terry de gunzburg: 2 posts

Terry de Gunzburg is the kind of person I admire. She quit a career in medicine to train as a makeup artist, and thanks to her vision and dedication to quality, she has become so successful that she’s regularly called the Steve Jobs of makeup. Sounds odd, except that many of the cosmetics she launched have remained best sellers for decades, such as the famous Touche Éclat, a highlighter-concealer pen she created for Yves Saint Laurent. When she announced a perfume line two years ago, I prepared for fireworks.

But the first launch was disappointing, proving that a lot of money doesn’t instantly translate into great perfume. The names of the fragrances, Rêve Opulent, Parti Pris, Lumière d’Epices, Ombre Mercure and Flagrant Délice, were more memorable than the scents themselves. (After I wrote this article, I realized that de Gunzburg now has 12 perfumes in its collection, including the ubiquitous Oud.) The problem is typical of niche brands—the lack of editing.

Two subsequent launches, Rose Infernale and Rouge Nocturne, also lack editing—why have two similar oriental roses?—but here, the rose lover in me tells the pedant to be quiet and just enjoy the ride. And I do. Rose Infernale, in particular, is a striking fragrance, and I’m addicted to its dark roses smoked over incense and sandalwood.

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This October, the makeup artist Terry de Gunzburg will launch her first fragrance collection. Collection de Haute Parfumerie de Terry de Gunzburg will include Parti Pris (tuberose, jasmine, ylang-ylang), Rêve Opulent (hyacinth, rose, floral notes), Lumière d’Épices (spicy woods), Ombre Mercure (iris, violet, patchouli, woods), and Flagrant Délice (fig, green notes, gourmand accord). You might know de Gunzburg’s work through Touche Éclat, an innovative concealer and brightener she created while heading up make-up design for Yves Saint Laurent.

The fragrances were created by perfumers Karine Vinchon-Spehner, Jacques Fleury, Arthur Le Tourneur d’Ison, and Sidonie Lancesseur, and according to the press release, the fragrances include iris butter, tuberose absolute, rose essence, ylang ylang, and other precious materials. As de Gunzburg said, “I had to ignore the ‘dos and don’ts’ imposed by trends or by a commercial brief. Free from any restrictions, I have followed my instinct to create pure, original and extravagantly high-quality fragrances.”

Besides her own fragrances, she likes to wear a smoky orange blossom perfume created for her by Francis Kurkdjian. Sometimes she wears different perfumes on different parts of her body: Aromatics Elixir on the wrists, Opium parfum in the hollow of the neck, rose absolute on her clothes.

Each fragrance will be available as a 100ml EDP spray/£105 and a 50ml EDP spray/£68.

Via press release, nouvelobs.com and fashionmonitor.com.