Jean-Francois Laporte: RIP

The founder of L'Artisan Parfumeur, one of the pioneer niche perfumery brands, and later the founder of his own name brand (Jean Laporte Paris) and Maître Parfumeur et Gantier (in 1989), is no longer with us. A great perfumer, an iconoclast, a visionary. May his spirit continue to live on in both companies remaining.
 

Dakota Fanning for Oh, Lola! by Marc Jacobs:

Designer Marc Jacobs flaunts his recent "Oh, Lola!" perfume, a flanker to his previous fragrance Lola as: "sensual", comparing the two: "More of a Lolita than a Lola". However the British Advertising Standards Authority had a differing opinion, after receiving "several complaints" from those who viewed the 17-year-old Twilight actress Dakota Fanning posing with an oversize bottle of the Marc Jacobs scent between her legs, and so they banned it on the grounds of it "sexualising children".

The Guardian reports that Coty, who makes the fragrance, doesn't have the same problems with the ads, because most readers of the magazines featuring the ads are 25 or older and the picture is no more racer than the other images hosted in those magazines.
This latest incident comes after the banning of Belle d'Opium by YSL ads which roused 13 complaints from people who claimed the commercial championed drug use (wow, 13 complaints, huh!!) and the banning of the "Fallen Angels" campaign for Axe deodorant (which is continued to be  broadcasted in my country almost every day)

What do you think about the Oh,Lola! ad: Trashy or Tasty?

Christian Dior Hypnotic Poison: the new commercial with Melanie Laurent

Mélanie Laurent is the new face for Dior's Hypnotic Poison perfume, after Monica Bellucci (who is currently advertising Swedish brand Oriflame skincare).
Directed by John Cameron Mitchel, the new Dior Hypnotic Poison commercial is set in the Louvre (witness the characters seen almost under the wings of the "Nike of Samothrace" , thus named after the island of Samothrace) with the two lovers following each other in at the Daru staircase and the room of Classic Greek Antiquities (You can see Artemis on the hunt for a split second). Hypnotic Poison is a classic, we get it. The commercial...hmmm, not so much. Not bad, but it takes a bit more to compete with Parian marble.



According to the Dior site, Hypnotic Poison mingles "Four contrasting facets – intoxicating bitter almond and carvi, opulent Sambac jasmine, mysterious Jacarandra and sensuous vanilla and musk– make for a compelling, bewitching fragrance fusion. Intoxicating and extravagant".

House of Sillage & their Tiara fragrance: new niche outfit

House of Sillage, a luxury parfumerie, launched its premier fragrance, Tiara, a complex blend of citrus (Calabrian green tangerine), florals (Bulgarian rose oil) and Madagascar vanilla with musk in a bottle shaped like a...tiara. The promise is of "an evocative scent that is further transformed by each woman wearing it" and is developed by Francis Camail.
The company is based in California, started by Nicole Mather, but the bottle and juice are developed in France. The commercial teaser on the site looks 100% American, I have to say.

But...brace yourselves... Tiara is a limited edition that goes for 1,200$ for 75ml of extrait de parfum in a bejewled presentation. The company leaves the window open for more fragrances to be launched soon, though.

More info: www.houseofsillage.com.

JoAnne Bassett Enchant Parfum: a Brave New Scent review

When autumn and winter weather takes its toll, there is a not so perverse pleasure into getting out the lush florals and the green scents from behind the screen and the books, and in pretending it's late spring all over again. In that frame of mind I spent this past weekend re-testing Enchant Parfum by all-naturals artisanal perfumer JoAnne Bassett.

Enchant was part of the Brave New Scents Project of the Natural Perfumers Guild, which we tackled here on Perfume Shrine a while ago. The perfumer claims to have composed this in a sort of epiphany, or rather "the poetry guided me into what to choose" (A.Huxley was the inspiration behind the project), but I think composing a fragrance with such contrasting notes takes more than just random luck. The happy scent of Enchant reminds me of JoAnne's favourite quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson: “ Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself. ”. It's no wonder she's residing at Cardiff by the Sea in California. The sunny skies and the lush surroundings around her can't but inspire an embracement of nature, even as she focuses on French-inspired scents with accompanying names recently, like Versailles, Madame Pompadour, Petit Trianon, Marie Antoinette, Josephine, Napoleon and Malmaison...

Enchant is full of zesty aromas, natural lavender with its camphoraceous top note, very lush rose and jasmine on a bed of hypnotic florals. It oscillates between a sweetish, liqueur-like character (thanks to both rose and davana) and woody camphor, which makes it...well, interesting! It's difficult to classify conventionaly, as I smell both herbal/aromatic and floriental elements in it at the same time; it's quite complex, though it's clear we're talking about a unified composition, not a thing that breaks apart on the blotter within minutes (the bane of several artisanal perfumes). Like I said, I get mostly the camphoraceous-spicy scents (basil, lavender, patchouli), the woody murky (lots of vetiver to my nose) and the floral (lots of rose coupling with pink pepper that compliments it, champaca which is sweeter and jasmine which is extra sweet). This collage gives an uplifting effect, optimistic, and I admit that I didn't expect lavender to give me such apositive reaction: usually I find it either too fake (more vanilla than lavender, as in many functional products or "soothing" products) or straight-out medicinal out of the straight essential oils aromatherapy shelf. Here it's neither, hallelujah!
JoAnne talks a lot about how she gave a spiritual twist by choosing the oils and essences that go into it, but I find Enchant Parfum smells good no matter if you're into getting yourself in a pretzel-shape and humming Ommmm as your mantra or not; it just works!

Enchant is parfum concentration (36% compound) and it shows in its projection and tenacity. The photo on top depicts a limited edition crystal blown flacon for the parfum; I absolutely adore this photo taken by JoAnne Bassett herself and the presentation (notice those tiny bubbles)!

Notes for Enchant Parfum by JoAnne Bassett:
Rose de Mai absolute – the May Rose, expensive and rare oud or agarwood, sandalwood, exotic and costly osmanthus, sacred champaca and holy basil, yuzu, orange esences, butter co2, musky ambrette seed, davana, pink pepper tree, and high altitude lavender, the green note of galbanum, sensual jasmine auriculatum, copaiba balsam, vanilla tincture, and the dark and rich ruh khus vetiver, and dark patchouli in an organic jojoba oil base.

According to the perfumer, the oils that correspond to the Huxley quote are:

I want God: holy basil, oud, champaca,
I want poetry: osmanthus,
I want danger: vetiver, patchouli,
I want freedom: orange essences, yuzu,
I want goodness: rose, jasmine,
I want sin: ambrette seed
  
For more info, please visit the JoAnne Bassett site. 
You can also visit her blogs: Aromatic Journeys and JoAnne Bassett

Top photo by JoAnne Bassett, used with permission. Bottom photo by Margot Carrera