Posted by Robin
on
7 January 2009
The Six Scents Fragrance Initiative debuted last year. The project is a collaboration between Symrise, Metaproject and Seven New York: each year, they'll release six new fragrances, each one pairing a Symrise perfumer with a designer, and donate a portion of the proceeds to charity. The beneficiary of the 2008 collection will be Designers Against AIDS.
Several of the fragrances in the 2008 collection were interesting (I'm still mulling over No. 2, Wicken 3000 oops, make that No. 4, Diagonal) but No. 3, The Spirit of Wood was the only one that inspired love at first sniff…
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Posted by Kevin
on
18 June 2008
I love the richness and unabashed potency of Middle Eastern and Indian fragrances. One of my first ‘exotic’ fragrance purchases was a tiny jar of waxy sandalwood-amber paste from India; a few dabs of that dense perfume paste on my collar bone scented me all day long. The perfume paste also came in the scents of orange blossom, rose, lotus and jasmine, and the entire line was advertised using the image of a turbaned man applying the perfume paste to his throat. Slowly and, unfortunately, turban-less, I ventured into floral territory with my fragrance purchases. The simple, inexpensive Indian perfumes opened up a new world to me: I started reading about the history of perfumery, I created “to-smell lists” of individual plant and animal perfume notes, and I started burning incense and wearing fragrances from India, Nepal, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Morocco. Both Montale Red Aoud and Agallocha Tedallal Homme were inspired by Middle Eastern perfumery…
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Posted by Robin
on
25 March 2008
One of the interesting discussions that came out of my recent post about perfume snobbery was the inevitability of brand influence. We most of us have our favorite perfume brands, and we get excited when they launch something new (and, of course, we are disappointed if the something new turns out to be dull and unexciting). It is nice to be surprised once in awhile, but then, life is just easier and simpler when Burberry's The Beat turns out to be appropriately Burberry-ish, and so on and so forth. It might be interesting if you picked up Ralph Wild and found a weird little milky wood pudding with incense and Costume National 21 turned out to be a strawberry soda, but it certainly wouldn't help you navigate the overcrowded fragrance market, would it?
So I expect certain things from certain brands, and if I'm disappointed, I grumble…
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Posted by Robin
on
4 February 2008
The Beat is the latest feminine perfume from Burberry, and in keeping with the iconic brand's ongoing efforts to stay trendy and of the moment, it is aimed (what else is new) at a young audience:
With model Agyness Deyn as its face, Beat is targeting a young, urban and hip crowd, said Burberry's creative director Christopher Bailey. “The mood of the fragrance is young, modern, energetic, dynamic, expressive, fun, vigour, verve and spiritedness … All words that describe the mood, inspiration and sense of ebullience that we wanted to evoke.” (via Cosmetics International, 12/14/2007)
The Beat is described as a sparkling floral woody fragrance; the notes feature bergamot, mandarin, Ceylon tea, cardamom, pink pepper, bluebell, iris, white musk, vetiver and cedarwood. It starts very bright, with tart fruit and juicy citrus. There is lots of pink pepper (can anybody remember what perfumes smelled like before pink pepper became obligatory?)…
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Posted by Kevin
on
4 January 2008
Acqua di Parma Colonia Intensa is not a stronger, longer-lasting version of Acqua di Parma Colonia; Colonia Intensa is a brand-new fragrance. Colonia Intensa’s opening reminds me of Christian Dior Eau Sauvage, its mid-development recalls Annick Goutal Eau du Sud and its finish resembles Monsieur Balmain’s base notes. With such great precursors (and delicious-smelling ingredients), I found Colonia Intensa hard to resist.
Colonia Intensa was developed by perfumer Alberto Morillas and contains lemon, neroli, bergamot, myrtle, mugwort, ginger, cardamom, lignum vitae, cedar, benzoin, leather, patchouli and musk; it smells more masculine than Acqua di Parma Colonia and its structure and development are seamless. (Acqua di Parma Colonia has more distinct top, middle and base phases of development.)
Colonia Intensa opens with ‘electric’ and ‘fizzy’ lemon-ginger accords…
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