"I probably have around 50 [perfumes] at home, some I just like for the bottle, some I wear all the time": Gwyneth Paltrow Digs Fragrance (and Boss Nuit)

Gwyneth Paltrow, the celebrity face of the new Boss Nuit fragrance, shared during the Boss Nuit breakfast event that she has always been into scent; by the time she was 14 she was already addicted to Anaïs Anaïs, then graduated to Calyx and Coco by Chanel, and still remembers her mother's scent, the fresh jasmine Quadrille by Balenciaga. Now she says she "prefers something a little more complex". Hard to imagine something more complex than the original Coco which came out in the era of baroque orientals in the mid-1980s, but one has to throw a sales pitch when they're fronting a fragrance campaign, don't they!

via grazia.fr

Still Gwyneth comes across as pretty honest when she says that she does believe in a fragrance wardrobe: she doesn't only wear what she advertises, as claimed by other celebrities when promoting a specific fragrance. She also gives the reasons why she does keep a perfume collection, stating that the beauty of the bottle is enough for her to keep a few of those approximately 50 scents around and that with some others it's a "going steady" relationship. Her love for perfume has ben long, teaching her through the years the value of some perfume etiquette: Her daughter Apple "sprays herself head to toe, though I'm trying to teach her that less is more. Me, I just spray a little on my left arm, press it against my right arm, and then dab behind my ears."

Apart from a complete aversion to anything perfumed during both her pregnancies, when she says "I couldn't even stomach the smell of orange juice from across the room, let alone flowers or fragrance", Paltrow used to be the face of Estee Lauder Pleasures, following Elizabeth Harley and Carolyn Murphy, and of Pure White Linen and Sensuous by the same brand. Paltrow now goes for Boss Nuit by night, which she deems "feminine and alluring" (but appreciates that it feels "like an extra something, rather than a perfume pouring off me"), though she adds "that could be because of the branding - good job guys."

Read more about Gwyneth's beauty secrets on the Telegraph.

Toronto Fragrance Meet Up: Come Join the Aficionados on Sunday 10th March

Well it's that time of year again! As has now become a tradition, the “Nosey Bunch” of Toronto are having a gathering and snifferoo, and of course you're invited!
Come join the aficionados at the prestigious Guerlain boutique in Yorkville for an exclusive event - you will be greeted with familiar and new faces alike, white gloves and champagne, and of course, a selection of fragrances that showcase Guerlain's undeniable contribution to everything we know and love about perfume to this day.
If possible, please RSVP by either calling the boutique (details below), emailing me back, or lastly by posting a note in one of the forum threads (links below). Feel free to spread the word to those who might be interested…

Thanks, and I look forward to seeing you there!
Daniel

Date: SUNDAY March 10th, 2013
Location: Guerlain Boutique, 110 Bloor Street West, (416) 929 6114.
Valerie is the friendly store manager.
Time: 5-7pm, and feel free to come and go as you please.
To Bring: Yourself and significant others or friends/family that have an interest in fragrance and skin care, any industry books or magazines, etc.

And for those of you who didn’t catch the links last time, here are some pictures of the last meet-up: Jamie’s fantastic shots - https://www.flickr.com/photos/79426769@N04/sets/72157631153609582/with/7820938434/
A mix of Daniel's photos and other people’s - https://www.flickr.com/photos/85462024@N03/sets/72157631176743996/with/7831357266/

Ormonde Jayne Nawab of Oudh: fragrance review

I remember walking around an exhibition on Moghul India at the British Museum, resplendent in the opulence we associate with this particular region and time. The curlicued rupees bearing intricate names alongside triangular flags, ears of wheat and fishes were not strictly limited to Moghul rule, the curator explained; the Nawabs had seized control of their own regions by that time, issuing their own coins, but continuing to cajole the Mughal emperor by keeping his name on the currency. Similarly the latest India-inspired Ormonde Jayne fragrance, Nawab of Oudh, draws upon two different wells: the silk Banarasi saris of India, with their Moghul motifs and their heavy gold work, on one hand and the mystic Muslim tradition of roses and oud resin rising in the air from a censer at the mosques of Persia on the other.

Source: Uploaded by user via Melissa on Pinterest

Understandably, given those references, the perfume smells the way a metallic brocade looks: lush, rich, opulent, draped for elegance. But the artistry of perfumer Geza Schoen makes it modern and wearable too. Despite the by now tired trope of "oudh",  the note so often smelling more like a pack of Band-Aids than the exotic resin obtained by the pathological secretion of the Aquilaria tree when attacked by a fungus, there is none of that contemporary nonsense in Nawab of Oudh. There is a powdery, soft like cat's paws, ambery trail in the drydown, reminding me of Private Collection Amber Ylang (E.Lauder), which envelops the higher notes of green-citrusy brilliance into a cradle of plush. The distinction between phases (drawing upon the classical pyramid structure of perfumes) is here apparent, at least in a binary pattern: the introduction is distinctly separate from the prolonged (really impressively prolonged) phase of the drydown. In essence we have the interplay of raspiness and velvety softness, aided by the texture of the rose. Oud-laced roses have become a dime a dozen lately in niche perfumery, but I will withhold a place in my heart of Nawab of Oudh because it's so extraordinarily beautiful indeed.

And the name? How did it evolve and how does it unite those two worlds, India and the Middle East? Awadh or Oudh was a prosperous and thickly populated province of northern India (modern Uttar Pradesh), its very name meaning "capital of Lord Rama", the hero of the Ramayana epic. Its turmoiled history began with becoming an important province of the Mughal empire, soon establishing a hereditary polity under Mughal sovereignty; but as the power of the Mughals diminished, the province gained its independence. The opulence in the courts of the Nawabs (ruler kings of the Awadh, originating from a Persian adventurer called Sa'adat Khan) and their prosperity were noticed by the British East India Company, resulting in their direct interference in internal political matters, which reached its zenith in the eventual total loss of power by the Nawabs in 1856.

The official info on the scent by Ormonde Jayne runs thus: "Nawab (Ruler) of Oudh is a province of central India. Our perfume is inspired by the Nawabs who once ruled over it. It is a potent blend of amber and rose with a soft oudh edge. Yet surprisingly not one ingredient stands out from the others. It achieves a perfume synergy that defies traditional analysis, releasing a pulsating pungency, brooding and hauntingly beautiful, a rich tapestry of fascinating depths, a jewelled veil to conceal its emotional complexity and extravagance."

Notes for Nawab of Oudh:
Top: green notes, bergamot, orange absolute, cardamom, aldehyde.
Heart: rose, magnolia, orchid, pimento, bay, cinnamon, hedione.
Base: ambergris, musk, vetiver, labdanum, oudh.

Nawab of Oudh along with the rest of the "Four Corners of the Earth" collection by Ormonde Jayne, inspired by Linda Pilkington's travels, is exclusive to the London Ormonde Jayne boutiques at 12 The Royal Arcade and 192 Pavillion Road and at the Black Hall perfumery at Harrods.

Serge Lutens La Fille de Berlin: fragrance review

Much as Serge has always dwelled in the aesthetes of the 19th century, if there is one art movement of the 20th century which would reflect his innermost demons that would be German expressionism; the intensity of the play of light & shadow on the silver screen is a metaphor for the battle of good and evil. La Fille de Berlin, cool, powdery rose spiked with spices, and the latest Lutens fragrance in the canon, reflects the struggle of a soft feminine flower with the naughtiness of animalic winks; the two faces of Eve, which had fully prepared me to expect a Metropolis-rising Lang vision, real and artificial blurring. But I soon found out that Serge was influenced by Josef von Sternberg and his classic Der blaue Engel instead, not strictly in the genre but smack-down in the midst of it in 1930.

artwork by Alexey Kurbatov via artonfix.com

 

She's a rose with thorns, don't mess with her.
She's a girl who goes to extremes.
When she can, she soothes; and when she wants ... !
 Her fragrance lifts you higher, she rocks and shocks.
 ~Serge Lutens

German Expressionism never left us, really. The angular, shadowed architectural specimens encountered in places like New York City, reflected in the fantastical Gotham of the Batman series, and the numerous homages to emblematic leitmotifs of the movement, such as in the films of Burton, Proyas and -to a lesser degree- Allen, merely prove that the juxtaposition of light & shadow (a more schematic carry-over from the chiaroscuro of the Masters) is as relevant today as it ever was. After all, humans are a mix of the two, aren't they? More apropos, Serge Lutens might be making a cultural commentary of our times, right in the heart of the melting pot that is modern Europe: much as Siegfried Kracauer's study "From Caligari to Hitler" examines the trajectory from this strained, anguished cinema images of the Weimar Republik to Nazi Germany, today's world in crisis with the darkness prevailing in fashion & design might be a reflective prologue to an even darker, more sinister era. Respectable professors turning into ridiculed and despaired madmen, the light of the blond hair of Siegfried eclipsed.
Let's hope not, but it's a poignant and potent omen nevertheless.

The metallic opening in La Fille de Berlin fragrance predisposes for the treatment withheld for rose in Rive Gauche by Yves Saint Laurent; chilling and distant, as if hailing from the tundra. But give it a few minutes in the warmth of a Blue Angel's skin, hot off the beckoning performance on the stage, and it turns into the softest, velvety rose with a cardamom impression and the tartness of a hint of raspberry. But even warmer things hide in the background with an intimate and dirty musk and civet allusion (so very familiar in the Lutens opus) surfacing to wrap things in plush and sex.

Those who have found Sa Majeste la Rose too green-fruity for their tastes and his Rose de Nuit marvelously creuscular but too elusive, would find a good ally in La Fille de Berlin. I find it more feminine than shared, but if like Serge himself, oh gentle man you're of the "perfume is a celebration" frame of mind, you might want to try it out for yourself.

Poll: Worst Perfume Ever!

I haven't really had a ready post for today (well, not the way I like them to be) as I had my hands so full of things to do, but I wanted to draw your attention to a very very interesting discussion I came across on another board where people discuss the "worst perfume ever!". Apparently sacred monsters of our fragrant universe (such as the famous Tubereuse Criminelle by Lutens) and more expected controversial/polarising specimens (Womanity or Angel anyone?) are being mentioned. There are a few factual errors too, but it's nevertheless fascinating to see the responses of what appears to be average folks to our little hobby.

via mycnewsonline.blogspot.com

So an idea of a poll came to me: What do YOU consider the worst perfume? Which criteria do you apply to this judgment? And should we even assess something fragrant on an axiomatic scale like that? (after all, fragrance is conceived to smell rather nice, so "worst" becomes a subjective term)

Let's hear it in the comments section!