Fantastic Giveaway of 1,000$ worth by Tijon Fragrance Lab & Boutique for Mother's Day

It is my great honor to have Tijon Fragrance Lab and Boutique as a partner on this adventure for the past few months. Jovan van Drielle, the gracious owner, appreciates our readers so much that she wanted to feature a HUGE giveaway for the Perfume Shrine audience in which one USA winner will get to win a prize worth 1,000$ (yes, you heard that right). We also appreciate moms a LOT so we combined forces to make this a very special celebration for Mother's Day celebrated on May 11th in the USA and many countries around the world.
So you ask: what do you have to do to enter?

She also kindly provided the directions and specifications you have to follow. Find the Tijon Facebook page by clicking on the top banner on the Perfume Shrine Home Page or on this link.

Fire away! May the best story win!!

Interview with Perfume Business Insider Sue Phillips

"'Niche' in the luxury marketing category has grown because consumers are looking for a more "experiential" approach to perfumery and luxury. There has been such a proliferation of "commoditization" in the luxury area, due, in part, to the overwhelming number of celebrity fragrance launches. If consumers are going to spend a lot of money on a "luxury" item, they don't want what everyone else wants. Also, "bespoke" items are more affordable than ever before.  No one has to wait for six months to a year for a bespoke item, because technology and high end items are more available than before! So individuals who have a genuine passion for art and luxury, can have it and they are willing to pay for it. As a result "niche" is the new direction!

Back in the 1980s it was all about designer perfumes because they represented care, quality, status. The old perfumes had a slow build, they were marketed extremely carefully, generating awareness in a brand and therefore saw a return of their investment in the macroeconomic sense. However it all changed with the introduction of celebrity scents and the numerous flankers which flooded the market. Fragrance thus lost a lot of its mysterious cachet. […]

America is all about the new and although there are some brands which have adopted a new name and added a new coat of paint to appeal to a new demographic, a desire for authenticity is always there in the market. The pie isn't getting any bigger, there are just more slices in the pie now!

When I started 5 ½ years ago, the idea of "bespoke perfumery" was considered most unusual and strange. But we have seen a huge growth and more people are seeking this out and we are filling the void."

Thus Sue Phillips explains the shift of the perfume world into "niche" and the rising trend for customized fragrances in a very thorough interview she granted me going over the subjects of the changes in the industry, the new ingredients restrictions, what a customized fragrance experience entails and how functional perfumery differs or influences our expectations out of scent. You can read the rest of the interview following this link to Fragrantica.

Most rare Guerlain Perfume to be Resurrected for the Prestige Collection

No house in the realm of fine fragrance is more revered with the appreciation of history than the house of Guerlain, the one "sans prenom" (since there's also Marcel Guerlain, a different outfit). The re-issue of the heritage perfumes, collected as "collection patrimoine" at the flagship store in Paris at Champs Elysees was a move into museum worthy greatness. We have described & reviewed the re-issued historical Guerlain perfumes on these pages before thanks to the help of the house's artistic director, Sylvaine Delacourte, and it is my great joy to inform you that the prestige collection which includes Vega and Sous le Vent will be itself augmented by the erstwhile addition of another long discontinued gem…

Which is it? Can you hold still?

from the nonblonde via pinterest

This time the perfume in question also happens to be encased in a precious, collectible vessel as well. Coque d'Or from 1937 (in the blue bottle in the shape of a bow, like Dawamesk, but with gold overlay which always reminded me personally of scarab jewels from Egypt, designed by George Chevalier and raymond Guerlain) is a legend. Composed by Jacques Guerlain of the mature period, it encompasses what is quintessential Guerlain in spirit: the warm amber chord with labdanum and vanilla plus the inky note of oakmoss, overlaid with powdery floral notes that are precious to the makers.
 The re-enacted formula undertaken with the care of head perfumer Thierry Wasser is a bet that challenges the contemporary style of the industry (though it will have to conform to contemporary regulations I hear). Its discovery will take place next autumn, before the holidays. Coque d'or will be a wonderful pilgrimage to the shrine that is Champs Elysees and a covetable item for those who can afford it. May we wish for time to fly!

Guerlain's Coque d'or perfume presentation PerfumeShrine.com

Perfume Advertising Champions: The Vanishing Act

Once upon a time perfume advertising relied on more than a pretty face and a celebrity endorsement to make it soar. The sleight of hand inherent in the composition was evidenced in the visual representation of the fragrant message as well. A couple of times…literally.

Like in this Lancome Magie Noire fragrance ad. The elegance of the message lies exactly into insinuating that which the name and the scent is suggesting: magic, conjuring, illusion. The power of the product standing alone is only rivaled by the spatially deductive and minimally eloquent Clinique perfume ads. A great success.

Related reading on Perfume Shrine: Vintage Perfume Ads, Perfume Advertising

Guerlain Terracotta Le Parfum: fragrance review & comparison with Terracotta Voile d'Ete & Terracotta Eau Sous Le Vent

Die hard perfume fans might be excused for disregarding that the brand of Terracotta, one of the oldest products for giving what the French call "bonne mine" (i.e. the look of healthy looking, sun kissed skin) is the biggest seller for the Guerlain beauty and perfumes company they so revere. Indeed Guerlain would be literally bereft without their prized Terracotta, introduced in 1984, which is why they have been carefully augmenting the line with new and exciting and delicious-feeling products over the years, always instigating the desire to test at the makeup counter and take something home.

Part of the charm of Terracotta is the name, recalling sun-drenched tiles in the south of France, almost leaping off the green and yellow background and over the outlines of the blue Meditteranean just a stone's throw away. Another is the clever choice of design color scheme which makes the most of the mental associations consumers have with summer and leisurely vacations. A Terracotta product is like a ray of sunshine in your handbag, an inextricable part of feeling good about yourself even before touching your skin with the pom pom brush or the buttery soft creams. Over the course of 30 years Guerlain matched the powerful brand name of Terracotta with some fragrances they offered in a move of brand awareness.

The olderst was Terracotta Voile d'Ete (1999), a sunny spicy carnation and ylang composition that was fiery, somewhat daring and spicy floral in character, projecting with the assured step of a tiger proud of her golden stripes.
Next came Terracotta Eau Sous le Vent (2009), a limited edition fragranced moisturizing mist for the body which had a subtle sheen and the delicious aroma of tiare flower, yet faint for a true perfume. (It was complemented by the Terracotta Huile de Voyageur which was a dry oil to bathe skin in tropical flowers's scent and gold mother of pearl particles). This year Guerlain re-introduces the magic of Terracotta with Joli Teint, a new makeup product that caters to all makeup lovers, and revisits the Voile d'Ete fragrance edition, this time with a much less complex name, simply Terracotta Le Parfum, as a limited edition for 2014, as we had announced regarding new Guerlain releases months ago.

The allure of suntan lotions and oils is a well document market fact with thousands of consumers wanting to extend their pleasure out of using sun products into their fine fragrance ritual. That's where suntan lotion smelling perfumes come into. Terracotta Le Parfum is a refined example of that, much like Lauder cornered that game with their Azuree Soleil and Bronze Goddess fragrances which have munched on the market share which would have been rightfully Guerlain's had the Americans not been smart enough to pounce first. Guerlain has meshed the tropical flowers (tiare, ylang ylang) and the salicylates which naturally crown compositions of this creamy, sun drenched nature in Terracotta Le Parfum with classic French notes such as very perceptible jamine and creamy natural tuberose and (less so) orange blossom plus a fluffy, lightly powdery undercurrent of musk and vanilla, hinting at sweetness but withholding too much sugar, thus offering a grown up version that should prove very popular. Compared to Bronze Goddess it's a tad more "sparkly" to my nose, without the coconut note that recalls Coppertone (Guerlain has almost no coconut) and it feels like it lacks the carnation/clove note of the original Terracotta Voile d'Ete from years ago entirely, presenting a quite different fragrance.

 Terracotta Le Parfum, 50ml of Eau de Parfum, will be in stores in May 2014.

 Related reading on Perfume Shrine: Guerlain news, fragrance reviews and discussion