I have always liked mimosa in fragrances. Rather, I should clarify: I have always liked Acacia farnesiana (cassie) and/or scents with heliotropin. The term "mimosa" is a bit of a moving target, even in botany, as there are about 400 species or cultivars of plants under this genus, mostly with pink or mauve flowers, in addition to many other shrubs or trees that produce poofy, cartoonish blossoms and were historically lumped in under the name by the public — silk tree being an example. The sweet, warm, powdery smell we encounter in perfumery, with its facets of almond, honey, violet, craft paste and fresh cucumber, comes from distillation of the soft, feathery yellow petal clusters of the acacia species that most of us in the West know as mimosa flowers. One of my most vivid and happy memories of visits to France is the bushels of mimosa branches tossed out during "La Bataille de Fleurs" or flower parade during the Carnaval de Nice, which winds its way along what must be one of the world's most beautiful thoroughfares, the Promenade des Anglais.

For all its cheerful straight-forwardness, mimosa appears to be a hard note to use in perfume. There are very few credible soliflores and many mainstream fragrances with a strong mimosa presence come off as airheaded and shampoo-like. With the IFRA restrictions on heliotropin, it has become even more difficult, if not impossible, to base a fragrance around the flower. Looking to include perfumes with some availability in this list, I found that almost all the mimosa fragrances I'd enjoyed at the beginning of my perfume education in the mid-noughties were discontinued or reformulated. Caron Farnesiana, long the great classic of mimosa perfumes, has gone through so many versions that it is hard to keep track of them all...

French niche line Olfactive Studio debuts with three fragrances: Still Life, Autoportrait and Chambre Noire.

Olfactive Studio is an encounter between contemporary artistic photography and perfumery; between the eye and the nose...

Burlesque model and actress Dita Von Teese will launch her debut fragrance, Dita Von Teese, in October, although it will not be introduced into the US until next year. Dita Von Teese was made under licensing arrangements with Luxess...

Balmain creative director, Christophe Decarnin,* had a hand (and, presumably, his nose) in the creation of Parfums Balmain’s new (2010) men’s scent Carbone de Balmain:

Decarnin’s Balmain man is sexy and mysterious. He strolls nonchalantly through the city with glam rock elegance. Flashiness goes hand in hand with an ambiguous dark side that often pushes him to the limits of extravagance and provocation. He is demanding and aesthetic and considers art as a core value. He lives in the heart of new technologies, surrounding himself with works of art and objects of graphic design, carved from high-tech materials, as precious and as dark as carbon. Urbane and sophisticated, he is an epicurean who burns with a contagious passion for life. Carbone is a fragrance that develops like a work of art which quietly and secretly casts its spell.

Mysterious and nonchalant, yet…provocative and demanding, elegant, yet…flashy and extravagant, the Carbone de Balmain man is an epicure who values ART, but limits himself to the color black...

Trussardi has launched a new fragrance duo in honor of their 100th anniversary:

Trussardi is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2011...

Blugirl, the youth-oriented line from Blumarine, will launch their second fragrance for women, Jus de Fleurs, this month. Jus de Fleurs is a fruity floral, and follows last year's Jus No. 1...

Tous will launch Tous L'Eau, a collection comprising two new fragrances, one of them in two variations; according to Tous, they are "three fragrances, two aromas, one attitude"...

Moschino will launch Moschino Forever, a new aromatic fougère fragrance for men, in March...

Le Labo Another 13

Le Labo's new Another 13, their limited edition fragrance with AnOther magazine, is one of several recent ambrox-heavy¹ scents. Unlike Juliette Has A Gun's Not A Perfume, this one is actually a perfume, that is, someone (in this case, perfumer Nathalie Lorson) took the time to mix the ambrox with other notes (in this case, apple, pear, green citrus and ambrette).

Anyone remember Escentric 02 by Escentric Molecules? That was another ambrox vehicle, and despite the completely different notes (it featured vetiver, muscone, orris, elderflower extract and hedione), they're not as different as they sound. Maybe anything with lots of ambrox is going to end up smelling mostly like ambrox? Mind you, they're far from identical...

Roberto Cavalli has launched two new fragrances in the youth-oriented Just Cavalli line: I Love Her and I Love Him.

Just Cavalli I Love Her ~a floral transparent fragrance...