Thierry Mugler will launch Womanity Eau Pour Elles in May. The new fragrance for women is a flanker to 2010′s Womanity, and is said to be a sparkling, fruity and playful version of the original…
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More quick sniffs: Roca Parfums Lemon Cloud, Especially Escada, Lalique Encre Noire Pour Elle
Another round of quickie reviews: Roca Perfums Núvol di Llimona / Lemon Cloud, Especially Escada and Lalique Encre Noire Pour Elle.
Roca Perfums Núvol di Llimona / Lemon Cloud
The opening is truly good enough to eat, and it should be. Núvol di Llimona (or “Lemon Cloud”) was developed by pastry chef Jordi Roca of the renowned Cellar de Can Roca. It’s supposed to be a lemon muffin soaked in milk — or “an all-pervading, ethereal cloud of lemon surrounding a sponge cake treated to milk and sweeties”, take your pick — and that’s just what it is, a sheer lemon sugar fragrance with subtle cake notes, lightly charred, lightly milky, not overly sweet. It’s sort of like a foodier version of Fresh Lemon Sugar, and it’s highly enjoyable — if I still worked in an office, it’s just the sort of thing I’d want to have in my top right desk drawer for a quick dose of comfort and cheer in the late afternoon. Even though I don’t work in an office, I’d still like a bottle, and it would be an excellent (if spendy) choice for a very young girl who wanted her own perfume…
Penhaligon’s Bluebell and Jo Malone Wild Bluebell ~ fragrance reviews
Some floral notes have appeared so often and for so long in perfumery that they feel like building blocks of scent: jasmine, rose, orange blossom. Other florals are known for being showcased in a classic fragrance, but have also been featured in many more recent compositions: the association between tuberose and Fracas, followed by any number of later tuberose-inspired creations, is a famous example. And a few flowers are recreated so infrequently that they remain linked with just one scent in our collective perfume memory. You can guess where I’m going with this: yes, bluebell.
Penhaligon’s Bluebell has been the best-known bluebell fragrance since its launch in 1978, as well as a longtime best-seller for this British perfume house. Developed by perfumer Michael Pickthall, and described as “the pure and unadulterated distillation of the scent of bluebell woods,” Bluebell includes notes of citrus, hyacinth, lily of the valley, cyclamen, jasmine, rose, galbanum, clove, and cinnamon. It has reportedly been worn by women as varied as Princess Diana, Margaret Thatcher, and Kate Moss.
Bluebell opens with spiky green notes of galbanum; its initial phase is almost androgynous, but it becomes more traditionally feminine as it develops…
Etat Libre d’Orange Archives 69 ~ fragrance review
Archives 69 takes its name from the address of the Etat Libre d’Orange flagship boutique, located at 69 Rue des Archives in Paris. Since this is Etat Libre d’Orange, you may be guessing that the name has a double meaning, a specifically sexual one, and you are correct; an entry on the Etat Libre d’Orange blog, complete with alternate label art for Archives 69, makes that point clear. Its text explains, “This is a perfume designed to free the senses, to open the heart to all the possibilities. It is an invitation to pleasure, an ode to seduction. It comes without restrictions, rules or regulations. It is yours to do with as you wish. This is the scent of sensual liberation.”
The composition of Archives 69, developed by perfumer Christine Nagel, includes notes of tangerine, pink berries CO2, pepper leaf, orchid & prune JE, incense, camphor, benzoin, patchouli, and musk. Its concept was partially inspired by the short story “Drencula” by French writer Boris Vian, a tale of a young man’s encounter with a hermaphroditic vampire, from Vian’s collection Écrits Pornographiques. Archives 69 was given the tagline “The Illusion of Sex” in preview materials, and its press release (subtitled “The End of Innocence”) includes a lengthy meditation on a nameless female character who embodies many dualities: the sacred and the profane, heaven and hell, pleasure and pain, etc. So, how do this theme and this prose translate into scent?
Archives 69 does pair some opposing notes…
Jo Malone Wild Bluebell ~ new perfume
Jo Malone will launch Wild Bluebell in September. The new fragrance for women reportedly “heralds a radical change of direction for the brand” under new creative director James Gager…
