Cologne Royale, the new exclusive fragrance from "La Collection Couturier Parfumeur" is not the best example of what Dior could be today. Less interesting and far less original than Cologne Blanche and Cologne Noire, this new creation is actually an "abstract" of what modern cologne is: citrus freshness plus white cotton musks. It suggests the original sparkling neroli freshness found in the classic Jean Marie Farina type, a perfume type that 250 years ago was probably a royal fragrance, but after a very short time falls into the non descript musky note and a huge hedione, the common solution of lazy perfumers. You put a fresh citrus top and a pleasant white musk and everybody will adore this dull inexpensive accord. Cologne Royale has a very interesting top note with mint and its bergamot-lemon freshness, combined with the mandarin and maybe a soft neroli note creates the illusion of the exquisite tea served in Maroc. The musky freshness with a touch of green and a synthetic orange flower molecule reminds one of the perfumes found in the Escale line. Unfortunately, there is nothing royale inside this Dior cologne from Portofino, and like the new example from Guerlain, this is just a sketch to answer the request for a new launch.
François Demachy says that "Cologne is the ultimate challenge in Perfumery, because it follows the strictest style codes. It is impossible to cheat. The olfactory signature must be clear and immediately recognizable. The quality of the fragrance is entirely dependent on the quality of the ingredients used, citrus ingredients in particular. So, of course, I sought out the most fragrant notes I could find." The perfumer did not cheat, he simply lost the bet. Totally uninspired, unfinished and useless, this is not couture. French perfumers should learn one day to give up the cologne style and rethink their references.
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Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art
Milly-la-Forêt, the new exclusive fragrance from "La Collection Couturier Parfumeur" is certainly a mistake, a human error made in the Dior factory. This is an unacceptable launch! The perfume is a floral musky, extremely faint and smells like the detergent used to clean the bottles in a fragrance lab where there is allways some musk. Clean, light bergamot-mandarine, with non descript shades, with no diffusion and an average tenacity, this smells less than your usual body lotion. Because Dior doesn't give samples for this exclusive line I had to rely on the huge blotters from the boutique. I went 3 times because I could not believe my nose. After 4 hours I was not sure if the residual smell was a composition of François Demachy or the Dior blotters were poluted with something else, the basic accord of synthetic sandalwood, hediones, 0,01% synthetic moss and orris methyliones. Milly-la-Forêt, Leather Oud and J'adore L'or cannot be the works of the same perfumer. Milly La Forêt, a small city near Paris with a beautiful plant collection, is also a jewelry line from Dior Joaillerie (the 4 seasons) created in memory of the time spent there by Christian Dior and his mother. This perfume cannot be the interpretation of Milly-la-Forêt and its exquisite botanical garden (Conservatoire National des Plantes à Parfum, Médicinales, Aromatiques et Industrielles). Quelle horreur!
In the official press release François Demachy says: "For me, conveying this place in a scent was like describing a walk in the forest. I wanted the accord to be very soft, almost cottony. A fresh musk, evoking the contrasts between light and dark found in the undergrowth, where it is dark, but where the halo of a clearing can always be seen in the distance." I still hope the bottles will be soon replaced from the shelves because this is the biggest disappointment after the beautiful creations I previously reviewed.
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Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art
With Vetiver, the new exclusive fragrance from "La Collection Couturier Parfumeur", Christian Dior has now its own "vetiver extraordinaire" in a couture laser-cut interpretation. This is "vetiver essential" in its purest shape - no facets, no additional notes, nothing from the raw and brutal natural material, no frou-frou.
François Demachy achieved a linear perfume like the purest gray day tailleur of Christian Dior. He took the vetiver, a very purified essence, where only the woody dry notes are present (not the smoky Java facet) and combined it with the most obvious bitter note, grapefruit. This is the whole perfume, a short and concise idea, a third only vetiver underlined with a robusta coffee note. Its not the sweet cup found in a famous flanker from Mugler (or previously in a Rochas perfume) but the raw absolute smelling like the coffee shop and "replacing" with its woody undertones the smoked elements of natural vetiver. The perfume sits between "Vetiver Extraordinaire" of Dominique Ropion and Sycomore of Jacques Polge and retains the light burnt aspect, an idea previously found in the interpretation of Sycomore - velvety airy woody and peppery - and its more recent "version" Gray Vetiver (Tom Ford). Also, a very soft white flower reminds the original note found in Me Myself and I (Ego Facto). The drydown reveals a very fragile woody-coumarine-ambery facet and soft musky note, an accord that can be found in the very recent examples from Givenchy and Yves Saint Laurent. François Demachy takes the modern perfumes built around the vetiver note and he extracts their essence - this is how vetiver is done today, like a standard note before the ornaments: “Vetiver can be used in a thousand ways; this time, I wanted to make it hedonistic. It is the unexpected combination of robust, almost rough Haitian Vetiver with a South American Robusta Coffee, a note evoking pleasure the way we like to smell it in the morning”
Vetiver (Christian Dior) is not a very outstanding original perfume, but it smells extremely good and essential, like the most basic suit you can imagine, done in a couture atelier. Like the soft and powdery Dior Homme, this one is the perfect scent for the white shirt, an expression of modern minimalism in perfumery. The recent exhibition at Dior Museum in Granville was about dandyism and Christian Dior and somehow this sophisticated, refined atmosphere was captured. Do we smell the Parisian smoking rooms of the 20's and 30's and their white architecture? Maybe, but it's a very modern vision with a cup of vetiver.
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Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art
It's not the reformulation of Guerlain classic perfumes and the IFRA cultural genocide that made the headline of the french press (what they call "actu") but the racism. Jean Paul Guerlain, apparently unintentionally, said on a TV interview about the creation of Samsara on France 2: "For once, I worked like a nigger. I don't know if niggers have worked that much, but anyway..." ("Pour une fois, je me suis mis à travailler comme un nègre. Je ne sais pas si les nègres ont toujours tellement travaillé, mais enfin...")
Saturday people were demonstrating in front of Guerlain Champs Elysées shop and they protested also at the Guerlain counter at Galeries Lafayette. A campaign for boycotting Guerlain products has started and this LVMH racial affair reminds another dark&dirty l'Oréal case from the early 90's Bitter Scent: The Case of L'oreal, Nazis, and the Arab Boycott.
The news about Guerlain manifestation is on Agence France Presse (french) and The Guardian (english).
But there are also those who love Jean Paul Guerlain and his perfumes and found this case unjust. Here you have Do you Love Jean-Paul Guerlain and His Perfumes? (from Russia, thanks Sergey) and from Holland, also on facebook.
I'm quite sad about the reaction of newspapers in France. For years they were not able to speak about the reformulations of french perfumes and how IFRA and Bruxelles have destroyed their heritage, but now, when Jean Paul Guerlain, at the venerable 74, made a faux pas, they are all to attack him. It has been also a tense week in Paris - strikes, no fuel, a new controversial law.
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Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art
New Look 1947, the new exclusive fragrance from "La Collection Couturier Parfumeur" is Dior's parfum lingerie, the New Nude Look with agrège scent: the softness of "purple gray" orris and the creaminess of "apricot beige" white flowers. It is built on a similar idea with J'adore l'Or - an infinite smoothness of flowers melting into an abstract note, very distant from the figurative depiction of a flower or the representation of a specific bouquet. Like Chanel No5, this perfume is the abstraction of an imaginary feminine scent, it is that "je ne sais quoi". Miss Dior was indeed the perfume of the New Look but let's go back in time to see what was actually the scent of Paris in those days and how those ideas were translated by François Démachy.
Before Dior reintroduced feminity, long flared skirts, tiny waist and delicate shoulders, the fashion of the 40's emphasized a strong silhouette with wide shoulders, big hats and turbans. The women present at the first fashion show were probably wearing the strong and opulent Shocking, Bandit, Visa, Fracas, Femme. But a new generation of perfumers started to create a different type of fragrances - light, floral, delicate, aldehydic, orris. While Dior was launching his revolution in fashion, perfumes like L'Air du Temps and Le Dix were exploring a universe quite different compared to the powerful notes of the previous decade. They were soft, delicate, based on orris and powdery notes and a lot of lily of the valley, mixed with delicate new woody molecules. Mademoiselle Chanel No 2, though a small commercial project, perfectly reflects the new styles that were in the air already in 1944. 10 years before Edmond Roudnitska's Diorissimo, some perfumers at Roure were already creating with a new aesthetic vision in mind, based on lighter scents and shorter formulae.
Somehow, François Demachy captured the spirit of those days and his new "tuberose" is the opposite of the beautiful and bold Fracas. He eliminated the diva aspect of white flowers and captured only the smoothness of their petals adding also a fresh peppery spicy accent. That's why you will not recognize the tuberose (it's rather the tuberose absolute note) inside this perfume, soft, powdery, creamy, very sensual.
With the New Look, Dior introduced in fashion a very different philosophy of color, reminiscent of Belle Époque era. He loved grays, pastels and those XVIIIth century shades, rather hard to describe. Is it Trianon gray, dust rose, lilas, Marie Antoinette Blue? The same multi floral concept is applied in this perfume where the orris powdery note is as important as the creamy, fruity lactonic facet of the white flowers. In fact this perfume, like Chloé Love, honors the "cosmetic" palette, the scent of lipstick and face powder where the notes of rose, violet, apricot and soft benzoin vanilla are mixed in a delicate nondescript veil. For me it is less the idea of a specific perfume type and more the concept of a presence, delicate and fragile. It is a skinscent, but not the musky type. It's again a parfum lingerie that evokes the Dior 1947 backstage before the unique fashion show that changed the world of fashion for ever: soft shoulders, wasp waist, bosom padded for extra curve, hips that swelled and rustling skirts. We have here the scents of make up, lipstick, face powder, the scent of silk lingerie. Dior introduced a new type of hat, much smaller and often worn with a face veil (voilette) and this orris powder texture aspect is also important in the perfume. Women loved the Dior fashion but they were also mad for Dior silk stockings. This idea, found also in the recent perfume Bas de Soie (Serge Lutens) is somehow present in this creation where the creamy facets of the white flowers have replaced the hyacinth.
One should not forget that Christian Dior admired very much Coco Chanel and he even did a very chanelesque collection at the end of his career. That's why, maybe, we find again the reference to Chanel in this perfume, but it is more subtle, like the silkiness of Iris Poudre (the creation of Pierre Bourdon, a homage to Chanel No5).
Between Chanel No5 creamy feminine notes and the floral sensual bouquet of J'adore, New Look 1947 presents a beautiful delicate floral bouquet with soft vanilla-tiaré facets on the skin, on a base with delicate woody notes: creamy sandalwood, powdery orris, very light vetiver and sweet notes of Siam benzoin, precious vanilla Madagascar and tonka. A shy Diorissimo lily of the valley accord is surrounded by roses à l'ancienne and delicate peonies, ylang ylang Mayotte, orris (like in Dior homme & Cologne d'Argent), a very soft peach note (maybe osmanthus) and a very soft tuberose indian absolute.
"New Look 1947 is a bouquet of flowers with Tuberose at its center, I wanted to modernize this well-known flower through a unique approach, so that all of its facets would be expressed. The Perfume is extremely feminine, sensual and surprising, just like the New Look was in its day." - François Demachy
New Look 1947 (Christian Dior) is neither the complex and sophisticate Miss Dior, nor the pure floral representation of Diorissimo or J'adore. It's more what the 1947 "Colection Corolle" evokes - the change in shape, a new delicacy, the shantung of the original tailleur, the purity of line and the scent of Dior lingerie (corset, gaine, jupon), very important in defining the new shape of fashion. It is not the ball dress, nor the couture drama but the very soft powdery woody note found in classic Dior perfumes created before 1980's.
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Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art
J'adore l'Or is the sensational perfume of the fall. If J'adore absolu was the magnificent expression of J'adore, with each note emphasized by the use of several very special floral absolutes, J'adore l'Or is its quintessence. In the previous version, the floral facets of J'adore where underlined and magnified. Sambac jasmine, ylang, tuberose, fresh jasmine, all were represented like petals in a stellar composition. J'adore l'Or is now the center and not the "ray of light". It is the apotheosis. Its amazing structure shows a linear panoramic development for a fragrance that lasts forever and ever. The perfume, with an outstanding floral tenacity, works like a spiral that goes deeper and deeper inside the spirit of J'adore. From the very first seconds it acts like a carousel: all the notes are there, the rose, the jasmine, the lily of the valley, the soft fresh peach, the vanilla, the woody sandalwood. Each contributes with its own facet through the floral metamorphosis, none is dominating the structure and there is no contrast. This is the new and original interpretation of the J'adore idea. The original masterpiece of Calice Becker was in fact a champaca poem built around the freshness of a magnificent flower surrounded by all its shades: sparkling freshness and fruity top note, green flowers, sensual woody drydown. Champaca is one of the most amazing flowers of the planet and the composition of its scent reveals something unique - all the major 7 flower types are present here and somehow, this flower is the quintessence of all other flowers. Calice Becker translated this idea into a landscape of embroidered flowers, each explored with exquisite accuracy. J'adore is obvious today because many have copied this perfume but, like the champaca absolute, it's not a simple formula. If the flowers were suspended between the top and the drydown in the original creation, a very dynamic structure, J'adore l'Or is quite the opposite. It is condensed matter. It's the density of the original perfume and not the accents. The drydown, with sandalwood, vanilla absolute, soft lactones and powdery musks is of an extreme beauty and the fruitiness reminds the texture of Nuit de cellophane from Serge Lutens (that I did not like because it was too J'adore). A similar idea was explored by Magnolia Nobile (Aqua di Parma) but it was not perfectly mastered.
The most unusual element in J'adore l'Or from Christian Dior is in fact its chanelesque style. François Demachy translated here all his experience from Chanel and the result is sublime. J'adore l'Or doesn't borrow any specific accord from modern Chanel perfumes, it takes the soul. From the very first seconds, I had all the richness and magnificent smoothness of natural ingredients found in several Chanel extracts (and not EDT/EDP): Coco, Allure, Coco Mademoiselle. J'adore l'Or is now the new representative of the French classicism style, something that did not exist in the first version. This perfume is not the representation of a specific note / flower / accord, but their abstraction. The combination "rose de mai" note and jasmine over a rich sandalwood base, the ylang-ylang, the peach-apricot note that suggests osmanthus petals, the green floral freshness found in jasmine sambac absolute, the lightness of a coconut gardenia-tuberose, everything here is perfect. There is not a single moment in the evolution of this fragrance when the scent "falls", there is no faux pas. The milky richness of sandalwood combined with vanilla suggests the warm drydown found in Chanel No 5 and there is even a short almondy-tonka absolute-coumarine-aldehydic effect that evokes the perfection of No5 Eau Première and the smoothness of Beige. Like in Coco Mademoiselle, the peach-modern chypre note has something alluring and sophisticate but J'adore l'Or took out the green pineapple-galbanum pungency. The chypre facet is delicious with patchouli-labdanum-amber and light mosses, all surrounded by the eternal softness of a long lasting peach-apricot note that becomes very creamy with a hint of exotic vanilla (frangipanni effect of Tahiti vanilla).
Unlike other modern Dior creations, this perfume was a sensational discovery for me and I was totally impressed by the quality of ingredients, how they were used and how the whole structure of the perfume was built starting from J'adore idea. I soon understood why. Dior has now its own plantations in Grasse and the lesson of Chanel was perfectly learnt.
"As magical as it may be, a perfume is above all the art of raw materials", confides François Demachy, Dior's Perfumer-Creator, for whom using the finest ingredients is a top priority. Produced exclusively from Dior's Domaine de Manon, Jasmine and Rose flowers provide the beauty of the fragrance.
This is not marketing.Try J'adore l'Or and you'll see the big change with the other Dior perfumes (their very cheap Escale line).
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Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art
Granville, the new exclusive fragrance from "La Collection Couturier Parfumeur", is Dior's parfum paysage, a sentimental mirror of the surrounding nature embalming the pink villa. But this is not the garden and the precious collection of flowers that gave birth 50 years ago to the colors and patterns of the New Look era. François Demachy captures the spirit of the north, the abrupt coastal landscape, the sea and forest surrounding the house where Christian Dior was born. The perfume is cold, aromatic and bitter like a pine forest and a field covered with thyme, the opposite of what we perceive today as the sensual facet of Dior and its exuberant feminity. It is also the opposite of Filles en aguilles, the unusual creation of Serge Lutens built on the dark facet of resinous conifers. Granville explores the freshness of pine, thyme and mandarin, tonalities rarely found together in fine fragrances It is an interpretation of lightness which becomes almost medicinal because of the camphor-like notes, and opposed to the resinic depth of Serge Lutens. The aromatic bouquet is enhanced by rosemary and strong black pepper that contrasts with the lemony freshness. Dry and bitter, with a certain harshness obtained by the contrast between the aromatic facet and the lemony cologne structure, Granville evokes the tailored suits of Dior, their structured line and their masculine, almost brutal texture.
The drydown reveals strong woody notes hidden under the freshness: dry mosses, sandalwood, maybe vetiver and fir balsam, pine absolute, a delicately sweet honeyed resin and of course, the orange flower and a delicate musk. The first seconds reveal through the aromatic cologne freshness a basil facet that recalls Eau Sauvage. This time not subtle, refined or alluring, the creation of Demachy is purely "sauvage" and smells like raw nature. To me it is the scent of thyme in its raw state near the sea, before the storm. After one day, the blotter clearly evokes the last minutes of a Dior masterpiece, with shades of hay and jasmine in a velvety woody landscape. François Demachy takes the thyme molecule found in only one citrus material where it is surrounded by a bitter orange flower molecule and magnifies the accord. This approach, where a small detail is amplified and the proportions are reversed, is similar to what Christian Dior used to do in fashion. The couturier took small details like buttons, cuffs, pockets and made them 5 or 10 times bigger. The decoration became an essential design element. This extreme harshness, with thyme and wintergreen notes, sometime a part in the design of exotic flowers, is dosed to its extreme aromatic pungency. This paysage perfume shows Granville in the most unexpected way. If the pink villa gave the shade used for the defunct Diorissimo and the delicate flowers became the crucial theme of another new perfume, this creation shows us the forest near the sea, the cypress, pine, thuya and the wild grasses, all important elements in the top note of chypre leather creations of the 50's. This unusual bitter aromatic note recalls the early 1900's when the pungent methyl salycilate was a common ingredient in fashionable perfumes.
"I wanted to create a fragrance that was not only aromatic, since the property is overflowing with pine trees, but also very sharp and extremely fresh, to evoke the wind gusts and the waves that perpetually strike the rocks. In Granville, nature is all but calm. This fragrance is the scent of the wind that blows there." François Démachy
"With its fine sandy beach and full range of sporting and musical entertainment, Granville found itself rejoicing in the title of "the little Monaco of the North" and became the meeting place for the best society, who flocked there year in and year out, complete with a full entourage of trunks, children and nannies." - Marie France Pochna - Christian Dior: The Biography
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Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art
With Leather Oud, Dior gives us one of the most elegant solutions to the agar wood equation. Not very well known in the West, certainly not understood and even rarely sold as a natural ingredient, the agar wood is one of the most special ingredients of this planet. Its history, chemistry, properties and impact are not fully disclosed. After the omnipotent creations of Montale, with a strong oudh note over the rich oriental rose base, after the oudh note in the woody sweet context of Tom Ford (an exponential M7 interpretation), the pure oudh like a dark ink portrayed by Kilian, and the extremely dark heavy ambery interpretation of Le Labo, here comes the couture version. Dior combines the rich note of agar wood with the refined leather facet of Diorling and the result is sensational. It smells like the Kingdom of Cambodia in the Cabochard era - the best oriental oudh combined with the most refined western leather of the couture decade. Indeed, the smoky facets of vetiver, patchouli, cedar and IBQ are in perfect harmony with the oudh note, an ingredient that was rather exotic in the Dior era. On the skin, the perfume reveals an intense animalic civet-honey note of a refined sensuality.
Leather Oud brings a totally new note in the modern oudh fragrance family, the animalic scent of burning agar wood. Some ingredients in classic perfumery show in their raw state a "living" quality - they do not smell like flowers/spices/woods/balms but like a presence. Their ability to fill the room with an "invisible creature", as it is the case of black amber, daman, some types agar wood from Laos, several orchids and several Ferulae, is the novelty delicately dosed by Dior. This intense and unusual note, but in a very civilized interpretation, attenuated yet perceptible, is the essence of Leather Oud.
Leather Oud is not an extreme version, nor an "impolite" interpretation of a natural note revealing the most astonishing animalic accents. It is soft, velvety, wrapped in tender powdery woods, sweet balsamic notes with honeyed beeswax elements, soft white flowers, delicate caramel amber with just the right dose of pungency, so characteristic of classic leather perfumes. The perfume starts with an explicit oudh note, with subtle accents of smoke which will unveil the animalic musk-goat-fur-civet-honey facet, uncovering slowly the classic woody dry leathery dry down and the ciste labdanum amber facet. Here the perfume shows several similar facets with Antaeus (Chanel), one of the most original creations of the 80's. Spicy notes of cardamom and clove, benzoin, narcissus (maybe), dark vanilla, tonka and mosses are perfectly blended with the dry woods, sandalwood New Caledonia and amyris, orris and the leather-castoreum effect enhanced by the birch tar. The leather note was previously worked at Dior in a flanker of Eau Sauvage, but the oudh note, as seen in Fahrenheit absolute is the beautiful theme in the exotic woody forest.
The rich floral aldehydic bouquet from Diorling (a victim of IFRA cultural genocide) is not present but I believe that the original formula of the extract worked with an intense animalic oudh would give a sensational dramatic effect. Curling, swirling - the smoke of "Sinks-in-water", A crow cries out - the spectacle of a worn night, A winding pond - the ripples among the lotuses, The waist-girding, white jades are cold."
Li Po (701-762), translated in Trail of Time, an exceptional account of time measurement with incense in East Asia. "sinks-in-water" or ch'en hsiang is the aloès wood / oudh. Like Mitzah and New Look 1947, François Demachy achieves here an exceptional smoothness and a perfect transition of the notes. He achieves something similar with the couture work - simplexity - the perfection of the purest recognizable form through the complexity of construction. This is the opposite of Miss Dior, the 1947 apotheosis of complexity with an outstanding originality and contrasting shades. Leather Oud from the new exclusive "La Collection Couturier Parfumeur" is the new fragrance that will embalm the Dior Homme boutique in the next era.
François Demachy about Leather Oud in L'Express: "J'ai tout de suite vu une correspondance entre Leather Oud et cette silhouette de Kris Van Assche [...]Tout cela fait écho au bois de oud, à ses notes profondes et "cuirées". C'est une essence à oublier pour les timides: elle ne se fond pas sur la peau, elle l'habille. J'y ai adjoint d'autres composantes sombres et fortes, à l'instar de cette tenue: de l'encens dit "vieille église", du labdanum... A réserver à un homme et à une mode à forte personnalité!
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Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art
With Mitzah, Dior gives carte blanche to the purest form of sensuality. This is "nude" lingerie wrapped in the most precious fur, a naked tigresse in a Dior salon. There are no other better fur coats in Paris than those found in the avenue Montaigne boutique and their tactile presence is fundamental to the Dior spirit. Mitzah, the new exclusive fragrance from Dior, is the quintessence of amber. It's sweet, warm, animalic and devastating like the odor of the panther muse that (still) haunts the avenue Montaigne house. It's barbarian, but extremely civilized, preciously heavy but airy like a silk lingerie. It's feline and Fellinian. The extravagant Mitzah Bricard used to wear at her wrist a muslin scarf with panther prints, called "jungle", and the fragrance captures this mysterious elegance: rich like a heavy fur, soft like a precious silk. Deep oriental, but not overpowering.
"Mitzah Bricard was Dior's lifeline, a direct connection with his ideal image of womanhood — the women of his childhood, those who had left him with the memories of their perfumes, perfumes that lingered in the elevator, more clinging that those of today. Figures muffled in furs, gestures à la Boldini, bird of paradise plumes and amber necklaces". Marie France Pochna in Christian Dior: the biography.
François Demachy gives us the modern interpretation of amber and consider by now Ambre Sultan (Serge Lutens) already a classic. There are hundreds of ambery interpretations since the natural ingredient was first used, but the Dior head perfumer selected the "ambre 83" archetype, where the labdanum was wrapped in very sweet notes and underlined by several important woody ingredients. Amber became the synonym with Oriental through an essential 15 ingredients formula. If this idea was first tried at Dior in Cologne Ambre Nuit, Mitzah brings the new molecules into the very classic notion of amber. Demachy doesn't reproduce the classic note, he updates its style. The perfume, with its balsamic benzoin notes and delicate incense but also a sparkling coriander, is the essence of amber, as this note was explored by modern perfumers in the past 10 years, from Lutens to the recent creations of Francis Kurkdjian, Estée Lauder (Amber Ylang-Ylang) and Annick Goutal (Ambre Fétiche). All contrasts, aromatic accents or floral arpeggios were reduced under the ultimate supremacy of amber and the composition became an exercise in oriental smoothness. If Eau de Merveilles (Hermès), another amber masterpiece, was the smoothness in lightness, Mitzah (Dior) is its quest in the universe of darkness. But unlike the recent opus of Francis Kurkdjian, pure "dark matter", where rose-amber-benzoin and the devastating animalic notes were creating one of the most dangerous beauties of this year, Mitzah, built in the same tonality, is the refinement of a couture salon in the 50's. Sweet oriental fragrances, heavy décolletés breathing pure Shalimar, gloves and cigarette holders, mink coats, the alluring presence of a panther (one of the famous Dior pattern), the scents of almondy coumarine, opopanax, castoreum, vanilla and precious liquors served to the rich South American clients. Mitzah is the reflection of this world in our times with modern ingredients and one of the most beautiful interpretations of the sweet ambery note. Like in Ambre Antique (Coty), a spicy rose is breathing at the heart of this perfume, where the touches of cinnamon and cloves in the ocean of honeyed sweetness transports us in ancient Rome, through the souvenir of Parfum Royal. An exquisite natural vanilla note, with its dark smoky facets wrapped in velvety sweetness, is the final seal of this perfume with touches of incense and honey - a sublime cachet like the powdery scent of a couture invitation with a beautiful calligraphy.
Christian Dior wrote in his autobiography that "Mitzah Bricard is one of those people, increasingly rare, who make elegance their sole reason for being". She used to wear a very red lipstick and maybe this is the reason why the perfume has a heart note based on rose-magnolia-jasmine, capturing the honeyed sweetness of precious absolutes.
"I wanted to pay tribute to her intense, feline femininity using amber and spicy notes, but also to her spiritual side, by including lots of Incense. The result is a very sensual, mysterious oriental." François Démachy
A facet of the ambery note with patchouli and cinnamon reminds the forgotten Dioressence (so mutilated today by IFRA) and I wish this exceptional note was stronger. The masterpiece of Guy Robert, as pure perfume, used to be one of the most sensual, tenacious and extravagant creation, with an outstanding sillage and an exceptional spiciness. Mitzah, the new exclusive Dior fragrance from "La Collection Couturier Parfumeur" deserves a precious vial and maybe a pure perfume.
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Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art
One of the most daring and seductive floral spicy creations of the 30's, "Cocaina en flor" created by Parera, disappeared with WWII and the sudden decline of the Spanish perfume industry. "Cocaina en flor" was sold for several years but not with the same luxury touch as in 1933. With a brilliant start after 1910's and several exquisite examples of design and creative thinking in perfumery, as seen through the creations of Myrurgia and Dana, this fragile Spanish universe was brutally affected by the Civil War but most important, by the changes in global economy in the 50's.
"Cocaina en flor" was the Opium of the 30's and its fame went worldwide. It was sold everywhere, from Spain to Central and South America and even in Asia and Pacific Islands. We do not see many pictures today because its market was not France, nor USA and those magazines from South America are not easy to get. But "Cocaina en flor" advertised heavily on radio and through ... tango. 40 years after, Opium (YSL) had the TV.
In the few Spanish ads, the perfume was described as the ultimate seduction ingredient, it was almost always a hand written text that looked like a feminine confession. It was presented as a "superperfume", an expression used also 30 years after by Estée Lauder to describe a new type of concentration or her Estée fragrance.
Here you have 2 examples from 1933 and 1934 and 2 beautiful tangos where Carmelita Aubert sings about "Cocaina en flor - perfume di amor". Another "tango publicitario" from Parera was "Canto de luna" for the same perfume. The perfume was floral spicy, quite Caronesque in style, with a famous sweet floral base that was used in many perfumes from the 30's to the 60's.
"El perfume misterioso, exquisito aroma desconocido aún por lo moderno, suave y malicioso, que proporcionaba un goce nuevo y extraño, que subyuga, que atrae, que hechiza".
"Seducida - El Moderno D. Juan tiene en el novísimo Superpefume COCAÍNA EN FLOR el amuleto que la gana la simpatía y con el cual hace palpitar los corazones femeninos."
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Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art
When I'll find the right editor I'll publish the History of Musk, the most fascinating and mysterious fragrance ingredient in the history of humanity, but until then I enjoy some of its secrets in Paris. Last night the SFP (Société Française des Parfumeurs) organized a conference dedicated to the present and future of this material wrapped in our dreams and desires.
Jacques Vaillant presented the history of what we call today musk - the animalic musks with the very known musk deer, the vegetal musks (ambrette seeds and angelica) and the adventure of organic chemistry with the galaxy of musk molecules (nitro, macro, poly and the new linear generation). The following molecules were described and presented: musk Baur, musk ambrette, musk xylene, musk cétone, musk tibethene, musk moskène, muscone, civettone, Ambretollide, Exaltolide, Musc T, Habanolide, Muscenone, Phantolide, Celestolide, Traseolide, Tonalide, Galaxolide. During the first part of the conference the audience tested musk tincture and musk cétone, with their deep animalic note.
Givaudan made a presentation about the concept of "the musk note" in contemporary fragrances. It's a scent rather different from the original ingredient (deer musk tincture) and more powdery, soft, baby skin, used everywhere, sometimes in huge amounts. 14 musks were presented on a scale, from the most fruity (ambretollide) to the most powdery (musk ketone) between other 2 main characteristics, dry and animalic. The function of musk in fine fragrances and functional perfumery was demonstrated through 3 applications (masculine and feminine EDT, a fabric softener) with their formula disclosed while the audience received the blotters and experienced also the new generation of Givaudan musks with its jewel called Cosmone.
Symrise presented the use of musks in flavors through a new generation of aromas inspired by exotic fruits, unexpected twists and a fusion of exotic tastes. They tested the impact of exaltolide in classic flavors like mandarin, mango, cocoa, cardamom, basil, vanilla and discovered the effects and impact of musk. The presentation concluded with a Musk Menu based on musk notes and their application in a new generation of exotic foods. We were given the recipes and I will just enumerate the names in French:
Entrée: Croquettes de boeuf à l'indienne
Plats: Dorade grillée / Emincé d'aiguillette de volaille cacao vanille
Dessert: Gâteau roulé aux épices
Firmenich presented the future of musks, the truth and the challenges of environmental issues and research. Today 2/3 of musks are used in "washing" products (from detergents to shower gels) with their paradox - detergency vs. substantivity. The intellectual property and the investment in knowledge is an important subject today because cca 300 companies produce "generic" musk molecules and only 5 create and invest in research. Several solutions were proposed and explained through their molecules like muscenone, helvetolide, romandolide. Blotters with helvetolide and a green floral perfume served to demonstrate the effectiveness of this molecule as a top note in a perfume (!).
Takasago made a presentation about their innovative approach to the chiral chemistry of musks (the optically active isomers of muscone) that finally lead to l-muscone, a very rich and powerful molecule obtained by asymmetric synthesis. It was overdosed by Francis Kurkdjian in one on of his creations but it is also used in a David Beckham fragrance. A chart with the effects of musks and pheromones on men and women was used to demonstrate the impact and effectiveness of their new molecule, as shown in their latest research and collaboration with chemistry Nobel prize winners.
The amount of galaxolide used in the fragrance industry is estimated at 15-20000 tones / year, 5 times more than habanolide and globalide and 100 times more than muscenone. The perfume with the highest amount of musk on the market is Max Mara created by Vincent Schaller, using about 82% musks from Firmenich.
photo: Leopold Ruzicka (1887-1976), father of Muscone and Civetone, 1939 Nobel Prize in chemistry
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Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art
With Sartorial, the classic aromatic fougère of the 70's comes back in an unexpected British revival. It is the era of Azzaro Pour Homme and Balafre Brun by Lancôme, but also Paco Rabanne, Drakkar Noir, Tactics and other many scents built on a similar formula. This type of scent was extremely popular in the next decade (just see the sales of Azzaro in France) and became almost a standard in male grooming. There are hundreds of inexpensive aftershaves and deodorants sold all over the world. Sartorial is precisely that: a type of formula that went everywhere, from the couture houses of the 70's to the discount shops in 2010. Fabergé, the company which launched Brut in the 60's, was producing in the 80's under the new name Elida Fabergé many types of masculine toiletries. One of them was the range of Denim body sprays. Sartorial (Penhaligon's) comes from there and not from Savile Row. Despite the beautiful marketing story, the truth is rather different. It is a type of scent quite popular at Symrise (precisely Dragoco and H&R), a company less focused on couture fine fragrances in the past.
With Sartorial, Bertrand Duchaufour simply revisits a classic type of formula which became an olfactory standard for the 45+ European males. He updated the scent of the rather complicated original structure and he used noble materials like myrrhe, tonka and some beeswax. It is not an interpretation and not an original twist but rather what French calls "dépoussiérage d'une formule" with a new "titre de noblesse". Taking a type of scent that now is found in France in the most common mass market products, certainly unknown by the snobbish elite who shops only high end "made to measure" boutiques, is rather a humoresque situation.
There are not many things to say about the perfume and certainly not the case to speak aesthetics because there is none here, except a long list of official ingredients. Many are redundant in the final formula. Sartorial is a beautiful perfume, many will love it, other will adore it, but certainly this is not a new contribution to the history of perfumery and less to its art. That's why this type sells so well in the grooming area since the mid 70's!
But the most "embarrassing" example for Sartorial is Rive Gauche pour Homme, a perfume launched several years ago by YSL, a classic aromatic fougère, or a modernized Azzaro with several new woody sensual ingredients in the drydown. Sartorial is just a reorchestrated version as it was another beautiful niche creation from Jacques Zsolty several years ago. If Rive Gauche pour Homme or Azzaro pour Homme had their "pure perfume" version like Terre d'Hermès or Habit Rouge, Sartorial would be a pale copy of that. What is new however is the tenacity of Sartorial and the use of several balsamic notes. The "old" testosterone aromatic fougère high on lavandin and geranium was also high on oak moss, synthetic moss and musky tonalide underlined by the new powerful ambery ingredients. Sartorial is not quite strong on skin but has an acceptable tenacity on fabric.
Maybe mainstream brands should learn something from this case. Some have beautiful perfumes in their portfolio, underappreciated by the public but an inspiration for some niche brands. Somehow Sartorial demonstrates the essence of marketing: you take a scent that sells, change the bottle and the label, you add a beautiful story and you sell it through a different channel. People shopping in high end stores will certainly not visit Sephora.
Without a clear artistic direction and a true vision, Penhaligon's is a hopeless brand that is not able to manage the launches and give a clear direction. Sadly, Amaranthine was the exception and not the start for this esteemed British house.
Here you have a beautiful movie done for Sartorial. It's up to you to find why Savile Row lead to Rive Gauche and Azzaro pour Homme.
"Artist, Quentin Jones, was commissioned by Penhaligon's to create a stop-motion animation exploring the story behind the new gentlemen's fragrance Sartorial. Filmed at the Norton & Sons shop on Savile Row, the animation features the fragrance's creator Bertrand Duchaufour. Patrick Grant, the owner of Norton & Sons, also makes a cameo appearance."
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Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art
"The fragrances used in many household and skincare products can cause contact allergy when exposed to oxygen in the air, reveals research from the University of Gothenburg's Faculty of Science in conjunction with the University of Gothenburg to be presented at the dermatologist conference in Gothenburg.The researchers studied how these substances can be activated through contact with oxygen in the air, and how this, in turn, can affect the skin." says Sciencedaily (where you can read the full story).
So, if substances are activated through contact with oxygen, does it mean that almost everything used in a perfume can be a "nasty beast" and the best solution is not to use perfume or to live in a nitrogen atmosphere?
How will this affect the new legislation? Will we step from the "it cause an allergy" era to "it might cause an allergy if it reacts with oxygen" era? Could we imagine a world with more absurd regulations imposed on fragrances?
In the light of this study, several other questions appear concerning the previous tests and regulations that finally lead to the "cultural genocide" of classic perfumes. Maybe the only solution is to use fragrance as it was done 1500 years ago in the Tang dinasty and not like in the Gupta empire. Not directly on skin. Coincidentally, the new launches (2009-2010) are so badly formulated and maybe even very diluted that the fragrances last very little on the skin. Somehow it's more effective to scent the clothes with the last Artisan Parfumeur creations that wearing the pale vetiver.
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Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art
Geranamine, also known as dimethylamylamine (DMAA) and Methylhexaneamine, is a psychoactive drug, a powerful CNS stimulant, for added energy, euphoria and a boost in physical performance. That's why it became valuable to athletes and in 2010, the World Anti-Doping Agency added DMAA to the prohibited list. It is sold everywhere, even on Amazon. First marketed as a nasal decongestant, it became a dietary supplement (with caffeine) but also the primary active ingredient in the "new generation party pills".
But the most surprising fact is that, as the name says, Geranamine is present in high concentrations in geranium oil from 0,5 to 1% and more.
What boys do not know is that their fathers and grandfathers got their daily dose of Geranamine every day for 150 years, since the invention of the first Fougere perfume, and up to now, when the expensive natural geranium Bourbon was often replaced with the cheaper synthetic version. It worked as a miracle fragrance for many generations of business men through their daily after- shave and for women as one of the most beloved type of perfumes. When girls say "I love masculine scents" they usually think of a fougere and rarely of Paco Rabanne One million.
In the original fougere types, from Fougere Royale to Azzaro, geranium oil was a key ingredient in the formula, the heart of the perfume between lavender and coumarine. In some cases it represented 15 to 25% of the formula. Gradually, something happened to this family with a boosted longevity. The amount of geranium, which clearly defined a certain olfactory note decreased and then the natural geranium, more and more expensive, was replaced with geraniol and other molecules found in the essential oil, often blended in a synthetic base. Somehow, the original effect and the olfactory note of the geranium oil became weaker or simply disappeared. I wish to underline that there is no published research of Geranamine effects in fragrances, but we have billions of consumers who used and adored fougere colognes, preferring this type to all others. Also there are no studies to topical geranamine, but men used shaving creams and balms with high amounts of geranium oil for almost a century.
The only contemporary perfume with an extreme dose of geranium of the purest quality is Geranium pour Monsieur (Frederic Malle), one of the most accomplished creations of the recent years. The geranium oil represents the heart of this marvelous creation, underlined with mint and some rare spices and because of this combination, I believe this fragrance is not only a new aesthetic statement or just a beautiful scent. I believe this opens the way to a new type of creations, not possible for mass market brands like those from L'Oréal or Procter&Gamble which cannot afford more than 1% natural ingredients in their formula conceived to please millions of consumers.
I see the future of fragrances as a combination of art and science through new concepts on naturals, research and patents. It is about art but also about a more conscious use of fragrances in relation with our body and mind. Some molecules have a profound effect on us while other not at all. It is this quintessence, and not the dull marketing research, that is the base of future great creations. Beauty in fragrance is universal and in some cases there is some biology inside (and the chemistry of love). I'll give you one fundamental example: the musk tincture and the musk molecules - the scent is there but not the effect.
Speaking about Geranium pour Monsieur (Frederic Malle), why shouldn't we deliver the fragrance through a "double layered transdermic patch"?From on side it delivers the active ingredient in the body (in this case a cocktail of active ingredients boosting the energy and fat loss) and from the other side it perfumes you. All with an exquisite design to act as a body ornament or ephemeral tattoo.
(if you see this next year, call me to ask for royalties)
Note: there is a special Chinese geranium with an exquisite scent and awesome chemical composition and a geranium plant that smells both geranium and incense.
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Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art
Il y a quelques années, j'ai découvert dans une très rare collection d'anciennes revues de parfumerie que j'avais entièrement achetée dans une boutique néerlandaise, un texte qui m'avait bouleversé. C'était 1979 et "Parfumeur ton nom est personne" signé par Yuri GUTSATZ, article que l'auteur concluait avec "parfumeur, je te souhaite de pouvoir retrouver ton ombre". A l'époque je savais peu de l'auteur, encore moins de ses créations, à part sa marque " Le Jardin Retrouvé" fondée en 1975 que j'avais découvert au début des années 90. Heureusement en 2009 ses textes étaient mis en ligne dans un mémorable effort de récupérer l'œuvre d'un parfumeur, à travers ses écrits et puis à travers quelques parfums. Effort exceptionnel car, à part Edmond Roudnitska et Guerlain (plutôt la marque), aucune autre famille de grands parfumeurs n'a pas veillé à la lumière perpétuelle, la "lampe" symbolique allumée en permanence pour veiller à l'esprit des parfumeurs disparus dont les créations s'élevaient au Paradis comme l'encens. Combien de notes, mémoires, autobiographies, cahiers d'études et formules sont disparus dans les greniers ou les caves, tandis que les parfums des auteurs n'étaient plus produits? Peu de créateurs avaient la chance de publier un livre / ouvrage dans les autres décennies où le secret était la norme.
Quelques créations de Yuri GUTSATZ sont disponibles dans la boutique en ligne, notamment un délicieux parfum floral frais, un pur cuir classique pour sa propre marque " Le Jardin Retrouvé", ou la rose créée pour parfumer la salle de l'Opéra de Paris en 1952 à l'occasion de l'opéra "Les Indes Galantes" de Rameau.
Cette semaine une autre surprise nous attend car Le Jardin Retrouvé inaugure son show room au siège historique de l'entreprise. Les amoureux de parfums sont attendus le Samedi 16 octobre 2010, de 10 Heures à 18 heures, pour découvrir les créations de Yuri GUTSATZ.
Le Jardin Retrouvé, 3 cour Jasmin, 75016 Paris (M - Jasmin ou bus 22)
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Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art
Multiplying its launches like any mainstream brand and lacking a true artistic direction and a stylistic coherence (in terms of scents, concepts and names), I do not know what Artisan Parfumeur stands for, except a good PR. But this should not worry us if good perfumes are introduced, after all, we the love scents and not the ribbons.
Echange is the new fragrance from Artisan Parfumeur, exclusively sold at Le Bon Marché, and was presented to me at the counter as a creation previously done for a businessman from the City. Later I understood that maybe it's a perfume done in 2007, created for London's City gents and only available at the Royal Exchange store. If Artisan Parfumeur is commercially recycling their made-to-measure perfumes or the 25 bottles sold exclusively at Le Bon Marché are the end of the 2007 stock (they cannot sell in French discount shops) it doesn't matter very much.
Echange stands between the Al Oudh (without its voluptuous animalic civet-cumin notes) and the recently launched Coeur de Vétiver Sacré (without the black tea). It floats in what I call "Davanilla" or the soft vanilla-davana-musk accord that became almost the fingerprint of Artisan Parfumeur, as if they became the fragrance division of Frapin Cognac. It seems a very distant descendant of the spicy perfumes from the 80's but all the strong notes have been turned off under an ocean of freezing peppery cologne freshness with an ambrette effect, the same effect found in masculine modern colognes created by Firmenich (Bulgari is one of them). The perfume starts with a beautiful peppery spicy note wrapped in the fruity aldehydic freshness brought by mandarin and coriander, and ends with transparent woods wrapped in musks, vanilla -benzoin and light amber. Between the 2 extremes of the creation stands a fresh garden rose with pear and raspberry accents combined with an extremely feminine fruity Turkish Rose and a cocktail of spices like cinnamon, cardamom. But above all, there is elemi, in a beautiful accord with mandarin. The fragrance suggests precious distilled liquors through its cognac-whiskey facets, and the rose-tobacco accents of damascones. All is freshly distilled because the freshness of linalool-like molecules dominates the soft woody sweetness of the drydown. It suggests also a work around the natural ambrette note where the fresh rose interpretation given by Chanel is surrounded by the soft oriental accord or "davanilla" with small touches of benzoin and incense, giving a leather suggestion. The musk note is white and creamy, and probably an accord of musc T - tonalide - ambrettolide, or the new Firmenich jewel that says all with a single molecule. Unfortunately the perfume has an extremely poor tenacity on skin and after 30 minutes there was nothing left on my skin, only several musks and a trace of mossy-vanilla. Considering the beautiful natural rose used and possibly even some uber expensive ambrette, it is really a pity this creation is rather a sketch than a true perfume.
Read also a live exclusive interview from New York with perfumer Bertrand Duchaufour on cafleurebon.
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Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art
If the recent creations of Jean Claude Ellena had a woody and spicy dominant note in an angular position with the androgynous omnipresence of bergamot, this time he offers us a different poetic vision of the world. Iris Ukiyoé is the quintessence of a single flower captured with its true vegetal dimension. It is a pure homage to Japanese art and the minimalist style of the perfumer founds its echo in those essential gestures expressed in tea ceremony, ikebana art and calligraphy. He captures the breath, the line, the detail, the sudden movement of the plant. Iris Ukiyoe is the scent of iris petals in the early morning, when the delicate scent whispers between the invisible rays of light and the coldness of a dew drop. It is an "écriture d'émotion" where the olfactory shape of the fragrance expresses the essential forces of nature. Jean Claude Ellena is not the conceptual artist driving us in the ocean of abstract forms. His last perfumes reveals several alchemical principles. Somehow he managed to translates into its own aesthetic vision the forces revealed by the elements - the earth, the water, the air. In Vanille Galante he took one of the "heaviest" notes in perfumery and "atomized" it. The heavy became immaterial through an imaginary flower. In Iris Ukiyoe it is the tension between water and air that becomes the theme. This is pure "nano aesthetics", the beauty of elementary particles of fragrance design.
Orris flowers have a particular scent and several years ago I did a study in Jardins des Plantes. Their scent is not related to the powdery cold violet note of the root. Instead they tend to offer delicious notes of orange flower, cocoa, chocolate, orange, honey, fruits-plum, some are very sweet, other have even rose and lilac undertones.
But this time, Jean Claude Ellena did not consider the particular scent of a specific orris flower, nor did he invent a new "orris flower" type. It was his olfactory research, the emotion and the surprise of a warm scent set in a cold majestic blue flower. It is about those ephemeral moments of emotion captured on the petal with a drop of dew.
Iris Ukiyoé is a cold floral perfume that starts to breathe and then warms slowly. The scent is closer to several hemerocallis, where the lily note becomes cold as ice, softly underlined by a delicate balsamic sweet note, totally opposed to the opulent spicy animalic white lilies.
The perfume starts in an ocean of green freshness where the bergamot is accompanied by lemony and bitter shades. This cold overture, evoking the rain of Après l'ondée (a perfume built on orris notes) is suddenly very vegetal. A touch of green is brought by the sap of young stems and it clearly defines the anatomy of the flower, in a contrast with metallic but warm notes of spices like pink pepper. The vegetal lily note starts to radiate in the immensity of a Hedione deluge where warm sweet notes of vanilla / benzoin add an exquisite touch, vaguely suggesting cocoa and maybe a trace of caramel (on skin). This lily note, given by a strong and specific molecule with a "bud" facet, is wrapped in the transparent softness of jasmine, softly underlined by a sensual heavy note. The perfume is Japanese by the purity of expression, the essential gestures, the focus on details but above all by this "écriture d'émotion" - a single flower, water, air.
This flower evokes the scent of hemerocallis but reminds also the Greek myth of Iris, the personification of the rainbow and messenger of the gods. JCE is not writing an orris poem, he actually distills the essence of the myth. What else is a rainbow than the infinity captured in a drop? The perfumer suspends his olfactory poem between a drop of water, the indigo blue background of a petal where a soft orange sweet note floats. In this micro environment he depicts the transition of the olfactory spectrum, from fresh to warm, with green vegetal blood, rose (rose), orange (flower and mandarin) or the blue coldness of lily molecules.
The perfume evokes also an unusual freshness that reminds me the era of O de Lancôme and Diorella as if the perfumer had captured for a moment the air of that nostalgic elegance. The lily note of this perfume suggests the majestic coldness of Un Lys (Serge Lutens) without the darkness of its sweet balsamic throne. The last words of the perfumer are undoubtedly a homage to the drydown of Diorissimo with its vegetal floral freshness.
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Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art
One of the most refined fragrance idea of this fall comes from Guerlain and it is Arsène Lupin Dandy, a creation that truly evokes the forgotten elegance of the 20's and 30's, now in a very modern interpretation, light woody chypre. The perfume descends directly from Sous le Vent and Vol de Nuit, but it is only the vague souvenir of the top note and the strength of the original accord that was represented, now in a contrast with a very suave leather violet accord.
Arsène Lupin Dandy is built around 3 ideas: 1) an aromatic spicy resinous note with a great character and power, 2) a soft velvety violet flower softly powdered and musky surounded by small doses of floral absolutes and 3) a true leather note that floats around the perfume in the most elegant way. The 2 main ideas work like a sublime "devoré" fabric. The powerful note, where the balsamic green facet suggests the galbanum incense accord over sweet musk, an idea invented by Jacques Guerlain and recently reinterpreted in an extreme version by Daniela Andrier, slowly becomes a very delicate flower. It is a violet flower that shines in a tender creamy sandalwood -musky base, delicately underlined with a trace of vanilla, benzoin and patchouli. Most surprisingly, the drydown of the perfume evokes Eau de Merveille through its velvety touch and the interpretation of light amber surrounded by soft vanilla, benzoin, ciste and cinnamon. On the skin the perfume reveals the emaciated contemporary tree moss surrounded by the caramel resinous aspect of immortelle flower or fir balsam and ciste. This refined soft chypre note adds a lot of distinction to the subtle accord. The spicy note, with cardamom and pink pepper as main ingredients but built on a nutmeg / cinnamon / bay idea over a cedar note, suggests several great masculine perfumes from the 80's and the original use of the spices in Jean Paul Guerlain previous creations. The perfume recalls many great Guerlain creations, even the last creation of Jean Paul Guerlain, with rose-jasmine-orris over a powdery base with a light peach accent. Unfortunately, the passage from the top note to the velvety suede rose-violet note is quite abrupt and the perfume looses very quick its original powerful facet. In terms of composition, what Jean Paul Guerlain does in Arsène Lupin Dandy is quite unusual because he seems to reverse the function of elements in a fragrance. Dandy starts with a strong dark note, usually found in the drydown, and ends in pure lightness. I'd love to see this perfume in a concentrated version with some aspects reinforced and much more tenacity. The transparency is not exactly the true nature of the perfume and airy chypre is not exactly the essence of Guerlain. What I love in the drydown is the velvety floral chypre note, a very refined idea found in many exquisite creations from the 30's that evoked precious exquisite fabrics with their "je ne sais quoi" aldehydic refinement (I think Dandy has some jasmine absolute / aldehydes / mandarin / peach in traces).
Arsène Lupin Voyou (Guerlain)
If Arsène Lupin Dandy is the expression of modern refinement through the use of an original note, Arsène Lupin Voyou is the opposite. It is extremely conventional, a stereotypical fresh woody oriental. Take any modern masculine fougere oriental launched from Armani Code to Givenchy Play Intense, take out all the "obvious" testosterone notes (like lavender, DHM, cold spices) and add the modern Guerlain signature found in Art et la Matière or Elixirs Charnels - benzoin, amber, vanillin and ethyl vanillin, some rosy notes. Arsène Lupin Voyou starts in a very fresh context dominated by bergamot, bigarade and coriander and rapidly turns into the sweet + dry woods notes with a triumphal vanilla. The sandal-amber-patchouli-benzoin accord is without any interest. If you want the same idea in good interpretation, try Voile d'Ambre (Yves Rocher), a VCA creation or the last Francis Kurkdjian opus, according to the budget. This fragrance ébauche with an unusual artemisia, maybe the only original shade, is less interesting than any recent Guerlain creation - take Elixirs Charnels for contrast. To my nose, Arsène Lupin Voyou (Guerlain) is just an unfinished project, bottled for the sake of a new launch. I desperately looked for a chypre leather note inside and I found none, only a burnt dry note that underlines the specific note found in some vanilla extracts and exquisitely expressed in the new Midnight in Paris (Van Cleef & Arpels). The excess of vanilla kills the balance of the perfume which becomes extremely flat. Dommage!
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Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art
"What is Beauty?" is one of the oldest questions and since Baumgartner it became the object of a new type of science. But the new creation from Calvin Klein is not exactly the perfect candidate to explain the subtleties of aesthetics. More than 20 years after Beautiful (Estée Lauder), with its refined and devilishly complicated formula, beauty is today a) whatever you like b) whatever people like but sells well.
Beauty (Calvin Klein) is the interpretation of the fresh jasmine note surrounded by several fruity accents and softly underlined by a light lily note. There is not very much to say about because this type of note is almost universal today, from body lotions to fragrances from J'adore (the green multi floral fresh version from Dior) to Jasmin Noir (the spicy very ambery version from Bulgari). Beauty (Calvin Klein) offers this common note in a pure version, without accents, twists, decoration. In other days this was probably a base or an accord inside a more complex perfume. The drydown reveals benzyl salicylate, jasmonals, jasmine lactones, all the basic ingredients of a cosmetic jasmine base, surrounded of course by a musky veil, a transparent cedar and touches of vanilla. A similar idea in a more fresher intepretation called "Voile de Jasmin" was already launched in France by the mass market brand Yves Rocher. Now, Calvin Klein bottles an accord that was used in many contemporary perfumes. After a beautiful top note that captures the fruitiness (pear-peach-apricot) and the green facet of sambac jasmine buds, the perfume becomes in less than an hour a very flat floral, without personality, like something you have smelled thousands times before. The drydown of the perfume shows several unusual clean molecules combined with woody elements suggesting the drydown of Womanity. Unfortunately, the perfume doesn't capture the natural richness of flowers, like J'Adore Absolue, nor the different facets of jasmine, like Surrender (Kilian). The floral heart of the perfume is said to be the "calla lily" or "neo-lily", a modern interpretation of the lily note, but this is less obvious.
Beauty is uncomplicated, easy to understand and universally known. This also how the new Calvin Klein perfume, presented by Diane Kruger, smells: a beautiful start ending like an Avon body lotion, universally used. Beauty, it touches everything.
Calvin Klein Beauty featuring Diane Kruger. Directed by Craig McDean.
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Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art
Can you be more Shalimar than Shalimar? Apparently this was the midsummer night's dream that gave us a new interpretation of the masterpiece, now with vanilla in the leading role. But this is not a Casta Diva, nor a pagan goddess wrapped in furs. Ode à la vanille captures the essence of Shalimar, born when Paris was in love with the strangeness of cubism and African art, through the "oeil de boeuf" window of a boudoir with a François Boucher painting on the wall. It is exquisite and civilized, extremely smooth, playing on the gourmandise theme of Elixir Charnels line. If the diva from the 20's was a dark statue with an obsessive beauty haunting like a panther an oriental temple (remember the animalic facet of the vintage!), this one has pink cheeks, ribbons and her wig is powdered with vanilla. "Venus in furs" became "Venus in vanilla" when perfumer Thierry Wasser says "Nul doute que Vénus serait vanille" .
The original Shalimar staged its opulence between the bergamot, a special type used only by Guerlain very round almost fruity, and the tonka-vanilla accord glorifying the oppopanax base. The contrast between coumarine, vanillin, ethylvanillin was an essential idea because Shalimar was not about sweetness. In Shalimar Ode à la vanille this balance is reversed and the composition is centered around the idea of smoothness and darkness. It is not so contrasted like the original and some of the balsamic leathery notes were left in the silent era. The drydown of the perfume becomes oriental soft ambery and, through the use of new materials, it evokes the drydown of several creations from Art et La Matière like Angélique Noire. But the new interpretation brings also a new facet - a modern floral note with soft peach-pear accents that are usually combined with rose and mandarin in modern Guerlain creations, but also with patchouli and honey for their new chypre theme. Because there are less tonka notes, the contrast between the acidity of the lemon and the sweetness of vanilla over the musks is almost a new theme (but already found in a different context in DiorAddict with a green top). The vanilla note is emphasized through the use of 2 natural products like "Teinture de vanille de Mayotte" and "Absolu de vanille de Madagascar". Shalimar Ode à la vanille seems indeed a glorified version of the original but the delicate differences are really noticeable only if the 2 perfumes are compared side by side. Ode à la vanille is not really a new scent interpretation. It's more an ode to softness and smoothness with that gourmand facet, now the fingerprint of modern Guerlain.
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Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art
Yves Saint Laurent has introduced "Parisienne à l’Extrême", but despite the name, this is not quite an extreme version of the first perfume featuring that strong fruity blackberry musk note, borrowed from another well known creation. "Parisienne à l’Extrême" seems to be an improved version of the first fragrance, where some inherent defects of the formulation have been corrected, including even the concentration. What seems new is the top note of the perfume where several notes have been reinforced. The violet leaf note is more present and reminds of Paris and this contrasted explosion of crushed berries & pepper has an interesting original power. Unfortunately, like in Parisienne, all the beautiful ideas are crushed down by the musky-fruity shampoo base that eats all the precious notes - the rose disappears, maybe too expensive for Parisienne. The fruity sweet facet combined with the rose evokes Yvresse and its very original champagne note created through the light overripe fruity effect. The new patchouli added to "Parisienne à l’Extrême" suggests the modern chypre (without approaching Yvresse mellow refinement) and sets apart the new creation from Parisienne. But the modern rose-plum patchouli-suede is also quite close to Rose Barbare. Do we have here a modern Parisian girl using the Guerlain perfume and washing herself with a basic fruity shampoo bottled by l'Oréal under YSL label? Parisienne has not a true identity, nor its own aesthetic statement. It's rather a collection of several accords put into a "blackberry fresh musky" ocean that helps the blending of several original notes and diluted expensive materials. It is the "method of creation" of l'Oréal and several other groups that explains the origin of this unhappy situation - perfumers present their ideas and people with poor aesthetic vision combine and decide on perfumes, brutally interfering with the author (and considering themselves part of the creation, as often said in several interviews in CosmetiqueMag last year). This "new" version of marketing did not exist 30 years ago when very few had a basic olfactory training and could ask for a perfume that smells like X and Y, but that was all. Now, every girl with a diploma, a career to pursue and a basic training in scents would consider normal to submit brief to several perfumers and later dictate on what "to take out" what "to put in" a perfume, claiming also their right as creators. It is not the desire to imitate, a very old idea, but how it was done that poisoned this industry. Smell around and you'll see what this "collage technique" is all about - a flood of unrecognizable fragrances, with no character, all smelling that "je ne sais quoi" that floats in front of a perfume shop. This is exactly the case of Parisienne - you can feel it was made through additions and not by a global vision. What those elegant career girls do not know is that a perfume is not "additive" nor "subtractive", usually a great accord is "unpredictable" and cannot be sliced down. It is only the aesthetic pursuit of an ideal combined with the constant work, experiments and above all a vision, that can bring a valuable fragrance. It is certainly not the case for Parisienne but "Parisienne à l’Extrême" is at least an improved version. Yves Saint Laurent became through l'Oréal "scent engineering" just another name in the flood of mass market fragrances and this death sentence is obvious now with Belle d'Opium.
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Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art
Quite unexpected for this mainstream brand owned by the giant Procter & Gamble, The One Gentleman has an unusual touch of refinement and modernity between the plethora of violent aromatic fougères very Axe-like. The new Dolce & Gabbana fragrance is an interpretation of the beautiful patchouli accord found in L'Instant pour Homme (Guerlain), surrounded by cold metallic spices and the bitterness of the grapefruit (and I think there is a Guerlain version with the unusual grapefruit flower). The contrast between sweet and almost oriental notes, the very dry woody note and the bitter top note creates an original twist in this direction of light sophisticated masculine oriental. The scent suggests the exotic dry woods like guaiac or black cedar, surrounded by a specific smoky darkness typical of vanilla extracts. A light floral accord rose-jasmine-freesia creates the illusion of a feminine scent underlined by hot & cold spices over a woody background. It's tea and light tobacco, but also a mix of all families in an oriental context and a bottle that is also close to L'Instant pour Homme (Guerlain). The sweet ambery - orange flower - cardamom candy facet of the first "The One", so characteristic for the modern "golden" bling-bling perfumes has been removed. The dry woody note of The One Gentleman is closer to La Force (The Anthology line), a perfume built on the dark oriental side of the vanilla note contrasted with fresh elements, without being sweet-sugary. A subtle anise note (fennel) ads another original element to the inspiration while the profusion of musks and fresh cold metallic notes take us back in the mainstream zone. L'Instant pour homme EDP is rich, warm and tender like a rich cashmere (previously perfumed with Eau de Merveilles) while this aspect is not present in The One Gentleman (Dolce & Gabbana). The fragrance offers the same delicate smoothness found in Dior Homme, miles away from the violent shower freshness or the the extreme sweetness of orientals for the new macho. It is rather sharp, dry and unfinished like a massive block that needs a sculptor to carve the beautiful idea through exquisite details. A fragrance doesn't make a gentleman, says actor Matthew McConaughey in the interview and this is truly expressed by the perfume - it is rather a subtle accent and not a statement, nor an original signature.
Shot by Jean Baptiste Mondino, the advertising for The One Gentleman beautifully evokes an old-world finesse. Fellini’s 8 ½ dream, atmosphere and characters come to life again, with a modern, sophisticated mood, almost a celebration of La Dolce Vita’s 50th anniversary. The face of The One Gentleman is Matthew McConaughey, who also advertised The One in 2008.
A fragrance doesn't make a gentleman, says actor Matthew McConaughey.
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Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art
In this scene from Miss Sadie Thompson (1953), Rita Hayworth shows us an entire collection of Lucien Lelong perfumes. Those are the huge bottles used for the Eau de Cologne of his very famous fragrances. But the extravagant golden bottle is Orgueil, one of the most beautiful perfumes ever created and a perfect choice for the flamboyant Rita. The other one is Indiscret, with its exquisite bottle, while the last one is the standard bottle used for perfume extracts. Product placement for fragrances in movies is as old as Hollywood and I showed in the past several early examples from the silent era for Caron, Ybry, Guerlain, Lengyel, etc.
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Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art
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Texts written by me, interviews with me or articles about me were published in the entire Romanian fashion press (incl. Harper's Bazaar, GQ, Elle, Tabu, The One, Avantaje, FashionandBeauty, Dialog Textil, etc), in almost all national newspapers (incl. Jurnalul National, Evenimentul Zilei, Cotidianul, Romania Libera, Catavencu, etc), in professional business press (incl. Ziarul Financiar, Capital, Business Magazin, Money Express, Wallstreet Magazine etc), in the international press (New York Times, Liberation, Style.com, l'Officiel Paris, NZZFolio, etc) and in many fragrance and beauty webzines. In the past 5 years I published more than 300 de articles about fashion/beauty/fragrance in romanian and international press. My 3 books and my blog were quoted in several professional journals or recent books, starting with 2007. I am member of Société Française des Parfumeurs and member of Romanian Society of Cosmetic Chemists. I studied architecture, pharmacy and later perfumery at ISIPCA Versailles. Since 2008 I teach design (master degree) in a romanian School of Architecture.
1000 Fragrances rarely receives samples to review and more than 90% of reviews are based on my personal collection of perfumes, new or vintage. Receiving samples does not inspire any sense of obligation from me and my reviews are based on my personal perception of a fragrance, my extensive knowledge and my professional experience as a trained perfumer. I do not have any type of commercial activities with the brands I present or analyze.
Thank you for your valued readership.
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, an exceptional account of time measurement with incense in East Asia. "sinks-in-water" or ch'en hsiang is the aloès wood / oudh.+-+new+exclusive+fragrance+review+.jpg)
that "Mitzah Bricard is one of those people, increasingly rare, who make elegance their sole reason for being". She used to wear a very red lipstick and maybe this is the reason why the perfume has a heart note based on rose-magnolia-jasmine, capturing the honeyed sweetness of precious absolutes.+-+new+exclusive+fragrance+review+2.jpg)
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. First marketed as a nasal decongestant, it became a dietary supplement (with caffeine) but also the primary active ingredient in the "new generation party pills".
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