I debated whether I should review Shiseido White Rose Natural, because it’s expensive and available only in Japan. For some, this may be a tantalizing combination, for others (and we are in the majority), the ultimate frustration. But if you’re a rose lover, a perfume history buff, or like me, have a strong interest in Japanese fragrances, White Rose is hard to resist. Given Japanese perfume tastes, it’s somewhat of a puzzle–a rose that doesn’t smell at all like the fresh watery roses that grace the regional top seller lists. White Rose Natural combines the boldness of American perfumery with the refinement of French, but the end result is that smells remarkably Japanese, even if it doesn’t follow the established trends.

Last year Shiseido celebrated its 140th anniversary. Its story is full of interesting tidbits. Did you know that the company was founded by the ex-head-pharmacist to the Imperial navy, Fukuhara Arinobu, when he was only 23? Or that Shiseido is believed to have introduced ice cream to Japan? White Rose may not be an expected Japanese perfume, but then again, Shiseido doesn’t always play by the rules.

Continue reading →

From February 26 to May  27, 2013, The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York will present its new exhibit, Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity.  This exhibit was unveiled at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris last year, and I highly recommend this beautifully curated look at the role of fashion in the works of the Impressionists and their contemporaries. The exhibit is complemented by masculine and feminine costumes, period photographs, illustrations, and rare Guerlain perfume bottles*. It truly gives you a unique glimpse into late nineteenth-century Parisian life and society.

Highlights of the exhibition include Monet’s Luncheon on the Grass (1865–66) and Women in the Garden (1866), Bartholomé’s In the Conservatory(circa 1881, paired with the sitter’s dress), Monet’s Camille (1866), Renoir’s Lise–The Woman with the Umbrella (1867), Manet’s La Parisienne (circa 1875), and much more.

To find out more, please check the Met website.

Update: the exhibit will also travel to the Art Institute of Chicago, where it will be shown at Regenstein Hall from June 26 to September 22, 2013.

*as seen at the similar exhibit at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris.

Painting: Claude Monet, Women in the Garden (detail), 1866, via wiki-images, some rights reserved.

For its new scent, Mérida, French candle maker Maison Cire Trudon collaborated with the niche perfume house Arquiste Parfumeur. Arquiste’s fragrances capture specific historical periods and personages, and with Mérida, the house was inspired by Charlotte, Princess of Belgium and Empress of Mexico, and the town of Mérida situated in the Yucatan peninsula.

The fragrance exudes a rich guava smell, alongside touches of mahogany and “palo primavera”. A subtle touch of firework powder perfects this creation that brings warmth and color to the haciendas of this colonial city where Charlotte, Princess of Belgium and Empress of Mexico was magnificently welcomed in 1865.

Mérida is going to be available starting this month in the Cire Trudon flagship store situated in the rue de Seine in Paris as well as other Cire Trudon boutiques, Barney’s New York, and Aedes. Via Cire Trudon blog.

Some years ago, during a period of intense dating activity, I haphazardly selected a first-date perfume that, to use common idiom, drove men wild, turned men on, made men mad with desire.  I was never one to deliberate over a perfume choice, other than to question whether the strength of something was appropriate for close quarters, so my choice of a date perfume was a random, last-minute one.

What was this magic brew?

I will have to string you along a bit longer, while I take an excursus into the topic of what perfume do men like (and what perfume do women like) and what is the sexiest fragrance.  I’m going to knock that last one flat and say that the sexiest fragrance is the one that makes you feel attractive and confident, fun and engaging.  It should work to enhance your personality, rather than to drag it down.

Continue reading →

Etro will add another travel inspired perfume to its collection this March. Rajasthan pays homage to India and includes notes of lemon blossom, damascus rose, pink pepper, labdanum, amber, and white musk.

“Rajasthan, the new fragrance by Etro suggests heightened nomadic and yearning femininity, the hypnotic dance of eternal desire, a wild gypsy poetry set in colorful jeweled Maharajaha’s cities which are eternal like the breathing of the earth and the energy of the desert. A poetic and seductive fragrance that suggests an impatient prophecy, the fresh aroma of a winter lemon flower combined with the sweetness of the strong damask rose and the languor of mimosa. The skilled sensuality of amber and white musk are enlivened by a strong pink pepper bite, which gradually gives way to the delicate notes of labdanum which then turn to the magnificence of sweet acacia. A fragrance that promises another summer enclosed in the yellow corollas which are as velvety as talc and as sweet as honey.”

100 ml Eau de Parfum/£112. Via cosmoty.de