Tuesday, March 30

Infusion de Vetiver (Prada) - new fragrance review


Every new perfume of Daniela Andrier is a surprise and with each of it the author shows an increasing fascination with fragrance, shades and textures. You can feel that she adores her work and it is not the brand who commands, nor the market but only her. The perfumer is the master, in the most commercial environment like Miuccia Prada is in fashion. I started to love her perfumes from the moment I felt that almost all (but not all from the very beginning) have that particular element that defines a style. In Untitled (Martin Margiella) it was not the perfume that I dislike but the artistic direction of the brand under l'Oréal brand.
With Infusion Vetiver (Prada) we have something very special, exquisite and so simple. It is not the heavy earthy rooty smell of the vetiver essence that represents the main theme, but the vetiver as a plant and what grows around. Take a look at the vetiver in its original environment and you'll understand exactly what this perfume is all about. The vegetal vetiver is actually infused with water and you can feel all the green notes, the tropical rain, the freshness and the vital liquid that is extracted by the roots. Infusion vetiver is a poem about nature (water, air, green, roots and woods) and the life is flowing through its veins.
It takes the best from the new freshness and the new green trend, all packed in a very harmonious perfume where the vetiver is the pretext. It's more an abstract vetiver infused with the bitter freshness of grapefruit almost aldehydic, with soft green galbanum notes (is it the new molecule from Givaudan?), transparent woods and new creamy musks (serenolide?). From the fresh top of Dior Homme Sport (without the ginger), the green galbanum-jasmine of Jasmine White Moss (Estée Lauder) it evolves into an elegant airy scent where you can almost feel the emotion of Jean ClaudeEllena and his work around the cologne notes with aromatic touches. But Daniela Andrier made all these possible influences her own and this infusion smells Prada with that almost recognizable accord in the dry down, between fresh musky soap and the modern cologne.
If the ginger was tasty in Dior Homme, here it becomes bitter and airy like a squezed grapefruit. The tarragon on the top with its anis note underlines in a very subtle way the licorice effect found in vetiver. On the dry down you can experience the musky green (almost milky lactonic) note found in Untitled but diluted 100 times.
Sharp and concise like the aldehydic scent of a Thai vegetable, Infusion Vetiver reinvents the idea of Cologne. If in the past years we saw many cologne-like perfumes, fresh and citrusy, this time we have the most intelligent answer to this "trend" where an ingredient is exposed and dematerialized until it becomes air. It has neither the word cologne or sport.
Infusion de Vetiver (Prada) has also an almost chypre green note in the dry down, a reference maybe to the 70's revival but Daniela Andrier avoided any retro reference. It's modern like Prada fashion, innovative yet so familiar and I adore the trail it gives in the air.


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Sunday, March 28

Beauty from the East

In this soviet movie from 1977, "An Office Romance", you can see an entire scene devoted to makeup. The girls in the office are "working" with lipsticks and everything a woman wears to seduce. Several soviet cosmetic products can be seen and there is also the active lady - the manager that does not care about fashion with a very ... stalinist look. Several scenes offer a different vision of beauty and cosmetics than what the West World knew or imagined. There are also great colors (the shades are similar with the 2010 Lancôme make up collection) and I wonder what was the perfume the lady applied on her neck. Today this scene might look very strange as many companies started to ban the use of fragrances. What woman would spray herself today with perfume in the office near her colleagues? We should reflect if our civilized society wouldn't turn worse than some totalitarian regimes. There is also a beautiful transformation scene in the movie when the "active east woman" becomes a fashionable woman (with great retro fashion, YSL like).
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Like This - Tilda Swinton and Etat Libre d'Orange - new fragrance review


I had not the pleasure to discover the perfume and hear its story when it was launched in Paris when Etat Libre d'Orange brought Chandler Burr to Paris (NY launch in June), nor to test it on my skin at home as there were no samples in their Parisian boutique last week, but I can tell you that this is an exceptional surprise.
" Like This" is one of those creations that shares both the feeling of being familiar and being very intriguing to the limits of curiosity. Unusual but also refined and without the brutal notes that often characterizes the fragrances of Etat Libre d'Orange, " Like This" is a work around the burnt notes in the most sensible interpretation. It offers the same special sensation like "Dans tes bras" (Frederic Malle) but this time it was painted in orange (not violet) with the power of the Sun.
Last year, senior perfumer Norbert Bijaoui was describing the scent of immortelle in "Planète parfumeur" and this raw material, quite hard to use, was chosen as the theme for the 2010 Young Perfumer Competition. This year, the young Mathilde Bijaoui gave us an unusual interpretation where the heavy notes of immortelle became solar again. They are disintegrated from their usual heaviness into small particles of light. She also solved a big technical problem - the everlasting flower is also an everlasting material - great tenacity that in many cases wins against the other notes in a fragrance. The burnt caramel and heavy herbal facet of the flower were associated with another unusual material similar to reglisse (licorice) extract, recently launched on the market (I suppose it is used inside the perfume ). Those burnt notes that evoke wood, fire, licorice or the caramel without its sweetness couldn't be expressed better than in the velvety saloon where the milky sandalwood-vetiver and the soft modern lily of the valley are having a sensual conversation with the musks. The pumpkin note is not a press invention but I hardly see how the perfumer managed to create it. For several moments that note, between dry, salty and sweet spicy shades is present like a true photorealistic image against a juicy, but shy nectarine. The effect can be of a leather note with vegetal shades and this is like a magic illusion. Unlike several modern chypre / oriental perfumes, this one is both sober and sensual with a character that evokes the beauty of the dried immortelle flowers and the sun captured forever in the petals. The combination immortelle-vetiver gives a very herbal touch but the most interesting facet of the perfume is the salty and soft burnt note. We can find inside the traces of the former Lolita Lempicka but only as a dematerialized shadow in the "ginger" fire or the shadow of Cashmere Mist drydown. With this perfume you actually feel the power of the Sun transferred to the flowers for an eternal beauty, modest and not opulent and this power is again transferred to a the feminine skin. The drydown smells like a sun under the skin of a women - sensual and salty with an delicate spiciness but not oriental/opulent/heavy. Also, its saltiness evokes the air and the vegetation near the sea without being at all marine (maquis) or some hot teas near the fire. The tenacity on the blotter is amazing, I wish I could do a proper skin testing at home but I was not lucky this time with Etat Libre d'Orange. After several years of many interesting perfumes, this one seems emblematic - it smells like the name of the brand, has the original power of a signature or seal and not it is not a showing off scent.
Bravo, Mathilde!


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Saturday, March 27

Bleu de Chanel - the next masculine perfume?

Update: Read the review of the perfume (Warning, this time I'm not tender with my beloved Chanel!) 
It seems that the new masculine perfume that Chanel will launch this fall will be Bleu de Chanel (Blue by Chanel). The company applied for the registration of the trademark and according to the procedure it will be soon validated if there is no opposition (registration info). The ad for the new perfume will feature Gaspard Ulliel and will be directed by Martin Scorsese. In the press info about the video (one month ago), you can see that the first photo was already presented with a blue light / filter. Not only blue (dark blue) is the new black in fashion at Chanel but it also represents a former perfume created by Ernest Beaux in the 30's, that I presented in 2008 with the original Beige and Rouge that I know very well (those rare gems from EB fascinated me ever & ever and the first photo on Internet for Beige came from my archive, also their description that did not exist elsewhere before). I do not think there will be any relation with the past creation as the new fragrance is a major masculine release, but more as a new definition of freshness. Until the registration process of the trademark is not finished, there will be no official statement from Chanel, but I'm happy if this delicious new perfume will have this name.
Photo from Vogue.


Update: Read the review of the perfume (Warning, this time I'm not tender with my beloved Chanel!) 

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Friday, March 26

Esxence - Follow the report on BergamottoeBenzoino

Bergamotto e Benzoino is preparing this weekend a photoreport and reviews of the novelties presented at the Esxence show as she and other italian perfume lovers are meeting in Milan to share their passion for artistic perfumes.
You can read her report here (first day), here (with a description of NUDA) and here (the new Honoré des Près I LOVE Carottes, I LOVE Coco, Vamp à NY).
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Thursday, March 25

SoOud - new luxury brand

SoOud (or So Oud, I'm not sure about how it should be written) is a new luxury brand of perfumes unveiled today at Esxcence in Milan. They are inspired by the mystery and the beauty behind the oriental veil (niquab), far from any ideology and were created by Stéphan Humbert Lucas, the nose behind the perfumes from Nez à Nez. The perfumes are presented as "Parfum Nektar" (very precious) and Eaux Fines (subtle and delicate) and nektar has twice the concentration of the other. They are a poetic tribute to the beauty and to the hidden desires of women - “un battement d’aile au dessus du nid fragile et craintif”. The bottle is like a veil and in the middle it is transparent to see the juice.
The name is maybe a reference to the Saoud royal family from Middle East. It is sometime written Sooud in the latin alphabet and by a happy coincidence it has the word "oud" inside, an olfactory reference to oudh and aoud. SoOud is the hidden essence of oriental beauties and unknown harems, but also a harem of oriental scents (not very known to the western nose). It is intended as "a jewel on the skin and the perfume of inner beauty" and all of them contain agarwood in high concentration.
There are 8 perfumes in So Oud line and each is supposed to mean something in arabian (but I have no idea about the meanings):
Hajj (nomad and calm)
Al Jana (sensual like a secret garden)
Fam (the mouth that you don't see but you desire)
Nìr (the sparkle of the eyes, mirror of the soul)
Ouris (sublime and imperious)
Asmar (tribute to the dark skin)
Burqa (the perfume of introspection)
"Quand le Soleil s'éclipse et que la Nuit couvre toutes les formes de beauté, on en ressent les grandeurs à l'unisson"
(By a strange coincidence this brand has 8 concubines like a "forbidden" website that has not been launched yet - should I ask some royalties for the idea?)
First images (mobile phone) from Milan of So Oud luxury stand.
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Nasomatto - NUDA - new fragrance

Nasomatto introduced today at the Esxence Salon in Milan its new perfume - NUDA created by perfumer Alessandro Gualtieri - "this fragrance is a bomb, an explosion". An it is a bomb similar to Narcotic Venus, but this time it is not the tuberose (and gardenia) that are invading the space but jasmine. The french jasmine absolute (rare, expensive and very animalic dirty) is at the heart of this strong perfume. Detailed review very soon. There is already an italian perfume called Nuda, sold by Il Profvmo.
First image (phone) of NUDA by Nasomatto from Milan - it is in the middle and has that peach beige colour.


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Wednesday, March 24

The origin of aldehydes and Chanel No5

Perfumers in Paris were using aliphatic aldehydes before they knew them exactly and their introduction in fragrances happened gradually until the genius of Ernest Beaux. In fact, some of those aldehydes appeared in the synthetic version of some essential oils but it was much later that many perfumers realized what they had under their nose for almost a decade. In Paris, since 1903, aldehydes were like captives today, used first only by a famous house. Synthetic oils based on the research, the new molecules discovered, were often a mixture natural - synthetic. They were used by perfumers to cut the price of expensive extracts. Some time oils were adulterated and perfumers became used with some specific notes. In that period the research on the purity of an oil was much harder than today and like today, there were many types of perfumery, based on price.
C8-C10 aldehydes appeared gradually on the market since 1902 but I think they were available in the labs several years before. Their official birth certificate is 1903-1904 (Blaise for C8-C12L and Darzens for C12 MNA, with 2 synthetic methods) but German documents present a different story. They were introduced by Schimmel, the number one of natural research, based in Miltitz Germany, through several oil reconstitutions. I made a short review of the patents where the use of a specific aldehyde is claimed and the introduction year of that synthetic oil on the market through their catalogue.

C9 aldehyde in synthetic rose oil DRP 126736 Schimmel 1900 on sale in 1902
C10 aldehyde in synthetic cassie oil DRP 109635 & 150170 - Schimmel 1902 on sale in 1903 or 1904
C9 and C8 aldehyde in synthetic lemon oil DRP 134738 - Heine 1902
C10 aldehyde in artificial Schimmel neroli oil in 1904
C9 and C10 in synthetic orris oil and later C12 (also in tuberose but I'm not sure about the year).

Gradually, these aldehydes became known alone in Paris, but not to all perfumers as they were not on sale. Through the works of professor Darzens C12 MNA and the lower aldehydes became available and were included in some very special perfumes, alone and not through bases . In several cases they were quite overdosed.
When the war started in 1914 almost all perfumers had met the odor of aldehydes, though maybe not all were aware about their name and use.
Something terrible happened with the Balkan Wars (1912-1913) and later with WWI. There was very little rose oil available from Bulgaria and Turkey (both allied to Prussia). This small crisis of the rose oil has started several years before - the production was in decline but also the commercial contacts with Bulgaria or Turkey were broken because both were on the "wrong" side. The synthetic rose oil started to play an important role.
Schimmel was an important supplier of natural and synthetic oils but when WWI has started it was much complicated for the French to have them. Many French producers were actually reselling Schimmel's products or used them for their own products. The study of synthetic replacements became a necessity in 1914. French production was in decline and the commercial contacts with their German partners was very complicated. I have the numbers of production but I will not insist on that.
By that time Antoine Chiris was one of the major producers who supplied many houses but also markets were much cheaper perfumes were required. Antoine Chiris is intimately related to both Rallet and Coty. It is very possible that what was once just a new odor (the aldehydes) became a necessity in the recreation of several oils as the markets of Chiris almost collapsed during WWI (the Russian market but also the supply chain). It is hard to estimate now how the perfumers at Antoine Chiris actually worked with the aldehydes but those notes were no more a curiosity or an aesthetic choice. The perfumers became used to those notes, their effect and they learned how to use the aldehydes in higher concentration.
By 1914 the following oils contained aldehydes in their synthetic version: orange, lemon, mandarin, neroli, rose, cassie, orris. The presence of aldehydes in bases used as creative elements in parisian creations is hard to appreciate today because we lack most of them.
In the early Schimmel reconstitutions each aldehyde, already present in the natural product, is used in a higher dosage and it gives power, impact. So, if aldehydes were like a booster to those oils, why not using them alone to boost a specific ingredient?
Looking back at the original formula of No5 the aldehydes do not seem an accident. It's pure scent engineering and each of them has a purpose to explode a note.
Once Ernest Beaux said something like he wanted to overcome the fatty odor of natural extracts. In fact, if you mix many absolutes you'll have something flat that cannot "breathe" very well because it is too dense. The aldehydes "extract" the main notes from the background and expose them in the sky like a reflection. They act like sharp knife that reveals the facets (neroli, orris-cassie, rose, jasmine). One should note that aldehydes did not enter all the perfumes of the period, but they entered first those that were not very expensive and based on synthetic oils (and less 100% expensive floral absolutes).
What was new with Ernest Beaux was the use of aldehydes and expensive naturals, both in high concentration and it happened almost 20 years after their discovery and first use. Previously it was different - cheap products with aldehydes (though not being aldehydic already) or expensive products with aldehydes in trace or aldehydes used as a bizarre note. He did an expensive perfume with an aldehyde overdose. They were used both for their effect and for their note and that was his genius in Chanel No5. Later, aldehydes will be used like a building block.
We can imagine that the fresh natural scent Coco met once in her youth was in fact a rose perfume with C9 aldehyde because the purest rose oil, as used in L'Idéal (Houbigant 1900 a great success and very much copied perfume) was in fact too expensive. More than 50 years ago, a perfumer wrote in his notebook that Chanel No5 and l'Idéal had some common points. Try to copy the luxurious Idéal (with its sweet coumarine /eugenol note) using a synthetic C9-C10 rose and you'll have a nice surprise. Add to that the ylang-jasmine-lilac-C12 from Quelques Fleurs and you'll be even more surprised. Then, replace eugenol with isoeugenol having in mind the accord ylang-ylang / Dianthine.
The raw material crisis did not end with WWI but continued in the following 2-3 years. But this time with a new molecule - jasmine aldehyde A or jasmonal A (a different type of aldehyde, not aliphatic).


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Tuesday, March 23

Trésor in Love (Lancôme) - nouveau parfum shampoing

Avec Trésor in Love (Lancôme) on se souvient de l'histoire d'amour entre l'Oréal, les cheveux et l'argent car l'ancienne "boite" de teintures inoffensives a bien lavé son image (et parfois le scandale qui va avec) pour se faire une peau tout neuve, tout luxe. Après les lessiviers qui ont blanchi le monde de la parfumerie, voilà les teinturiers venus nous peindre le monde dans les couleurs artificielles.

Trésor de Lancôme, un grand parfum qui a ouvert la voie vers un nouveau type de parfumerie, malgré son humble simplicité et les nombreuses copies des années '90, demeure un classique avec une forte ossature. Il a maintenant sa version fraîcheur shampoing enrichi par le thème "fleur d'eau" et fruits pétillants, pour une caricature de l'amour. L'amour en 2010 signifie-t-il sentir l'odeur du shampoing de l'autre et une création validée par des évaluateurs? Déjà la création de Sophia Grosjman était un parfum enveloppé d'amour que la grande dame de la parfumerie américaine appelait "hug-me fragrance". Le flanker Trésor in Love (Lancôme) est la preuve de notre monde dérisoire car, même s'il est travaillé librement autour de la formule Trésor par un parfumeur de génie, il ne va pas plus loin que les produits de soin. Petite parenthèse, le premier Trésor a été un prototype pour ce genre de produits, par la structure de sa formule et par ses composants. Une version dérivée est une démarche risquée et Trésor in Love, par sa fraîcheur verte, florale, un peu fruitée et agressive, nous montrent bien cette difficulté. Essayez le sur la peau et après 15 minutes demandez vous bien si vous sentez le gel douche ou l'eau de parfum. Par contraste, des notes spéciales ressortent dans le parfum classique, comme l'isobutylquinoléine, une trace de vanille, les notes épicées brûlées. Avec des notes vertes un peu acides (et menthées) qui renvoient à Calyx, au cœur floral du dernier Givenchy ou à la rose de Miss Boucheron, Trésor in Love est d'une banalité exquise. Pourtant, ce n'est pas un mauvais parfum dans sa niche florale fruitée fraîche et il réserve quelque petites surprises dans la note rose ou le jasmin délicat à tendance magnolia. Le jour où un vrai parfum sortira des portes de l'Oréal (qui hélas, après avoir repris YSL nous prépare un grand lancement féminin en automne) sera une grande victoire face aux shampoings en flacon plastique qu'on appelle maintenant parfum.
Les parfums Lancôme, ça vaut la peine de les acheter? Pour vous montrer le respect de la maison envers ces "créations" je vous propose une visite Fb Saint Honoré dans la boutique de l'Institut Lancôme, siège historique de la marque. C'est une honte cachée dans un coin du mur et ça perdure depuis des années! Quand une maison ne respecte pas ses propres créations chez elle, cela en dit beaucoup. Ajoutez-y le manque d'échantillons, la version extrait ou même des parfums qui manquent mais se retrouvent dans d'autres points de vente à Paris. On peut pas faire un beau parfum sans y croire or Lancôme n'y croit plus. Pire, L'Oréal n'en est pas capable car, à force de travailler des produits de basse qualité, il n'y a ni goût, ni savoir, ni expertise dans ses équipes parfum. Qu'un Miracle se produise par une Magie et qu'un Ange Souffleur veille à cette marque située si proche de l'église de la Sainte Patronne des Parfumeurs!
La nouvelle campagne pour Tresor in love, le making off et les coulisses du parfum.



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Nuit de Tubéreuse - L'Artisan Parfumeur

The next big surprise this spring will be a very special perfume from L'Artisan Parfumeur and I'm sure that many will love it because it is a daring creation with an original twist (a mango note on top that is very delicious, then angelica and a lot of pink pepper). Nuit de Tubéreuse is quite different from Serge Lutens or Frédéric Malle type. I know somebody that is already under the magic of this creation since several months and it is the best creation of its author for L'Artisan Parfumeur.
"Nuit de Tubéreuse, the perfume of a secret summer night in Paris. A luminous harmony built around the ambivalence of tuberose, pure and innocent, poetic in its exaltation and an almost narcotic sensuality."
You can find the description of the perfume and the ingredients on L'Artisan Parfumeur Blog (via NST) where it was unveiled yesterday.


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Monday, March 22

Reportage reformulation parfums et legislation Bruxelles

Grâce à un lecteur de mon blog j'ai découvert ce reportage récent sur la reformulation du parfum. C'est déjà à Bruxelles et on se dirige vers une Europe sans odeur et vers une industrie qui perd tout espoir de survie face à la tempête législative.
Il est intéressant de voir dans le reportage la réaction des consommateurs (qui ne sont pas des perfumistas), clients fidèles d'une marque qui ont remarqué le changement sans savoir que cela s'appelle reformulation. Aucun service de PR ne peut mentir le client en 2010 car déjà le silence (ou plutôt le mensonge sur la reformulation) a été rompu. Peut-on sauver le parfum ou la noix de muscade?
Non, car l'IFRA a bien joué sa carte et d'un petit organisme il est devenu un important acteur pour la législation communautaire or les enjeux sont forts dans une Europe de plus en plus hypocrite qui se veut "responsable". Vous allez écouter comment les fabricants des parfums se sentent étouffés par cette législation ainsi qu'une conversation avec le député Constance Le Grip (UMP). Le reportage commence à partir de 11.50.
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Voyage (Hermès) new fragrance review

What else is Voyage if not an imaginary journey into the essence of contemporary Hermès? Its presence suggests Hermessence, but this time it is not the "exercice de style" Jean Claude Ellena uses in each of his exclusive fragrance. Voyage is the magic ribbon that wraps his perfumes, his signature in the most abstract way. Unlike Guerlain, this time it is less a recognizable accord that defines his perfumes and Voyage has that incredible quality of being both indescriptible and familiar. It has no particular story other than being almost a retrospective (or even an introspective) trip into this perfumery house. You will not be shocked by it, as it comes as something you might already know, a scent or an aesthetic theory we became familiar with, in the past years. For those who do not appreciate the style of Jean Claude Ellena (I used to call it minimalist compared to the richness of Serge Lutens) stay away from Voyage because this perfume is the air of the purest form of architecture (steel, glass and the nature framed in a Zen window). What was once contrasted and in tension becomes unified. The individual characteristics of raw materials, overdosed or expressed through oppositions & analogies in Hermessences, are faded here. Voyage is polished like the purest form of traditional Japanese pottery (polished and rough) while the smoothness of the scent might evoke the jade. There are 3 points to consider in the case of this creation:
- it is almost an abstract perfume without a clear reference or image. It is abstract not as modern art but compared to previous JCE perfumes where particular notes stand out with a constant shift between illusion and hyper realism (the nose is tricked between the real presence of an ingredient and its allusion). Voyage is the scent of a musky skin lightly perfumed and evokes the skin that was once perfumed with something familiar (Hermès of course). The fingerprint of a perfume on the skin!
- it is an essence of previous creations of JCE for Hermès and by that I do not mean essence as a masterpiece or conclusion. Voyage is like a quintessence of Hermès without the alchemical connotation. It defines the Hermès idea in terms of wood, leather, spice, freshness, floral notes and from one note to another you travel in a imaginary journey in the beautiful imaginary garden.
- it is a research on a perfume that is even more simplified. Voyage is like an epure, a sketch where Jean Claude Ellena opens the gate to the curvilinear architecture. If several previous perfumes were about "right angles" and the clash of the titans (materials with strong identities opposed one to another), Voyage smells like the sensual white buildings of Oscar Niemeyer though I would compare it more to a much more modern type of architecture (see the Rolex Learning Center Lausanne).
Voyage (Hermès) comes with no surprises for those who already know JCE perfumes. It is an essence built around a musky note that could be traced back to Eau de Bvlgari, Cologne Mugler, the more recent Prada perfumes (and to a minor extent Martin Margiella Untitled, much contrasted and green) or the fashionable orange flower soapy notes of the past 3 years. Around this note (usually made by 2 molecules) you have creamy musks, transparent woods, contrasted spices, watery florals (like in Kelly Calèche EDT) and several bitter notes. The top note is dominated by a juniper extract with its terpenic, sharp but also gin and tea note. I sliced the perfume into the facets (that are notes and not necessary components of the perfume):
Bitter like a green cologne note, tonic gin, grapefruit notes and light vetiver
Soft leathery like a white suede, osmanthus (with carrot?) and tea
Floral like a transparent rose and imaginary jasmine
Cold spicy like cardamom (or some ginger?)
Aromatic like lavender and very diluted coumarine
Woody like the transparent cedar and creamy bacdanol
Musk but soft and creamy like Musc T and Ambrettolide
Voyage (Hermès) might be disappointing for those who expect the surprise or the novelty. It has not the power of Terre, nor the surprise of Poivre or Kelly Calèche extrait or the emotion of a specific place like Ambre Narguillé. A perfume without flesh, it is a cloud where several ingredients loved by the creator are suspended between the "vague" and the "condensed" expression. Voyage is not the photographic impression of the places you have discovered, but the vague emotion of things that cannot be easily described. In this case, Voyage captures the ribbon inside the new Hermès perfumes and not their specific design. It is "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" Hermès.




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Sunday, March 21

Linden blossom CO2 extract


Last year I discovered one of the most beautiful raw materials ever - gardenia enfleurage and this year I had a similar revelation of natural beauty. Linden blossom CO2 produced by a very small European supplier hit my nose with the solar explosion of the summer. I have been fascinated with linden blossom since many years and it is hard to explain if it is the place given to that scent in Romanian poetry or the scent itself, sweet and narcotic during summer nights. There are several types of linden trees in Europe with different blooming periods. I know all of them and last year I gave a description of the scent. The new extraction type I have recently discovered (among other unusual flowers or plants like a new extraction of lilac or elderflower) is the essence of the late summer linden. The scent is the olfactory equivalent of the most delicious honey. The odor profile of the sample (CO2 extraction) is the exact replica of the flowers - no distortion and it is a top-middle note (not very tenacious). It has the profile of those summer linden trees, with their rich honey and almost aromatic notes that give the best tea but also some burnt notes like chicory. It has all the shades that are missing in the beeswax absolute and in several honey reconstitution. Deep, honey-genêt and hay-like with a bitter touch of violet leaf and chamomile, it can be considered also as a different type of tea note, warm and solar. The drydown is very special because it is almost animalic-sour urine-civet like a herbal note that starts to become dirty in the sun. With this new floral extraction we can understand the essence of Moment suprême (Jean Patou) though there is no linden blossom extract inside. In Romanian language there is an expression that relates honey to sex and this new extract is the key to new sensual accords like those from Si Lolita. I wish there was also an extract of the other type of linden (early summer) with its narcotic and exhilarating scent (but not very honey). This CO2 extraction shows that linden is available to perfumery 100% real and this could represent a new direction for perfumes like nektar, both aromatic, vegetal, sweet and spicy that express the unadulterated beauty of nature as portrayed in L'Heure Bleue in 1912. Further studies in the extraction method and the type of flowers (botanic source, fresh, dried, etc) could provide more interesting linden blossom extracts.


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Saturday, March 20

Michael Edwards explains the Fragrance Wheel

Once, Luca Turin wrote that the taxonomy of fragrances "has found its Linnaeus in Michael Edwards. A perfume lover of rare and erudite passion, he has developed the only classification scheme that actually works.". Far from Paris and New York (he actually lives in Sidney), Michael Edwards gave this year an exclusive interview to Sniffapalooza Magazine where he explains his work and the huge task of putting together all shades found in modern perfumes to bring us a very coherent classification. He also shares several thoughts on perfumes and their art:
"In extracting the oils, the angels take their share. And so you only get part of what you smell[...] The synthetic notes for us are the building blocks - the maestros of 20th Century perfumery. The evolution of great perfumery is in fact the evolution of the synthetic notes, 95% of which come from nature. Take the aldehydes – you’ll find them in citrus oil, you’ll find them in rose oil. So why do we recreate them synthetically? Because they are available naturally in such trace amounts that commercially you can’t extract them. You could pull apart jasmine and you would get over 800 different chemicals that nature has put together to create the scent that we smell as jasmine. Each one of them has probably a different scent. Some are nice, some are not so nice, but now we have a whole new organ of scents to use out of that. And so really, the evolution of perfumery lies in the researchers identifying their components. "
Read the full interview with Michael Edwards on the latest Sniffapalooza Magazine.

At some point he speaks about the difficulties in having samples to analyze the perfumes. This is not new at all (getting samples in Paris is like a KGB strategy in my case) and last month something terrible (and scandalous) happened in Paris at the SFP, Société Française des Parfumeurs. The perfumers who establish the French Official Classification of Perfumes met to analyse the new launches and had a sad and bad surprise. None of the houses had sent any samples and there was nothing to work on for the next 2010 document.


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Xantho (Gabilla) - a beautiful perfume

A very rare bottle from Baccarat - for the perfume Xantho by Gabilla, created in the mid 20's. Two modern creations are inspired by this design.
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Friday, March 19

Obituary: Beatrice Piquet (1963-2010)

Beatrice Piquet, perfumer at IFF, passed away this month after a a long battle, at the age of 46. She was the author of many famous perfumes like Burberry Sport Her, Burberry Beat Her, Bulgari Rose Essentielle, the David Beckham perfumes, several Jil Sander and several Hugo Boss, the very known Guerlain l'Instant pour Homme.
Anima ejus per misericordiam Dei requiescat in pace.
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Thursday, March 18

Eau du Désir Lolita Lempicka - pastiche ou pistache?

Il y a un moment dans la vie de toute oeuvre d'art ou au cours de toute démarche artistique quand il faudrait savoir s'arrêter puisque le schéma ou l'archétype est épuisé et il ne peut plus être multiplié à l'infini sans tomber dans la plus triste des pastiches.
C'est le cas de l'Eau du Désir, la dernière version d'un parfum tellement spécial, célèbre et célébré, Lolita Lempicka. Le flacon qui se trouve devant moi devrait contenir une fleur de violette (tendance scrupuleusement cueillie pour la marque par les chasseurs des tendances dans la forêt des parfums) et un peu d'Eau. Mais le nouveau parfum Lolita Lempicka n'a rien d'une violette, du désir et encore moins de l'ossature si présente de la création originale.
C'est une pauvre interprétation non inspirée, pire que L'Eau de Bvlgari II, autre "eau violette". En 2007 Lolita Lempicka avait introduit un trio parfumé inspiré par ses facettes. Même si le bouquet eut l'air d'un exercice académique conçu pour la formation des animatrices et l'explication du parfum, c'était une jolie introduction, délicate mais bien orchestrée. Je les ai appréciés tous, car ces Caprices de Lolita (Caprice Violette, Réglisse, Amarena) avait quelque chose de spécial. Il y avait un soupçon de désir qui apaisait la gourmandise tout en accentuant la sensualité de la peau à la manière d'une pâtisserie florale - certainement c'était la magie de l'IBQ, de la note anisée sucrée, de l'héliotrope et de l'amande.
Pour Eau du Désir l'idée est bien claire - s'inscrire dans la tendance des nouveaux parfums fleuris et frais avec leur note prononcée cologne moderne. Puisqu'il y a sur le marché un J'adore l'Eau et un Miss Dior Chérie l'Eau, la plupart des grandes maisons, dans leur regrettable obédience trendy, se sont précipitées dans cette "nouvelle" insipide direction. Pourtant, dans le cas de l'accord Lolita ça ne marche pas du tout et toute la composition s'effondre sur elle-même. Tout est mauvais dedans et pire, dans une mauvaise conjugaison - le jasmin, la pauvre violette, la note citrus acre et finalement l'accord sensuel de Lolita qui refuse obstinément obéir la nouvelle dimension "eau". Après l'introduction spéciale de Si Lolita, cette nouvelle création Eau du Désir Lolita arrive comme un tout non inspiré de la tête au fond - le nom (Eau du Désir) suggère plus le désir que la fraîcheur de l'eau dans une contradiction avec l'odeur, le flacon a une mauvaise proportion et une mauvaise couleur (la photo est retouchée) tandis que le parfum est une pauvre interprétation d'un thème impossible. Essayer le mix violette, cologne et jasmin pour voir que ça ne marche pas très bien. Mais une nouvelle dimension "violette" de Lolita Lempicka serait aussi impossible car il y a déjà une autre, très originale - Aimez moi de Caron de 1996 qui serait certainement l'inspiration de l'accord Lolita de 1997.
Dans le cas de Lolita Lempicka il serait mieux d'arrêter le carrousel des variations et garder le parfum d'origine tel qu'il est jusqu'à ce que l'IFRA n'interdise le Lyral et nous laisse sans cette création. Pourquoi devrions nous tordre et torturer un beau parfum jusqu'à le rendre méconnaissable?
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Eau du Désir Lolita Lempicka - new fragrance review

There is a moment in the life of a "work of art" when it is better to stop because the scheme is exhausted and the "archetype" cannot be multiplied / interpreted in new ways without becoming a total failure or a sad pastiche near the glorious original. It is the case of Eau du désir, the latest "version" / flanker of the celebrated and original Lolita Lempicka. It is supposed to be a violet flower (another trend scrupulously communicated to the brand by its consultants) and something Eau. It has nothing to do with the flower, with the desire (as the name would suggest) and even less with the original. It is a very poor and uninspired interpretation, worse than Eau de Bvlgari II. 3 years ago, Lolita Lempicka was selling a trio of perfumes inspired by the different facets of the original. They looked like an academic exercise used to explain the original for the sales team but they were a very good introduction and I enjoyed each of those Caprices de Lolita (Caprice Violette, Réglisse, Amarena). There was something very desirable in each creation and the gourmand note was very well dosed. Under the spell of IBQ, anis, heliotrop + almond, the skin became the most desirable floral pastry.
For Eau du Désir the idea was to fit the trend of the new fresh florals with their almost cologne top note. Because you have on the market J'adore l'Eau and Miss Dior Chérie l'Eau, almost each major fragrance house, in their blindness and obedience to the trends, ran into this direction. But in the case of the original Lolita accord this doesn't work at all and the composition collapses. All is wrong inside - the jasmine, the poor violet, the fresh sour citrus and above all the Lolita sensual note that is unwilling to obey the new dimension. After the very special introduction named Si Lolita, Eau du Désir Lolita comes as something uninspired from top to bottom - the name (Eau du Désir) suggests more the desire then the freshness of water supposed to be trendy, the bottle has a bad proportion and color, while the fragrance is a very poor interpretation of an impossible theme (try to mix violet, cologne and jasmine notes and you'll see why they do not work together). A new violet version of Lolita Lempicka is also almost impossible to do because there is already a good and original creation with a similar theme - Aimez moi de Caron from 1996 (that undoubtedly has inspired the original Lolita Lempicka in 1997).
In the case of Lolita Lempicka it's better to stop the endless variations and keep the original as good as it is. Why should we twist and torture a beautiful perfume until we do not recognize it?


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Tuesday, March 16

Ingredients in danger?

Thanks to the tyranny of IFRA and the occult interests that are behind several demonic decisions we might lose another batch of natural ingredients and molecules in 2010 and 2011. Can you imagine a world without bergamot? We are not that far. Without several traditional aromatics or even without some basic molecules? Forget oak moss, musks or vanilla, that's already history. New IFRA standards and new briefs from brands (scared about the bad publicity) are the new threat in the labs.
In the article about new molecules and new naturals from Beyond Beauty you can read between the lines what perfumers think but cannot say. In a decade with the most beautiful molecules and the most advanced innovation in natural extraction, when customers are asking for beautiful and special scents, the future of this industry is collapsing under the threat of IFRA and the greed of several brands. Add to that the hypocrisy of ecological concern and other invented problems for the modern society. Minus the quality, the beauty, the consumer.
“What I miss the most bitterly are the raw materials that people no longer want to use or that are prohibited for poorly understood reasons – like civet, castoreum or ambergris – without an official decision having been made, for all that. All the major groups have banned them. It’s unfortunate that they didn’t dare to deal with the economic lobbies. [...] Nothing will replace these animal notes, or the oak moss that’s essential to the chypres fragrances - Dominique Ropion
“Lyral and soon Lilial, irreplaceable for the moment, two materials rather disdained because in the beginning they were used in detergents and soaps. But what would Jean-Paul Gaultier’s Le Mâle be without Lilial, or Biagiotti’s Laura and Ungaro’s Diva be without Lyral?" - Bernard Ellena
One of the craziest things I saw last year was a replacement for Lyral and other for Lilial - 2 blends (compositions up to 7 ingredients) created by a fragrance supplier to replace those molecules. In terms of composition this is 100% insane - to replace one molecule with other 5, but that's perfumery today. Will everything collapse in 2012? With IFRA and Bruxelles it might be sooner than the movie.
UPDATE: Read also the presentation done at the British Society of Perfumers Safety Symposium, 11th March 2010 - “Is excessive regulation destroying the perfumery art?


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L'Eau d'Issey Wood Flower and "Wood Edition" pour Homme - new fragrance review


What is kitsch if not a poor replica of the original that mimics the features of a masterpiece (man made or natural) and the feelings that inhabit each great creation?
The flankers of a classic fragrance masterpiece are usually a failure and an open gate to something similar to the process that gives birth to kitsch (though the smell can be very pleasant). You need to be twice a genius to rework an original creation and to come with a new twist. But also, you enter the path of hundreds other fragrances that during the history were inspired or tried to copy the original.
When the first Issey Miyake was launched in the 90's it was a great creation on all levels. Now, in 2010 I discovered 2 bottles that gave me an unpleasant feeling: L'Eau d'Issey Wood Flower and L'Eau d'Issey pour Homme Wood Edition.  They have the word wood, look like wood but "painted" like bad wood (you will never pass an exam in an art school with such a poor interpretation) and worse, they suggest that song with "life in plastic" while their scent is shy, pleasant and familiar. Somebody in the marketing dept of Issey Miyake read a report that wood and woody florals are trendy (do you remember Dominique Ropion speaking about magnolia wood?) and decided the new Issey Miyake will have something …. with wood.
It is true that there is an entire story about the harvested wood from ethical sources (what else in 2010?) coated and varnished then used for the bottle but, like in the case of some luxury cars or the use of floral absolutes in feminine perfumes, this woody layer is microscopic. Ironically the wood used in the design looks like plastic.
Unlike several creations from Serge Lutens where the wood becomes the blood of the perfume, these new creations from Issey Miyake are fake woods.
The use of wood in packaging is not something common in the design of bottles but there are some good examples like the original case of Bois de Iles (Chanel) or the caps of Nasomatto. Issey Miyake has nothing of that and the sensation of fake so often found in mass market perfumes creates a disturbing sensation. I am also disturbed by the relation between the intention (what is presented in the press documents) and the result. All sounds fake and invented.
The perfumes are not woody creations and it is strange to notice that compared to the original creations (EDT) they are not woodier at all, whatever woody might be for the marketing team. They are a shortcut of the original creation (like an abstract) updated with fashionable notes, found in other perfumes. This time, the perfumer Jacques Cavallier secured that the fragrances were well orchestrated from top to bottom, and indeed, there is no failure or faux pas. This "wood" and this "water" have been around us since so long to represent something new.
Unlike the original, L'Eau d'Issey Wood Flower is not so spicy (isoeugenol and lily) but more a modern watery lily of the valley with new musks in the dry down (like in their previous Une Goutte de Nuage), a soft rosy note and a very delicate powdery mimosa. Is it Idylle (Guerlain) before the rose oil shower and the patchouli dry down?
L'Eau d'Issey pour Homme Wood Edition is much closer to the original (the same perfume, a different bottle???) but has an aromatic top note and contrasting cold spices that could be anything from the top notes of Dior Homme Sport / Allure Edition Blanche / Burberry Brit for Men. In a masculine universe where everybody is copying the other, can we trace back the original idea?  Ironically, this version improves some aspects of the original (the freshness and the sparkling top).
Well balanced but shy, these new editions show the limits of the flankers - neither an original or a new interpretation, nor a special bottle that deserves to be bought or remembered, but something for the press. Since its launch, the classic Issey Miyake was one of the most copied fragrances, but can you do best than your competition? Not with "fake" wood and not 20 years after, when the mood, the mind and the soul of the great perfumer are in a different heaven!
In many cases the brands show a total lack of respect for the creators. Isn't it insane to ask a perfumer (in this case the great Jacques Cavalier) to go back in time and "redo" his creation when he should be searching for something new and unsaid to express his talent & knowledge? It's like asking Karl Lagerfeld to redo his 1992 Chanel collection with a twist. Those people behind Issey Miyake Perfumes invaded the shelves each year with a new & colored flanker and should learn in 2010 to appreciate a creator (the designer or a perfumer). Don't follow the Martin Margiella & L'oréal way. Eau d'Issey is not a cocktail to infuse each year with a trendy spice or wood and then deliver it with a stupid story to the press. I don't care at all about woods and ethic sources in 2010. I do care about showing respect to beautiful and unique perfumes as was Eau d'Issey in 1992 when I discovered it.


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Monday, March 15

Chandler Burr in Paris for Etat Libre d'Orange

Last Saturday (13th of March) Etat Libre d'Orange brought Chandler Burr to Paris for the launch of their new creation "Like This" with Tilda Swinton. You can see the pictures of the launch party here and a review in french. Today I wanted to test the perfume but the boutique was closed (I forgot Monday is not a very working day in Paris).
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Friday, March 12

Le Parfum de Carla Bruni

Quelle serait le parfum troublant comme un vol de nuit que porte Carla Bruni Sarkozy, la première dame de France? La photo cache un détail doré (comme les jonquilles en fleur) car elle se trouvait bien chez un parfumeur parisien.
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Thursday, March 11

Balsamo della Mecca - new fragrance review from Via del Profumo

What is an Oriental? What is the true essence of this type of perfume, beyond the classifications and the beautiful interpretations given by several modern perfumes? Is it sandalwood, sweet vanilla, amber or a mix of oriental balms?
In the official classification of perfumes at the SFP, oriental and ambery are written with a slash showing the importance of the ambery note (and not just the natural grey amber note). This family is maybe the oldest and its ingredients are used since the ancient times (unlike the floral essences that appeared much later). During the past 100 years many variations have been played on the facets that define this family - from Ambre Antique (vanilla, sweet balms animalic notes) to Prada l'Eau Ambrée (a modern interpretation of the gray amber note) and the shades portrayed by the creations of Serge Lutens and Guerlain.
The Balsam of Mecca is one of the most ancient natural balms but also a composition (a blend) that appeared in the early days of perfumery art. Many of the true oriental balms used before the XIVth century are not very known today and their botanic source remains mysterious or not really known, as it happens with many plants from the middle east. Some of them were prized in the Ancient Rome and early Middle Ages but latter there is no more reference to their names as if the plants disappeared. Several opobalsamum like Judaea, Gilead, Mecca, baume du Caire, baume du Constantinople were often mistaken (taken one for the other depending on the supplier but I will not enter now in the details of each balsam, their botanic origin and scent).

A description of The Balsam of Mecca is given in 1591 by
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Wednesday, March 10

Sculpting the Molecule - new ingredients article

A new and very interesting article about raw materials (with several interviews) is available on Beyond Beauty Mag.

"With raw materials that are taboo, banned, nearly extinct or to be used in moderation, can we still innovate in the realm of fine perfumery and open new paths for the future through naturals or synthetics? The answer is yes, for those who’d like to hear it. [...] Antoine Lie, fragrance composer at Givaudan and in love with great materials, has been working for years on a new kind of formulation based on the idea of “concentrated quality” whether in synthetics or naturals. Or, how to use traces of fabulous materials, at lower concentrations, for equal rendering." The English version

"Matières premières interdites, supprimées, en voie d’extinction ou à consommer avec modération… Peut-on encore innover dans l’univers de la parfumerie fine et ouvrir de nouvelles pistes pour demain, via la nature ou la synthèse ? Réponse positive, pour qui veut bien l’entendre[...] Antoine Lie, parfumeur-créateur chez Givaudan et amoureux des belles matières, travaille depuis des années sur une nouvelle formulation, basée sur le principe de la « concentrated quality », que ce soit en synthèse ou en naturel. "  Version française


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Philosophie de l'Odorat et art des parfums

Philosophy of Smell - this is a short presentation of a new book (only in French, now) about the philosophy of smell, scent and fragrances, written by Chantal Jaquet from University Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne.

Le parfum n'est plus un objet de plaisir ou un produit de la société de consommation mais il devient un sujet qui intéresse de plus en plus de monde et des spécialistes. Il n'est pas rare de voir le parfum dans d'autres revues que la presse traditionnelle. Il y est souvent présenté sous un autre angle - le créateur et la création. Il n'entre pas encore au musée mais les préoccupations pour le présenter comme design ou chef d'ouvre se multiplient, comme le montre déjà le récent symposium atelier organisé par le MOMA à New York. Depuis quelques années je vous présente le parfum sous un autre angle, dans la série le 8ème art du parfum avec des réflexions sur la composition en parfumerie, issues de ma pratique de labo, et des rapprochements loin de la poésie du parfum.
Après avoir présenté une courte série sur cet art lors de ma conférence en 2009 au Palais de Béhague, j'ai découvert avec un grand plaisir un livre qui a pour sujet le statut esthétique du parfum.
Chantal Jaquet, professeur à l’Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne, nous présente dans son très récent livre publié chez PUF, Philosophie de l'odorat, une approche du philosophe qui se propose de réhabiliter un sens négligé (dans l'univers académique) et de présenter un modèle de l'art olfactif. On y retrouve les références majeures aux textes qui depuis l'Antiquité ont "attaqué" l'odorat, textes qui manquent souvent la vision d'un créateur. On peut pas parler odeur sans connaître la"matière" et le parfum, déjà un art occulte et occulté, a du attendre le XXIème siècle pour se faire écrire et comprendre.
Philosophie de l'odorat de Chantal Jaquet  est une excellente lecture pour débuter le printemps avec une autre vision et flairer les essences nouvelles de la nature ou des parfumeurs.
"Exprimant l’idée dans l’odeur, cette esthétique olfactive sous-tend depuis longtemps la spéculation philosophique en offrant des modèles de pensée et d’appréhension subtile d’un réel invisible et volatil. Après Héraclite et Empédocle, Lucrèce, Condillac et Nietzsche incarnent cette figure du sagace qui flaire le parfum de la vérité ou du mensonge : preuve s’il en est que philosopher, c’est avoir du nez."
Philosophie de l'Odorat, 448 pages, Presses Universitaires de France 

Introduction. — L'anosmie des philosophes
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Tuesday, March 9

L'hiver total chez Chanel en 2010

Paris, ça rime avec Sibérie en 2010! Dans ce froid digne des contes de fées nordiques, Chanel a présenté ce matin la collection automne hiver 2010 au Grand Palais. Le Podium était en effet une immense structure iceberg pour une mode qui a été décrite come "cave men couture" (NYTimes).
Ce n'est pas pour la première fois que des thèmes des pays du Nord se retrouvent chez Chanel mais cette fois ci l'odeur du froid et de la glace m'ont rappelé tout d'un coup l'histoire de la création du No 5 racontée par Ernest Beaux lui-même (inspiré par l'odeur de la neige, vous la retrouverez dans le livre "Histoire du N°5 de Chanel"). Si le défilé 2009 nous montrait un flacon géant du No 5, voilà maintenant le récit plus subtil (et donc non accessible à tous) de la fragrance. Cette sensation de froid lumineux c'est en effet le pouvoir des certains aldéhydes qui se partagent l'odeur à la fois rose, propre, cire (et bien d'autres nuances). A la fin du défilé je me suis dit "Yeti is back in fashion!" lorsque j'ai vu les ensembles qui rappelaient un eskimo "couture". D'ailleurs ce thème et le traitement de la laine, on les voit dans une collection de Coco des années 60 (peu connue, d'ailleurs). Encore un petit détour olfactif, car cette image fait partie de mon prochain cours sur l'architecture des odeurs, avec un petit point sur les odeurs nordiques, l'habitation vernaculaire et l'odeur qui définit l'espace. La présence massive de la fourrure et de la laine dans la collection Chanel me rappellent le comportement assez différent des parfums sur ces matières mais aussi l'idée qu'une mode qui use et abuse d'un certain type de matière impose un autre type de parfum au niveau de la création. A présent nous sommes dans l'époque du coton et des couches minces près du corps et les parfums sans chair de rosée et pétale en sont témoin.
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Monday, March 8

Le Grand Prix du Parfum 2010

Le Grand Prix du Parfum est organisé par la Fragrance Foundation France et sa mission est "de valoriser les plus beaux talents et la créativité de la Parfumerie". Il récompense les meilleurs parfums féminins et masculins lancés sur le marché français sélectif l’année précédente.
Cette année il y a un nouveau site de vote en ligne dès le 8 mars 2010 - Fine Fragrance Foundation
La mission cette année (11 Prix, 11 Lauréats) est aussi de "de renouer avec le grand public, de donner la parole à tous les experts et passionnés du parfum". C'est une sorte de démocratie à la française et l'image utopique d'une cité idéale du parfum avec un clair souci de transparence.
La Soirée de Remise des Prix aura lieu le 8 Avril 2010.
La nouveauté cette année a été la création d'un Jury de Parfumeurs pour un prix de la meilleure création (masculine et féminine) et la création d'un Jury de Bloggers, de Journalistes, d’Évaluatrices pour la meilleure création exclusive (je n'y ai pas été invité donc je n'en ai aucune idée).
Le vote en ligne aura lieu du 8 au 22 mars sur Fine Fragrance Foundation France.
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Saturday, March 6

Grey Amber and chocolate for Marie Antoinette

This short movie from Château de Versailles presents the recipe of the chocolate drink as it was favored by Queen Marie Antoinette. You'll notice something really special - how the natural grey amber is grinded and used for its special cachet to scent the chocolate.
Today natural grey amber is something you'll never see in modern perfumes but there are several restaurants in Paris where this expensive and divine raw material is used in an exquisite manner.
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De l'ambre véritable et du chocolat pour Marie Antoinette

Dans ce film du Château de Versailles, vous pouvez découvrir la recette du chocolat chaud tel qu'il était apprécié en elixir par la reine Marie Antoinette. Vous allez remarquer une chose formidable - de l'ambre gris véritable finement râpée, utilisée pour parfumer le chocolat avec son côté lourd et sensuel. Aujourd'hui l'ambre gris véritable ne se retrouve plus dans les parfums contemporains mais il y a certains restaurants à Paris où cette matière onéreuse et divine est utilisée d'une manière exquise (j'aimerais bien vider leur frigo).
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Thursday, March 4

La Maison Houbigant, serait-elle de retour?

Il me semble que la vielle maison se prépare pour une renaissance. Il y a maintenant une promotion à Paris pour les parfums Quelque Fleurs l'Original + Quelques Fleurs Royale mais aussi quelques nouveaux produits (extension de ligne et un flacon cristal) et la surprise Fougère Royale. Mais je ne sais pas si la Maison située à Monaco (avenue des Citronniers), se trouve dans les meilleures mains pour nous faire partager le beau patrimoine parfumé.
Quelque Fleurs l'Original est présenté (même sur les échantillons) comme le parfum de 1912 mais sa formule n'a rien avoir avec l'authentique (ce n'est même pas une reformulation). Même Roja Dove, qui en théorie devrait connaître les ABC de l'histoire du parfum, le vend et le présente dans le catalogue de Harrod's comme s'il était le vrai. Si vous sentez Quelque Fleurs l'Original vous allez remarquer une note verte particulière sur un fond floral savonneux qui rappelle un peu l'effet d'Ivoire (Balmain) tout en présentant les caractéristiques d'un floral léger des années 80.
J'ai présenté récemment Quelque Fleurs Royale (qui est un peu bizarre).
La nouvelle du retour du classique Fougère Royale, odeur archétypale ne peut que me réjouir care malgré le nombreux descendants, la formule originale reste actuelle. J'espère qu'elle ne sera pas trop mise à jour à cause de la coumarine en excès et des matières naturelles.
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Is Houbigant back in business?

It seems that the old house is preparing for a revival. They do a promotion event now in Paris for Quelque Fleurs l'Original + Quelques Fleurs Royale and there are several new products in this line. Also, the classic Fougère Royale will be back very soon. But I do not know if this house, now based in Monaco (avenue des Citronniers), is in good hands or if the owners are aware of the precious heritage.
Quelque Fleurs l'Original is presented as the perfume from 1912 when in fact, it has nothing to do that. Even Roja Dove, who is supposed to know the ABC's of the fragrance history, sells and presents the perfume in the Harrods's catalogue as the real one. If you smell now Quelques Fleurs l'Original you'll notice a small green note on a light soapy base that reminds Ivoire (Balmain). It shows all the elements of a light floral from the 80's.
I presented Quelques Fleurs Royale several months before.
The news that Fougère Royale will be back in Paris is a very good one. Despite the number of masculine fougere creations, the original formula has nothing old or outdated. I hope it will not be updated too much because of the coumarine and the beautiful natural raw materials.
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Wednesday, March 3

Oriens (Van Cleef & Arpels) - new fragrance review

In an Arab scroll brought from the Orient which I have recently studied, I've found the lost page of the most famous treaty of Nostradamus "Traité des fardemens et des confitures" dedicated to the art of cosmetics and jams. Two scholars from place Vendôme helped me to translate the Latin text and we have prepared the oriental jam. It is preciously kept in a crystal jar and I'll share with you the recipe of Nostradamus, author of Prophecies and the Apocalypse of fragrances.

Michel de Nostre-Dame, doctor es nez
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Oriens (Van Cleef & Arpels) - confiture marketing du top chypré

(english version tomorrow)
Sur un parchemin arabe du lointain Orient que j'ai récemment étudié, je retrouve la feuille perdue du fameux opuscule de Nostradamus "Traite des fardemens et des confitures". Deux érudits de la place Vendôme m'ont aidé à traduire le texte. Nous avons préparé la confiture orientale précieusement gardé dans un pot en cristal. Je partage avec vous la recette de Nostradamus, auteur de l'Apocalypse des parfums.
Michel de Nostre-Dame, docteur es nez
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Tuesday, March 2

Flora Nymphéa (Guerlain) - Allegoria de miel végetal dans Aqua

Que se passe-t-il si on se voit refuser un échantillon chez Guerlain à Paris après avoir épuisé toutes les stratégies de séduction? On vaporise un bouquet de mouillettes et on s'asperge avec la dernière nouveauté Flora Nymphéa tout en espérant que le bouquet ne se fane pas en route chez soi. Ce ne fût pas mon cas puisque la nouvelle Aqua Allegoria n'a ni de force, ni de ténacité. Un vrai défi pour mon nez pour sentir ce qu'il pouvait y avoir derrière cette allégorie de parfum.
Aqua Allegoria Flora Nymphéa partage avec le dernier parfum Balenciaga le même goût pour la fraîcheur florale indescriptible.
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Flora Nymphéa (Guerlain) - new Aqua Allegoria fragrance review

What happens when you are refused a sample at Guerlain after using all strategies? You spray a bouquet of blotters (including yourself) with the latest novelty Flora Nymphéa, hoping that the bouquet will not fade back home. But it did not work in my case. The new Aqua Allegoria has neither power nor tenacity and it was a challenge to my nose to see what it might hide inside without a proper testing.
Aqua Allegoria Flora Nymphéa shares with the latest Balenciaga the same nondescript fresh floral note.
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Branding and / or teaching in the lab

Le Labo is launching now their introductory perfume workshops entitled First Mondays in the Lab. With this new dimension of the relation brand-customer, Le LABO should do several small changes in the way they communicate and explain their perfumes. Starting with the website, there are several things rather "special".
On the first page you can read:
“EXPLAINING KILLS ART”. You could say exactly the same thing about perfume. Above all, you have to smell and feel it…. Choosing your perfume by reading an olfactory description is like asking for someone’s resume before falling in love…"
Indeed, it had a delicious "sound" in 2006 but now, going more into an academic direction - "explaining the perfume through their classes", this text sounds rather bizarre. In 2010 we are all in the lab.
Also, on the same website you can read the same old story about Grasse, so appealing in the 50's american magazines - Each of the Le Labo perfumes (fragrances) is built around a primary natural essence that comes directly from Grasse, France’s “perfume capital”. This might be true for the supplier of the aluminium bottle, but it would be rather hard to explain during the workshops that Haiti (the vetiver) is not in Grasse.
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Does Jennifer Lopez smell like a candle (in the wind) ?

According to London Evening Standard, in the article Perfumistas are the new cool-hunters, "Jennifer Lopez buys her perfume Santal 26 from Le Labo, half-bar, half-laboratory". But Santal 26 is an interiour perfume at Le Labo and also a very nice candle. Reading between the lines I could presume that J.Lo thinks her own perfumes are indeed that bad and that cheap that even a room spray from Le Labo would do better on her sensual skin. But this time I think we are in front of another PR manoeuvre (when an author suggests a perfume he is supposed to know what he writes). An "information" becomes "legend". In fact, it was in 2008 that LA Times wrote that J.LO was using Santal 26 candles (but the info is from 2007). From 2008 to 2010 the candle became a "perfume". There is only a problem here. The room fragrances are not IFRA for the skin and you will use them at your own "risk". Don't blame J.Lo if your "british" skin doesnt't GLOW but turns red in the sun.


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Monday, March 1

Eau Demoiselle (Givenchy) - new fragrance review

I was seduced by the campaign of the new fragrance from Givenchy. It was unexpected and I do appreciate the courage to create a retro-like packaging with a bottle that reminds some grandma's colognes. Indeed, I wanted to breathe a different air in the Givenchy universe, the classic house hesitating between luxury and mass market, between classic image and one that is rock & dark in fashion. But those were Great Expectations and the new perfume is not very far from a familiar style in a nice (but shy and easy musky) interpretation.
Eau Demoiselle is a cocktail of floral musky freshness and a conclusion to all girlish perfumes on the market, those playing in the garden where the fruits of the sweet Miss Dior Chérie are still innocent flowers.

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Eau Demoiselle (Givenchy) - à l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleur et musc

J'ai été séduit par le visuel du nouveau parfum Givenchy. J'apprécie le courage de faire un packaging à tendence un peu retro, avec ce flacon qui renvoie à une eau de cologne sortie de l'armoire d'une grand-mère. J'avais envie d'un autre air chez cette marque qui hésite entre le luxe et le mass market. Mais, hélas, le parfum est un peu decevant car il s'éloigne peu d'un style très connu.
Eau Demoiselle est un cocktail de fraicheur florale musquée qui résume un peu les parfums des jeunes filles en fleur qui n'aiment pas le genre "en fruit" du très sucré Miss Dior Chérie.

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