Victoria: 2669 posts

Indie perfumer Mandy Aftel’s new perfume Sepia was inspired by her explorations of California’s Gold Country ghost towns. During the Letters to A Fellow Perfumer series on Nathan Branch’s blog, Sepia went from a fantasy of a lost world to a perfume. It is includes notes of cedarwood, yellow mandarin, pink grapefruit, pink lotus, strawberry, jasmine grandiflorum, cocoa, coffee, tobacco, oud, indole, ambergris, cepes, and labdanum. I decided to ask Mandy a few questions about her perfume and the creative process behind it.

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The Fragrance Foundation has announced its top ten finalists for the FiFi Awards 2012. A list of all the nominees can be found at www.fragrance.org  > FiFi Awards > Nominees. The winners will be announced at the Awards Ceremony on May 21st.

Luxe Women

ANGEL Eau de Toilette by Thierry Mugler – Clarins Fragrance Group

Beyoncé Pulse – Coty Inc.

Bottega Veneta – Coty Prestige

ELIE SAAB Le Parfum – Beauté Prestige International

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You know that the summer is coming soon when you see more citrus themed summer editions on the perfume counters. Besides L’Artisan Parfumeur Mandarine, there will be another sweet citrus perfume to try–Donna Karan Essence Mandarin. It includes notes of bergamot, lemon, mandarin, petitgrain, jasmine, neroli, oakmoss, vetiver, and styrax. Donna Karan Essence collection includes Lavender, Jasmine, Wenge, Labdanum, and Iris. $95-100 for a 3.4oz Eau de Parfum spray. Via Neiman Marcus

L’Artisan Parfumeur Mandarine is available again as a summer limited edition. It was previously launched as Mandarine Tout Simplement. The Eau de Toilette was created by perfumer Olivia Giacobetti, and it includes notes of green mandarin, ginger, yellow mandarin, frangipani, red mandarin, and cedarwood.

“Travel to Calabria or Sicily… green, yellow and red mandarins, 3 beautiful essences treated at different stages of maturity.” £55 (100 ml), available from L’Artisan as well as its Neiman Marcus, Barneys New York, and Henri Bendels counters. Via l’artisan.com

Star rating: 5 stars–outstanding/potential classic, 4 stars–very good, 3 stars–adequate, 2 stars–disappointing, 1 star–poor.

The idea of wearing one type of perfume in the summer and another in the winter doesn’t sit well with me, because I may want a rich vanilla perfume on a chilly June evening and an uplifting citrus blend to arouse me from the slumber of winter. While I do rotate my selection every season, I choose my perfumes based on the moods that they convey. Ormonde Jayne Frangipani Absolute smells like summer to me—peaches eaten on the beach, white stars of night-blooming jasmine tangled in my hair, a breeze leafing through the pages of a book forgotten on the patio.

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