News: 582 posts

Tom Ford revealed his new plan for Estée Lauder, which will be Ford’s collection entitled Azurēe. As Ford said, “It was Estée’s own made up name, for this sexy, beachy thing.” The original fragrance was created in 1969 and featured notes of citrus, basil, sage, oakmoss, and spearmint. However, contrary to the speculations, the collection will not feature a fragrance, unlike the Amber Nude range, which includes Youth Dew Amber Nude reinterpreted by Ford. From Fashionweekdaily.

The photo is of the original Azurēe. 

The new fragrance by an Italian perfumer Laura Tonatto is inspired by Caravaggio’s “The Lute Player.” The fruits and flowers depicted in the painting by an Italian Baroque artist are recreated in the nine fragrances, three fruity and six floral. The tenth fragrance combines all nine notes in order to evoke a scent that might have filled the painting. The cylinders with gel perfumes will be on display until November 20th, 2005 at The Hermitage, St. Petersburg, the permanent residence “The Lute Player.” The fragrance will be released as a limited edition of 1000 bottles.

Caravaggio. The Lute-Player. c.1595-1596. Oil on canvas. The Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia. From abcgallery.com.

“When men and women started having bespoke fragrances created at the end of the 17th century, there was no distinction between which notes were used for the different sexes,” says Francis Kurkdjian in an article on “mixed” fragrances in Sunday Times.  The short piece mentions some fragrances, including recently released Jean Paul Gaultier 2, created by Kurkdjian.

Although I seem to wear everything in the course of my fragrance explorations, in many cases not noticing the distinctions, if I were to name some of my favourites among the fragrances that qualify as “mixed”, they would be Annick Goutal Eau d’Hadrien, Serge Lutens La Myrrhe, Frédéric Malle Angéliques Sous la Pluie, Hermès Un Jardin en Méditeranée as well as L’Artisan L’Eau del’Ambre. If you have your favourites, I would love to hear.

Koudou (“the way of incense”) is a Japanese incense ceremony that has a long and esteemed history tracing its origins to the Edo period (1603-1867). Involving more than 30 years to truly master the art of Koudou, the ceremony is comprised of several steps that include kneading and burning of incense. Kenzo’s new fragrance is dedicated to the ceremony that emphasizes the sense of smell. Flower Oriental, composed by Alberto Morillas of Firmenich includes notes of kyara, violet, Bulgarian rose, vanilla and Sichuan pepper. Kyara, derived from agarwood, is one of the most prized incense ingredients. Flower Oriental is described as the original floral notes of Flower with the resinous woody notes of agarwood incense.

Eden Sarl lost its bid for trademark protection of a strawberry scent, which the company hoped to employ in face creams, soaps, leather, clothes, etc. The court denied trademark arguing that strawberries can have up to five different scents. The only scent to win EU trademark protection at this point is the scent of freshly cut grass, which “was registered by a Dutch perfume company that uses it to give tennis balls their aroma,” tells bbc.co.uk. Read the full article here. (thanks to P.)