Posted by Kevin
on
15 June 2011
While sniffing hundreds upon hundreds of perfumes each year (many of them just plain cheap, ineptly blended, blatantly aiming to appeal to every human on earth), I’m grateful when a solid, good-smelling fragrance appears amidst the junk. I love the weirdo scents, the “characters,” the one-of-a-kind perfumes, but they are becoming rare. (We need a whole new crop of fragrance notes, don’t we? Or a whole new crop of perfumers…?)
Le Labo Santal 33, the aroma, started out as a popular Le Labo candle than I’ve never smelled: Santal 26. Apparently that backstory is not exciting enough for a perfume launch, thus:
Do you remember the old Marlboro ads? A man and his horse in front of the fire on a great plain under tall, blue evening skies – A defining image of the spirit of the American West with all it implied about masculinity and personal freedom. This man, firelight in his face, leaning on the worn leather saddle, alone with the desert wind, an icon so powerful that every man wanted to be him and every woman wanted to have him…the great American myth still a source of fantasy for the rest of the world… A perfume that touches the sensual universality of this icon… that would intoxicate a man as much as a woman…*
I do remember the old Marlboro ads and the rugged “Marlboro men.” Today those ads don’t fuel fantasy so much as fright…
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Posted by Angela
on
25 April 2011
These past few years we’ve seen a number of “modernized” versions of classic fragrances. Some of them, like Yves Saint Laurent Belle d’Opium and Christian Dior Miss Dior Chérie, don’t smell at all like their parent versions. Others, like Chanel No. 5 Eau Première, Estée Lauder Youth Dew Amber Nude, and (to go back a few years) Hermès Soie de Calèche are recognizable kin of their forebears. Oscar de la Renta Esprit d’Oscar stands apart from the pack in that it is both clearly related to the original Oscar de la Renta of 1977 and yet has its own personality. I wouldn’t be surprised if it ends up outselling its parent.
Perfumer Frank Voelkl created Esprit d’Oscar, which launched this month. Esprit d’Oscar’s notes include lemon, bergamot, citron, jasmine, orange flower, tuberose, heliotrope, vetiver, tonka bean, and musk. Although I hadn’t smelled Oscar, the original, in years, Esprit d’Oscar called to mind the original’s tuberose and sandalwood signature right away. But there was something different — softer, lighter, and not as insistent, yet complex and much more than a watered-down version of the original…
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Posted by Robin
on
21 April 2011
Le Labo has launched Santal 33, a new unisex fragrance based on their popular Santal 26 candle. It is the first addition to the regular collection since 2009′s Oud 27…
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Posted by Robin
on
11 February 2011
Oscar de la Renta will launch Esprit d’Oscar in April. The new floriental fragrance for women is an updated version of 1977′s Oscar…
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Posted by Robin
on
8 October 2010
Le Labo will launch Baie Rose 26, the new city-exclusive fragrance for Chicago, this month.
For many people, Chicago still evokes the Prohibition-era, the decadence of the speakeasies…
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