Win Guerlain's La Petite Robe Noire Scented Surprises

La Petite Robe Noire started as a curio a few years ago, mingling the Chanel "little black dress" concept with fragrance, illustrating the bottles with playful SATC black dresses cartoons which sorta alienated the regular Guerlain perfume die-hard yet jumping off the exclusive boutique circuit into the mainstream distribution after the scent proved a best-seller in the line. How things change, eh? Today La Petite Robe Noire boasts an entire line of concentrations and flankers with noticeable differences between the scent of each to keep women interested and buying.

Guerlain is organizing a contest which gauges your Glamourometer (yup, that's the word used) and allows you to win lots of LPRN fragrant surprises (including a large bottle of the perfume!) and you can enter it on this link, all you have to do is skip the film with the Nancy Sinatra tune. Good luck!

Win an A.Tauer Bottle of Your Choice! (and reviews on Une Rose Vermeille & Eau d'Epices)

Andy Tauer has been at the Pitti Fragranze exhibition in Florence, but his generosity to the perfume community is well documented and knows no territorial bounds. Therefore, he offered a contest for Perfume Shrine readers with a brand new bottle of perfume as prize and the winner gets to choose between his two upcoming launches: ROSE VERMEILLE or EAU D’ÉPICES.
So what should you do to enter the contest? Simple: State which is your favourite Andy Tauer scent & why in the comments; or if you haven't tried any, why you would want to sample an A. Tauer fragrance and maybe which catches your fance.
I will pick the best entry (to my discretion) and forward the winner's data to Tauer, so he can send them the fragrance. Contest is open till the end of the week, Sunday midnight, so you have plenty of time to participate.

In the above context and to help you a bit, I have sampled both fragrances and they're predictably very good. Of course all spicy fragrances by Tauer are awesome and the characteristic "Tauerade" (the house's beloved mix of labdanum, Tonka and the ambergis note) in the base is echoing through both. The spicy bouquet on top of L’eau d’épices is comforting and cozy. I don't know if it's the approaching cool of autumn and the longing for evenings spent by the fire, wrapped with a fluffy blanket and holding a mug of muled wine, but there's something immediately appealing about this scent which I am sure will find many fans. The cardamom is especially nice and coupled with the labdanum at the base created a sweet, resinous feeling. Tauer likens it to a walk through a pineta and I wouldn't disagree. The other spices are more of a familiar clove-y mix which recalls pomanders, the juicy citrus peel festooning the spicy prongs.
Une Rose Vermeille is a fruity rose, but fruity in the way that natural rose essence has a tangy, sometimes honeyed-hesperidic quality: the rose pairs with the mandarin and the framboise very well. After all, Tauer does love his roses and treats them like princesses. Andy here used Bulgarian rose absolute, which is very costly, and bypassed the powdery aspects into highlighting the liqueur-like tones so it reads "modern" and almost edible, like the rose jams we used to make around here, rather than "retro". Succulent!
Both fragrances project clean somehow, they feel "fresh" and bright and could be worn by either sex, but they're a far cry from the laundered & bleached "clean" fragrances that flood the market and recall functional products rather than fine fragrance. This is ascertaindly fine fragrance and is proud of it!

By the way, Andy intimated that he's introducing a smaller 30ml flacon for two of the Homage scents, Une Rose Chyprée (you can read a review here) and Une Rose Vermeille. Good news for those with tighter budgets!


Notes on the two new scents from Tauer Perfumes:
Scent N0. 12-EAU D’ÉPICES (eau de parfum, in the classic blue Tauer 50 ml flacon).
HEAD NOTES An Indian basket of spices with cinnamon, cardamom, clove and coriander with red mandarines.
HEART NOTES An opulent heart of orange blossom, jasmine, orris root and incense.
BODY NOTES A woody cistus ladaniferus resin, softened with ambergris, Tonka beans and vetiver.
Available worldwide end of September, about 120 $US

Scent No. 10-UNE ROSE VERMEILLE (eau de parfum, in a new 30 ml flacon, presented for the first time in Florence, September 10).
HEAD NOTES A citrus chord with lemon and bergamot with a whisper of lavender.
HEART NOTES Sumptuous bouquets of roses and violets, kissed by luscious raspberries.
BODY NOTES The richness of vanilla, sandalwood and Tonka beans, touched by the elegance of ambergris.
Available worldwide end of September, about 130 $US

Disclosure: samples vials of the scents were sent me by the perfumer

Travalo Atomisers: Review & Giveaway!

Whether you're someone who enthusiastically likes to carry their perfume everywhere (gym, holidays, strolls etc) but feels a little encumbered by the sheer weight, bulk and risk of a whole bottle in one's purse or a perfumista on a shoestring budget who likes to test lots of scents rather than settling on bigger bottles, you will be thrilled to hear that a new type of refillable atomiser has arrived and I am hosting a giveaway of 5 items for our readers: Travalo Refillable Atomiser doesn't necessitate you end up with climber's fingers (ie.titanium strong!) from spraying directly the nozzle of your bottle into those little glass or plastic vials ~which is usually the practice if one wants to decant from a spray bottle into a smaller purse vial; nor does it end up in wasted precious liquid in the process, which unfortunately happens all too often. Its patented pump fill valve technology makes refills a breeze eliminating any mess or fuss because Travalo refills itself directly from the mechanism of your bottle. (People who have used the resourcante bottles of Angel and Alien are familiar with the concept, it's the same thing in small scale)

Travalo stands 8cm long and weighs 12g, made from durable aircraft grade aluminium, so durable enough to withstand drops and bumps without spillage. It holds 4ml which is the equivalent of 50 sprays (so they say, I haven't actually sprayed as many times myself), so perfect for a weekend getaway. And perhaps of importance these days, it's airflight approved, which means you can carry it with you onboard.



How to Use the Travalo:



Travalo refillable atomisers come with a lifetime warranty for normal use (more at http://www.travalo.com/), they're available in 3 shades (pink, golden and silver) and they all include an integrated fill level window from which you can gauge how much is left in your container. They retail at 9.99£ each in the UK online and for 14.88 euros in Greece. I found them very practical, if a little expensive if you want to have multiples for your whole collection (I guess it all depends on just how vast that collection is!)
So, on to the giveaway: The company has kindly offered to gift 5 Travalo atomisers to our readers in the colour of their choice! You simply need to comment if you'd like one and I will pick 5 winners who will be sent their atomisers by the manufacturer.

In the interests of full disclosure I was sent one Travalo sample. The winners will be mailed theirs directly from the distributor. Both photos by Elena Vosnaki

Autumn Smells

Autumn and smells are entwined, perhaps more than any other season, if only because the cooling of the air leaves us with a newly fangled apprehension of our surroundings after the languor of summer and because autumn signals new beginnings along with a certain wistfulness.

I therefore had proclaimed a little contest the other day in which a winner would get a goody bag with lots of samples that had been accumulating in my drawers. After a difficult elimination process I chose RachelG whose entry was truly transporting and original. Runner-ups (honourable mentions) include NinaZ and Scott, who both expressed their sentiments beautifully! Thanks to everyone participating for the love and sentiment they brought to this, and till next time!

Here is the winning entry:

"To me, autumn is the smell of my cat coming in from the cold. It only lasts a minute, maybe less, but if I can scoop her up before she runs to the dinner bowl, and inhale deeply, there is a fragrance of incomparable beauty, and nearly impossible to describe: it is cold but alive, her fur, yes, but also wisps of the smoke from our chimney, the fresh cut woodpile she nestles in to watch for mice, the sweet brown of decaying leaves on the forest floor. Wandering outside won’t lead you to this smell, it is something unique to her and her kind. Maybe we walk too far from the ground, or maybe we don’t stay long enough in one place, but her autumn is a world truly apart from mine. While I love the rich wine and honey of my autumn, it is nothing compared to her wild and lovely life."

Rachel, please mail me using the email on Profile with a shipping address so I can send the goody bag to you!

Pic of Insomnium's album Across the Dark

Contest Time

Too many things to jungle left me with no ready post today. But since autumn is approaching so fast paced, I had an idea for a little contest: Write a short paragraph about what autumn means to you in terms of smells, what is your favourite aroma to signal the coming of autumn and why it resonates with you and the best one (judged by me) will win a good bag of several upscale samples including Divine, Lutens, Amouage, Neil Morris, etc. etc.
Submissions valid till Sunday midnigh.
Good luck!

The clip comes from the 2004 Greek film "Weeping Meadow" (Το λιβάδι που δακρύζει) by Theo Aggelopoulos, for me the quintessential autumnal director. Music by Eleni Karaindrou.

To distract...

Bad news don't have to be announced beforehand, they strike like lightning in a sudden summer storm getting you out of your comfort zone into the realisation that things follow their own course no matter how you think they're going. I was about to do a little article on Caron in light of the recent discussions pertaining to their reformulation by Fraysse and how this affects them or not, intending to procure samples of the current version to compare with my own older batches. All in the aim of accurate reporting, bien sûr!

Alas, at least one gem I was anxiously waiting to see if it had been altered significantly (at least from the version that I enjoyed) was Alpona, that weird beast which fascinated me. Yet, according to The Scented Salamander, Alpona is no more... Shed a loving tear for this individual chypre that would have celebrated its 70 years in 2009. Probably succumbing under the weight of oakmoss restrictions, it has been discontinued. An urn perfume no less, which is foreboding.
Your last chance to grab it before it goes away for ever is at the Caron Boutique for $100 for a 1/4 oz of extrait de parfum to $ 520 for 200 ml. The New York City boutique can be reached at (212) 319-4888. An Alpona review is in the works and will appear on Perfume Shrine shortly!

But enough with the fragrance world gloom and in a playful attempt to distract you from such sad occurences I am hosting a little contest.
Here is a clip that acts as a collage of perfume clips for several fragrances. The reader who identifies the perfumes seen in the correct sequence wins a decant of one of my spring perfumes.



(uploaded by arturdvm)

Check back again for review and surprise posts!

We have a winner!!

Like I had announced on the Perfume Quizz ~before the crash down that cost me so much time in restoring things~ there was to be the recipient of a bottle of italian perfume by a niche brand as a prize.
The winner is Lea, who contacted me by email in the meantime, hitting the right spot by guessing none other than The Body Shop White Musk.
Yup! That was the one! Softly sensual, ever so lightly floral, reformulated at some point, non expensive, widely popular and related to the late Dama Annita Roddick (rest in peace)...
And the prize is musky too. Congratulations Lea!

Thanks for the participationg and stay tuned for more contests on Perfume Shrine. Many things have haunted by cupboards that seek people to love them.

Perfume Quizz: win a Perfume Shrine prize!

Perfume Quizzes are usually fun. When they present the chance to win a bottle of an italian niche perfume that none of your friends will be sporting, they are even more fun! Because not only Givenchy and Coty for Covet have the right to initiate contests, right? So in the spirit of fragrance athletics, I came up with a fun little contest of my own today inspired by something that I sniffed up on a stranger in one of my walks along the beautiful, sunset-lit pier of expensive yachts I usually frequent for my afternoon stroll. This is the first in a series of little contests that Perfume Shrine will feature for our devoted readers.
So what is the contest about? You have to guess the perfume I smelled on the stranger. I will give you clues and you have three guesses each, posted in the comments section, if you want to participate.
Here we go:It was a youngish brunette woman in her late 30s, stylishly casual in her attire, with sterling silver dainty chains on her wrists and neck, who emitted the most glorious sillage of something that appeared at once subtly floral, seductive and intimate. It smelled sexy in a subdued way, yet also fresh and lively. The fragrance itself is non expensive and widely popular, recognised by many and reportedly reformulated at some point, although on her it smelled like its glorious former self and really made an impression on me. To be extra, extra devious I will venture the hint that it also marginally has to do with something pertaining to current events.

So guess away! Solution to be posted shortly.