Swiss niche line LesNez has launched Turtle Vetiver Back, the third fragrance in the limited edition series that began in 2009 with Turtle Vetiver Exercise No. 1 and continued with last year’s Turtle Vetiver Front…
While Robin has been trying and reviewing Nuit Etoilée, the newest fragrance release from Annick Goutal, I’ve been revisiting Goutal’s La Violette this week. La Violette was developed by perfumer Isabelle Doyen and was originally released in 2001. It has come and gone from the Goutal catalogue over the past few years, but it was recently re-released as part of the company’s quartet of soliflore fragrances, alongside Le Mimosa, Le Muguet and Rose Splendide.
La Violette really does concentrate on the idea of the violet flower; even more, it suggests the crystallized sweetness of candied violets. Its opening is a pure violet note with an aldehydic clarity. The violet soon develops a sugary veil that lasts through the fragrance’s development, although there’s also a light green note and just a breath of spice in the heart to balance out the confectionery effect. La Violette never feels chilly or sharp; overall, it’s a friendly, almost flirty violet…
How much does a perfume’s back story matter to you? It has long been an axiom in the fragrance industry that the back story is key to commercial success. Along with the other design elements — the packaging, the advertising, etc — it ought to help attract the appropriate consumer audience, and to allow the customer to make an emotional connection with the fragrance and the brand. When it works, it works, when it doesn’t…well, that’s essentially why we do the Prix Eau Faux, right? And why young people everywhere rolled their eyes at Calvin Klein In2U (to name just one egregious misfire) before they even smelled it.
I was thinking of all this when I first smelled the latest from Annick Goutal, the unisex fragrance Nuit Étoilée. The name makes reference to Van Gogh’s masterpiece, and the brand’s press materials mention a “dream world” and a solitary communion with nature…
Today, I’m looking at two niche fragrances: LesNez Turtle Vetiver Front and Tableau de Parfums Dark Passage. They don’t really have all that much in common other than that they’re both limited edition fragrances made in support of outside projects. Oh, and I like them both.
Turtle Vetiver Front is the latest from Swiss niche line LesNez. It’s the second in their series of vetiver fragrances made in support of the Turtle “anarchic” salon (about which I know nearly nothing, but you can read more here). Vetiver Front was developed by perfumer Isabelle Doyen, and I adored her first in the series, Turtle Vetiver Exercise No. 1. I thought of Exercise No. 1 (which I believe is now sold out) as a kind of vetiver for vetiver freaks…
Annick Goutal will launch Nuit Étoilée (starry night), a new unisex fragrance, this spring…
