Coming in May from Jo Malone, a day-and-night duo of limited edition fragrances under the name The Kohdo Wood Collection. The fragrances were inspired by the Japanese incense ceremony.
Lotus Blossom & Water Lily for day is “designed to energise the body”, and includes notes of aquatic accord, grapefruit, bergamot, mandarin, lotus blossom, freesia, honeysuckle, water lily, jasmine, incense, amber, sandalwood, musk, aloeswood and guaiac wood.
Dark Amber & Ginger Lily for evening “provides a more mellow, sensual mood”, and features black cardamom, pink pepper, ginger, night blooming jasmine, orchid, water lily, rose, black amber, white pepperwood, leather, patchouli, sandalwood and Kyara incense accord.
Jo Malone Lotus Blossom & Water Lily and Dark Amber & Ginger Lily will be available in 30 and 100 ml cologne and in matching bath oils and candles. (via cosmeticsinternational.net, image via japanese-incense)
Update: More information on the Jo Malone Kohdo Wood scents:
…two captivating fragrances created as a modern interpretation of an ancient Asian tradition. These two new Eastern scents are inspired by the ancient Japanese incense ceremony of Kohdo where emotions are influenced according to the different nature of scents.
The invigorating fragrance of Lotus Blossom & Water Lily – Kohdo Wood Day, is designed to wake the senses and energise the soul…Lotus Blossom & Water Lily will encourage energy, inspire confidence and focus the mind, making it a perfect scent to use throughout the day.
Dark Amber & Ginger Lily – Kohdo Wood Night, is a sensual and calming blend that encourages tranquillity….[it] has been designed to cleanse the senses and encourage calmness, relaxation and positive thought, making it the perfect scent to use from early evening through to night. (via jomalone.co.uk)
Other recent releases from Jo Malone: White Jasmine & Mint.
Update: see reviews of the Jo Malone Kohdo Wood scents.
Jeweler David Yurman will launch his first fragrance, titled simply David Yurman Eau de Parfum, this coming August.
The floral chypre scent for women was developed by perfumer Harry Fremont, and features notes of mandarin, fresh green petals, cassis, peony, water lily, natural rose otto, patchouli, exotic woods and soft musk. According to Sybil Yurman,
There is a femininity to it, but it’s a lot like people describe our jewelry to be — masculine and feminine.
David Yurman Eau de Parfum will be available in 50 ($120) or 75 ml ($165) and in matching body cream. (via Women's Wear Daily) Update: the description of David Yurman perfume from Neiman Marcus, “Introducing David Yurman Eau de Parfum—a casually luxurious fragrance that intertwines the boldness of exotic woods and patchouli with the fluidity of rose and waterlily.”
Update: see a review of David Yurman Eau de Parfum.
29 Comments
Read more about commenting at Now Smell This.
The second Jo Malone sounds pleasant, even if it does contain the ubiquitous pink pepper note. I find the JMs pleasant and wearable (except for Pom Noir, a clove abomination on me). They don't have much lasting power, but then they are colognes (or EdTs?). I like Blue Agava and Cacao, Vintage Gardenia, Black Vetyver Cafe and Wild Fig and Cassis. I've always found them fresh and approachable as scents, and thinking about this line first got me interested in layering scents. Before JM I thought layering scents was a mortal sin.
The evening JM juice, and David Y sound very nice, I won't purchase unsniffed though. Hard to keep up with the new releases…
One off-topic observation/comment, is it just me, or does it seem like the companies are blending Chypre with other notes (floral) so it's more customer friendly?
“Pleasant and wearable” is about how I'd describe the line too…these seem a bit outside of their usual comfort zone, which is perhaps why they're doing them as LEs. Then again, the inspiration sounds more unusual than the notes, maybe?
Hmmm…lots of the old-style chypres could be described as “floral chypre” though. I think the more customer-friendly part comes w/ the juice — very few of the modern chypres smell like chypres to me at all, and won't be surprised if David Yurman's just smells like a plain old “floral”.
We ought to call it the “Miss Dior Cherie” effect! ;
Well, the aren't the first company to produce a fragrance inspired in the Kohdo. Kenzo made flower by kenzo oriental first, wich is unique and very well-done. It shares something in common with Prada edp, but it's smoky and agarwoody.
I agree, many of the scents are one note or linear, and they almost make a virtue of this. I certainly don't think there's anything wrong with minimalism in the current market- so many 'multi faceted' scents that end up as a confused mish-mash of nothing very much, don't you think? So I'm surprised to see JM listing such a bundle of notes. The pleasure of the line for me has been in its straightforwardness, to a certain degree. I agree with your comment about the inspiration. It sounds a bit disappointingly bandwagon-jumping to me, but I'll be interested to see what transpires.
Maybe since JM has left the line, they're playing around with being a bit more au courant? Don't really know.
Ay, except that MDC isn't even plain old floral — I don't care how anybody else classifies it, it's a fruity floral to me.
All these releases sound ok.
I do not like that the Yurman is described as “feminine but males can wear it if they really want to” I think that it would have been so much better to go for unisex and then perhaps launch a feminine.
I mean in this modern times (I know, I sound old) there is a tendency towards unisex… if you take the trouble to launch a feminine.. make it TRULY feminine I say… go for the stereotype… there are frags like Bulgari pour femme that I , a perfume adventurous gay male, would never wear… IT SMELLS TOO FEMININE FOR ME, if you can imagine that… hehehe
But I think that it is a great frag… perhaps it is that I can't understand the middle of the road thing… Perhaps I am being just obtuse
and having a bad gender issues day.
On the other hand dea Robin.. I have taken part in a Kodo ceremony in the Japanese Garden here in Buenos Aires, sponsored by nippon Kodo, an incense company.
It was a marvelous and lovely experience that fostered my love for everything Japanese (I am a student of the Japanese language.. albeit a slow one
) and the perfume that REALLY reminded me of the kodo ceremony and did so at launch is the extraordinary M7 by Saint Laurent.. The agarwood. I guess that the agarwood in M7 is synthetic, because they told us that agarwood is très expensive.
Regards
P.
Yeah, I've noticed a lot of “new chypre” coming up. As a chypre lover, I hope it doesn't become the next 'fruity floral.”
And after reading the wikipedia entry I can say that it was actually Genjiko what we participated in…”Genjikō is one such game, in which participants are to determine which of 5 prepared censers contain different scents, and which contain the same scent.”
I got a complimentary mini incense stick box that was just lovely.
Agree!
P, I don't think that brands throw the “masculine-feminine” thing out there in order to appeal to men or to say the scent is unisex — more that they're trying to tell women it has a certain kind of base? And they're trying to sound “daring”, maybe? That's how I take it, anyway.
Whichever ceremony it was, sounds like it was fascinating. I wish I knew more about incense.
You just totally read my mind about Flower Oriental. I really wonder don't they know they are repeating somebody… Anyway, the incense thing apart, as long as this juice states the word “leather”, i'm in! (I just hope this leather won't come as much as in Kelly Caleche, which is more like an afternoon cup of tea to a Cabochard follower than a woman in leather pants with a whip
.) And pachouli, who-lala, let's see!
By the way, pssst you want my incense secret? It's called Gucci pour homme. And it's not *marketed* towards the daring women (its add is quite strange showing a very young and metrosexual-kind-of looking guy, so one would suppose that it's not marketed to the daring males either), but one of them has found it very suitable for her own incense perfume ritual
Gucci Pour Homme is delicious
Wow I'm so glad I read NST – this is the first I've heard of these new JM fragrances and I work for the brand! They sound divine – can't wait til we get to try them here in Australia!
Hey, but you'll probably get to smell them first! Do come back & tell us how they are.
I'm really excited about the Jo Malones…probably because I leave for Japan tomorrow. Don't think I travel like this all the time. My husband and I are trying to see a few places before we settle down and have children. I'm hoping to come back with a bottle of white rose…but $220 a bottle?!? What can I do to get this sold in the US? It just seems too great of a fragrance to limit.
Late reply so I've probably missed you, but have a wonderful trip!! Had no idea White Rose was that spendy, ouch! I've never smelled it, and in that case perhaps I'd best not
I have tried these fragrances. I prefer the day one. Its very light but quite refreshing. The night one is too heavly laced with ginger.
Ah, then perhaps the night one will be for me, thanks!
Just got samples of both of these – and my response is the exact opposite of Smoothie. The Lotus (daytime) is okay but there is an oily roundness to it that doesn't work for me (I find that in a lot of lotus-y scents. It's not unpleasant – just doesn't work for my psyche).
REALLY like the night scent – the amber isn't strong and the incense and ginger really comes through nicely on the drydown. I was afraid it would be overwhelming but it's not.
Weird question, maybe, but do they smell Jo-Malone-ish?
Not weird at all – I know exactly what you mean. The daytime scent is more Malone but the evening scent is a bit more complex than I am used to in a JM fragrance. It's not a radical departure but there are subtle shifts. The earlier fragrances always seemed more linear. I wouldn't know this was a Malone…and I'm not sure if that's a good thing for the brand. It's a nice fragrance and I'm enjoying the sample but there are other fragrances of this type that are more interestingly conceived.
Interesting. Well, perhaps that is why these are conceived as LEs…if they shake the customer base, they'll disappear.
I'm back and reading up on everything I have missed here! I did not purchase the fragrance–it isn't that great (the bottle is very pretty). But, in parfum form you could not smell it after 20 minutes on the skin. I was really disappointed. So, I purchased two Seurge Leutens instead….they are about $30 less over there.
I just stared reading Parfum: The Guide. Love it!
Welcome back, and enjoy the book — it's fun reading!