1000fragrances: August 2009

Monday, August 31

Chloé Eau de Parfum Intense (2009) - new fragrance review

After the first Chloé that was a rose detergent scent that confirmed once again that bad perfumes can be a great commercial success in a world where taste is just another relative notion, Chloé revised everything and came with a great interpretation this fall. Chloé Eau de Parfum Intense is not just a stronger version of the first idea (a fresh rose) but a perfume with style, rich, opulent in its freshness and above all in a pure classical shape (with modern accents).
The first impression was of a huge rose bouquet in a French garden, the most scented and the most adorable. Not just fresh, but majestic from the very first drop of dew. It offers a particular note found in the Bulgarian rose and for several seconds I thought that the overture was the hologram of the classic Bulgarian rose oil - not just the natural but the small vials sold in Bulgaria (they were rather compositions as I described them last month). My impression was not wrong because this effect continued and the rose emerged in a pure classical shape. The type of rose accord used here is known for about 100 years but the perfumers adapted the idea to the contemporary palette and added also some pink pepper on top. When the fresh rose started not to fade, but to reveal other flowers and notes in its concerto, what was under my nose unwrapped its mysteries. While Essence (Narciso Rodriguez) has a floral aldehyde rose in the most modern way, Chloé Eau de Parfum is the same idea but in the purest French style. Read the glorious era of Calèche, Madame Rochas and Calandre plus those beautiful Nina Ricci examples. Of course, the new perfume has lost all heavy elements, all drydown decadent notes, all the small decorations. Fresh rose plus lily of the valley and some jasmine represents the main idea. Other examples of this style include Cléa and En avril un soir (Yves Rocher) but also the very old Elegance (Avon). Also this idea has been recently reinterpreted in one perfume from 6 Scents (The Symrise artistic project). The drydown has all the notes of a classic perfume with an accent on the sweet sandalwood and some soft sweet notes to provide an oriental side (not obvious). It smells 100% feminine because for many decades this type of perfume was synonim with La Femme (when she did not use No5). But unlike those classics, Chloé Eau de Parfum Intense has not enough flesh. "I'm not a girl, not yet a woman".
Though modern, this perfume if successful will rise up again the debate - does my perfume feel outdated? Technically, it is the old lady floral aldehyde perfume and worse, it is also rose, to contradict all marketing theories on preferences. But I'm sure young girls will adopt it without knowing what are the secrets and this is good news.

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

Ange ou Démon Le secret - Givenchy (2009) new fragrance review

She is mysterious. She has many secrets. Is she an Angel or the Demon in the mirror? The new flanker from the baroque opus called "Ange ou démon" hides no more secrets of eternal seduction in the mirror. Bubblegum chérie could be her real name. Unlike the original perfume, the new one is a floral light variation with a very fruity twist. Variation of the idea, not of the scent It seems to have captured the floral-strawberry-raspberry aspect of Miss Dior Chérie without the sticky opulence. From the very begging I see a big pink bubblegum, very sweet fruity, that floats over a woody base with berries, musks and patchouli. Fruitchouli rose bubblegum would be another name for a perfume that might be a distant cousin in terms of idea (but not so daring) of Incense Bubblegum (ELO). This bubblegum effect might come also from a jasmine sambac note used in the perfume. The floral note is light and rosy and the fruity effect in the end (all the berries like cranberry, blackberry, blueberry) is not the candy sweetness of all Angel-ized prototypes but the berry effect found in some fruity flavored teas from Mariage Frères. The contrast between sweet notes and very acid lemon top notes suggest an effect close to some French pastry like lemon pie or cranberry pie. The fresh rose almost magnolia suggest a common note with Wanted (Helena Rubinstein).
On the skin, the musk & berry note is stronger than the patchouli after several hours.
The idea was to suggest the angel side of the original perfume (dark & sweet) and the perfume does it with more lightness in a very easy girly way (read very commercial). After several hours you will find yourself with the same berry light patchouli note that now is everywhere. Not bad, but not a revelation. Just another flanker.

Read also my previous comments on the perfume and its history.
Ange ou Démon Le Secret - Givenchy with Uma Thurman

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

Perfumery shop - First Empire

Boutique de Mr.Teissier, parfumeur, 51, rue de la Loi [rue de Richelieu]

Boutique de M. Fargeon, Parfumeur de S.M. Imperatrice Reine et de Son A.I. Madame Mere.

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

Sunday, August 30

Isabey perfume shop

There was a time in Paris when every perfumer had its own shop decorated by the most famous designers of the day. Many of them were located near place Vendôme. Everything changed after WWII and a shop dedicated to one perfumer became an exception. But today, one of the emerging trends is the revival of the fragrance boutique. A small place of dream where only one brand is present. Serge Lutens, Frédéric Malle, Annick Goutal, Artisan Parfumeur, Jar, Maison Francis Kurkdjian, Iunx are among the modern examples in Paris of a list that will grow in an universe that lost the exclusive prestige.
In this vintage photo you have the Isabey boutique in Paris in the 20's. They had many special perfumes like La Route d’Emeraude, Le Lys, Mon Seul Ami and the very rare presentation Le colier d’Isabey. The shop was located at 20 rue de la Paix.
Now, from the vintage collection, only Gardenia has survived and it is a beautiful perfume.

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

Is luxury illegal under the new French Law?

Minimalism became a law in France and there is no irony or metaphor in that. It is the new law on packaging that will affect the fragrances and cosmetics.
Over the past years I complained about the little attention paid to creativity in the design of luxury fragrances. First it was a good idea (we put more money in the juice) but later it became something rather boring to see expensive creations with great concepts using the same standard bottle.
But now, the french governement came with a surprise that surprised even Bruxelles, but also the designers. "Modesty" is the new luxury.
Under the new regulation, the packaging that so lovingly embraces bottles of perfume or crystal vials of wrinkle cream must be kept to the absolute minimum, while "respecting the needs of product safety, hygiene, and logistics,". New French law could make luxury packaging illegal.

"Under the new regulations, packaging must be as limited as possible while respecting the needs of product safety, hygiene and logistics. The consumer acceptance part of the law, which was accepted by EU member states in 1994, has been removed. Under EU law the elaborate packaging often associated with the luxury market is accepted because it forms part of the character of the product; getting rid of it would be unacceptable to the consumer. The new French law cuts out the consumer acceptance part, technically making anything that is not needed to protect the product on the shelf and during its transportation, illegal." More on EUROPEN.

"If this law was to be enforced then anything not needed to protect a product during its travels from manufacturer to the consumer would become illegal. The move has attracted criticism from Europen, the European trade association for packaging and the environment, which argues it threatens the luxury market and packages designed for consumer convenience, as well as posing trade barriers within Europe. In addition, the trade body argues that France is not allowed to make these changes under EU law." More on Cosmetics Design Europe.

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

Saturday, August 29

Fougère Royale (Houbigant)

The ancestor of all masculine fragrances, and the first modern fragrance, Fougère Royale (1882) was often described not just as the first application of a synthetic molecule (coumarine) but also as the first abstraction. Ferns have no scent and this perfume gave the name to a whole genealogy of creations. But behind the myth there are other elements to complete the picture of one of the most estimed Houbigant creations.
The name of the perfume is less royal as it was the trend in the XIXth century and more a common name. Known as Royal fern, Fougère royale, or Osmonde royale, Osmunda regalis is one of the most imposing ferns (or flowering fern) in Europe and was common in XIXth century. Because subject to intensive agriculture it became rarer and now is protected in France. Also, it was very common in the Rambouillet forest near Paris (the same forest that gave the mossy notes of Chypre de Coty).
The idea of the ferns without scent is incorrect. Ferns do have a scent, but not all of them.
Dennstaedtia punctilobula, another imposing fern that might look like the royal fern for the non expert eye, is also known as the hay-scented fern. This fern's foliage smells of freshly mown grass, can be found in woodland and it turns golden in the fall.
What was the odor that Paul Parquet was trying to capture in his perfume? Was it the hay-scented fern and the forests in Rambouillet? Or was it the new mown hay from the south of France with its aromatic notes?
Tonka been was known and used in the XIXth century perfumery. On the surface of the bean you might see white coumarine crystals. First, perfumers used coumarine ex Tonka and later, when the coumarine was synthesized it became an option to the expensive Tonka beans. Both coumarine and Tonka show a sweet hay note, but also a gourmand almond side. The genius of Paul Parquet was to overdose the coumarine note in a type of bouquet known as new moon hay. The New Moon Hay was based on Tonka with additions of geranium (and some rose) and some orange flower among the main notes. The genius of Parquet was to modify the perfume by the use of a massive dose of coumarine plus an aromatic bouquet on top and above all to give a new name. Fougère Royale was probably a soap in the beginning and this would explain the use of coumarine instead of expensive Tonka and also the use of aromatic notes. 2 popular aromatic soaps in the XIXth century were Bouquet des Alpes (an aromatic bouquet with geranium) and Brown Windsor (aromatic thyme but very spicy clove). Paul Parquet took a classic idea from his era and transformed the perfumery.
Another plant that was used in perfumery (before it was forbidden) is Liatrix (Liatris odoratissima) - it has a strong coumarine note and the presence of coumarine was identified in 1859.
Lavender contains also coumarine but it was only in 1900 that this fact was known (also Melilotus and Asperula, another scented plants in the hay, also used in perfumery).
Coumarine was isolated in 1820 from Tonka and later synthesized by Perkin in 1868.
The real question is what was the Coumarine used by Paul Parquet in the first Fougère Royale and why did he? Was it the new synthetic coumarine, or was it the extracted coumarine (natural coumarine)? Reading the scientific papers of that era it is easy to notice that William Henry Perkin was a not just the men that gave mauve to Queen Victoria, but also a Star Chemist and coumarine was at least for several years the buzz molecule in the scientific world.
In a book on aromatic plants written by the Director of Pharmacy school in Paris in 1896, it is written that all the coumarine used for perfumery purposes is extracted from Liatris leaves. It also says that first coumarine for perfumery purposes was extracted from Tonka. Then the process was abandoned when Perkin discovered the synthesis of coumarine (1868) but this process was abandoned too, in favor of liatris. M. DeLaire has also a small contribution to the book, being quoted several times on perfumery subjects.
Fougère will become a family, but this will happen much later. For many years 3 types of perfumes coexisted - Fougère (fern), Foin coupé (hay), Trèfle - the last one after the discovery of amyl salycilate and maybe the final conclusion of all 3 old families was Canoe (Dana). The relation between amyl salicylate and coumarine is also symbolic. Amyl salicylate was used to express 2 things - the clover family (an old synonym is Treflol) and the orchid family. Ferns, and mainly the royal ferns are used as a growing medium in the cultivation of orchids. In XIXth century perfumery the marriage between "fern" and "orchid" gave (a conceptual level) the clover family (trèfle).
Ayapana is an exotic plant, also en vogue in the colonial XIXth century. It is very aromatic and contains coumarine and gave name to a Guerlain perfume contemporary with Fougère Royale.
But Fougère Royale is not just the ancestor of all masculine fougères. In this perfume the coumarine smells herbal and hay. But it has also a very sweet note that, if it is modified in an oriental direction you arrive close to Emeraude. While the Coty creation is an oriental with an aromatic top note, it was perceived rather different before WWII. Today we would say an Oriental Fougère (in those days the heavy animalic amber was the reference) but Emeraude was more complicated and complex than Fougère Royale.

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

Friday, August 28

Botanical Question

Visiting the website of the latest perfume from Yves Saint Laurent, Parisienne, I came across a photo that gave me some doubts (the first one, screen capture).

Is it a violet (even a Parma Violet)? I've never seen the flower like this, though I love them. The corolla seems to be more of a trumpet type and the proportion is different. Viola flowers have 5 sepals and end long stalks with a pair of bracteoles.

What do you think it is?

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

Why some recent 2009 launches are bad

Some very recent fragrance launches are either very bad or indifferent, the last being a copy paste concept (you take something that has been around for several years and you make it a "classic" new launch without changing very much the idea). L'Oréal is an expert in that, turning the prestige market of fragrances into a mass market of really cheap perfumes and recycled ideas.
But if you read this article on economy (in french) you'll understand everything. Why Parisienne is what it is and why Idole is not what it should have been.
L'adaptation du modèle de L'Oréal à la crise commence à porter ses fruits

"Pour l'essentiel, la dégradation de la performance opérationnelle s'explique par les difficultés concentrées dans le haut de gamme. La division produits de luxe (Lancôme, Helena Rubinstein...) voit ainsi son résultat chuter en un an de 354,1 à 225,3 millions d'euros. Cette division, affectée par le déstockage et la crise, est également pénalisée par la récente intégration des activités cosmétiques d'Yves Saint Laurent."

Do not expect NOW of any humble creation from a brand that is in a big group. It will not happen these years. But this is a great opportunity for small but artistic brands to emerge. I do not think that people will buy forever scents like Scarlett and they will dream about them. In the happiest case, women will buy Lancôme or Cacharel (add to that other brands, the list is not small) as a commodity, or like some men buy Axe (or bought Brut).
The L'Oréal model against recession has started to bring its berries (yes, berries and fruity shampoo notes are in all L'Oréal perfumes to remind us that hair care products are still a major business for the group).
And one more reason NOT to like Hypnôse Senses from Lancôme. Since it was launched, I see it every where on internet, via googleads. Even in my mail and in my blogger dashboard where I prepare my posts. It is like that spam you receive in your real mail and wonder why they use so much paper.

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

Thursday, August 27

A Scent by Issey Miyaké (2009) new fragrance review

With a color that is somewhere between celadon, pale jade and vert Nile, the new fragrance from Issey Miyaké is not just a scent but a Heaven Sent. The odor of rain in a very green spring, surrounded by exotic plants and unknown trees with their needles, somewhere in South East Asia. It is also to remind us that Miyaké is about lightness, freshness and a certain fluidity of things. Crêpe de Mousse. The main flower is a very green hyacinth built on a classic shape and the fresh bouquet sits on a sensual woody base with mosses, cedar and patchouli. Green floral chypre - an abstract idea that is unusual today. The classic hyacinth with soft rose (PEA) and delicate lily of the valley has a very pungent and strong green top notes constructed around galbanum. Inside a hyacinth headspace there are very small quantities of green pyrazines that are also found in galbanum oil. Adding small doses of galbanum in a hyacinth was discovered by perfumers many decades ago. But Scent is also a 70's Sent because it shows very clear elements of a trend that was popular in that era, now recreated with modern elements. The green notes as a symbol of youth started to be used in the 60's but only in the 70's they reached popular appeal. This was possible also by the discovery of new molecules that brought a vibrant touch in the perfumery (derivates of cis 3 hexenol, AAG, Triplal, Cyclogalbanate, new acetals of phenylacetic aldehyde, pungent geranium notes, rose oxyde, etc). The first impression while smelling Scent was - voilà a new Cristalle (Chanel) but while there is a similar effect of the green galbanum-lemon-transparent jasmine-woody-moss they are rather different. Miyaké is less contrasted, lighter and softer than Cristalle, with that twist that reminds the new Private Collection of Lauder. The use of verveine and aromatic herbs (that might give a delicate Eau de Campagne effect) in a floral is rather original. Another 70's perfume that seems to be related with Scent is Ö de Lancôme. After the green notes are gone, the jasmine, in the background and never too strong, becomes animal fruity but light while a new type of jasmone is used to provide a better effect than in Cristalle. For a moment the combination of citrus notes and aromatic green elements could suggest Eau d'Hadrien (Annick Goutal), but this is maybe just an effect. The drydown is mossy soft musky (but keeps the green effect) with that crystal moss note that started to be the Must Have of the season.
The overall impression is of a very pleasant green opera scent, a breeze over some classic perfumes of the 70's but in a very modern steel & glass architecture, somewhere between airy and watery. Tragrance is fluid but has density. It can be a perfect academic example about the improvement of a classic perfumery shape - you take a classic structure, you update the ingredients, you change the accents and put everything in harmony.
I do not like very much the quotes in this perfume because they remind me too much of some classics (Ö, Cristalle, Calandre, Métal). There is also a deodorant that was popular in the 80's-90's in East Europe called Favorit (green and blue design) that had almost a similar olfactory profile but on a cheaper level.
For me, Scent by Issey Miyaké is a known melody that was not heard for a long time. I remember that 2 years ago IFF put a great accent on their new green molecules (IFF was only about green things) while Givaudan presented new galbanum green notes. I wish that some facets (the green aromatic floral) received a stronger impact. For me A Scent is an intermediary perfume towards a new direction that might me brilliant. Something even more abstract but very shy right now.
Official main notes of A Scent by Issey Miyaké: galbanum (Supercritical Fluid Extraction), verveine, hyacinth, Jasmin Grandiflorum absolute, Jasmin Sambac FirNat, cedar, crystal moss, musc.

Dailymotion - A scent by Issey Miyake - une vidéo Art et Création

Interview with Daphné Bugey (Firmenich)- the perfumer

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

Wednesday, August 26

So Elixir by Yves Rocher - new fragrance review

When I first saw the packaging of the new Yves Rocher perfume with the magnolia flower, I was very happy to discover another interpretation of a flower that I love. But the perfume is completely different. So Elixir has indeed a classic bouquet of fresh rose petals and soft apricot jasmine but this flower is Angel-ized with a lot of Chance. While in terms of creative ideas it doesn't bring me anything new or special, the good news is that the perfume has a good architecture and many good ingredients. The main theme is a sweet gourmand patchouli wrapped in vanilla and tonka. It might be a very distant cousin of Elixir Charnels. The drydown is very Chanel but has also a new twist on patchouli with a honeyed vanilla note like the one you can smell in the drydown of Si Lolita and Hypnôse Senses, an accord that seems to be the 2009 definition if sensuality à la française. The soft fruity jasmine with sparkling notes and petaly green elements like in Sambac jasmine can also be tested in Tendre Jasmin from the same brand while the candied rose was very well done in Rose Essentielle. The rose-patchouli accord that is a must have in recent fragrance is sweetened very much. The classic chypre that is corsé becomes the neo chypre that is très sucré. I compared Hypnôse Senses to Coco Mademoiselle (they have similar ideas though Lancôme is more sensual sweet less acid) but if you like this type of perfume you will find that So Elixir smells better and has a lower price than the new Lancôme. You can also consider So Elixir as an evening version for Idole d'Armani because it is sweeter, more oriental. It offers a similar textured feeling like Dune Dior but with new ingredients and of course the peach-apricot facet.

Here you have how the perfumes described it on Yves Rocher website:
Marie Salamagne Parfumeur« Dès que nous avons parlé de ce projet, j’ai eu envie de créer une fleur blanche moderne : enivrante et sensuelle, mais tout en subtilité. Pour rendre plus vibrante la note florale, j’ai opté pour le patchouli, ma matière fétiche… J’ai pris le temps d’en trouver l’expression la plus juste, de chercher le dosage idéal : la note boisée du patchouli vient facetter la fleur, il se crée une sorte d'étincelle entre ces deux matières.. »

Olivier Cresp Maître parfumeur« Marie avait eu l’idée forte, je suis intervenu pour structurer et donner du volume à la note. Un peu comme un architecte, j’ai redéfini l’espace en lui apportant de la verticalité. Chaque facette de cette création est ciselée avec précision pour dompter l’accord fleur blanche – patchouli et parvenir à un juste équilibre. »

Jacques Cavallier Maître parfumeur« Quand je suis intervenu sur le projet j'ai eu envie de sublimer la sensualité charnelle de la note par un éclat de lumière. J’ai donc travaillé sur l’ouverture de la composition en apportant une fraîcheur rayonnante et invitante à ce parfum.»

What bottle does it remind you So Elixir (Yves Rocher)?

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

Ricci Ricci the new fragrance from Nina Ricci

The perfumes of Nina Ricci can be divided in 2 periods - first you have the beautiful classic fragrances created under the direction of Robert Ricci and then, the new creations. Unlike other houses, Nina Ricci did not try to recreate or emulate the past but imagined a totally new character, a modern young girl. Since the early "Deci Dela - 1994", it was clear that both fun and light fruity + floral notes will become the symbols of the new house. For several seasons the house had an incredible designer Olivier Theyskens but he was too good and he was thrown away in 2009. Ricci Ricci is a perfect scent for the new generation of Ricci girls (unfortunately there is no one talented to dress them) and it is a sparkling fruity floral perfume with gourmand elements. The fragrant story is well known because the notes have been around since several years but the new creation avoids simplicity and gives all the best in this category.
It has a bitter almondy cherry note, than a wild strawberry (fraise des bois - it seems to be the theme of the perfume), some woody rhubarb, all in a light cocktail that starts fresh and sparkling to become sensual and soft (but with an accent on green acidity like in the smell of natural fruits). The floral heart is big, with lightness and iridescence with a non descript floral freshness like in some classic Ricci Perfumes - lily of the valley, magnolia, soft rose very irresistible. It avoids the common shampoo effect and the stickiness of Escada like fragrances. The drydown becomes berrylicious with a sweet patchouli sensual note (lactonic coconut apricot?) that reminds the neochypre effect from Hypnôse Senses (Lancôme). Also, there is a possible link in style and notes with Acqua Fiorentina but I prefer the Creed perfume because it has more character. In the background there is a small effect that reminds me a little Visa Piguet (the new one). On my hand it shows also a "pomme d'amour" note, very sweet but delicate like all creations of Aurelien Guichard (the Rococo cupids are in heaven every time he powders their wigs with his special vanilla secret).
Ricci Ricci is not a revelation but it is not a bad perfume. It is a pleasant fruity variation that might be an alternative to Parisiennes d'Yves Saint Laurent because they share several elements. The metallic rose-violet-berry effect becomes the central ribbon of the perfume decorated with a white magnolia and powdered with some macaron sugar.

For a reason that I do not understand very well, other perfumes related to fashion launched recently (like the Jeanne Lanvin or LPRN) had a strong raspberry-rhubarb note. Is the fashion crowd so pink (like the sneakers I wore this summer) or is it because of Haute Couture Givenchy the glorious fragrance that set the trend of raspberries for every Mademoiselle?

Official main notes for Ricci Ricci fragrance: rhubarb zest, bergamot, moonflower, tuberose, centifolia rose, patchouli, sandalwood, floral accord "Belle-de-Nuit".

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

Tuesday, August 25

Prada L'Eau Ambrée (2009) new fragrance review

Have you ever dreamed of the scent of true ambergris tincture and the scent of the seashore? Here you have the latest Prada L'Eau Ambrée perfume that is for the next decade what Dune (Dior) was for the 90's. A reinvention of the oriental note far from any sweet connotation. 80's had Must de Cartier, we had dozens of sweet oriental patchouli versions. The Amber is in the Air. It is the feeling of an Oriental mood that floats in the air like a breeze from an island where the rivers are full with Eau de Merveilles. Prada L'Eau Ambrée does all that and I was seduced in the first 3 seconds. It is also a pure Prada Scent because it contains that special accord (I call it the Prada quintessence of clean) that Daniela Andrier has put in every single creation of the house. The scent of wool, cashmere and expensive bags. L'Eau Ambrée is an excellent synthesis of the freshness found in the Infusions (I'm not a big fan of those perfumes) and the first Amber perfume of the brand. The word flanker would not be correct for Prada L'Eau Ambrée though from a technical point of view it is a variation around a theme.
It does not explore the sweetness of the amber but it is an exercise of bitterness and those herbal-tobacco-woody notes that can be traced in the true amber tincture. I would also add that this is not a work on ambroxan but one on molecules with very deep dark notes like Grisambrol/Ambrinol. On the very first moment the oriental woody theme set into a fresh context reminded me another good perfume Flower Oriental but, if Kenzo is rather baroque, Prada sets the idea in a pure abstract place designed by Rem Koolhas. The only true reference of the perfume is Prada herself and this is great because at least someone is not copying the others. The top note with mandarin and cypress is both fresh and very aromatic with that phenolic bitterness as found in the most beautiful thyme oil. The floral heart is precious and very delicate with rose absolute and gardenia absolute (jasminoides) and their role is to provide richness in the airy context. After several hours a small vanilla note and other balms can be detected but they are well blended and do not show their individual presence. During the first moment the blotter is not revealing very much. The scent seems delicate, evanescent and almost imprecise. It is only after several hours that you realize the marvel inside the comfort perfume. Prada L'Eau Ambrée becomes more diffusing with time, more intense but not heavy at all while offering a resumé of previous Prada perfumes.
But the most surprising effect is on the skin. After several hours I forgot I have tested the perfume when suddenly I found my self mesmerized by a divine scent floating around me. And I'm not easy to be seduced by a fragrance. It doesn't smell perfume, it smells like a human presence and I believe it leaves a great trail. The perfume surrounds you with a special veil though on the blotter it might not reveal a lot. I love very much the musk note inside, very soft velvety and airy-cotton like and I believe it comes from Cosmone or a similar new musk molecule from Givaudan. Does Prada L'Eau Ambrée contain also one of the latest Givaudan captive molecule with its dry and diffusing soft ambery notes?
It is a perfume of sensual texture without contrasts and classic shape, more like a morphing architecture for the future with the pure Prada stamp.
The heavy amber becomes mollecular amber and this Big Bang sends its waves in the space surrounding you with an alien beauty and the Prada logo.
Prada L'Eau Ambrée has its own style, far from Serge Lutens or Jean Claude Ellena and now you can say there is a Prada type of scent as the aldehydes were the Chanel trademark in the 20's and 30's.
Official main ingredients of Prada Eau L'Ambrée: mandarine, lemon, May rose, gardenia jasminoides, patchouli, oppoponax, vanilla, modern amber.

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

Maison Francis Kurkdjian - first photo

Maison Francis Kurkdjian will open very soon in Paris and it is one of the most expected events of this fall. Now, the secret perfumes are still behind the scene while the boutique located in the heart of Paris is under construction (I took the photo today after lunch). The first feminine creation is a devastating rose. Details soon.

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

New Exclusive CHANEL Fragrance Bar - Selfridges

Meet Christopher Sheldrake in London at Selfridges Oxford Street for the launch of the first Chanel fragrance Bar this fall!

"The new unique Fragrance Boutique is an exclusive environment where you can experience the world of Chanel fragrance and indulge yourself in the luxury of scent. The new space heralds the launch of the patented Olfactive Bar developed by Chanel Deputy Perfumer, Christopher Sheldrake. The ultimate luxury experience, you can discover the vast array of extensive fragrances and be looked after by a specialized team of fragrance experts."

More details on Selfridges website.

The era of fragrance boutiques has just started!

You can hear perfumer Christopher Sheldrake speaking about Chanel in this short interview.

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

Monday, August 24

Idylle de Guerlain - the fragrance review

After the first rendez vous avec Idylle de Guerlain, the incident that last month gave me a bitter taste, I was not sure if I should review it or not. But I left behind any trace of pride and I considered that I should write my opinions on the scent. One important event was the discovery of the new Guerlain boutique in Marais. By far it is the most beautiful Guerlain boutique in terms of design and olfactory experience and that modern setting on Champs Elysées feels passé. It is also the most beautiful perfume boutique of a brand (don't compare it to Serge Lutens, that one is a Temple!). For this reason I thought to publish the review I wrote in July.
Idylle de Guerlain by Thierry Wasser is not what you've expected from Guerlain and it is very different in style from their classic creations but also different from what was did in the past 20 years. Forget Guerlinade and sweet notes, forget strong perfumes with impact like Insolence or Instant. This one is shy, very delicate and even more fragile than the most floral of Acqua Allegoria. It is a floral airy fragrance based on a delicate rose, a very soft jasmine hedione type, a lily of the valley and a lot of new musks (cotton effect). It comes from Pleasures via Essence Narcisso Rodriguez like a rain over a garden with roses. Also very Lovely! Add to this all the flowers based on high levels of phenyl ethyl alcohol (a major element of rose, plus other similar notes) give them some shades and you will have the bouquet. Pleasures had also traces of woody notes in the drydown, so does Idylle but they are different (transparent patchouli).
It is pleasant and neutral, more a comfort easy to wear scent than a signature. To my nose it lacks personality unlike more recent Guerlain perfumes that good or bad, had something characteristic (even that LPRN, is more interesting).
The floral bouquet has the freshness of a morning near a florist shop or a garden where a Lovely bouquet is blooming. The rose is more the natural type white-pink (not oil, not absolute), those types that have a delicate scent with just a small pear effect. Inside the perfume you feel also other 2 very small roses, one comes from Very Irresistible and the other (even more delicate) from Stella McCartney. Idylle gives you the impression of an absolute dilution and the notes are not so well balanced on the scale of time. I understand that musk is a main theme, but why after 1 day the blotter smells only musks with a little hedione + just a homeopathic patchouli and that bodycream effect? Why the character of the perfume is so evanescent?
While other modern Guerlain perfumes can give a love and hate reaction it is not the case with Idylle, it is Lovely but there are many things missing inside and seems rather anorexic in notes. But unlike Olivia Giacobetti, a master in airy perfumes and a poetry that takes you to heaven, or Jean Claude Ellena, a master in watercolors with strong memorable shades, the perfume of Thierry Wasser for Guerlain is almost nowhere. It is not bad, it is not a stroke of genius, it is not uncommon but also not common, it is not a perfume with trendy fruity notes, and what is worse, you will not say "wow".
I do not mind if there is no Guerlinade (it can be boring if everything has something sweet oriental) but for me it is not floral enough.
The idea of the perfume as I deduce from what I smell is a feminine delicacy that is close in style to several works of Debussy. But this is an almost intimate theme that is hard to put in fragrance. Until now only female perfumers did it well like Olivia Giacobetti, Sophie Labbé and in a more sensual way Christine Nagel.
If you like the idea of a fresh rainy rose I propose you a small trick. Use Annick Goutal Splendide line (a very beautiful rose note for skin/body care) and after indulge yourself in En Passant (Frédéric Malle). Or try Eau Blanche from Iunx with that nice cotton musk effect on skin and a drop of pure Bulgarian rose oil (avoid imitations).
You can read previous reviews about Idylle de Guerlain by MechantLoup (french), Elisabeth de Feydeau (french) and Graindemusc.

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

Sunday, August 23

Vintage perfume and cosmetics in Riga

An exhibition on Victorian fashions from the collection of Alexander Vassiliev showed now at Riga’s Museum of Decorative Arts and Design. In the photo a Violet perfume in Art Nouveau style.

Original post here (in russian and more photos of period costume from the exhibition).

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

Eau de cologne

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

Fragrance trends for 2010 and beyond

In the past months I smelled a lot of new materials (naturals and molecules), accords and perfumes some of them still in work. There are plenty new ideas to come in the following seasons and I will report several personal observations on what I considered relevant or just very exciting new ideas. Several are already in the recently launched fragrances.

1. The floral cloud and everything goes in the air
The floral perfumes will become more airy, more diffusive, light and soft. They are transparent but not necessary ozonic / watery. It is the style of perfumery expressed by Olivia Giacobetti that will triumph in this universe. White rose, peony and green jasmine will be blended with delicacy to express the scent of the flower bud and not of the opened flowers. The "cotton" musks will become very important to express the comfort while the woods while become floral woods, variations on the traditional notes to express imaginary woods of flowers to anchor the perfume (jasmine wood, heliotrope wood, freesia wood, tulip wood, etc).

2. Cassie is the new Orris
The orris note becomes more floral powdery and gourmand while the almond note of the past years could create a Farnesiana effect. The cassie-orris-jasmine will suggest the new idea of white luxury. White will replace black to suggest the idea of white cashmere, white fur, white suede.

3. Powder and milk for an angel skin
In this poetic of air, everything will be rarefied and the powdery notes in florals / oriental / green perfumes will have a strong comeback. The powder and the milk will represent the new sensuality with references to the childhood but also to the cosmetic notes (beauty milks). Strange notes from the dairy universe: milk shake, scented milks, traditional sweet milk preparations. The powdery notes (vanilla, benzoin, crystalline sweet notes) will be mixed with mosses and light ambers while the milk will have all variations (even flower milk and elderberry milk)

4. Burnt notes from Evil spirits
It is no more the sweet caramel but all the notes with a burnt aspect and a smoky sweetness. Sesame, nuts, burnt woods, fenugreek, roasted versions of traditional materials, strong coffee, burnt herbal notes. Those notes will provide a dark gourmand note and will bring the patchouli back to its roots after several years of transparency. Burnt notes will accentuate the natural vanilla extract and will be mixed with spices but also with various codistilled woods (pine-cedar, incense-cedar, etc). Burnt notes can represent a new type of oriental when mixed with the new rhum extracts plus soft woods and benzoin-tonka.

5. Pungent green and hyper realistic vegetables
There will be a strong green trend, very contrasted inspired by Thai cuisine, all the Asian vegetables with their strong green-watery-aldehydic-aromatic notes but also some European elements (poivron, courgette, epinard) and classic flowers like hyacinth or water lily. The green notes will have more body (not just effect on top notes, neither citrus perfumes).

6. Alien
There will be some very unusual fragrances based on new accords / molecules that will suggest those type of alien perfumes - never smelled before and hard to put in a family. The space age theme will bring ideas like alien herbs, alien flowers, minerals, new metallic notes, deep sea herbal ozonic accords but also technology. Fragrances that are not just simple alcoholic solutions but can offer another dimension (fire & ice). Also new experiments in traditional families bringing unusual touches (green amber, aldehyde honey, milky woods, flower ashes).

Other themes include:
Aldehydic floral woody for men
New aldehydes for women
Nutmeg, gaiac wood and "nutmeg flower"
Soft & sweet moss
Balsamic sweetness replaces the edible notes
Gourmand notes inspired by unusual confitures

You are welcome to post your feelings or the type of fragrances you'd love to smell.

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

Saturday, August 22

Olfactophobia - the candle debate

Please explain me what is wrong with the candles? When I thought that it's only about IFRA and fine fragrances I missed the point that an emerging market is also "in danger".
There is a long article in Daily Telegraph about this subject: Scented candles: toxic tat or a real treat?
"The very thought – never mind the smell – of them infuriates almost all men, and even some women. Now scientists have jumped on the bandwagon, too. Researchers at South Carolina State University have discovered that the humble scented candle releases potentially harmful amounts of toxins."
The other article is in Dailymail.
Tomorrow we'll learn that even flowers are not healthy (they all release chemicals like perfumes or candles) and maybe somebody will have the idea to remove several trees in public spaces.

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

Friday, August 21

Kilian Back to Black Aphrodisiac - honey is the new sex

I have always problems with Kilian because I cannot remember their very intricate names and I never know when they have a new release because all bottles look the same. But this week I did the effort to read them twice and to remember what I knew and what should be new. It was an excellent decision! I put Back to Black all over and later I experienced the perfume at home. The fragrance is a delightful oriental honey cherry, a classic with a twist in a powdery veil. If Frédéric Malle stands for Art and Tom Ford for himself, Kilian's secret is not about inventing the perfumery of the future but about mixing all the good ideas and giving them sales appeal (and high prices).
Back to Black gives a new dimension to the oriental family with modern ingredients, some of them very good naturals like the Orpur type. The right name would be Back to Emeraude Antique. Technically the main idea in the perfume has more than 80 years and was used at the beginning of the XXth century to recreate the oriental idea in all opopanax bases. Those bases using balms, sweet molecules like coumarine or vanillin, amber labdanum notes and herbal ingredients on top were often very animalic and powdery. With Back to Black this idea of the sweet oriental (with a light rose note) is reworked with 2 important modifications. First the heavy animalic note has gone and becomes honey. Honey is not just a sweet note but also a note with dark&dirty connotations. This time Kilian did not go so far as Serge Lutens and his honey idea is rather a very sweet (but delicate) note and not the pungent Miel Blanc (de Laire) affair. The second modification is the cherry note. While all Orientals contained coumarine and heliotropine (and not just vanilla), the main role of those molecules was to provide sweetness. But one facet of those molecules is also almond and so, the sweetness in Back To Black was twisted to a cherry accord. This is very original and clever. The cherry doesn't work like in the overdosed Louve (Lutens) but it's more a subtle note in the middle-drydown part of the perfume avoiding the sticky sweetness. The cherry / woody / balms appears also in a liquorish version of Angel. In Back to Black Aphrodisiac it is more the idea of a cherry liquor kept in wooden barrels than the fruit.
The oriental heart of the perfume is worked around benzoin and incense notes with some delicate spicy accents brought by ginger, maybe cardamom and cinnamon. A similar idea is already on the market in a Prada perfume and was used in some very good niche perfumes from the 90's (Helmut Lang or Jil Sander, I'm not sure now). Everything is smoothed like a velvety touch of the human skin. While the name is Aphrodisiac, it is not the hot sexual bomb one might expect, but rather the soft idea of a skin to sweet to be just kissed. It smells like baby powder (Johnson's) and this beautiful and classic accord makes the perfume even more pervert. Very original notes are brought on top by coriander and chamomile and the overall impression is about a refined opulence, not heavy but delicate.
The tobacco note of the perfume is an effect that suggest the rich & sweet tobacco for pipe kept in a small suede purse (with its soft animalic scent).
While it seems that the perfume has to with Amy Winehouse, it's just for the press - it smells vintage and refined, nothing to do with the trendy singer among the fashion circles in France.
Back to Black is the image of those Putti playing around a dreaming Venus with velvet ribbons in a Rococo setting.
The Toilet of Venus by François Boucher (1751)

Official main ingredients in Back to Black by Kilian: bergamot, geranium, blue camomilla, cardamom, coriander, raspberry, cherry, honey absolute, cedar, olibanum, patchouli, benzoin, tonka absolute, amber, vanilla.

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

The D&G Fragrance Anthology (2009) - New perfume review

When I first heard the news about the 5 new fragrances (and a new line) for Dolce and Gabbana I showed a lot of enthusiasm because I thought this will be something like Giorgio Armani Privé or the exclusive line of Prada. But D&G Fragrance Anthology was unexpected in the opposite direction. It is not an upscale line but something like the Marc Jacobs splashes or the new concept of cheaper perfumes & cosmetics promoted by l'Oréal to fight the recession (see the new Victor & Rolf - the entry level concept). The bottles look like a magnified version of the small Prada boutique perfumes while the colors are very Marc Jacobs - the overall concept, though using very expensive models is closer to the Zara line.
I discovered this morning the perfumes and they made me very sad. It seems that the D&G team had not enough money for fine fragrances and send their brief to the personal care division. With one exception they all smell like shampoos or body sprays and are not real perfumes. Every creation has a little something, a nice idea but this is diluted at 1% in that fresh transparent base that is everywhere, a base that originated late 80's and was the base of shampoos and body lotions. Almost all (except 10 and 3) have very poor tenacity and even less tenacity on skin. Also the diffusion power is very weak unless you put a lot of fragrance on you.

1 Le Bateleur - a very transparent cedar vetiver with a watery pear note + grapefruit, very feminine and watery while the drydown becomes not just transparent white woody but also watery lilac-cyclamen.
3 L'Impératrice - a fruity watery shampoo with bitter grapefruit, nectarine and kiwi over the classic transparent rose-lily of the valley & musk base. I like that bitter molecule note but not the arrangement. After several hours it turns into a watery lilac-lotus-hyacinth with (still) a sparkling fizzy accent (almost aldehydic). After several days it reveals a warm velvety neo chypre aspect like in Gucci Rush, very sensual.
18 La Lune - a very soapy orris-jasmine-suede note on a sensual sandalwood musk base that dreams to be Cuir de Russie Chanel / Une fleur de cassie but cannot be more than Scarlett (Cacharel) - the wrong soap. After a while a small lily is growing with an animalic indolic note and a smoky white wood effect.
6 l'Amoureux - a very pale woody ambery musk note with some spicy elements and smoky background - it is very shy for a lover and again it is a perfume for girls. It transforms into a soft sensual base almost powdery seen in several masculine fragrances (TheOne) but diluted 100 times.
10 La Roue de la Fortune - it is the most interesting from the line, with a very sensual honey vanilla benzoin drydown and transparent white flowers that is very close to the idea of Si Lolita (did the briefs or formulas interfere?) but again with less characteristic notes. It shows a soft caramel note with light patchouli note for all the fans of gourmand perfumes.

It is quite alarming to notice similar ideas with other 2 big launches in the same month (Scarlett and Si Lolita). All the perfumes give me the impression of being quotes from many other on the market set but set in a very light watery cologne tone. Also in terms of tonality they are close to several Ego Facto but also the Max Buxton collection. They give you the feel of recession perfumes for a young generation "sans prétention". The ads reinforce the idea that those are rather bodysprays and not real fragrance.
If you smell Chanel Exclusives and then The D&G Fragrance Anthology you can really see the difference between luxury and mass perfumery, between the richness of fabrics, the details and the craftsmanship of a Haute Couture house and the affordable solutions available to D&G.
But we should not be surprised about the shampoo quality of D&G Fragrance Anthology. After all, they are made by Procter and Gamble and they now little about prestige perfumes (see how they have burried Jean Patou). Also their price is 52 EUR for 100ml.

After more than a decade after the launch of CKOne we see the difference between an original idea and the result over the years. CKOne had many black and white images with a strong visual impact while the nudity presented in D&G campaign is a "standard nudity" used so much in all type of ads and magazines that has no more visual power. The use of gentle tones suggest me a "familiar nudity", not appealing, not shocking. Even with top models there is less power left in the message of this new Procter & Gamble line.
An interesting review of the Anthology was published in french by MechantLoup.

The video of the D&G Fragrance Anthology featuring Tyson Ballou as Le Bateleur 1

The video of the D&G Fragrance Anthology featuring Naomi Campbell as LImperatrice 3

The video of the D&G Fragrance Anthology featuring Noah Mills as L'Amoureux 6

The video of the D&G Fragrance Anthology featuring Claudia Schiffer as La Lune 18

The video of the D&G Fragrance Anthology featuring Eva Herzigova and Fernando Fernandes as La Roue de la Fortune 10

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

Thursday, August 20

La Parisienne d'Yves Saint Laurent (2009) - New fragrance review

Paris was a great fragrance created by a great fashion designer and a great perfumer. It was new and shocking in 1983 though the main notes were among the most classical in perfumery - rose and violet plus carnation. If La Rose Jacqueminot was maybe the first to blend those 2 ideas using natural and synthetics, Paris was a masterpiece using modern ingredients and showing that between both creations there were many new esthetic ideals experimented by perfumers in those 75 years. After the retirement and the death of master Yves Saint Laurent it became clear that there was no creator in the house. No spirit. No art. Just following the trends.
Parisienne is again a perfect example of a house that lacks a great artistic director.
From the first fragrance Paris, the theme of the rose & violet became something that I call a raspberry-violet flower over a woody base. There is nothing new in this perfume, a metaphor of declining luxury. The idea of the perfume is already present in 2 previous perfumes - Féerie (Van Cleef & Arpels) and Magnifique (Lancôme). From a creative point of view, it is not a flanker of Paris, nor a new interpretation (the different Paris versions launched every year are already good) but a modified version of the previous 2 perfumes. The woody base shows common elements with Elle (YSL) to boost its sales and it is a distant cousin of the overdosed raspberry ketone from Haute Couture (Givenchy - actually a very good perfume) - they call it blackberry now, like in Mûre et Musc, or cranberry (like in all those antioxydant beauty drinks that models carry in their IT bags)
The video campaign for the perfume is very good and I love it (not the classic Kate Moss photo) - it can be seen on the website of the perfume. But if you compare this ad with the concepts of the mentioned perfumes you will see how weird this world is - the delicate fairy becomes the beast, but it's only the image.
The perfume is very tenacious but what you smell in the end is again an improved shampoo formula with a very acid rose like a perfume that starts to be decomposed. Almost the same accord, but diluted very much and put in a different context can be found in another recent launch Bvlgari Blv Eau de parfum II (that also contains a light patchouli note).
While the campaign speaks about a patent leather note, I don't feel it very much (it is more the IBQ woody effect like in Trésor).
I was very deceived by this new Yves Saint Laurent perfume that has the "quality" of the Lancôme (2008, a creative flop).

And why there is so much makeup and Photoshop on the face of Kate Moss? - it doesn't look like her at all.

The answer to the question "Who is Parisienne?" (one title of the marketing campaign) was revealed today to me: Parisienne is Féerie Magnifique!

For french reviews for Parisienne you can check Ambregris and Graindemusc.

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

Wednesday, August 19

New fragrances "Les Liqueurs de Parfums" Thierry Mugler

"Haute Parfumerie meets Luxury Spirits to a unique olfactory creation" says Thierry Mugler.
First there was La Part des Anges, a special edition of Angel blended like a rare cognac. They obtained a patent on this process (see my article and my questions) and this fall we'll have the result in the new collection called Les Liqueurs de Parfums. There will be 3 perfumes: Angel Liqueur de Parfum, Alien Liqueur de Parfum and A*Men Pure Malt. The scent was "perfected" in wooden barrels made by Seguin Moreau (cherry wood for Angel, oak for Alien). Late june there was an event at Bloomingdale's for the launch of the special masculine version.
The perfumes are now online on Mugler store. I hope that they will be soon available in Paris because I'm very curious about the effects of this process on the nature of those beautiful perfumes.
An indeed it seems that there is a trend on roasted notes & purified alcohols when the smoke and the biterness replace the sweet caramel.

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

Tuesday, August 18

Death of a brand: Jacques Fath

You might have heard that Iris gris is not being launched but instead there is something called Irissime (very Creed name). More details about this controversial pseudo-retro launch was written on grain de musc.

But my point is that Panouge is the worst choice of a group to handle Jacques Fath or any historic brand. They have no expertise and they lack knowledge and culture. The ultimate proof is their website where, instead of the picture of Jacques Fath there is a picture of young Hubert de Givenchy.

WHAT A SHAME! Panouge wants to speak about diamonds for this new launch. But they know nothing about luxury and they had never opened Vogue. How can you mistake Fath with Givenchy? It's like selling red glass for rubbies over a fake marketing strategy.

Here you have the pictures.

Screen capture from Panouge - Jacques Fath website

Original picture of Hubert de Givenchy as used on the website (from museudelperfum signed by Hubert)

Original picture of Jacques Fath from Life archive

Fath died in 1954, Givenchy opened his fashion house in 1952. The photo is not just a mistake of identity but there is also a big difference in age between both designers. And a small fashion history lesson for Panouge - the white working jacket was almost a trademark for Hubert, he used to wear it since his début. What a shame that those who want to sell luxury have no luxury culture.

Read also the true story of a masterpiece IRIS GRIS (Jacques Fath) and the orris notes.

Here you have an original clip of Jacques Fath fashion commented by Karl Lagerfeld in german.

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

The Lost Battle of Forbidden Ingredients

The perfumer's organ changed in a dramatic way over the past 30 years. There is a natural change in taste, sometime in fashions, that would direct the perfumer to new & very new materials (synthetics but also new naturals) and by consequence other ingredients will leave the stage to make place to the favorites of the day.
In several cases this change was not just a matter of aesthetic choice. Contrary to popular belief the economic factor played a different and more subtle role. Old aromatic ingredients are always cheaper because the methods of synthesis were perfected over the year while the introduction of new artificial molecules was more a matter of new aesthetic ideals that price. When you put a new captive in the formula it is always expensive and will get cheaper only when it will be mass produced (and incorporated in detergents). Things started to go wrong every time when a perfume or a brand became a success. There is an incredible pressure when you sell tones of a fragrance to produced it cheaper.
But there are cases when the change was produced by even more obscure forces, like in the case of some ingredients regulated by IFRA standards. There is a bizarre connection between global economy and ingredients on a bad list.
Since the 60's the production of nitromusks started to move in other countries, less concerned by ecology. The manufacture process was very polluting and by the mid 80's the production took place in India and China. But since the 60's with the arrival of detergents scented with polycyclic musks there was a decline of the nitromusks. Except for fine fragrances, they've lost their appeal. The nitro musks belonged to no one, they were patent free and like anything that is free, cheap and produced outside Europe there was little interest to "protect" them. They almost disappeared from shelves not just because of the official reason but because there was no one left to defend them (and there were many other that musk ambrette, ketone and xylene). The next generation of musks had more performance in detergents, was new and interesting but was also protected by patents filled in the 50's (polycyclic ).
The ecotoxicity of musks was a big debate since the 90's when the trend was freedom + nature + cotton washed transparent scent (read musks). Everybody was aware of musks because they've probably used Jovan Musk Oil in the previous decade. But this ecotoxicity came right in time when the patents did not protect anymore several molecules and there was a need to develop others. (note how many names are for several polymusks!)
Both Indian and Chinese market were free to produce cheaper musks, that were strong competitors for Swiss musks. I'm not sure how much truth is in all those eco reports on the musks but in all cases they fit very well the trend of the moment - green, organic, natural, eco conscious and they fit even better the trend today.
Oakmoss was once produced in former Yugoslavia but the country and its economy were broken into pieces in the 90's. By a symbolic coincidence oakmoss became the bad boy and received several restrictions until it was almost eliminated from modern perfumes (why would you formulate with oakmoss to have trouble next year with a new standard). In fact, on an economic level, there was no one left to fight for the oakmoss. Not even the brands that were either on gourmand or on transparent fashions.
Now, the jasmine absolute is like discarded. By another strange coincidence, jasmine is produced now mainly by Muslim countries or in China while the French jasmine is just 2 drops a year. Once, the jasmine was the pride of the French perfumery - it was produced in France, it was expensive and it was used in large amounts. Now, none of those is true anymore. Who would fight for the jasmine? The poor countries that harvest the flower? The several houses that sell jasmine absolute but make their money from other naturals and also fragrance compositions?
In all 3 cases, there was no high economic interest or any kind of interest to fight for the material or to invest more money in further research.
Many other ingredients can be brought to "trial".
My first doubt about the correctness of things came when I checked my collection of ingredient catalogues given over the decades by labs to their perfumers.
We might think that data on allergies or toxicity are new. But this is wrong. Before the launch of any ingredient on the market there were tests and those tests were mentioned in the ingredients data sheets, at least to reassure the perfumer about the safety of a given new material. It is strange to notice that an ingredient was perfectly safe, let's say 5 years ago, and suddenly it becomes problematic.
If you work as a perfumer you can only notice how wrong and bizzare are many things. 2 years ago new vanilla extracts were promoted by many companies, presented to perfumers but also to brands. In a logic understanding this would become a trend and would generate some perfumes containing high doses of beautiful vanilla (we already have them on the market). But now IFRA put an evil eye on vanilla and mainly vanillin and has a clear intention to have a last word on that. Without making (yet) any comment on the subject I am but surprised that one year you are presented the ingredient and the next year you receive the info that your overdosed vanilla perfume will have to be reformulated because of a possible new restriction. Isn't it insane?
What gives me headaches is how quick and without any logic the IFRA standards change. The fact that Serge Lutens perfumes might be subject to change in the years to come are a proof of the absurd of this so called new safety science. A modern fragrance can't become less safe in less than 10 years in a world that is no more at the beggining of chemistry (or any kind of science).

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

Sunday, August 16

Chanel No5 new or not new

Today in the Independent.
Quote: But Jean-Pierre Houri, head of the IFRA, was categorical in his denial. "Chanel No. 5 will be unaffected by the IFRA restrictions."
Mr. Jean-Pierre Houri, buy yourself a bottle of No5 vintage extract or don't comment anything!

There is nothing I could add to this joke, but any journalist who wants to carry a deep investigation can do one little thing - to analyse several samples in an independent lab. Even the amount of jasmine absolute (if it is 100% or combined with other jasmine absolutes) can be revealed.
And by the way, what other fragrances have today more jasmine absolute than No5 and Joy?If this expensive ingredient is used less than in No5 (that would not be affected), than why did they restrict its use? All this is complete nonsense.
You set up new standards when something from the past was maybe wrong and if everybody in fine fragrances (like Caron) is in denial it means that the standards are in perfect harmony with the past formulas and we could deduce that there was no need to write them. Are we already in Alice in Wonderland?
I believe that several brands should reflect with a lot of care about their transparency because this mascarade might have bad effects in the near future if somebody will publish side by side analysis of several perfumes. Remember that formulas are not protected by any law and so "revealing" them to the public by a third part is not a crime.

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

Friday, August 14

Si Lolita by Lolita Lempicka (2009) - New perfume review

Si Lolita is an unusual and rather weird perfume among the 2009 launches. 2 different stories on blotter and on skin. It is a floral perfume surrounded by a sharp spicy veil that develops into a honey-milk and sweet textured drydown. The flowers are of an unusual kind today - sweet pea and night scented stocks as they where used in classic perfumery. But here the perfumers took less the smell of sweet pea and other forgotten flowers and more the conceptual image of those flowers, the inner accord that once gave birth to several bases. They transformed it with modern materials giving to each facet a new meaning in the process of deconstruction. Orange flower, spices, rose, honey, sharp green notes, everything is here rebalanced as if a classic music was reduced to its essential theme and then rewritten. The perfume is a very distant cousin of another curious creation - Knowing (Estée Lauder) and a whole generation of chypre chamomile perfumes where the scent is bitter, sweet and sour like a field covered in hot summer with flowers rich in yellow pollen (chamomile, marigold, daisies, even linden falling from the sky). From top to bottom, each note has an echo, everything is related like in a melody. The mandarin with its orange flower note and herbal thyme accent finds a partner with the spicy herbal elemi which at its turn leads us into a spicy bitter nutmeg accent that follows the giroflée. The perfume is a game and the notes are just enigmas in a maze - they are transformed and not obvious because not their common facets are emphasized. Vanilla is not just sweet and tonka is not as it used to be while the spices have taken the best from the nectar of a Black Orchid. The style of the perfume reminds me the symbolist furniture of the XIXth century with dragons and fantastic animals set in a Parisian apartment where an Alien is hidden. Inside the perfume I recognize a classic masculine shape (chypre - nutmeg spicy) that has been rewritten in a daring modern way with more accent on the soft, delicate flower and the sweet (almost gourmand) dry down. You can perceive it in may ways - a spicy floral, a chypre spicy or even an oriental herbal. It is a symphony of shades, rather classic. The idea of the perfume is very interesting but I doesn't diffuse enough, the notes are too shy for their power. Instead, it offers a very sensual spicy feminine skin scent with rich lactones.
The clover shape of the bottle fits very well the perfume - in the end it smells like clove and clover. A hot summer in a clover field covered with love and its spiciness.
AmbreGris and MyBlueHour wrote in french 2 very interesting reviews of this very new perfume.

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

Wednesday, August 12

Idole d'Armani (2009) - New perfume review

With a name that belongs to the history of perfumery (Idole de Lubin - is it the season of stealing?) and a bottle that echoes Sensuous Estée Lauder in shape, texture and color but also Azzaro), the new perfume Idole from Giorgio Armani belongs to the purified neo floral chypre family. Take the good rose from Miss Boucheron, blend it well with the chypre note from the new-retro Azzaro, distill it, then add the french touch - a fruity sweet accent. A bitter floral chypre. The very light rose like a morning dew is surrounded by a halo of radiating metallic spices (ginger, peppers and a microscopic saffron). For a short moment there is a fruity echo that reminds me Diorama. But unlike the classic fruity chypre, the accent is not on the rounded and sensual drydown but on the light and the explosion on top. The rose is not heavy but acid & green and it is not rounded by a soft long lasting peach but by an acid clementine. Very nice (but very light) it is a perfume without flesh and more like a soft petal. All notes are in a very delicate harmony, there is nothing too much, nothing aggressive, even the red fruity note is decent. It has very little lasting power. On my skin the main notes fade after less than 30 minutes and in an hour there is only a soft musky-apricot-vanilla. On the blotter it shows many delicate nuances, even a magnolia-rose-soft woods and a gourmand accent like a litchi dessert over a musky woody base.
A shy floral whisper in a noisy world.
Note on names:
Idole de Lubin - a trademark from 1962 / 2003
Idole - a l'Oréal/Lancôme trademark from 2009
I'm not an expert in this field but I do not understand how those two can coexist and in the 80's Kéryus from Givenchy had to be changed because it was to similar to Kouros from YSL.

Official main ingredients in Idole d'Armani: Sicilian clementine, juicy pear, ginger, davana, saffron absolute, Egyptian jasmine, Turkish delight rose, vetiver, patchouli, gourmand notes.

Idole by Armani fragrance video campaign featuring Kasia Smutniak.

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

Death of BRANDS

What is not working today in the fragrance universe is the economic model. Things are thought the old way and that's why everything goes wrong and worse. The shampoo like trend (read cheap scent for expensive perfumes) is not aesthetic but economic. The mainstream juices cost like detergents and personal care in the past and recently like expensive room sprays. Some 2009 launches smell cheap because they are cheap and that was the strategy against recession. (more advertising and cutting costs).
The problem with brands is their success. Inside every big company there is a small Fuehrer who wants to rule the entire world no matter the price to be paid and the extinction of other fragrances. But the way brands are constructed today is not good at all. The strongest example is Givenchy. The recent launch of Play with Justin Timberlake is the perfect case. The relation between the brand and the celebrity looks as if the star employed Givenchy like any other star in the 80's licensed their perfume on the market. This change, that looks like a pseudo-celebrity scent, shows us the paradox of the brand. Givenchy today means nothing to anyone, even less in fashion where few remember Hubert and even fewer remember Alexander McQueen amazing collections. Meanwhile Givenchy still sells a lot and the shelves are mixed with originals and flankers that no one can distinguish. What is worse than being big and irrelevant? Their launches have no logic and are random. No link to modern Givenchy fashion nor to the classic one. Not even a story to understand why they are on the counter. They can be anything and this loss of identity is the next step to the "grand surface". You don't ask yourself very much while buying a soap or a deodorant - just that the smell is good and the price right. That is what happened to Givenchy. They've lost their "raison d'être" - first in fashion, than in fragrance. Without celebrities they are dead because they do no mean anything to people. Givenchy has failed to create a universe while 2 other brands did it very good (Mugler and Kenzo).
Everybody has strong and unconscient images about the brands. When I see CK, I read white underwear and when I see D&G is another type of underwear plus belts and jeans. Now in Romania you can find almost everything like in Paris and even more fragrances. You cannot make a gift from Paris without the fear that it is in shops. On the shelves modern perfumes are very close in design and color schemes and very few would attract you in the ocean of products. It's only the name that might say or not something. The name of the brand and not the name of the perfume. In the past the name was crucial. Today it's not important because people do not buy perfumes but brands like in any supermarket.
What is wrong today is the theoretical model of the (mainstream) fragrance brands. They are abstract entities that lost power and magic and worse, the product itself is not able to fill the gap. I am tired of those stars in France, with empty faces and less dreams to sell. This invasion of celebrities in French perfumery had ruined many things. First it is the notion of perfumery. French women do not buy a perfume because it is a perfume. They are driven by the star of the moment, and when the moment is gone you're left with some galaxolide.
The question is … why not putting perfumers on the orbit and make them stars as never before? There are many perfumers that look great, can dress amazing and also can speak in the most passionate way. Young perfumers. Both entrepreneur and creator. Isn't it this way that the perfumery and cosmetic industry has started? But this is hard to achieve because creation is not easy while the path chosen by modern brands is similar to their counterfeiters.
The moment when strong investors will make a deal with several perfumers you will say goodbye to fashion brands leaving them with the mass market. There are a lot of good looking perfumers creating feminine perfumes. Why wouldn't they take the power of seduction out of the bottle? Can a perfumer have a fan club like any other musician? I know several that have both the eyes and the nose. The next level of luxury perfumery will be devoted only to the creators. The prestige will leave very soon some areas of modern perfumery. There is too much noise in Sephora and no dream to buy.
Higher the success, less chances to be creative and good. After Coty had realized his napolleonic dreams, there were no more interesting perfumes (scent and bottle design). Ungaro, now out of fashion, had once very good perfumes but their modern launches are less than a shadow. Other major failure in branding is Valentino.

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

Saturday, August 8

Le parfum

The number of Dior crimes and failures are surpassed only by the number of their campaigns - interviews, ads, events, animations and all the potpourri to dress up their secret desire - becoming the Coca Cola of contemporary perfumery.
I could not resist to publish this beautiful picture of their labs from l'Officiel.
The bottles and their arrangements in store are just for the image. Sell the dream. But besides all contradictions of Dior (their quality that is up for the press, down in the bottle) there is something great. Some of their extracts, almost hidden to the public are divine. If you ever disliked Miss Dior Chérie and J'adore, give them another try in their extract form.

In the picture is François Démachy and NOT Monsieur Dior (their SA often do this mistake since the brand started to use the black&white picture of their perfumer in the shops)

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

Wednesday, August 5

The perfume of future

There are several great events this fall for the fragrances and some of them will take place in Italy where a rebirth of "artistic perfumery" is happening (discovery and promotion of creative niche brands).
The perfume of future or "Profumo del Futuro is part of Fragranze in Città, the program of events and meetings dedicated to makers and distributors of fragrances and essences, to excellent noses, to professionals and to those who are simply curious about new lifestyles".
If you are in Florence on 11-12 september don't miss those workshops!
Here you have from their newsletter the main events / conferences:

Fragrances and Flavors in a Changing World - will analyze the historical cycles of changes in olfactory perceptions and in the design of perfume bottles from the 1920s to the present, casting a look at the future
New Natural Raw Materials - will focus on the growing trend among consumers to prefer natural products such as sandalwood from Australia, Venezuelan Tonka beans and benzoin from Laos.
Sensory Fusion - will describe how new scents are created starting from specific olfactory experiences and studies – such as the fragrance of the trees along the Ligurian coast in summer, the bouquets of fine wines and liqueurs such as Moscato d’Asti, Moscato di Pantelleria, Grappa or Gewurztraminer
Odors, local or global? - will deal with the often profound particularities and differences in the way people around the world react to odors and fragrances

Pitti Imagine

IL PROFUMO DEL FUTURO
4 talk show sugli scenari prossimi dell’olfatto e del gusto
Firenze, Stazione Leopolda (spazio Alcatraz),
11-12 settembre 2009

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

Tuesday, August 4

Bulgarian rose oil - a Bulgarian affair

I've recently acquired a small collection of vintage Bulgarian rose oil bottles. They are from all ages including several very old vials with cork stoppers wrapped in delicate silk paper. But if those ornamental bottles were sold to tourists (and even exported) as rose oil there are as many roses as bottles. There is no one identical not because roses have different perfumes but because they are not genuine. From all the bottles in the picture I took this morning, there is no genuine 100% Bulgarian rose oil. All are either adulterated oils or rose compositions. Their style and the several synthetics I can detect show the time when they were created and the fashion… Because indeed, there was also a fashion in the adulteration of natural oils. Call it style!
The main types present in this small collection are
- a very heavy Moroccan rose type (and NOT the special note of authentic Bulgarian rose oil)
- a rose with several polycyclic musks
- a light fruity rose rich in citronellyl and rhodinyl acetates
- a musk ketone - sandela drydown
- a beautiful rose - geranium - zdravets coupage
- a powdery rose with ionone alfa and rose crystals
In Romanian language "Bulgarian affair" has a negative connotation, I do not know when this meaning entered our language and I hope nobody will feel offended.
The business of adulteration / counterfeiting of natural extracts was always big and it seems that the desire of cheating is innate. But we should not blame Bulgarians for selling not genuine rose oil to tourists. The history of faking is as big as perfumery history itself. One of the biggest businesses in Grasse (and I do not think that the museum of perfumery has a section on that) was the … black market. Grasse was the capital of perfumes and the capital of fakes. The most respected companies in the past were not outside the black business of selling not 100% genuine oils even to their best clients. This happened in an era when producers of rawmaterials and producers of perfumes were not part of the same company. Now it is very different because natural raw materials are used less in modern fragrances and with few exceptions they do not represent the central note (you cannot replace the jasmine and rose in JOY but you can skip the rose/jasmine/ylang in all the millesime-harvest series of Givenchy).

Both Chanel and Patou had flower fields not for the prestige (marketing we would say today) but to preserve the quality in a changing industry. After WWII Grasse was in decline. Even Helena Rubinstein was aware about the synthetics and the use of synthetic oils and in her biography there is a section where she disputes with her son about the idea of acquiring a jasmine field when Roure would provide oils for a better price.
No matter the true origin of those Bulgarian rose oil vials, they have a great quality - strength, power to fill up the space and tenacious volume.

Today, the marketing claim over the use of naturals in mainstream perfumes is only a myth. Nothing has changed, it got worse. Several big launches smell like shampoo or detergent because their real price got lower. It's less about aesthetics and always about business and accounts.

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

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