HAIR scent may be the new fragrance frontier. In recent months, several new products with exotic fragrances are challenging popular hair-care scents like coconut, citrus and rosemary.
— From Scent Trails Start at the Top, a short article on hair fragrance at the New York Times. Many thanks to Mary for the link!
From Fresh, a limited edition soap trio in Frankincense (“an earthy scent, full of woodsy notes and a hint of exotic incense”), Myrrh (“an uplifting, fruity scent with wild berry notes inspired by the forest”) and Gold (“a warm, soft fragrance that evokes the shimmer of precious metal in sunlight”). Three 250g bars, $45…
Roger & Gallet has launched L’Homme Sport (shown above left), a flanker to 1979’s Roger & Gallet L’Homme. The new version is said to be faithful to the spirit of the original, but purer and fresher.
L’Homme Sport features notes of grapefruit, tea, pink pepper…
The rose has probably received more tributes in writing and song than any other flower; without even trying, anyone can easily think of a famous rose quotation or two. I recently realized that my own formative literary encounter with rose imagery was the classic children’s book The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. The Rose is an important secondary character in the story: she is vain and coquettish but secretly vulnerable, and her relationship with the Prince symbolizes some of the complexities of love. (As a child, I was also very impressed by the depiction of the rose in the film version of The Little Prince.)
Although rose is my favorite note in perfumery, I try not to discuss rose-scented products too often, just because I don’t want to be monotonous. However, June is the month of roses, so I’m going to indulge myself by mentioning a few recent favorites here. And, because we should still stop and smell the proverbial roses even (or especially) during a difficult economy, all of these products are available for $10 or less…
Remember those television commercials for Clairol Herbal Essences, the ones showing women having highly vocal “Totally Organic Experiences” while washing their hair? Me too. That is, I remember the beginnings of those commercials; I usually changed the channel or left the room before much of their thirty seconds could elapse. Fortunately, Clairol has been promoting its Herbal Essences line in a new direction lately, with more emphasis on the products’ effects and on their fragrances.
The new theme for Herbal Essences is the escape to a “fantasy paradise” of scent. I tried two formulas with different fragrances: Long Term Relationship (red bottle not shown, created to protect longer hair against damage) and Hello Hydration (turquoise bottle as shown, for dry hair). According to Clairol, “Herbal Essences developed each unique scent like a fine fragrance—with top, middle, and base notes.” Can that kind of composition exist in a shampoo or conditioner, the way it would in an oil- or alcohol-based perfume? Somehow, I doubt it (but I’m not a chemist, so who knows). In any case, I tried these two product pairs to see what would happen…
