Lily Bermuda Calypso: new fragrance

A niche perfumery in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean? And yet, it moves. Calypso, the latest unisex fragrance by Lily Bermuda perfumery, located in the Bermudas, captures the summer energy of Bermuda’s Emancipation Celebrations and the lively rhythms of the Island’s music and lifestyle. Calypso is a fresh blend of sparkling neroli and bergamot. Its heart reveals fruity notes of Bermuda loquats and aromatic notes of the south shore seagrass. Calypso ends with soft and aquatic notes of white musk, which will linger on your skin and create lasting memories.

Family: Citrus Aromatic
Perfumer: Isabelle Ramsay-Brackstone

“Calypso is fresh, dynamic and youthful – a fruity fusion of Bermuda scents, part of our unisex ‘Water Collection’ alongside South Water and Fresh Water,” said perfumer Isabelle Ramsay-Brackstone who crafted the fragrance in St. George’s at The Bermuda Perfumery. “People who are open-minded, easy-going and passionate about a life of freedom and expression will cherish Calypso. With intrinsically Bermudian scents of loquats, seagrass and neroli, this fragrance is universal, well-suited for spring and summer celebrations like sunset cruises or an open air concert by the ocean.” This is the first fragrance launch since the Lili Bermuda line skyrocketed to international acclaim with segments on The View, The Bachelorette and CBS This Morning. In 2012, CBS News Travel Editor Peter Greenberg brought worldwide attention to Lili Bermuda when he named The Bermuda Perfumery the best place in the world to buy perfume in his book The Best Places for Everything.

Notes for Calypso by Lily Bermuda:
Top notes: Mandarin, Fresh French Basil, Sicilian Bergamot zest, Petitgrain, Citron
Heart Notes: Bermuda Loquat, Neroli, Seagrass, Geranium
Base notes: White Musk, Bermuda Cedar, Marine notes


Online orders at LiliBermuda.com are filled at The Bermuda Perfumery with a hand tied ribbon and shipped from the St. George’s Post Office.

news via press release

Le Labo Exclusive Fragrances Available Widely for a Limited Amount of Time

The 3rd edition of the Le Labo City Exclusive event will start September 1st. If you have even passingly heard about Le Labo you know they're quirky: they dilute, decant and personally label the fragrances for you on the spot in their boutiques and they have a range of "city-exclusives" that are available ONLY in the selected cities (and come $$$ too!). Annoying, I know! (Especially since I love at least two of them). But for a limited time from September 2013 they're offering those city exclusives to all of us aficionados, to give us a chance of owning them at last.

The City Exclusive scents have been created as a tribute to the cities Le Labo has shops in. These scents are usually only available in the boutique of the city it belongs to: no phone order, no online order, no shipping, no exceptions!

For 6 weeks and 6 weeks only, the 8 city-apointed Le Labo perfumes will be sold in exclusivity in all of the Le Labo boutiques, online (http://storeinternational.lelabofragrances.com/) and in a limited selection of corners across the globe (Barneys stores). To get ready for the big day the samples of the City Exclusive perfumes will be available starting tomorrow!

The winner of the draw

...for the Acqua di Parma set is Akmtvehi. Congratulations and please email me using Contact with your shipping data so I get this in the mail for you soon.

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

Hermes Hermessence Epice Marine: new fragrance preview

The sea accord is sweet. The smell coming from the bed of the ocean and the misty fog in Brittany is not. To evoke therefore the changing scenery of Mont Saint Michel which recalls seascapes by Turner and pirate adventures full of spices, wooden floors and smoked woods, in house Hermès perfumer Jean Claude Ellena pairs an algae & smoky whisky accord with spices to render a "spicy marine" fragrance, namely Epice Marine (which translates exactly like that). Marine fragrances are the anathema of many a hard-core perfume aficionado, mainly due to the prevailing of this genre during the 1990s, a landmark for perfumery which created with its deeply artificial nuance as many foes as it did acolytes. But if there is one illusionist able to shutter biases and make perfumephiles see things anew, it is without doubt Ellena. And that's what he does in his latest Hermessence; beyond the sea, but not far from it all the same.

Epice Marine, the 11th Hermessence fragrance, is inspired on the one hand by the Saint-Malo milieu, full of celtic traditions and the marine songs of the changing scenery of Mont Saint Michel, that is so familiar to Olivier Roellinger (3 stars Michelin chef & owner of Maisons de Bricourt in Cancale) and on the other hand by the Provencal countryside of Cabris where Hermès perfumer Jean Claude Ellena spends his days immersed in the serene Mediterranean blue. The conversation between these two opposing, and yet converging worlds, took the course of a passionate and prolonged epistolary exchange of views between the two men during the course of many months, starting with Roellinger's invitation to Ellena in october 2011 to come over at Cancale at La Maison du Voyager (the voyager's mansion) where the chef grew up and keeps his spice & savory archives for his restaurants.

pic provided to PerfumeShrine via Hermes

An idea begins to take shape in Ellena's mind as he listens to his friend recount the seafaring adventures required to amass and distribute green cardamom and Sichuan pepper on the Spice Route during the 16th century and the trafficking conducted by pirates. Contrary to bourgeois perfumery, which uses several accords and complicated combinations "to render an effect", Ellena likes to zero-in on the essentials, rendered in an artistic way which allows to highlight unexpected facets.

Toasted cumin grains, sent from Cancale to Cabri, seal the deal for the new concept: Epice Marine will focus on this polarizing note which is central to the adventures of seafaring. But contrary to the usual cumin essence which has a tendency to recall human sweat to some people, this toasted cumin variety renders an aromatic oil which is human-smelling all the same, carnal and skin-like, as Ellena divulges, but in a very sensual tonality. Ellena has this spice distilled to render an essential oil which encompasses notes of toasted bread, hazelnut, sesame; these nuances are deeply exciting to Ellena, who proceeds to write to Roellinger to relay his appreciation and to inform him that he is continuing, with a bigger order for the toasted spice, allied with cinnamon and cardamom.

via aromo.ru

Epice Marine by Hermès also uses a generous helping of bergamot to give a vibrant start. To that he has added a synthetic molecule which recalls algae, a more oceanic feel than the sea accord. This is done intentionally as the "sea" note is sweeter than the ocean at Brittany (la Bretagne), which is drier, saltier, more savory. The coupling of the algae note with the spice manages to evoke that. But one thing is missing... The scent of the marine mist, that deep humid scent that comes out of the seabed. This is the definitive accent, provided by a smoky, peaty note of whisky constructed anew by Ellena himself, specifically inspired by the Bruichladdich whisky (a gorgeous single malt from the Hebrides with elegant floral notes). It evokes the boiled buckwheat and the North-East winds of the foggy Brittany.

After 24 mods, the perfumer is still not satisfied with the development of the composition. The smokiness and the oceanic notes seem a little flat to him. He reworks the oakmoss essence variety used in the base, deducts the vetiver variety used previously, and works on a source water "note" to lessen the salty aspect of the fragrance. It is now March 2012. In two months the finished fragrance will be ready but it will take a while to see the light of day: in September 2013 Epice Marine will hit the boutiques. The adventure begins...

 certain notes thanks to Sybille Grandchamp of Vanity Fair France, translated by the author.

Acqua di Parma Colonia: Fragrance Review & Giveaway of Luxurious Body Products Set

It had been ages since I had last smelled the refined herbal, acrid top notes of Acqua di Parma's cologne, atavistically named Colonia and encased in the sunniest crocus yellow this side of the earth's "omphalos". (Seriously, if there's one shade in the beauty business packaging to rival Hermes's coveted orange and Tiffany's delicate robin-egg blue, it's Aqua di Parma's yellow; a true trademark). It was the mid-1990s, I recall, when I was first taken with the "niche" circuit and when coincidentally Diego della Valle decided to rescue not only driving shoes (establishing the famous Tod's loafer) but also credible Italian cologne resold as a refined commodity since at least the times of Jean Marie Farina. Acqua di Parma was immediately eye-catching but it was the simple, to the point elegance of subtlety (fragrance wearing for the pleasure of fragrance wearing -not announcing any deep and meaningful messages about one's self importance) which cinched the deal. My first bottle found its rightful place on my vanity. The rest is history.

via

In Alfie, the modern version of the film from 2004, this is all Jude Law, devastatingly charming*, with a full head of hair thank you very much and ruining his marriage with the help of Sienna Miller, used to have on his bathroom shelf: Acqua di Parma Colonia. And who can blame him**? Apparently the scent scored, as scads of females were hankering for his guiles, Susan Sarandon in all her mature knowingness no less. The cineaste reference isn't without peer: reportedly both Ava Gardner and Cary Grant liked and wore Acqua di Parma's classic cologne in the 1930s. Today you can feel like a movie star when stepping out of the bath of any 5 star hotel in the world where Acqua di Parma bath and body products are a sine qua non.

The story of Acqua di Parma goes like this: In 1916 Master perfumers created a new fragrance in a small laboratory in Parma using natural ingredients. It was an unusually fresh and modern fragrance – the first true Italian Cologne. Today Acqua di Parma is still true to its heritage. The fragrances and the packaging are still both hand-designed and Acqua di Parma is an iconic symbol of the refined, exclusive, and purest Italian lifestyle.

via 

The brilliance of Colonia by Acqua di Parma lies in the intensely sunny, succulent marriage of both sweet orange rind essence and bitter orange notes (citrus aurantia from which neroli, petit-grain and orange blossom absolute derive) to the soapy mossiness of the base; it gives a genuinely chyprish scent nuance, evocative of tall cypresses, proudly standing against Tuscany winds, with a backdrop of lemony verbena, delicate rose and a hint of patchouli, like spots of sienna tiles and stuccoed walls silhouetted serenely in the distance. It's enough to shed away your winter stressed shell and bask in the Italian sunshine Ava-style. Who in their right mind could ask for more?

Notes for Acqua di Parma Colonia:
Bergamot, Citrus, Lemon, Bitter Orange, Sweet Orange, English Lavender, Bulgarian or Damascene Rose, Verbena, Clary Sage, Rosemary, Cedarwood, Patchouli, Sandalwood, Vetiver, Oakmoss.

For our readers, we have a luxe gift set of Colonia bath & shower gel, hair conditioner and body lotion in the glorious yellow boxes and bags. Please enter a comment to be eligible. Draw is open internationally till Wednesday midnight. Winner to be announced sometime in Thursday.

*it is my personal quirk that I prefer his portrayal of the murderer photographer in the grim & great  Road to Perdition...don't mind me.
** this film still tells you all about the intended audience of the product placement

In the interests of disclosure, I was given the set via a PR opportunity.