‘Please see my review of Viktor & Rolf Flowerbomb‘ — this is how I originally started my post on the newest Lancôme perfume La Vie Est Belle. This big Lancôme launch takes a lesson from its flop Magnifique and does everything by the book: a fetching package (check), something pink (check) and a safe, easy to like perfume (check). It’s even better if you tag on a well-known spokesperson (check, Julia Roberts looks gorgeous in the ads).

While my initial reaction was to dismiss La Vie Est Belle as another copycat, after wearing it for the past couple of weeks I’m not so sure what I think. The citrusy top notes laced with tangy raspberries were facile, but addictive, while the gourmand drydown tempered by earthy iris was surprisingly mellow.  I readied myself for another cheap fruit compote, but I discovered a trendy and likable perfume. I would have had an easier time making up my mind if it smelled cheap, but it doesn’t.

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Suzanna on tomato leaf as a perfume note.

Among the smells of summer (suntan lotion, beach rose, vanilla ice cream, jasmine, hot asphalt, and blackberries, to name a few), none is more redolent to me of that golden season than is the scent of tomato leaves. The leaf’s smell transports me to the end of summer, to the dog days where the heat shimmers and the dust in the road rises and seems to hang in the sultry air.  It is then that the season’s tomatoes, fat and bulging globes of red fruit, release their scent in what always seems to me an impromptu act of fragrant pleasure.

The smell of the tomato leaf is precise and yet is impossible to nail down with any accuracy; as with a geranium leaf there is a green/acidic vegetal smell and a nearness to turpentine or pine, plus a hint of almost-acrid dust or chalk resin.  The smell is sharp and suspenseful—one can tell the state of ripeness of the fruit, or so it seems, from the high pitch of this aroma.  Its particular odor is due to an aromachemical of a type that also causes the smell from the geranium leaf.

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During my last trip to the Middle East almost three years ago, my camera broke down, and I couldn’t take a single photo. At first, the missed opportunity to capture the blazing whiteness of marble buildings, the majestic and scary beauty of the desert, and the dazzle of gold displays made me wince with regret each time I came upon another beautiful scene. But after a while, I realized that maybe my camera wouldn’t be necessary after all; the scents surrounding me were so strong and vivid that today I have no trouble recalling either the aroma of ripe dates–caramel and honey!–or the heady fragrance of cardamom and rosewater flavored coffee. And of course, the perfumes! Both the men and women I encountered were exquisitely perfumed. Smoky roses, honeyed oud mixed with patchouli, sandalwood roughed up by smoky leather… I had to fight the urge to ask every other person in the street what they were wearing.

But out of their hot desert context, some of these perfumes felt heavy and one-dimensional when I tried wearing them back home. They were still beautiful, but they required a certain mood or an occasion, and for this reason I wore them much less often than I anticipated. Similarly, Middle Eastern inspired fragrances like Montale and SoOud were compelling in theory, but in practice I rarely craved them. When Guerlain announced its Les Déserts d’Orient collection, comprised of Rose Nacrée du Désert, Songe d’Un Bois d’Été, and Encens Mythique d’Orient, I was worried that it might be overly glitzy and flamboyant for me.

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If you’ve ever plotted to mail order a coveted Serge Lutens bell jar from Paris, you’ll be happy to know that starting this month, you can simply order the perfumes from Barneys in New York. The Serge Lutens Palais Royal collection will be exclusive to the Madison Avenue flagship boutique.

Getting your hands on one of Lutens’ glowing cloche bottles used to entail cross-Atlantic travel to his store in the Jardin du Palais Royal in Paris. But as of today, Barneys brings them a bit closer—to the Madison Avenue flagship—with the exclusive Palais Royal collection. No passport required!

Update: the price of bell jars at Barneys is $290-300 (in Paris they cost 125 euros in Paris/~$155-160). Barneys will ship to any US destination.

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