Vintage Advertising Champions: Cacharel

This specimen of vintage advertising from the 1980s by the French brand Cacharel comes as the imaginative apex of an aesthetic we don't come across anymore. The white knickerbockers-style outfit with the straw hat and the knee high socks in Mary Janes has a vaguely early 20th century feel to it. The lion is imposing and has a questioning look in its eye, it is hoever reflected ~please note~ alone and on a checkered floor on the opposite page of the advertisement.

They just don't make them like this anymore…

My Name is Wasser, Thierry Wasser, perfumer at Guerlain.

The newest presentation for L'Homme Ideal, the newest masculine fragrance by Guerlain, currently available only in select countries, employs Thierry Wasser, head perfumer at Guerlain.
The video is aimed at the Arab market in the Middle East, but it's fun that Wasser sorta does a British-type Bond. Some things are universal it seems.

Τop Selling Celebrity Fragrances 2013

Celebrity-fragrance sales fell to about 11% of the US fragrance market in 2013, down from 12% in 2012. Young consumers continue to be impressed by their favorite idols, wanting to emulate them even in fragrant form and to project their beauty, wealth and sexiness factor unto themselves, but the celebrity fragrance market is becoming somewhat smaller overall, according to these numbers. Repeat buyers on the other hand are the main reason for the significant head-start of the top two celebrity fragrance brands, which is telling on what concerns longterm results.

Here are the strongest sellers in brand terms and in million dollars generated:

Elizabeth Taylor fragrances 55$mil.

Jennifer Lopez 42$mil

Justin Bieber 37$mil.

Beyonce Knowles 31$mil.

Rihanna 31$mil.

Taylor Swift 27$mil.

Sean John Combs 26$mil.

Paris Hilton 24$mil.

Britney Spears 23$mil.

It is interesting to note the absence of Lady Gaga, Madonna and the Beckhams fragrances. 

source: Euromonitor International

Guerlain RE-Issues 4 Archive Perfumes for their Heritage Collection: Fragrance Descriptions & Photos

The work that Guerlain is doing lately, bringing back their catalogue masterpieces for educational purposes at Champs Elysees, adhering to the original formulae no less, is remarkable. To the already impressive line-up four more vintage Guerlain perfumes are brought to life thanks to the work of in-house perfumer Thierry Wasser and Frédéric Sacone. They are the following.

via

1900 CHYPRE de PARIS in parfum extrait 
Contrary to what many people have in mind, the Guerlain Chypres came out before the famous Coty Chypre from 1917 {For a comprehensive reason as to why, please refer to my article on Chypre Fragrances Facts and The Origins of Chypre Perfume} [N.B. There is also Guerlain Chypre 53, a different fragrance]
A top of citrus and lavender gives way to the floral notes of pink jasmine, ylang iris, orange blossom, flanked by cascarilla, calamus, mossy chyprish notes, patchouli, and spicy accents of nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla and balsamic notes.

via

Read more by clicking here 

Serge Lutens L'incendiaire and L'Orpheline: new fragrances

"I use the word section [d'or =golden section] to describe a breakaway, a separation. This departure from a black world brings forth a bright new division.

This divided version of me awakens a forgotten yet timeless image from the very first moments of my life. To the right of me, touching the edge of my shadow, in another light, it illuminates a crown, one that could belong to my other.

I am the protagonist in this story, turning my anger into passion. My aggressiveness hides my fear and mends my courage. L’incendiaire provides me with the spark I need, and by declaring my flame I ignite what burns within me, and consumes me. My heroine surges from deep within my cowardice and my flaws reveal the golden brilliance of her virtues. It is the love which sustains me in my darkest hour, even as I grieve for its loss.

Your crimes are mine, and I take them with me to the guillotine, where the executioner is waiting to cut the ruffian’s – my – story short.
But my destiny is entirely in your hands!"

~Serge Lutens (the translation from the French comes from official PR material)

This is the (familiarly cryptic) text accompanying the upcoming release of the new Serge Lutens fragrance in a separate new "line" with gold label, L'Incediaire (the arsonist, the pyromaniac), coming up soon. If you notice Lutens explains the introduction of the new line in gold labels with a few words suggesting they make a break with the black labels, bringing forth a new idea, like his "Eau" line was separate in concept than the rest.

The name L'Incediaire suggests (but isn't conclusive) of an incense-y resinous or sulfurous composition, but the actual fragrance notes include geranium, carnation, woods and incense featured prominently.

Brace yourselves for another wild ride! Priced at 600$US no less (that's the retail price of Serge Lutens L'Incendiaire)

photo taken by MaryseFelix on ink361.com, borrowed for display purposes only

For those who keep an eye on such things, another Serge Lutens fragrance is coming up, just released in Paris for the summer launch, this time in the oblong bottles of the more widely available "export" line, called L'Orpheline (the Orphan Girl). It is an haute concentration fragrance, meaning more concentrated than the beige label ones, belonging in the "black line". {Edited to add: I have just written a fragrance review of L'Orpheline on this link}

" Friable mais entière.
A demi-mot, son nom se fêle. Avant la brisure, les deux premières syllabes portent le nom du poète qui même pouvait charmer les pierres. "

Lutens of course refers to Orpheus, the legendary Greek poet and prophet who charmed every being with his music and tried to retrieve his wife, Eurydice, from the dead by way of his skills, only to meet with his own death from those who could not hear his divine music…

The poetic concept of the "orphan", "fragile but whole", (shown in the video watchable above) is of course inspired by Lutens's own childhood, "of ashes" and rage, his painful memories of being raised sans mother, though the change of sex in the fragrance name suggests a Freudian transposition regarding the significance of the Father (as suggested by Lutens himself). He conflates the male with pain ("le Mâle : le mal").

The new Lutens fragrance L'Orpheline features top notes of aldehydes, with a heart and base composed of woods (cedar prominently), a fougere accord, coumarin, "clouds of ambergris", patchouli, incense and Cashmeran ("blonde woods").
The fragrance of L'Orpheline will retail at 99 euros for 50ml, is already at the Palais Royal and eboutique and will be widely launched internationally on September 1st.
The limited edition bottle for L'Orpheline, a series of numbered bottles for collectors at a much more elevated price, is a beautiful, familiarly Lutensian design of few evocative lines, as you can see in the photo above.