloves and holding a red-leather-corseted bottle of Cuir Fétiche.
The fragrance like a typical Maître Parfumeur et Gantier creation reprises favourite materials, such as jasmine, rose, ambergris and musk, but sublimates them through the synergy of mandarin, ylang ylang, vanilla and leather notes. The effect is rich and sensuous.

Notes for Maître Parfumeur et Gantier Cuir Fetiche:
Top: red mandarin, bergamot, lemon, geranium
Heart: leather, ylang ylang, jasmine, rose, iris, vanilla
Base: Musk, ambergris, patchouli, cedar, sandalwood.

The new fragrance will be presented in the perfume exhibition Fragranze in Florence, Italy, and will soon after become available at select boutiques. Cuir Fetiche is available in Eau de Parfum concentration in 100ml bottles.

Guerlain Vol de Nuit Holiday 2011 Collection

Guerlain's Holiday 2011 collection features many things to intrigue Guerlainophile buyers and hypnotise their respective admirers: from the unexpected peacock shades and deep, midnight blues down to the perfume-laced name (Holiday 2011 Vol de Nuit), it's a collection to look forward to. But amidst them all, one product will stir the heart strings of all perfume lovers: Vol de Nuit Powder Spray; "when perfume and makeup meet...inspired by a legendary fragrance".

What is it? A silky, etehereal loose powder which creates a light-reflecting veil with a subtle iridescent finish (shot with gold, silver, azure and sapphire), permeated with chypre & vanilla notes true to those of the mythical Vol de Nuit fragrance.A bulb atomiser ensures a light dispersing of the powder in a retro-chic way.
And what about the bottle? It reprises the wonderful, original retro bottle from 1933 with the fan of an airplane on front, but in shades of midnight blue, like the nightime skies in which the author of the homonymous novel, Antoine de Saint Exypéry, was forever lost.
When to expect? How much will it cost? Set to launch on Guerlain counters on 15th October of 2011 for the price 87 GBP, it's another thing to put up on your wishlist.

And of course there's another powder, this time a face powder, inspired by a legendary and defunct fragrance by Guerlain, Parure, called Parure d'Or, but this is not scented. It's only meant for cosmetic enhancement.

photos (click to enlarge) via natual & chic makeup blog and joeychong.wordpress.com