Van Cleef & Arpels has launched Un Air de First, a new fragrance for women. Un Air de First is a flanker to the house’s debut perfume, 1976′s First, and promises to be modern but faithful to the spirit of the original…
What does midnight in Paris smell like? In spring and summer, the warm atmosphere heightens the scents of grass, earth, and flowers in the gardens; aromas of food and drink waft from bistros and cafes. Year-round one smells cigarette smoke, exhaust fumes, cologne on passersby …and dog turds. I don’t remember midnight in Paris smelling like tonka beans, but judging by Van Cleef & Arpels Midnight in Paris Pour Homme, tonka beans perfume the Seine, the fountains, the air.
Tonka bean is on the verge of becoming the “new violet leaf” in men’s fragrances; it’s everywhere. I bought some tonka beans (Dipteryx odorata) from a local herbal apothecary and perfumery so I could smell the real thing (1 oz of tonka beans costs around $2.50). Tonka beans smell a lot like (musky-nutty) vanilla and are used in the making of desserts as well as in perfumes (when I smell tonka beans I think of nougats, frostings, sweet syrups, custards). In the U.S., tonka beans, which contain coumarin, have been banned from use in foods since 1954 due to their blood-thinning properties, but that hasn’t stopped chefs from using the fragrant beans.
Midnight in Paris Pour Homme is billed as a “floral-leather” fragrance…
Van Cleef & Arpels will launch Midnight in Paris Pour Homme in August. The new fragrance for men is named for the brand’s Midnight in Paris watch…
First things first: the name is misleading. Van Cleef & Arpels Oriens is not an oriental fragrance. This Eau de Parfum is reportedly intended to evoke “the ever-changing mystery and magic of the exotic silk route to Asia,” and it’s being billed as a “fruity floral chypre.” Created by perfumer Bernard Ellena, it features top notes of raspberry, black currant, and praline; middle notes of jasmine and fresh-cut white flowers; and a base of patchouli.
The bottle’s designer, Joël Desgrippes, modeled Oriens’ flacon after a ring design from Van Cleef & Arpels’ fine jewelry collection: an enormous tourmaline set in white gold, like a flower surrounded by diamond-studded leaves…
Van Cleef & Arpels will launch Oriens, a new fruity floral chypre for women that “pays homage to Asian culture”, this coming February.
Oriens was developed by perfumer Bernard Ellena…
Another corpse flower has bloomed at Western Illinois U, & they're expecting 2 more... http://t.co/oRnROz6j (& they've got live video)