Bond no. 9 will launch Saks-en-rose, a new rose-based perfume for women, next week. The new fragrance….
…marks a departure from your grandmother’s rose. This is an ease-ful rose, self-possessed, future-oriented and multi-functional—beguiling on an evening out, informal over the weekend. Its bona fides come via the entourage of ingredients that surrounds it. Following a contemporary blend of rarely used topnotes—succulent dry dates, verbena-like lantana leaves, and spicy mace (from the nutmeg family)—the scent segues into its resolutely floral heart of pink roses, orris (cousin to iris), and seductive tuberose. This beguiling bouquet lingers courtesy of the rose’s most reliable escorts—musk, for a hint of the feral, and those forest notes, sandalwood and amber, for stability.
Saks-en-rose will be exclusive to Saks Fifth Avenue stores, and will be available in 50 ($145) and 100 ($215) ml Eau de Parfum. (via press release)
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Trade out the tuberose for orange blossom, and the mace for saffron, and you’ve got Ormonde Jayne’s Ta’if. Doesn’t it? I’m really looking forward to comparing the two when it comes out, because this sounds like an absolute ringer for the OJ. Lovely!
And while I adore most terrible neologisms, I maintain that “ease-ful” needs to die, painfully, on a flaming word bonfire.
Look, it’s the weekend. Pretend my subjects and verb tenses are in cheery agreement, and I’ll make you a lovely Chanel No. 5 champagne cocktail.
Stupid brain.
LOL!!
It’s not only the weekend, it’s the morning (by my standards, anyway). I don’t think it matters.
And it does sound sort of Ta’if-ish, but doubt it is — that would not be Bn9′s style.
I adore neologisms as well and am a big believer in “language change”, but ‘ease-ful’? NO.
Exactly! My verbal standards may be amusingly low, but I do have them. Ease-ful is wholly, hilariously unnecessary. What about restful? Tranquil? Pacific? Lulling? Serene? There’s a whole wide world of embarrassing language out there already! Cliches enough for everyone!
Life is far too short for etymological horrors.
I don’t want to be a grammar snot or an English-lit curmudgeon but “easeful” is a valid and very old word: John Keats used it in “Ode to a Nightingale” in the gorgeous line “for many a time I have been half in love with easeful Death,” and that was nearly two hundred years ago. It’s not some gross neologism.
I think this new Bond sounds nice. Too bad they’ve stopped sending me samples for review. I haven’t seen anything from them since Andy Warhol Success is a Job in New York.
Thanks, good to know!
Haha…. Pyramus, I knew you’d come through. On days when I’m in the office (unlike today), I should know enough to always check the online OED. Still, I wonder if the writer knew the word — though possibly considered archaic — was valid, given the use of a hyphen.
Snap! That’s exactly what I was thinking as I read the description, and when I saw your comment I was thrilled that someone else thought the same and that I might be along the right lines. It really will be interesting to sniff and compare.
This sounds nice, perfume wise. However, jeez, that’s some messed-up copy. The second sentence sounds almost like someone interviewing to be your girlfriend: “Well, I’m driven, self-aware, and I handle both evenings out and lounging abouts equally well.” And then the part about an entourage? :/
One of these days I’m going to have to go back to the Bond counter. Last time I was there was when I bought my bottle of Chinatown; it was new then.
Somebody had fun writing it…
Sounds very nice….(big surprise) but I’m leery of Bond fragrances—they generally turn on me. (Except for Chinatown, which I adore) but I dare not allow a rose scent to pass without a sniff….that would be just wrong.
I can see that there’s similarity in notes with Ta’if , but I can’t imagine anything Bond smelling like anything OJ—there’s just something very different on an elemental level between the two lines.
Very different styles, agree.
I got a sample last night. Linda told me they had just received it. It is okay, but it is very much in keeping with the Bond style. It does remind me of Chinatown a little bit. I got a dose of peach in the opening, but didn’t notice anything feral, musky or woodsy as it dried down, but to be fair I was testing other things. I have it set aside to give it a good test drive. It is not a dark, spicy rose but rather bright and fruity. Definitely worth a sniff and “Friends and Family” is coming up at Saks next week.
This does indeed sound very nice. They could have been a little more creative with the bottle though…it’s too similar to SAKS for Her.
Very similar — you could think of it as a flanker I guess.
Isn’t that some sort of disambiguated take on the Saks logo? It is very similar to the bags Saks uses. That does make it very boring and I really wanted more from a company known for the bottles as much as the fragrance. The center and cap are a really pretty shade of pink, but it could be so much better! Like the High Line and Chinatown bottles. Say, anybody notice a similarity between the High Line bottle and the new philosophy bottle?
Yes, it’s based on the Saks logo.
I like that bottle.
It’s pretty.
Future-oriented and multi-functional? Reminds me of the cafe-gyma-torium from Napoleon Dynamite. I’d like to sniff it, still.
LOL!
The list of notes does sound interesting: I like the idea of date & mace. The lantana we have here doesn’t remind me a bit of verbena, but still, that’s not something you see in a formula every day. So yes, I wouldn’t mind a sniff.
“Multi-functional” does sound funny in perfume copy — as if the writer has recently made the jump from technical writing to beauty marketing.
Lantana’s a pretty stinky plant. But I like it. This sounds worth trying, for me.
Agree on the multi-functional…an odd way of saying it could go from day to evening.
yup, makes it sound like you can fold it up small to take camping….and comes with convenient velcro straps….Like MacGyver probably had a box of these stashed somewhere for emergencies.
This does sound very nice-I’m on a rose and iris kick. Is orris the root of the iris?
Iris are in bloom everywhere in SF-I love the bearded variety, it reminds me of my father. He planted them everywhere in the yard!
Yes, orris is iris root…but then, the vast majority of fragrances that list “iris” are using iris root.
I was going to comment about the ‘orris a cousin to iris’ thing – that was a weird way to put it – it sorta annoyed me. You’re so lucky to have the irises in bloom Smokey – I have lots of foliage, [particularly vibrant & healthy looking this year] but no buds quite yet.
Yes! And the purple bearded iris are so beautiful and fragrant. I don’t take them inside because I’ve heard they are toxic to cats. I also have Evelyn Roses and freesia in bloom. So far, the gophers haven’t gotten to them! But Riley (my cat) is managing the gopher population….
Pretty…. My roses are in bloom and my climbing Cecile Brunner is covered with tiny pink buds about to burst open. I love their spicy, peppery scent.
Wow! I just can’t keep up with Bond! The scents must do verrry well they way they keep churning em out!
Hang on did this entry miss the prix writers contest???
I’ve been up at the farm waging chemical warfare against the lantana…
And its taken me a year to learn that iris and orris are the same..oh well, back to perfume school…
I sampled this today and it is absolutely gorgeous.
I was lucky enough to win a sample of Saks-en-rose & I agree 100% w/ rosbergs3. Its gorgeous. I used to despise tuberose but now, after my mom loving it for so long, Ive come to really enjoy its scent. I kinda get more tuberose than rose w/ this one. The rose is definitely there but the tuberose dominates it. Its a really nice tuberose fragrance. I wish I got more of the dates and mace but I dont. Its a lovely scent and I wouldnt mind owning a bottle. Im more interested in trying China Town & Lexington Ave. Ive heard nothing but wonderful things about those two and have been dying to try them. I’ll have to make my way to Saks one of these days. : )