2013 launches: 55 posts

Marni is a ready-to-wear Italian fashion line that recently launched its namesake fragrance, Marni. Rather than attempting to decipher the label’s appeal and its relation to the new fragrance, I will simply say that some qualms about lasting power aside, Marni is excellent–wearable, chic, and refined. And now I want other people to smell a haze of Marni around me and follow me down the street asking, demanding to know, what this marvelous fragrance is.

Perfumer Daniela Andrier created Marni in collaboration with Consuelo Castiglioni, founder and designer of the fashion house. Andrier is the author of Prada Infusion d’Iris, Maison Martin Margiela Untitled, and Guerlain Angelique Noire, among others. Like many of her creations, Marni is a weightless, ethereal blend, despite the fact that the fragrance is based on rich woods and sweet spices.  At its heart Marni is a rose and incense fragrance, something that became clear to me half an hour after I applied it and began to get small gusts of a dry and woody rose rising from the back of my hand.

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Burberry is launching a new fragrance, Burberry Body Tender, which is a variation on the original Burberry Body. “Burberry Body Tender combines the relaxed, playful attitude of the Burberry girl with the energy of the brand’s London hometown.”  It includes notes of lemon, apple, absinthe, rose, jasmine, sandalwood, amber, Cashmeran (musk with strong woody-ambery nuances), and musk.

Scent opens with a fresh surge of lemon, crisp apple and green absinthe as top notes. Delicate blend of dewy English rose, white jasmine and sandalwood at the heart of the scent. Soft base of cashmeran, amber and musk gives understated warmth and femininity.

The advertising campaign features British actress and Burberry model Cara Delevingne. The Eau de Toilette is available in 85, 60, and 35ml bottles. Available at select department stores and at burberry.com. Via press release

The brand See by Chloé is a less expensive, trendy sibling to the sophisticated Chloé fashion line. Of course, less expensive is relative–a See by Chloé mini skirt goes for about €300, but if you compare See by Chloé perfume with the Chloé’s richer florals, it will definitely seem more playful. I also give props to See by Chloé for being such a clever fruity floral. Whereas most fragrances of its type take a sweet, cloying direction, See by Chloé has a bitter twist.

See by Chloé was created by perfumer Michel Almairac, who has authored most of Chloé’s collection. Almairac is undoubtedly one of the best perfumers working today, and although I don’t always love his commercial work (his talent can do only so much against the demands of the marketplace and the fragrance managers), I admire the interesting touches he adds to the most mundane compositions.

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There is a disconnect between the packaging, the concept and the scent of Jimmy Choo Flash, the second fragrance from the trendy footwear brand. I should add, thankfully so. The concept inspired by the stylish women of New York and Paris sounds bland. The bottle is tacky in the photos and even more so in real life. What do you expect the perfume to smell like? I anticipated something likewise predictable–a sugary floral or a fruity patchouli. The perfume, on the other hand, is a surprisingly wearable tuberose.

If your white floral reference is Frédéric Malle Carnal Flower and Robert Piguet Fracas, you will find Flash to be wan. Lovers of heady natural tuberose, complete with coconut cream and rubbery nuances, will also need to suspend their belief that this is indeed a tuberose. But when so many new launches smell simply vulgar–Dolce & Gabbana Pour Femme is my benchmark, it’s refreshing to discover a mainstream fragrance that bucks the trend.

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For its new scent, Mérida, French candle maker Maison Cire Trudon collaborated with the niche perfume house Arquiste Parfumeur. Arquiste’s fragrances capture specific historical periods and personages, and with Mérida, the house was inspired by Charlotte, Princess of Belgium and Empress of Mexico, and the town of Mérida situated in the Yucatan peninsula.

The fragrance exudes a rich guava smell, alongside touches of mahogany and “palo primavera”. A subtle touch of firework powder perfects this creation that brings warmth and color to the haciendas of this colonial city where Charlotte, Princess of Belgium and Empress of Mexico was magnificently welcomed in 1865.

Mérida is going to be available starting this month in the Cire Trudon flagship store situated in the rue de Seine in Paris as well as other Cire Trudon boutiques, Barney’s New York, and Aedes. Via Cire Trudon blog.