Les Parfums de Rosine Vive La Mariee: fragrance review & samples draw

Les Parfums de Rosine isn't removed from the romantic notion of fragrance as a pleasure, a smile, a memento to accompany the most beautiful moments of one's life. So there was nice building up for their wedding fragrance, the newly launched Vive la Mariée (long live the bride), without resorting to histrionics; the launch was discreet and the promises complied to the image we have of Les Parfums de Rosine.
In the immortal words of the Fiona character in Four Weddings and a Funeral to describe the love interest of the main protagonist, bride-to-be, Carrie (turns out, "to be and to divorce" and then "to love and not to be"): "Used to work at Vogue. Lives in America now. Only gets out with very glamorous people. Quite out of your league."
There is just something traditionally chic, even expected, about Les Parfums de Rosine and Vive la Mariée is no exception.

wedding dress by Christian Dior 1948 via hprints.com

Vive la Mariée smells translatable as feminine right away, the equivalent of tender décolletage heaving with the emotion of the moment, conforming to the notion of a woman on the happiest day of her life. It's rather easy to accept this warm, peachy-rosy vibe which recalls the best-selling accord popularized by Lancome's Trésor in the 1990s. Marie-Hélène Rogeon, head of Les Parfums de Rosine, who put rose in the heart of the line as the surest sign of femininity and grace, envisioned a soft, gently powdery, clean yet quite musky, heaving fragrance that would lend itself to the day but also to the days to follow. Whether you're going to like this balanced fruity floral fragrance (graciously done with one lump of sugar, not two) depends on your associations with this hugging (and huggable) "accord" that takes with it a hint of retro cosmetics' violet nuance.

Perfumer Benoit Lapouza (best known for his Fan di Fendi editions and Si Lolita for Lempicka, but artistically vindicated on ICONofly's art project Attache-Moi) folded fruity notes (of which they mention lychee and peach) into the clean brilliance of orange blossom and the detectable floral note of rose, garlanded by accent notes that act the way a beautiful flower arrangement compliments the blush on a woman's cheek. It's young, but not too young, if you know what I mean. The character of the scent is lightly sweet, even if a gourmand scent fantasy of praline, choux pastries and whipped cream is evoked in the press material; and that's a good thing (contrary to -say- Repetto Eau de Toilette with its misleading ad copy)

If past collaborations are any indication, Rogeon had previously entrusted Lapouza with Glam Rose in 2011. The parallels with this new fragrance aren't as far fetched as imagined, the two sharing a generosity of past glamor and emotional directness. The eau de parfum concentration is quite tenacious, providing a rich experience, but without risk of suffocating those who will come in the perimeter of a kiss.

For our readers, two samples of the new pefume will be given away. Draw is open internationally till Thursday midnight. Please leave a comment to enter the draw.

Scent on Canvas Brun Sicilien: fragrance review

Brun Sicilien is brown only in the context of southern landscapes of sienna tiles or nubuck saddles on horses riding into the wilderness: the fragrance by new niche perfume line Scent on Canvas is sunny and free-spirited, with a resinous underlay, cinnamic facets surfacing on the ripe citrus rind of mandarin. The cunning relies on not building on a classic Italian cologne, but offering instead exactly the end of the spectrum of the citrusy notes where they lose their mouthwatering tanginess and retain a bitterish quality, coupled with a leathery note that cuts through the heat, in the same way that leathery scents (such as Etro Gomma or Knize Ten) are incisive. Although the composition of Brun Sicilien is not tightly clustered, allowing for the aromatic and white floral components to peek through, one would be hard pressed to call it merely “refreshing,” also thanks to its mysterious and sensual afterglow; it embodies much more of the mystery and boiling passions of the Mediterranean to be just that. Perfumer Alexandra Kosinski presented the composition to Beatrice Aguilar and she in turn thought of “riding along the unexpected roads of life.”

via designyoucantrust.com

Leather scents are an acquired taste and their individuality and quirkiness needs a bit of practice. In that context Brun Sicilien is not the easiest, being a true leather, instead of a orientalized ersatz suede smothered in vanilla and woods, but its wearability is superior than most and instantly appreciated by those coming into contact with it, as my personal experiments proved. Coming in an extrait de parfum concentration was a welcome surprise: the tenacity and smooth projection are sublime.

via toutlecine.com

The new niche collection "Scent on Canvas" so far includes five perfumes created by an eclectic mix of perfumers: Jórdi Fernandez (for Rose Opera and Noir de Mars), Shyamala Maisondieu (Ocre Dore), Alexandra Kosinski (Brun Sicilien) and the founder, Beatrice Aguilar herself (Blanc de Paris). The collection spans five fragrance genres with nuanced olfactory work within them: the starchy, woody musk, a predetermined crowd-pleaser (Blanc de Paris); the dark musty-mossy with guts (Noir de Mars); the mysterious, coppery woody (Ocre Dore); the rosy floral with mysterious, spicy-suede tonalities (Rose Opera) and the complex hesperidic-leathery (Brun Sicilien). Each fragrance is accompanied by a painting by a well-known painter who is inspired by the aromatics in the composition, then the painting is turned into an engraving which is used for the packaging of the fragrance: the inside of the box holds the engraving ready to be framed and hung on your walls.

Notes for Brun Sicilien by Scent on Canvas:
Top: white flowers, jasmine, Sicilian mandarin
Heart: gaucho leather, cardamom, black pepper, suede
Base: amber, birch, Indonesian patchouli, Madagascar vanilla

The perfumes are priced at 130 Euros for 100 ml of perfume/eau de parfum (only Blanc de Paris is an Eau de Parfum by design, the rest are extrait de parfum). A great value sample pack of all 5 scents is offered for only 10 euros online at the official e-shop.
More information: scentoncanvas.com

Put Rosemary in Your Hair and a Flower by the Old Fountain

I can smell the wind down the meadow
And pain follows me like a shadow
Are you still somewhere longing for me?
Where are you hidden from me?

Put rosemary in your hair
And a flower by the old fountain
Layla, how could you love another?
Dove, my dove
Carry the tears to her instead of the song

If tomorrow they ask for your hand
You should know I wont be there
Sorrows are easily forgiven
but only love never is

How could you love another?

I'm leaving as if I was guilty
of loving the one I'm not allowed
Of loving you
Layla

[english translation by liientjexxx]

The Bosnian song Lejla (2006) is by Hari Mata Hari

The winners of the draw...

...for the Biehl sampler sets are:

J.W.
Mimi G
Sharyl
Wefadetogray
ION
Minette
Annina
KKinDK
Amy Barry
Stacey Walls

Congratulations everyone! Please email me with your shipping address using Contact or email in Profile, so I can arrange for your prizes to be in the mail soon. Please put "Biehl draw" in the title of your message, so I can find them easily.

Thanks everyone for the enthusiastic participation and till the next one!

Fragrant Combinations for Summer: From Green Freshness to a Journey to the Mediterranean

Diptyque suggests the following layering of their famous candles in their summer bulletin. I have found that if you're really after a little more "intimate" fragrance combining you can do that with their room sprays too (where applicable), if you want to experiment with fabric or skin, or you can try single note essence oils if you have those at hand, to see how they come out for you. The fun is in the experimentation and summer is a period when the natural world contributes with its heat and sun to bring out some unexpected nuances in even the most seemingly straightforward essences. So why not give it a try?

pic from the company's 50th anniversary celebration

Here are the Diptyque recommendations, with some additional commentary by me. Feel free to expand on your own!

Figuier & Choisya is recommended to give a fruity, green and lightly floral atmosphere, like dreaming underneath a tree in the lazy afternoons of summer.
Jasmin & Coriandre combines the freshness of the spice to the greeness of the living vine of the white flower.
Feuille de Lavande & Cypres is the meeting of true minds: the purple of French Province and the green woody of Italian Tuscany and Cyprus.
Menthe Verte & Verveine is a refreshing, herbal, uplifting combination for the hot days of a heatwave.

pic from the company's 50th anniversary celebration

The Diptyque candles currently retail for 68$ for the big size and 28$ for the smaller one.

Related reading on Perfume Shrine:
Fragrant Combinations for Fall: from the rustic to the spiritual,
Fragrant Combinations to Lift the Winter Blues,
Fragrance Layering: a Layman's Guide on How to Layer Perfumes,
Fragrance Layering: Tips on How to Combine Scents, by Serge Lutens and Francis Kurkdjan.