Bleu de Chanel - new masculine fragrance review

The new creation from Chanel demonstrates with great accuracy what happens if a fragrance house is too big. It will inevitably produce mass market perfumes because luxury cannot exist on a global scale and it cannot be produced like Chinese t-shirts. One day the truth will become obvious. I was prepared to present the old and rare Bleu de Chanel from the 30's but finally I gave up when I smelled the new masculine fragrance. It is hard to decide after Chance Eau Tendre (the shampoo Chanel version) if Bleu de Chanel is more Hugo Boss or more Axe (Click, Vice, etc).

The fragrance seems to be a development of Egoiste Platinum, the aromatic fougere from the 90's rich in pungent molecules with a metallic clean facet like dihydromircenol or from the linalool family. If Chanel No5 was art in 1921 this Bleu de Chanel is pure marketing. It smells like the entire fresh-sport masculine section with no absolutely original twist - what today is called sport. I'm sure that it will sell very well because of the name and the massive advertising that will pop-up every where. I wish that Scorsese did not do the ad or that by a miracle 75% of Chanel sale points would fall over night. The price to pay on the creative level is to high and you will feel it smelling Bleu de Chanel. Please do not make any speculations on the color Bleu and Chanel historic fashion. It is pure nonsense and smelling the perfume will reveal the sad truth. All the modern masculine perfumes are inside this one: Dior Homme Sport (with its ginger freshness but Chanel has not the warm notes), YSL l'Homme (with its aromatic metallic fougère elements), Allure Homme Edition Blanche and even the soft suede note from the last Burberry or a hint of the sweet woody labdanum accord from the big hit - Paco Rabanne.

This perfume is actually a collage, an embroidery with the best-sellers of the masculine market depicted with accuracy on a time scale and in a very fresh woody tone. But nothing more! It smells so formulaic as if Jacques Polge distilled the sporty perfumes extracting their essence and removing any additional note or daring contrast.

Bleu de Chanel starts with a big citrusy top note (lemon, grapefruit) and a strong metallic synthetic lavender. It is cold, lemony and aromatic with spicy accents from pink pepper and at this level smells very much like the boring top note of the latest Calvin Klein. Very soon, Dior Homme Sport enters the scene with its fresh ginger note contrasted with some warm woods (cedar, vetiver, a very well known mix of molecules found in 90% of the masculine perfumes diluted in Hedione). The freshness of synthetic airy jasmine paired up with a couple of lily of the valley molecules (Lyral) and an ozonic accent suggests the breeze quality of Allure Home Sport in a less original way. The drydown is woody almost dry with some ambery notes (karanal/timberol and cedramber type contrasting the rose), dry woods with a mossy facet coupled with coumarine (soft hay) and a touch of incense that accentuates the woods (cedar). On the skin the perfume is not very tenacious leaving a soft musky trace and almost a chypre effect. A touch of sweet ambery fruity (!) note also characterizes the drydown as if a 1% dilution of Paco Rabanne 1 Million was made on purpose. Maybe the most interesting facet of the perfume is the very light suede note that appears after the strong and pungent freshness has gone.

I am 100% disappointed by this perfume but I believe that many young customers, used to Axe deodorants, will be seduced by this creation. The only good thing about this fragrance is its construction and its elegant appeal after the metallic top (Platinum like). Jacques Polge has mastered all the ideas in a good remix. It doesn't say anything new, it has nothing to inspire. But it is a good base to be used if you are a perfumer because it allows to put many accents and exaggerate things.

The shade of blue, somewhere between navy and black is present on the square bottle that looks like the masculine Narciso Rodriguez. There are hundreds perfumes like this on the market but only one is called Chanel and has the double C logo.

With the recession, luxury groups became mass market in perfumes. It seems that it is the only alternative. Do not expect quality where the glitter shines too much. Unfortunately snobbery sells well in many countries.

The fragrance will be supported by an ad campaign pairing director Martin Scorsese and actor Gaspard Ulliel (and model Ingrid Schram). It relates the story of a man who tries to conquer the heart of a woman to the beat of "She Said Yeah" by the Rolling Stones.

Bleu de Chanel The Movie

Interview with perfumer Jacques Polge about Le Bleu de Chanel

Making of Bleu de Chanel, with Gaspard Ulliel, directed by Martin Scorsese

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De Bachmakov (The Different Company) from Céline Ellena - new perfume review

With its new creation now available in Paris at le Bon Marché, The Different Company writes a new and rather different chapter in its beautiful history. The house that gave us an exceptional woody orris and a strong rose follows the paths of its design debut. In fact the art director of this perfume is Thierry De Baschmakoff, the designer of the house, who pays a tribute to its Russian origins. The perfume called De Bachmakov smells like the first images I had many years ago about the brand, with their heavy cubic bottles, their metallic cap and the other metallic "jars". Before I had the access to the first perfumes, The Different Company was "smelling" to me like the purest form of design - cold, metallic, sharp, abstract and not sensual at all. It was this feeling that I discovered in the new creation - a Nordic freshness infused with botanic accents with a great tenacity. This is a perfume that has the freshness of a minty vegetal cologne with the longevity of an amber. The metallic-green-lemony and terpenic freshness seems to last forever but in fact it is replaced with a very warm woody ambery drydown. It is rather amusing to see how ambery notes (like ambrox, cetalox) have almost lost their animalic tone to become the symbol of a new freshness. De Bachmakov smells indeed like vodka or gin with ice and green leaves. Is it the juniper with its woody facets?

The perfume De Bachmakov is infused with images from the personal history of the designer - a Russian fiction or a Russian trip in time and space. It starts in 1662 the year when the tsar granted several privileges to his family (this can be seen in the beautiful red seal that closes the paper packaging) and continues in 1917 when his grand father left Russia. 2010 is also "L'année de la Russie en France" and we can see here a beautiful link with the past.

The creation seems to be inspired by scent of alcohol, ice, snow and Siberian forests and here I have already 2 strong historic images - first is the metaphor that gave birth to Chanel No 5 (the arctic vision & the aldehydes) and second a famous Russian cologne with a bear on an ice (created before the revolution but sold also during the soviet era).

The cedar evokes the forest, the pines and the vegetation found at high altitudes. It is combined with a very cold lily of the valley, fresh like linalool but floral like freesia (un peu DMBCA) and the woody elements of a cold green tea. Green and aldehydic notes are combined to express a vegetal freshness with a very Asian touch - coriander leaves and shiso leaves - where the cold spicy notes plays an important role (nutmeg and maybe a touch of cinnamon) in the soft jasmine cloud.

Cologne Mugler introduced the green notes in a fresh and musky context while this year La Cologne du Parfumeur (Guerlain) did almost the same with a modern touch. 30 years ago Polo did the same in a heavy chypre woody context. With "De Bachmakov" Celine Ellena rewrites the page in a new and daring way putting together the green and the tree from an imaginary Siberian forest. It smells the nature condensed in a glass of vodka like people did in the past to extract through maceration the principles of plants. The green sap of a magic forest breathing the life.

On a metaphoric level we are back 500 years ago when a perfumer would bring together herbs, spices, flowers in an alambic to be distilled with "esprit de vie". The result, different from the modern blending of oils, was an elixir, both remedy and perfume.
The tree of life and its magic green scent - what a beautiful metaphor to express the genealogy of a family!

"C’est bien ce doux mélange que j’ai tenté de traduire, un coin de terre où le réveil a des allures de révolution…Une rencontre improbable entre les deux Russies, la beauté gracile face à la beauté virile, la beauté dans son romantisme le plus essentiel. Là où perdue dans une immensité colossale, une femme regarde un homme avec une douce provocation, comme dans un roman russe où le drame côtoie la joie." - Thierry De Baschmakoff

Official fragrance ingredients for "De Bachmakov" from The Different Company: cedar, coriander leaf, bergamot, white freesia, shiso leaves, nutmeg.

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The price of luxury ingredients for perfumes

There was a time when the most expensive ingredients were used in fine fragrances and marketing meant how to bring the product to the client and not to cheat with beautiful words. 

I chose a page from a Charabot catalog from the 30's showing the floral ingredients used for luxury perfumes, and their price/kg. Essences intégrales were a special type of absolute, something like an haute couture extract brought to perfection, with no equivalent today. After the absolute was obtained in the traditional way (as it is the case today) it was then treated to eliminate several unwanted olfactory notes, pigments or soluble waxes. It was described as the equivalent of what terpeneless and sesquiterpeneless oils are to essential oils. You have the jasmine absolute and you distill it under pressure to eliminate the top terpenes. Today you dream if the brief allows you a drop of jasmine in the fragrance. In this list you will see some unusual extracts, some completely forgotten or unknown today like honeysuckle, lily, reseda or violet flowers (the violet leaves extracts are on a different page). The of price Essences Intégrales was about the double of the regular absolutes. The price of tuberose extract was not mentioned here but usually it was almost twice the jasmine (it was cultivated in Grasse unlike today). In the same catalog there are 10 types of orris extract and 11 types of oakmoss but also other unusual ingredients like the hyacinth absolute. I have no idea about the equivalent in today's money.

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L'Oréal wins a battle - but are they entitled to speak about piracy?

What happens if one day consumers would sue l'Oréal for exaggerated marketing, reformulated perfumes or if several other perfume houses would sue l'Oréal for stealing ideas through their mass market perfumes under many names? Until then, L'Oréal is the big boss in UE and sets the rules. Friday L'Oréal won a four-year battle "to protect the reputation of its luxury perfumes – brands such as Trésor and Miracle – against low-cost "smell-alike" imitations". I will not add the question of "who protects me as a consumer against Garnier and their new product" because that's cosmetics.

The Guardian has an entire article on this subject and the conclusions of the judge are very important for us, consumers.

"The judges are scathing at having their hands tied by European law and see this decision as going against freedom of speech and free trade, with the truth having been "muzzled" […]The truth in the market matters, says the court, alongside the rights of journalists and politicians to speak the truth. The truth is the truth, even if the brand owner finds it uncomfortable – this is about freedom to trade and competing honestly."

L'Oréal spends more money for celebrities (one after another because actually none is performing well in cosmetics or fragrances) and now in courts than in their perfumes. The latest example of this mass market giant that sells the dream of luxury is Trésor in Love and the last feminine from Armani. It is also the case of the new exclusive collection from Armani Privé that unfortunately has nothing to do with the first perfumes launched several years ago. An example that "fragrance doesn't really matter" at l'Oréal is the current promotional event organized for Armani. If you go to Sephora Champs Elysées, where there is a big Armani podium, you'll notice that 80% of the testers from the Armani Privé collection are missing when they should promote the entire line. There is only the name and the empty space on the table. Cuir améthyste, Pierre de Lune, Bois d'encens, etc were not there as if L'Oréal would discontinue them tomorrow. Armani Code for Woman has a big problem for me - I'm never sure when it is real and when it is fake and that's because the bottle and the packaging have a poor quality.

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Honoré des Près - Vamp à NY, I Love les carottes, Love Coco - organic perfumes - fragrance review

I was not very enthusiastic last time when Honoré des Près introduced their natural organic but chic perfumes in Paris, created by Olivia Giacobetti. They had not enough tenacity, power and were rather too shy and aquarelle. But this time, with their new line presented first in Milan at Excense and now available at Le Bon Marché, it is a different story. What used to be a sketch or just an idea (une ébauche olfactive) became a true perfume with all the qualities you cannot avoid if you are a true perfumer (power, tenacity and above all a strong idea). The organic fragrances (ECOCERT) are presented in a paper cup packaging and this type of perfumes are reshaping our future. You can read a short excerpt from a recent conference in Paris where I discovered some amazing extracts. 

The new perfumes from Honoré des Près tell us emotional stories about an olfactory experience and a precious raw material. The perfumer cuts deep into the skin of the a carrot for I Love les carottes, the juicy petal of an exotic tuberose for Vamp à NY or the raw sensation of a crude coconut for Love Coco. It is not an illusion but a hyper realistic vision. This time the main theme of a perfume is also the dominant ingredient, presented will all its rough sides. The concept "Purs extraits de nature" explains very well how the perfumes work - one important ingredient, then the constellation of the facets and in the end a "natural" feeling (and not at all abstract).

Honoré des Près - I Love les carottes

This perfume is built around a very well known extract with its fruity, edible and spicy facets. But this carrot is pulled out from the soil and its flesh is exposed. The carrot extract with its multifaceted scent and disturbing original notes is the key of the perfume. It smells like the true "ingredient" in the kitchen with the amazing contrast between the brown earth and the vivid orange color of the root. In this oil there is also the powdery earthy facet of the orris but above all, a moist note that reminds patchouli in its very raw nature. The combination of all elements with the carrot overdose might represent the invention of a new genre "the vegetable fougère" where the original accord bergamot-(lavender)-geranium-(coumarine)-patchouli was replaced by a new one close to the original inspiration of roots, soil and leaves. Fougère du jardin!

Honoré des Près - Vamp à NY

"Can you cry in a tuberose field?" says the official presentation. If you smell this perfume yes! It starts with an impressive and exceptional natural tuberose absolute note, one of the most expensive on this planet. It becomes than tropical jasmine-tiaré-frangipanni with that alluring solar and bubble gum note infused with the darkness of a sweet vanilla with facets of rum and wrapped with balsamic benzoin. It ends with a natural frangipani note like Songes from Annick Goutal. The most precious white flower notes are expressed here not through their perfumistic interpretation and the illusionary reconstruction of the scent but with their true soul extracted with modern means. Like a journey across the oceans in the tropical area, the perfumer took the white from petals India to Tahiti and in the storm, this "Vamp à NY" is like a "nectar of gods". What else is the true nature of a vamp than drinking the souls of mortals and exhausting them in the sunset? In this case it is the soul of the most beautiful and alluring white flowers and during the entire evaporation you can see how each "night queen" becomes a different one. The translation between the facets is very smooth and actually the perfume transforms itself. What actually might seem unbalanced is in fact the evolution of flowers from morning to the sunset, all with an amazing solar heat wrapped in the softness of a balm. The flowers are embalmed in sweetness and their soul is preserved. This is not another easy sexy perfume - but the expression of a ritual with beautiful raw materials. Because it is 100% natural we might imagine this is a scent used 1000 years ago in a forgotten temple in the jungle. One facet evokes the new curcuma root extract.

Honoré des Près - Love Coco

Usually coconut perfumes end in a big vanilla sticky note. But with this one the very recognizable scent is expressed in a new way, textured and contrasted. All is again very raw inside. You take the coconut, feel its dark woody skin, open it, touch the white skin, the delicious juice and experience all the sensations where freshness is contrasted with sweetness and smoothness. There are 2 elements that are rather unusual and delicious in this perfume - an anis note that opens the coconut in a fizzy sweet way and then a very light licorice note. The coriander leaf sets the original voice of this delicious perfume. Not a sweet coconut but one that starts to caramelize in the sun when the almond milk becomes thick. The volatile molecules are trapped inside this perfume of delicious contrasts.

Again, in the marketing presentation everything is mixed: organic, haute parfumerie, urban, eco, recycling. Collect all the stereotypes that are chic in a french fashion magazine and voilà! But this time the perfumes from Honoré des Près are good, unlike the first line, and this is great news.
But if you love 100% natural perfumes you should try the North American creations were perfumers have created exceptional examples in a traditional or modern way since many years. Before being a "Sex & the City" fashionista with a coffee cup perfume why not some creations from Mandy Aftel, Ayala Moriel or Anya's Garden?

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Garnier l'Oréal - l'art de tromper la femme au prix de sa peau

Le dernier né des labos L'Oréal via Garnier pourrait gagner le prix de l'innovation marketing du mensonge absolu. On sait pas exactement si les labos l'Oréal existent réellement ou si tout est inventé dans un bureau car le leader français des cosmétiques a de nombreuses années d'expérience au niveau de la "tromperie" scientifique. Machiavelli version cosmétique? Pire que ça!

Le produit en cause c'est le déodorant Minéralite "l'action de Garnier Minéral sur votre peau - l'innovation minéral"

Dans la vague des produits bio et minéraux dont le succès repose non sur l'éducation du consommateur mais sur la confusion générale et le double sens des mots ("divide et impera!") Garnier veut sa portion, soucieux de s'inscrire dans la tendance et d'augmenter son market share. Voilà donc Minéralite dont la génialité repose non sur une découverte scientifique, mais sur une découverte lexicale car "minéralite" n'est que le second nom de la "perlite", une sorte de "sable" volcanique à base de silice et divers oxydes (Al, Fe, Ti, Ca, Na, K, Mg). Donc, prétendre l'usage de la "minéralite" pour faire un déodorant minéral c'est vraiment une innovation 2010 si on est abonné à une base de données en ligne des noms chimiques!

Mais la surprise vient maintenant pour prouver combien L'Oréal est "dangereux" pour la santé d'esprit des consommatrices. Il y a beaucoup de femmes qui se sont tournées vers les déodorants minéraux ou bio à cause de la peur (réelle ou fictive) du chlorhydrate d'aluminium, la bête noire parait-il. Minéral est devenu un synonyme non de la qualité, mais de la "sûreté" (safety) même si au niveau pur chimique ou lexical c'est un non-sens. Dans le cas du Garnier Minéral la consommatrice est trompée selon toutes les règles de l'art car elle voit un produit qui lui suggère le minéral mais qui contient le chlorhydrate d'aluminium dont elle a peur. Si vous regarder l'étiquette INCI vous pouvez voir la bête, montrée sans aucune pudeur.

A mon œil, c'est un cas typique de fraude dont on accuse en général les marques douteuse. Mais quand on a confiance en Garnier / l'Oréal il est plus facile à être trompé. D'ailleurs ce principe de familiarité est essentiel dans les escroqueries.

Si vous avez compris le fait que Garnier Minéral contient une dose importante de chlorhydrate d'aluminium sous la "roche volcanique" appelé minéral, vous allez lire la description officielle du produit d'une manière différente.

Garnier - L'Oréal le présente "Comme une seconde peau" et vante "La minéralite est à la fois un absorbeur et un évaporateur […] Les tests instrumentaux ont montré que la capacité d’absorption de la minéralite* est 5 fois plus important que le Talc, connu dans le monde entier pour ses propriétés absorbantes."

Je me demande alors si vous désirez vraiment avoir le chlorhydrate d'aluminium comme seconde peau et si la capacité d'absorption de la minéralite ne serait pas un moyen pour vous enrichir en chlorhydrate comme une éponge (5 fois plus que d'habitude selon la pub).

On se demande quelle est la valeur du mot éthique, si usité de nos jours et cannibalisé par l'Oréal. En tout cas, avec son nouveau produit, le groupe cosmétique dont les machinations sont loin d'être éthiques, nous montre à quel point une consommatrice n'est qu'un tirelire à casser en temps de crise.
Il y a aussi la question de la mention "sans parabens" sur le nouveau déodorant fabriqué par L'Oréal Garnier dont le rôle serait douteux dans un produit sans eau. A l'heure où la question des parabens semble une supercherie (mais l'avenir nous en dira les détails) l'Oréal a les moyens scientifiques et financiers pour prouver la question. Ils utilisent d'ailleurs les parabens dans les crèmes. Pourquoi alors continuer un discours, juste parce qu'il fait vendre encore? On est loin de la science, encore trop loin de l'éthique cosmétologique et l'éducation du consommateur, n'en parlons pas!
D'ailleurs on joue trop avec les mots à Paris et on maîtrise de moins en moins le produit (y compris le parfum chez l'Oréal).

Conclusion: On ne discute pas si le chlorhydrate d'aluminium est bon ou mauvais mais je m'interroge sur les dangers des grands labos qui sont prêts à tout pour vendre. Attention à l'Oréal si jamais vous achetez un produit imaginé à Clichy. Informez vous bien avant de payer la pub et l'égérie pour ne pas payer avec votre peau.


(pour ceux qui se demandent pourquoi j'écris de temps en temps sur les cosmétiques - j'ai aussi des études de pharmacie à part l'ISIPCA et je suis membre de la société des chimistes cosmétologues)

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Organic perfumes from the plant to the consumer

Last night the SFP (Société Française des Parfumeurs) organized a round table / conference about the organic extracts, their production, uses and secrets, from the field to the consumer. The bio/organic cosmetic market in France knows today a constant growth (30-40% a year) and from a small niche in the past it has now an important market share (13% forecast in 2012). In the next future it will become even more important and it is estimated to grow up to 30%. Some rather unknown aspects were presented, mainly from the production and how the development changed everything. Surprisingly the biggest buyers of essential oils are not the cosmetic companies but the aromatherapy sector. Meanwhile, what brands usually market today in France putting together the words organic and ethic (bio et éthique) is not always true and far from real because the notions (organic agriculture and ethic approach) are quite opposed if you want to have volume. The intensive organic agriculture in poor countries is far from being ethic to the population or the environment. We were presented some facts / cosmetic research from Kibio (now part of Clarins) where a bio antiage cream proved to be extremely efficient under clinical tests (to their great surprise).

One of the main problem today is the confusion among consumers between the labels, what a bio can or cannot do but I believe this confusion (and lack of education) is something desired by the brands. The question of allergies and European regulations was also raised with its paradox - brands ask for more naturals in their cosmetic formulas (more allergens) but also ask for less naturals in their perfumes (less allergens to declare). In other words - brands ask for 99% synthetic perfumes with some naturals to put in the press release. One utopic brief today would be - an organic cosmetic line, hypoallergenic and perfumed with proved efficiency. The question of the total inefficiency of the labeling (for perfumes or cosmetics) was discussed and the discrepancies between ingredient / product / marketing / consumer. The current European certifications for cosmetics were discussed and how they will change in the next future. Some of the points from those labels (Ecocert, Cosmebio) are good, other are completely stupid and have nothing to do with modern cosmetology in my opinion. Why are they against animal extracts? Is all the Cosmebio board a collection of vegetarian militants who would die if they approach fish or meat?

The subject of organic extracts for perfumes was widely discussed. In some cases they are easy to be produced and in the future some classic materials will all be certified - this is because of their production method that meets the standards and only the certificate is to be obtained (no olfactory changes, just a question of papers). In other cases it is extremely difficult to have organic extracts - it is the case of the rose where the plant is very sensible and cultivating rose without pesticides on a large scale is economic suicide. The question of poor variety of extracts for the perfumer is a false one. Some plants are not cultivated / extracted because there is not a great demand (and it will become even smaller if the IFRA attack on naturals continues in Europe). At the end of the conference I smelled some recent organic extracts for perfumes, some of them of an incredible and amazing beauty, presented by Biolandes. The pallet today for organic products is incredible with new materials or new/rediscovered extraction types and there is no type of odor that is not represented. Even aldehydic and animalic notes can be done in Bio if you know well the materials! (the perfumer who spoke said the contrary but I think he is not aware of all ingredients). All you need as a brand is money and the desire to invest in creative products (be aware, because some French brand look like bio but act like l'Oréal!).

Ylang ylang - it is produced according the old method as it was used in the Ernest Beaux era and it smells divine - stronger and more long-lasting

Vanilla Madagascar ethanol extract - like a precious wine , balsamic rum

Orris resinoide ethanol extract - pure chocolate not very orris

Agarwood Laos Bio - strong animalic goat, heather with green facets

Rose bio Iran - a rose from the mountains, close to the Bulgarian type with a strong green-mint facet and less fruity.

Beeswax Laos - like the heart of an oak, woody resinous, dark and mysterious

Tonka Bean absolute - woody, chocolate, burnt, coconut

Black Truffle infusion - a top note, fruity creamy and sensual with a floral exotic facet

Curcuma inco - a very bizarre scent with a green narcissus note, then the ripped skin of carrots plus costus and a strong tuberose note, very unusual and original

Poplar buds absolute - previously used exclusively by Firmenich with some captives, it smells rich, floral, honey-fruity like boronia with the exotic balsamic facet of champacca

Tulipifera leaves absolute (feuilles de tulipier) - green rosy, tea, maté, violet (this a new extract)

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Chanel Ivoire (1932) - a beige infused with light

A Chanel Ivoire bottle was recently presented in an auction in France and I thought that it would be nice to present again this perfume I reviewed long time ago.

Ivoire (Chanel) is one perfume that should be available today for all the vintage perfume lovers. It is an unknown and unspoken jewel. In the early 30's it was quite popular or at least considered important. Before smelling it I was able to find some short reviews in German magazines from 1933-1936 where it was seen as one of the best French perfumes of those years (Scandal, Arpège, En avion, etc).

Ivoire (Chanel) has a strong floral aldehydic (C11 + C9 aldehyde, among others) structure but it's more a woody sweet variation of Chanel No5 and what is characteristic of this perfume is the soft balsamic and powdery drydown.

The powdery orris-vetiver with the precious wood note reminds me a very famous base from Naef: Vetyrisia. The aromatic woody and very warm note is also typical for 2 Naef Bases - Arolia and Cedarome. The drydown of the perfume could be described as sweet opopanax-precious wood-vetiver-orris. I do not know precisely what bases were used but what is sure is that Ivoire has that typical mossy-precious wood note (vetiver-sandalwood) with an incense (resin + C12 MNA maybe) and sweet opopanax-ambery note.

The type of coumarine-opopanax note (different from the actual natural product) can be smelled in Emeraude (Coty) drydown. The vetyver-orris-incense idea can be smelled in Interdit (Givenchy).

The floral heart is quite similar to Chanel No5, with an emphasis on ylang and carnation plus jasmin-rose with quite little soapy effect. There is also an important violet-orris note brought by a certain type of methyl ionone. With all those ingredients there is also a Vol de Nuit feeling in the drydown (the small chypre effect).

Top- citrusy aldehidic: bergamot, neroli

Heart - floral: ylang-lilac-carnation + jasmin-rose

Drydown - sweet woody balsamic: vetiver, orris, iralia, sandalwood, opopanax, incense, vanilla-coumarin, musk (musk ambrette).

Later, Chanel would sell the Ivoire trademark to Balmain.

(those are the notes I wrote about Ivoire in 2008)

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Thierry Wasser & Guerlain - une erreur à corriger

Je ne serais pas le seul à contester le tout nouveau dauphin Guerlain, hérité de Firmenich, société qui a eu de nombreux (et parfois secrets) rapports avec l'ancienne maison de parfums. Jacques Guerlain serait mécontent du choix et il joue des tours à sa manière, de l'au-delà! Ce matin je suis allé chez Guerlain (Rive Gauche) et à ma surprise les nouveaux petits panneaux publicitaires (PLV) utilisés pour la promotion de l'Eau de Cologne du Parfumeur contiennent une erreur regrettable affichée dans tous les points de vente. Le petit panneau présente l'arbre généalogique Guerlain car désormais les eaux de cologne affichent le nom du parfumeur. Pourtant sous la photo de Thierry Wasser c'est le nom de Jacques Guerlain et 2010! Si je ne me trompe pas, c'est pour la première fois cette année que Guerlain met le nom du parfumeur sur l'étiquette. Petite erreur ou signe?

En tout cas, si quelqu'un de la maison est en ligne, corrigez vite cette erreur. Thierry Wasser mérite au moins le respect de la maison qui l'a choisi comme héritier.

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Guerlain parfume les Champs Elysées

Guerlain will perfume the Champs Elysées avenue from 22 to 24th of may for the International day of Biodiversity 2010.

"Dix ans après la Grande Moisson, qui avait transformé les Champs Elysées en un vaste champ de blé, la nature reprend ses droits sur l’artère capitale dès le 22 mai au soir, Journée Mondiale de la Biodiversité. Cette fois ci, ce sont plus de 150 espèces végétales qui vont scander l’avenue, avec 8000 parcelles disposées entre le Rond Point et l’Arc de Triomphe.

Et parmi les « Essaimeurs-Acteurs » de Nature Capitale, une grande habituée des jardins en fleurs et de cette proximité viscérale avec la nature : la maison Guerlain. Sa Prairie des Senteurs, composée de quatre parcelles identiques, d’une surface totale de 200m2, a été conçue par Laurence Médioni, et reprend les fleurs fétiches de cette maison, célèbre dans le monde entier pour l’extrême qualité des matières premières utilisées dans ses parfums depuis son origine.

On y découvrira donc de la rose de mai, du magnolia étoilé, du tabac du seringat, de la pivoine, orange, fougère…. Cette Prairie est à découvrir au niveau du numéro 156 de l’Avenue. Et pour les amoureux de la nature, Nature Capitale offre une belle opportunité de participer à cette « oeuvre végétale poétique et jubilatoire » en achetant une mini-parcelle. Un jardin à découvrir, à partager, et à offrir, rien de moins."

News from Beyond Beauty aussi NatureCapitale

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Noctambulle - Francis Kurkdjian and the monumental art of fragrances

About 150 years ago a British perfumer was scenting a section of the Crystal Palace using an ingenious system that allowed the diffusion of scents. With the creation of great architectural spaces covered with glass and similar to giant greenhouses, everything changed in the XIXth century. The Universal Exhibitions brought together the scents (and the products) from all the corners of the world and in my April lecture on "architecture and scents" I developed the impact of those events. From the "discovery" of exotic scents the western world has arrived today in the opposite direction - ban from public spaces, perfume paranoia or simply their disappearance from our lives because we live and work in a City far from nature and its scents.

Saturday night Francis Kurkdjian brought magic and emotion in a special place from Paris - Le Grand Palais built for the 1900 Exhibition, a moment when the art of perfumery exploded. It was its most brilliant period when the masterpieces of this 8th art were created. If we were not in a global world, Francis Kurkdjian, who received last year "La Légion d'Honneur", would be the official perfumer of the Fifth Republic.

But Noctambulle, celebrating the event "La Nuit des musées", is not about "grandeur", nor about entertainment. It is the simplest demonstration that fragrance is not just the 8th art but it has all the requisites to be a monumental one. Last year I explored this theme by an article devoted to this theme. If for several contemporary artists the scent used in exhibitions or performances was the "bad guy" (from decomposing to death and other "bad" smells), Francis Kurkdjian showed that perfume as an art form is about beauty and not about its negation, an easy path chosen by several contemporary artists.

Ten perfumes were scenting last night the Grand Palais, their choice and disposal was deliberate based on their power, impact, affinity and possible interaction.

The lily of the valley, maybe the strongest in terms of spatial impact, was set right in the frontal axis of the building. Right from the entrance, after the first seconds had something magic. The feeling that the entire space is scented and that the whole is not collapsing under each individuality but harmonizing, was something of an amazing beauty. It is also the clear demonstration that those antiperfume activists are the angel of death in the XXI century and their actions are meant to sterilize our soul. But more special was the spatial relation created between several scents, those spaces where the molecules from different sources entered in a some unexpected combinations (jasmine - mint).

There were about 23,000 people at the Grand Palais for Noctambulle. It was very special to see the people reacting to scents, trying to recognize or simply enjoying when a scented bubble broke on their nose. One of the theme I analyzed in my lecture on "scent and architecture" was the relation between odor and the power to generate or act on "social entropy". This became obvious after one hour when I followed the way people interact and their spatial "concentration" according to specific scents. More than 50 years ago Helena Rubinstein was launching in New York the perfume "Heaven Sent" using samples with a balloon on 5th Avenue. Now, Francis Kurkdjian sent us from the Heaven of Art the breath of the Muses. 9 were the Muses in the Classical Art and 10 were the perfumes embalming the night, a subtle reference to the new one, protecting the 8th art. That evening somewhere in space a new star was born.

The perfumes falling from Heaven were: jasmine, rose, honey, mimosa, pear, lily of the valley, green grass, mint, orange flower, fig. Their composition was simple, easy to understand but delicate and sensible. I loved the fresh rose, the sensual and dirty jasmine and the unmistakable lily of the valley. 

I took the pictures before the sunset because I was afraid about the blitz. In several of them you can see master perfumer Francis Kurkdjian at work preparing the magic.

You can hear Francis Kurkdjian in this interview where he presents his new perfumes

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

Guerlain Cologne du Parfumeur - new fragrance review

Maybe Thierry Wasser was not the right choice as the new in-house perfumer of Guerlain, following a tradition of visionary artists and men of great taste. In the past 20 years I've seen all the amazing and worst choices of young designers working for prestigious fashion houses in Paris. A young designer might be chosen because of his great talent, his affordable price or by the mysterious accidents of faith. In the case of Thierry Wasser I'd rather not ask myself those questions but I secretly hope that his reign at Guerlain will be very short. After the diluted Idylle here comes the recycled Cologne du Parfumeur. Eau de Cologne is one of the pillars of the house and the link to the glorious XIXth century tradition. In some cases, it is also the top note of several important creations of the house. As a new "designer" you can reinterpret the tradition giving new meanings to the heritage or you can bring a totally new direction. Your creative view represents the new rule! But the new "oeuvre" of the in-house perfumer is none of those. It is something worse an unexpected. If the classic Guerlain colognes and their use of aromatic notes represent the personal memories of the Guerlain family, their houses and the curious mixture between Englishness and Mediterranean tastes, I asked myself what personal experience translates the new creation. The love of nature and the aristocratic passion for landscape (Guerlain perfumes are huge!) was replaced by the clinical whiteness of Firmenich, the former house that employed Thierry Wasser for several years. Because Cologne du Parfumeur is 0% Guerlain, 20% Thierry Wasser and 80% Firmenich! Before going inside the new Cologne du Parfumeur from Guerlain, you should try other 2 important fragrances - Cologne Mugler (2001) and Omnia (Bvlgari 2003) both creations of the genius perfumer Alberto Morillas from Firmenich. Almost a decade after the 2 mainstream perfumes, each very original in their days and with a broad appeal to the public, the new perfumer from Guerlain does a remix - one idea from here (the green vegetal top note) plus one idea from there (the woody creamy musky dry down) giving us a recycled perfume that has nothing more, in terms of novelty, originality or quality than its sources. It has been done before (discontinued Iunx) but with great taste and artistry. Cologne du parfumeur sits between the green and the musky of what Alberto Morillas brilliantly designed in the past. But the rain (a theme in Idylle apparently) washed out everything that was special in terms of secondary notes and did not bring other. Unless you consider the Prada orange flower soap note an original twist in 2010. Compared to the creation imagined by the Firmenich master, Cologne du Parfumeur is a pale version for a discount market - much simpler (or minimalist after your artistic tastes in words). Maybe Thierry Wasser should forget everything he learnt at Firmenich and start with some basic questions about perfumery, art, personal style and vision. One year ago I was surprised that Jean Paul Guerlain continued to sign some creations of the house. Now, I wish that he puts his signature even more and teach the young Thierry Wasser the basics of this marvelous art.

PS: You should visit the Guerlain boutique in Marais (10 rue des Francs Bourgeois). It is a fabulous place to test the perfume in a quiet and inspiring room, if you are not fortunate enough to receive a sample. We should not forget the snobbery factor - buying a mainstream perfume from a prestigious house with a beautiful name.
An old Guerlain perfume to inspire Thierry Wasser

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

Another canadian olfactophobia issue on "dangerous perfumes"

Please, don't let me comment this new example of fragrance fear found today in a Canadian newspaper - CTV. My heart is broken. I'm not entitled to judge a country where I have never been, but what's going on there???? One day the perfume will be a forbidden luxury in a mad world and we will travel a lot to find it as it was the case in the Antiquity.

"A prominent environmental group says perfume makers stink when it comes to divulging the potentially dangerous chemicals in their products. Environmental Defence, along with the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, commissioned a study of perfumes sold in Canada. The group says the study shows that perfumes often contain a dozen of what it calls "secret chemicals" not listed on labels -- chemicals that can trigger allergic reactions or disrupt hormones. The group tested 17 name-brand perfumes colognes and "body sprays" for men and women. All of them contained secret chemicals not listed on the label. On average, they contained 14 chemicals, some are which have been linked to estrogen disruption, sperm production disruption and even cancer, the group says. According to the study, Calvin Klein Eternity perfume for women, for example, contained 14 unlisted chemicals. Giorgio Armani Aqua Di Gio for men had 17 chemicals, while American Eagle 77 spray contained 24 unlisted chemicals.

The study found the perfumes also contained an average of 10 "sensitizing" chemicals, which are chemicals that can trigger allergic reactions, such as nausea, headaches, wheezing, and vomiting."

The article is very long and you can read it here.

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Francis Kurkdjian - NoctamBulle - une nuit parfumée

Next weekend night, Francis Kurkdjian perfumes the space of Grand Palais with a collection of scents.

A sentir à Paris:

"Pour la 6e Nuit européenne des musées, le 15 mai, de 19h à 1h du matin, le Grand Palais vous ouvre toutes ses portes pour une expérience inédite : la possibilité de circuler à travers l'ensemble du monument. Vous pourrez découvrir dans la Nef un événement magique intitulé NoctamBulle. Le parfumeur Francis Kurkdjian y crée une collection de bulles aux effluves mêlés de fleurs, de fruits, de végétaux et de miel dans une ambiance sonore, céleste et magique proposée par Béatrice Ardisson.

Cet événement bénéficie du soutien de la société C17 SFX qui a mis à disposition des machines à propulsion de bulles ainsi que de la société JLT Services pour la technique de sonorisation et sa diffusion. "

Read the review of that magic night.

Info site Grand Palais

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Flower by Kenzo La Cologne - new fragrance review

Kenzo Flower Essentielle explored the new idea of floral lightness and freshness taking the classic powdery sweet accord of the original Flower into a new era. Following the same idea of reinventing a beautiful story, Kenzo Flower Cologne is not just an ordinary flanker but a new interpretation in a tender construction. It follows the path of Essentielle opening the sweet accord to the light of a new morning. In this case it is the citrus notes in an original combination and it would be more appropriate to call the perfume Infusion rather than Cologne. The relation to the classic accord of a cologne note or to the concentration of cologne as opposed to an extrait is more abstract than real. The bitterness of several citrus notes and different flowers from the neroli family opens the perfume while the use of a new musk gives a new dimension to the powdery notes so characteristic of the original Flower. The heart is a new interpretation of the rose. Fresh, clean, transparent but warm like the skin after a morning shower, the drydown of Cologne takes us into a familiar place. It is an accord of woods, musks and sweet notes so popular this year offering the pleasure of a sensual freshness infused with a desirable powder. Kenzo Flower Cologne is not the reinvention of the genre, nor a revolutionary accord. It is a beautiful tale wrapped in precious cotton, warm, natural and easy where the purity of the idea becomes the new sophistication. It smells like the wind in the summer bringing the softness of flowers and their undescriptible honeyed swetness wrapped in the bitter but powdery muskiness that makes the new Narciso Rodriguez so special. Like the Prada Infusions, it belongs to the same idea of sensual freshness where the orris and the orange flower are in a honeymoon with touches of vanilla, fresh flowers and musk from heaven (name of the molecule of course).

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Le Parfum - "De l’enchantement à la guérison" - congrès à Lyon

Pour les amoureux du parfum, culture et anthropologie, il y aura bientôt un congrès sur les parfums à Lyon avec des intervenants comme Annick Le Guérer ou Michel Roudnitska.

Je partage avec vous l'information officielle sur le congrès, présentée sur le site de La Maison qui chante (plaquette pdf).

Organisé les 22 et 23 mai à Lyon à l’Espace de l’Ouest Lyonnais par La Maison Qui Chante.

L’objectif de ce congrès à visée transdisciplinaire est de parler du Parfum et de ses usages à travers différents registres :

* Curatif, symbolique, esthétique, spirituel.

* À quoi nous renvoie le parfum ?

* À la beauté, à l’inspiration, au mystère, au sacré ?

* Et que signifie avoir du nez ?

Le parfum est un des vecteurs principaux de l’art du guérissage dans la tradition amazonienne. Au même titre que le chant, il est essentiel dans les pratiques de soin des curanderos. Signe et trace du subtil, il touche aussi bien à la création et à l’enchantement qu’au soin et à la guérison.

Le thème sera abordé sous des aspects très divers.

Des spécialistes de compétence et renommée internationales interviendront en regards croisés pour apporter un éclairage nouveau sur le rôle du parfum dans nos sociétés.

Anthropologues, aromathérapeutes, chercheurs en neurosciences, créateurs de parfum, curanderos, écrivains, exégètes, symbolistes, herboristes, nez, médecins, naturopathes, perfumeros, pharmaciens, psychanalystes, viendront se pencher avec nous sur le parfum, son enchantement et son mystère et nous parleront de :

* L’usage des parfums dans les soins et les pratiques du curandérisme amazonien,

* L’aromathérapie, l’olfactothérapie,

* L’odorat dans notre développement sensoriel et son importance dans notre vie psychique,

* La symbolique, l’inspiration, le rapport au sacré, tout autant que de la création de parfum et la cosmétologie,

* La place des odeurs dans notre vie, l’évolution des molécules de synthèse et leurs emplois parfois abusifs.

Tarifs : 120 euros les deux jours, 100 euros pour les tarifs réduits

Cocktail offert.

Liste des conférences:

- Annick Le Guerer: Jardins des cloîtres, jardins des princes, Quand le parfum portait remède.

- Portait d’un Perfumero amazonien

- Monsieur Daniel Kieffer: Encens et parfums de guérison, hier et aujourd’hui. Approche des encens purificateurs et des aromes thérapeutiques dans les médecines traditionnelles.

- Vittorio Bizzozero: La pyramide du nez

- Dr Jacques Mabit: Enseignements d'Ignacio, maestro perfumero : médecines traditionnelles amazoniennes en odeur de sainteté.

- Joël Candau: Odeurs, émotions et partage

- Jean-Pierre Royet: Les processus olfactifs et émotionnels chez l’homme

- Michel Roudnitska: De l’art du parfum à l’éveil de la conscience et projection d’extraits

de son spectacle multi sensoriel en images - sons – odeurs : « Un Monde en Senteur »

- Jean François Froger: Les parfums dans la Bible

- Christina Desreumaux: Parfum d’humanité:La place de l’olfactothérapie en naturopathie holistique

- Benny Shanon: Phénomènes olfactifs dans les états de conscience modifiée.

- Marie Thérèse Esneault: Par les odeurs, redonner la parole aux détenus et aux sans

domicile

- Jacques Tournon: Les odeurs de l’Amazonie, et leurs pouvoirs

- Annick Le Guerer: Le nez des philosophes et des psychanalystes

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

Perfume and department stores in communism

After the selection of clips presenting the american beauty industry in 1945 (the sound is now OK, I did the changes) I propose you a selection from the other side of the Cold War.

This clip is a selection from the movie "За витриной универмага" (1956 - from the windows of the universal store, a comedy). You can see here the consumer's life in the 50's in Moscow. At 2.00 you have the perfumes - en entire wall full with soviet fragrances in gift boxes (the expensive version, not the cheap eau de cologne). Very few items (gift boxes with soap, perfume and cologne) have survived from that era.

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