Posted by Kevin
on
11 January 2012
The perfume line Arquiste is the brainchild of Mexican architect/designer Carlos Huber (a k a Nate Berkus’s boyfriend); the name “Arquiste” represents the ideas (ideals?) of “architecture,” “history” and “art” and the perfumes in the collection reference historical moments, from the meeting of Louis XIV of France and María Teresa of Spain in 1660 (the fragrances Fleur de Louis and Infanta en Flor) to Alexander Pushkin’s death-by-dueling in 1837 (Aleksandr).
I decided to tackle the two ‘Mexican’ fragrances in the line first, because Mexico and I go way back (and have always had a happy relationship)…
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Posted by Robin
on
31 October 2011
Anthropologie’s Happ & Stahns line has launched 1922 Lily Sanguine, a new fragrance for women…
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Posted by Kevin
on
14 September 2011
John Varvatos’ target audience for the Star USA line, clothing and fragrance, is “adults” (men in their 20s and beyond), but the effect of the name “Star USA” coupled with the new fragrance’s container — part beer bottle (note the metal-spring cap), part subway token (top) and part “microphone” — is more ‘Adolescent Avon’ than ‘Modern Metro-Man.’ (The bottle does fit with the Star USA m.o.: “being a little off.”1)
Star USA was developed by perfumer Rodrigo Flores-Roux and includes notes of red ginger, juniper berries, cédrat, blue spruce, cardamom, osmanthus, vetiver, Belambre and tonka bean. Star USA starts off with a sheer, very mainstream (verging on generic) accord of citrus, ginger (zingy, but fleeting) and juniper-spruce. The opening is crisp and a tad menthol-y. I don’t detect any osmanthus (too bad!), but there is a hint of cardamom in Star USA’s early and mid-development.
Judging from past Varvatos perfumes, I assume the designer or his creative team — or Flores-Roux (a Givaudan perfumer) — adores Belambre and Serenolide…
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Posted by Robin
on
8 July 2011
John Varvatos will launch Star USA, a new fragrance for his men’s apparel line of the same name, in September…
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Posted by Kevin
on
23 March 2011
I usually prefer to wear “simple” and light fragrances in warm weather; I don’t want lots of notes percolating on my skin and inside my nostrils on a hot day — that’s annoying. I visited Los Angeles in February when the weather there was glorious: sunny, 78 degree days, cool evenings, and skies so clear you could see stars (the celestial type) at night. I packed several new fragrances for the trip, and it was fun to fast-forward to ‘summer’ for a week (it was still 25 degrees at home in Seattle with at least another month of awful weather to come). Two of the new “summery” perfumes I tested in L.A. stood out: Pacifica Indian Coconut Nectar and Six Scents Series Three Beau Bow.
Indian Coconut Nectar smells almost exactly how Pinkberry (another “hit” from my L.A. trip) coconut frozen yoghurt tastes, with flavors/scents of cool, yet musky, coconut (slightly “green” and tart-unripe ), combined with creamy vanilla and perhaps a squirt of lime juice. Indian Coconut Nectar perfume is simple, but it smells delicious. I can’t resist the scent of coconut during summer but if you dislike coconut, you’ll hate Indian Coconut Nectar — it’s all about the coconut…
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