Scented body products: Monyette Paris Cashmere Body Mist

Posted by Anjali on 24 February 2007 6 Comments

Monyette Paris Cashmere Body Mist fragrance The creamy gardenia, lily, vanilla and Nag Champa fragrance of Monyette Paris has become a favorite of both floral and non-floral lovers alike, making Style Magazines's illustrious 5 Great Cult Perfumes list and even winning the hearts of Hollywood stars from Oprah to Cameron Diaz and Gwen Stefani. It's the only gardenia scent I can bring myself to wear (besides Chanel Gardenia, which I maintain is a jasmine fragrance in disguise): normally I find white florals too sharp and angular on me, but Monyette is a pleasantly “round” floral, lush and creamy to the extreme.

Nonetheless, I rarely reach for Monyette, because not only is it a perfume oil roll-on…

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Online fragrance shopping

Posted by Robin on 24 February 2007 Leave a Comment

New at beautycafe: now accepting pre-orders of Bond no. 9 Bryant Park.

New at sephora: Dunhill Pursuit, Valentino Rock 'n Rose, Michael Kors Island Hawaii.

New at your-cosmetics: the Parfums de Rosine & Dr Vranjes lines.

Groups organizing boycott of IFRA’s 40th Amendment, part 2

Posted by Robin on 24 February 2007 Leave a Comment

The controversy over IFRA's 40th Amendment continues (please read the background here). Since my last post on the subject on 9 February, Perfumer & Flavorist first extended the deadline for their poll asking respondents if they favored a boycott, then closed the poll altogether after IFRA complained.

Now Tony Burfield has an article on Basenotes explaining Cropwatch's position. I haven't the patience to follow all the regulatory background, but if you read it carefully, you'll find the part that explains why Mitsouko doesn't smell like Mitsouko any more…

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News flash #2: buying perfume is REALLY dull these days

Posted by Robin on 23 February 2007 37 Comments

Strawbridge & Clothier department store [Advance warning: this is a continuation of yesterday's rant, and it is even more grumpy and long-winded. You might best leave now and come back tomorrow, when we'll have a cheerful review of something or another.]

So. There were apparently 205 fragrance releases in 1996; this year, we are expecting 800. Perfumes are being developed and brought to market at an increasingly rapid pace, and fragrance companies are having to find ever more innovative ways to get consumer attention. But time stands still in one crucial area: retailing.

If you were to have been standing at a perfume counter in a mid-tier department store sometime in say, 1987, and through some miracle of technology and fate, you were frozen in time, only to be brought back to life in the exact same spot in 2007, you'd be more likely to suffer from boredom than future shock…

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