Yves Saint Laurent has a bumper crop of limited edition fragrances scheduled for release in March.
This year's limited edition of Paris will be Paris Jardins Romantiques (shown):
As its name suggests, this sixth spring edition has a garden theme. The fresh floral juice features notes of mandarin, freshly mown grass, rose, lilac, violet and woods.
Last year's L'Homme Yves Saint Laurent gets a summer version…
It's Beauty Event time at Neiman Marcus. Women get a free pink tote bag with 7 samples including 2 fragrances, Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue and Valentino Rock 'N Rose.
Men get a black travel bag with 9 samples including 7 fragrances, Prada Man, Acqua di Parma Fico di Amalfi, Emanuel Ungaro Apparition Homme , Salvatore Ferragamo Subtil Pour Homme, Boucheron Jaipur Homme, Lacoste Essential Pour Homme and Dolce & Gabbana Pour Homme.
Offer good with any purchase of $85 or more, no coupon code needed, expires 3/11.
Parfumerie Generale has launched two new limited edition fragrances, Bois Blond and L'Ombre Fauve.
Bois Blond is “one evening in August, the time of the harvest”, and includes galbanum, cut grasses, cedar hay, blond tobacco, amber and musk.
L'Ombre Fauve is an animalic scent with amber and musk, and perhaps best described in the original French: “Une olfaction animale. Son raffinement bestial.”…
But there are few mountains of flowers waiting to be processed these days, and no one talks about the price of jasmine or rose petals anymore. Today it's the price of guaiacol, ionone and the other chemicals used in the production of perfume that is discussed over lunch. Changing tastes and the development of modern chemistry laid the foundations of perfumery as we know it today. Alchemy gave way to chemistry and new fragrances were created.
— Columnist Phyllis Macchioni of the Cleveland Plain Dealer goes to Grasse, France, and finds out things ain't like they used to be.
And lots of perfume in The New York Times today:
Inside the industry they speak of Insolence grimly, as of a suicide. Why did LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton buy this gem of a house if the gem is to be mounted in tin? Equally baffling: Insolence was made by an extremely talented perfumer, Maurice Roucel.
— Chandler Burr calls Guerlain's Insolence a 1 star perfume (“offensive”), and gives 3 stars to Guerlain L'Instant (“breathtaking”). Read the rest in Descendants. In the same paper…
Liz Claiborne has launched a new fragrance, SweetDesire by Realities:
Sensual, intimate, romantic… SweetDesire enhances the sensual moments in time. The moments that are personal, deep and real when all that matters are you and your partner. An alluring introduction of bergamot, black currant and luscious florals…