One litmus test of a store’s success in New York City is the frequency with which its logo shopping bags are spotted on the street and on the subway. I’ve noticed quite a few Sabon bags being carried and reused for other purposes by my fellow commuters, so I decided it was time for me to revisit one of this company’s local boutiques. I’ve visited Sabon a few times before, but I usually left empty-handed. Some of the products and scents just didn’t appeal to me, and others bothered me slightly by looking too similar to items from other brands (Agraria, Côté Bastide, Lush…).
On my latest trip to a Sabon shop, however, I ended up purchasing a bottle of Patchouli Lavender Body Oil. I liked its antique-looking, ribbed-glass bottle, the idea of concentrated, oil-based moisture for my dry elbows and legs, and oh yes, the scent. I surprised myself by being drawn to this fragrance, because it doesn’t smell like lavender essential oil, vanilla absolute, or actual patchouli; in other words, it’s definitely a synthetic scent…
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Posted by Robin
on
2 April 2009
Les Parfums de Rosine has launched La Rose Légère, a new summer version of La Rose de Rosine:
Beautiful days are back and La Rose de Rosine metamorphoses in an Eau Fraîche, a more lively, light and sweet fragrance: LA ROSE LEGERE.
The top note is gently kicked by a wild strawberry and is mixing the green and grinding blackcurrant, the acidulous and fresh bergamot and the sweet neroli…
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Posted by Robin
on
3 March 2009
Niche line Parfums de Nicolaï launched Vanille Intense, a new addition to the Les Magnifiques collection:
Racy and incredibly natural bourbon vanilla absolu will take you miles away… An exotic tribute to the vanilla bean with a captivating rhum top note enhanced with Indonesian patchouli oil for a warm and woody dry down…
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Posted by Robin
on
22 January 2009
Lavanila has launched Vanilla Lavender:
Innocent & fresh. This clean and romantic blend of Spanish Lavender, Rose Absolute, Violet Leaf and warm Madagascar vanilla is created by natural perfumers who use only the finest pure essential oils. Peaceful and serene, an oasis of tranquility awaits…
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Posted by Robin
on
17 December 2008
My “to review” list is now so alarmingly long that I try not to look at it at all for more than a few seconds at a time. Yesterday, in despair, I decided to cross out all of the niche fragrances I wasn't even interested in smelling again and could barely remember from the first try (scents that “fill my head with a deep, profound, Zen-like nothingness”, to quote March at Perfume Posse). All of those samples were thrown into the purgatory basket, where they may end up living out the rest of their days unless either a) I get more productive or b) the fragrance industry gets less productive.
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…
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