Posted by Robin
on
12 May 2008
According to my local weather forecast, it is currently “46°F Feels Like 39°F”. I can vouch for the “feels like” part — it is darned cold and dreary for May. I considered just staying in bed, but instead I thought I’d spray on a bit of the tropics today…
First up, Floral Solaire (or Golden Floral), the fourth release from niche line Filles des Iles. Filles des Iles is the latest venture from the same team that brought us the strikingly unconventional fragrance Dinner by Bobo — remember that one? It was once described, somewhere (sorry I can’t remember where), as meat served by a sweaty waiter. This time around, they’re doing rather conventional tropical florals, which presumably have more widespread appeal. Floral Solaire, developed by perfumer Celine Ellena, is described as “an expressive, teasing and fascinating scent”, and features notes of cedrat, star fruit, tropical breeze, passion fruit, lily, tiara, orchid, flamboyant, amber, benzoin, soft sand, musk and vanilla.
Tropical floral is probably not my favorite category to begin with…
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Posted by Robin
on
6 August 2007
Celine Ellena, daughter of Jean Claude Ellena and a perfumer in her own right (see The Different Company Sel de Vetiver, among others), talks to Smithsonian Magazine about what it is like to be a perfumer today, and answers the burning question of whether or not she talks shop with her father. On why humans feel the urge to wear perfume:
At the beginning, I think, we created fragrances to talk with God. Fragrance is mysterious. Now when you wear fragrance, you want to send a mysterious message. You want people to smell you, to be listening.
Read the rest at Smithsonian magazine (link no longer active, sorry!), and many thanks to Aimee for the link!
Posted by Robin
on
9 May 2006
Sel de Vetiver is the sixth fragrance release from the niche house The Different Company, and the second entry by perfumer Celine Ellena, who took over after her father Jean Claude Ellena became house nose at Hermès. Sel de Vetiver has notes of grapefruit, cardamom, Bourbon geranium, lovage, Haitian vetiver, patchouli, iris and ylang ylang.
Sel de Vetiver opens on grapefruit, very pale and soft and lightly sweetened. The patchouli, though subdued in any case, is more noticeable in the top notes than later in the dry down, and there is a green herbal undertone that adds some liveliness to the early stages. As it settles, it gets warmer, dryer and earthier, and in keeping with its name, saltier.
The “scent of salt drying on the skin after bathing in the sea” was given as one of Celine Ellena’s inspirations for the fragrance, and that description is as apt as any: the dry down smells very much like saltwater drying on sun-warmed skin. If I close my eyes and inhale deeply, I can make out a bit of cardamom, but for the most part, the glimmer of liveliness in the opening is smoothed over into something more quiet and hushed, in which no one note really stands out on its own…
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Posted by Robin
on
6 April 2006
Naomi Campbell will launch Cat Deluxe in May.
The fragrance was created by perfumer Michel Almairac of Robertet and features notes of freesia, cardamom, violet, peony, peach, woods, musk, patchouli and vanilla.
Naomi Campbell Cat Deluxe is available in Eau de Toilette…
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Posted by Robin
on
31 March 2006
The Different Company has launched its sixth perfume, Sel de Vetiver.
It is the second entry in the line from perfumer Celine Ellena, and includes notes of grapefruit, cardamom, Bourbon geranium, lovage, Haitian vetiver, patchouli, iris and ylang ylang. Inspirations for the fragrance are said to include the scent of salt drying on the skin after bathing in the sea…
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