Posted by Robin
on
28 March 2013
It’s tempting, after smelling Yves Saint Laurent’s Manifesto, to ponder what the brief for the perfume might have been, that is, what sort of declaration it is supposed to make. “Say as little as possible so as not to offend anyone”? “Say what everybody else is saying so you won’t stand out in the crowd”? And what is with Yves Saint Laurent these days, anyway? Have they got a bad case of the jitters after Elle and Parisienne?1
Manifesto is a sweet but clean floral musk layered over a dusky but likewise clean patchouli base with a dollop of vanilla cream…
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Posted by Robin
on
18 October 2012
Perfumers Olivier Polge, Dominique Ropion and Anne Flipo talk about Lancôme La Vie Est Belle. (3 of french leading perfumers? really?)
Posted by Jessica
on
10 August 2012
Day to day, week to week, there are fragrance launches, and then there are fragrance launches. Lancôme‘s La Vie Est Belle is one of the major launches of pre-fall 2012, complete with big-name perfumers, Julia Roberts as its “ambassadress,” a gala celebration in the south of France, a soon-to-be-unveiled commercial directed by Tarsem Singh, and more. Lancôme is promoting La Vie Est Belle as its next “iconic” fragrance, hoping it will match Trésor in popularity and longevity as a pillar of the brand’s fragrance collection, and no expense or effort has been spared in this campaign.
The fragrance, whose name translates as “life is beautiful,” was developed by perfumers Olivier Polge, Dominique Ropion and Anne Flipo. Its composition includes notes of Florentine Iris pallida, iris aldehyde, jasmine sambac, Tunisian orange blossom, Indonesian patchouli, and a “gourmand accord” of vanilla, tonka bean, praline, black currant and pear. According to Lancôme, La Vie Est Belle represents “a new era” and “the choice to live one’s life and fill it with beauty.” (You can find more information on the fragrance’s philosophy at the Lancôme website.)
I was immediately skeptical about Lancôme’s assertion that La Vie Est Belle is “the first ever iris gourmand”…
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Posted by Robin
on
7 August 2012
Just like a woman, the fragrance is a dichotomy of softness and strength. Utilizing ingredients that are traditionally found in masculine fragrances and wrapping them with nurturing white florals, Donna Karan and [perfumer] Anne Flipo’s groundbreaking creation results in a feminine and sensual scent: the confident signature core of sandalwood and Haitian vetiver is sublimated with the creamy feminine notes of orange flower resonating in an instinctual feminine sensuality.
— Donna Karan Woman press materials
If I had a nickel for every time a new women’s perfume has promised some “fusion of masculine and feminine”,1 I’d have a grande latte, or maybe even a frappucino. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, the fragrance itself turns out to be business as usual — most women’s fragrances have notes that could be considered “traditionally” masculine, after all, just as most men’s fragrances have notes that could be considered “traditionally” feminine.
Why this should be a selling point — for women! men’s fragrances advertised as having a feminine side are as rare as dodo birds2 — is beyond me, but apparently it is, and I’ll say this for the new Donna Karan Woman, it delivers, at least on this particular point. Donna Karan Woman is closer to feminine than masculine, but not by much. If you put it in a different bottle and tweaked the top notes a bit, you’d have a Donna Karan Man.
The start is a fairly conventional blend of citrus and fruity notes…
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Posted by Robin
on
25 July 2012
Donna Karan will launch Donna Karan Woman in August…
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