Tableau de Parfums Loretta: new fragrance by Tauer & Pera & draw

Loretta comes as the second chapter in the Tableau de Parfum series (introduced by Miriam) from the creative forces of Andy Tauer and Brian Pera (in perfumery and film-making respectively). In this ongoing collaboration, Pera and Tauer engage in a discourse about perfume, film, people and emotions. In addition to the fragrance line Tableau de Parfums, the collaboration involves a related film series called WOMAN'S PICTURE. As per Andy: "Sometimes, I create perfumes inspired by Brian's films; other times, Brian reflects on the scents that I create using his medium. Our goal is to explore the possibilities of both arts and their related effects on the imagination".

The fragrance Loretta was inspired by the world of a short film of the same name from the Woman's Picture film series. For the launch of the Loretta fragrance, Brian and Andy wanted to present their version of "perfume spots". We wanted to see how the moods and themes of Loretta, the fragrance and its companion short film, might be further interpreted within this condensed and recognizable format. Loretta Perfume Spots

Brian filmed three spots, which the duo hope to share with perfume lovers as the centerpieces of a DRAW.





 Brian Perra and Andy Tauer will personally present Loretta on October 19th at the Scentbar in Los Angeles (late afternoon, 7405 Beverly Blvd Los Angeles CA 90036).

 Availability and price
Loretta will be available by mid October on:
www.luckyscent.com
www.firstinfragrance.com
www.scentsandsensibility.com
www.marieantoinetteparis.fr
 It will retail in the US for 160 $ (50ml packaged with a DVD of the related short film, LORETTA) and 40$ (7ml travel size purse spray).

 By October 15, all three Loretta spots will be uploaded on Evelyn Avenue (www.evelynavenue.com/blog). We invite readers to rate and comment the videos, favorite to least favorite. Brian will draw three winners. The winners get a Tauer fragrance of her/his choice from the entire range of Tauer, a DVD of the first three stories in the Woman's Picture series, and the vintage-style poster for the Loretta fragrance!
 Timeline and conditions for the lucky draw The draw starts October 15 and ends October 25. The creators pick a winner from all comments, there are no restrictions. Brian and Andy will inform the lucky winners and Andy will ship the prizes from Switzerland.

New Perfume Book: Le Snob, Perfume

Don't let the seemingly elitist title deter you: Le Snob is a series of books on eclectic lifestyle little luxuries (whiskey, champagne and shoes...) and it so happens that perfume is the latest tome coming from none other than a friendly voice in the Internet, the man known to Net fumeheads as Persolaise, who's being wittily and successfully writing for the homonymous blog and for Basenotes.

 ‘A well-chosen scent can have a private conversation with its wearer for hours; it can punctuate the day with moments that range from moving to surprising to heart-breaking. The more we are able to understand the language in which perfume has this conversation with us, the better equipped we will be to discover and enjoy the experience of new fragrances.’

Thus was the book introduced to me by Dariush, politely and effortlessly, as befits his whole demeanor, who distilled his experience and his independent opinions in a slim volume out this October from the publishing house of Hardie Grant in the UK. To my understanding it's a guide into the most sought after fragrances, but also rich in advice on practical subjects such as storing fragrances correctly and learning about fragrance families and production techniques. Surely, a handy little tome like that that can serve as both a delightful distraction and as a helpful introduction into savoring perfume never comes out de trop.

 May you have heaps of sales, dear Dariush!

Puredistance Opardu Perfume Giveaway

You have read about the upcoming (gets released in November 2012) new scent from Puredistance, Opardu on these pages. The kind people at Puredistance were excited about the feedback of readers on these pages and decided to give away 35 luxe extrait de parfum samples to them.

 via innerearthsoaps.blogspot.com

Since the scent is both delightful and light, I decided to group these into 10 lucky packages and a mega-package for one lucky reader (who will receive a pack of 5 samples, a sufficient quantity to last them a while!). All you need to enter is leave a comment under this post, saying what appeals to you in retro-like compositions of modern design (and if you have a favorite in this style, do mention that too). Draw is open internationally till Friday midnight.

The winner of the draw...

...for the newest Lutens fragrance is Memento1981. Congratulations and please e-mail me using Contact  with your shipping details so I can have your prize out in the mail for you soon.

Thanks everyone for the enthusiastic participation and stay tuned for the next giveaway very very shortly! (actually in a few hours)

Serge Lutens Une Voix Noire: fragrance review & draw

The melancholic timbre of Billie Holiday's voice, the "black voice" behind the inspiration for Serge Lutens's latest Paris-exclusive perfume, is reverberating through the unusual paths of the fumes rising from the bell-jar bottle with its beautiful brownish, maroon almost, shade of juice inside. The waxy, thick petals of gardenia with their irresistible browning that is poised between sweet rot and carnal abandon have a way of capturing hearts like mine...and Billie's too, who wore one tucked beneath her ear as a trademark. But to designate just gardenia to Une Voix Noire would be doing it a disservice.

Guy Bourdin photo via thinmoonsugar.blogspot.com

Gardenia and tuberose are olfactory allies in crime. Both nocturnal creatures with creamy white blossoms which exude a kaleidoscope of weird and wondrous facets, from sharp greenness that recalls camphor, to blue cheese and mould, all the way to meat rotting in the heat to help attract various pollinators, they're fascinating flowers to cultivate in a warm climate that oozes with the dangerous atmosphere of a film noir. Lutens and his trusty perfumer Chris Sheldrake have been no strangers to tuberose's wiles thanks to Tubereuse Criminelle with its jarring contrast of rough edge against smooth silk.
But Une voix Noire is to gardenia a new take on the flower, less simplistic and more complex, with an abstract background that brings it closer to a Bois variation than a fleshy, photorealistic photo of the opulent flower with its blue cheese timbre that Tom Ford put in the forefront for his (now discontinued) Velvet Gardenia or the spring-like styralyl acetate greenness it exhibits in Lauder's life-like, budding Private Collection Tuberose Gardenia. The candied plumminess of the cedar & fruits base is certainly progeny of the Feminite du Bois school of mock dilettantes (posing as less serious than in reality) and the rich, satisfying, warmly honeyed core to be explored on further wearings would be most pleasurably received by those who have enjoyed Mary Greenwell's Plum, Botytris, Jar's Jardenia and -naturally- the rest of the Lutensian series of "woody" cedar & fruits melange fragrances.

The perfumer and the art director play in chiaroscuro with extreme grace in Une voix Noire, bringing on an opening tuberose-gardenia note that is fresh and real but dissipates fast into clean and metallic notes that ring like cold air in the stillness of the night. Smoky and indolic, almost animalic facets slowly reveal themselves, darkening the proceedings through a sweetish, leathery, tobacco and boozy (rum, according to the official notes) phase which creates an effect worthy of a blues singer velvety sighing her pain into hard vinyl.

Like Billie's voice, Une Voix Noire is indelible...lasting a lifetime and then some.



Une Voix Noire is a Paris-exclusive Lutens fragrance available as Eau de Parfum 75ml in the bell jar bottles.

For our readers, a generous decant of the new Une Voix Noire is available. Draw is open internationally till Friday 28th midnight. Just answer in the comments what "a black voice" conjures up for you to be eligible. Draw is now closed, thank you!

Related reading on Perfume Shrine: Serge Lutens news & fragrance reviews