Posted by Angela
on
10 July 2012
I love both Christian Dior Eau Fraîche (1955) and Miss Dior Original (1947). I rightly suspected the new Christian Dior Miss Dior Eau Fraîche wouldn’t be like either of these.
Vintage Eau Fraîche teems with oakmoss and tart citrus. I took a decant with me on a 900-mile, one-day road trip a few years back, and spritzes of it — along with a thermos of coffee and several books on CD — kept me alert while summer-crisped stretches of the high desert flew by. As for Miss Dior Original, the jolie-laide leathery green chypre fascinates me enough that I laid down a lifetime supply of the vintage a long time ago.
Naturally, Miss Dior Eau Fraîche couldn’t live up to either of those fragrances. Lately my relationship with Dior has felt like a bad marriage. Remembering the early days of the romance — Diorella, vintage Diorling, my beloved Miss Dior, vintage Dioressence — I keep going back hoping to feel the same happiness. But the reformulations have consistently let me down. As I made the sample of Miss Dior Eau Fraîche from the department store’s tester bottle, I girded myself against more heartache. I needn’t have worried. Sure, it’s not Eau Fraîche or Miss Dior, but I really like it…
Read the rest of this article »
Posted by Jessica
on
6 January 2012
One of the long-running best-sellers in the Annick Goutal line is Petite Chérie (1998), a girlish fruity-floral that Annick Goutal dedicated to her daughter Camille. Camille has now reciprocated by devoting a fragrance to her mother’s memory: it is a spicy floral chypre titled Mon Parfum Chéri par Camille and its composition includes Indonesian patchouli, iris, violet, plum, and heliotropin.
Mon Parfum Chéri par Camille is partially inspired by a vintage solid perfume from Annick Goutal’s fragrance collection (originally a gift from the author Colette!); working with the perfumer Isabelle Doyen, Camille Goutal was also “drawn back to her childhood memories of Hollywood’s wartime movies. Tempting satin. Delicate lace. Actresses and their gloved hands and ruby lips. And a memory of her mother dressing for an evening out…” For me, Mon Parfum Chéri par Camille succeeds in this evocation. It’s old-fashioned, in a full-bodied, self-possessed way, and it really is most appropriate for evening wear (although I normally avoid that kind of fragrance-wearing instruction).
When I sniff Mon Parfum Chéri from the sample vial, I notice plenty of patchouli…
Read the rest of this article »
Posted by Robin
on
11 March 2011
As I’ve mentioned here numerous times, I know little enough about fashion, and that includes shoes. Manolo Blahnik and Jimmy Choo, I take it, are the big names, information which probably filtered into my general consciousness via Sex and the City even though I only saw the show a handful of times. A quick check on Google reveals that neither of them have the famous red soles, though — that’s apparently Christian Louboutin. There, now we’ve exhausted nearly everything I know about shoes.
So Jimmy Choo, as I understand it, does not own any portion of the company that bears his name, although he still designs some of the footwear. It’s owned by a private equity company, and Tamara Mellon (who “starred” in the ad campaign for the perfume) runs it; she is presumably responsible for the run-of-the-mill modern fruity chypre (i.e., floriental) that now bears the Jimmy Choo name…
Read the rest of this article »
Posted by Robin
on
12 February 2010
Balenciaga Paris is the latest fragrance from Balenciaga. It’s the brand’s first major launch since Cristobal in 1998, the first effort under new licensing arrangements with Coty, and the first under creative director Nicolas Ghesquière. It’s fronted by Charlotte Gainsbourg, who is frequently described as Ghesquière’s muse (see the very low-key Gainsbourg ad here). Perfumer Olivier Polge characterized the floral chypre as “present” — “It’s here. When you wear it. You smell it.”1
That might sound a little oblique, but it turns out to be a fitting description: when I first tried Balenciaga Paris on paper, my reaction was muted, and it wasn’t until I’d worn it on skin several times that I began to see what he meant. Balenciaga Paris wears like a minimalist veil — think Prada’s Infusion d’Iris or L’Eau Ambrée, although it smells like neither. It starts soft and fresh and watery…
Read the rest of this article »
Posted by Robin
on
14 July 2009
Jasmine White Moss is the latest addition to Estée Lauder’s Private Collection range. It’s reportedly based on an unfinished fragrance that Estée Lauder herself had been working on in the 1980s:
Estée conceived Formula #546AQ, as it was known, as a new way to convey sparkling freshness balanced with sophisticated elegance and a distinctive signature. However, it was left unfinished in her lifetime and was gradually forgotten for many years.
Often inspired by her grandmother’s work, Aerin Lauder, Estée Lauder Senior Vice President and Creative Director, was looking back through the archives and rediscovered this lost fragrance. She fell in love with its unexpectedly lively, modern spirit and decided to complete the fragrance, using today’s advanced technology and the finest natural ingredients direct from France.1
Private Collection Jasmine White Moss is classified as a green floral chypre. Like the other Private Collection scents (see Tuberose Gardenia and Amber Ylang Ylang), it goes on big…
Read the rest of this article »
