Clinique celebrates the 40th anniversary of Aromatics Elixir, the 1971 classic chypre developed by perfumer Bernard Chant, with new limited editions including a new interpretation of the fragrance...

Jennifer Aniston's eponymous fragrance, which debuted last year in the UK, has finally reached US shores. I am better placed to talk about it than I am with many celebrity fragrances, insofar as I actually know who Jennifer Aniston is — doesn't everybody? She's one of our more likable celebrities, I should think, although whether that will translate into major sales remains to be seen, and she did not get a contract with one of the biggies, like Coty or Elizabeth Arden or Estee Lauder. Her fragrance was made with Falic Fashion Group, who also holds the fragrance licenses for Perry Ellis and the recently launched Original Penguin.

As many of you will remember, Aniston, like many celebrities who are gearing up for a fragrance launch, started out by talking about how she didn't really like strong, perfume-y fragrances; fragrances she particularly named as too strong included Miss Dior, Cacharel Anaïs Anaïs, Hermès Calèche and an unnamed body splash that was probably Jean Naté. Her fragrance, which was at that time to be called Lolavie (the name got dropped shortly before the launch), was to be "sexy and clean" and "floral, but not too flowery", and (my personal favorite) to smell "unique on every woman's skin".

The scent itself, which includes notes of citrus grove accord, rose water, night blooming jasmine, wild violets, Amazon lily, musk, amber and sandalwood, is meant to recall night blooming jasmine on a warm California evening, and salty air and tropical oils, and long sunny days on the beach. Aniston grew up in California, and the finished product has a distinct resemblance to the fragrances that I think of as the "California perfume oils"...

Bond no. 9 will launch Madison Square Park in April:

The park known as Madison Square (named for the president and principal author of the U.S. Constitution) is at the junction where Fifth Avenue and Broadway...

Bond no. 9 will launch New York Oud, a new unisex fragrance, in February:

The name says it all. Bond No. 9 is launching an expectation-defying oud—a beautiful contradiction in terms that’s re-invented the whole idea of this much discussed perfume phenomenon...

In case you missed it, the story behind Mariah Carey's new Lollipop Bling trio is that Carey's husband, Nick Cannon, proposed with a ring hidden in a Ring Pop package. So the three new candy-inspired fragrances — Honey, Ribbon and Mine Again — were made in partnership with Topps, the makers of Ring Pops, and when they appear in mass market stores next year (right now they're at Macy's and the like) they'll be marketed alongside actual Ring Pops.

Honey was my favorite of the three, but that isn't exactly saying much. It's supposed to be the "bright and sunny" entry, but it isn't the light, sparkling and fun summer scent it could have been...

I couldn’t have been Lilly Pulitzer in another life because…she’s still alive, but I’ve always had a soft spot for the preppy “pink-and-green” color combo Pulitzer often uses in her designs. I was initially attracted to Bond no. 9 High Line because of its pink-and-green bottle — not its juice; High Line is a type of fragrance (rather artificial, high-pitched and “Fresh!”) I usually shun, and yet….

Bond no. 9 describes High Line as “the scent of wildflowers, green grasses…and urban renewal” with “a hint of industrial grit.” High Line (perfumer: Laurent Le Guernec) was created to celebrate the “new” High Line* “neighborhood” of New York City which is: "An improbable aerial walkway lined with concrete planks and railroad tracks, landscaped with meadows, wetlands, and wildflowers, the High Line hovers 30 feet above street level as it meanders along its route from the Meatpacking District to the former 34^th Street rail yards — sometimes bridging its way through buildings along the way."

High Line, the fragrance, is categorized as “an androgynous floral-marine” perfume (the “marine” notes reference the nearby Hudson River); it includes notes of bergamot, purple love grass (Eragrostis spectabilis), Indian rhubarb, red-leaf rose, orange flower water, Lady Jane tulips (Tulipa clusiana), grape hyacinth, sea moss, teakwood, bur oak and musk. (I found nary a hint of “industrial grit” in the notes.)

High line starts with a burst of bergamot and a clean and tart “vegetal-fruit” aroma...

Bond no. 9 will launch Washington Square for women and Cooper Square for men this fall.

Washington Square (shown above left) ~ named for Washington Square Park, and featuring notes of bergamot, geranium, tarragon...

Mariah Carey will launch Lollipop Bling, a new trio of candy-inspired fragrances — Honey, Ribbon and Mine Again, each named for a Mariah Carey song — for women made in partnership with Topps, the makers of Ring Pops. Reportedly, Carey's husband Nick Cannon proposed with a ring hidden inside a Ring Pop package...