News: 582 posts

Serge Luten has unveiled his newest Paris exclusive fragrance called Une Voix Noire. “The stars rise in chorus. The night sky is filled with the light of the moon.  It is a tribute to the singer Billie Holiday, a reference to a gardenia she wore in her hair.

The perfume is now available via sergelutens.com, 75ml is 130 euros. Via sergelutens.com

Guerlain’s Les Déserts d’Orient trio of Rose Nacrée du Désert, Encens Mythique d’Orient, and Songe d’Un Bois d’Été is now available at Bergdorf Goodman in New York.

A tribute to enchanting Arabia with three iconic creations that represent the Orient in all its original splendor… There has always been a beautiful love story, an undeniable and faithful bond, between Guerlain and the Orient. Superb compositions are the prestigious proof. With the creation of Shalimar (1925), Jacques Guerlain founded the great oriental olfactory family. As rounded as a waltz, it majestically combines the sweet, opiate notes of balms, precious woods and vanilla with flowers and exotic essences to embody the opulence of faraway horizons imbued with mystery… Thierry Wasser, Guerlain’s perfumer-creator, wanted to demonstrate this concept in his own way, with sumptuousness and freedom, while giving dazzling expression to the notes that make these lands an inexhaustible source of inspiration.

Via Bergdorf Goodman

“Behind the Scenes at Firmenich For the Creation of AXE Excite”video fits right into my How Many Hands Touch Your Bottle of Perfume series. Harry Fremont, Frank Voelkl, and Pierre Negrin, perfumers who work for a fragrance supplier Firmenich, explain how they created Axe and lead you into the lab. You can see the way the labs are organized and observe the lab technicians at work mixing the perfume oils. In the final scene, you will see that perfumes are tested on skin–the only way to properly understand how a blend develops.

It often comes as a surprise to many people that mass market products like Axe are created by the top perfumers in the field. As does the fact that the development of these scents is a careful, detail oriented process. While Axe body sprays may be cheap and ubiquitous, the process behind creating them is anything but. The Axe projects are among the most coveted for the perfumers, and when Negrin grins proudly mentioning the win, his emotion is genuine.  The big scope and diversity of Axe also mean that a perfumer can experiment with some unexpected accords like Voelkl does with his masculine coconut-caramel twist to make Excite. Not all mass market lines are willing to take risks, but Axe is big enough to push the boundary on occasion.

Thank you, Robin, for a link!

Donna Karan has released a new variation on its 1994 fragrance Cashmere Mist, Cashmere Mist Pearl Essence. It’s a white floral twist on the powdery-woody original. The press release says that it was inspired by Tahitian pearls. Cashmere Mist Pearl Essence includes notes of neroli, ginger, jasmine sambac, lily of the valley, tiare, patchouli, sandalwood, and musk.

Cashmere Mist Pearl Essence includes a full line of body products, including bath pearls. 1.7oz  Eau de Parfum retails for $78.00. Available at Macy’s, Lord & Taylor and other major department stores. Via press release and Macy’s.

This year marks the 80th anniversary of Dana Tabu,  a legendary fragrance created in 1932 by perfumer Jean Carles. Tabu was complex and innovative, and it gave us a whole generation of oriental fragrances that were unabashedly sultry and rich. The original included notes of bergamot, lemon, basil, tarragon, jasmine, lily of the valley, rose, ylang-ylang, heliotrope, patchouli, oakmoss, musk, benzoin, and vanilla.

This September Dana will introduce a new limited edition relaunch of Tabu called 1932 By Tabu. It was reochestrated by perfumer Brett Schlitter as a softer, spicier version. It will include notes of bergamot, lemon, basil, jasmine, mimosa, rose, ylang-ylang, cinnamon, nutmeg, heliotrope, sandalwood, moss, amber, musk, and vanilla. With Jean Patou, Balmain, Molinard and Jacomo busy relaunching their classical collections, it’s also good to see Dana trying to resuscitate Tabu. Even if the new version will be less animalic and smoldering, Tabu deserves more attention.