Fragrance Industry News: Big Brands, Niche Players and Celebrities

The perfume industry is going through different phases and looking into the developments, what with the mergers, acquisitions, take-overs and profit reports, as well as the perfume best-sellers lists, is always interesting in its own way. According to the latest reportage there are news in what concerns big players and the continuing growth of niche in the market segmentation.

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As per the BBC news, "Coty - the New York beauty brand behind famous names such as Calvin Klein, Marc Jacobs, Gucci, Hugo Boss and Chloe - has faced headwinds this year.
In August, it reported a surprise quarterly loss that was partly blamed on "materially" higher marketing costs for the launch of new fragrances, including Gucci Bloom and Hugo Boss Tonic.
L'Oreal, which sells fragrances under brands including Yves Saint Laurent, Ralph Lauren and Diesel, also reported disappointing sales and profits for its most recent quarter." 

It's interesting to note one particular detail which might be explaining the differentiation of niche in practical terms for consumers.

Again according to BBC News, "[market research firm]Mintel estimates UK sales will be worth about £1.5bn this year, making it the fifth-biggest market globally behind Brazil, the US, Russia and France. As with other retail sectors, she says one of the problems is savvy consumers who try out products in a physical store but then go online to buy it for less." 

Niche perfumes by default offer less sampling opportunities in store and they also have different sales practices regarding shop distributions and to the sales bonuses of the sales assistants pushing them.

The data for the celebrity fragrances however seems contradicting. One source (Mintel to be precise) "releasing a fragrance emblazoned with the name of a celebrity, such as Britney Spears, Beyonce or Jennifer Lopez - appears to be waning. A third of consumers describe this approach as tacky."
The Washington Post cites that sales of celebrity scents "have dropped by half since 2000, while luxury perfumes have seen a recent sales increase of 16 percent, bringing them to a record high".  There is nevertheless the counter argument.

In an Allure article touting the quality of many celebrity fragrances (and indeed we have shared a bit of the love, when deserved, on these very pages) there will always be a place for celebrity scents. "We experience them not as people, but as products, ingesting whatever song, photo, or product they choose to release. They are not so much revealing themselves to us, but continuing to build the character they are projecting themselves to be. We are falling in love with someone we will never know.
In that way, celebrity fragrances are different than scents from the big houses — the Armanis and Chanels. While brand loyalty is certainly a factor in what helps fragrances from the big guys fly off of the shelves every season (not without the help of a celebrity as the face of the brand and scent) celeb scents tap into a different part of our psyche." and concluding "the trend of celebrity fragrances will only completely die out when our collective obsession with celebrity does — which is to say, not any time in the near future."

Worth keeping in mind.

New Chanel Eau No.5 Flanker Perfume Later in 2016: Fragrance Rumor (Chanel No.5 L'Eau)

We've all been brought up in the legend of Chanel No.5. Books have been written about it, it topped best-selling lists and the rumor that a bottle is sold someplace in the world every X seconds has trailed sales pitches for ages. And yet there are two disturbing facts about it: one is that Chanel is exceedingly secretive of actual figures of sales; the other is that the perfume routinely performs badly in blind tests. What gives? A new fragrance is out later this year so as to combat this double-edged knife in the ribs of the French house. This is a PerfumeShrine rumor article. But let's take things at the top.

via wikimedia commons

The sales of No.5 have been steadily dropping, no matter the glossy campaigns. The French sales of No. 5 dropped from No. 1 in 2010 to No. 5 in 2015 in favor of Lancome's La Vie Est Belle, the incontestable top slot since its introduction a couple of years ago. The American market has been worse still. Young women find it too strong, too "matronly" in its odor profile; something they revere as a myth but not as a personal fragrance for themselves, perfume "for old ladies".
But it's also the rest of the Chanel fragrances which haven't been going that well either; Coco Mademoiselle seems to have run its culmination arc with a drop of 3.9% last year, the original Coco de Chanel perfume dropping a rather predictable 5.2% (nothing is as obsolete for young women now as 80s spicy orientals) and Allure dropping a whopping 8%. Only Chance and its various flankers are doing really well, woe to the discerning perfumephile: they have risen up to 6% only last year. Bleu de Chanel, another mainstream lukewarm soup, has become the prime choice of the banlieu, i.e. French suburbia material.

ADDED 16/5 via punmiris.com

Chanel has always been meticulously attentive to their treasured heritage. No.5 has been the emblem of the house and its advertising, stirring the fantasy and solidifying the reputation of a classy yet sexy fragrance, especially as boosted by Marilyn Monroe's infamous quote. In later years a string of advertising campaigns have tried to re-inject interest in the formula of No.5, sometimes with impressive if a tiny bit laughable results (the Luhrmann commercials, first with Nicole Kidman, then with Gisele Bundchen), other times with spectacularly laughable results (Brad Pitt...I'm looking at you) and on some occasions with truly fantasy-cart-wheeling side-effects (such as the Jeunet commercial with Audrey Tautou aboard the Orient Express).

The introduction of No.5 Eau Première a few years ago indicates that apart from rejuvenating the brand, through targeted advertising using the faces that people love to look up to, the jus needed its own rejuvenation as well. Highly praised critically, this new edition by then in-house perfumer Jacques Polge, however, didn't do as well as had been expected commercially.
According to reportage from Fortune, seeing the light of the day in late January 2016 and brought to my attention by an eagle-eyed friend, CEO Maureen Chiquet, one of the precious few women CEOs in luxury brands (a fact she was meaning to stress in an upcoming book, which might have created an unfavorable stir at Chanel) and a force to reckon with regarding the inspiring growth of the company at large in the last few seasons, stepped down "due to differences of opinion over the strategic direction of the company" after a 9 years long tenure. Alain Wertheimer, chairman and grandson of the original owners but also a recluse billionaire till now apparently, is taking control of the company's operations for the foreseeable future.

via

There's no doubt in my mind that the seemingly disappointing commercial course of No.5 Eau Première (so bad that it had to change its bottle to reflect more of the legendary austere lines of the original No.5 last year?) didn't significantly deviate from the tried & tested skeleton of the immortal icon. Personal consultation with perfume seekers has painfully made me realize No.5 is considered a fossil; awe-inspiring more for its ability to withstand time than for its familiarity or appeal, a once beautiful intergalactic alien from another moment in the universe's timeline. 

With La Vie Est Belle cornering the top spots reserved for Chanel and with contesters Christian Dior (with the new Poison Girl fragrance heavily promoted) and Yves Saint Laurent (with the rather bad Black Opium as well as the rectified, while still very approachable Black Opium Nuit Blanche) Chanel has entrusted a major bet on the slender shoulders of its newer perfumer at the helm, Olivier Polge.
The new No.5 flanker must therefore reflect the legend, surely, but it should also get a slice of the pie of La Vie Est Belle buyers. September 2016 has been the rumored date of the introduction to the market, although Polge is said to have been working at the wings ever since Olivier's tenure starting in 2013, funnily the creator of...La Vie Est Belle. It's a battle against one's self. A William Wilson tale, if you will. A Chanel for millenials, that prized segment of the market aged between 20-35 whose tastes influence everything.

There is no concrete info on the finalized name yet: Chanel has re-copyrighted the old 1929 name of Une Idee, which could be a good fit for a No.5 flanker, as in "Une Idee de No.5, which has the added aventage of working equally well in the French and Anglo-speaking audiences, but this is pure speculation on my part.
It thankfully remains doubtful whether the extra strong, extra syrupy tentacles (don't get me started on Repetto or Flowerbomb) are going to engulf everything. Polge's Les Exclusifs Misia eau de toilette is super refined excelling in the "cosmetics accord" fragrance genre and his Chanel Boy sounds mighty interesting too. With No.5 holding its own in at least the "spirit of Chanel" maybe the bet won't be against all odds. Come September we will see, I guess.

EDIT TO ADD: Chanel has officially announced the new version Chanel No.5 L'Eau which is  supposed to be built upon Grasse May rose by perfumer Olivier Polge and aimed at millenials.

Chandler Burr's Untitled Series Back at Full Swing

The Untitled Series
A specific fragrance, chosen by author and critic Chandler Burr and presented anonymously, allowing you an uninfluenced opportunity to smell, guess, and discuss, before the name is ultimately revealed.
The ongoing saga is documented on Luckyscent where you can purchase decants in unlabelled vials from.

For S02E08 Burr writes:
"There is a damp cold that England seems to specialize in, but this cold doesn’t lower the level of scent, and the air was filled with brackish water, wet green grass, damp cement, a few traces of car exhaust and ozone. The wind shifted, and I smelled her perfume...Suddenly there was a completely different green: a spring-twig green, filled with sunlight and mixed with freshly cut grass. A handful of fructose was tossed into the scent along with a few peonies. Then pieces of cool pink fruit. I felt exhilarated. During that moment—maybe five or six seconds—the Newcastle clouds were gone.
I asked her what it was. It’s in these bottles. I imagine most of you will be as surprised as I was to hear her answer."

Reveal date is set for 16/2. Good luck in the guessing game!

2015 Limited Edition Spray Perfume from Serge Lutens

In the tradition of years past, the French niche cult brand Serge Lutens issues a limited edition in a spray 50ml bottle of one of their more exclusively distributed fragrances packaged in bell jars containing 75ml. They introduce the scent in question with the familiar cryptic manner of description:

The religion of iron needed a Virgin, and the Virgin, a lily.

“Have you smelt it?”
“Yes, I have.”
“And how is it?” 
“As striking as the fleur-de-lis seal on the arm of a criminal.” 
“Never?!”
“And deep down, as itchy as a hair shirt on the skin. In fact, a sublime torture!”

~Serge Lutens

This year's limited spray edition is therefore La Vierge de Fer. 

According to Lutens himself: "The lily in Vierge de Fer is more glorious than in Un Lys. That one was fresher, more lily-like, actually. It played on the whiteness of lily. This one [Vierge de Fer] plays on the heady aspect. It's a lily whose pollen hasn't been dusted off, it has kept its stamens and anthers. This is a lily which affronts, once again."

You can read more on Serge Lutens perfume reviews & news on this link. 

Guerlain Carmen, Le Bolshoi: new fragrance

Guerlain has been making fragrance exclusives honoring the famous Bolshoi ballet for the Russian market for some time now. With three editions under their belt, this year's exclusive is named Carmen, Le Bolshoi and comes in this fabulously provocative bottle in red.

The first fragrance Le Bolshoï appeared in 2011 and was timed to celebrate the reconstruction of a historic building of the Bolshoi Theater. A year later, there was a bottle La Traviata, Le Bolshoï with scarlet cameo. The smoky juice inside commemorated the opera by Giuseppe Verdi with notes of orange, bergamot and petit-grain. In 2014, the Bolshoï Theater performed the hallmark of Russian ballet , Tchaikovsky's"Swan Lake." Black Swan Le Bolshoï was the offering Guerlain created with perfumer Thierry Wasser to celebrate it with their loyal Russian customers.

This season for the 240th Bolshoi Theater jubilee, 240th  world famous "Carmen"by George Bizet is the opus in question. It was first staged in 1875 in Paris and in 2015 celebrates its 140th anniversary. Thierry Wasser created a limited edition fragrance for the Russian market, Carmen Le Bolshoï.

For Carmen,Le Bolshoï the formula includes fragrance notes of jasmine, cedar, citrus, red berries and musk. Bright and bold according to Guerlain as is Carmen. On October 1st  it will appear in TSUM and DLT and on December 1st  in select Guerlain corners. The retail price of Carmen Le Bolshoï is set at 22 000 rubles.

EDIT TO ADD: Recent reportage and testing suggests that Carmen Le Bolshoi is a re-edition of the original Vetiver pour Elle by Jean Paul Gaultier from 2004.

pic & availability info via Vogue.ru

Guerlain Ne M'Oubliez Pas: New Fragrance

Breaking News: A new perfume comes out from Guerlain, inspired by the house's own history. According to Sylvaine Delacourte, art director for Guerlain fragrances, the name derives from the first lipstick "baton" which Guerlain issued and is reprised in their modern Rouge Automatique line of lipsticks (it's #102, a muted rose).
"Guerlain was responsible for the very first modern-day lipstick, made with a wax base in 1870. "Ne m’oubliez pas" was its name and it came in a refillable container with a 'push-up' mechanism."

via dorothytrose.tumblr.com

The name translates of course as "forget me not", a popular motif of floral fragrances of days past based on the "forget me not" flower of the Myosotis family, such as those from Woods of Winsor or Carthusia.
The Myosotis is immortalized in art and folklore during Medieval times as an emblem of romantic faithfulness and enduring love. It later became also a symbol precious to freemasonry.

The new Guerlain perfume, Ne M'Oubliez Pas (tis imperative recalling the ones issued by Caron, in a way, such as Aimez Moi and N'Aimez Que Moi) comes as a new formula composed by head perfumer Thierry Wasser. It is an extrait de parfum edition, in a 125ml quatriblobe bottle with amethyst tassels and a ribbon around its neck. The composition itself is reportedly based on the juxtaposition of a plum chord with patchouli and warm amber. There are also vanilla and rose notes, possibly tilting the composition into the oriental fragrance family. It remains to be sniffed to make sure. But what great news all the same!
The Ne M'Oubliez Pas Guerlain perfume will retail at 500 euros for 125ml of extrait de parfum. Let's hope that a smaller, lesser concentrated edition might trickle down into the boutique line?

Thanks to Czech site Guerlinade.cz for info on notes, price & pic

Fresh Re-Enters the French Market

It's no secret that the American line Fresh, founded by Lev Glazman and Alina Roytberg in Boston in 1991, who are famous for their apothecary aesthetic, innovative at time of launch, and their simple but not simplistic concept, have been bought by LVMH since 2000. (Is there any brand who has escaped their acquisitions I wonder)

the London Fresh boutique

With that fact in mind LVMH decided to open a dedicated counter of Fresh at the beauty space of Galleries Lafayette Haussman, the biggest Parisian department store, after years of absence from the French market.With 23 boutiques globally and counting Fresh is growing strong. Will the brand become the next Acqua di Parma?

Oriental Arabesque for Oud Palao by Diptyque

The newest fragrance by French niche brand Diptyque is called Oud Palao and is -you guessed it- inspired by the mega-trend that is oud. It also incorporates perfume notes of Bulgarian rose, camphor, labdanum,  rum, tobacco, patchouli, Madagascar vanilla, and sandalwood.

But what is most memorable is the gorgeous, eye-catching illustration motif. After all Diptyque started as a quirky design brand of textiles and scents...

New Images of the Great Cate for Armani Si Eau de Toilette New Campaign

That's Cate Blanchett, for the upcoming new publicity for Armani Si, a nouveau chypre fragrance built around a blackcurrant note, that has already taken a significant share in the market. The Italian maestro's white shirts from the previous ads give way to something a bit more casual, it seems; a silvery grey cashmere jumper with short sleeves or a dress, from the looks of it?And a killer raincoat for when in the car.

Anyway, sartorial matters aside, the new commercial will air in September 13th, filmed by Irano-American flim maker Massy Tadjedin. Darius Khondji is the director of photography and the clip has been filmed in Australia. Tim Munro is behind the print campaign. Photos by Josh Prendeville, from Cate Blanchett's fan site.

MANE: Let Perfume Talk

LET PERFUME TALK is an interactive digital experience featuring perfumes made by MANE, a company that specializes in producing fragrances for the cosmetics and beauty industries as well as flavors for the food industry. Following the success of its interactive experience “Find Your Essence”, MANE is launching a second emotionally intense experience, “Let Perfume Talk”, to reinforce its creative image.

Inspired by the way social media works, MANE asks a simple question: "What's your mood today?"

To evoke MANE’s creativity and fragrances, clients are invited to choose from the seven interactive sensory worlds where images, music and interface all work in harmony:

ALIVE
IN LOVE
HAPPY
ZEN
NATURAL
REBELLIOUS
SEXY

The application’s concept and strategy encourage you to share the experience with your contacts—an approach that aims at maximizing the virality of the operation.

The digital experience Let Perfume Talk created by Shakebiz is available on all mobile and tablet devices, with a tactile version available on iOS (iPhone and iPad) and Android, in addition to a desktop version. Click for the iTunes link or the Google Play link.


info via press release

A Sweeter La Petite Robe Noire for Just the American Market?

In a move that aims at boosting the presence and moreover brand awareness of Guerlain in the North American continent, the venerable French company is going ahead with a whole new rendition of the ultra-popular perfume La Petite Robe Noire.

pic via kizmi.com

Targeted at a specific American market "who want something more refined and subtle than the mass market perfumes", according to William Lescure, president of Guerlain Canada, the new edition of La Petite Robe Noire will launch in 2016.

Lescure mentioned in the Montreal Gazette that although the fragrance is an international hit, the composition is considered not sweet enough for North American tastes. So the new version will be even sweeter.

 I personally find that detail kind of odd, considering that La Petite Robe Noire is among the sweetest fragrances in the Guerlain stable (contrast it with Jicky, Shalimar, or Vetiver to talk only about best-selling classics), a fact that has probably accounted for its commercial success in the first place. Many of us, perfume lovers and dedicated Guerlain customers, find it already quite sweet!

Therefore the question does arise on whether there is a point in fixing something that is not broken (La Petite Robe Noire was first and foremost an American consideration) in order to attain a goal for which the one lonely scent is but one pillar of the building. There is also the question whether there will be two editions, the American market one ultimately engulfing the international one or the two co-existing at the supreme confusion of travelers and duty free buyers. What do you think?

Guerlain Flora Rosa, Teazzura, Le Plus Beau Jour de ma Vie: new fragrances

Two new editions of Guerlain fragrances join the venerable stable of thoroughbreds this spring and summer, belonging in the Acqua Allegoria line which has produced some surprising  gems these past couple of years. [For a comprehensive guide into all the history & fragrance notes of Guerlain Aqua Allegoria fragrances, consult this link.]

Flora Rosa is a travel exclusive Aqua Allegoria fragrance, like some of the last couple of years' Aqua Allegorias have been (namely Bouquet No.1, Bouquet No.2 and Bouquet de Mai, starting from 2010) Flora Rosa had been announced for 2013 and was re-issued in both 2014 and in 2015. The fruity floral scent has notes of rose, red berries, white musk and orris. The difference between the previous editions lies in the packaging (the box is flecked with rose petals), but not the juice which remains the same.

Teazzura on the other hand is the regular retail Aqua Allegoria and a new composition. A sparkling floral citrus composition with green tea notes that will revive and awaken your spirit just as azure waters do...
The Aqua Allegorias are sold on Guerlain counters for €85 for 125ml of eau de toilette.

The other Aqua Allegoria fragrances in production for 2015 are last year's Limon Verde, the famous Pamplelune, Herba Fresca, Mandarine Basilic, Lys Soleia and Nerolia Bianca.

Le Plus Beau Jour de ma Vie is the more budget friendly eau de parfum version of Le Bouquet de la Mariée posh parfum extrait (which retails at €750 for 125ml), a special perfume aimed at brides. The new wedding fragrance is available in the bottle depicted. As Guerlain presents it : "A perfect companion for magical moments, Guerlain’s new fragrance Le Plus Beau Jour de Ma Vie captures the essence of happiness in a bottle. Seal the moments of boundless joy and relive the intense emotions of these special occasions with this soft sparkling floral scent."
Τhe composition of Le Plus Beau Jour de ma Vie includes fragrance notes of citrus, orange blossom, angelica, pink pepper, rose, sugar almonds (confetti), incense, patchouli, white musk and vanilla.

Guerlain & Birchwood Garnering the Interest of Brides-to-Be

Wedding bells are pealing loud and clear for Guerlain this season. Besides the new fragrance La Plus Belle Jour de Ma Vie, the most beautiful day of my life (the eau de parfum concentration of the extrait de parfum edition La Bouquet de la Mariee, i.e. the bride's bouquet, issued this spring) Guerlain is adding a small trousseau for brides-to-be this spring.

In collaboration with beauty subscription service Birchbox and wedding designer Delphine Manivet, the limited edition launches on March 19th 2015, and includes 5 beauty products by Guerlain: the Or serum Essence d'Eclat with golden particles, a foundation, a hand-held mirror, their revamped Kiss Kiss Lipstick and a small size mascara Volume et Courbe. The trousseau also includes an Essie nail polish (Sugar Daddy or Almure shade option), Lov Organic tea, a Davines hair shine spray and Anis de Flavigny fresh breath lozenges aromatized with rose.  This "indispensables" collection comes in a small clutch signed Delphine Manivet, la corbeille de mariee [sic].
The retail price is set at €49.

More information here.

Olivier Polge: "You Don't Make Beautiful Fragrances with Complicated Ideas"

"Preferences change. In the 1990s, people wanted a very light fragrance. Today that’s not the case.

There are now so many heady scents, like ouds galore. I’ve heard that superstrong scents are meant to please customers in places like the Middle East and Russia. 

That’s a reality: Certain stronger scents do better in the Middle East, and Asian countries like their scents lighter. But I try not to be so opportunistic. I care less about geographic territory than spirit territory. Is this scent in the spirit of Chanel?"

Olivier Polge on the left, at the advertising campaign of Valentino Uomo, via welt.de

The above snippet comes from an interview of perfumer Olivier Polge at Chanel (formerly creator of the gorgeous Dior Homme, Balenciaga Florabotanica, Balenciaga Paris and all its flankers, Guerlain Cuir Beluga, Valentino Uomo, Viktor & Rolf Spicebomb, the newest Mugler Les Exceptions fragrance series and of the perfume best-sellers Flowerbomb, Lancome La Vie Est Belle, and Dior Pure Poison) given to the New York Times and Bee Shapiro.
Please find the interview in its entirety on this link. 

As we had reported before, concerning Olivier Polges' first scent for Chanel, named Misia after Coco Chanel’s friend Misia Sert, which joins the Chanel Les Exclusifs lineup of more-experimental scents midmonth (retailing at $160), the young perfumer is at the helm of the prestigious French house from now on, succeeding his father Jacques Polges. (Who in his turn had succeeded Henri Robert, who followed Ernest Beaux, essentially making Olivier only the 4th ever in-house head perfumer at Chanel).

 Smelling of lipstick, rose and powder, Chanel Les Exclusifs Misia perfume is said to conjure the dressing-room scents of the Ballets Russes.

Hermes Le Jardin de Monsieur Li: new fragrance

It is official. The final chapter in the Jardin fragrance series by the historical house of Hermes is inspired by a garden redolent of in house perfumer Jean Claude Ellena's favorite flower: jasmine. The flower he grew up with (Jean Claude was taken as a child alongside the family, working with the workers, for the dawn picking of the lush white blossoms which smelled halfway between flower and flesh, as he recalls in his Journal d'un Parfumeur/Diary of a Perfumer).

The inclusion of the unusual note of kumquat, a small citrus fruit with a rich scent favored for the preparation of a special liqueur on the island of Corfu, recalls the fruity hesperidic note in Colette 1873 by Histoires de Parfums.

The name, Le Jardin de Monsieur Li, is of course recalling a garden fantasy, as previous editions in the series did: the plate of figs offered in a garden in North Africa as translated into Un Jardin en Mediterannee (2003), the green mango and sycomore trees in Assouan, Egypt, in Un Jardin sur le Nil (2005), the monsoon in Kerala, India in Un Jardin apres la Mousson (2008), and the actual garden atop the Hermes headquarters which provided vegetables for the Dumas family during WWII in Un Jardin sur le Toit (2011).

Of course this is the swan song of Jean Claude Ellena for Hermes as well. He is to be succeeded by Christine Nagel, as we had announced on Perfume Shrine a while ago.

The new Jardin fragrance by Hermes, Le Jardin de Monsieur Li, is set to be available at the flagship Hermes boutique on Madison Avenue (in NYC) in early March 2015.

Perfumery for Everyone: Italian Course in Perfumery

Cult perfumer Dominique Dubrana, going by the alias Abdes Salaam Attar, responsible for the wondrous offerings of La Via del Profumo, is organizing again on of this famous perfumery courses in the idyllic setting of Italy, in Rimini.

"After years of interruption in teaching, I am organizing a 5 to 7 days seminar to teach my philosophy of perfumery and my method of making perfumes. The course will be held in the hills of Rimini from 10th to 15th June, and there is an accommodation package.

Teachings will be about natural raw materials, including animal scents and rare essences, several of which can be smelled only with me. Then the crucial point of how to understand and evaluate the quality of natural raw materials will follow. The sourcing of the best essences will be explained so that who has learned how to make perfumes with me can carry on as a perfumer. Then perfume descriptive language, philosophy and ethics of natural perfumery which are fundamentally important because the nose is only secondary to the mind in making perfumes, which is before all a mental attitude.

There will be everyday blending workshops of different methods and approaches in order to keep the interest high. I shall teach how to proceed in custom blending for private customers and friends and also how to apprehend concept blending for companies. Last but not least, Lavender will be full blown in Rimini by June and there might be a distillation course with a further day."

For more info & contact visit the Facebook page and the Profumo blog.

Chanel Les Exclusifs Misia: new fragrance

The fragrance line Les Exclusifs by Chanel has been having its ups and downs through the years, but it has always appealed to customers who are interested in perfume first and foremost, with the famous logo as an addendum rather than the whole raison d'être of the purchase.

Les Exclusifs Misia, named after the best friend of Gabrielle Bonheur (Coco) Chanel, joins the wondrous juices of 31 Rue Cambon, Sycomore, Coromandel, Beige et al, in the exclusive circuit sold at Chanel boutiques and online at the official site of Chanel.com, encased in magnetic closure bottles holding either 200ml or 75ml.

Misia Les Exclusifs by Chanel comprises fragrance notes of violet, May rose from Grasse, Turkish rose, orris, benzoin, tonka bean, and musks. The fragrance of Misia is composed by in-house perfumer Olivier Polge.

Chanel is after all busy in business as usual, with even news of "looking to open a new factory in the Compiègne area of France, creating several hundred jobs and perhaps 10,000 tangential jobs for suppliers in the region", according to French local newspaper, the Courrier Picard.

For those interested in the story between the two women, Lisa Chaney's biography Chanel: An intimate life and Justine Picardie's classic tome Chanel: Sa Vie are both thorough and highly recommended. You can order them following the highlighted links.

notes via Fragrantica

Penhaligon's & L'Artisan Perfumeur: Niche Fragrance Brands Bought by Puig

I have tired of saying it: we're experiencing the end of niche. Niche was a marketing tool to grow companies and then sell them to the highest bidder. The sale of Editions de Frederic Malle and Le Labo last autumn to the Lauder Group is followed by the sale of British traditional house Penhaligon's (established in 1870 as they boast) and of French artsie proto-niche (well, at least when it was founded by Jean Laporte in the late 1970s) L'Artisan Parfumeur to the Spanish group of Puig.

Jenner Studio photo via archdaily

Puig is at least no LVMH....They do nevertheless cater to a more mainstream perfume portfolio: Carolina Herrera, Prada, Paco Rabanne, Valentino....but also Comme des Garcons, which is anything but conventional in their fragrances.

Two years ago I was complaining on L'Artisan Parfumeur losing the grip on niche. In fact actively seeking to distance itself from the Jean Laporte, Olivia Giacobetti, Anne Flipo and Jean Ellena past. They were commissioning hundreds (or so it seemed, at least) new fragrances on Bertrand Duchaufour and seemed to branch out. Now it's evident even to the most well-meaning why that was.

Penhaligon's (funnily enough employing the same indie perfumeur, the Mitsotakis of niche apparently) was following a similar trajectory, a markedly different business model than its small shop cutesy of its long past.

All the same it's another tombstone on niche perfumery. How much longer will Serge Lutens withhold after having bought his rights for handling his name from the Japanese giant Shiseido?

The current market is "niched out"

' Though Roschi considers the current market as “niched out” and saturated with brands like Le Labo, for those aiming to follow in his footsteps, he advises getting as much experience as possible before taking the plunge and attempting to create a new brand. “You have to have expertise and know the market. Work in it, get interested in it, meet people in it. I wouldn’t bet two cents on someone who wants to build a perfume brand with no experience.” '

via

A great quote from an article on Edouard Roschi of Le Labo (snatched up by the Estee Lauder Group last autumn, alongside Editions de Parfums Frederic Malle) which appears on Business of Fashion. (And while you're there, do read the Gucci Revival article on bringing back the sexy in its design)

Related reading on Perfume Shrine: How Much Will the Niche Market Bear?

Lisa Eldridge Goes to Lancome

Perfume Shrine is mostly dedicated to scent-related subjects and trivia (with a side dish of some art history and some style from time to time) rather than cosmetics, but the news was too big not to share with some of my regular readers.

The star make-up artist (and the down to earth tutor for many, with her "be accessible" motto transpiringly so lovingly on her tutorials) has changed alliances from her former position as Chanel ambassadress (her videos on Chanel.com were wonderful) to Lancome (a company of the L'Oreal group). Encouragingly in a video aired on January 6, Eldridge promises to work on developing new products and new colors, as well as limited editions, and she will have a hand on the official site.

Her own site and Youtube channel will continue to remain independent.