Enchanted Forest of Desire

Watch this wonderful commercial for the Lolita Lempicka fragrance I came across. Subtitled L'Eveil du Désir (the awakening of desire) it is centered around the sensual awakening of a young woman who enters an enchanted forest when the apple, fruit of sin and desire casts a spell on her with its fragrant message. I especially love the devious movement of the bottle, creeping up out of its own -seemingly- volition, like a poisonous vampiric little weed, entangling people in its wake in Jung-loaded imagery. Feast your eyes...


(uploaded by iccops)

Credits: Vincent Baguian/Bruno LeRoux (ouistiti.com)

Please visit again tomorrow for an assesment of the year in scent in my style and I remind you to vote on the poll at the upper right hand column.

The Dior Chypres series ~Miss Dior: fragrance review

“I will tell you of a perfume which my mistress has from the graces and the gods of love; when you smell it, you will ask of the deities to make of you only a nose”. It is in those words that the Roman writer Catullus speaks of the seductive guiles of feminine fragrance. Miss Dior is such a seductive scent, compelling you to ask the deities for favors they ~alas!~ cannot grant you.
Almost everything has been said about this classic of classics that saw the light of day in 1947, so I won’t bore you with the same old, same old about the New Look and how it came about. Instead I will tentatively try to give you the feel I get from this scent and the associations I get in my mind.

Technically a floral leathery chypre, Miss Dior is a soigné miss only in exterior appearances, all prim and proper, because once inside the beast takes over and you smell the animal in its peak of copulating frenzy. There is some element of appocrine in the fragrance and I am not talking about sweat or urine. Although there is the clean overlay of aldehydic waxiness and soft flowers you catch a whiff of more feral, impolite essences. Under the clean exterior there is the carnal cat-call and you feel as if it is perhaps too scrubbed clean to be without ulterior motive. I suspect this is due to civet or civetone, because there is also a pronounced warmth in the background, despite the cooler opening.

The effect is more evident in extrait de parfum especially, which bears a marked difference to the eau de toilette. The latter is more powdery with the slightly bitter, cottony feel of coumarin and has an exuberant, bright green start due to the inclusion of galbanum and aromatic clary sage. Those two ingredients, along with styralyl acetate (naturally found in gardenia buds), is what makes me think of the original Ma Griffe by Carven to which it professes kinship in its initial stages. The galbanum touch might also recall the verdancy of Balmain’s Vent Vert (which came out the same year), although the latter is stridently green in the vintage edition which might seem jarring compared to Miss Dior. The latter also has a soft peachiness to it, characteristic of the Roudnitska touch presumely, which must be derived from some aldehydic compound or other molecular combination, different though from the C14 of Mitsouko. It is a peachiness that I have encountered in hair products, hence my assumption that it is chemically constructed.
The base is smothered in troubling patchouli, moss and earthy vetiver. However this is not the pared down patchouli of modern fragrances that is so ubiquitous in everything churned out at a frantic pace in the last couple of years. There is shady vibrancy in this that defies the clean aspect of the modern patchouli interpretations and a roundness in which notes do not compete with each other for stage space.

As I first inhale whiffs of Miss Dior sprayed into the air, I am transported into a mirage that entails majestic mountains surrounding meadows of lavender and narcissi in bloom, where ultra prim damsels wade through. Their long flaxen hair down, their eyes bright with anticipation in their precious moments of freedom as they turn past oak trees into a little slice of heaven; a pond filled with crystalline waters. And there, out of the blue emerges the catalyst: the object of fantasy and secret longing of who knows what exactly. Acres of moist skin, droplets shinning in the morning sun and wet hair that smells like it hadn’t been washed in a while; that fatty, waxy smell of familiarity, yet for them uncharted territory still. The pungency of horse and saddle distantly echoed in the background.

Here it is:


(Levis commercial uploaded by ladynea)
{The song is "Inside" by one-hit wonder Stiltskin (from 1994)}.

Christian Dior confided that

"...I created this perfume to dress every woman with a trail of desire, and to see emerging from her small bottle all my dresses...”.

Based on a formula by Jean Carles, it was composed by Paul Vacher and later re-arranged in 1992 by Edmond Roudnitska in extrait de parfum. It hoped to open new vistas of optimism after the privations of the war and in a way it did.

Unfortunately, as is so often the case with older creations, there has been some re-orchestration of Miss Dior’s symphony since. Very recent batches do not smell as oily and precise as they did, due to a mollifying of the top notes that deducted the sharp peppery greeness of galbanum giving way to a citrus leaf aroma, not unlike the one in O de Lancome. Also an attenuation of the chypre accord with more vetiver makes the new version less assertive and murky than it used to, rendering it less erotic in effect. At least Evernia Prunastri (oakmoss) and Evernia Furfurea (tree moss) are still listed, although to what ratio it is unknown (hypothesized to a lesser one).
If you happen upon Eau de Cologne bottles, those are surely vintage and they are a pretty good acquisition in lieu of extrait de parfum, if you can’t afford or find it.

It is interesting to note that by today’s standards Miss Dior smells “old-fashioned”, even though it was conceived as a young fragrance aimed at debutantes. Less polite souls would baptize it “old lady”, a blanket term so lacking in qualitative nuance that renders it completely useless. Indeed I was able to witness its effect personally. I happened to spritz a vintage (circa 1985) emerging from a ladies’ restroom, washing in front of two teenager girls who were watching me through the mirror while glossing their puckered lips. Aren’t those times tittilating for budding womanhood? Of course I volunteered to scent them, ever eager to introduce young girls into proper perfumes. One of them staggered back in what seemed like abject horror (judging by the look in her eye) professing the opinion it was “too heavy for her”, the other was more cooperative and allowed me two spritzes on her woolen scarf. Although at first she too seemed a little overwhelmed, after a minute, when alcohol had evaporated, she took the scarf close to her nose and nuzzled deeply. Yeah, there was a look of mischief in her eye as she thanked me. And there you have it: Miss Dior has this double effect; it will make some think it’s heavy and old, it will entrance others on second sniff. I am sure that girl went off to venture into romantic escapades with ackward beaux that could not appreciate the raw power of its labdanum and moss base; beaux whose fathers will be much more receptive to her nubile charms, American-Beauty-style.

Miss Dior is the scent of sexual awakening. A trully naughty perfume under the prim and proper exterior of houndstooth. But hounds do discover the best prey, don’t they?

Official notes: galbanum, bergamot, clary sage, gardenia, jasmine, narcissus, neroli, rose, patchouli, oakmoss, labdanum, sandalwood

NOTA BENE: The above review pertains to the 1947 fragrance formula and the reformulations happening till the early 2000s. As of 2011, the classic Miss Dior is renamed Miss Dior EDT Originale and Miss Dior Cherie from 2005 has become simply... Miss Dior. Please read this article with pics on how to spot which Miss Dior fragrance version you're buying.

For our French-speaking readers there is a nice clip about the 1947 introduction of the New Look with a confessionary voiceover by Fanny Ardant.
Click here:

(uploaded by vodeotv)

We have more surprises on the Shrine for you later on...

Ad from okadi.

Not another commercial!

I stumbled upon this lethal CHANEL commercial, originally found by Octavian Coifan, with actor Tim Duquette and directed by Marcel Langenegger.
It just begged for commentary, don't you think?



(Uploaded by TIMDNYC on Youtube) Click to watch.




The chronology of the commercial can be indirectly guessed as late 90s, judging from the jewels on the woman who plays Coco Chanel herself. I distinctly remember the white cuff bracelet with the beaded pattern emerging sometime in the 1997/1998 collections, leafing past issues of Vogue. If you want to get a glimpse of the newer bangles by the house of Chanel, those depicted here are very nice and wearable.
It was in 1922 that Coco, known as Mademoiselle, among anyone mentioning her name in her vicinity in later life, issued the most iconic designer perfume, No.5; and the year she used jersey, a humble material used for masculine underwear, as her foray into fashion modernity and avant-garde. Costume jewelry would follow as well as her famous jacket and the little black dress.

To revert to perfumed matters, ésprit de parfum means of course "the spirit of the perfume" and is a concentration very much favoured by Christian Dior Parfums among others, but basically it contains the ratio of essences vs. ethanol and water that we more often than not call Eau de parfum.
However Chanel has invested a great deal in branding our memories with the "L'ésprit de Chanel" tagline for its Coco scent ~and from then on for the whole line of products; and besides ésprit evokes a spiritual rite of passage, as if it contained something much more ethereal than the mundane cosmos of aromachemicals alongside some natural essences that it actually does. This is cunning advertising of course but also an allusion to the powers of olfaction to affect our mood and enhance flights of fancy, which is something quite tangible for perfume addicionados like ourselves.

In this specific commercial nevertheless it takes another not so subtle meaning, denoting the essence, the spiritual core and soul of those women who have been "harvested" almost, like flowers, to render their most precious essences. Recalling to mind the german book "Das Parfum" (last year reprised as a film titled "Perfume: The story of a Murderer"), in which Greneouille, the anti-hero, seeks out the best of humanity in the rare essence of untouched virgin beauties, using a technique similar to enfleurage to render a concrete that would mesmerise the world with its profound innocence and beauty. If only human essence could be captured, imagine how poignant farewells and break-ups could be or how memories of loved ones could linger on for ever.

Yet the commcercial also brings to mind the vats of formaldehyde and other preserving agents in which bodies are kept in such films of science fiction such as Alien, Event Horizon or The Matrix. I find this touch particularly ironic, as it might have been intentional as a tongue-in-cheek innuendo to the fact that Chanel No.5 contains synthetic ingredients. However recent occurences while bloggers visited the Chanel laboratory and appartment (allegedly house perfumer Jacques Polge uttered the dubious line that No.5 contains only natural ingredients) make me think that this is not meant for the masses and it is either my mind playing tricks on me or a very subtle hint by the director.

The vaguely forensics scene of the body of the woman and the drops of blood or -indeed, essence- of hers diluted in a pint of other liquid is a nod to detective stories and CSI-directed shows, which are quite popular by all accounts.
The sparse bottle apothecary style with the slanted writting on it, as it came from a latin-inscribed chest of drawers in a pharmacy is indicative of the spirit in which the spartan architectural bottle was conceived, if not in historical accuracy, then at least in a matter of kindred spirits.
The frightened look on the perfumer's face (which is of course quite different that the one of actual perfumer Ernest Beaux)and his tentative gesture that denotes the number five, to communicate the reply to the question how many women were murdered for this, is another playful take on the infamous tale on how Chanel No.5 came to its numerical "name".

All in all, this is probably the most beguiling commercial for Chanel No.5 I have come across, exactly because it is so contrary to every image of glamour and romance reiterated before it. It transpires as a little gruesome, a little cruel, which is not au contraire to the real ésprit de Chanel, a person who would have served time in jail for WWII treason (her affair with the Nazi officer) had it not been for her highly placed connections and Churchill's pardon. And it makes one feel that it doesn't have to do with glamour at all but with inner need that resonates with the subconsious. A very apt concept for a very imaginative commercial.

Pic by afternoonrain/flickr

It’s the mating season..roar…

Remember when we talked about the new XX and XY fragrances by Hugo Boss and lamented the loss of a great commercial clip on Youtube? Well, it's here in all its roaring glory and you're the first to be privy to it. Guaranteed!



In the style of a National Geographic documentary on the mating practices of the species, as if recounting the rituals of lions in the jungle, it takes place in an art gallery with sinuous sculptures, where two major players -ever so greatly turned out stylistically- "dance" around the exhibits exuding animal magnetism and silent mating calls, displayed by their choice of perfume. Which combined creates a sensual aroma that is combastible. Hear me roar, baby!
Secondary players, such as the older male or the other female in the pack are waiting in the wings in this brilliant voice-over commercial that although very long for a TV screening is nonethless smartly conceived to play with our innermost notions of perfume as sexual attractant and silent mating call tongue in cheek style. We're hooked!!

Clip uploaded on Youtube by Hugofragrance

Boss XX and XY: new perfumes, new campaign

"What exactly is human nature"? A tall order to answer that, you'd say, as anthropologists, psychologists and philosophers have tried for centuries to no avail.
Hugo Boss is trying too, I guess, launching the fragrance XY for men and XX for women, relying on a more biologically-oriented premise, that of the chromosomes. Hey, it's all in the DNA, haven't you heard?

The fragrance duo reflects the ongoing battle between the sexes creating a sensual aroma that when brought together has natural chemistry.
XY is a mix of cedrat, ice accord and muskroot, while XX contains notes of basmati rice heart, jasmine sambac and fruity top notes.

The following commercial, directed by Chris Applebaum, places Jonathan Rhys Myers and an attractive brunette model into a boxing ring to cement the notion of "battle of the sexes". Playful!
There is another commercial that is longer and more interesting -especially stylistically- combining a trio of characters without Jonathan Rhys Meyers this time, in what seems an art gallery, but it's nowhere to be found on Youtube for now, as it mysteriously vanished. Pity...

In any case, watch the clip here:


In it, there is an interview by Jonathan Rhys Meyers on a french channel, in which he says how Boss approached him and how the previous campaign was quite successful. The director insists that it is important to cement an image of the scent for the viewer and that JRM was the best choice to accomplish that. The latter also interestingly mentions how the scent actually smells better the longer it stays on the skin, which is the badge of approval for that kind of thing. Yup, we thought so too!

Pic from official Boss Fragrances campaign

Be a perfume sleuth if you really Covet that bottle!

Sarah Jessica Parker impressed us with her Lovely musky foray into fragrance as we didn't really expect a celebrity perfume to be of any considerable substance. But this was a serious perfume lover we were talking about (click here for her signature perfume mix and here, for an interview with Chandler Burr)and she passed the test with flying colours.
Now comes Covet, her new scent for women and the commercial was conceived by genius director Jean-Paul Goude, responsible for the Chanel Egoiste commercial that made it to the advertising Hall of Fame.
Set to Verdi's Forza del Destino with adorably playful french by smokey-eyed mrs. Parker as she talks to monsieur le gendarme and with red-soled Louboutin shoes that peek unmistakably under her Lacroix couture dress as she kicks to the count of the orchestra on the window of the posh boutique, this is a Paris-shot commercial that imprints itself on our mind with its strange atavistic motto "I had to have it!". Because it is so much coveted, you see.

And now Coty, the brand which is issuing Covet the fragrance for Sarah Jessica Parker have devised a new sleuthing game on who masterminded the theft of the bottle on their new site, Case of the Coveted Bottle(click on the link). The site offers free samples and a contest running till October 15th for weekly prizes. There will be extra clues given on this My Space link, where you can additionally download screensavers and wallpapers for your computer.

The Grand Prize winner will receive $10.000 and a trip for two to NYC to attend Lucky Magazine’s Lucky Shops 2007, but also a Covet gift bag encompassing a jewelry box and a deluxe mini. One First Prize winner will win a flat panel TV costing $1.200 and the Covet gift bag with the items described above. Last but not least 30 second prize winners will be receiving the Covet gift bag.
Additionally, the first person to solve one of ten weekly challenges will receive a green apple iPod Shuffle along with the Covet gift bag and the challenges will renew themselves each week. Finally two lucky winners will receive an apple iPhone and a Covet gift bag for the Bonus Challenges.

Sounds impressive! In any case good luck, those games can be addictive! I could spend hours being all monsieur Hercules Poirot on that site.

On the other hand if you want to laugh a bit with the ingenious uses of the bottle, please visit this link on Smelly Blog.

Clip uploaded by Leofour4, pics from Myspace/covetsarahjessicaparker

Midnight Poison by Christian Dior: the clock strikes twelve

My subtitle might remind you of a great classic Blue Oyster Cult song, Astronomy and Parfums Christian Dior might be privy to the fact that it has awesome lyrics(click the link to read) able to convey poignant images.
And so Christian Dior proceeded with yet another Poison in the illustrious line, this time named Midnight Poison.

Among perfume circles the fragrances following the original Poison are usually snubbed. Conceived by nose Edouard Flechier in 1985, encased in a flacon the colour of bruise and with a name to entice you to bite the ordoriferous yet faulty apple in the enchanted forest, the original Poison acted as a hand grenade for the nostrils of unsuspecting passerbys, who were too often anaesthetized by the penetrating aroma of this mysky, fruity and oriental concoction. A great thing, despite appearences and the only person I met who wore it well was my dear mother. Probably because she only dabbed two drops behind each ear.

The following versions, Tendre Poison from the early 90s, a greener floral highlightining freesia, and the quite recent Pure Poison with its synthetic orange blossom opening on a bed of musk are fairly tame in comparison. Hypnotic Poison by nose Annick Menardo from 1998, a tripy almondy gourmand, has -for the amove mentioned reasons- its own fans and escapes criticism relatively unscathed.

However this new Midnight Poison has the most gorgeous commercial imaginable and Perfume Shrine considers it its duty to bring those things to you.
So here it is for your delectation:




Directed by Wong Kar-Wai and featuring the wonderful actress Eva Green (Vesper in Casino Royal but also famous due to Bertolucci's film The Dreamers and Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven), it is stylistically superb, if a little gothic-looking. To which Perfume Shrine is not averse to, it might be noted. Of course the hanging from the chandelier puts a playful spin on this, so I guess it is not as gothic as it could be; let's say Tim Burton on a Mars Attacks budget.
References to the Cinderella fairy tale are evident in the depiction of a gigantic Dior clock that is about to chime midnight, the heroine running to the great "palace" to be in time, as well as the shot of the black ankle lace-up boots that adorn Eva's dainty feet. And as the countdown to 12 begins, we see Eva reveal a different self; a self that is brought about by wearing the new Dior fragrance, we infer, as drops of rain -or is it moondrops bursting?- are falling over her porcelain skin and raven black hair...

The song is Space Dementia by Muse, which I am taking the chance to remind you was the group whose song was chosen for the Insolence by Guerlain commercial featuring Hillary Swank. For some reason the line "You make me sick" indeed has a weird overtone in relation to perfume, but of course the whole concept of Poison was to assert itself agressively to the one smelling it, alluding to a dangerous sexuality that is confident in its choices.

What's left is the glorious midnight blue of the couture dress, the mysterious looking bottle, the majestic surroundings and a gorgeous campaign that should be met with an equally daring aroma "like acid and oil on a madman's face".

As to the latter I divert you to this perfume review by Cognoscented.

Clip by Youtube uploaded by museabusedotcom, pics courtesy of Dior campaign

I just might have to take it back…

Remember when Perfume Shrine was the first one to report on the new Chanel ad campaign for Coco Mademoiselle featuring Keira Knightley? It was the first one to meow about it too.
Much as I hate to do it, I might have to take it back (well, only part of it, as there is no love lost between me and ms.Knightley) and eat humble pie, as I came across the videos and making of of the new campaign and I have to admit it is looking much better than expected and actually has a cool edge to it! Rather like a F.Scott Fitzerald heroine, Keira bobs her hair and dons 20s style dresses with especially cool jewels adorning her lithe physique.
Of course Chanel has always paid great attention to its commercials and it shows, but it's nice to see that they are not abandoning the tradition. Especially after letting go of Kate Moss, who to Jacques Polges was a great choice for the representation of Coco Mademoiselle. And with a surname to beat all others in the realm of fragrance to boot. But fashion isn't anything if not fickle. (You can however click here and here for great nostalgic pics of the campaign with Moss).

There are two clips in rotation with the same song, by two different artists.

The Joss Stone version



And the original Nat King Cole version



And on top of that there is this clip that features some great shots from the campaign and of the wonderful jewels, albeit scored by a completely different premise of city. Ah well...


Chanel had the good sense to set up a new site just for the occassion and I urge you to explore it. Click here for lots of fun!

And to top it all, Chanel have launched new products in the Coco Mademoiselle line, available through their official site, such as the elegant limited edition gold compact of solid perfume depicted above (120$) and a 7.5ml/0.25oz solid white flacon for the purse of pure parfum/extrait(100$).

Can't wait to see the commercials running on my TV screen. Will hold definite judgment till then.

Clips from keiraweb.com and uploaded by Knightleyfan, pics from Chanel official site and okadi.

She's only got 2 & 1/2 expressions, for Pete's sake!!

I am not a catty person. Really, I am not. But the news some months ago that the expresioneless, manufactured-to-be-a-star, young, skinny Keira Knightley would be the new face of Chanel, substituting Kate Moss in the ads for Coco Mademoiselle perfume brought out the meow in me.
And this September the prospect of opening any glossy or switching on the TV risking to come face to face with her pouty mug is somehow giving me the creeps. You can say I am positively repelled.

Obviously, my opinion in corporate marketing doesn't matter at all; otherwise instead of coping with papers and mycenean amphorae I would be sitting at a board meeting vetoing choices like the above. Not that I regret it, because -let's face it- it's a fluff business at heart. However it would be kind of fun to shot down faces like Keira's.

The girl was all right in "Bend it like Beckham". Nobody knew her, she wasn't smug, the other girl was great in this film and Jonathan Rhys Meyers was exhibiting his own charm aplenty. And the film was original and refreshing!
Since then I can safely argue that I haven't seen her in anything in which she -specifically- was worthy of mention and her nomination for the Academy Awards for "Pride and Prejudice" (a flat, boring adaptation if there ever were one; what happened with that perfect BBC version?) convinced me we have to bear with ms.Knightley as long as the studios think they have the new version of sliced bread on their hands. Like I said, the girl's only got two and a half expressions (one of which is that pouty one depicted above)...Have you actually seen her laugh? Small children are intimidated into eating all their veggies when faced with such a toothy chukle.
I won't even think of commenting on her pretend angry/tough "face", because, really, you don't want to hear any more meow out of me...

But Perfume Shrine has a responsibility to the readers. And the same way we were the first to report the lovely news and pics of Kate Winslet as new face for Trésor, so we had the responsibility to not lag behind because of our personal displeasure. So here it is. The print ad and the stills from the TV spot shot by Joe Wright that will air on our screens in the upcoming months.

Chanel has always been very careful about their advertising campaigns and their Chanel No.5 series is testament to that, as well as their wonderful Egoiste and Coco commercials, two of the most memorable ones in all perfume advertising. Perfume Shrine had elaborated on a series of those commercials in the past.
You can read the whole article on No.5 clicking here and on Egoiste and Coco here with multimedia links to the commercials themselves.

The statements exchanged for the new campaign went somewhat like this
(reported in this link):

"Keira Knightley is a bright, young actress who has already made her mark in a diverse portfolio of films, including her Oscar-nominated performance in `Pride & Prejudice'" said Chanel artistic director Jacques Helleu in a statement.

He also said Knightley's elegance, beauty and modernity parallel some of the brand's other previous famous faces, including Catherine Deneuve and Nicole Kidman, who represented Chanel No. 5.

"(I am) really proud to have been asked to work with such an iconic house as Chanel, and thrilled to follow the extraordinary women who have been associated with it before," Knightley said in a statement.

"We think Keira is perfect because she is always incredibly alluring and seductive," said a Chanel spokesman. "She would not have looked out of place in the Forties or Fifties, and that's why she was chosen - to show a timeless chic that will never fade."

Keira herself went as far as to suggest that "Chanel's Coco is the first perfume I've ever worn" , which oddly (enter sarcasm) reminds me of a parallel statement by Nicole Kidman when she was signed for the No.5 campaign. No matter that we do know she opts for several others over it....

In the new ads Keira is trying to cement her sexy(?) and naughty(?) reputation -supposedly she was voted "sexiest actress" in a UK poll- playing around with a bowler hat, Berlinesque-stripper style (oh, she should get some lessons from Charlotte Rampling...) and indulging in gentle gender-play (no relation with those great commercials that you can read on and see here).

And frankly? I think the red Karl Lagerfel dress does not suit Coco Mademoiselle. But you can always say that my fangs are showing...


Pics come from popsugar, poponthepop and style.popcrunch sites.

Treasured features for Trésor

It was just a few days ago that Perfume Shrine was talking about revamped ad campaigns, inspired by the news that Kate Winslet, the quintessential English Rose of tremendous thespian abilities had been chosen to represent the almost classic fragrance by the house of Lancôme, Trésor.

I always thought she would bring pathos and freshness in anything commercial she might touch, remembering her in such roles as the romantically exalted Marianne in Sense and Sensibility or the outwardly rebellious, inwardly sensitive Clementine in the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind". Even for a quite heavy handed composition as the original Trésor eau de parfum by Sophia Grojsman, a fragrance that first appeared in 1990 to subsequent throes of overpopularity that made it a little banal. Perhaps now is the time to lure in new customers who will see it with virginal eyes.
For your delectation, here are the first pics that have been sleuthed for you. Enjoy!


Pics originally uploaded at jjb.yuku.com

Perfume advertising 5: the hilarious side! (multimedia clips)

If serious advertising were not enough, sometimes marketing teams play up on our conceptions about perfume in parody-style, satirizing our wishes for perfume to make us powerful, mysterious, indomitable and just plain old attractive and irresistible to the object of our interest. If only things were that easy. And yet, how many times have the same questions have been asked: what to wear to get attention? What would make the opposite sex melt? What would make us look younger and thinner and 5 inches taller with a mane like a supermodel’s and legs that go for miles? Personally if a perfume were that powerful, I’d just as likely prefer it to vacuum my house and do a good hard rubbing at all those difficult corners, thank you very much. That would greatly put me in a sexy mood, all right.
But it’s fun to contemplate what people would put themselves in denial about and how advertising is playing with that, right?

The angle of sexual attractiveness regardless of exterior attributes (which is, let’s face it, a plain looking person’s wildest dream) is brilliantly exploited in the following AXE commercial. Just see what happens when one rides the elevator. Given AXE’s reputation for potency and its users’ abandon with the sprayer the commercial is down right dangerous, if only because it might encourage stinking up closed spaces with the evil fumes. But funny as hell, nevertheless Watch the clip clicking here

In general AXE has capitalized on witty commercials tongue-in-cheek-style to drive the point of “use more, get more” (yep, that kind of “get”, you've understood it right), aimed at an impressionable adolescent male audience. Even if they laugh, I suspect their Id is getting the message across that this magical juice will help them surpass Porfurio Rubirossa’s fame. Dream on, little ones. You might as well spritz some Egoiste (or if you’re hard for cash some Coty Wild Musk) and be done with it, so much simpler. There's also much to be said about the merits of soap, plain deodorant and oral hygiene. But you already knew that, I hope. After all, if you're a good guy someone somewhere will perceive it, right? No matter how divenly you smell if you're behaving like a jerk, no way will you be popular with the ladies. (say that out loud 5 times before you ask again what cologne is a women's magnet)
And it’s great to see that LYNX, the British equivalent of AXE, has aired a commercial that takes this to the next level with a touch of the absurd and the borderline macabre. The heavy british accent of the voice-over is completely engaging as well. Not to be missed! Watch the clip clicking here

But of course teenage boys aside, the greatest target of perfume as a sexual attractant, a magic amulet of irresistibility are women. Women from all walks of life, all physiques, all cultural levels. Perfume always sold fantasy and women are always a little more susceptible to daydreaming it seems. Whether that’s ingrained or a result of upbringing is debatable (and getting girls girly things certainly makes them impose on them powers beyong their capability). Hey, it doesn’t even have to be in the sexual arena (we have come a long way baby!), but it’s so much more thrilling if it works there as well. In my humble opinion, perfume as a manipulating social weapon is like copulating as a dieting means greatly overrated. It's no accident that human beings have gone from the olfactory to the visual emphasis, after all we don't walk with our noses down the ground and into other creatures' butts all day like dogs, now do we?
We won’t go into the subject of perfumes containing the infamous pheromones, because I have zero experience with them and studies show that the results vary greatly (and can be attributed to self-induced feelings of confidence), however it’s not unheard of people using them to accomplish just that. Which begs the question what would happen if the result wears off or if they run out. But I think they consider it a fait accomplit if the victim has been safely anesthesized by then...They will have found a way to keep it by then or have gotten the chance to show their great personality. This is just theoritising on my part, mind you; not that I reject the right of anyone to use whatever he/she considers best.

In the great spoof I discovered, aired on Mad TV, Antonia Perfume, an otherwise sane woman (and not really unattractive, if you deduct the purposesly silly styling and lisp) has gone bananas over the desire for her perfume to attract and entice men. And it makes the great point that in order for someone to actually be attracted they have to be really close to smell the fumes, wouldn’t they? Which they wouldn’t if there is no other reason for them to get close in the first place. Imagine a woman trying to bumb into the object of her affection in a crowded bar. Many hilarious misunderstandings later and alcoholic shots as well, it might garner some attention. Watch the clip clicking here Unless one is olfactory stalking strangers purposesly offering them their wrists for sniffing ("smell me!"), which would make for another great spoof I guess.

Hope you have enjoyed the perfume advertising section critique and the multimedia clips courtesy of Youtube.com.

You can watch many many more in the appendix I have compiled on my info site Perfume Shrine, direct link clicking here

Enjoy!

Pics come from ads in okadi.com

An essay on art in perfumery

The issue of what constitutes art and what does not has been on my mind for years. Being an historian and having a degree in History of Art as well is no help though, because one would be amazed at the diversity of opinion in such circles as to what exactly would be the deciding factor. As perfumery might be considered an art form by us perfume fanatics, I wanted to discuss what exactly would define it as such and pose some questions.
I was reading an interview of painter and sculptor Fernando Botero -probably South America's greatest living artist today- given to Thanasis Lalas on Vima magazine the other day, which inspired this post.

Botero went on to give 9 suggestions to young artists which pretty much define the meaning of art to me. I roughly translate the suggestions and put my personal comment/explanation in parenthesis. Here they are:

1. Choose the right influence (meaning: the best ones! Get to know that
great masters and get influenced in a constructive way)
2. Art should
give some pleasure (he elaborates by saying he is old school in those
matters and doesn't think that you need a PhD to appreciate art, it just
"clicks" and makes you feel)
3. Develop your own sensibilities (ergo
develop a theoretical thesis about art and its meaning)
4. Abide by your
convictions (develop a personal style)
5. Be a rebel
(innovation, what else?)
6. Look upon your work as if it is someone
else's (objectivity is of paramount importance)
7. We all make
mistakes (he goes on to elaborate that an artwork's main mistake is to have
nothing to say in the first place, which is indeed much to the chagrin of a
modern art appreciator)
8. Success is never complete (personal
growth is tantamount to evolving in one’s style)
9. Art can be greater
than life (What a great line!!)

In that maxim I see a very nice summing up of what art is really all about (to me at least). It should make a point, it should have something to convey, it should innovate and not rely in its self-importance, it should be evolving and growing, making the artist as well as the audience grow with it.
I think it applies not only to sculpture and painting, but to music, literature, theater, you name it! Hence I thought about perfumery, which although does have a commercial aim (since the product of the creation is to be commercialized through marketing, advertising and sales) it does retain an artistic vision, much in the same way that a designer kitchen appliance designed by Phillip Stark can stand on its own as a modern day art piece (an “artefact” of a certain lifestyle, I’m afraid)
So a thing can have an aesthetic value as well as a commercial one, in that it can provide pleasure and to the degree that it does not break any other rule, it can be sold and bought.

JaeLynn (alias), a prolific writer and a poster on some of the fora I frequent said to me this great line and I quote:

“But then you start getting into the Frankfurt Schoolers versus
Jenkins/Hills/et al, which is a darned fine row if I do say so myself. What
constitutes "art" and are there divisions of high/middle/low? To put it
fragrantly, is there (Frankfurt) or is there not (Jenkins gang) a quantitative
and qualitative difference between a Lutens or Malle perfume and a Comptoir Sud
or Britney Spears perfume? “

What could we say to that? What exactly differentiates a Serge Lutens and a Frederic Malle from a Comptoir Sud Pacifique or Britney Spears perfume, if there is indeed a differentiation?

Surely when one approaches the different lines there is some snobbism inherent, especially among those who are just budding into perfume niches, because, let’s face it, the persona of the celebrity promoting the perfume with his/her name on has an uncanny way of entering our subconscious in more ways than one, alternatively influencing us into giving the perfume bonus points or inherent flaws, depending on our perception of Ms. Spears or any other eponymous celebrity or designer for that matter. Because many designers are capitalising on their name too in order to sustain their couture houses which would only crumble to the ground if left to the moguls clients only (after all how many are those and how many gowns could they wear in a given season?).

Lump in that category too overpriced exercises in trends, like sickly foody smells in a hundred different variations imaginable or oils that purportedly have a secret recipe and are all the rage among the famous. They are nothing special appearing as something that could be. Perhaps their art lies in clever marketing, but maybe that is a science after all?
Only blind testing would provide objective data in that stratum and we know this is a utopia for most of us when testing those particular scents.
Nevertheless, the one salient characteristic of most commercial perfumes is their ability to appeal and be pleasant across the boards for initiated and uninitiated alike. By that I do not mean that they are great, fabulous, wonderful or anything along those lines, because despite their pleasantness they often fail to make one genuinely interested and involved, leading to the launch of another new one that will in its turn become obsolete after the 5-year-time frame that modern day perfumes work within. They are perhaps too boring and forgettable to compel us to renew our purchase, so we become serial monogamists: using the new scent until the juice finishes and then on to another. They do smell inoffensive and “nice” though and sometimes being composed by the same noses who make other niche compositions with often comparable ingredients might beg the question why they aren’t considered art as well, per dictum number 2 discussed already.

The Frederic Malle line, on the other hand, started with an artistic reference point from the start as perpetuated by their motto perfumes without compromise: Malle gave the chance to top perfumers to create something they really wanted with the best materials available given no commercial restraints and he, like an editor, would promote it and distribute it for them. Hence the peculiar and sometimes bold nature of such animals as the lush, bombastic baroque Fleur de Cassie by Dominique Ropion or the pungent, bitter minimalism of Bigarade Concentreé by Jean Claude Ellena. In correlating this to the criteria we talked about in the beginning, the Malle line displays no specific homogenous “style” but rather the individual style of his artists who may indeed “abide by their convictions”. However among perfume loving circles I have come across many people who although they like and condone the concept have not found themselves in love with a single one in the line, at least not enough to buy a full bottle of it (what is affectionately termed as being “full bottle worthy” ).

Serge Lutens didn’t begin with such a concept, however there is a definite vision behind his creations with sidekick nose Chris Sheldrake: evoking the rich tradition of the Arabian world, however interpreted in a completely modern way with modern materials and procedures. The results are not erratic as with the Malle line because the collaboration of those two individuals in the line (with the exception of Maurice Roucel on Iris Silver Mist and Pierre Bourdon on Feminité du bois) has ensured coherence of style which however has the disadvantage of not always hitting the right spot. Hence the passionate feelings most Lutens scents arouse in perfume appreciation fans, whether their remarks are mostly positive (Chergui, Fleurs d’oranger) or mostly negative (Miel de bois, Gris Clair). The amount of pleasure one derives is subject to one’s personal associations and memories, as is with the majority of scents, however there is no denying that these are perfumes constructed as an exercise in pleasure recalling an opulence and sultriness of a modern odalisque that is active in an urban territory.

In their elitist mentality though (which in my humble opinion hides a snickering marketing angle too) they go on and produce such shocking segments such as the mentholated top note of Tubereuse Criminelle and the urine-like sweetness of Miel du bois that greet you when you open the vial. That would divert from the pleasure aspect if only there weren’t segments that transport the senses and validate the best wet dreams of an incurable perfumeholic (the creaminess of Un Lys, the deep plush of chocolate-patchouli in Borneo, the sweaty rot of the candied fruits in Arabie).

And then one stumbles on contradictory quotes such as this one:

"We don't care about celebrities at Hermès, it's the artists who drive us,"

Mr Ellena said.

"I do this for me. If it sells, it's a bonus."

The quote comes from TheAustralian.news.com on July 27th from an article about Ellena being in Sydney for the launch of Terre d’Hermès. Which left me wondering the obvious: if perfume is just art and not business, why travel to promote it?

OK, Mr Ellena, I forgive you the lapse this one time.