Jersey by Chanel - Les Exclusifs de Chanel - new exclusive fragrance review

Prada Candy loves Infusion de Lavande
PLAGIARISM

Elegant, delicate, beautiful, soft and refined, this is "Pour une Femme" de Chanel, her name is Miuccia, not Gabrielle, and she doesn't wear camellias anymore. The new exclusive perfume from Chanel named Jersey shows the obsession of the perfumers Polge and Sheldrake with the recent creations from Prada. Once again, after they butchered the No19, plagiarizing a recent perfume, it's now official that Chanel house is not able anymore to produce new, original and profound fragrances. Their perfumers are exhausted, lacking both the aesthetic vision and worse, the technical abilities they mastered so well in the past. The beautiful lavender of Chanel Jersey, an exclusive version, is combined with a light vanilla (unlike the heavy lavender-vanilla theme from Pour un Homme de Caron) and surrounded by a huge musky-light aldehydic-powdery orris concrete theme. But the benzoin delicious gourmand note, taking over the freshness of vanilla in less than 10 minutes, is actually a purified anorexic version of the voluptuous caramelic balm of Prada Candy. On skin, the resemblance is very obvious, however, we are not in an oriental theme. But the surprising note comes after one hour, when the true facet of the perfume is revealed, again on skin. It is an obvious tiaré note with a mandarin aldehydic touch, not enough balanced, because the perfume starts to smell like a well known tiaré French shower gel. Here, the floral sweetness is combined with the candy like facet of soft balsamic notes. The beautiful lavender doesn't survive enough and again, the perfume breaks in two during the middle section, revealing the Prada plagiarism, as if it's real name was Prada Infusion de Lavande with a musky hibiscus touch.

On the blotter, a strong orris concrete note, very woody, dry and quite disturbing by its dimension, shows an attempt of Polge senior to suggest Dior Homme of Polge junior. It is an unhappy choice because Jersey lacks the smoothness of Dior Homme and worse, this idea is not working with the skin (unlike the original).

The Prada Candy girl, with a tiaré flower in her hair, took a shower with a Dior Homme soap adding a drop of lavender oil for a soothing effect.

After the glorious perfumes signed with Serge Lutens, Sheldrake simply forgot what a lavender is. Despite this plagiarism, Jersey de Chanel has a very nice, pleasant and seductive start. The lavender note and its sugary undertones (almost licorice) is very refined, but the evolution is not very intelligent. Because I loved the beginning of the perfume (though I'm not a lavender fan) I sprayed a lot on my arm. But after one hour, the signature of the perfume disappeared leaving only the musky-ambrette plus the tiaré effect. The cologne effect is just hideous. A total disappointment because what I loved inside this perfume was not "fixed". In fact, Jersey is just a collection of notes, but these notes are not put into a real perfume, they are not worked enough, they don't blend very well. They took accords from here and there, including several Chanel perfumes. If you compare this poor Prada like perfume with the original Chanel 19, we are miles away from the brilliant perfection. Unfortunately, this is the effect of minimalism in perfumery, often synonymous with bad construction, because there is not enough time to test and work a perfume.

How is it possible to have such a little sillage? Chanel perfumes were once famous for this amazing effect called scent trail, today it is an enigma for Polge and Sheldrake. I loved to smell the original Chanel No 5 (before the reformulation when the formula was changed) on women, today this is impossible. Besides their aesthetic blindness, the in-house Chanel perfumers have lost completely their ability to smell and correctly evaluate a perfume. 90 years after the creation of Chanel No 5 (the original formula is not what is sold today in shops) we are still amazed by the genius of Ernest Beaux. What was once known at Chanel, a notion of quality, refinement, and exquisite construction of perfumes, is totally lost today. If you smell Jersey by Chanel (meant to be an exclusive perfume) and Allure pour femme, launched 15 years ago, it is obvious that only a dramatic change inside the company can help and secure its fragrant future, when the house will celebrate 100 years of Chanel No 5. But that's another story - how can you celebrate 100 years when the original formula of Chanel No5 is not produced anymore and what customers buy is not the fragrance signed by Ernest Beaux?

 

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Vanitas (Versace) - new fragrance review

Tendre Poison (Dior) meets Cabotine (Grès) and the result of their incestuous relation in the clean lily cedar musky bed is supposed to be a tiaré flower. This new perfume from Versace smells like the 90's when the perfumers tried to soften the tuberose excess of the original Poison with the new clean trend plus the green naturalness of the highly original and potent creation called Calyx. Vanitas revisits the trend of the exotic clean floral taking a common accord from the 90's poured into a huge clean detergent formula. All Avon girls and those used with cheap musky celebrity scents will be delighted, this perfume was made for their tastes.
Video campaign for Vanitas (Versace).

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Batucada (Artisan Parfumeur) - new perfume

I cannot review the new Artisan Parfumer perfume because one hour after visiting the boutique the blotter smells only Hedione, some musks and a trace of vanilla. There is no perfume left despite spraying 4 times the large blotters from Artisan Parfumeur. Even the very delicate Idylle (Guerlain) is more tenacious and harmonious than Batucada (Artisan Parfumeur). All I remember is a strong fresh tropical fruity note with a Brasilian inspiration and a name which recalls a Maître Parfumeur et Gantier creation.

Official fragrance ingredients for Batucada (Artisan Parfumeur): lemon, coconut, caipirinha accord (mint, lime and sugar cane), tiare, ylang ylang, amber, benzoin, sandalwood, vetiver, vanilla and musk.

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Patchouli Impérial (Dior) La Collection Couturier Parfumeur - new fragrance review

A true revelation, the newest exclusive creation from Dior explores the dark facets of patchouli in a sensual magnificent creation. Patchouli Impérial takes us back at least 150 years when this precious material was associated with very sensual notes inside several famous extracts of the XIXth century like extrait Patchouly or extrait Opopanax. Patchouli and honeyed civet - amber is the theme of the new perfume under the glorious sparkle of coriander, creating the modern and sophisticated version of Jicky without the lavender fougère aspect. The dark patchouli with its cocoa aspect, quite similar to the type used for Kokorico, has also a very soft oudh facet with something evoking even the saffron note, this aspect is closer to the Dior interpretation than to anything else from the market. The oriental sweetness of the dry down, extremely soft and not disturbing the patchouli theme is reminiscent of several aspects found in Miss Dior and Dioressence, but the real surprise here is the amber note, very dark, sensual, heavy, suggesting the powerful molecule ambrinol (fecal grey amber), giving to the perfume an unusual dark potent depth. The evolution of the perfume is extremely smooth, suggesting a special cashmere wool softness, but it is also evokes the evolution of Cuir de Russie (Chanel) and Bois de Iles (the woody accord being "replaced" by patchouli). Though not directly related, Patchouli Impérial has the same glorious texture in the top-middle section like the exclusive perfumes of Chanel from the Ernest Beaux era where aldehydes and musks were dosed with great style. Here, the top is mainly bergamot and mandarine, with half fruity half aromatic thyme aspect while the heart of the perfume suggests even the rich graine de carotte and graine de celeri extracts, the last one extremely important in a famous Dior perfume. 

« Le Patchouli est une note majeure, la plus animale des notes végétales. Epuré, il révèle une élégance inédite. » says François Demachy and this aspect is fully revealed by the composition, modern, sophisticated, extremely simple and essential but also highly classic because this is how patchouli was interpreted many decades ago. Almost non floral, Patchouli Impérial (Dior) combines the darkness of the woody note represented by patchouli and some sandalwood with the sensual depth of amber as it was already interpreted in a recent Dior Cologne and in the exquisite Mitzah.

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|IP|01 - exposition parfum a Paris

Le 8eme ART a Paris ce soir pour le vernissage de l'exposition de Cécile Zarokian (parfumeur) et Matthieu Appriou (illustrateur).

"A l’origine de ce projet, une rencontre entre un illustrateur, Matthieu Appriou, et un parfumeur, Cécile Zarokian. Ces deux artistes décident d’exprimer ensemble leur créativité loin de toute démarche commerciale ou cadre marketing, en établissant eux-mêmes le brief. Successivement, l’un des deux prend la direction artistique et fixe ainsi les contraintes pour l’autre. Il s’agit de corréler 6 visuels avec 6 parfums, en parfaite complémentarité. Chaque parfum est une représentation olfactive d’un tableau. Chaque aquarelle est l’expression d’un parfum. Le parfum devient une illustration olfactive et l’illustration une mise en image du parfum. Représentations du réel ou interprétations subjectives des sensations, ces créations se complètent. Alternativement, un des deux univers donne naissance à l’autre: le coup de pinceau suit la narration olfactive, ou c’est au nez d’être guidé par le trait."

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Jasmin Rouge (Tom Ford) - new fragrance review

A pleasant modern green sambac jasmine with a light red fruity note and a soft powdery veil. I cannot write more because 40 minutes after I tested the perfume at Printemps (fabulous red bottle) the blotter was smelling very faint. I don't have a souvenir of Jasmin Rouge because there is no signature, no sample, and the Tom Ford paper used for the blotters is not very good. There is something from Violet Blonde inside, but I'm not able to review things with little smell when no proper samples are supplied to the press.

No souvenir, no perfume!

Official description: “Voluptuous. Sensuous. Audacious. Tom Ford Jasmin Rouge is a saturated, spiced floral. An unexpected blend of precious sambac jasmine sepals absolute, an ingredient never used before in perfumery with dusky clary sage and rich spices, it unveils a new facet of jasmine’s erotic decadence. Jasmin Rouge is as audacious as lacquered red lips. Its deep red bottle evokes lush and hedonistic glamour.”

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Exposition vintage ratée - les Secrets de DROM

Je ne sais pas sur quelle planète vit la société allemande de composition DROM, mais sûrement pas sur la planète des parfums 2011, encore moins dans un univers où RP et communication seraient au menu. J'apprends avec stupéfaction que cette maison qui possède une importante collection de flacons anciens a fait une exposition le mois de Juin à Paris !!!! Pire encore, 11 créations, signées par leurs 13 parfumeurs dans un cabinet de curiosités, ont été dévoilées toujours à Paris. A qui? Aux producteurs de lessive? Il est absolument scandaleux le fait que, malgré ma présence constante à Paris et mon effort de couvrir tout ce qu'il a comme création et surtout ce qui est histoire, je découvre cet évènement 3 mois après. Toujours dans le même registre de communication manquante, le site internet n'en parle pas et le dernier document de presse date de 2010.

Si la maison DROM désire faire du parfum à Paris ou New York, elle devra se réveiller en 2011, sinon elle aura le sort des petites maisons qui font des contretypes pour l'Europe de l'Est et que les marques importantes évitent à tout prix. J'apprends toujours que cette exposition "Revealed" a été conçue pour le centenaire de la maison. Tel centenaire, tel avenir!

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TYPE D (Henrik Vibskov) - new fragrance review

Type D is the less original creation from the new unisex fragrance series imagined by the danish fashion designer Henrik Vibskov and presenting a specific moment in time in three different cities: (Berlin, Copenhagen and Damascus). It evokes the rose interpretation of the recently launched Rose from Roger Vivier, and smells quite close to the perfumes Rose Essentielle (Yves Rocher), based on the Stella McCartney prototype, with a strong damascone tobacco facet plus spicy cinnamon shades. The perfume is officially inspired by the fantasy of the Middle East and the ancient marketplaces of Damascus on a hot summer's day down the colourful, narrow streets where the air is saturated with a rich collection of enticing scents.

Official ingredients for TYPE D (Henrik Vibskov): bergamot, pink pepper, jasmine, orange flower, ginger bread, cinnamon, styrax wood, sandalwood, tonka bean and vanilla.

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Laurent ASSOULEN entre au Musée International du Parfum

Le Musée International du Parfum à Grasse accueille, dans le cadre des collections permanentes, le "concert parfumé" de Laurent ASSOULEN, sous la forme d'une borne musicale olfactive.

Musique: Laurent Assoulen

Parfums: Guillaume Flavigny (Givaudan)

Détails: MIP

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Estée Lauder Sensuous Nude - making of

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TYPE C (Henrik Vibskov) - new fragrance review

Modern, marine, airy, but highly sophisticate, TYPE C, for Copenhagen, Henrik's home base and creative cradle, is inspired by the salty air and fresh waters experienced on boating trips outside Trekroner fortress at the entrance to Copenhagen’s harbor, the best place to catch herrings.
The perfume explores the marine concept and gives a very modern vibe using several new molecules in a clean fougère geranium reminiscent of Kenzo pour Homme, but more ozonic. However, the modern twist evokes the unmistakable interpretation of Lavender Palm (Tom Ford) with less lavender and more citruses (lemon, bergamot, mandarin). The oceanic sea breeze accord with solar facets and sea weed is reminiscent of a highly original Givaudan perfume developed several years ago for the magazine Bloom, but this time, it is more floral cyclamen. The drydown has a milky woody muskiness, extremely sensual with facets of Allure (Chanel), the feminine version. There is also a metallic note, very audacious with facets of blood, like the original accord used inside Secretions Magnifiques.
Danish fashion designer Henrik Vibskov has developed a new unisex fragrance series named TYPE with three scents presenting a specific moment in time in three different cities: Berlin, Copenhagen and Damascus.

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GIVAUDAN - le Maître enchanteur - vintage movie

Vintage corporate movie from the 80's for Givaudan (the green logo)

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TYPE B (Henrik Vibskov) - new fragrance review

Original, extravagant, unusual, extremely dark with a contemporary vibe, TYPE B - the new fragrance of the Danish designer Henrik Vibskov gives a surprising interpretation to the odor of smoke and burnt rubber. It is Bulgari Black of the XXIth century in a totally new and urban interpretation. Coal tar, petroleum, smoke and ashes, this unique woody musky perfume inspired by Berlin "captures a cold winter's day in the former Eastern part of the city, where numerous buildings and houses were heated with coal". Dry guaiac wood and birch notes give the particular character of this mineral perfume. This scent, softly underlined by pepper and incense, is the best representation of ignition, an ode of lava, bitumen, even sulphur and all the unusual odors of the underground. It smells like "carbon", like mines, railways and the stones heated by fire. Unexpected, with fizzy top notes, it becomes musky black wood with leatherish facets and evokes the warmth and cosines of black cashmere. Very well balanced with a subtle harmony between audacious notes and pleasant addictive scents, TYPE B is the perfume of Berlin in the 20's with extravagant cabarets and girls with smoky eyes wraped in danger.

Danish fashion designer Henrik Vibskov has developed a new unisex fragrance series named TYPE with three scents presenting a specific moment in time in three different cities: Berlin, Copenhagen and Damascus.

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De Laire yesterday and ... today

The ISSY factory at the begging of the century inside a huge production site near river Seine and what is left today when I took the picture last week.

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Idylle Eau Sublime (Guerlain) - new perfume review

The new flanker from Idylle is a surprising introduction from Guerlain and certainly better than the original creation. The new perfume explores the extreme freshness of the rose, opposed to the well known opulence of the flower, and we are now inside some imaginary pink clouds filled with rose vapors of an extreme delicacy. The aldehydic watery musky purity evokes the famous perfume from Narciso Rodriguez and the powdery aldehydic-creamy musky accord found inside Kenzo Flower Essentielle. Extremely natural, evoking a garden of roses in the morning, the rose theme of Idylle Eau Sublime (Guerlain) is more a very fresh peony (Pleasure style) surrounded by a very delicate and sparkling nectarine with very soft green pear notes. The entire perfume is extremely harmonious and all the notes are used rather in traces. However, it is closer in spirit to the Acqua Allegoria line than to the traditional complexity of Guerlain. The star jasmine note (a top slightly fruity interpretation of the flower) strangely evokes the creaminess of Beauty (Calvin Klein) as if the green lily-lilac note of the perfume would be the evocation of a calla lily. Idylle Eau Sublime (Guerlain) has a very soft cosmetic touch suggesting the beauty lotions based on rose water. However, there is something missing from the perfume which would certainly improve it. When some varieties of the rose are distilled in a close space, the scent lingering in the air is one of the most fabulous in the world - it's neither the rose button, nor the rose oil collected during the process. It smells like the heart of the flower with an amazing creaminess without the specific notes allowing the instant identification of the flower.

Thierry Wasser, has this time chosen to combine rose essence with rose water. Rose water has been part of Guerlain’s heritage since 1830, but it is the first time it has ever been paired with rose essence, according to the brand. Other key ingredients of Idylle Eau Sublime (Guerlain) include a lychee accord, jasmine, peach, patchouli, musk and chypre.

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ESMOD perfume discovery course in DUBAI

Esmod Dubai, the French school fully dedicated to fashion in the region, has announced that it is collaborating with a renowned French company specialized in perfume consultancy, to offer an exclusive course on Perfume Discovery.

The month-long Perfume Discovery sessions will commence on October 5, 2011, wherein participants will be trained to use an Olfactorium, a compact version of a perfumer palette, to learn the basics of perfume creation and create their own fragrance that truly exemplifies their distinct personality and style.

Esmod Dubai is pleased to collaborate with a renowned French company for the Perfume Discovery sessions, which will provide an excellent opportunity for participants to learn more about how to effectively test one's sense of smell, discover the perfumer creator universe, work with a perfume organ, learn the basics of perfume creation and be able to create their own fragrances.

source

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Les Voyages Olfactifs 04 London (Guerlain) - new fragrance review

This extremely surprising new Guerlain creation brings a new and original note inside the heritage of the famous house. The bitter and fruity scent of rhubarb is the heart of a new composition, very simple but very delicious. If Pamplemousse Rose from Hermès paired inside a fresh structure the rose and the grapefruit molecules, with their bitter facet usually with a rhubarb undertone, London (Guerlain) explores a similar idea into a powerful contrast set in an exquisite, almost half oriental structure. The fresh green rose of the perfume, gently suggests the Nahema rose and the one used in BabyDoll (YSL), with a soft cassis touch paired with an apricot almost sparkling nectarine dimension. The contrast between bitterness and soft vanilla sweetness inside this fruity rosy heart suggests the delicious English jams, like an imaginary mixture between dazzling orange, quince - rhubarb and very light candied ginger, all softened with rose petals. The dominant note of this new perfume is the rhubarb using a selection of several new molecules like those I've recently presented on this blog. It's fruity, half exotic, but well dosed, without becoming excessive or too simplistic and cheap. The perfume sits on a rosy-musky-light vanilla sweet drydown, a very classic accord where some white flowers effect appear gently by miracle. The exotic floral dimension suggests some earliest creations of Jean Paul Guerlain while the very accurate disposition of notes and the clarity of the idea evoke the spirit of some Acqua Allegoria. It is surprising to notice the interpretation of the rose, very different from Idylle, and much closer to the versions of this note given in the 90's (see Eternity, 1881, Fleur d'Interdit).

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La modernité du parfum en 1978

En théâtre, le faux est plus vrai que le vrai; en parfumerie souvent aussi. L'art analogique olfactif n'est que l'art du trompe nez. [...] Ces jeux odorants évoquent un peu les jeux de mots de Ionesco dans sa "Cantatrice chauve" lorsque le héros prononce "avril" comme avril, "février" comme février, et dit qu'il cache ses fautes d'ortographe sous un large chapeau... Le "nez", lui, prononce "muguet" comme jasmin, "lys" comme narcisse, "chèvrefeuille" comme jasmin, et cache cela sous une grande discrétion. [...]

Si l'on jouait à démystifier à présent l'esprit de synthèse, on serait tenté de dire qu'à force d'imiter la nature on pourrait un jour se dégoûter des odeurs naturelles, car il existe un certain anachronisme à vivre dans du béton en respirant des odeurs de chèvrefeuille.

Documents internes Dragoco, 1978

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Virtuosity exercises in fragrance creation

Do you remember the piano exercises of Carl Czerny, the school of velocity and the art of finger dexterity? A similar version, actually a collection of exercises for the nose, was imagined for perfumers. and is practiced by some of them. Working an ingredient means: the study of the product alone (which takes a lot of time because you have to accompany the scent during the whole evaporation), the study of properties within a given context (a specific perfume mixture), the study by comparison to other ingredients (contrasts and analogies), and the mental study by memory only (no blotter allowed). If you consider the perfumer’s organ with about 3000 ingredients and 10 seconds for a bottle, you need more than one day only to sniff them. Once the ingredients are known, the next step is to practice them on a daily basis, much like a pianist would do exercises, studies or a soprano would start the day with several vocalizes.

The purpose of virtuosity exercises is to isolate difficulties and work them intensively, because the purpose of the perfumer is not to recognize an ingredient but to know it extensively. One cannot know an ingredient or an odor unless all the facets are explored, but most of these facets are revealed only under several conditions and this is precisely the purpose of these exercises – to reveal and increase the acuity of the nose allowing in the future the complete control over the creation of a new perfume. There are several hundreds of  perfume exercises (15-20 elements for each of them) like the exercises for the rose, to understand the role of each alcohol, ester or less used molecule, exercises for the scent intensity, exercises around textural themes (smoothness, silkiness, crispness, roundness, etc), or exercises of contrasts , opposition and transitional notes. All major aesthetic concepts and design themes are put into virtuosity exercises, most of them arranged in well known harmonies (like those inspired by famous perfumes).
It is important to remember that for a small fraction of true creators the perfume is an art form and ART has its own rules which can be discovered only through extensive and constant study.

        

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Femme Totale Dita Von Teese - new perfume

The Opulent Odeur of the Femme Totale Dita Von Teese

 “I wanted it to be a perfume that smelled exactly how I imagined it. I doubt the perfumers in Paris imagined that I would be in their shop almost every day for an entire year,” says Dita Von Teese.

I don't remember seeing Dita in Paris except her name in the Angelina shop on Rivoli for a delicious dessert.

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The Frankincense trail - BBC documentary

If you haven't seen it yet, the BBC documentary about the frankincense trail.

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

A Scent by Issey Miyake Soleil de Neroli - Neroli Sunshine - new fragrance review

Today, Issey Miyake is a brand of flankers with 3 types of bottles on shelves with an endless declination of labels, much similar to the shelves of white shower gels in a supermarket. Every 4 months, a small label writes NEW. The new edition for A Scent (by the way, who can tell which is the original SCENT?) hopes to pay a discrete homage to sun and neroli and maybe to the king Louis XIV, the Sun king, and its Orangerie at Versailles (a theme used this year by Lancôme). But the perfume doesn't smell like the "sun" (no so called solar and warm facet) and even less like the powerful and gorgeous neroli flower. It is a shy attempt to make a variation of the green hyacinth floral transparency of A Scent, adding a microscopic dose of neroli. The trick doesn't really work and after less than 10 minutes I have a shampoo scent with a very bad jasmine note in the background. It evokes Fidji (Guy Laroche) without its glory, Anais Anais (Cacharel) without its refinement and complexity.

A Scent by Issey Miyake Soleil de Neroli is an attempt to make a scent. Less than a perfume.

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

Parfums, mots, language

Un grand parfum est une histoire vraie, c’est le sens des sens. C’est aussi une quintessence, synthèse des autres sens et des émotions ressenties au cours de la vie dans les plus disparates situations.

Il y a les odeurs et les ingrédients, leur projection matérielle, comme il y a le sens et les mots pour le transmettre. Une phrase est à la fois contenu et forme, sens et manière, d’où l’importance du choix juste. Dans le parfum il y a des synonymes, ou plusieurs façons pour dire la même chose, transmettre le même message, qui est une odeur imagée. Dans certains contextes, plusieurs ingrédients peuvent se substituer l’un à l’autre sans changer le sens de la phrase et son contenu, même si ces ingrédients ont leur propre personnalité, nuances et différences.

Le contenu de cette phrase, qui est à la base d’un parfum, part souvent d’une idée. Le mariage entre une note très sucrée caramel et une note boisée est un thème dont le sens ne se développe qu’au moment du choix des « mots », même si les germes de cette phrase existent avant toute représentation matérielle. Un bois très sucrée caramel peut être le mariage patchouli-coumarine-ethylmaltol d’Angel, mais aussi un accord sur le Fir Balsam ou un mélange Cèdre Atlas et des baumes de Commiphora qui ont cette facette bonbon caramel. Ces 3 exemples produisent des odeurs particulières et uniques, le concept derrière est similaire, la forme non. L’accord patchouli-coumarine-ethylmaltol est une phrase qui peut devenir à son tour une vocable. « Caramel de bois », « sucre qui brule sur un morceau de bois », « polysaccharides de l’écorce boisée dans une réaction Maillard » disent la même chose. Souvent dans les parfums le travail le plus simple est de prendre une « phrase » et utiliser les synonymes des mots qui la composent. La paraphrase est souvent une manière de construire un parfum nouveau. L’ethyl maltol devient une furanone, la coumarine une koumalactone et le patchouli une nouvelle extraction. Le travail d’un parfumeur c’est de transformer une longue phrase (ou assemblage d’ingrédients) dans un nouveau mot dans le vocabulaire, un mot connu, utile et surtout essentiel.

La lecture du parfum et la compréhension du travail du parfumeur est à la fois accessible et inaccessible aux gens. Elle est accessible car elle parle d’une série de valeurs universelles, les odeurs dont le message est antérieur à la naissance de la culture. Mais elle est aussi souvent inaccessible car elle fait appel à des « mots » inconnus et oubliés.

Dans l’idéal, le parfum est identique à la poésie – une histoire vraie, une émotion pure à caractère universel, un contenu nouveau, une forme d’expression originelle et le mot juste. Cela implique avoir des idées, savoir les exprimer, donc maitriser le « vocabulaire ». En réalité, les créations sont un peu différentes.

Le mot juste c’est l’ingrédient parfait pour exprimer l’idée du parfumeur, mais le trouver n’est pas toujours facile soit parce qu’il n’existe pas dans la palette (pas encore découvert), soit parce qu’il n’existe pas dans le vocabulaire du créateur (ou il est presque méconnu). Dans la nature, la justesse d’un ingrédient a toujours une raison biologique, soit par la voie biochimique de production d’une telle molécule dans telle condition, soit pour une fonction dans le cycle biologique plante-insecte-animal. Ce qu’on sent et qu’on aime est rarement le fruit du hasard. Le mariage mental des odeurs permet la reconstitution ou plutôt l’approximation de beaucoup de notes à partir d’une palette très simple et réduite, c’est d’ailleurs le secret de beaucoup de formules anciennes du XIXème siècle. L’ajout de traces de molécules d’impact permet l’illusion parfaite même des notes complexes. C’est l’oppose de l’approche analytique qui cherche à reproduire fidèlement les « ingrédients ». Pour cette raison il peut y avoir des notes boisées étranges dans certaines reconstitutions florales, quand il n’y a aucune raison pour leur présence. Elles sont là car à dilution de 0,1 ou 0,01% dans un certain contexte (la rose par exemple), leur odeur détournée s’apparente à une fraction de l’odeur naturelle qui est pour le moment inaccessible.

Un contenu nouveau représente une idée qui n’a jamais été explorée auparavant ou une idée qui a toujours été mineure dans d’autres parfums. Quand on coupe les feuilles de la racine de céleri il y a une odeur très verte qui évoque à la fois les notes cassis- feuille de tomate, les lactones jasmin-gardénia-tubéreuses, un accord figue et un peu l’aspect coumarine tabac aromatique. Une fleur de gardénia, dont l’opulence stridente rappelle la figue enveloppée dans une fine fumée de tabac vert, est tout simplement un accord extrait de cette sensation naturelle ressentie dans la cuisine et pour laquelle il faut choisir les ingrédients justes.

La forme originelle représente le choix des ingrédients qui servent à la représentation de l’idée, surtout quand cette idée est très classique. Il y a beaucoup de façons pour marier la rose fraiche à la poire ou la rose à la framboise. Mais pour inventer une forme nouvelle il faut d’abord connaitre et comprendre le contenu, donc le message d’origine et non la suite des mots / ingrédients.

Le travail quotidien du parfumeur consiste donc à inventer des phrases nouvelles, à concentrer dans un mot nouveau une sensation réelle et universelle et a (re)découvrir des mots nouveaux.

Pour revenir à la framboise, notre cerveau enregistre au cours de la vie toute une série d’expériences sensorielles du fruit, toutes les facettes possibles qui se présentent sous notre nez : framboise fraiche, fruit mur, fruit macéré, confiture, sirop de framboises, facette framboise des roses, facette framboises de certains vins. La représentation du fruit, même comme accent dans un parfum, ne peut pas être approximative et les illusions minimalistes de 2 molécules sont pour le cerveau tout simplement un beau mensonge qui est dévoilé dès qu’il s’aperçoit de la pauvreté du message. Il est très difficile pour un parfumeur de trouver dans une formule la justesse de l’image mentale totale car toutes les facettes qui composent une odeur ne peuvent pas être représentées simultanément. La représentation d’une hypostase de la rose n’est pas le découpage de la sensation (l’accord simple qui évoque cette idée) mais la « rose idéale » mise dans cette nouvelle hypostase. On revient toujours à la phrase d’origine.

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

RIVES DE LA BEAUTÉ - 28 SEPTEMBRE AU 2 OCTOBRE 2011 PARIS

press release

DU 28 SEPTEMBRE AU 2 OCTOBRE 2011

LA 3ÈME ÉDITION DES RIVES DE LA BEAUTÉ

ENCORE ET TOUJOURS FOCALISÉE SUR SES OBJECTIFS D’ORIGINE

«Offrir, une fois par an, une semaine particulière appelée à célébrer la vision d’une beauté contemporaine et responsable. Rive gauche, rive droite, cet itinéraire conçu comme un parcours ouvert et effervescent dans Paris, et destiné à un public de consommateurs avertis et de professionnels curieux, met en scène, dans des lieux choisis, expositions, installations et accueils singuliers.

Pendant cinq jours, l’événement Rives de la Beauté cherche, en collaboration avec les acteurs professionnels, à vous interpeller afin de vous faire vivre des expériences inédites, provoquer vos sens, vous amener à des rencontres insolites, susciter vos émotions, vous confronter à des présentations surprenantes, vous dévoiler les secrets du savoir-faire dans les domaines de la beauté …

Alors que les marques et maisons, les créatifs et artistes, les boutiques et magasins participants rivalisent de créativité en matière d’atmosphères et d’expériences, des événements satellites multidisciplinaires – baptisés Passerelles – explorent la nature transversale de la beauté (parfums, mode, photographie, littérature, cinéma, art plastique …).

L’idée d’origine et l’objectif principal sont toujours de mettre en scène la créativité et l’expertise inhérentes à la filière ‘beauté’ dans tous les registres (parfumeurs, coloristes, photographes, designers, artistes maquilleurs, conseillers, scientifiques, formulateurs …) et ainsi de donner vie, à travers cette dynamique, au potentiel extrêmement constructif permettant de créer de nouveaux liens et de renouer le dialogue dans un monde en pleine évolution.

Paris est, sans nul doute, par l’essence même de sa culture et de son histoire, le seul lieu au monde qui fait graviter tant d’acteurs de la beauté. Rives de la Beauté se propose de cristalliser et de donner corps à cette évidence.»

Le programme de cette année vous permettra de déambuler au cœur de la capitale en découvrant les différentes mises en scène, installations et expositions liées au secteur de la beauté. Parmi les participants, on retiendra entre autres Kenzo Parfums et son exposition « Oiseaux de nuit », Olfactive Studio qui propose une rencontre entre la photographie et la parfumerie, Diptyque Paris et son voyage olfactif « Diptyque en notes », la visite guidée du Musée d’Orsay selon la problématique « Qu’est-ce que la beauté ? », l’exposition « Fred Aufray, ça muse » au Village Royal ou encore l’initiative des Ateliers Parfums par Thierry Mugler qui vous replongera dans le passé par le biais de fragrances rares.

L’ADN DE LA MUSE
Désormais, nous sommes toutes et tous des muses en devenir. Il suffit d’accepter et de comprendre que plus aucun modèle esthétique convenu, plus aucun canon de beauté imposé, plus aucune angoisse devant la réalité du temps qui passe, ne résistera aux nouvelles valeurs qui émergent aujourd’hui dans notre quotidien ‘post-contemporain’. Conforté par ces nouveaux repères, chacun d’entre nous renouera avec l’estime de soi pour se concentrer sur ce qui incarne l’essentiel. Il s’agit là d’un “état de bonheur” qui pourrait être la seule et vraie promesse de la beauté.

Ce nouveau regard sur nous-même nous conduira naturellement vers des objets, des vêtements, des accessoires, des soins et des cosmétiques porteurs de ces valeurs de bien être, de transparence et de respect.

Souriez, la muse qui est en vous est en émergence …

Wouter Wiels

FROM 28 SEPTEMBER TO 2 OCTOBER 2011

THE THIRD EDITION OF RIVES DE LA BEAUTÉ

AND MORE THAN EVER DEDICATED TO

ITS INITIAL OBJECTIVES

“To offer, on a yearly basis, a week dedicated to celebrating a vision of contemporary and aware, responsible beauty. Rive gauche, Rive droite, this innovative circuit is organised as an open and inspiring itinerary through Paris, and designed for a public of informed consumers and inquisitive professionals, and will display installations, presentations and special treats in a selection of venues. During five days, the Rives de la Beauté event aspires, together with the professional participants to move you through a series of original experiences, to arouse your senses, to surprise you with discoveries, to spark of your emotions, to confront you with new ideas, to explain you the know-how secrets within the beauty fields … While the participating brands, designers and artists, as well as boutiques and unusual places jostle for creativity in terms of atmospheres and experiences, a selection of multi-disciplinary satellite events ‘les Passerelles’ explore the interdisciplinary nature of beauty (perfumes, fashion, photography, literature, film, art …) The original idea and main objective are always to bring about the creativity and the expertise within the ‘beauty’ field on all levels (perfumers, colorists, photographers, designers make-up artists, consultants, scientifics, formulators …) and, in this way, through this dynamic and its extremely constructive potential, to create new links and dialogues in our transforming global environment.

By the very essence of its culture and its history, Paris might well be the only place in the world where so many people working with and in beauty are united.

‘Rives de la Beauté’ has as its main objective to crystallize and to give form to this conspicuous fact.”

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

Soon in Paris

Comeback in 8 days to discover  a selection of perfumes in Paris.

 

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

Metaphors of scent and religion

The most recent visual metaphor for the sacred dimension of the perfume is offered now at the Venice Biennale 2011 by the installation of Anish Kapoor set in Andrea Palladio's masterpiece. Though not explicitly linked to the perfume, but to the notion of sacred, the art work presents an evanescent column of steam mounting to "Heaven" in a spiral through an ingenious technical device. Set at the heart of San Giorgio Maggiore, this is actually a "scentless" representation of the scent. It suggests not only the concept of ascension and pray, but it is also a concentrated version of the old sacred places where the volutes of incense, burnt in massive quantities during the rituals, were slowly recreating the clouds inside the huge space of Catholic churches.

While the visual representation and the setting don't require the scent to perform the metaphor, we can imagine another installation, set in a similar spatial configuration, without the impregnation of sacred symbolism, where the scent recreates the lost spiritual architecture. I'm thinking to the modern incense perfumes created by Yann Vasnier for Visionaire Religion (based on a captive Givaudan molecule) and "La Saint des Saints" created by Carlos Benaim for Frédéric Malle (with a special incense ingredient from IFF), both vaporized in a huge glass cube where visitors could experience the invisible sacred dimension. Instead of using incense for incense it will use those special scent molecules found inside the "sacred scents" for an experience of a higher magnitude. Several glass cubes will transport the visitor from Luxor Temple to Hagia Sophia without any visual clue that could be reproduced in an Art Magazine. Art and Religion are about experience and ascension, the fundamental characteristic of the perfume.
But something absolutely fantastic takes place right now and I'll present very soon a groundbreaking event about scent and spirituality.  I've just seen the bottles and is a small revolution.

Anish Kapoor's installation, Ascension, at San Giorgio Maggiore

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

Indochine (Pierre Guillaume - Parfumerie Generale) – new fragrance review

Pierre Guillaume, one of the most prolific perfumers of our time, considering the number of exquisite original creations he has recently signed, gave another superb example of magnificence with his opus called Indochine. The creator is exploring essential and mythical ingredients of the 8th ART and offers with Indochine (Parfumerie Generale) an interpretation of several south Asian scents, the core of oriental accords. He took the famous benzoin, one of the most important ancient balsams, and wrapped it in a soft powdery veil reminiscent of tanakha powder, a famous traditional burmese cosmetic product, and Tanakha white wood, one of the many scented Asian woods. This powder is made from the pulp, the bark and the roots of a perennial tree, ground into paste and applied on skin. By a strange coincidence, the best tanakha found today on local markets and sold for premium prices has precisely the same age as the perfumer now authoring several of the most brilliant contemporary perfumes (I’m not sure if he’s aware). With Indochine, Pierre Guillaume achieves a subtle balance between traditional elements and modernity, giving an incredible contemporary airy touch to the heavy elements brought from the mysterious Orient. The spicy fresh cardamom gives an incredible sparkle to the perfume, gently underlined by a touch of honey and beeswax. The dark woody notes suggests guaiac, sandalwood, styrax and gurjum, all wrapped in benjoin.

Inside the perfume is hidden a very beautiful floral accord , gently surrounded by lactonic fruits and emphasized by spicy notes. It suggests the beautiful ylang-rose-plum-cardamom-cinnamon idea found inside the very famous Prunol base, but this effect is very subtly dosed inside the honeyed balsamic sepia sweetness of the perfume. The contrast between oriental sweetness (with a hint of burnt woody notes plus tonka) and the „green” cardamom creates a delicious cocoa-cofee effect. Actually, the entire perfume supports extremely well a cofee note (I worked on a reconstitution this spring for an oriental green accord) and even a 70’s chypre theme. Like most of the perfumes imagined by Pierre Guillaume, Indochine has an androgynous smoothness and an angelic orientalism. Unusual notes appears on skin suggesting the alluring vapours of immortelle, fenugrec and even the yellow honeyed genet flowers, melting in a delicious antique balm with delicate burn almond milky sweetness. The woody notes combine the softness of sandalwood with dark resinous notes and black vanilla suggesting the forbidden salicylate - muskiness of the skin with elements of dried fruits and intoxicating liquors. It captures the „brown sugar” note of sweet cognac and dark moka chocolate. These delicate traces are woven inside the oriental woody structure with the unmistakable Pierre Guillaume cachet – it is abstract with the „je ne sais quoi” elegance of pure forms and rich details. In a combination with the classic Sikkim, the forgotten Prunol and Epicea  or the beloved and discontinued Black Bulgari, Indochine smells absolutely divine on my skin.

With resins and balms, Pierre Guillaume transforms the perfume of the XXIth century into a new ritual. Indochine is a sepia perfume captured inside an elixir of refinement, a mysterious and captivating scent with the preciousness of distant lands and rare scents worn with pure black cashmere.

« 1920 : une croisière sépia au fil du Mékong souverain, alternant les aurores évanescentes emmitouflées de brume et les jours glorieux ruisselants de soleil. Calmer l'allure, apprivoiser la moiteur et fermer les yeux. Au delà des deux rives, nos rêves d’Indochine… »

Indochine (Pierre Guillaume - Parfumerie Generale) has the soft black rubber scent of the plantations depicted in the movie Indochine (1992, the 65th Academy Awards - Best Foreign Movie with Catherine Deneuve), with that dangerous blend between innocence and exotic decadence, the unmistakable cachet of Pierre Guillaume. Pure rubber smells like black styrax burning on a silver plate during a love scene (because it's also musky and milky aldehydic).

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

Chanel - bad fragrance news

Chanel is reformulating once again its classic range of perfumes. It's unbelievable what is going on! Chanel No5 EDT is so light with such a poor tenacity that I hardly recognize the perfume. On skin and on clothes it lasts less than 2 hours, it simply disappears no matter the amount of fragrance sprayed. Chanel No19 EDP is less woody mossy fur, less sensual and the orris note is different. Chanel Pour Monsieur was once again reformulated, I hardly recognize the perfume I used. 

The appearance of Chanel is there but not the soul. Gradually Chanel No5 becomes a ghost. It was already a ghost 10 years ago compared to the original 1921 formula, but now it's far from being an acceptable perfume. It is so different from the masterpiece signed by Ernest Beaux. All the good things inside are gone and the Coco Mademoiselle touch is terribly disturbing.

When I hear Jacques Polge speaking about No5 in this recent interview, I'm totally puzzled and I cannot understand why there is such a distance between his words and the perfume you can find today everywhere. For the first time Polge explains why extrait, EDP and EDT are not the same perfume but something different. (10 years ago the press dept of Chanel denied this idea, now things have changed).



Monsieur Robert utilisait assez peu de musc dans ses parfums .... il savait bien pourquoi!
Chanel 19 Poudre - the death of a brand

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

Kokorico (Jean Paul Gaultier) - new fragrance review

Is it a FAKE Guerlain or something new and fabulous?

For an unexplainable reason, plagiarism is very trendy this season and several major brands are launching copycat perfumes one after another in a mysterious competition.

When I smelled Kokorico, the latest masculine creation from Jean Paul Gaultier, I instantly couldn't breathe anymore and in less than 3 seconds I said to the SA "But this is a copy, do you have the right to sell it?". Kokorico smells precisely like a version of Instant de Guerlain and in the next 10 seconds I was at the counter of Guerlain asking for a 2 blotters, one for me, and the other for the Gaultier SA, to make sure he is aware about the thing he's selling to innocent consumers.

With this new creation, Jean Paul Gaultier took plagiarism to a new level because this perfume doesn't vaguely suggest the Guerlain creation, it had stolen everything, except the expensive noble ingredients.

However, there is a difference, the Guerlain label (the ambery balsamic and quite expensive Guerlinade accord) was removed, while the classic patchouli note was replaced with a new exquisite patchouli extraction. Also, the original small accent of the classic Guerlain (an unusual citrus extract with a very particular smell) was replaced. The whole perfume is there. But L'Instant de Guerlain in all its versions is already a scent trademark, not only because it's famous, already classic and with a well known scent, but also because it's using many Guerlain codes (you might call them trademark accords) which are at least 100 years old and became synonymous with the house. Taking a Guerlain note and using like Guerlain sounds like a violation of the scent trademark.

In fact, the technique used by Jean Paul Gaultier is similar to the way Chinese are counterfeiting several famous luxury bags. They take a well known Louis Vuitton model, they replace the expensive leather with a synthetic version and the LV pattern logo is replaced with something like VV. The whole has precisely the same visual configuration despite using different small visual details inside the pattern.

On an olfactory level, Kokorico takes the same Guerlain pattern without its "label", adding a different new ambery molecule in the drydown and exaggerating the cocoa aspect on top. If the evolution towards the end of evaporation is different from the inspiration, it is however extremely close on the top middle section of the perfume, precisely where the consumer would make his buying decision.

But that's precisely what a copy cat perfumer does, emphasizing the details by contrast on top to achieve similarity and recognition when the consumer smells the perfume.

Because in any Sephora shop Gaultier sits closer to Guerlain, a consumer smelling l'Instant de Guerlain would be rapidly "trapped" by the girl doing the promotion of Kokorico, with a novelty similar in style, which feels "younger" because the "Guerlain label" (the ambery Guerlinade accord) was removed.

Unlike Guerlain, where several accords have the value of a trademark because they've been used many times inside the own creations of the brand, Kokorico is not really related to the previous Gaultier perfumes. Any brand selling copycat perfumes wouldn't care at all about its own trademark because they are selling the scent trademarks of other houses.

But the plagiarism of Jean Paul Gaultier doesn't stop here. In fact, the entire woody-ambery-oriental core values of the recent Art et La Matière line have been copied. This perfume smells like a trial which was done once for Guerlain (and was rejected) or simply like a very clear copy-cat statement imposed by the marketing team.

There is not a single line inside this perfume which has not been copied from something else. It starts as a giant Guerlain perfume and ends like Midnight in Paris (Van Cleef & Arpels) and the whole idea of the perfume is lost in between. I feel only the quotes, not the uniqueness. For instance, the cocoa note is not balanced inside. It stands great on top, but unlike the cocoa masterpiece of Mathilde Laurent, it leaves no trace in the drydown. Worse, it's a contradiction because the woody facet is too dry.  The same is true for the fig, and both are superfluous notes, not enough worked inside the composition. Inside the Guerlain copy cat structure, they act as a cocoa-fig brooch and not like an original element able to completely change the direction of the perfume which served as "inspiration". Many years ago, a famous perfumer did a "Shalimar reinvention", a modern original version which was rejected by Gaultier and is now sold by a very famous house. In 2011 they are actually launching a modern Guerlain "copycat" perfume.

But the official press documents don't precise the intention of the brand to pay an homage to Guerlain, like Jean Paul Gaultier did in fashion when he was inspired by other famous couturiers. From this point of view, the plagiarism becomes unacceptable because it's unethical to bottle the juice of another brand and to use their scent trademarks. You cannot claim to be original being slightly less oriental with a small fig inside a chocolate.
However, after the very long L'Instant introduction with an overdose of the Mathilde Laurent cocoa-patchouli idea used for Cartier, the perfume turns into an incomprehensible woody ambery drydown, possibly a variation around classic Gucci pour Homme theme with a norlimbanol-like facet with only one intelligent accord, a small benzoin-labdanum-honeyed note, vaguely recalling Gaultier2, but too small and too distant from the cocoa idea. This dry woody note ("oudh on Cedramber") is not suited for the idea of the perfume while the green violet note recalling both Bulgari pour Homme (the new one, exquisite!) and Fahrenheit (the new version) is too shy to make a statement.

Despite the use of the new patchouli extraction (a gorgeous note) Kokorico (Jean Paul Gaultier) has something too old style inside and is overshadowed by L'Instant pour Homme extreme (Guerlain).  What I don't really like is the cedar note, it almost hurts the nose in the middle section, and the evolution of the perfume. It has a huge start (beautiful) but in the middle is broken, the whole idea (what is new compared to Guerlain) is not orchestrated until the end. After a while the blotter stops to "breathe", there is no more "blooming" and the perfume fails to preserve the signature. Unfortunately, all the ideas expressed in the press release are not well represented, the accent is more on words and less on the scent of the ingredients evoked.

Very inspired advertising campaign, as usual the visuals are great at Jean Paul Gaultier Parfums.
Kokoriko campaign with Jon Kortajarena Redruello.


Kokoriko perfume bottle fabrication



Video campaign making of Kokoriko

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

Baiser Volé (Cartier) - new fragrance review

Nivea, l'Instant Nr22

Quite deceiving for the huge talent of Mathilde Laurent has demonstrated in her first collection signed for Cartier, the new creation called "Baiser Volé" (stolen kiss) is more about commercial trends than the true love of scents and perfumes. Better than the disastrous Cartier de Lune, "Baiser Volé", is a cosmetic scent evoking lipstick, powder and white Nivea face cream in a lily salicylate context suggesting the coldness of diamond platinum Cartier tiaras from the 1920's. It starts as a green vegetal lily with an impressive naturalistic aspect (the green note of Truth CK), but it fails to depict the entire complexity of this note and somewhere during the middle section of the perfume, the heart is broken, the composition starts to disintegrate in a selection of extremely basic and crude molecules as if the perfumer didn't want to finish the idea. The musky powdery cotton dry down suggests the unmistakable beauty of L'Instant, but is extremely far from the softness and refined richness of the precious Guerlain creation. It is surprising to notice what this freesia-rosy-violet accord (a typical Nivea accord created 100 years ago but not well depicted here) hides. The powdery aldehydic salicylate (lily-orchid) heart is actually an attempt to modernize the Chanel 22 famous accord. The recent lily of the valley perfume from Van Cleef I had praised in the past, is maybe the starting point for Baiser Volé, while the clean aldehydic freshness is nothing else than Acqua Universalis (Francis Kurkdjian) in a more sophisticate version. Similar attempts (rose-freesia-lily-musk) have been already done in the mainstream area and there is even a very famous creation from Jennifer Lopez where half of the formula is Galaxolide (smell it to see the Cartier "luxury"). Today this very raw accord becomes luxury when it is used by a luxury brand, with a very shy attempt to give a noble touch with some vanilla and microscopic tuberose (compare it with the tuberose used inside the lily from Frédéric Malle). Baiser Volé (Cartier) is half a perfume, lacking the noble details of Chanel 22, but also the inspirational vibe of the previous Cartier creations. I am very disappointed by the technical construction of the perfume. If you compare with modern mainstream perfumes with a lily note like Eternity, Truth and Eau d'Issey, Baiser Volé is extremely childish. It is not built at all and you can see it after 30-40 minutes on blotter and skin. A lily flower has its own scent mechanism, unfortunately this is not reflected by Baiser Volé where the note is rather suggested than constructed.

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Bottega Veneta - new fragrance review

A FABULOUS new perfume
The new perfume from Bottega Veneta, a leather with a floral chypre accord, is a surprising introduction from the famous Italian luxury house. It smells absolutely fabulous with an endless divine trail.

It smells like the suede amethyst petals (Cuir Améthyste - Armani Privé) of a barbarian noir de noir rose (Rose Barbare - Guerlain). The famous note of Daim Blond (Serge Lutens) appears now with a plum aspect (the idea used in Boxeuses) while the lactonic chypre aspect is a reinterpretation of Gucci Rush. The fragrance is absolutely fabulous and gives the precise sensorial dimension of the luxury leather. Given the very strong relation with the previous creations from Guerlain and Armani/Lutens, it is extremely hard to judge its authentic value. What was niche several seasons ago becomes suddenly mainstream, without sacrificing the quality of the perfume and its ingredients. "How much can you borrow from other perfume houses?" remains an unanswered question today. Because there is no fragrance protection, a brand is free to take and remix everything, there are no such things as moral or ethical values inside this business.

The perfume was indeed a choc for me: it smells terribly good, but it is also extremely obvious in terms of inspiration. Can we reinvent the leather note without redoing the suede leather of the past 10 years? The new marine and aldehydic molecules might be a solution.
Major brands usually express the same excuse "we cannot risk" to justify their refusal of innovative fragrance proposals imagined by modern perfumers. But when other brands invest in creative perfumes, it takes only several years to see precisely the same scent idea recycled and repackaged through brilliant marketing and beautiful campaigns small brands cannot afford. The result is always the same - fragrances achieving popularity sold in mainstream channels will be remembered by history, while the "inventors" (unable to protect their scents) will end defeated by the cosmetic Leviathan.

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Bang Bang (Marc Jacobs) - new fragrance review

Unlike it's original version and unlike the official presentation, Bang Bang is not lighter, but stronger, more powerful, long-lasting with a huge dose of contrasting notes.

The perfume shows an amazing contrast between the aromatic herbal top, with a good dose of notes recalling the leaves of myrtle and cypress, all over an extremely sensual drydown dominated by powerful sandalwood notes and very light but dry cedar notes.

Bang Bang, with its spicy heart, where the freshness is vibrantly contrasting with the creamy sandalwood molecules and burnt / dry notes with a hint of incense recalling guaiac, gurjum balsam and cedar atlas, takes us back more than a decade ago to several almost forgotten or discontinued perfumes. I have in mind Jungle For Men (Kenzo), Gucci Envy for Men and Givenchy pour Homme (the deep red bottle), dominated by the overdosed cardamom contrasted with a vanillic woodiness (sandalwood and cedar), softly underlined by a mossy resinous ambery background.

Unlike the minimalist approach of Yann Vasnier in Bang, with pepper & wood and its faint tobacco muskiness, the new perfume Bang Bang is about sensuality and rubber, offering the same unusual urban texture like Bulgari Black did in the 90's with the black bitumen. This time it seems to be a dark rooty wood suggesting rhubarb, oak and a facet of oudh and on the more volatile level the pomelo skin.

If Bang was a skin scent with an abstract modernism, Bang Bang explores the dark and deep facets of the original, in an oriental woody context, extremely elegant and classic with a subtle peppery undertone leaving a sweet black cashmere effect on the skin (but not as stronger as the eponymous Donna Karan perfume and not obviously peppery like Bang). An unusual rosy floral note recalls me the bizarre corps eglantine or the powerful geranium crystalline molecules.

This season, Bang Bang (Marc Jacobs) is a surprising introduction with allure for those who refuse the invasive sweetness of One Million or the powerful metallic and ozonic freshness. Dry and dark like the licorice and rhubarb (and other mysterious potent herbs), but sensual like precious sandalwood in a leather box floating over the deep musky ocean. Bang Bang comes in a blue bottle and .... unlike the blue perfumes it is not oceanic and airy, but well anchored on the skin.

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L'Overdose (Diesel) - new fragrance review

Despite its provocative name (and extremely ugly cheap plastic bottle) L'Overdose (Diesel) is not a shocking perfume, neither a suffocating version of the fashionable scents among the very young generation. It is a curious and happy mixture between the gourmand stylish caramel muskiness of Prada Candy and the red fruitiness plus sweet woods of One Million (Paco Rabanne), adding to this a very interesting cocoa creamy milkyness. In fact, L'Overdose (Diesel) suggests the marriage between the feminine floral fruitiness and the extreme masculine woody sweetness, as seen in the Axe deodorant called Provocation. This caramel fruitiness immediately recalls the flood of celebrity perfumes, but this time, it's two in one, or …. all the 3 recent Guess perfumes in one bottle.

The name of the perfume means overdose, a love overdose or a lover overdose and from here we might read the perfume as a "balance" between an overdose of love (the scent of Nina from Nina Ricci) and an overdose of lover's perfume, who obviously wear either One Million or Axe Provocative.

A closer "reading" of the perfume reveals the innovative use of the sweet licorice note, previously used in Lolita Lempicka and now in the recent masculine Decibel (Azzaro). But unlike Lolita, where the note was surrounded by a huge floral bouquet, in L'overdose (Diesel), the accord is set in an oriental milky vanillic context similar to Hypnotic Poison, while the Irresistible rose with an anisic facet becomes more fruity strawberry-pomme d'amour-caramel like Nina (Nina Ricci) where the rose is paired with a white flower.

Without the sweet excesses and temptations from Elixirs Charnels (Guerlain), L'Overdose (Diesel) remains a very interesting mass market perfume, 100% commercial, but extremely well done and with many subtle notes hidden its very clear scent profile, like the cocoa-coffee-praline note.

The licorice liqueur note in the drydown of L'Overdose (Diesel) combined with the sweet fruityness recalls the famous "Chambord Liqueur Royale de France" based on black raspberry, honey and vanilla, composed for the King Louis XIV.

Official fragrance ingredients for L'Overdose (Diesel): mandarin, star anise, vanilla, gardenia, jasmine, licorice liqueur, woods, amber.

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Fragrance trends for 2012 and beyond

After the retirement of Serge Lutens (see his De profundis funeral liturgical prayer and last perfume) this fall begins with the end of an era which has started in 1992. With this fall all the modern myths are falling and a new perfumery begins with a younger generation of creators.

In the last 6 months I noticed the most alarming thing I shared in many short reviews. Some perfume houses are approaching an end, in maximum 5 years they will be almost out of the business. The reason is very simple. They forgot what making a perfume is. I’m not talking about aesthetic values or things open to debate, but those elements which are the base of fragrance design – tenacity, volume, diffusion, scent trail, signature. Emotion and beauty cannot exist if a perfume doesn’t breathe. And there are many perfumes like this in Paris right now. I do not compare them with a hypothetical “golden age” but with other modern creations, with those of the 90’s for example. With a lot of pain I noticed how many perfumers become “anosmic”, first there was a question of emotion because all these recent briefs had a profound negative impact, second it is a question of inspiration and renew because working in a glass cube without a direct contact with scent (not bottles) is a prison for the soul, third there is a serious technical decline which I cannot explain (you should be a better technician with age, not the opposite). Some will lose their jobs, other will abandon because the desire or the flame is exhausted. A similar change is happening right now in the fashion industry where the pressure and the amount of work are bigger than ever. Some great perfumers who signed several fantastic creations in the past 20 years will leave the scene in less than a year. This became obvious with their launches. The situation is not very pleasant because, unlike 20 years ago, the names are not a secret anymore and the recent star system of the perfume industry (the rising of the star perfumer) has also a side effect. Some left the artistry for bureaucracy. Sadly, there is a huge generational gap. Many became perfumers for circumstantial reasons, they were not hired for their knowledge or talent and many had no vocation or culture. They worked in a system which expanded rapidly in the past 15 years and did not ask for excellence, even less for culture, art, history.

But the great fall begins with the huge names in the industry. For me it is clear now that Chanel is before The END, they cannot create and imagine what will be still around in the next 10 years and there are enough examples in the history of perfumes when similar situations occurred before great empires were overshadowed by their own glory. The huge luck of Chanel Parfums is the fashion and Karl Lagerfeld. Guerlain has a young perfumer and a modern scent (Idylle) which still sells, but I’m not sure the house is prepared for what it comes. For L’Oreal the future is sealed – when a group is able only to recycle the same shampoo scent without a minimal sparkle of creativity you know its agony is around. Several years ago I said Procter and Gamble were not able to manage luxury and understand anything about modern luxury. This summer they got rid of Jean Patou after they preserved the glorious name in a coffin. Creators appear and disappear in a very cruel world. There are small differences between fashion and perfumes. Just Karl Lagerfeld and Alberto Morillas are here in great shape after a lifetime of changes. For the moment the role of Francois Demachy at Dior is clear to me, he is a great factory director but not a perfumer with a vision. He acts like the perfect “directeur de studio” in a fashion house and certainly not like the creator. He knows how to adapt and re-use ideas, but his invention period ended more than 10 years ago. Jean Claude Ellena at Hermes signed the most beautiful conclusion of his career, but he is not young anymore and certainly not the man to seize the future and express the desires of our times. His minimalist perfumes are the amazing conclusion of a trend started long time ago, but even this direction is over right now. Pure perfumes became simplistic when a new generation, less skilled with sophisticate compositions, adopted this style for efficiency reasons.

A huge number of perfumers forgot what a good perfume is, as if they lived in the recent years on another planet. When you take many creations from the 70’s up to the birth of niche perfumes their major quality is signature – they are memorable creations leaving a trace in your soul and memory. They haunt you like the original Dioressence, Paris, Eternity, Fahrenheit, to cite only the modern still available on shelves even in a twisted version. Minimalism is the poison of perfumery while too much intellect is the death of emotion. When I smell the perfumes of Sophia Grojsman and many other creators I feel their pleasure to wear and feel the presence of a perfume. It is not what I discovered in the recent 6 months and this is a scary conclusion.

Because I do not receive samples, I do my tests between Champs Elysees and Ecole Militaire. 80% of new launches fail the basic test and I do efforts to remember them and write a small review when the only thing they deserve is trash. A perfume which fails to produce a memorable emotion because it is poorly composed should never be tested on skin and never bought. The last Lancome and the last Givenchy show the total inability of the modern management to produce the future perfumes. No PR campaign, no huge advertising can save a bad perfume. All these huge behemoths will pay for their greed. They had the chance in the past 10 years to give carte blanche to the greatest perfumers and nurture the beauty as the fashion houses did with small collections. There is no equivalent in perfumes for Alexander McQueen or John Galliano though the budgets of a cosmetic group are bigger. Sadly, the new generation of perfumers is less skilled; they grew up with low quality perfumes, myriad of briefs and consumer tests. Creativity and exquisite taste are like a muscle. If you don’t practice you lose it.

There is an alarming amount of recent perfumes smelling like real detergents, with a violent fresh woody muskiness which really hurts the nose. There is an alarming amount of plagiarism in the launches of this fall. Do not think people do not notice, modern consumers aren’t that stupid anymore. When there are many similar perfumes from the same style, it takes a short time until only the first and original idea, usually based on a true emotion, becomes the winner.

There is a flood of good ideas in the most unexpected places and a flood of badly composed perfumes like seamless minimalist dresses for mutants. However, there will be several mutations inside this beautiful universe:

- The launches will almost double

- Seasonal flankers will become seasonal large collections

- The brand becomes a scentsorial journey, its uniqueness will be more important than the concepts (no more “we do a rose, we do an oudh”) because people will “start” to smell around

- 5 seconds very strong emotion replaces the 5 seconds pleasant recognition (“I smell a fresh peach I like” becomes “that’s the divine forbidden peach I‘ve been dreaming for years”)

- The in house perfumer who creates, explains and seduces the consumers will become the ultimate condition for a perfume house to be authentic and credible

- Small niche houses unable to hire an in house perfumer will gradually disappear because they will be considered a marketing creation

- Mythic and Mystic will be the major trend. People love what they cannot explain, but can apprehend, and will reject what is too obvious and too easy. Do not take “mystical” as a word on a black “magie noire” bottle, neither for a “church” scent. Even the experience of a fruity papaya note can be mythical if you know the context to place it
- Essential perfumes

(to be continued)

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