Tableau de Parfums Loretta: fragrance review & draw

You might have heard that Loretta, the newest fragrant baby arising from the collaboration of perfumer Andy Tauer & film-maker Brian Pera, is a tuberose-centered floral; and yet smelling it you realize that on face value it's inscrutable. This tuberose, although natural and vibrant, resembles nothing of the moth love & hate relationship of tuberoses of reference (like Tubereuse Criminelle by Lutens or Carnal Flower by F.Malle) with the exception of Piguet's Fracas. You have to smell it to believe it, because we're dealing with an atypical example, much like its creator is an atypical perfumer who has deservedly gained a cult status.

The enigmatic scent: a tuberose unlike any other

Like Fracas (and yet also unlike it) Loretta is built on a white flowers given a resolutely candied, fruity veneer that is creamy, and Tauer embraces that note with lactonic woods that remind me of some modern version of sandalwood, with the liquor like tonalities of rose that Andy likes so, plus a touch of cardamom or nutmeg. The olfactory impression of this candied, fruity floralcy is the synergy of the banana note in ylang ylang with treacly and very diffusive orange blossom along with a grape and berries touch (methyl anthranilate, the thing that made L'Heure Bleue and Narcisse Noir so compelling); this gives a sweet, rotting flesh mystery that is tantalizing in a perfume.
This peculiar combination personally reminds me of the tuberose hiding inside the heart of Dior's original Poison from the 1980s: the "monster" inside is nothing compared to the buttressing via an overdose of musks and woods and yes, grape and berry notes. The composition is more than its description and somewhat less too, a cipher. Which nicely brings us full circle to Loretta, as this Rubik's Cube is built upon a succession of complimentary notes that defuse each other into unison. This isn't just random but relies on careful, painstaking attention from the perfumer; the common thread between grape and berry is the component also present in tuberose and ylang ylang essences.
Although the official notes mention aldehydes, the effect here is unlike classics of the genre and serves rather as the building block of a Schiff's base (A perfumer's "tool", with some technical challenges built in as well). In plain English, don't expect a sparkling, citrusy, soapy-smelling or metallic Chanel No.5, YSL Rive Gauche or Madame Rochas nuance here; Loretta is in a class of its own.

Comparison with Miriam 

Contrary to Tableau de Parfums Miriam, with its retro soapy, aldehydic halo ~to correspond with the silvery sheen of the protagonist Anne Magnuson, and her reticent, elegant aura~ the Loretta fragrance is a young and contemporary creature, a cleaning lady with sexual fantasies enacted behind closed doors; we're talking about a cleaning lady with a supreme taste in perfume, apparently! Loretta is hard to miss (it radiates and lasts very well, like all Tauer perfumes) and very difficult not to fall in love with, even for tuberose phobics.



The where, the how, the when, the how much

Tableau de Parfums is an ongoing collaboration between Tauer and filmmaker Brian Pera and Loretta is its latest installment, after the Miriam fragrance. The Tableau perfumes are portraits inspired by the shorts of Pera’s ongoing film series, Woman’s Picture (You can find out everything about the whole thing on www.evelynavenue.com).

The Loretta fragrance includes fragrant notes of tuberose absolute, aldehydes, rose absolute, orange blossom and woods.

For those in LA, the Scent Bar will be holding a launch party for the fragrance for the official launch on October 19th.
Loretta in the Tableau de Parfums series will be available in 50 ml Eau de Parfum concentration, packaged with a DVD and film poster ($160) or in a 7 ml Travel spray ($40) at evelynavenue.com and select stockists.

 Andy below presents Loretta in the Pitti exhibition in Florence via the Basenotes/Youtube.

 

You can also peek at an older interview of Tauer and Pera on FragranceScout.

For our readers, I have 5 deluxe samples of the new Loretta perfume to give away. Just enter a comment and you're eligible. Draw is open till Monday Oct 15th midnight. Draw is now closed, thank you for participating!

 In the interests of disclosure I was sent samples for the giveaway by the perfumer himself

Christopher Dicas Eau de Parfum & Christoper Dicas 69: new fragrances

It's always nice to hear about fledging entrepreneurs in the universe of perfume, but it becomes even better when there's a common thread. I was approached by Christopher Dicas, who is an actor/ performer with a new perfume line that promises to be modern and full of deep smelling ingredients that we don't often come across in mainstream fragrances. Two fragrances are just out, though I haven't experienced them yet: Christopher Dicas Eau de Parfum and Christopher Dicas 69. Apparently he's collaborating with the German fragrance development NWA Group for the manufacturing of his fragrances and you have to give it to him: he saw an emerging market, which is insightful for an actor and student of psychology, as per his bio, to say the least.

Christopher Dicas Eau de Parfum, his first effort in the arena of perfume launches, "combines excellent, valuable ingredients in an innovative new succession".
Top Notes:  A bouquet of exotic, sensual notes such as basil Thai, French lavender, wormwood, sage, bamboo, magnolia and Cretan iris open the escence with a complex, spicy, simultaneous cool and sweet feeling.
Middle Notes: The multifaceted and complex heart of the fragrance is based on rare and exotic wood essences and flowers. Grapefruit, ginger, cedarwood atlas and sandalwood come alive with a touch of cardamom, and then wrapped by the intoxicating notes of jasmine and cloves, accompanied with mastic. Mastic is a highly aromatic compound, cultivated on southern Chios island, known for its beneficial effects but also for its sweet, rich aroma.
Base notes:   Pure essential oils, extracted directly from raw materials of better quality, such as tobacco, oak moss and dapne leaves, mixed with a touch of soft leather, and cashmere. Then, two ingredients complete the base: patchouli vieux, a fine essential oil aged for over five years in oak barrels until it develops a rich, velvety personality and sensual musk, which is manufactured by experienced craftsmen in Egypt from natural ingredients and is considered the best musk in the world". 

Christopher Dicas, is inspired of the world of fairy tales,. He wants to offer a fragrance that neutralizes the venom of the gray daily routine and offer the elixir of elegance.

 The second perfume is called Christopher Dicas 69 :

"Christopher DiCas synthesizes and presents his second perfume, that is made ​​from organic materials, in collaboration with the group NWA Cosmetics. The name of this? 69 ..
This irresistible elixir of passion was inspired by the Arabian Nights.The tantalizing hints of citrus (fresh bergamot, tangerine velvet, crisp bergamot) combined with the sensual blending of white lily of valley , amber rose, vanilla, cinnamon and sunflower at the top of the fragrance wake fiery passions ... The seductive jasmine with exotic musk mix the unique personality and pride in black suede leather, resin elemi, sandalwood, clove, cardamom, bay leaves and tonka seeds in the heart of the fragrance. At the base of the scent the majestic patchouli adds a feeling of seduction. Exotic wood essential oils and spices as cedar, oak moss, cashmere wood, and ginger complete the mix.Then the essential oil of wild quince gives the final touch of giving the mixture to its final form. Τhis scent is classified as sweet as the taste of love when the two sexes combine in one!"

Discover more info on the official site.

Reveling in Hay

Today is probably the first cool day of autumn. Not exactly cool, mind you, we're under partially sunny skies and it's just crisp in the morning and evening, but warm at noon, but you know what that means for a perfumista; sorting out the winter wardrobe of fragrances, making room at the front of the perfume closet for the cozier, warmer, sexier scents to rotate when the mood strikes for a little mulled wine in the evening to replace the chilled sangria and a light mohair cardigan over the summery strappy tops.

So what did I choose, perfume-wise? Chergui by Serge Lutens. A fragrance steeped in the warm brushstrokes of hay absolute; mollifying the ennui of daily chores, caressing instead of highly stung, reassuring, comforting like a pair of trusty flannel slippers after a long walk home in stiff stilettos, or a roll in the hay with someone you know since childhood.

Hay is a glorious aroma in a fragrance and I'd love to hear your favorite perfumes with a hay note in the comments. Let's get inspired for the cooler season ahead!

pic of Jane Russell from the Outlaw via arizonaslittlehollywood.blogspot.com

Parfums Weil Chunga: fragrance review & history

To understand the demise of Chunga is to realize that it is truly unmarketable in today's world: For a feminine perfume it flunks the test of being traditionally pretty or particularly becoming, demanding too much out of its wearer in both intelligence and attitude (After all it was advertised with the slogan "for women who want the world"). For a masculine (and men would be wise to try it if they can get their hands on some) it is an alien thing, being neither fresh -as is the majority of aquatic and aromatic fougeres around-, nor sexy -as are the orientalized woodies with succulent tonka and lots of sweet amber in the base. Maybe only Philip K. Dick replicas can wear Chunga by Weil right now, aside from dedicated perfumistas that is, which misses marketability points big time. But it's a shame, I can tell you that, because Chunga is a great fragrance coming from a great perfume house, the Weil fourruriers. (champions of the parfum fourrure notion)

The name comes from Micaela Flores Amaya, a Romani-born flamenco dancer known as "La Chunga" which translates as "the difficult woman"...and indeed the fragrance is somewhat "difficult" alright.
Introduced in 1977, Chunga comes in a string of great chypres with green elements and aldehydes that are elegantly assertive and resolutely determined: Chanel No.19, Lauder's Knowing, Coriandre by Jean Couturier, the first Jean Louis Scherrer fragrance. And thus lovers of the afore-mentioned perfumes are advised to seek out some Chunga for their collection.
In the print advertisements Chunga was targeting literally every woman and that included all races and all skin colors. A pioneering thought for a traditional French house! "Comme un nouvel horizon"...like a new horizon, which marked a new interest in encompassing more ethnicities in the game of perfume, reaping the benefits of feminine emancipation alongside the "black power" that emerged in the 1970s. Another set of print ads is tagged "et la fete commence" (i.e. and the celebration begins), showing a more typical couple in black tie in the midst of some dancing move, a more or less expected extension of perfume as a fashion accessory for a night out.

The olfactory structure of Chunga unfolds like a secret drawer within a drawer: The opening is aggressive, with its citric tang of bergamot and lemony tones sparkling like marble, with the particularly sharp incision of a scalpel, shiny and new and you think that it will remain arid and bitter and gloriously ingestible till the end, until the tables are turned and a second stage emerges. The base of Weil's Chunga is redolent of powdery amber, vetiver and a slightly urinous, honeyed, sweetish musky note that is quite retro; a throwback to days when bodies weren't deodorized to within an inch of their lives and hairy regions were much hairier than recent memory...on both sexes, that is.
The comparison with Weil's more popular and well-known, still-circulating-in-some-version-or-other Antilope perfume is not without its own value: Whereas Antilope is lady-like and more properly floral and feminine in the heart notes, Chunga like its name is butcher, more incisive, with elements that translate as more masculine or sharper. My own bottle is marked Parfum de Toilette, which nicely puts in it the early 1980s.

Chunga was the last fragrance issued by the house in Weil in 1977 and has since become a discontinued rarity. For those with an interest in chronicling the arc of the green, aldehydic, perfume-y chypre, it's incomparable and worth the investment.

Notes for Weil Chunga: aldehydes, bergamot, lemon, peach, clove, jasmine, lily of the valley, linden blossom, orris, ylang-ylang, amber, honey, Tonka bean, vanilla, vetiver, musk 

 pics via hprints.com, museodelparfum.com and punmiris.com

The winners of the draw...

...for the Puredistance samples are Flavourfanatic, Norma, tomatefarcie, Qwendy, Lia Lias, Kate, Amarie121, Margaret D., Dani aalfs and BarbaraC.

Congratulations and please email me using Contact with your shipping data so I can get your prize out in the mail for you.
Thanks everyone for the enthusiastic participation and till the next one!