Elegant: 198 posts

What can one expect from a fragrance inspired by Billie Holiday’s gardenia, called Une Voix Noire (Black Voice) and created by the dream team of Serge Lutens and Christopher Sheldrake? Heady, dark, convoluted, perhaps? Well, Une Voix Noire is none of these things. It has a surprising combination of softness and warmth. Its presence is generous, but it’s not overwhelming. It’s dramatic without being heady or dense. Une Voix Noire feels velvety the moment you put it on, and it gracefully moves from one stage to another. Frankly, if Lutens said that he was inspired by ballerina Maya Plisetskaya’s Black Swan, rather than by Lady Day, I would have believed him.

I admit that this Lutens wasn’t love at first inhale the way Bois de Violette or De Profundis have been for me.  I anticipated the heady, the dark and the bittersweet, and I missed them in this soft perfume.  Nevertheless, I’m glad that I went along for the ride, because Une Voix Noire forced me to take our courtship slowly and to fall in love with it one layer at a time.

Continue reading →

What happens when a talented photographer and a perfumer cross paths? To figure this out, I take a close look at the striking sunshine filled image by the Italian master Massimo Vitali and apply a drop of Lumière Blanche to my wrist. The idea behind this perfume by the French niche house Olfactive Studio was to capture the intense white light saturating Vitali’s photograph of a Sicilian beach.

It’s easy enough to fall under the spell of suggestion with something as intangible as a scent and as vivid as this image, and I could tell you that I smell “white” and “radiance.” What I feel above all is just pleasure. As I press my nose into my wrist, I notice a comforting warmth from the perfume’s blend of spices, almonds and sandalwood. There is a beautiful synergy between picture and a scent, but even on their own, they are striking.

Continue reading →

“Flowers can have a dark enchantment,” says Tom Ford of his new Jardin Noir series. “When you showcase their darker and less innocent aspects, flowers can become so thrilling and beautiful, they could almost ruin you. That was the sensation I was after.”* For a flower from a collection called Jardin Noir, Lys Fume upon first impression is not all that dark. For a perfume named “Fume”, which I take to mean “smoked lily” in French, the smoke is quite subtle.

But even if Tom Ford is after the “film noir” glamour goddesses in theory only, Lys Fume is an enjoyable fragrance. Real lilies smell intensely indolic–of ink and moth balls–and while perfumers Rodrigo Flores-Roux and Shyamala Maisondieu  tone down the animalic components, they didn’t shy away from exploring some surprising twists to create this blossom.

Continue reading →

What is your most elegant perfume? What fragrance makes you feel chic and sophisticated, whatever outfit you wear and whatever the state of your hair?

When we were discussing Catherine Deneuve, elegance, and Guerlain Rose Nacrée du Désert on Monday, I immediately made a mental list of fragrances that have an aura of effortless elegance. Nothing overstudied or high-maintenance. The perfume that comes to mind when I think of elegance is Christian Dior Eau Sauvage. Eau Sauvage and its sister Diorella are harmonious and understated, but they sure do get noticed. Guerlain Chamade is another fragrance that makes me feel like I live a much more glamorous life than I do.

But the classics aren’t the only perfumes that feel elegant to me.  Parfums de Nicolai Odalisque, Costes, Etat Libre d’Orange Putain des Palaces (name aside!), L’Artisan Parfumeur Nuit de Tubereuse, Lalique Encre Noire, Van Cleef et Arpels Cologne Noire, and Prada Infusion de Vetiver are among my favorite elegant perfumes. And of course, my beloved Serge Lutens Bois de Violette. So, as you can see, it’s quite a range!

More of my elegant perfumes can be found  at Perfume by Mood : Elegant.

Image via whenwewereyoungerandbetter

When I first heard about Guerlain Rose Nacrée du Désert, which is part of the Les Déserts d’Orient collection, along with Encens Mythique d’Orient and Songe d’Un Bois d’Été, I was only mildly curious. Had it been a part of the regular collection, I would have been more proactive in seeking out a sample, but Les Déserts d’Orient is sold at only a few boutiques, and I dislike falling in love with something this exclusive. (Can you tell where this is going?)

To make a long story short, a sample found its way to me thanks to a kind reader, and whenever I have been wearing Rose Nacrée du Désert, I’ve been experiencing minor scented epiphanies. I may be doing something as unglamorous as picking up dry cleaning, when I suddenly catch a whiff of dark roses clinging to my skin. It’s an instant dose of chic, and on most days, I desperately need it.

Continue reading →