Atelier Cologne is a new brand of fragrances from luxury beauty distributors Atelier Cologne North America. They debut with five scents:
Oolang Infini (shown above far left) ~ “A full-bodied, mysterious concoction; captures blue tea and bergamot in the warmth of smoke and leather.” With notes of bergamot, neroli, oolang tea, jasmine, blond leather, tobacco flower, gaiac wood and vetiver. $155. [Developed by perfumer Jerome Epinette]
Orange Sanguine (shown above second to left) ~ “A zesty and energizing burst of crushed ripe fruit; plays off sweet blood orange juice against bitter orange peel and sensual notes of geranium.” Additional notes include jasmine, amber woods, tonka bean and sandalwood. $145. [Developed by perfumer Ralf Schwieger]
Trefle Pur (shown above second to right) ~ “A landscape of vitality; surrounds violet leaves in green woods, freshly cut grass and dewy earth.” Featuring notes of bitter orange, cardamon, basil, clover absolute, violet leaves, neroli, patchouli moss and musk. $165. [Developed by perfumer Jerome Epinette]
Grand Neroli (shown above far right) ~ “A romantic ingenue; wraps elegant orange blossom flower around layers of clean herbal notes, warm musks and addictive brushstrokes of vanilla.” Additional notes include neroli, lemon, bergamot, petitgrain galbanum, moss, birch leaves and white amber. $155. [Developed by perfumer Cecile Krakower]
Bois Blonds (not shown) ~ “A sophisticated yet mischievous elixir; entwines unique and precious woods and incense with sensual orange flower and vetiver.” Additional notes include neroli, pink pepper, incense, blond woods and musks. $175. [Developed by perfumer Jerome Epinette]
Atelier Cologne Oolang Infini, Orange Sanguine, Trefle Pur, Grand Neroli & Bois Blonds are available in 200 ml Cologne Absolute (12-20% concentration) and can pre-ordered at Bergdorf Goodman. (via bergdorfgoodman)
Update: perfumer information above in brackets via press release.
Another update: see reviews of Atelier Cologne Grand Neroli, Orange Sanguine and Trefle Pur.
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These are all sounding nice to me this morning, especially the Orange Sanguine, but are very pricey. Does blue tea really exist or is it just a product of fanciful copywriters?
Oolong teas are sometimes called blue teas, although they’re not really blue.
They do sound nice, but I’ve got “new niche line” fatigue at this point.
I totally agree, Robin. I’d be more than happy with decants of these at a much more do-able price point. They all sound great, but not $150 great. I do wish some niche line would be rebellious and launch frags in the $75 or so price range so picking up two or three would be less cringe-inducing.
I think that’s what Ego Facto was trying to do, although with export fees they’re not so cheap in the US.
I’m waiting on a sample of Poopoo Pidoo, and for once I’m not dreading the fact that I might just love it enough to invest in a full bottle. Yay. It seems like every frag I’ve fallen for is over $100. I’m so thankful for decants and splits.
The thing is that even those are expensive here!
Ineke is very reasonable and has some wonderful scents.
Well, we have a quiet rebel with Laurie Erickson at Sonoma Scent Studio – she sells in 5 ml, 15 ml and 30 ml sizes, and I dare say her 30 mls are less than $75. Her fragrances are gorgeous, well crafted, and made of high quality materials. You should check them out if you haven’t already.
Surprisingly, blue tea does exist: it’s the (or a) stage of curing between green and black teas.
These do seem appallingly expensive, don’t they? I’d think a 50-mL spray for $50-60 would be more attractive to most people. At that price, I sure wouldn’t consider anything except a decant.
They’re HUGE. They didn’t get the memo about smaller sizes.
Y’all answered what was my first question too. All my time as a tea connoisseur and I’d never heard oolong (“oolang”) referred to as blue tea.
Me either…. but that oolong fragrance does sound nice!
I just received my tea order today from Mariage Frères in Paris, containing a tin of blue tea…
Gee, those descriptions and notes lists all sound wonderful. The Trefle Pur particularly caught my eye. So these are colognes that one would splash with abandon? They cost quite a bit more than my beloved BIG bottle of L’Eau de Jatamansi.
Haven’t smelled them so couldn’t say if you’d want to splash with abandon! Some of them do have a pretty high concentration of oils (20%).
Well, they are less expensive than the Chanel Exclusifs for the same amount. I think they sound worth a nibble – all those oranges and teas and such. Hopefully I’ll remember them come summer – I have given up on my excel sheets! I am letting destiny take its course. lol
LOL! Careful; destiny is expensive….
Less expensive than the Chanels, yes, but also inherently less interesting…the Chanels are from Chanel, and from Polge & Sheldrake. These are from some distributor I never heard of, & who knows who the perfumers were.
But of course I’ll eat my words if they turn out to be the most wonderful things ever.
and ya never know…
Ha! the only one that doesn’t sound good to me is the Trefle Pur—mostly because violet leaf generally doesn’t do a thing for me.
12-20% concentration—isn’t that higher than usual for cologne? I’d have to check but I’m way too lazy right now. And 200ml??? They might as well sell them with a funnel and a set of atomizers , cuz you know that sort of volume is prime splittin’ territory! Now which one to start with???? (as soon as I finish with Francis Kurkdjian’s Cologne Pour le Soir ) I am such a sucker for something new!!!
Not only is 12-20% higher than usual for a cologne, it’s getting up into perfume territory; eau de parfum is usually about 8-15% and perfume 15-30% essential oils. (Eau de cologne is usually 3-5%.)
So it may be the case that these have greater than usual lasting power, which would be yet another argument for selling them in a smaller size.
Wow! I was assuming that these were actually colognes, from the name of the company and the size of the bottles! Guess not.
I haven’t been feeling those Kurkdjians. I am waiting to try Aqua Universalis when it is warmer out. But so far, I have moments of rapture followed by, oh, maybe not so much.
But do let me know if you get any of these.
And I haven’t forgotten you – I have a scent trip with Liz next weekend, and may have something new and fab to send you by then.
You could buy all of them and make us a bunch of little coffrets! :->
wouldn’t that be fun? instead of splitting one….split them all as a set? 5ml of each one…..actually: I’m more interested currently in the new Nez a Nez line at Luckyscent…..ordered the multi-sample pack…..now staring REALLY HARD at the mailbox……not that they’ll even ship before Monday—but I hate to wait til the last minute to start my mailbox-staring-vigil…..
Most of those looked too darned sweet to me…but thought the Marron Chic and Atelier d’Artiste at least warranted a sniff. Haven’t placed the order yet though.
These sound like they could be nice or could be boring. I mean, if I were a Bergdorf regular I’d definitely sniff on my way through the store, sure… this ground is covered by so many brands, from the Diptyque eaux to the Dior colognes. Just sayin’ that none scream to me or my wallet.
Also, I’m suspicious of those concentration levels. 20 percent *what*?
Yes. People put too much emphasis on the concentration. It has no relationship to what it costs to make the juice, and one fragrance at say, 15%, might last much longer than another at the same concentration. So it isn’t terribly meaningful.
I wonder what Mandy Aftelier thinks of this? I’ve never heard of the company before… though I guess they have different demographics, since Aftelier does natural perfumery.
Also, “atelier” just means “studio” in French, so Mandy Aftel’s business name is just a riff on that word.
Atelier, as Joe says, is not an uncommon word. And this isn’t the first other perfume house to use it.
They all sound pretty goddamn wonderful to me.
Sold!
I hope they will release these at Neiman’s too so that I can try them. Why should New Yorkers have all the fun??
If they sell like hotcakes, I’d guess we’ll see them other places.
These definitely sound split-worthy to me. Love the idea of the coffret!
Me too!
Regarding the mysterious “blue tea”, here’s the deal:
Oolong(oolang?) represents a few cultivars of Camellia sinensis used in making “oolong tea”, or simply generalization of a class of incompletely oxidized tea called “Qing-Cha”, however please note that not all “qing-cha” are oolongs.
While cha refers to tea, qing refers to a color often described as “while derived from blue, qing exceeds blue”. Qing is best described as a green tinged blue(cyan?), not unlike the colour of celadon wares.
The translation of blue most likely comes from an improper interpretation of the word “qing” through Japanese Kanji, where the same symbol is pronounced “ao” and has a definitive meaning of “blue”.
Thanks.
The Grand Neroli and Bois Blonds sound very nice to me… but then again, you never know until you sniff them. It is tiring to see so much aspirational pricing for things that look like they are being sold in the Body Shop (enough with boring bottles for that price range!). But these will go on my loooong list of fragrances to sample.
You’re nicer than me…no plans to try unless I hear they’re fabulous.
Isnt Cologne Absolute kind of an oxymoron?
absolutely.
You would think. But we have lots of “Cologne Intense” already, so apparently not everyone thinks so.
Ooh, I want all five of these! They sound delish.
That will cost you!
I had a chance to try these at Neiman’s a couple of days ago. *ALL* were terrific. Very interesting, complex additions to the world of niche. I *MUST* own a bottle of Trefle Pur very very soon. I also liked Oolang and Bois Blonds quite a bit. Actually, I wouldn’t mind having bottles of all five, which is surprising. Just wish they came in smaller sizes!
Oh, good to know, thanks!
Late to the party here, but I received a sample of Orange Sanguine last week and I’m test driving it this morning. The opening is glorious – a delicious burst of blood orange and bitter orange peel as the notes suggest . I keep saying I don’t like citrus perfumes, but I’ve been choosing more of them recently so I guess I need to change my stance on that. After the beautiful, sunny opening I’m finding that it is sort of fading away into a pale, ambery cologne that reminds me a little of Vanilia* in the very last stages. The orange doesn’t seem to stick around and after about an hour I can’t really smell much of anything. I can see this as a cologne in the sense of something that you splash on after a shower and then you can apply your regular fragrance after you’ve spent some time eating breakfast and getting dressed.
I get none of the candyfloss fun from Vanilia as has been described. I find it to be a rather dry, ambery vanilla, pale and non-foody.
I still haven’t tried them, but Jessica is going to review them soon.