Aftelier Living Pefume Exhibit ~and Lumiere by Mandy Aftel: new fragrance

Mandy Aftel needs no introduction. Everyone interested in natural perfumes ~and in perfumes period~ has given at the very least a passing glance to her writing in Essence and Alchemy one of the most jam-packed with delicious info papeback to ever come out fom the printer's. Now Henri Bendel, the iconic New York retailer announced that it will hold an exhibit Living Perfume: The Natural Alchemy of Mandy Aftel April 18 – May 11, 2009, featuring the perfume, the craft, and the collection of leading natural perfumer, Mandy Aftel. Henri Bendel is the exclusive retailer of Aftel’s Aftelier line of hand-blended scents which are created from the world’s finest natural ingredients.


This interactive and historic exhibit will showcase the extraordinary materials that bring to life the art and science of natural perfume. It will be created and installed using the responsible design principles of sustainable materials and eco-friendly sourcing, and draw its inspiration from the natural world where natural fragrance originates.
"It is rare to have the opportunity to usher in a new art form, especially one that embodies such great beauty. We consider Aftelier to be the leader in natural perfume and are excited about sharing it with our customers through this historic exhibit" states Claudia Lucas, Senior Vice President of Beauty & Gifts for Henri Bendel.
All Aftelier Perfumes are created by Mandy Aftel, author of the award-winning Essence and Alchemy: A Book of Perfume, a publishing success in seven languages which prompted Vanity Fair to dub Mandy “angel of alchemy”. Yet Mandy has touched earth too, also designing several custom blends for Hollywood stars, writers, and restaurants, as well as private labels. The recipient of the Sense of Smell Institute’s Richard B. Solomon Award, Mandy Aftel stands in the threshold of a new art form that is set to create new directions given the attention it has been receiving by connoisseurs in recent years.
According to Mandy: “As potent as it can be, smell is the most neglected of our senses. Rational precepts and the industrial age have separated our minds, bodies and spirits, and further separated us from nature. Natural Perfume, created from natural materials and aromatics is a multi-layered phenomenon: In a breath, we are able to reconnect with the natural world and ourselves in new and profound ways.”
Thus the Living Perfume Exhibit is dedicated to the sense of smell, aromatics, and the art of natural perfume, with interactive learning opportunities for the public. The Exhibit will feature Aftel’s body of work: her perfumes and oils, her research and writings, her personal library of rare books, graphics, and artifacts - to offer a unique and foundational view of this world.
The Living Perfume Exhibit runs from April 18 through May 11 on the 3rd floor of Henri Bendel. Not to be missed!

Mandy Aftel is also introducing a new pefume in her all-natuals line, called Lumière which means of course Light." Lumière is a sheer elegant floral composed of the precious essences of boronia, blue lotus and sacred frankincense. A sophisticated floral that is restrained but sensual. The base chord is built upon notes of fine green tea absolute and the rarest of Frankincense ~boswellia sacra from Oman~ with its ethereal and mysterious resinous woody notes. Lumière's exquisite heart features Tasmanian boronia with its aroma of freesias and raspberries, and the transparent watery floral note of blue lotus". Aftelier uses no artificial colours, no synthetic fragrances, no petrochemicals, no phthalates, and no parabens
Lumière will be available in 0.25oz for $195) and 2.2ml mini size for $60. (NB: The price is justifiable due to the very high cost of all natural raw mateials) The one quarter ounce perfume comes with a complimentary mini kit! Contact info@aftelier.com

See the whole line at: Aftelier.com And you can download the catalogue here.

Fleurs de Bois by Miller Harris: new fragrance

After Fleurs de Sel (Salt Flowers) and the fantastic L'air de Rien, niche British brand Miller Harris is launching another fragrance, this time called Fleurs de Bois (Flowers of the Woods) composed by resident perfumer Lyn Harris. Despite the name however the fragrance belongs to the citrus aromatic family of scents, rather than the floral or woody, being redolent of moist grass and dewy mornings (dewy is very au coutant lately it seems, judging by Un Matin D'Orage and Vanille Galante).


The notes for Fleurs de Bois are: galbanum, green grass, Sicilian lemon, green mandarin, rose, rosemary, jasmine, iris, oakmoss, patchouli, sandalwood, vetiver and birch.
Fleurs de Bois will be available from May 2009 in 100ml and 50ml bottles packaged in green with the characteristic botanist design of Miller Harris on the box and flacon. More info soon on the Miller Harris site.

Flora by Gucci: Images from Past and Present

In the latest fragrance Flora by Gucci advertisements the historic Flora print sufaces in a campaign shot by Chris Cunningham in a cornfield in Lativa featuring Australian model Abbey Lee in a butterflylike long silk chiffon gown in the middle of more that 40,000 silk flowers moving in tempo with the wind and a remix of Donna Summer’s hit “I Feel Love.” Inez & Vinoodh photographed Flora’s print advertising visuals while the fagrance launch will be backed by a dedicated Web site for the scent that will go live at the same time as the official introduction of the scent on the market.


The inspiration for the floral motif (and name of the fragance) comes from vintage collections by Gucci in which the big, romantic distinctive patterns of flowers and butterflies were strewn across silks and canvas on scaves and bags respectively.
The Flora bag was actually designed for princess of Monaco, Grace Kelly, in 1966. Bags have been at the core of the Gucci brand and as another head of a designer brand (also famous for their bags ~and not only), Karl Lagerfeld of Chanel has said: "'[Bags] make your life more pleasant, make you dream, give you confidence, and show your neighbors you are doing well. Everyone can afford a luxury handbag". The floral pattern was re-issued years later by Frida Giannini, creative director at Gucci, seduced by its playful brightness and is adorning the 2009 collections and the advetisements attached. Surprisingly, the floral motif is mostly on the clothes and less on the packaging of the new perfume which is quite monochromatic in black and white. “I was in love with the idea of a floral fragrance, and having the idea of naming the perfume Flora, everything was consequential. I wanted to give Flora a new freshness, so I decided to keep the same floral pattern but make it not so literal with all 25 colors, but black and white, more graphic and correct for the project,” said Giannini.


The fragrance developed by Firmenich for Procter & Gamble ~who owns parfums Gucci~ is a sophisticated floral (of course!), aimed at the younger clientele featuring citrus accords, peony, rose, osmanthus, pink pepper, and sandalwood.
The new feminine fragrance is the second Gucci women’s scent, following Gucci by Gucci, created under Giannini’s creative reign at the Florentine fashion house and when comparing the scents, Giannini said Gucci by Gucci channeled the powerful Gucci woman, while Flora addresses a sensual, younger woman. “Flora is lighter, the floral scent of course evokes a younger consumer, and she has a hedonistic, daring side. I don’t want to say that Flora is the daughter of Gucci by Gucci but maybe the younger sister,” Giannini elaborated. “Flora is another side of the multifaceted Gucci woman. “We have a huge space for the development of new scents, and now we are trying to build a new category. I want to re-create an entire panorama of scents under my vision.” Ambitious plans, no doubt!

The Gucci Flora fragrance line includes eau de toilette spray 30 ml. for $52, 50 ml. for $65, and 75 ml. for $90; deodorant, 100 ml. for $35; body lotion, 200 ml. for $45, and shower gel, 200 ml. for $38. The fragrance is set to launch globally in early April but is already available online at Neiman Marcus. (where there is a beautiful picture of the bottle as well)

Pics via Ines Zaikova, iofferbag.com, businessweek.com.

August sample draw winner.....

......is none other than Charlotte Vale! We will be in touch so I can send out the sample your way.


Thank you all for participating and stay tuned for the next one!

Astor Place by Bond no.9: new fragrance

Bond no.9, the brand that is synonymous with New York toponymia translated into fragrances is launching a new fragrance this April, called Astor Place, inspired by New York’s most vibrant arts-and-style intersection. The history of the place is quite interesting:

Back in the day, when Downtown was Uptown, nowhere in New York was grander than Astor Place—the enclave stretching between Broadway and Third Avenue, and floating between 14th and Houston Streets. Here, where much of the land was owned by the early 19th century fur-trading philanthropist John Jacob Astor, were situated the city’s greatest theaters, a row of colonnaded Greek Revival townhouses to rival Regent Park’s in London, the hallowed neo-Romanesque Great Hall of Cooper Union, the Renaissance-Revival Astor Library (now the Public Theater), and the neo-Renaissance shopping emporium John Wanamaker. Even the intersecting traffic thoroughfares added to the swirl of energy. Every street that enters the Astor Place energy field disappears and morphs into another street when it exits. (Eighth Street becomes St. Marks Place …Lafayette Street becomes Fourth Avenue … the Bowery becomes Third Avenue.) Astor Place kept a low profile through much of the 20th century. But then in 1967, Tony Rosenthal’s multi-ton gravity-defying geometric black metal sculpture, informally known as “the Cube,” was installed on its vertical axis right in the center of the plaza where Lafayette meets the Bowery. A bit to the south, that spacious promenade, Lafayette Street, is home not only to the acclaimed Public Theatre, where its see-and-be-seen Joe’s Pub now beckons to a stylish late-night crowd, but also to the Astor Place Theater. Ensconced in Colonnade Row, it was there that Sam Shepard’s plays were once performed, while Blue Man Group has held the subterranean stage since 1991. Berthed in the ground-level spaces, meanwhile, are a series of ultra-elegant mid-century home furnishings shops.

This fascinating glimpse of a historical place is meant to be embottled in the new fragrance and it remains to be seen whether it succeeded.
According to Bond, "the Astor Place flacon echoes the angles and cubes of the Rosenthal sculpture, the famous marker of the neighborhood – and renders them in the richest array of colors ever seen. All this is placed again a golden background, paying homage to the Astor fortune and philanthropy". The scent aims at merging downtown with uptown. A seductive fresh floral – flanking freesia with poppy and violet leaf and flanked by the smooth, deeper notes of teakwood and musk. The description of the official pyramid is playfully over the top as per usual, so I will spare you the novelette and will get down to hard, specific notes for Bond no.9 Astor Place: violet leaf, mandarin zest, red poppy buds, orris, teakwood, musk, amber.
For Mother’s Day Bond no.9 is offering Astor Place in a limited-edition Swarovski bottle – delicately decorated with topaz crystals.

Available at Bond No. 9’s four New York City boutiques, www.bondno9.com, 877.273.3369, and at Saks Fifth Avenue nationwide at $145 for 50ml and $220 for 100ml of Eau de Parfum. Astor Place Swarovski Limited-Edition for Mother’s Day will be $300 for 100ml.