Phaedon is a new niche line that debuted in late 2011 with six fragrances. The line was named for Phaedo of Elis and is reportedly produced by perfumer Pierre Guillaume of Parfumerie Generale...

French niche line Parfumerie Generale will launch No. 25 Indochine this month. The new fragrance was inspired by a mythical cruise on the Mekong river, circa 1920...

Parfumerie Generale Praliné de Santal

Parfumerie Generale, to my mind, is a niche house you really should know if you're at all into oddball little gourmands — candy for grownups, if you will. Praliné de Santal is one of their more recent launches, and it's a limited edition, so if you want some, think sooner rather than later.

I loved it right away...

Parfumerie Generale has launched two new limited edition fragrances, Praliné de Santal and Tonkamande...

One of perfumer Pierre Guillaume’s inspirations for the new limited edition Parfumerie Generale Bois Naufragé was a photograph by Lucien Clergue — Le Nu au Bois Flotté [Ed note: the image is NSFW]. Taking into consideration the photo (showing a naked woman lying on a huge piece of driftwood) and the fragrance’s name (“shipwrecked wood”), I was imagining a salty perfume (salt of the ocean, salty skin), a perfume with a silky, sun-dried, and yes, salty, wood note combining with the scents of seaweed and sand. I was preparing myself for a summer sea breeze in a bottle, and Bois Naufragé’s fragrance notes gave me hope: carob tree, fleur de sel and ambergris.

Bois Naufragé starts with a sweet-milky accord that reminds me of candied figs stuffed with coconut: NOT what I was expecting. The ‘fig’ note loses a bit of its sweetness during the initial dry-down as a touch of mild, “green” musk emerges. I don’t find Bois Naufragé particularly “salty” but the fleur in fleur de sel is apparent in a sheer floral note, smelling a bit like “flat” jasmine mixed with tonka bean/vanilla. Most of Bois Naufragé’s “wood” must have been washed back out to sea...

Parfumerie Generale has launched two new limited edition fragrances, Gardenia Grand Soir and Bois Naufragé:

Gardenia Grand Soir (shown) ~ "In Gardénia Grand Soir, Pierre Guillaume has captured the flower at its most natural..."

Bring on the stems, leaves, grasses — I’m always in the mood for ‘green’ fragrances. Green-tinged perfumes are refreshing and often “cool” in tone; they convey the idea of “growth,” especially new growth of plants. Spring is the perfect time for a green cologne to debut, and I’ve been looking forward to smelling Parfumerie Generale Papyrus de Ciane (No. 24).

Perfumer Pierre Guillaume has gotten a lot of online media coverage for Papyrus de Ciane and much of it references his use of a legendary component of early 20^th century fragrances: Mousse de Saxe. I’ll let others discuss the chemical composition of Mousse de Saxe and its reconfiguration for Papyrus de Ciane; my only “concern” is: How does Papyrus de Ciane smell on me?

Papyrus de Ciane’s “published” list of notes is varied (online at Parfumerie Generale only five components are mentioned: galbanum, broom, mild plant note, Mousse de Saxe, Silvanone® Supra (musk); in interviews, Guillaume has also mentioned bergamot, neroli, mugwort, cistus labdanum, lavender, clove, vetiver, incense and hedione.

Papyrus de Ciane begins with a mix of citrus, “white flowers” and delicious and strong galbanum (the galbanum crystallizes and turns soft and powdery fast); Papyrus de Ciane’s green notes are not wild and sharp...

Parfumerie Generale will launch their latest fragrance, No. 24 Papyrus de Ciane, in February:

Woody, green, build on a contemporary interpretation of "Mousse de Saxe"...

Felanilla — and let's not even talk about the name, 'kay? — is one of the latest fragrances from Parfumerie Generale, and it did make an immediate impression. My testing notes from the first trial say simply "Shalimar", not because it's a dupe, mind you, but because it struck me as something like a modern niche meditation on the Shalimar theme...

No. 21, Felanilla: (shown) ~ a soft, spicy oriental; "Ferociously luxurious. A feline Vanilla on the coat of Iris and Saffron". With notes of vanilla, saffron, iris, banana wood, hay and amber...