Oscar de la Renta Live in Love: new fragrance

The new fragrance for women created by a man who adores them. A young themed green floral. Illustrations by David Downton. Apparently, for the print campaign, Oscar wanted to take a different approach to some of the fragrance advertising he was seeing in the market. I think it works.



via oscardelarenta.com

Hermes Santal Massoia: new fragrance in the Hermessence line

Tenth fragrance from the Hermessence collection, Santal Massoïa belongs to one of these famous "poèmes-parfums" of the brand. The bottle, with its piqué sellier leather case, refined as usual, and containing woody scents, will be exclusively available from November 11th in Hermès boutiques.
The new Hermessence, composed by in-house perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena, will reprise a favourite wood essence, sandalwood: the challenge being in exploiting a material that is prized through its Mysore variety inclusion in classic perfume tradition, but now in short order due to shortages in its procurement. Therefore Jean-Claude is going to offer his specific vision, especially since it's allied in name to massoia oil, another prized aroma material: Massoia bark of Cryptocaria massoia gives an alkyl lactone (lactones are milky-smelling substances) which would naturally provide the lactic element of natural sandalwood. Massoia lactone (possessing a coconut-like, green and creamy scent) interestingly can also be found in molasses, cured tobacco and the essential oil of osmanthus fragrans, which presents intriguing hypotheses into how Ellena might weave in floral notes into what would otherwise be a woody composition. After all, he did a similar conjurer's trick with his salicylates & ylang-ylang laced Vanille Galante and also in Iris Ukiyoe with its holographic of the iris flower rather than the rhizome.In Santal Massoia Jean-Claude Ellena is quoted as wanting to evoke "what is beneath the air", and to that end he interweaves an airy fig note amongst the woody ones: fresh, rather more than creamy smelling. 

Even more interestingly, Hermès is also just now offering their own version of the "Monclin" fragrance testing "cup", using a white ceramic device that allows fragrance testing that unlocks some of the hidden aspects of the fragrances that would otherwise need full body testing to evolve.

Related reading on PerfumeShrine: Aroma material: Sandalwood (Mysore & Australian) & synthetic substitutes, Hermessences, Hermes news & reviews

photo via wadmag.com

Nina Ricci L'Air du Temps: Fragrance Review & History of a True Classic

Reflecting on a classic fragrance which has inspired me into delving deeper into perfume history and appreciation, I can’t disregard L’Air du Temps by Nina Ricci, one of the most recognizable perfumes in the world. Even Hannibal Lecter is quoted smelling it on Clarisse Starling in Silence of the Lambs: “You use Evian skin products and sometimes L’Air du Temps… but not today...”.
Despite any foreboding connotations, the perfume's introduction in 1948 under a name halfway between Marivaux and Cocteau (denoting ‘the spirit of the times’) hallmarked a longed-for return to optimism. Much like Miss Dior was ‘tired of letting off bombs and just wanted to let off fireworks’, L’Air du Temps presented the new found hope for peace after the ravages of WWII, as reflected by the original flacon design of a sun with a dove perched on the stopper by Christian Bérard.

 Iconic Design and Symbolism


L'Air du Temps is a triumph of bottle art and symbolism: The intertwining doves affectionately termed ‘Les Colombes’, a romantic theme by Marc Lalique, originates from 1951 and came to denote the virginal quality of the visual aspects of its representation, perpetuated in its advertising ever since. Originally the 1948 design envisioned by Jean Rebull and materialized by crystallier Marc Lalique involved a rising sun surmounted by a single dove. The interwining doves however marked the "kiss and make up" peace mood after WWII.
The "colombes" kissing motif also reflected the ever feminine, always understated and ethereallly romantic Nina Ricci sartorial fashions; nothing vulgar! The perfume became signage for fashions: "The most romantic gift of fragrance a man can give a woman" came to be accompanied by elfish gowns that draped the female form in a slippery, ethereal, 19th-century-aesthete nostalgic way; lacy ivory and white denoting youthful and -a little faded- aristocracy rusticating in the sunny French countryside.The L'Air du temps advertising mostly matched.
In 1999 the L'Air du Temps flacon was named "perfume bottle of the century".

Scent Description
The formula of L'Air du Temps, composed by Francis Fabron, was simple : no more than 30 ingredients which co-exist in harmony, a chaste -but not quite- bouquet of flowers enrobed into the silken sheath of benzyl salicylate; a massive dose of an –at the time- innovative product aiding the blending and linear evaporation of the other molecules. According to perfumer Bernard Chant “‘[benzyl salicylate] produces a diffusing, blooming effect very pleasing to the public”. Coupled with spicy eugenol and isoeugenol, the effect becomes almost carnation-like with its clove tint : the very heart of L’Air du Temps ! The celestial opening of bergamot and rosewood is undermined by the sensuous note, half-lily, half-carnation, suave with the fuzziness of skin-like peach and a green hint of gardenia. Powdery orris, coupled with dusky woods –poised at the intersection of winter falling into spring- and a faint amber note finish off the fragrance. The effect is peachy-carnation-y and very characteristic: a sort of Doris Day, the way she was, rather staunchy actually, active and hard to eradicate, rather than how she appeared to be in those rom-coms of the 1950s, all mock innocence and eyelashes aflutter.

The success of the classic Nina Ricci fragrance seems to be the sassiness of its aerated, distinctive bouquet coupled with its refined classicism, sometimes maxed out to sentimentality : an aspect which prompted critic Luca Turin to joke it was created for romantics “who shed a tear listening to La Sonate au Clair de Lune*”. Maybe not quite that way, considering how the latter might have been an impromptu requiem on someone’s deathbed. At any rate, the trickle-down effect must speak of the need to do just that: the skeleton of the formula has been imitated in various soaps, deodorants and hairsprays for decades, while in itself L’Air du Temps has influenced many other fragrances from Fidji (Guy Laroche) and Madame Rochas to Anaïs Anaïs (Cacharel).

 Comparing Vintage vs. Modern L'Air du Temps Perfume

Nowadays the suaveness of the original formula has been somewhat compromised, due to necessary surgery dictated by allergens concerns… The peach base is mollified into synthetic submission, the carnation is less spicy and rich than before, the whole excellent exercise seems less itself as if it has been Botoxed into a perpetual complacent smile....yet L’Air du Temps is still instantly recognizable in its sillage, the trail left by the many that pass by wearing it : the mark of a true classic !
The bottle design can be a gauge of age: Vintage Eau de Toilette from the 1970s and 1980s circulates in the amphora-like bottle with the gold cap in splash, while spray bottles are long and encased in white bakelite. If the front of the bottle has the doves in relief and the plastic cap is rounded and in relief as well, your specimen comes from the 1990s.

The vintage parfum is in the characteristic Lalique design with the perched doves atop. Old models of diluted concentration can also be in ribbed sprayers with gold overimposed sprayer mechanisms in squarish design. Really old versions can be in a round flask bottle with a boule cap in splash form.
Modern  eau de toilette on the contrary is in the familiar fluted oval-shaped bottle, reprising the dove design on the top in transparent plastic, the cap going over the sprayer mechanism. 

(*) Piano sonata N°14 by L.van Beethoven

This review is based on a text I had previously composed for Osmoz.com

Chanel No.5 Bath Oil: Inspiring the Aspirational & History of No.5 Bath Oils

When the times are tough a little pampering goes a long way. But it also proves to be a wise marketing strategy with a purpose. French fashion house Chanel is enticing online purchasing and emphasizing its exclusivity with a limited-edition Chanel No. 5 Bath Oil and limited-time free shipping on its Web site. Chanel is no stranger to upping the aspirational factor, or even obscuring a few of the less than nice aspects of its history, in order to create buzz. In Tilar Mazeo's book these are plenty evident.

But today's world rolls on word of pixel, rather than just word of mouth ~or even aesthetically glorious advertising. Indeed the new bath product is advertised by just its bottle, with newsletters announcing it in bold typeface of white on black background. Very Chanel!

This current strategy has even inspired Luxury Daily to comment that "Chanel may be aiming for younger consumers by connecting with them on a channel where they usually are found. The brand could also be trying to connect with consumers who may not be able to afford luxury products now, but may be able to in the future. The younger aspirational consumer is a market that many luxury brands are trying to hit, most notably through online marketing".

“With the introduction of the No. 5 essential bath oils and all the hype around the product being labeled ‘heavenly’ by fashionistas everywhere, this is a great way to get a younger demographic onto the Chanel ecommerce site,” according to Tania Doub, retail strategy lead for Optaros, Boston, as quoted by the journalist.

For those who are wondering about the new formulation of the iconic Chanel No.5 feedback is positive. Chanel is no stranger to luxurious and silky body products. Indeed it was some years ago at the advent of the millenium when they last issued a specific  bath oil with the tag Chanel No.5 Huiles Essentiels pour Le Bain (Technically not 100% accurate; this was a three-phase product with segments floating on on top of the other which you had to shake in order to mix and pour, as you can see on the picture on the right. It made for fantastic displays on bathroom shelves, I can tell you! Plus it smelled like a softer, still musky, but much less aldehydic version of the scent of No.5, which is enticing enough for both those who can't stomach the aldehydic load and those who just flat out love the classic fragrance).
Chanel also produced a regular Bath Oil in the No.5 line as far back as 1966, advertised with the face and body of Ali MacGraw in memorable ads circulating in the UK.

But that's not just it!

The Bath Oil was produced prior to 1966 (and the subsequent 1971 campaign) still: Older advertisements from 1963 suggest "now bathe in Chanel", with just a sketch of a young agile woman putting her hair up in order to enter a bathtub filled with foamy water containing scented bath oil.

And two years later the formula becomes an After-Bath Oil Spray, thus providing a non-alcoholic version of the iconic perfume for fans to enjoy, at a reduced price and a more practical edition.


The new Chanel No.5 Intense Bath Oil formulation follows into the steps of the older one, providing either a stand-alone fragrancing product (as suggested by its intense moniker or to accompany Eau Premiere (with which it would amorously couple) or alternatively under any of the versions of the classic Chanel No.5 for loyal fans.

vintage ads via http://www.advertisingarchives.co.uk. Click to enlarge.

Brave New Scents

O wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world! That has such people in it!
~ Miranda in Shakespeare's “The Tempest”, Act V, Scene I

I want God, I want poetry,
I want danger, I want freedom,
I want goodness, I want sin.
~Aldous Huxley

The time has come again for a collective project uniting several perfumers and bloggers, who will explore new horizons in their quest for accomplished fragrances through innovative natural means.
In the Brave New Scents project, the Natural Perfumers Guild are likened to the members of Huxley’s novel. Like the starring characters in the novel, these brave new perfumers go against the grain and out of bounds, thwarting the ever-expanding regulatory nanny state in order to showcase aromatic extraction feats and use 21st Century aromatics that are not necessarily condoned in mainstream perfume society. Some of the brave new perfumers throw convention to the wind and blend perfumes that showcase their skill extracting scent from previously non-commercial plants, flowers, and substances. Others use the palette of newly-available essential oils, concretes, absolutes and CO2 aromatics; sometimes blending in their own artisan extractions, be they infusions, tinctures or distillations.

The Guild perfumers were provided with an extensive list of 100+ 21st Century aromatics, which was compiled by Guild President Anya McCoy and Guild Manager Elise Pearlstine. They recognized that before the year 2000, most artisan perfumers purchased their natural aromatics from aromatherapy suppliers. These suppliers did not carry many absolutes, and some aromatics available to the mainstream perfumers were not known, or available, to them. Suppliers for mainstream perfume houses did not carry many, if any, aromatics from India, such as jasmine sambac, lotus, champaca and other tropical scents.
Now a bounty of newly-available delightful absolutes such as aglaia flower, boronia, ambergris and many more are at their disposal. Newly-conceptualized and extracted aromatic wonders such as lilac flower and the amazing world of CO2 and SCO2 extractions are now available to the fragrance industry. Also included are the hand-extracted fragrant bounties from the gardens of the perfumers themselves, such as peony enfleurage, Grand Duke of Tuscany jasmine sambac enfleurage, and a myriad of distillations and tinctures. To make it interesting, the perfumers were allowed only one “wildcard” aromatic from the era preceding the year 2000.

The participating perfumers are:
Anya McCoy of Anya’s Garden Perfumes (Project Coordinator & Natural Perfumers Guild President)
Adam Gottschalk of Lord's Jester
Ambrosia Jones of Perfume By Nature
Charna Ethier of Providence Perfume Company
Christi Meshell of House of Matriarch
Elise Pearlstine of Belly Flowers Botanical Perfumes
Jane Cate of A Wing and a Prayer Perfumes
JoAnne Bassett
Liz Cook of One Seed
Rohanna Goodwin Smith of  Ascent Natural Perfumes

**Please visit Anya’s Garden Perfumes for a chance to win a bottle of Sweet Water or Wild Rose!**

The participating bloggers are:
All I Am – a redhead
Ça Fleure Bon (Several writers)
Donna Hathaway at the Examiner
Feminine Things
The Perfume Critic
Perfume Shrine

Expect to see giveaways and reviews on these pages soon!