Guerlain Lillia Bella - Acqua allegoria

If you want to smell somethig that really hurts the nose, try that one! Guerlain has never been good on lily of the valley fragrances and all their launches in the past 100 years were mediocre or bad. Even the lilly of the valley fragrance put on the market every 1st may is worth only for the bottle. Lillia Bella smells synthetic/artificial, is very disturbing and any similar fragrance in household range products is better.

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Flankers - my way

In the past 10 years flankers had invaded the fragrance market. It's easy and profitable to do small variations on a formula. It takes you a week to have a new clone and not a year for a new-original perfume. You use the same bottle (with little changes in colour) so you can have better price from the manufacturer. You have more space on the shelves at Sephora! Flankers are a good lessons about how to be a parasite in a perfumed world and milk a success until it dies and it has nothing to do with creativity. Some flankers are reasonable: light versions for summer, intense versions for winter/evening or even variations on ingredients because some good fragrances are indeed rich with many facets that are worth to be emphasised. But there are also many examples with silly reasons behind. It's absolutely stupid to launch a perfume and to put 10 months after a flanker, than another. Rumeur by Lanvin, a quite new entry will be followed by Rumeur Intense and Rumeur Rose. Think that the colour of the original juice is peachy-pink and see how smart is the idea of Rumeur Rose! Other very bad fragrances (from Grès) didn't even wait to be known and they've already received 2-3 flankers. I was a great fan of some Givenchy perfumes but when they started to clone Insense (more than 10 flankers like Axe/Lynx sprays) I stopped to buy the brand. Because all the complains by officials in the industry about the numbers of new launches are just pure hypocrisy (to rate the new niche brands bought or the exclusive range from their fragrance portfolio) I started my own small crusade - boycott. I stopped to recommend / promote fragrances to people when I see a flanker movement is about to bloom in that brand. You may say my action is stupid: if brand people are stupid/immoral you cannot say the same about the perfume itself. But for the moment it's my way to fight this antiprestige influenza that infected the market so deep.

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Dior Homme range

I was in love with Dior Homme, a sweet ambery twist on the orris theme. Light, floral, delicate but very present and with a beautiful trail / sillage. A perfume that people loved to smell around me when I wore it in small doses. It is a perfect perfume: fresh but not fougère like all the Hugo Boss, sweet but not very oriental, light but present. But Dior put on the market 2 versions! Dior Homme Intense - a candy sweet version with a high dose of coumarine and Dior Homme Cologne - a fresh airy version with not personality. Both are bad and have no reason to exist other than $$$! It is the perfect example how the harmony of beautiful perfume that reached equilibrium in all directions can be destroyed. Dior Homme, constructed after the philosophy of the men's fashion of Hedi Slimane (minimalism, texture, clever details) shows what happens when the creative mind behind disappeared. In the past 2 months my nose was often offended by people wearing Dior Homme Intense. It's like when you are used to small/delicate original Cartier jewellery and you see after the replica of it 10 times bigger with glass instead of diamonds. So, dear Dior, if you are not able to anything better than Dior Homme, please let it as it is and do not destroy a good contemporary perfume!

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Yteb fragrance house

Yteb and Irfé were fashion houses in Paris during the 20's created by russian aristocrats who fled the Revolution and run by the Hoyningen-Huene (George became the famous Vogue photographer) and Youssoupoff family.
Look at the bottle design, the number idea (14) .... and all that came in mind is Chanel No5.
There is a straight link between this family and the duke Dimitri who presented Ernest Beaux to Chanel. The formulas are lost forever ... but I suppose that the supplier of the fragrance was also Rallet. Was this another version of Chanel No 5 sold by another russian influenced fashion house?
14 is the street number of the fashion house (rue Royale, 2 corners after Chanel - rue Cambon), but also 1+4=5. A coincidence?
The ad is from Vogue 20's.
Additional information about YTEB can be found in the book Beauty in Exile by Alexandre Vassiliev, a panorama of russian fashion in Paris after the WWI.

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Reconstructing old formulas

As archaeology of fragrance seems to be a trend for 2008 I will explain some of the problems when one would "reconstruct" an old formula.
For a long period of time in the history fragrances / cosmetics / medicine and a lot of other preparations were made under the same "umbrella". The birth of modern perfumery could be considered the time when Napoleon came with a law that put an end to the confusion between pharmacy and other preparations and by that law all the formulas of products related to health become "public". Perfumery had now its own path and secret history. A perfume formula is in general a list of products and their quantity and eventually a "modus preparandi" or how to prepare it.
I remember when Jean Kerleo explained me how difficult was for them to reconstruct some perfumes found in the Osmotheque (like Crepe de Chine or Chypre) though they had the original formulas of fragrances once mass produced in the 20th century. Imagine now how it should be for a formula from some centuries before.
- original formulas are very hard to find. They were usually kept in a leather book, sometime in a not so accessible place and there were not a lot of copies of that (or no copies at all). Imagine the chances that a XVIIth century formula would have to arrive in 2007.
- original formulas were never published / printed. Though you might find very old perfume books … they are more like a manual but do not offer the exact formula used by a perfumer

Let's say that you have a very old formula, original … you will face the following problems:

- the units of measurement are not those used today. Some ingredients were put by weight other by volume. Some time it was not indicated because let's say … as a perfumer it was obvious to put jasmine infusion by volume and you never thought your formula will live so long. Different countries had different measurements units.
- the plants: not all of them have the same origin / botanic name as today. One example: opopanax (what you buy now is not what Coty smelled). The production methods changed a lot. If you have rose oil … for sure it is not the bulgarian rose oil sold by Biolandes.
- the infusions. A lot of alcoholic products were used … like infusions of everything. But it is not surprising when the concentration of infusion is not given. You have civet infusion, musk infusion, vanilla infusion … but you don't know if it's 3%, 5%, 10%. Even in Coty's formulas or Ernest Beaux it was not indicated (and it was industrial and 1920's). Not to speak about what type of musk infusion (Beaux prepared 3 types).
- if you are lucky enough to have a recent formula (end 19th-beg. 20th) you will face another 2 big problems: synthetics and bases. Synthetics you find today are and not the same (there can be a different method of synthesis or purification). Even today you have different quality of the same basic product (ionones, terpineol, etc). The vanillin used by Jacques Guerlain was the old process as I put in Vol de Nuit formula. The terpineol (lilac) produced today has a piny note, the old one not because it used a more expensive route. But when you come to bases (semi finished "perfumes" offered by a supplier) your road might end. Most of the bases are no more available (suppliers doesn't exist or bases were discontinued) and you have no idea what's inside.
Those are some of the most known difficulties when recreating an old formula. If you have a bottle left … you are lucky with the GC. Other wise is a painful work.
As archaeology will be around in 2008 I hope that you realize the amount of work that is behind. Does a marketing director have enough time to spend with all the problems I exposed? When for a new perfume you have 1 month … it's quite rare.
I hope that people will not just stick a name and a story on a new perfume! It happened. (I smelled a 19th cologne with Hedione!!!!).

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To try or not to try ?

In the past I did some small reviews, not very positive to the fragrances of Etat Libre d'Orange. With time I considered that I should give a new try (I love their concepts) and went today to buy their discovery kit with all their range. To my surprise at home and with my blotters (!) the impressions started to change. Were the testers in the boutique not that good, is dipping better than spraying a perfume, are blotters and inside atmosphere important?

I think all those questions are subject to reflect ... by brands. I go almost every week at Sephora and other shops to smell / try all kind of perfumes and sometime it happened to have very different impressions inside and outside, despite my very trained nose.
With all the myriads of launches I feel sometime guilty that I'm expeditive with fragrances / perfumers when I know exactly the amount of work.
But isn't it a subject that brands do not reflect enough? After all the work/money put in a new perfume if you don't give the right chance and proper sniff maybe the work is in vain.
3 seconds in the bad environment, with bad blotters and air full with fragrant vapours ... I think some perfumes deserves more.
In my opinion not the 400 and + fragrances a year are the problem but ... the way to smell / test them. Fragrance industry should rethink entirely this kind of system.
When I see all the money put in visuals I feel pity that they do not think of clever methods to have access to their perfumes.
Vapo's are not so good / blotters either (size, type, etc).
The perfume, though evaluated by perfumers in clean spaces is evaluated by the market in places like Sephora .... the perception is not the same for an untrained nose.

There are a lot of problems but also some solutions I saw.... Maybe in a next post.
Even Hermessence at Hermes ... are smelled in a mess, near the door and all the work of Ellena could not be appreciated.
Another bad example is Le Labo. They have very, very good fragrances and in Paris can be found at Colette, the trendy snobbish shop. They face there 2 big problems: the very smell of the shop (fig like and strong) and the food-bar in the basement of the shop. Lucky for them, most of the clients buy not exactly for the fragrance but because they are in Colette. Though they promote a lab image … the testing method could be more original (but still easy). I have an idea that is 1000 better than the blotters. It's hard to appreciate a rose in a sandwich-fig environement.

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Interview with Nathalie Lorson

A new interview with perfumer Nathalie Lorson (Firmenich) is available in french on the site auparfum. Author of Perles and Encre Noire (Lalique) she speaks about her creations but also about critics in perfumery, a hot subject in 2008. She did the Roure school of perfumery joined IFF and then Firmenich in 2000. She created: Jaipur Saphir Boucheron, Wish Chopard, D&G Feminine and Dolce&Gabbana, a lot of Jil Sander perfumes, Shiseido Rose Rouge and many more.

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Fragrance trends - Archaeology

Fragrance trends - Archaeology
Reviving the past seems to be one of the strongest trends in 2008. Sniffing the past but not the vintage/discontinued fragrances. Smells that you never smelled before, deeply buried in the time. When GC became a usual tool on the industry chemists/ historians/perfumers started to explore historical artefacts in order to revive dead fragrances. They've never been put on the market but one could have smelled them through special exhibition. It was the case for the sacred Egyptian Kyphi revived in a study conducted by L'Oreal, the sacred Hebrew incense that burned again centuries after Dead Sea manuscripts were hidden or the latest Marie Antoinette fragrance recreated by historian Elisabeth de Feydeau and Francis Kurkdjian. As Scented Salamander reported, David Pybus, author of many books revived through his brand, Scents of time, historical smells. Prastara, an eastern European treasured fragrance is blooming again, reported also by Scented Salamander.
A study conducted by Givaudan and published on Perfumer and Flavorist revived 2 forgotten perfumes, Rallet and Chanel Mademoiselle No1.
With modern techniques you can revive almost all fragrance from the past … either a perfume found in a set of bottles on Titanic, the perfume jar found in Pompei or even a Chinese incense that once embalmed the Forbidden City. But also you can recreate atmospheres because if fashions /tastes might change … plants would remain the same in human history. So we could have the atmosphere of Hanging gardens in Babylon, the breeze of a Thai temple or even Cleopatra's hot nights. The ultimate "archaeological" fragrance would be … to recreate a flower that bloomed thousands of years ago (like in Jurassic Park) and capture its elusive scent.
If this trend sounds great and could provide many ideas … I hope that fragrances put on the market will not be just stories invented by marketing teams … but true research with historians/scientists. Otherwise it's just another lie and a very beautiful dreams that ends in a desperate search for money and publicity.

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Francis Kurkdjian's exceptional sweet delight

The latest number of fashion magazine l'Officiel reports the meeting between the perfumer Francis Kurkdjian and Christophe Michalak, chef pâtissier at Plaza Athénée. They discuss with delight about the association between pastry / fragrance / creation. They decode olfactive illusions like: orange flower + strawberry = fraise des bois, cucumber + strawberry = melon. They recreated the aroma/perfume of the jasmin by a special combination of strawberry (80%) + banana (15%) + orange flower (5%). This small delicious masterpiece, fruit of all temptations, is called C'est du gâteau and can be found at Plon.
For the l'Officiel magazine they created a sweet pastry called "religieuse" with a delicate violet and a deep and dark reglisse note. A sweet with an unsual leather taste!
Francis Kurkdjian created also another special present for this period. An olfactive Christmas Tree for the traditional designers exhibition presented at the French Ministry of Culture. It is called "le sapin des galopins, un arbre stylisé olfactif et musical de sept mètres de haut".

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Minimalism, Ellena and Beaux Arts

The latest number of the renowned French magazine Beaux Arts features a 6 pages article dedicated to contemporary perfumery and its aesthetics (minimalism, purified ingredients, etc.). Well written the article starts good with a conversation around the concept "less is more" used by Jean Claude Ellena … but ends with an absolute marketing touch. Well … if you are a journalist, even well intended, if you know little about what's inside a fragrance … you can tell almost everything irrelevant or surreal.
Minimalism became a "brand symbol" for Jean Claude Ellena, a personal philosophy that today is almost in every corner where a conversation about perfumes and art is held.
But, despite all the aesthetic values and concepts there is also another side the people forget to mention. The practical reason.
Minimalism (short formulas, no bases) bloomed in mid 70's in the same time with the growth of fragrance brands and with the changes in the fragrance industry (creation of big groups, small suppliers disappeared, triumph of synthetics).
A short formula, with less than 30 ingredients and no bases means other the aesthetic principle something very pragmatic:
- easy to mix (short time, minor probability to have errors)
- you don't have to prepare the in house bases first and then mix the rest
- easy storage for raw materials (if you use 200 rm like Ellena you can run easily a small company and store 200 and not 3000 rm)
- easy quality control for each raw material (less time spent to check the ingredients)
- if you don't have bases you don't depend to a certain supplier and so you are not affected if this base is discontinued or has a different quality
- you can control both the price and the quality of your formula … a small house like Hermes can buy basic raw materials (i.e. citronellol) today from Firmenich, tomorrow from Givaudan, next day from China according to quality but also to market fluctuations;
Something happened in the 70's that is not often mentioned. Small companies started to merge and form the big groups of today it was a period (back to 80s) when you never knew who will buy whom tomorrow. Every company had its own catalog of raw materials / bases. If you were a small fragrance house and had a perfume with bases from here and there … discontinued in this long process … you had all the chances to misproduce your perfume. You have 20% of your perfume a base that you don't know what's inside … it's obvious you want it simpler!
I liked Ellena's talk but there are moments when he starts to speak marketing and I don't like that. He said … I used to use vetiver Haiti + vetiverol + acetate vetyverile but I was never satisfied. Now I have a special distillation of vetiver, tailored made for me. I agree that there is a difference in quality but I also know that one of biggest trends in luxury 2008 is called Custom made/Bespoke/Tailoring and you can see this in all French magazines and even in Esquire January. And that's a card that Chanel and Hermes play in their fashion as a brandcore. :)
Ellena's fragrances are goood and I adore them. But never forget that with aesthetic values come always a very practical reason and a marketing claim to justify price/position/prestige. Voilà!

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Guerlain

Guerlain is one of the brands that I love the most … and mostly for Jacques Guerlain perfumes. I used to wear almost all their fragrances and know them "by heart". The first book I wrote has on this back a very famous poem written by a romanian 1900 poet, inspired and named after their fragrance "Voilà pourquoi j'aimais Rosine" a celebrated perfume at the beginning of the 20th century. I wanted to work and offer my experience and extensive knowledge to Guerlain and applied many times with no success … until I realized that the only type of profile required at Guerlain is "commerce school - marketing" so … even with ISIPCA you can forget about Guerlain. LVMH does not look for creative people but the same bunch of marketing students …That's why Guerlain-Givenchy-Unilever-etc… became the same in the past 10 years. The era of visionary people (like Serge Lutens, Jean Paul Guerlain not to speak about great fashion designers) is ended! I spoke with the sales director of a very big fragrance house who said how different was in the past when he worked with Mr. Yves Saint Laurent (a true creator) and how is now when dealing with marketing directors (that would change brand after brand in their life).
So … here are some ideas for Guerlain that I hope will inspire them in 2008:
- a book about Jacques Guerlain, his (hidden) personality and fragrances
- the royal line - as it is a part of Guerlain history they could revive some "eaux" but also promote a ultra luxury line to royal houses from europe and middle east (!!!). Before Amouage and Clive Cristian it was Guerlain who perfumed Europe from London to St Petersburg
- the flowers of Jacques - a selection of floral perfumes treasured by Jacques Guerlain (flankers from the past:)
- Guerlain Spa - They could have all the rich arabian moguls in it! The essence of Guerlain is Oriental … but blind marketing directors forgot it. Rich bath/massage lines with strong perfumes.
- the asian market where they are totally stupid. Asian market is not only Cherry blossom but could be a lot of creative/good things. Just to know Guerlain history and have some cultural background that a marketing school could never provide. After I saw the Japan and China exhibition at Givaudan I went out with soooo many ideas.
- the home fragrances. In their boutique they are almost hidden as if they feel shame about it. Either discontinue them, either give them their right place!
- a leather fragrance. With the horse as the house symbol (and the bee) they should at least have one real CUIR (Jacques did one!)
- a honey fragrance. When you have the golden bee and Miel Blanc inside l'Heure bleue … it's quite obvious that you need at least a cosmetic preparation à l'ancienne (Jacques had one) or a perfume. Miel Impérial, voilà!

And a lot more ideas…
If you see some of them in 2008 remember that it started here, on my blog, and for free!

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Obsessions françaises

Living in Paris but still Romanian ... I noticed some French obsessions that you can read almost in every magazine, blog, TV ... in fashion, beauty, fragrance ... everywhere. I will say it in French: décaler, detourner, reinventer, reinterpreter, questionner, aller au delà de, jouer la différence, reflexions, innovant. It seems that in France 2007 to be accepted everything should be twisted and the right/usual path is not OK. :) There is a certain way to speak to the French that brands know so well!

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Fragrance Wishes for 2008

Fragrances I'd like to be resuscitated:

Soir de Paris extrait (Bourjois)
Le Fruit défendu, Nuit de Chine, Arléquinade (Rosine)
Fille d'Eve extrait (Nina Ricci
The classical Houbigant line pre 1950's and mostly Quelque Fleurs extrait with natural musk
Bouquet de faunes, Kadine and Cachet Jaune (Guerlain)
Adieu sagesse extrait (Jean Patou)
Rumeur and Scandal (Lanvin) and a special coffret edition with their very first fragrances (Niv Nal, J'en raffole, etc.)
Crêpe de Chine extrait (Millot)
The unreleased fragrances of Roudnitska (like the project for Fidji-Laroche)

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1000 fragrances in Harper's Bazaar

I was very surprised today when I received a phone from Bucharest that announced me that my blog was featured in the latest Harper's Bazaar issue (romanian). I don't have the photo yet but that was quite an unexpected surprise for today.
My blog was also present on style.com (Vogue) for the Poiret issue.

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Visit in a supermarket

What have in common Iris ganache (Guerlain), Louve (Serge Lutens) and Hermessence ? Besides they are expensive, high quality and so called niche products with a lot of lovers…. They have in common the supermarket! If you go in any big supermarket in France and look with a lot of attention in the sweets, beverages and other food/drink departments you will find a lot of clues/ideas used in the niche of the last years: special ingredients but mostly unusual combinations. All the fruits used in today's perfumes but also their combinations are there: raspberry, cassis, pear …They are not "normal" fruits but fruits with a personality and epithet: pear sorbet, caramelized pear, chantilly pear and so on. It's absolutely delicious and amazing what is to be found in sweet stores in Paris. Today I came a cross a chocolate (Lindt) that is Nougat and Cherry … in other words Louve (Lutens)… There are a lot of examples of products that maybe did not inspire directly a perfume but … the trend is there. Because people buy this kind of products (and in a big quantity) they represent in a way their taste/desire but also it says that some of them will buy the more expensive version … as a pastry or even as a perfume. Looking back at 2006-2007 niche launches I'm surprised to notice that most of them are … 100 % marketing. To those that would say that most of niche should be seen as creative and opposed to marketing … I will recommend them a short visit in food/drink shops in Paris just to see … were the true invention lies. All the philosophy of a part of contemporary perfumery created around ingredients … should also be seen as a part of French culture and their kitchen. I found a lot of books on cooking (pastry, drinks, etc) in 2007 that are part of this philosophy: little masterpieces, exceptional ingredients put in an unusual stage, unexpected combinations …, duos or trios of ingredients.. The world evolved incredibly since Angel and its caramel notes.

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Another Estée Lauder myth - just a myth

Youth Dew, the first Estée Lauder big fragrance introduction was launched on the market in the 50's as a bath oil. For a very long period of time it was credited as Estée's big invention and the way he made a breakout in the fragrance industry - in USA. Also it was said and claimed by their endless marketing stories as a totally new/unseen method of putting a fragrance on the market with all the stories about American women … You know that for sure. But it's just a myth and not very true in the history of fragrance business.
In 1934-35, a famous American fragrance company of that time, prince Matchabelli (known for his crown shaped bottles) put on the market a bath oil, very strong, called Abano. It was advertised quite a lot in Vogue (also the French Vogue). The next year, 1936, Matchabelli put on the market the perfume Abano and it was advertised again a lot. They insisted that the perfume was put on the market to offer the fragrance version of the strong and dark bath oil. It was said also that Abano the perfume was a fresh version of the oil (you needed only 2 drops in your bath to get perfumed all around) "delicate but strong, seducing but light". The advertising in Europe had a strong purpose: the big international Exhibition held in 1937.
In 1937 Vogue Paris an article dedicated to new perfumes said: "what Americans usually call foundation perfume is an oil exaggeratedly perfumed and only few drops mixed in the bath water are enough to form a fragranced base that will not leave you the entire day." (my translation from french)

Weil, a famous Parisian fragrance (and fur) house launched an entire line of bath oils fragranced with their perfumes (Cassandre, Zibeline, Noir, etc) and a very heavy fragrance oil called "Le Secret de Venus". All of course, for the American Market.
The came the War and everything changed. Estée Lauder came in the mid 50's with her sublime Youth Dew , and her "invention" the bath oil … and created an empire.
With time and small omissions marketing became the only truth, then the myth and when inexperienced writers put that in books it became "history".

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Divinessence

Today and tomorrow - Salon Divinessence in Paris. Rendez vous obligatoire of fragrance collectors. I hope to find again some rare bottles and see a lot of beautiful and expensive old fragrance presentations. It is also the best occasion to find rare vintage perfumes!
An auction will also be held organised by the well known expert Jean-Marie Hattenberg.

This week another bottle auction took place in Paris at Hotel Drouot and was organised by studio Lombrail - Teucquam - Prestige de la Parfumerie du XXe siècle : Flacons à Parfums de Collection.

The most expensive bottles were Viville - Moulin Rouge (1914) sold for 18 500 EUR and Bertelli - Eva (1926) sold for 10 000 EUR.

photos: auction.fr

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New Trends

Russia and China are major cultural themes to explore in future/present fragrances.
Symrise organised this season an exhibition around russian fragrances/smells/aromas called Russian Land and Givaudan did the same with China. Both exhibitions are held in the headquarters of both fragrance/flavours manufacturers. Marketing teams were invited to explore another kind of products and taste the russian and chinese spirit.
Russian theme is also honoured by the latest Osmoz trend magazine and is called Russian Winter (Siberian Atmosphere, Russian Feast, Slavic Delights).
I would add to that the article of P.Kraft from P&F about Ernest Beaux, Rallet&Chanel to have a complete picture of russian influences in perfumes this winter.
I smelled today the originals Chanel Mademoiselle No1 and Rallet perfumes + the reconstitutions made after the article and will be able to review them as I promised in the past.
In Vogue Russia: article on Frederic Malle and Pierre Bourdon interview.

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Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

L'Heure Bleue - extrait

One of the best fragrances ever created, one of my beloved fragrances of all time. L'Heure Bleue is very strange .. both in habits and formula. It's not an easy to smell on the blotter and maybe you will not like it. But when a woman wears L'Heure Bleue - that's a presence in a room. Unforgettable. It has a rare quality, called sillage or trail. Today I felt a deep need to resmell it so I remade the formula I had. Inside you have a lot of aromatics, quite unusual today in floral oriental perfumes, but used a lot in the past by Guerlain or Coty like thyme or lavender, a typical Guerlain leathery note with castoreum and honey notes with civet and miel blanc. I compared this perfume with Candide Effluve and found some similar notes. The lilac aspect exists in L'Heure Bleue, also ylang. Was Candide Effluve developed from HB with the lilac pushed to extremes? I have no idea. L'Heure Bleue is mainly orange flower-violet/orris-spicy (carnation) with a lot of sweet notes. There is also aldehyde C12 and notes that make the perfume a great creation. Like most of Guerlain perfumes the formula is not long. It is said that Origan by Coty inspired L'Heure Bleue but there are also other creations before that which were worked in the same spirit (Apres l'Ondee, Coeur de Jeanette). Compared to Origan (Coty) (which has tarragon plus the bases Iralia, Dianthine, Flonol and heliotropine) l'Heure Bleue is richer and with more shades. The vanillin inside is a special one (the old process) with smokier-woody notes. The smoky note is also typical Guerlain. You can find it (with birch tar) in the original Mitsouko/Shalimar extrait or in the old Djedi.

As in all short formulas everything is about the quality of the ingredients that will give the special "cachet" of the perfume. Put here all the natural infusions (including musk) and you will have a quality difficult to reproduce today.

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Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Photos from Les Années Folles Exhibition

I forgot to post them last week, so here they are. The bottles, mainly Chanel (perfumes&cosmetics) and Roger & Gallet, some Lanvin very very rare bottles and in the and the Givaudan leather scent made by Antoine Maisondieu.

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Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

New "techniques" in marketing

Advertising on sale point is not new in fragrance business but I noticed something new at Sephora. Some brands started to put their current ad (that features, of course, celebs) on the packaging. You have the regular box and just near a printed box with the reduced size image of what you can see in the mags. I saw it for Emporio Armani Diamonds, White Linen Pure (E Lauder), Tresor Lancome, Cerruti for Men (the latest one). You would say … so what? Well, that's something you've noticed in supermarkets (for cheap perfumes or any kind of soup/cornflakes, etc) but in prestige is quite unusual. I remember all the very cheap perfumes of the 90's with girls/celebs printed in not the very best resolution. Packaging (not the bottle) used to be very special in perfumes. I remember the very old Dior boxes with thick paper, embossed letters and everything that makes the difference between a high quality paper and a plain printed one. Dior was the first one to cheapen the paper. I have a Diorissimo from 70's, 80's, 90's and now … Well, the difference is huge and you can only admit that in the past Dior was a name and now it's 4 letters. I will not insist in LVMH because I know their system and I stopped to expect anything more from them than just a bluff.
Speaking about printing the ad on the boxes … I see it as a desperate act of the brands. Because they pay a lot for every inch of ad … they want to be sure that you will not forget it.
There are a lot of brands who failed not only to speak about perfumes (the product) but also about their general idea/belief. Because they lost their soul … they try to vampirize it elsewhere. When Armani insists on Beyonce is because that's the last or only reason one would buy it.
I have a very bad feeling when I see that fragrances started to be treated like instant soups.
The paradox is … the juice itself is not bad!

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Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Edmond Roudnitska's garden

Sandrine Videault, one of the last students of Edmond Roudnitska, wrote a very interesting article in the latest newsletter from the brand LesNez, an innovative swiss brand featuring creations from Isabelle Doyen.

This spring, me and some colleagues from ISIPCA, we paid a very short visit at Roudnitska's house in Cabris, "passage obligatoire" for every perfumer. Though our visit was a total suprise for Michel Roudnitska (we forgot to call before, as it is usual in France) he let us visit the wonderful garden. It is impossible to understand Roudnitska's creations and the desire for freedom, fresh air and simple/pure beauty unles you visit the terrace garden and have the sublime view.

The garden (not big) is a combination between oriental and english garden with all sorts of rare plants.

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Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

They called it Luxury

Today I watched my collection of fragrance ads and botles from the past 5 years. I was astonished to see how the world changed and you are not aware of that unless you see thousands of images.
Like fashion, fragrance is subject to trends and there is no eternal statement. Luxury as we see it today did not exist 5 years ago except maybe Serge Lutens but that brand had a lot of bad years (sales) and they started to have a profit after more than 6 years. Luxury is today everywhere, even at Yves Rocher or l'Occitane…it is a trend, nothing more that every brand try to milk very hard untill it will dissapear. Even Commedesgarcons is playing this game. I found a perfect example where luxury trend meets "bling bing" to a certain extent that has all the atributes of mass market. It is Emporio Armani Diamonds.
- the fragrance is branded Emporio Armani with the big logo on the packaging like you see it in all T-shirts with not so high prices that young boys/girls expose as a sign of beeing rich.
- diamonds is a clear refference to "bling bling" trend and everything that glitters in a provocative way. It's not a Cartier earing but the shiny glass bought with less 10 euros at H&M.
- Beyoncé, advertised that much, is the response of Armani to celeb fragrances like Britney Spears, J.Lo, etc. Armani (l'Oreal) is milking the celeb trend (brought so far by Coty group) in their way.
- the bottle shaped like a diamond is very cheap with cheap details. It has nothing to do with cristal inspired bottles done in the past by Van Cleef&Arpels (Miss Arpels) or Givenchy (Ysatis).
- the juice is a strong floral fruity raspberry aimed to please the very young audience that wear the Tshirt with the same logo.
It is a perfect example of massmarket sold at Armani prices and in Sephora - masstige, voilà!
In terms of marketing the L'Oreal team did everything perfect and I have nothing to object.
In terms of luxury as an idea it gave me an example that luxury is just another trend… and very few brands/perfumes are really what they pretend to be. It is a subject to reflect because as fragrances started to cost more and more … the money are not allways justified. Some time I feel sorry for the consumer that not only pays much more but has not the means to "defend/protect" himself like he does in fashion or other consumer goods. (You cannot foolish a woman when it comes to buy bags or shoes, she's got a much more experience in that:)
An example where fragrances cost much more: Kilian l'Oeuvre Noire. They smell nice but cost too much for what they are/pretend to be. Try Frederic Malle: cheaper and 10 times better.
I'd like also to make an interesting point. When brands speak about luxury … do they appeal to the people with a lot of money or do they appeal to those less fortunate who desire a glamourous life? It should be compared with the rise of film industry in Hollywood in the 30's with all the stories of glamour and good/happy end life in a world of economic troubles.
I wait for the big trend in the next 5 years and I am sure whe haven't seen all of the luxury trend yet.

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Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art