Guessing Games & The Aesthetics of Innovation

If you have been receiving the Luckyscent newsletters you will know by now of the second series of the Untitled Series by Chandler Burr, which was previously hosted on Open Sky. An improvement, I would assume, on many levels, the new distributor of the project assures a dedicated perfumista core audience. What it involves is easy but brilliant too at the same time: experiencing a scent without the guiles of marketing, design or promo routinely attached to it. No notes, no name, no perfumer, no house, just your sense of smell and small glass vials with a number on it to sniff for a month until the revelation is presented at the end of it (for this month, it's June 25th).

Chandler tries to offer "pure scent", involving fragrances which take the game a step forward and I totally see the reasoning behind this. Whether he succeeds or not is up to you and your own opinions on such matters. My own personal stance is that perfume is so inextricably tied to design & marketing (in fact I consider it ~for the most part and in most cases~ a division of design) it's hard to consider it when bared down to the bone; it detracts from some of its beauty and wit, a bit like the Elgin Marbles as seen at the British Museum rather than under their intended Attic sun; they're still artful and brilliant, but doesn't the whole concept involve context as well? Even so I do think the Untitled Series is a great gauge of just how much our preconceptions act on our perception of scent and how wrong or right we decipher scent each time based on those; I love blind tests myself when I fragrance consult, my subjects often producing stunning results.

To get you all revved up for season's 2 episode's 2 scent, out now, please see a summary of the previous installments and make your best guess on the latest! (There is already discussion on Basenotes, but you're welcome to post your own suggestions here in the Comments).
Here is how Chandler presents S02E02 in his own words:

”I've never met anyone who doesn't like S02E02. In dozens of talks over the years, I've given it to thousands of people in all sorts of cultures, and the range is pleased enthusiasm to hypnotized worship. I'm on the far latter end. Done by one of the greatest living artists, who I'm very glad finally to be presenting in the Untitled Series, S02E02 is I think a quietly seminal work in a specific way: We all know the majority of people today say they 'don't like perfume.' By 'perfume' they mean aldehydes and a booming voice and 'look at me' style. S02E02 forces you to redefine 'perfume.' Wait (people think, transfixed on the sidewalk), what is this? Did an island just materialize around the corner? E02 is the Debussy bridge over which one escapes Rachmaninoff's bombast, transport for all those who yearn for the fundamentally different and exquisite, the liltingly lovely.”

– Chandler Burr

For what is worth, I also have never ever met anyone who doesn't like it and I too find it liltingly lovely… :-)

LIST OF EPISODES

                Season 1

The Untitled Series S01E01: Prada Infusion d'Iris by Daniela Andrier                         Prada

The Untitled Series S01E02: Mugler Cologne by Alberto Morillas                                Mugler

The Untitled Series S01E03: L'Etrog by Rodrigo Flores-Roux and Yann Vasnier      Arquiste

The Untitled Series S01E04: Yuzu Rouge by Raphaël Haury                                            06130

The Untitled Series S01E05: Eau de Lierre by Fabrice Pellegrin                                      Diptyque

The Untitled Series S01E06: Bal D'Afrique by Jérome Epinette                                     Byredo

The Untitled Series S01E07: Vanille Insensee Cologne by Ralf Schwieger                 Atelier Cologne

The Untitled Series S01E08: Rose Noir by Jérome Epinette                                            Byredo

The Untitled Series S01E09: Sel de Vetiver by Céline Ellena                                            The Different Co

The Untitled Series S01E10: Isle Ryder by David Moltz                                                     Hylands

                Season 2

The Untitled Series S02E01: Tom of Finland by Antoine Lie                                            Etat Libre d’Orange

The Untitled Series S02E02: ???

News on Availability of Guerlain and Annick Goutal Fragrances

A while ago it had been openly discussed that some fragrances in the Annick Goutal line were being dropped off the collection, right when there was a major overhaul of the entire brand reflected in repackaging. This isn't unusual in this day and age and indeed the original Goutal line had already seen the demise of a few of the initial scents for better or for worse. However for at least one among the more recent releases which went missing, I'm referring particularly to Mon parfum Cheri par Camille (a tribute of the daughter to the mother) the argumentation presented always seemed rather non sensical to me.

As per one sales assistant "Mon Parfum Cheri was really disliked by the normal Annick Goutal customer" and therefore it wasn't restocked. The logic went that the "normal" AG customer goes for light, floral or subtly gourmand fragrances that are feminine in a romantic, young and ethereal style (so enter Petite Cherie, Eau de Charlotte, Quel Amour and the like) and Mon Parfum Cheri being a retro chypre it had no chance. Looking down on current tastes is a very popular past-time on perfume boards but it can backfire.
On topic: then how does one account for Goutal's Passion, for Tuberose Passion, for Grand Amour and for Heure Exquise, not to mention Ambre Fetiche in the Orientalistes sub-line which are nothing but? They were all remaining in the main line with no wavering (they were prominently displayed on the Goutal website), donning their new dresses of a bottle and label like the rest of them as if it was nobody's business. The limited distribution pattern (another offer of an explanation) also made no sense, since the US launch of the newest fragrances had been made with enough fanfare to justify an interest in the particular market which would be deemed silly to nullify just a few short months later.

behold Perfume Shrine's photographic evidence of what we're claiming!

At the time I had offered the explanation that the house was busy reformulating the fragrances (at their own cost, as is the custom) so that they could meet with the impending IFRA restrictions effective immediately, whenever they were able to. If that was possible from a technical point of view, any missing stock was simply a matter of practicalities requiring for the new bottles to be somewhat delayed.

I'm glad to see that I was mostly correct. The new Mon Parfum Cheri par Camille is proudly displayed at stockists who sell the revamped collection by Goutal and it looks like it won't be any more limited in distribution than it originally was, which is to say widely available (120 euros for 100ml).
The photo included in this post above showcases the new packaging. You can see the old packaging just below.

the old packaging…more suggestive thank to the color of bottle, though

In what concerns Guerlain, I have great news concerning one of their latest fragrances: the much loved Terracotta Le Parfum (fragrance review included on this link), France's answer to the best-selling status of the Bronze Goddess fragrance industry by Lauder, I have the privilege of very exciting news! Although the tropical creamy floral was launched as a limited edition for summer 2014 (and therefore hard to come by now that perfumistas have been stampeding to get their little paws on a bottle), the scent has sold enough that Guerlain headquarters are considering it of a potential permanent addition to the collection. If you are therefore interested in making this come true indeed, do seek it out, contacting your favorite Guerlain sales assistant, emailing the Guerlain PR service and contacting the Paris flagshipm so that the Terracota Le Parfum scent becomes available next summer and all the subsequent summers as well…

You can thank me later and you're very welcome.

Tom Ford Fragrance Discontinuations & Relaunches

The fragrance line by Tom Ford, especially the Private Blend collection which is much more expensive and exclusive in distribution, has always been the object of the "offer and demand" laws of the market, setting out to discontinue what doesn't appeal so much and keep the best-sellers in the permanent collection.

In that regard our latest information coming from distributors for a major chain in Canada includes news of discontinuations and relaunches.

Specifically the following are discontinued/relaunched in different packaging:

Lavender Palm
Arabian Wood
Black Violet 
White Suede (white bottle) is relaunched in the brown bottle series*
Oud Wood (brown bottle) is relaunched in the grey bottle series*
Ombre de Hyacinth
Lys Fume
Jonquille de Nuit

and oddly enough also Violet Blonde is being discontinued (as per the same source), a perfume which was part of the mainstream collection in the familiar "Black Orchid" style bottles.
If you love any of the axed fragrances, now is the time to stock up!

The relaunches do not consist of a reformulation, but of a repackaging, meaning the juice remains the same. An educated guess also foresees the change of Cafe Noir into the brown bottles later on.

More inside news on the availability of fragrances from other brands on the very next post on these pages!

Decadent Perfume Rituals: The Earrings of Salammbo

In Gustave Flaubert's antiquity-woven novel Salammbô (1862), lesser known than his enduring classic Madame Bovary but equally masterful, set in Carthage after the First Punic War with Rome, the eponymous heroine indulges in a ritual which is sure to have the antennae of every perfume lover out there twitching with delight.

Salammbo by Gaston Bussiere via pinterest

Salammbô wore earrings made from two little sapphire scales supporting two perforated pearls filled with scented oils, which slowly dripped their perfume over her body throughout the day, entrancing Mathô, the Libyan leader of the mercenaries, in the scene when she wants into his tent: "A little drop would fall every moment through the holes in the pearl and moisten her naked shoulder. Mathô watched it fall. […] He opened his nostrils the better to breathe in the perfume which exhaled from her person". What did these scented oils consist of? How did they smell exactly? "It was a fresh, indefinable emanation, which nevertheless made him dizzy, like the smoke from a perfuming-pan. She smelt of honey, pepper, incense, roses, with another odour still." The writer leaves something to our fertile imagination…

Salammbo by Jules Toulot via pinterest

But contrary to the Salome-imbued images of western perception of the oriental femme fatale, Salammbô's garments are modest and concealing, leaving the thrill of the seduction to her ingenious earrings; Flaubert outlines the mystical thrill of the exotic women of the east in unconventional terms. Of course Flaubert has also delineated the demure exoticism of Madame Amoux in L'Education Sentimentale and was known for his sniffing (almost) fetish ~keeping his mistress's mittens in a drawer to smell when the mood stroke~ which he reproduced into his writing in such phrases as "Her comb, her gloves, her rings were to him things of great interest".

The scent of the desired woman becomes a detail which catches the fantasy quota of the reader like nothing else.

Brazilian Supermodel Gisele the new face of Chanel No.5 perfume

Gisele Bundchen has been announced as the new face of Chanel No. 5 perfume.
According to WWD, the 33-year-old Brazilian model was shooting a video for the campaign this week in the Hamptons, New York, with film director Baz Luhrmann.
She was chosen for her 'natural beauty and modern femininity,' a Chanel spokesperson said.

The leap was natural since Gisele has been gracing the Chanel makeup advertisements and the line Les Beiges de Chanel for some time now. Nor was the elevated fee (Gisele is the highest paid model working at the moment) since it was already into consideration by the Parisian family-owned company.
Still, that's 3 spokes(wo)men in 3 years which makes it a record for the perennial Chanel masterclass.