Posted by Angela
on
2 January 2012
It’s rare to smell a fragrance that seems completely new, like nothing else on the market. It’s even more rare to find something that smells not only new, but at the same time ancient, as if unearthed from an Egyptian sarcophagus. Astonishingly, Vero Profumo Onda manages this last trick. There’s nothing of the focus group about it. If someone told me Onda was Mata Hari’s secret weapon, I’d believe it. If she told me Onda was Comme des Garçons’ latest fragrance, “Bilge Water Supreme,” I’d believe that, too. It’s a marvel.
Vero Kern, the nose behind Vero Profumo, released three fragrances in extrait — Onda, Rubj, and Kiki — in 2008. In 2010, she released Eau de Parfum versions of each fragrance. These three perfumes are Vero Profumo’s only offerings. Vero Profumo is one of the few perfume houses that doesn’t hustle one or two new perfumes out the door each year. While it’s a relief not to have to field a regular raft of new perfumes, Onda, Rubj, and Kiki are so interesting that I’m eager for her next release.
I first smelled Onda extrait when a Now Smell This reader passing through town slid a spray sample across the table of a Thai restaurant…
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Posted by Angela
on
1 August 2011
Wandering around on a recent rainy Sunday, a friend and I stepped into Una, a tiny shop on the working class side of town. The clothing was tremendously chic, all Italian fabrics and clever design. In a different life, when my womanly figure turns gamine and my penchant for nipped waists and rhinestones fades, I’ll have one of each on the rack. The jewelry was fabulous, too, and I’m saving up for a bronze Monica Castiglioni ring. But what really pleased me, was that in this shop — this little shop that could fit inside my living room —was a row of Etat Libre d’Orange perfumes.
Forget the rain, I was ecstatic. They didn’t have my two favorites, Jasmin et Cigarette (“We could never sell that here, people wouldn’t get it,” the owner told me later) and Like This, but Vraie Blonde sat in front, and several fragrances I wanted to get to know better lined up behind it. One of them was Fat Electrician Eau de Parfum. I took home a sample…
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Posted by Robin
on
12 April 2011
I used to think there were some notes that simply couldn’t be done to death. The fragrance industry has proven me wrong on that score. Raise your hand if you’d just as soon not see another new oud fragrance for a few years?
Vetiver hasn’t yet reached that stage.1 We’ve seen a slow but steady stream of new vetivers over the last couple years, but nothing like the fever-pitch rate of new ouds. On the other hand, you know, there are lots of vetivers out there already, and vetiver, like oud, has a tendency to dominate whatever composition it’s in. So the bar is set high for a new vetiver fragrance.
Today, I’m looking at new(-ish) vetivers from Escentric Molecules and Chantecaille. Many perfumistas already know about Escentric Molecules, the niche line of perfumer Geza Shoen. They’ve released three fragrance duos, each consisting of a single note diluted in alcohol, and a fragrance built around that single note. The third duo, which debuted last year, features vetiver. Molecule 03 (the fragrance I’m counting as a half in the title since it isn’t really what you’d call a finished fragrance) consists of vetiveryle acetate diluted in alcohol, nothing else. As with Molecule 01 (iso e super) and Molecule 02 (ambroxan), it’s probably not the most cost-effective way to get yourself a straight-up aroma chemical, and I’ve always wondered why they don’t release the Molecule fragrances in very small sizes…
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Posted by Robin
on
19 November 2010
Just as everyone’s clothing wardrobe benefits from a few low-key, comfortable items to pull on without thinking, perfume wardrobes need the same.
It is present, yet close to the skin — me, but better. I almost feel it rather than smell it.
But if you want a perfume to rest lightly around you, like a second skin…you could do a lot worse.
Those lines were pulled from Angela’s review of Mythique, by Parfums DelRae. Now let’s say that all sounds awfully good to you, but Mythique wasn’t exactly the second skin you were after (as was the case with me: I thought Mythique was lovely, but it did not move me). You’ve got your second chance with Panache, the brand’s latest release. It’s named for a line from Edmond Rostand’s play, Cyrano de Bergerac:
One thing is left, that, void of stain or smutch, I bear away despite you … My panache.
Panache is meant to be a unisex fragrance “centered around” vetiver. I don’t think your average vetiver fiend will find it passes muster as a vetiver scent, and by the same token, if you hate vetiver you needn’t necessarily cross Panache off your list…
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Posted by Robin
on
18 May 2010
Vetyverio is the latest fragrance release from French niche line Diptyque. They reportedly “had a fun time blurring the lines by blending perfumery’s archetypal raw materials, namely masculine vetiver and feminine flower bouquets”. In other words, it’s a unisex, although Diptyque, like many fragrance companies, prefers not to use that particular word, stating simply that it is neither masculine nor feminine.
Vetyverio starts out bright and fresh and energetic, with peppery citrus and leafy green notes (the notes: mandarin, grapefruit, lemon, bergamot, ylang ylang, Turkish rose, geranium, vetiver, carrot seeds, nutmeg, apricot, clove, cedar and musk). After that, it’s an exercise in subtlety: everything, from the florals to the vetiver to the spices, speaks in muted tones…
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