This month, Grès has launched two more flankers for the Cabotine line: Cabotine Fleur d'Ivoire and Cabotine Fleur de Passion...

Banana Republic has launched Wildbloom, a new fruity floral chypre fragrance for women. Wildbloom is described as a "captivating and whimsical blend of sparkling fruit and watery floral"...

Susan G Komen for the Cure, the breast cancer research organization, will launch their debut fragrance, Promise Me, in April 2011. The floriental perfume is "a tribute to the beauty and strength of each and every woman fighting breast cancer"...

The Jordanian desert — and the national flower of Jordan, the black-blossomed Iris petrana — are the inspirations for Odin 04 Petrana, a new unisex perfume created by perfumer Jean-Claude Delville. I think of “desert scents” as being dry and austere — smelling of “wood dust,” pungent grasses, sharp spices, warm incense ash. (Perhaps I’m being too literal?) 04 Petrana is not “gritty,” dry or “hot.” If 04 Petrana conjures anything desert-related, it's a moist, flowery oasis. 04 Petrana is a lush perfume.

04 Petrana includes fragrance notes of deep purple cassis, pink pepper, herbaceous coriander, black iris, violet leaf, heliotrope, wild orris root, vetiver, and white musk. 04 Petrana opens with sweet cassis (think cassis cordial, not fresh berries); this smooth, sugared cassis note lasts throughout the life of the fragrance and adds a cheeriness to the composition. As cassis calms, I smell whiffs of citrus-y, green coriander, high-quality violet leaf, and an “undulating” and “wet” iris-violet accord (strong one minute, soft the next). The floral aspect of 04 Petrana is augmented with ‘fresh’ heliotrope — a note that complements both the opening floral accord and 04 Petrana's slightly powdery base of pepper, vetiver, (cedar-y) wood and light musk.

The first time I smelled 04 Petrana it brought to mind another favorite scent of mine...

New York-based clothing retailer Odin will launch Odin 04 Petrana, a new fragrance:

Transported to a Jordanian desert landscape covered in blooming black iris comes a floral scent...

Can Can Paris Hilton is the fourth entry for women from Paris Hilton, who reportedly made the Guinness World Records this year as the world's most overrated celebrity. Despite that and all else (e.g., her recent jail stint and other controversies) her fragrances have apparently continued to sell like gangbusters, bringing in some $75 million a year.¹

Can Can is supposed to be an "elegant but fun" fragrance, inspired by the Can-Can dancers of the Moulin Rouge cabaret. It was developed by perfumer Jean-Claude Delville. Like Paris's earlier efforts, it has lots of fruits & flowers, but Can Can is meant to take cues from sexier oriental fragrances (the notes: clementine flower, cassis, nectarine, wild orchid, orange blossom, musk, amber and woods). You won't notice from the opening, which is massively sweet fruits over vanilla cake, and invites comparison to Britney Spears Fantasy. Once it settles though, it is warmer and less fruity (and considerably less sweet), and while it never gets dark or sultry, I guess you could say that it flirts with the oriental category...

If you have too much activity with simultaneous launches, the customer is overwhelmed and very few products will actually break through to become successful.

That's Robert Brady of Givenchy, speaking in 1996 about his company's decision to delay the US launch of Givenchy Organza so as "to avoid a packed playing field" (via Women's Wear Daily, 10/25/1996). Strictly speaking, it has nothing to do with today's fragrance, Organza Indecence, which launched in 1999 as Organza's "vampy little sister" (Ibid, 5/28/99), I just couldn't help cracking up when I read it. There were around 200 fragrance launches in 1996; this year, we're expecting some 800. Enough said.

Organza Indecence was meant to attract a younger audience to the Givenchy brand, and it reportedly did very well in its early life. As it was subsequently discontinued, I can only assume that at some point it stopped doing so very well...

Givenchy will celebrate their 50th anniversary as a fragrance house with the launch of Les Mythiques, a set of 10 fragrances from the line's back catalog. Six of the scents are for women, four for men; five of the 10 were no longer on the market. The fragrances are:

Le De ~ originally launched in 1957...

Kylie Minogue has launched a follow-up to last year's Darling. The new fragrance, Sweet Darling, will be a permanent addition to the Kylie Minogue line:

The oriental gourmand scent is said to be a sensual interpretation of the original with a cotton candy accord, juicy passion fruit, freesia and boronia...

Fleur de Cabotine...is described as a refreshing, feminine floral. The top notes include syringa flower and mandarin; the heart lily, orchid, peony and cactus blossom...