Hermès is launching a new interpretation of Eau des Merveilles, a blend of amber and woods developed in 2004 by perfumers Ralf Schwieger and Nathalie Feisthauer. L’Ambre des Merveilles is created by Hermès in-house perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena. Ellena already reinterpreted Eau des Merveilles as the gourmand L’Elixir des Merveilles and mossy Eau Claire des Merveilles. 

L’Ambre des Merveilles includes notes of amber, vanilla, labdanum, and patchouli. It is described as sensual, mysterious and “almost aphrodisiac.”  Available starting August at Hermès boutiques and department store counters. Via abc-luxe (thank you to Nicolette for alerting me to it!)

Perfume names can be tricky. Noir leads you to imagine something glamorous and wickedly mysterious. You read Sport on the perfume bottle and before you even smell the top notes, you anticipate sharp citrus and lavender. Based on the name Etat Libre d’Orange Bijou Romantique, which in French means “a romantic jewel,” you’d expect something suitable for women who love kittens and wear far too much pink. I can almost hear Emily Howard from Little Britain saying, “It’s a lady’s perfume, and I’m a lady, you see.”

Now, as a woman who loves kittens—and really, who doesn’t!—and has enough pink accessories to dress up the whole city of Brussels, I don’t mind frilly and girly perfumes. But it’s not fair to call Bijou Romantique a frou-frou fragrance. It has a dose of retro charm thanks to its delicately powdered iris and jasmine, but the earthy vetiver and peppery bergamot give it an elegant austerity. Take a deeper inhale, and you suddenly realize that it’s a sibling of Shalimar, one of Guerlain’s crown jewels and the grandest of grand parfums.

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Students here are expected to master 500 of these substances “like the letters of the alphabet.” Then come the “chords,” as the combinations of materials are known, and last the “phrases,” families of scents as defined by the school founder Jean Carles — citrus, floral, woody, fern, oriental and “chypre” — a mix of citrus and moss. “But real skill is not about memorising ingredients,” [Jean] Guichard says. “It’s about invention, and that always involves a degree of chance.”

Givaudan’s school: ‘Noses’ hone senses at Paris perfume school

As far as the French language goes “Pamplelune” is a portmanteau that combines the French word for grapefruit (pamplemousse) with the French word for moon (lune). In the perfumista’s lexicon, however, Pamplelune denotes the 1999 fragrance by Mathilde Laurent for Guerlain for its original Aqua Allegoria line.  As a grapefruit scent, it is both revered and feared; whether one can wear this take on sulfuric citrus depends on whether one associates grapefruit with fruit or with funk.

Although the Aqua Allegoria line is meant to showcase lighter, less complex fragrances, Pamplelune is anything but simple.  After the explosive opening it follows through with tart/sour bergamot and twiggy petitgrain notes before morphing into a cheerful black currant-accented floral that is tethered to a sweet and vanillic patchouli base.

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L’Artisan Parfumeur is reviving the 17th-century tradition of scented gloves with a limited edition collection. “An updated version of the house’s signature eau de parfum, created in 1993, Mûre et Musc Extrême is a “gourmand” fusion of blackcurrant and blackberry, infused in silk-lined, black kid-leather gloves by house of Causse, handmade in the south of France.” The gloves will be available in October 2012 at L’Artisan boutiques (€320). Via hintmag.com (discovered thanks to Rina!)