Perfumes of the Rich & Famous: the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge and the Beckhams -what do they really wear?

"More than a third of Britons believe they know whether a date is "the one" within seconds of meeting them after catching a whiff of their fragrance", as quoted in an article in the Daily Mail.

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Beyond the obvious (catching a whiff of a childhood scent like your mother's can be relaxing or that smelling something unpleasant might get you off your food for a while) the article goes into mentioning a few mega famous people's choices. If you have been following the Perfume Shrine you know that the Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge is a no brainer, and you even had info on the scent of Kate Middleton's wedding day promptly reported, but the rest is interesting.

"With input from expert master perfumer, Penny Williams, they found two high-profile celebrity relationships had strong scent compatibility ratings.

Indeed, both the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and David and Victoria Beckham had scent compatibility ratings of nine out of ten.

With Prince William wearing Ralph Lauren Polo and Kate wearing Dior Dune, Penny Williams said their choices 'complement without clashing'."

Something tells me they have both moved on (Kate was reported to wear Dune as a student), scent-wise, but let's not spoil it for the Daily Mail. They carry on:

"Meanwhile, David Beckham wears his own cologne Instinct and Victoria opts for Anna Sui's Sui Dreams, Chanel No.5 and her own Intimately Beckham.

Mrs Williams, who has worked in the industry for 24 years, added: 'Her collection of scents range from everyday to spritz [sic: did she mean "glitz"?]. This suggests a multi-tasking lifestyle and fragrance used for benefits beyond the scents themselves. If he wears Instinct and she wears Sui Dreams, it's very harmonious.'"

I bet Victoria has hundreds of bottles back home, if only as gifts from all the designers she is in contact with. 

But the crucial point is: do you match your fragrance with your partner's? Please share in the comments. I find it a great idea myself, more on which on a subsequent article. 

Vintage Advertising Champions: Replique

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Raphael's famous Replique perfume (long discontinued*) didn't shy away from bringing forth the animal in him.

*Replique perfume remains available in the States, sold since 1999 as part of longlostperfume.com. A glorious rich chypre. Original formula recipe dates back to 1965. 

Two Sides of Dear: Demystifying Patou's Joy Perfume Promotion

Common perfume lore wants it that Jean Patou's iconic perfume Joy has been presented to the American public with the tagline "the costliest perfume in the world". This was supposed to be a slogan coined by Elsa Maxwell, the famous columnist and gossip, who thought it a great boost in 1930 when Joy was introduced to the American market at the era of the Great Depression, as the American clientele of Jean Patou shrank. It was supposed to be an undaunted affirmation of its luxury status, instantly making it more desirable over others to those who could afford to buy it. (Perfume positioning and the tactics to market it haven't radically changed over the decades, have they?)

vintage Joy perfume ad found via ebay

But "I am very moved by one detail", as the poet Cavafy would say. The perfume was composed and launched in the chic Parisian atelier of Patou in 1926, for his loyal customers. The French advertisements beautifully promote it at a later date with a French tagline "Le parfum le plus cher (du monde)". On first glance this isn't incongruous with the American tagline, it looks like an exact "translation". [Incidentally it was also promoted with the taglines "le parfum roi" -aka freely translated as the king of perfumes- and "le joyau des parfums", i.e. a parfum bijou, a jewel of a perfume.]

The wonderful thing about it is that in French the word cher has a double entendre. It would best be translated not by "costly" to denote this, but by "dear". Dear as in costly, yes, but also as in beloved, as precious. Therefore the French tagline for Joy better reflects both its exalted status in the ballpark of top quality raw materials used, but also its popularity and preciousness as an objet d'art in the hearts of those who love it and wear it regularly. It also reflects better its real price in modern market terms, as it has been surpassed as "the costliest perfume of the world", even within the Patou canon (their "1000" extrait is officially admitted as costing more to produce than the respective Joy)

A linguistic detail in the chaos of perfume writing, but an important one, I feel.

How to Best Preserve your Perfume (Professional Tips by Perfumer Guy Robert)

"When someone offers you a perfume, may you be lucky enough to receive a true parfum (instead of an eau) in a beautiful, large bottle. Chances are you will fall in love with it, and that you will want to replace it at some point. A valuable advice, in that case, is to purchase the smaller size. Depending on your perfume habits, a "half ounce" or "one ounce" will suffice. Larger volumes will obviously take many more months to finish; but while a well-made perfume can stand the test of time, age doesn't give it any interesting qualities either.

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Once you have opened the bottle, a light oxidation process takes place inside. If you forget to close the bottle after you have used the perfume, this will only speed up the process. The fresh, fleeting top notes of the fragrance will tend to "calm down" a bit; it's true that this will not completely ruin the fragrance, but it will change the initial impression you get from your perfume.

When the natural ingredients are derived from such noble raw materials as jasmine, orange blossom, jonquil, and rose, the color will become slightly browner. Depending on the composition of the perfume, it can develop into a brownish-red within a few years. If it has a green tint, that green may become darker. This is normal, and it does not necessarily mean that the fragrance is deteriorated.

However, when you purchase a new bottle of the same perfume, you may get the impression that they sold you a lighter, more fleeting fragrance. This phenomenon causes many customers to take their new bottle back to the store, claiming it is not the same; hence, manufacturers are asked on a regular basis to analyze and check recently purchased bottles in their laboratories.

The aging process is increased when you add light and heat. Don't keep your perfume on the bathroom shelve, which is often located near a radiator: your interior decorator may say it looks fabulous, but it's really the wrong place for perfumes. If, on top of that, you expose the bottle to direct sunlight, you have done all you can to kill the fragrance. Remember that the sun is a perfume's greatest enemy."

The above fragrance advice "how to" comes from a free translation of legendary perfumer's Guy Robert's "Le Sens du Parfum" French book (out of print now) courtesy of SoCalWoman/MUA. Robert is responsible for lots of fragrance classics, such as Madame Rochas, Dior Dioressence, Equipage,Caleche and Doblis by Hermes, Amouage Gold etc.

 If you're new to perfume and want more practical "how to" guides on fragrances, please refer to our "HOW TO GUIDES" articles on the right hand column (scroll) of the Home Page. If you want the most popular questions answered, please refer to the relevant frequent questions on perfumes link. If you want to submit a new question which may appear on the blog and get answered by me to the best of my ability, please email me using Contact.

Two Stories for Mom

You probably read the winning story for Mom's Day contest that Tijon fragrance boutique and lab organized the other day (if you haven't check it out). Today, in anticipation of tomorrow, I'm posting the two other winning mom stories for your enjoyment. And please share your own in the comments!