News: 582 posts

Last night, at the Grand Palais in Paris , Lancôme presented Magnifique, its newest fragrance which olfactively interprets the color red. Anne Hathaway is Lancôme’s newest ambassador, who will be featured in the advertising campaign. The fragrance, a spicy woody floral, was created by Firmenich perfumers Olivier Cresp and Jacques Cavallier. As WWD reported this morning, “‘The challenge was to work on wood

,” said Cresp, explaining the women’s fragrance market has few woody juices. While he and Cavalllier were in India they came upon nagarmota, a plant giving iff a woody odor. They liked it so much, they opted to use nagarmota essential oil in Magnifique.” Other notes include saffron essence, cumin, Bulgarian rose essence, Mai de Grasse rose absolute, jasmine, Australian sandalwood essence and a vetiver note.

Magnifique will launch in August in the US (where it will be exclusive to Bloomingdale’s at first) and in September elsewhere.  India, roses, red… I am adding this launch to the list of new fragrances to anticipate!

It is now almost the end of May, and while it is too early to tally up the launches and pick favorites, I cannot resist making a list of upcoming fragrances that spark my curiosity. It is not a complete list of new launches, by any means, but simply a list I keep for myself of new perfumes that catch my eye for one reason or another. They may be coming from a brand I like, have an interesting story behind them or just seem like they could offer something different.

• NEW: Serge Lutens El Attarine–attar, everlasting flowers, Serge Lutens’s Morocco… It sounds like a Lutens classic in the making. Exclusive collection.

• NEW: Serge Lutens Serge Noire –Another exciting Lutens to anticipate. Export collection.

• NEW: Tom Ford White Patchouli, Italian Cypress, Arabian Wood–White Patchouli is coming in September, and it is going to be a fragrance based around patchouli, a counterpart to Black Orchid. The notes include dark, smoky patchouli, peony, bergamot, jasmine, rose, coriander, ambrette seeds. Italian Cypress and Arabian Wood will be the new fragrances in the Private Blend Collection. They will commemorate the opening of Tom Ford boutiques in Milan and Kuwait.

• NEW: Prada Infusion for Men–a masculine counterpart to Infusion d’Iris. Features notes of neroli, iris pallida, vetiver, cedarwood, incense and benzoin. Sounds simply wonderful!

Continue reading →

The winners of 2008 have been announced. As The Fragrance Foundation commented, “On Tuesday evening, the 36th Annual FiFi® Awards were hosted by The Fragrance Foundation at the Park Avenue Armory in New York City. The stars were out as notable presenters Zac Posen, Salt-N-Pepa, Danity Kane, Alyson Hannigan, Cynthia Rowley, and Bernadette Peters took the stage to honor the industry’s luminaries with the coveted FiFi ® Awards trophy.”

Hall of Fame Award Winner: Vera Wang

FRAGRANCE HALL OF FAME
Annick Goutal Eau d’Hadrien – Gary Farn, Ltd.

FRAGRANCE OF THE YEAR – WOMEN’S LUXE
Daisy Marc Jacobs – Coty Prestige

FRAGRANCE OF THE YEAR – MEN’S LUXE
Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue Pour Homme – P&G Prestige Products, Inc.

FRAGRANCE OF THE YEAR – WOMEN’S NOUVEAU NICHE
Prada Infusion d’Iris – Puig Beauty & Fashion Group

FRAGRANCE OF THE YEAR – MEN’S NOUVEAU NICHE
Armani Privé Vetiver Babylone – Giorgio Armani Beauty

Continue reading →

It is that time of the year again! Basenotes has announced the winners of 8th Annual Basenotes Awards. The Basenotes visitors have voted to select their favorites, and you can see the results by following the link. Special congratulations to Now Smell This, the winner of Gold award in Best Blogs category and Perfume Posse in Silver. A big thank you to all of you who voted for Bois de Jasmin (Bronze) despite my long absence from these pages. I cannot express how much your support means to me. Also, a special thank you to Grant Osborne of Basenotes whose hard work and dedication are simply admirable.

It is now official—Audrey Tautou is going to be the new face for Chanel No 5. Jean-Pierre Jeunet will direct the next No.5 advertising film, which will be the third collaboration between Tautou and Jeunet (she has starred in his “Amelie” and “The Long Engagement.”) The film will be released in 2009.

I adore Audrey Tautou, and I look forward to seeing the new marketing campaign, but I still wonder how Amelie will manage to evoke the spirit of Coco. What are your thoughts?

Photo credit: © Emanuele Scorcelletti for CHANEL