Issey Miyake A Scent: fragrance review

After the definitive 90s bestseller L'Eau d'Issey and the definitive 90s commercial "tank" Le Feu d'Issey (affectionately termed "Phew d'Issey" by its detractors, but rhapsodised by fragrance critic Luca Turin for its undoubted olfactory innovation), Miyake who has been held on public record saying he doesn't like perfume and never wears it, launches his third "elemental"-inspired scent. A Scent, inspired by air, no less! Much like this would seem like a joke, I assure you it is not.
The fragrance is very, very pleasant if not groundbreaking and I would like to think that the inane name is merely a break-down of Ascent, denoting ascendant, a rising and optimistic sign that points to the skies above. After all, air can be charged with its own aroma, especially before and after a springtime thunderstorm! A Scent by Miyake does reprise an airy electricity-charged green smell that recalls spring mornings of crushed greenery underfoot, still holding dew on it, and it's a mystery why it was launched for the autumn-winter season. I suppose they figure it will pick up sales-wise come February, when people are sick and tired of the drab days of sleet and mud-trampled snow and will want the promise of sharp cool air in the tall grass, the touch of a dryad...

Created in collaboration with perfumer Daphné Bugey of Firmenich (who I am reminding you is responsible for those reportedly amazing Coty classics reconstructions and the mean vanilla of Kenzo Amour), designed by Arik Levy and produced by Beauté Prestige International, the Paris-based fragrance division of the Shiseido Cosmetics Corporation, A Scent had all the prerequisites to become a new "classic". Will it? Only time will tell, but it doesn't seem as original as it should for it to become so. Then again, technically neither was L'Eau d'Issey: In the aqueous ozonic stakes, drenched by gallons of Calone (the melon-fresh aroma-ingredient that characterised the decade), New West by Aramis beat it by three years coming out in as early as 1989.

Is Miyake's A Scent “a scent as simple and beautiful as the air we breathe” as purported in the ad copy? I would venture that for the average urban dweller this would be an ironic line, but let's not digress. The green notes of galbanum (nothing too bitter in this interpretation) and hyacinth, reminiscent of the re-issued Vent Vert, Guerlain's Chamade opening and Chanel No.19's verdant patches ~before the iris takes over in plush~ fold the floral heart while a lemon note echoes throughout. The core is garlanded by vivacious hints of citrusy-green notes (verbena apparently) and a carnal-devoid diaphanous jasmine. The remaining tonality is a white-musk-infused base that whimpers off skin infrequently with slightly soapy reminiscences like just showered bodies. Comparisons with Estée Lauder's Private Collection Jasmine White Moss are pretty obvious, as the same citric and green spike emerge on contact and the common lineage is none other than Chanel's Cristalle, especially in the more hesperidic-toned Eau de Toilette. Arguably however the predecessor is much more daring and stealthy, while the limited-distribution parable by Lauder is more polished and lasting (especially in the wonderful extrait de parfum), leaving A Scent in some kind of limbo state despite its surpreme wearability by both sexes.

Green chypres are becoming popular again (just contemplate Cristalle Eau Verte, a twist on the refreshing classic) and they have taken on a new mantle it seems, one of intense subtlety (there's your oxymoron!) and seeming attenuation, one of less conviction if you please. More an environmentalist-streak running through the market, rather than a "let's get back to nature" 60s song, they seem catered for the urbanite who is commuting to work with i-Pod at hand. But in a world that is almost faced with complete extinction of that venerable fragrance family I can live with that rather than hundreds of fruity-florals and fruitchoulis, I guess.

The bottle looks like a slice cut out of a block of transparent slob (jn fact it is) which is perfectly cool in its own tongue-in-cheek way (there's luxury products for you!) and fitting with the scent image.

Notes for Issey Miyake A Scent: galbanum, hyacinth, verbena, jasmine, "crystal moss" (A Firmenich patent on a mossy substitute for oakmoss)

A Scent by Miyake is available in department stores in a 5 oz Eau de Toilette ($115.00 USD), a 3.3 oz Eau de Toilette ($89.00 USD), a 1.6 oz Eau de Toilette ($65.00 USD), a 6.7 oz Moisturizing Body Lotion ($48.00 USD) and a 6.7 oz Moisturizing Shower Gel ($42.00 USD).

Tree in the form of a woman via heandfi.org, bottle pic via popsop.ru

Christmas '09 Gifts ideas: Annick Goutal limited editions

The bestseller of Annick Goutal, the bracingly lemony Eau d'Hadrien with its refined cypress and citron accents is issued in a limited edition Noel 2009 in a precious flacon boule (ball bottle) with a butterfly top and printed gold stars.
The bottle is numbered, issued in only 639 pieces around the world and signed by Camille Goutal.
Additionally there is a Coffret Noel with 5 small candles of 35g each retailing for 40 euros, as well as Christmas coffrets offerings of the popular Eaux de Toilette in 50ml bottles along with the crème corps parfumée tube (100ml).
Available in Un Matin d'Orage, Eau d'Hadrien and Petite Cherie.
Retail price: 65 Euros for each set.

Christmas '09 Gifts ideas: New Diptyque candles & solid perfumes

Three new candles by Diptyque come in a brilliantly coloured presentation Wycinanki, making them each a perfect Christmas stocking stuffer! The scents are:
Marrons Grillés (Roasted chestnuts): The scent mixes the gasoline-like Cade and birch to the sweetness of tonka bean and vanilla.
Benzoin: The benzoin essence is caressed by a charismatic patchouli and woody cypriol from India, sublimated by the darker and softwood cist, possessing the evocative power of a spellbinding journey.
Sapin de Noel (Christmas Fir): Its evergreen branches, emerging green accents and air from wormwood and galbanum, are colored by the intensity of sour eucalyptus.
190g/6.5oz, 50Euros each


There is also the limited edition for Xmas 2009 Coffret d'Hiver/Winter Coffret: 3 small-size candles in a thematic black and gold sleeve. It contains Feu de Bois (logwood fire) 70g, Oranger (Orange tree)70g, and Pin Sylvestre 70g. Retails for 65 Euros.

But apart from gifts to others, they are spoiling us with suggestions on gifts for ourselves as well! Solid perfumes in a metal box with the shiny black oval Diptyque engraved intaglio are now available in L'Ombre dans l'Eau and Philosykos, two of the brand's bestsellers. Makes for purse-friendly touch-ups through the day! (and a nifty idea for travelling too)
4.5g for 30 Euros

Ineke Field Notes from Paris: fragrance review

Field Notes from Paris is the latest installment in the alphabetized line by San Francisco-based independent perfumer Ineke Rühland, a woody oriental inspired by her early days studying perfumery in Paris and at the Versailles, her strolls at le Marais and the fervour of trying to accumulate knowledge of her craft. The first four fragrances, alphabetized from A to D, came out in 2006. Two years later came Evening edged in Gold with its unusual candied and hypnotic Angel’s Trumpet floral note. And now the first scent to depart from the sharper flowers' schema into a more shadowy alley: Field Notes from Paris. The advertising slogan of "Life measured out in coffee spoons" recalls of course T.S Eliot and where else but in Paris, coffee capital of the world probably, would this hold any more true (romantically and not cynically so, I might add)?

Ineke aimed to capture "the romantic, nostalgic feeling of sitting at a café and writing in a journal while lingering for hours over a cafe crème". I can just picture her starting her day sipping one at Au Petit Fer à Cheval on Rue Vielle du Temple on her route to book shopping at the nearby La Belle Hortense. And what better (and more standard accompaniment) to coffee than a puff of a cigarette, preferably the unfiltered ones which Parisians love to drag on still? It's no accident that F.Malle commissioned perfumer Carlos Benaïm with a home fragrance called "Coffee Society"!
Conversely to the retro cool ashtray note that several old-fashioned chypres convey with much flair (just think of Cellier's Bandit in Eau de Parfum), the tobacco featured in Field Notes from Paris is cuddlier and sweeter, unlit, devoid of its tough exteriors in an enigmaric warm and comforting embrace of a little smooth, aged patchouli and hay (but no coffee notes to speak of), but ~wait! is there a delicious whiff of leather, some honey and some lavender somewhere in there? The impression I am given is of a mellow masculine fougère, feathered out to its woodier extremities, especially in the opening which features the most interesting mentholated little wink.
Judging by the retro fougère resurgence which we are experiencing in the niche sector lately (Geranium pour Monsieur, Fourreau Noir), I think Ineke is on to something; let's not forget how tobacco in perfumes is becoming the only acceptable way of getting your fix now, the launch of Havana Vanille and thevery densely tobacco-ish Bell'Antonio by Hilde Soliani other examples of the genre. Ineke's fingers are firmly on the pulse!
The finishing off in sweeter Virginian cedar (just a touch) and the rounding of lightly vanillic, resinous tones makes Field Notes from Paris wearable by both sexes, if so inclined, although women who usually go for smoother, more powdery vanillas in the woody oriental scheme (such as Trouble or Brit) and surypy thick ambers might have their expectations not met at all. The rest can breathe with relief; money well spent.

Notes for Ineke Field Notes from Paris:
Top: orange blossom, lemon and coriander
Heart: tobacco blossom, patchouli and cedar
Base: tonka bean, benzoin and vanilla

Field Notes from Paris is available in 75ml/2.5oz of Eau de Toilette for 88$ directly from the official Ineke site.
In the interests of disclosure I was sent a sample in a cute "matchbox" by the perfumer as part of a loyalty scheme.
Pics via anxietyneurosis.wordpress and pinksith.com

Amouage Contest: Win Epic bottles and samples!

Courtesy of Extrait.it with which we have a nice rapport, I was honoured to receive news of the contest they have organised after their Christopher Chong interview which I had linked to in the recent past. What is it? Write about the mystery man in the Jubilation videos and enter the contest to win 50 samples of the latest Epic by Amouage while the grand winners (one male, one female) chosen by Christopher Chong himself will receive a bottle of Epic for Men and another of Epic for Women!

"Extrait had the idea of Amouage Perfumes Contest with the purposet to involve all perfume lovers and everyone else in an entertaining "web 2.0 storytelling" inspired by fragrances. This is the starting point of Extrait collaboration with Amouage through Finmark, the brand’s Italian distributor.During the latest years, under the artistic direction of Christopher Chong, the omanian perfumes creator associated a videos set to their fragrances, taking inspiration from the tradition of Arabian Nights. A mysterious man appears in the video of Jubilation, the perfume celebrating the 25th anniversary of Amouage. Realising how many people were curious to discover the identity and the role of the mysterious man, Christopher Chong decided to create a sequel of the story in a video for the launch of a new fragrance scheduled for 2010".

Please find all the details on this page.

NB: Extrait is not affiliated with either Amouage or Finmark, its Italian distributor.