The winner of the draw...

It is always exciting to host draws for readers on these pages, but this time was truly exceptional. Not only did people respond with comments piling up for the grey amber raw material grain I was giving away, but the emails I received with comments and questions on the fascinating subject were heart-warming, interesting to search upon and further giving me ideas for other exciting and unusual draws to be hosted on Perfume Shrine in the near future.

For now, without further ado, the lucky winner for the ambergris is Marianne. Congratulations! Please email me with your shipping data, using the Contact address, so I can have this out in the mail for you soon. Thanks everyone and till the next one!

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.