I love Pilar & Lucy’s glam bottles and cutesy perfume names, but I have to admit to feeling some trepidation about their latest, Tiptoeing Through Chambers of the Moon. The only P & L scent I had tried so far, Exact Friction of the Stars, is billed as a vanilla-coconut gourmand, but on my skin the scent had a rather unpleasant undertone that resembled nothing so much as Tupperware melting on the stove. It’s all about chemistry, what can you do…
L'Artisan confirms that last summer's limited edition, Ananas Fizz, has been added to the regular line up. As many of you probably already know, Oeillet Sauvage and Jacinthe des Bois are discontinued; no final word yet on the fate of Verte Violette. I am planning to buy another bottle of Jacinthe soon before it disappears off the face of the planet.
I recently had the opportunity (thanks Beth!) to try 2 scents by JAR Parfums, the line created by Paris jeweller Joel Arthur Rosenthal. Devotees of obscure niche fragrances are accustomed to having to jump through hoops in order to get their hands on a fragrance, but JAR surpasses even Serge Lutens in terms of making his perfumes unavailable to the hoi polloi. They can only be purchased in-person at his shop on the rue de Castiglione in Paris, and run upwards of $200 an ounce (way, way upwards).
At one time, you could see a list of the fragrances on the JAR website, along with an explanation to the effect that samples were not available because it was better to try the fragrances in person. Apparently that was more information than the company cares to divulge to strangers: the website now displays the address and store hours, nothing more…
Kenneth Cole is preparing for an April release of Kenneth Cole Reaction for Her.
The juicy floral scent, created by Laurent Le Guernec of IFF, combines citrus notes, such as pink grapefruit and mandarin, with a bouquet of delicate flowers and a drydown of white amber and cottonwood…
Today I am trying Guerlain’s latest addition to the Aqua Allegoria fragrance line, Mentafollia. The notes are mandarin zest, mint leaves, rose, jasmine, green tea, and cedar. I was a bit surprised to hear that Guerlain was issuing another Aqua Allegoria based on mint, citrus, florals and tea, since that basically describes Herba Fresca, but these are two very different scents — unless you dislike mint in fragrance, in which case they will probably both smell like chewing gum to you…