Ormonde Jayne Gold Rush: new products

Ormonde Jayne is spoiling us rotten again with a slew of new products:

Gold Crème, an opulent scented crème for the décolleté and shoulders is available in two of Ormonde Jayne’s award winning fragrances, Orris Noir and Ta’if. Gold Crème leaves skin delicately fragranced with a beautiful golden shimmer.

Price: £56 for 15ml
Stockist: 12 The Royal Arcade, 28 Old Bond Street, London W1S 4SL, 020 7499 1100
Ormonde Jayne, Harrods, Black Hall, London SW1X 7XL, 020 7730 1234
http://www.ormondejayne.com/

Gold Dust on the other hand is decadent, recalling retro films with dangerous heroines who wrecked havoc with their enchanted entourage and used big puffs of powder in front of their mirror. Gold Dust will be the ultimate luxury this Christmas and is exclusive to Harrods. 24-carat gold dusting powder, housed in a black lacquered handmade gold box crafted by British carpenters. The lavish puff is hand sewn in the Ormonde Jayne London studio in French satin with a beautiful champagne coloured marabou feather trim. Gold Dust is perfumed with the rare and exotic Ta’if Rose. Ta’if Roses are harvested only during April and are handpicked early each morning, five thousand feet above the shores of the Red Sea and overlooking the Arabian Desert. For the ultimate evening glamour, apply over Ormonde Jayne Ta’if Eau de Parfum or Parfum to leave you with an enthralling fragrance which will last the length of any party. Linda Pilkington, creator and owner says: “The ultimate in decadence and glamour for that bit of vampish femme fatale in all of us.”

Price: £400 for 15ml gold dusting power and handmade puff
Stockist: Ormonde Jayne, Harrods, Black Hall, London SW1X 7XL, 020 7730 1234

Finally, there is the Navidad Scented Candle for Christmas 2010. Fragranced with warm, festive notes of Mandarin, Cardamom, Cinnamon, Bay, Amber and Tonka, this limited edition candle creates the perfect Christmas atmosphere. Each of the three hundred limited edition Navidad candles is housed in an beautiful antique gold box with an embossed gold lid. Every candle is hand poured and finished in the Ormonde Jayne London studio.

Price: £60 for 290g Limited Edition Candle in luxury Christmas presentation box.
Stockist: as above for the Gold cream

some info & pic via press release

La Prairie Life Threads: fragrance reviews

It's not too often that I do "custom" reviews, and before you get any nasty thoughts (we're an independent blog here!), I mean requests from my readers. I had presented the new trifecta Life Threads by La Prairie (with a little historical comparison as to precious metals and fragrance associations) and emails started flooding my inbox asking me for my opinion on them. After replying to one or two directly, I thought you might all get a kick if I embarked on a more detailed coverage, so here I am.

If you have any modernist streak running through you, the hard-wired and Lucite La Prairie bottles display will recalimbrate your vision on where modern art can appear: Apparently apart from MOMA or The Tate, it can be hosted at your local La Prairie counter too! There was some version of plastic paneling in packaging before, notably in Roberto Cavalli scents (Just Her, Just Him) but it was done in a completely plastic-fantastic "I'm a Barbie Girl" sort of manner that defied good taste really. The La Prairie bottles take those wires and coil them round your neck tightly if you even begin to think that they're cheap: They most assuredly are not and they look ever so much better up close.

The trilogy is set to be a "provocative portfolio of fragrances [that] speaks to the different dimensions of a woman, rich with entanglements, connections and mysteries waiting to be unraveled". Reassuringly, they're not especially provocative, in the degree that you won't be rubbing your eyes "whoa! where did this come from?", however they are all polished, competent compositions that exhibit good intentions.

I was overall most impressed with Silver which is the woody floral in the triumvirate. Expansive and with an engulfing white floral heart (indolic jasmine and lots of creamy tuberose) it radiates with the same razor-sharp pitch over off-the-cholesterol-chart butteriness which Fracas does so well, thanks to the inclusion of peppery and green elements (think spicy vetiver and unidentified mossy notes, probably in synch with the upcoming IFRA44th regularions). Lovers of Tom Ford's Velvet Gardenia might also want to give it a whirl, because it shares the proper mushroom-like ambience of the real blossoms and a butyric character right out of the clotted cream recipes cookbook of Julia Child ("The best time for diet food is while waiting for the steak to get done" ~I can identify with that!). March over at Perfume Posse put it succintcly when testing it: "It was like running errands in a silk peignoir and ostrich mules. It is deeply fabulous, if very much not me, although I kind of want it to be me".

Gold is certainly shaping up to be the crowd-pleaser in the range, as it hits all the right spots for most of the consumers: it starts citrusy (mandarine, but not orchard-rich), is a little sweet (but not tooth-achingly so, an accomplishment), it's a little orientalised (but will not end you being sold in a harem), it's a little spicy (but no uncle Serge peeking through with handfuls of cumin at the ready to be thrown up your nose). The solar notes and the ylang-ylang heart compliment each other well and the solemn, yet warm note of myrrh is infusing the whole. Is a perfume that is programatically set to deny excess in any aspect worth it, you might ask. Well, in some small way it is. I wouldn't pick it as my first choice over other beloved orientals, but to make an analogy, like Yves Saint Laurent's misunderstood Cinéma it's a pleasant example of the genre that shouldn't be ashamed of itself.
Although advertised as an "elegant and edgy chypre" (a category I am especially simpatico to), Platinum didn't grab me, nor did I find it edgy. I hear it is marketed as unisex, which is a novel idea, the other two being so femme focused. There is radiance, but also a little shrill quality about it, which manifests itself in the clash of the cucumber-smelling violet leaves in the opening (this is not sweet powdery violets) with the abstract floral elements and the standard patchouli-vetiver base which we have been smelling to distraction in, oh, just about the majority of the market's share of "modern chypres" in the last 5 years or so. The latter might be the reason why I am not more enthused with the idea, although I can't deny it's a competent example and it does present a miniscule leather facet which is intriguing. I just wish it had been furthered to its full potential!

Somehow the advertising fanned out in three commercial clips seems rather cheesy to me and you can colour me unimpressed on that score ~there's even a song "inspired" by them; sometimes they seem attenuated to the point of ridicule (The heavy nuanced accent on the Platinum one doesn't really help me take this any more seriously, dear advertisers. It's not like you hired Tim Piggot Smith, you know). The stories are "real stories", aiming to provide a romantic subplot to what is a snippet of "life" for the viewers. If the La Prairie audience accustomed to their expensive skincare is fantasizing about such a life (and not already having it) is unbeknowst to me, although I wouldn't hold my breath; it certainly looks a little aspirational to those who probably save scraps for a month in order to be able to afford a pot of their creams. ("I always wanted to leave on top of the world" etc. just before the story turns into the classic "rich lady in search of macho low-class so she can feel like a woman again".) You can watch them all here or on Lifethreads.com. It's interesting to note that although it's French actress-singer Arielle Dombasle who is fronting the fragrances, the commercials so far utilize neither her voice, nor her presence. I wonder why!
The clips come with lots of voice-over. Someone needs to have a cinematic lesson: Voice-over is the surest way to have a par excellence visual medium turn into televised theatre, aka snore-fest ~if you have ever compared a live theater performance with its televised version you know what I'm talking about! It's a pity the designing team didn't work on the advertising as well. But in true cinematic mode "nobody's perfect!"

La Prairie Life Threads: Silver, Gold and Platinum come in Eau de Parfum bottles of 1.7oz/50ml for $125/100 euros at La Prairie counters, Neiman Marcus, Begdorfs and Saks.
Notes etc. on this link.

Photo by Guy Bourdin via queeninheels.com and saopauloegratis.com

La Prairie Life Threads~Silver, Gold, Platinum: new fragrances

Luxe Swiss brand of skincare and cosmetics La Prairie had issued Silver Rain a few seasons ago to lukewarm results. Now a trio of fragrances, the collection Life Threads in Silver, Gold and Platinum is entering the market fronted by French actress Arielle Dombasle with hopes of scoring one better. Constance Georges-Picot is behind the new line.
Silver encompasses notes of green leaves, golden bergamot, all-spice, jasmine, orange blossom, sandalwood, musk and peppered moss in a woody floral composition.
Gold is a warm and spicy oriental with top notes of mandarin, Chinese prune, and clove. The heart rests on ylang ylang, coriander, lily of the valley, rose and cinnamon, while the base incorporates vanilla, musk, myrrhe, incense, cedar and patchouli.
Platinum is a "modern and elegant" floral chypre in which violet leaves, galbanum, prune, jasmine, rose, leather, cardamom, iris, patchouli, vetiver, amber, oakmoss and labdanum intermingle.

The designation of precious metals for feminine fragrances is an old practice, famously exploited by Dana and later by Estee Lauder (Dazzling Silver, Dazzling Gold) as well as Claude Montana with his discontinued collection of three scents (Argent, Or et Cuivre) and so the new fragrances by La Prairie follow well-charted territories while the notes seem to correspond to what is populary referred to as "silvery" or "golden" smells. Nothing revolutionary then, but of course we will only pass judgement when we sample them.

The two official sites lifethreads.com et laprairie.com will be featuring small teasers with Arielle. Launch is scheduled for 15 October with prices of 100 euros for 50 ml/1.7oz which puts them in the higher-end of department store fragrances.

Twin Peaks: Un Lys and DK Gold

I had written that Un Lys by Serge Lutens represents the dying breath of an angel in heaven. Such is its poetic licence that you have to approach it with sacred awe.
Donna Karan strived for a comparative effect with her Gold fragrance for women in 2006. Its mix of vibrant lily with animalic profundity puts Gold on a pedestral of worship, that of a stony goddess who demands the coming of Choephoroi.

The fragrance necessitated no less than 3 perfumers of the caliber of Yann Vasnier, Calice Becker and Rodrigo-Flores Roux. Usually that would be a recipe for disaster (too many opinions and twinkering often lead to an incoherent vision), yet in Gold the result is none the worse for trying.
The main accord focuses on bright, trembling with life lily, suave woods plus musk, effecting a round and creamy composition accented with discernable jasmine adding its indolic glory.

The opening of Donna Karan Gold has the dewy freshness of green tonalities of muguet, vaguely reminiscent of the green overture of Annick Goutal's Des Lys (another floriental focusing on Casablanca lilies) and the sharper start of Lys Mediteranée by F.Malle. Although the floral phase is clearly discernible from the start, the more the scent dries down the more the sensuous aspects reveal themselves beneath the droplets of lucid coolness.
Underneath a camphoreous scent is peeking through, like a riddle on the edge of the screenshot in a Greenaway film: now you see it and now you don't.

The development of Gold in the Eau de Parfum adds a very alluring animalic submantle which hints at ductile leather and ambergris rather than the traditional resinous amber mentioned, yet it doesn't do so with too much rebelliousness, remaining a sensual touch warming the proceedings and adding gravitas. Perhaps Gold, although certainly not ground-breaking, is a knowing wink of Donna Karan to her first perfume, the long discontinued Donna Karan New York in the phallic black bottle, which utilized lily, amber and suede to great effect.

Compared to Serge Lutens Un Lys with its mellifluous vanilla merging flowers with a dancing cloud, cherubically ethereal and featherbed soft at the same time, Gold stands as a drier, less sweet composition; but for those with no access to the exclusive Lutens it's a good alternative.


Notes for Un Lys: lily, musk, vanilla.
For DK Gold: Casablanca Lily, Amber, Acacia, White Clove, Golden Balsam*, Gold Pollen and Patchouli.

*a mix of Peru tolu balsam, olibanum, benzoin, vanilla, and cistus


Please note that Donna Karan Gold comes in Eau de Parfum concentration, which is warmer and much more complex than the more aqueous and linear Eau de Toilette, as well as a Sparkling Eau de Toilette. Between those versions Eau de Parfum is highly recommended per above. Parfum amplifies the cistus and incense with more vanilla.
The elegant bottle is created by jewellery designer Robert Lee Morris.


Un Lys , being a non-export fragrance, is only sold at Les Salons du Palais Royal Shiseido, who ship across Europe, while a few remaining bottles of the limited edition in export oblong bottles can be found at select few Lutens sellers.

Pic of Gold bottles courtesy of Donna Karan Beauty

Scent your Home for Spring

How can one do without friends? Fragrant friends are especially wonderful, if only because they introduce you to delights of the senses that forever tie their memory with the feelings thus provoked. One of those friends sent me some Jacques Garcia Gold. And the elation of sniffing recalled the wonderful traits of this lovely lady who has been spoiling me rotten!

Jacques Garcia Gold is an orange blossom scent: it was therefore natural that it would attract the attention of Perfume Shrine which has so much elaborated on orange blossom in the past. {click the link for our series}
Jacques Garcia is, amongst many famous international places, the interior designer of Hôtel Costes in Paris, La Mamounia in Marrackech, La Reserve in Geneva, Casino de Montreux in Switzerland, L'Avenue Restaurant in Paris, Jean-Georges in NYC and Hotel Victor in South Beach...
Jacques Garcia had the lovely idea of launching a line of home fragrances in room spray and candle form to scent all those sumptuous interiors and to do that he collaborated with Rami Mekdachi. The latter is a true sorcerer of scent who actively sought to create "perfume for modern temples". His diverse portfolio of artistic direction encompases the opulent brocades of the Hôtel Costes scents, the leathery smoothness of the exclusive fragrance for the infamous dancing venue VIP Room, as well as in the eponymous fragrance for the famous Colette boutique and Pierre Frapin Cognac. Not to forget ’Scent Lab’, the fragrance forecast bible for the cognoscenti.

With a background of marketing at a major cosmetics company as well as being a musician, Rami Mekdachi found the perfect fusion of art and business in the world of perfumery: "Music has the ability to bring you to a certain period of your life, to remind you of special moments. The same can be said of perfume, and yet, the effect of scent is even more powerful, because it acts on the subconsious level and opens the mind to a whole new arena of emotions".
All this with a nod to the ancient tradition of scent being a means to transport one to a different mood upon entering a sacred place. Very simpatico with Perfume Shrine's philosophy!

The nose chosen by Mekdachi to recreate these feelings in the Jacques Garcia line of ambience scents was the great Pierre Bourdon: the nose behind such elegant compositions of light cyclamen as Iris Poudre,the ethereal chiffon of Ferré by Ferré, as well as enduring bestsellers like Cool Water for men.

Gold is the freshest whiff of orange blossoms swaying in the spring breeze, bringing promises of happiness and insouciance, the glimpse of sunny days ahead and destinations in the Mediterranean where groves full of bitter orange trees look like white fairies in the wind.
The smell is simple, yet heavenly, as it engulfs you in its initial hesperidic freshness making the nostrils smile with pleasure. In a minute the blossom is there, true, honeyed and realistic as if a citrus aurantia tree is growing its branches beneath your windows, with the scent of wood as an afterthought. I have been known to put this on skin, as a personal scent, to uplift the spirits.
The bottle is one of the most decadent ones I have ever seen for a room fragrance, yielding itself to the frou-frou look of a boudoir atomiser in midnight blue with a tassel in silk thread and gold filigree design on the front. The candle is a comparable affair of indulgent decoration that will bring a touch of glamour to any coffee table. They're perfectly transporting!

The candle comes in 6.7oz, while the room spray comes in a 3.4oz bottle. Available at Aedes.
The line also includes Silver, a tuberose scent and Bronze, a scent based on myrrh. I can't wait to try those out as well.


So, what will you use to scent your home this spring?

Pics courtesy of Aedes

Bullion or Bull? 8 88 of them...by Comme des Garcons: fragrance review

Sometimes it's hard to distinguish the bullion from the bull. Gold has a way of masquerading into the most unexpected guises, while the reverse is also true.
Comme des Garcons 8 88 new fragrance was released for only one week (!) in London at the Burlington Arcade guerilla store. It won't be available again until March 2008, but a generous and kind soul was able to get us a sample and Perfume Shrine has the rare privilege to review the elusive scent with the weird and -reputedly lucky?- numerological name.

Comme des Garcons has always gone for the quirky, establishing themselves at the vanguard of art perfumery with a twist. A resolutely modern line of fine fragrances. The brand by Rei Kawakubo who introduced the pauper-chic of the early 80s to jaw-dropping Paris has set a high standard for shock value. Their Guerilla stores were the kind of avant-guard marketing that makes for cleverly calibered word-of-mouth. It even convinced me to go under the shade of an ancient ruin for the sole purpose of shopping for the first time in my life!
The challenge was to see whether they delivered this time around, as they had previously succeeded in doing with their wonderful Incense line (a long-time favourite of mine) or the Red series or indeed the original fragrances that bore their name, aiming at working like Ayuverdic medicine (they don't...).

Antoine Lie, a perfumer from Swiss giant Givaudan, was the nose who created 8 88. It tries to capture the odour of gold, an elusive goal no doubt but in line with the brand's attempt to ride on the Luxe bandwagon: a concept perhaps at odds with their conduct thus far.

Jewels have always mesmerised both the artistic and the mystical in me, with their aura of hidden but powerful energy surrounding them. Most importantly the feel of heirlooms and historical pices, some of which have pride of place in my ever expanding collection, give me a rush of aesthetic and intellectual pleasure in running my fingers over them, contemplating just how they were made, who they belonged to and what feelings they evoked for their owners.
Yellow gold pieces in particular remind me of ancient rituals, the homeric "Mycenae, rich in gold": the loot from ancient Egypt by the Ekwesh (whom recent research tautologises as Achaean Greeks coming from Anatolia).
Alas, much as I lean on my comparatively less important pieces, I cannot bring myself to smell anything more than the faint remains of the fragrance that clung from my skin since the occassion that I wore them. Gold really has no special smell, apart from the metallic coldness or the odour of blood shed in its pursuit...


The task set before Antoine Lie was therefore difficult. According to the creator:

“We started with the concept that we wanted to find if gold has an odour and we looked for an olfactive expression. I looked at a number of different materials and decided very quickly on Safraline because of its very specific character.”

Safraline is an aromachemical, a molecule produced by Givaudan, derivative of saffron/crocus flower: the latter being a very expensive material due to its difficult picking and handling of the fragrant stemens by hand.

Official notes for 8 88 are: safraline, pepperwood, curcuma, coriander, geranium and amber.

As I sprayed the juice of 888 on my skin I perceived an initial fresh, almost orangey aroma from the coriander, a slight wet pottery whiff with tender sweetness to it that later on cedes to dryness. The opening has the cheery gusto of a sparkling finish on a fashion handbag done in metallics with none of the leather smell that would denote its quality materials or the metallic feel of typical aldehydic or iris fragrances reminiscent of the insides.
In that stage there follows the faint plasticky smell of freshly new DVDs out of their box, an odour so weird as to become instantly memorable for anyone who has had the chance to step into a very new, very big videostore. Some vague spiciness pops in and out, but as it dries down it does so with a woody and ambery character that is subdued and rather feminine, remaining close to the body without overstaying its invitation.
Compared with Safran Troublant by L'artisan parfumeur, 8 88 lacks the round feeling that accounts for much of the pleasure derived out of wearing the former, while at the same time it doesn't offer the jarring and jolting effect that one expects from a Comme des Garcons fragrance. It is pleasant, a little bit boring and very inoffensive; which is really tearing it apart with mild praise, I realise.


The bottle is in the traditional shape of the original CDG fragrance and Man2: the smooth tactile peeble, this time done in gold.
The price was 52 British Pounds for 50ml of eau de parfum concentration last time I checked. It is doubtful whether it will remain the same or rise: they shouldn't ask for its weight for gold, that's for sure.

Pic of 18K gold & tourmalines necklace from personal collection.

Colour of the jus

Have you ever wondered if the colour of your perfume is not a haphazard choice? Have you asked yourselves if you would love it equally if it were a different hue? Or more importantly if the people involved in creating it have actually exerted any brainstorming about this?
A funny incident happened a while ago and made me consider the issue from another angle than the mere personal.

On a fine lunch hour shopping spree I passed from that shop that was inspired by Moses' wife and rhymes with catastrophe in Greek (which is what my significant other always mutters when he sees a bag with the white-on-black logo of it). I am referring of course to Sephora.
As I was browsing, nodding to myself "already tested", "already tested", "already tested", I come close to a couple at the Lauder shelves. Casually dressed but well groomed (the european groomed casual chic), around 30 both.
The girl, a dark haired one, rather pretty, grabs the tester for Knowing and ooohs and aaahs saying "Oh, this is my favourite perfume in the world, wore it so much". (I am thinking she wanted the guy to take the hint and buy it for her- and she was not the mercenary type at all). The guy seems uninterested and browses beside her, going "uh huh". She then picks up Cinnabar, as they have the older Lauders all grouped together. "This is nice too" she comments smelling the bottle.(I agree) She gives it to the guy, who says they are both rather heavy, vetoing the decision. She is even motioning to pick up the Youth Dew, when he intervenes and says : "Imagine how heavy that one must be; it's almost black!!" She never finished the motion to pick it up and sniff the bottle, as she didn't do it with Aliage either (which is also quite dark). And immediately he goes on and picks the nearby Alien (Sephora places them alphabetically and Mugler is after Lauder). "Now this is lighter, better" he quips. (the "light" thing merits its own discussion in another post) She made a face. I just about wanted to smack him at that point! Both because he denied her what she obviously liked and because he showed his prejudices about perfume picking. I didn't follow them to see what they bought in the end. I didn't have the luxury of time. Maybe they didn't buy anything. If they did however it was not what she wanted, she seemed crestfallen....
I don't see these two making it to the aisle and that doesn't refer to the shopping kind.
The little story has a moral though. People judge with their eyes as much as with their noses.

There is another great story that has been recounted to me by J, known as Teacake, a sweet Australian-based lady. She mentioned that someone young (a teenager actually) who was a friend of her daughter had proclaimed upon viewing her collection that "yellow/golden juices don't smell nice, only pink and blues do". That comment has been a mini-epiphany for me. Seriously: it made me realise that indeed the colour of the jus really denotes the target market as well as the olfactory family in most cases: fruity florals and "fresh" scents which were all the rage with the young some nanoseconds ago are indeed pink or blue!

I don't think this is an accident. I believe it has to do with the mentality that yellow jus is older, classic perfumes that are associated with natural ingredients (no naturals are coloured pink or blue, except chamomille of course and they don't use it in most commercial perfumery because of that unstable blueish tint that might ruin the general effect).
If one stops and thinks about it most of the classics are pale golden or light ambery: Shalimar, Femme, Mitsouko, Joy, Chanel #5, Bois des iles, L'heure bleu. They all vibrate at some variation of wee colour. There are a few notable exceptions like Chanel #19 or the afore mentioned Youth Dew, but still no pink or blue or even purple coloured perfume existed till quite recently. Certain natural ingredients do have a deep colour: Peru Balsam is molasses dark; natural jasmine turns almost orange with the passing of time, sometimes alarming us into thinking that a perfume containing it has turned.

Pink and blue juice on the other hand usually has a highly synthetic construction that guarantees the stability of colour and the unnatural hue of the finished product.
Personally, I have a deep seated aversion to the colour blue in fragrances, although I do appreciate it in other permutations (the sea, glassware and jewels come to mind). I think it shows an insurmountable lack of imagination on behalf of the person who opts for it; especially if it's a man, I'm afraid. It's such an easy, safe choice! What's your favourite colour? 9 out of 10 men reply blue, if asked out of the blue about it (am I being punny?). I don't hear fuschia (too gay), chesnut(too difficult; do they even know it's a shade?), vermillon (it sounds like a french recipe for something involving snails or frog's legs) or even black (the odd rocker/goth/outcast/mysterious Lothario picks that one up out of the 10.....thank God fot that)
In perfume terms it usually denotes an overload of the dreaded fakeness that is the "marine" note. Yeah.....marine for people born and raised and living all their lives in the Chezh Republic(a landlocked country); having no passport on top of that. I am categorically adamant that the sea does not smell like any of the marine fragrances out there I have ever smelled. I do keep hoping some day they will catch the elusive trail. I live in hope.

Anyway, younger folks tend to associate the hip and new with those pastel hues, dismissing the rest as "old ladies' perfume". In their desire to mark their territory and draw the line, maping their own identity, revolting from what their parents wear, they go for the pink and blue, with the odd inclusion of purple for those who like a smidgeon of mystery (or so they imagine).
So companies churn out perfumes in those colours. It's all marketing, I'm afraid.


Pic was sent to me via mail uncredited, probably courtesy of an advertising campaign (MAC maybe?)
Not sure, but great photo nonetheless.