Victoria: 2669 posts

“To celebrate its 190th anniversary, the Swiss watchmaker Bovet is releasing its first perfume for women at the Baselworld fair this week. With top notes of blackcurrant buds, magnolia and violets, and middle notes of rose petals, iris, ylang-ylang, jasmine and rosewood bark, the floral scent plays on Bovet’s origins in Fleurier, the village in the Val-de-Travers district of the Swiss Jura that is also known as the valley of a thousand flowers.”

From Watchmakers Push Into New Realms of Luxury, a NYT article exploring how Swiss luxury watch houses are diversifying their portfolios with perfume.

“With the unexpected aroma of melting ice caps filling my nostrils, I inhale deeply. Frozen mountains exhale an earthy scent, and in the distance, Andean condors fly. “Can you feel that?” he asks, taking the sample away so that I open my eyes. “That’s our ‘Lago Del Desierto’ fragrance. We’ve recreated the smell of the glaciers and the surrounding countryside of Argentine Patagonia.”

An interesting article from The Argentina Independent about Fueguia perfume laboratory, an outfit recreating the scents of Argentina. Thanks to Sian for a link!

When Serge Lutens presented L’Eau, I found it baffling—it smelled of laundry musks and a whisper of florals, but eventually I took it in stride. When the master has been busy weaving opulent tapestries for the past twenty years, it is only fair that he pursues some other olfactory avenues to remain inspired. When L’Eau Froide crossed my path, I no longer felt any strong emotion about Lutens’ new direction. After all, the man has given us glorious Jeux de Peau and De Profundis! As it turns out, L’Eau Froide is wonderful—a crisp, sparkling cologne of incense and citrus.

The first impression is a chill of ginger and lemon. Ginger sometimes smells like the most citrusy of all citrus fruits, and this is exactly how it features in L’Eau Froide. Its effervescence lends itself perfectly to the cool demeanor of a perfume that means Cold Water in French. After a few more minutes, the bergamot, lemon and pepper begin to sing a cappella.

Continue reading →

Bois is pronounced as “bwah” in French–imagine that you are planting a tender kiss on someone’s cheek. However, my blog sometimes gets introduced as “Boyz de Jazmine,” which sounds suspiciously like a boy’s band. So I thought that it would be good to share the correct pronunciation of the phrase that means “jasmine wood” or “jasmine forest” in French. I turned to Bela, the founder of Frag Name of the Day. Bela used to read the news on the BBC French Service, and I could not think of a better French expert to ask for help. Moreover, her voice is beautiful, so it is a double pleasure to listen to her impressive collection of 782 podcasts featuring French fragrance names.  And here is how one pronounces Bois de Jasmin!

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

After Flowerbomb, Antidote, and Eau Méga, the Amsterdam fashion house Viktor & Rolf has launched Spicebomb, a new masculine fragrance. While the clothing by designers Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren is avant-garde and edgy, the fragrances feel to me driven mostly by the desire to boost the company’s profit margins. They are well-made, polished, but perhaps stay too close to current trends. Spicebomb is a pleasant surprise in the line up—a fragrance that blends gender boundaries as effortlessly as Tilda Swinton—V&R’s muse—in Orlando and that has a few dark and smoky surprises in its layers.

Continue reading →