Winter 2011-12 Top Fragrances & Other Stuff

Who, at the first sign of frost, doesn't long to be wrapped in an oversized cashmere throw, sit by the fire, grab a good book, and sip something spiked and fragrant while the snowflakes outside are dancing the polka? January's chilly winds and all too brief days call for heavier knits, formal furs to banish the cold and an inferno of fragrance to get through it all; and cold it has been, unusually so this year for this corner of Europe!

Seeking warmth in your perfume can be a subtle reassurance in cold weather, but it can also be fun to try to match, getting the fragrance notes to smell painstakingly pure as if emerging out of a snow bath Venus-like off the waves. There is indeed a two-pronged approach to choosing personal fragrance for winter wearing:
One is to go for traditional oriental elements, warm resins and balsams, rich florals and amber blends; creating contrast and invoking via perfume-magic mellower lands where the night is always warm and bodies radiate the heat of blood rushing to the skin's surface. Another, more unusual one, is akin to homeopathy: inject a bit of cool silkiness to the routine, letting the outside cold enhance the silvery, metallic qualities of the perfume. Therefore throw in a mix of irises, artemisia, wormwood, angelica and gentian essences, cool celebral notes, and sour frankincense smoke that trails behind like the ashes off an extinguished censer...
It's also just the time for precious vintages (do a search on PerfumeShrine for plenty of ideas on those) and for parfums fourrure, since putting these perfumes on is as enveloping as donning my fur jacket and you wouldn't don a fur jacket in August, would you?

Monica Belluci and Alain Delon forAnnabella

Here are some of the fragrances and other stuff in my rotation this winter to stir the senses and banish (or embrace, if you like!) the cold.

Guerlain Tonka Impériale 
Wearing it on winter sweaters and scarfs (where it clings for days, radiating seductively) is akin to getting caressed by a honey mink étole, smelling fine cigars in a salon de thé serving the most delicious almond pralines on panacotta.

Caron Poivre
As warm as a fur coat, as arresting as pepper spray, a pas de deux on clove and carnation blossoms; or the scent of Cruella de Vil. I bring out the sable and pretend I'm wicked!

Armani Prive Bois d'Encens 
A clean smoky incense that wafts from the forests on the cool wintery air, gloomy cedars silently silhouetted in the distance.
 

Editions des Parfums F.Malle Angéliques sous la Pluie 
Rained upon angelicas, a celestial gin & tonic on the rocks, refreshingly bitter with the cool edge of seeing snowcapped stone fences just across the road.

La Myrrhe by Serge Lutens
Myrrh gum is part of ecclesiastical incense alongside frankincense for millenia. You would expect an oriental, full of resinous mystery, going by the name, right? Lutens goes one better and infuses the bitter ambience of myrrh with candied mandarin rind and citrusy aldehydes which bring this on the upper plane of an airy aldehydic. Somehow it wears lightly but solemnly too and it resembles nothing else on the market. Cool days bring La Myrrhe's attibutes to the fore and it remains amongst my most precious possessions.

And of course, Bottega Veneta Eau de Parfum 
If you yearn for the sweetly pungent and at the same time totally "fabricated" smell of a good, old-school leather fragrance...then the fragrance release introduced by the Bottega Veneta brand (the apex of leather luxury) is set to stir your heart with unbridled longing. And deservedly so: Bottega Veneta Eau de Parfum is unquestionably "mighty fine"; it made it both to my Top 2011 Best Fragrances list and my Autumn Sensuous Discoveries list. Now it's on my Top Winter things list too. Figures...

I'm also crazy about discovering Nostalgie by Sonoma Scent Studio. There's a sheen sans pareil about wearing a graceful floral aldehydic smack in the middle of winter, everything just seems to sparkle brighter under the tentative sun! In that vein, expect a review of the graceful L'Ame Soeur by Divine and an update on its slightly re-orchestrated reissue shortly on these pages!

my personal shot of Guerlain Tonka Imperiale

Winter is also the time to indulge in some body pampering. Heavy oils and unctuous creams suddenly seem welcome, decadent, like a deserved small luxury.This winter I have seriously lost myself into the scentscape of vanilla pods, almonds & toasted cereals of Cacharel's Gloria Bath & Body Oil. I also regularly turn to L'Occitane Creme Ultra Riche, crammed full with shea butter, for all topical dry skin emergencies.

Food-wise, winter weekends is the time to make time-consuming, elaborate dishes like Armenian "manti", called Tatar Böregi in Turkey (recipe to follow on subsequent post), full of the warming aroma of all spice, cinnamon, cumin and clove. I also love to prepare home-made halwa with semolina, raisins and roasted pine nuts. Yum!

pic via mantrakina.blogspot.com

Intellectually I have been stimulated through work mainly this season. But off-work hasn't been totally idle.
I took an interest to John A. Hall’s “Ernest Gellner: An Intellectual Biography", recounting the exiling of intellectuals of Eastern Europe because of communism and Nazism. The relaxed pace of an evening by the fire also perfectly fits reading poems by Emily Dickinson and Kostas Karyotakis thanks to their slow pace and melancholy. I also caught The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo in cinemas this winter: It's atmospheric and suprisingly loyal to the original Swedish version, so if you need a rec, go watch it!

Please visit the other fine participating blogs in this project for more ideas:
All I am a Redhead, I smell therefore I am, Katie Puckrik Smells, The Non Blonde, Under the Cupola, Waft...what a fragrance fanatic thinks.

Related reading on Perfume Shrine:

Poll: Readers Suggest Fragrances to Warm You in the Cold ,

Sunny Fragrances to Beat the Winter Cold

The clip comes from the 2004 film "Weeping Meadow" (Το λιβάδι που δακρύζει) by Greek film director Theo Aggelopoulos, who died last Tuesday. Music by Eleni Karaindrou.

original photo on top Winter Leaves by Eric Begin/Flickr, some rights reserved

Serge Lutens Iris Silver Mist: fragrance review

Iris Silver Mist clearly isn't for everyone. Balls to the wall iris, carrot dirt rootiness, bread sourdough and raw potato starch are attached to every drop of this crepuscular, bellowing Lutensian opus, turning urban life into a gothic tale where the heroine is carried away dead in a grand duc. Iris Silver Mist is unsettingly unusual as if you looked into the abyss once and now the abyss is looking at you. How can you not love it?

In a rare dicrepancy with the tenure to follow of Chris Sheldrake at the helm of perfume development at the Salons du Palais Royal Serge Lutens perfumes, perfumer Maurice Roucel was instructed to compose an iris fragrance to eclipse all others.
The year was 1994 and Iris Silver Mist came out on the skies like Phaethon to cast a prolonged, melancholic shadow over mortals. But the perfume is in discrepancy with the Lutensian style up to a point as well; eschewing the opulent orientalia of dried fruits, resins and creamy notes, it goes for a wonderfully weird effect that is loud even though it appears to be the silent type; a sort of Schopenhauer being recited off the rooftops, for modern Emos romanticizing depression.
Years later Lutens softened the pitch and caressed the iris into a greener, silky hush in his enigmatically sensuous Bas de Soie fragrance.

The power of the fragrance is deceptive: you'd think that iris is a shy, pale note that rings metallic and sits meekly at its corner, but no. Orris absolute (the product from the iris rhizome) can run the gamut from floral to woody to gourmand to powdery smelling.
Iris Silver Mist beats with a thunder drum, thick as fog you'd need to cut through with a knife; powdery and cooly rooty, eating away every other scent it co-habitates with, be it skin, potion or foe.

Roucel used not only orris rhizome but also Irival (or orris floraline), a nitrile-containing fragrance compound (a perfumer's base, produced by International Flavors & Fragrances) with a stentorian voice heard over the buzz of common routine; coupled with the scimitar of galbanum, its bitter green resinous facet boosting the feel of the first hour on the skin, and a tiny hint of carnation, iris becomes truly sinister with a yeasty quality about it. The familiar cedar base of Lutens is given an extra austere profile in Iris Silver Mist, with the subdued, cooling woody backdrop of vetiver and the prolonged powderiness of musk, almost a sigh through blueish lips.

Be aware that the Irival base is moderately skin sensitising; Iris Silver Mist, alongside the equally lovely Iris Gris by Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier, have been the only two perfumes to ever give me a topical itch and redness. Use on clothes preferably.

Iris Silver Mist is a Paris exclusive, circulating in the uniform bell-shaped bottles of the exclusive line (75ml).

The photo depicts the limited edition bell jar (flacon de table) of Iris Silver Mist, showing the beating heart and veins of iris...

"Watching Alice rise year after year
Up in her palace, she's captive there"





photo Ron Reeder "Death and the Maiden V4" via pcnw.org

Patricia de Nicolai Kiss Me Tender: fragrance review

Heliotrope is at once deep, soft and mysterious, a note traversing the rainbow from the yellow of vanilla pods and almond, to the light blue and green of anise right to newly mown hay. Kiss Me Tender by Parisian niche brand Patricia de Nicolaï feels like being submerged in a warm bathtub on a cool evening, the translucence of water clouded by the full range of the delicate, powdered notes of heliotrope.

The simplicity of structure in Kiss Me Tender shouldn't fool us into believing there is no skill involved. Heliotrope might be a full perfume in itself, but De Nicolaï weaves it both subtly and deliciously, a hint of retro without ever falling into the pit of dated. If you always liked the powdered aniseed core of the classic L'Heure Bleue perfume but found it too mature, rejoice: the main components ~anise, orange blossom and synthetic heliotropin (for heliotrope notes, as the flower cannot be extracted)~ are present in both the classic Guerlain and the newer Patricia de Nicolaï; it might all be in the genes, the woman derives from Guerlain stock after all! (For those who don't know, she's the grand-daughter of Pierre Guerlain). But it's more than that just modernising and streamlining a beloved structure and one of the quintessentially Guerlain notes. It's underscoring it with a freshness and tenderness like never before.

The almondy facets in Kiss Me Tender bolstered by vanilla overlap into the gourmand oriental fragrance group; tempered, good-mannered sweet, a touch of white pastry confectionary like marzipan accented with spicy bites that are just this side of edgy. The hay facet is clearly discernible, over abstract solar notes (salicylates) of ylang ylang and non-indolic jasmine, floating on a watery pong, the two woven in the ethereal way of Hermès Vanille Galante.

More delicate and subtle with skin-soft musky notes than livilier interpretations of the note (such as the latest versions of Guerlain's Apres L'Ondée which are eclipsing the violet in lieu of heliotropin) Kiss Me Tender comes closer to the feel of being wrapped by goose down in L'Eau d'Hiver (F.Malle) or the lighter interpetations of Shalimar and Habit Rouge; after all it shares the flou, hazy base of opoponax resin with the latter two. The deviant, fresh and slightly green, minty-anisic top note takes Kiss Me Tender on a different track than the usually opressive routes of other gourmand or floriental fragrances built on almond and gives it a unisex aspect that men might enjoy too. (The trick of coupling anise with vanilla for lightening the latter is working for Jo Malone in Vanilla & Anise as well.)
For its elegance and versatility, Kiss Me Tender is a must-try for those who always sought for a discreet daytime heliotrope fragrance but probably a bit too pastel for those who like their floral orientals hard-core and khol-eyed.

Notes for Patricia de Nicolai Kiss Me Tender:
vanilla, aniseed, almond, heliotrope, fresh cut hay

Kiss Me Tender is available in 30ml/1oz for 39 euros or 100ml/3.4oz for 99 euros of Eau de Parfum available on the official Patricia de Nicolaï site and select stockists.

Versace Yellow Diamond: Fragrance Samples to Grab

Readers will have the limited-time opportunity to receive a deluxe sample of Yellow Diamond, the newest Versace perfume which we had announced on these pages a while ago.

Visitors simply enter their information into a form available on the Facebook page, and the boxed deluxe sample will arrive within 90 days. The Facebook page visitors will also find the official video campaign for Yellow Diamond, while connecting with other fans. Dedicated to providing Versace fragrance enthusiasts with a highly-interactive forum to discuss and engage with one another, the Yellow Diamond Facebook page puts the brilliance of the scent’s luminosity front and center on your computer screen.

Click on the Yellow Diamond Versace Facebook link and log in for a luxurious and one-of-a-kind experience brought to you by Versace!

 

Chronology, Comparison & Photos of Miss Dior (Cherie) Various Editions & Reformulations: How to Spot the One You Like

It was a few months ago I was venting on the reformulation and name change of a very popular Dior perfume, the coquette Miss Dior Chérie which became...Miss Dior, thus changing the course of history forever for the young generations. The issue is both puzzling and enraging enough and you can (re)read my previous article if you like, but I realized that what many people are asking for is how to differentiate between the various editions and how to spot the older Miss Dior Chérie from the reformulated one.
So here's a short guide with photos to help you pick the right one; the one you meant to buy.

First of all, according to the official claims the new version of Miss Dior (Cherie in parenthesis, because that's what it is a version of) (2011) is "subtler and more refined" than the original from 2005 created by perfumer Christine Nagel. If we're to do a Miss Dior Chérie 2005 vs. 2011 edition comparison, the new edition is credited to perfumer Francois Demachy and starts on a different premise: 'Dior's girl is grown up and is now a woman who loves' (instead of one who flirts, we're led to believe), fronted in the advertisements by Natalie Portman, but the truth is much of the character that made Miss Dior Chérie so much a love-it-or-hate-it fragrance is lost, the tart strawberry jam note and the caramelic pop-corn is watered down and all we're left with is a generic sweet top, a white floral note and sanitised patchouli. But that's just my own opinion; don't mind me too much, I always thought the old was rather unpalatable, though it possessed conviction & character. But what is now admitted officially, was a fact even before 2011! A while ago the Dior fragrance was already reformulated, even though it circulated under the full name (see below for photos and captions).

Miss Dior Chérie EDP (Christine Nagel 2005) will be available on the market while stocks las (the last reformulation before the 2011 one will be as well), and the new edition Miss Dior (Chérie) EDP (Francois Demachy 2011) will replace it completely.
The reason of course being that Miss Dior Chérie outsells the original Miss Dior by a wide margin...

click to enlarge

The rather confusing Miss Dior (Chérie) line comprises so far:
Miss Dior Chérie Eau de Parfum 2005 (Christine Nagel original)
Miss Dior Chérie Eau de Toilette 2007 (this version eventually obtained the white label instead of the silver writing on the bottle, like the later reformulated EDP)
Miss Dior Chérie Eau de Printemps 2008 (limited edition),
Miss Dior Chérie Blooming Bouquet 2008 (exclusive for the Asian market)
Miss Dior Chérie L'Eau 2009 (a completely different fragrance, a "flanker")
Miss Dior (Chérie) Eau de Parfum 2011 (Demachy reformulation)
Miss Dior Eau Fraiche Eau de Toilette (new flanker for spring 2012)
Miss Dior (Chérie) Le Parfum (August 2012)

Miss Dior Chéri EDP 2005

Miss Dior Cherie EDP reformulated 2008

Miss Dior Cherie~ L.to R: Eau, EDP, EDT 2008 presentation

Miss Dior (Cherie) reformulated 2011 "couture" edition

The confusion happens with the Eau de Parfum (EDP) mainly as this is the sought-after version. The older original 2005 bottles had a silver writing on the bottle, while the white label was introduced sometime in 2008 (as attested by the Maryna Linchuck commercials). Please be warned that a perceptable reformulation happened in 2010 to both EDP and EDT, when the Eau de Toilette version was remade in 2010.

Miss Dior Originale EDT 2011

The classic 1947 Miss Dior now circulates in Eau de Toilette (and extrait de parfum) as Miss Dior Originale. The extrait de parfum of the Cherie declination (now simply presented as Miss Dior as well) is thankfully distinguishable by the bottle design which is close to that of the pinkish Cherie juice and bears a ribbon bow. The body lotion comes in both the Cherie and the original 1947 scent, the latter distinguishable by the moniker "Diortendre" below the Miss Dior name.

Miss Dior Eau Fraiche edt 2012

Imagine the confusion when spring 2012 will see the introduction of Miss Dior Eau Fraiche by Dior, blending not only one classic fragrance in the mix but two! (Dior Eau Fraiche is an Edmond Roudnitska perfume composition from the 1950s).

Adding that August 2012 sees the introduction of Miss Dior ((Chérie) Le Parfum, an extrait version of the reformulated Demachy juice, fronted by Natalie Portman in the ads.
As you can see in the pic below the bottle is identical to the 2008 reformulated EDP but with Le Parfum written under the "Miss Dior" tag.

There's a circle in hell reserved for Parfums Dior for confusing us so!
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Related reading on Perfume Shrine: the Christian Dior fragrance reviews

You can also check PerfumeShrine's previous entries on the different flankers/perfume editions of Dior Poisons, the many flankers/limited editions of Dior best-seller J'Adore, the super confusing group of fragrance editions by Rodriguez Narciso For Her with their differences highlighted, the Etro Via Verri original and reformulated editions, the Shiseido Zen perfume editions, the several fragrance editions of Flower by Kenzo compared to one another (with pics) and Hermes Merveilles perfume range different editions.

some photos via sassisamblog.com

By Kilian Asian Tales: new fragrances

Kilian Hennesy of the niche, luxe perfume brand By Kilian is announcing a new collection of fragrances, codenamed "Asian Tales by Kilian" or L'Oeuvre Rouge because the familiar black-laquered boxes now boast a scarlet lining and a chinese coin on a red ribbon instead of the little key we knew from L'Oeuvre Noire. The new fragrance line comprises five fragrant editions that will recount the tradition of the Far East and pay homage to this great culture.

For 2012 two releases are scheduled, to be unveiled in Milano next March at the Esxence exhibition, both by perfumer Calice Becker who did the majority of the Kilian fragrances so far: Water Calligraphy is focusing on the artistic merits of eastern calligraphy and its rich tradition. Harmony Bamboo is inspired by The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, a Japanese folk tale.

Notes for By Kilian Water Calligraphy:

grapefruit zest, cherry blossom, water lily
magnolia, jasmine sambac
cardamom and vetiver

Notes for By Kilian Bamboo Harmony:

bright notes of bergamot, neroli and orange bigarade
white tea leaves, mimosa, illuminated by a touch of spice
rare essence of mate, fig leaves and oak moss

The rest of the Asian Tales by Kilian line will launch successively in the following seasons, inspired in turn by The Peony Pavillion (2013), The Peach Flowers Water Source (2014), and The Lotus Flower and the King Dragon (2015).