Posted by Robin
on
1 November 2011
Many of you will remember that niche line L’Artisan Parfumeur used to do a limited edition unisex summer fragrance every year. Usually, it was something fleeting and happy meant for hot weather wear, packaged in a whimsical bottle and sold at a slightly lower cost per ml than the regular L’Artisan line. If the fragrance did well, sometimes it ended joining the regular line. So far as I can tell, they haven’t done one since 2006, when they released Mandarine Tout Simplement.
Batucada, L’Artisan’s latest fragrance, is not a summer limited edition. It might be the latest in the travel series, I’m not sure — and it doesn’t really matter: the point is, it doesn’t get a fun bottle and it costs about the same as the rest of them. It would have fit right into the summer limited edition line-up, though: it’s cheerful and summer-y, and light-hearted in a way that we haven’t seen from L’Artisan lately.
It was inspired by the Brazilian samba style of the same name, and by Brazil in general…
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Posted by Robin
on
23 August 2011
L’Artisan Parfumeur will launch Batucada, a new unisex fragrance, in September. Batucada was inspired by the Brazilian samba style of the same name, and more generally by the flavors and colors of Brazil…
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Posted by Jessica
on
5 November 2010
Earlier this year, Amouage released its Library Collection, a trio of fragrances designed as a “poetic homage to the art of living.” Opus III is a floral oriental developed by perfumer Karine Vinchon; according to Amouage, this fragrance “was inspired by the art and science of the creative process, from the darkest moments of frustration, to the brightness of enlightenment and discovery.” It includes top notes of mimosa, broom, carnation, nutmeg, and thyme; a heart of violet, jasmine, ylang-ylang, and orange blossom; and base notes of ambrette, musk, papyrus, cedarwood, sandalwood, guaiac wood, benzoin, and vanilla.
Opus III opens with a distinctive note of broom flowers. If you’ve ever tried Santa Maria Novella Ginestra, a broom soliflore, you’ll recognize this scent, something like cut hay and long grass warmed by the sun. If Opus III were visible as color, the dominant shades of its opening and its heart would be the bright, almost sharp yellow of broom blossoms and the buttery shade of mimosa flowers…
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Posted by Kevin
on
13 October 2010
Amouage creative director Christopher Chong aimed for something truly great with his two latest fragrances — Memoir Man and Memoir Woman: “to unlock the unfathomable mysteries that reside within human nature.” Well! It’s certainly not the usual perfume goal of “we aim to move 2 million units during the first twelve months of our launch.” In the Amouage “Memoir” PR brew, there’s mention of Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du mal, a “Black Swan” (Memoir Woman), and absinth (perhaps quaffed as much as used as an ingredient during the Memoir creative process?)
Memoir Man, described as a leather-woody-fougère fragrance, contains notes of wormwood/absinth, basil, mint, frankincense, rose, lavender, vetiver, sandalwood, guaiac wood, amber, vanilla, musk, oakmoss, leather and tobacco; it was developed by perfumer Karine Vinchon who I “met” a few weeks ago as I sampled her L’Artisan Coeur de Vétiver Sacré .
Memoir Man begins with a slightly musty, yet creamy, wormwood scent mixed with ‘cool’ mint. As the herbal opening develops…
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Posted by Kevin
on
29 September 2010
L’Artisan Parfumeur describes Coeur de Vétiver Sacré as an “offering to the gods” and a “mystical journey from East to West”; the fragrance was created by perfumer Karine Vinchon, whose aim was to deconstruct vetiver into what she considers its main characteristics: sparkle (bergamot, orange, black tea); spice (pepper, ginger, coriander, saffron) and smoke (incense, birch).* When I first smelled Coeur de Vétiver Sacré, I felt it would have been better named Coeur de Gingembre Sacré because a rich candied ginger note is prominent. In fact, naming this perfume “vetiver” is like listing “vanilla ice cream” on a dessert menu when you plan on serving a banana split. There’s certainly vetiver in Coeur de Vétiver Sacré, but it’s not the dominant ingredient. I’m not complaining; the world doesn’t need another straight-up/vetiver-dominant perfume anyway.
Coeur de Vétiver Sacré uses vetiver as a vehicle for other perfume adornments. The list of notes sounds fabulous, complex, intriguing, but Coeur de Vétiver Sacré smells simple and linear…
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