Versace will follow up on last year's signature fragrance for women, Versace Eau de Parfum, with a counterpart for men, Versace Pour Homme. Per Donatella Versace,
I wanted to make it different and be very precise, I didn't want to mix too many smells. Today there are too many components in fragrances on the market — for this I wanted it to have a strong essence…
Deal at b-glowing: the Annual Beauty Bonus Bonanza; spend $80 or more and get a 2 oz Ted Gibson Daily Nourish Conditioner, Apivita Multi-Gyn Cleanser or Multivitamin Caps, 3 oz Voluspa Cream Candle (assorted scents), 50 ml L'Aromarine Violette Eau de Toilette, Nuxe Cosmetic Bag and Nuxe Skin Care Sampler Retail Value. Use coupon code BBB, good through 1/27. Sold out!
New at beautyhabit: Crazylibellule and The Poppies L'Olfactive 122, 127 and 129 & Les Batons, Parfums de Rosine soaps and mini candles.
New at dillards: DKNY Delicious Night, Michael Kors Island Capri.
New at nordstrom: DKNY Delicious Night.
New at scentiments: Paris Hilton Can Can, Mariah Carey M, Diesel Fuel for Life.
New at sephora: Christian Dior Dior Addict Shine.
The Hermès flagship boutique on Madison Avenue is the epitome of a luxury boutique, with all the requisite elements: a doorman to greet you, a hushed ambience, a richly furnished interior, and an extremely well dressed clientele. The fragrance counter is stationed between shelves and cases displaying ties, briefcases, and leather-bound appointment books, and nearby spiral staircases lead to upper and lower levels, where customers are examining and — mirabile dictu! — even purchasing scarves and Birkin bags.
Once you are able to focus on the fragrances, you will notice that they are available in a complete range of concentrations, matching body products, and elegant presentation sets…
Winter is my favorite time to wear perfume. Something about heavy, textured clothing, dinners by the fireplace with friends, and the stark lines of trees and rainy streets against the warm light coming from homes goes well with some of my favorite perfumes. Trimming the list to just ten scents was brutal (sorry Caron Nuit de Noël and Guerlain Mitsouko!), but here they are:
Caron Tabac Blond: Tabac Blond is my default cold weather scent, and a few mls of the Parfum are always in my purse. Its thick leather and smoked cigarette smell give Tabac Blond personality, but the tonka-laden Caron base gives it warmth and approachability. I love it enough to sometimes wonder if I could make a cocktail out of it. Maybe a spritz of Tabac Blond on a shot of bourbon…
Isabelle Doyen and Camille Goutal were inspired by beauty rituals of the harem to create Annick Goutal Les Orientalistes — a trio of scents (Ambre Fétiche, Myrrhe Ardente and Encens Flamboyant) released at the end of 2007. I think it’s time to enact a moratorium on evoking the past in perfume advertising and promotion, since most ad executives and copywriters apparently skipped history classes. Perhaps the young women of the harem enjoyed their beauty rituals; I sincerely hope, in some small way, the costly items in their toiletry cases and incense boxes made up for the fact they had (most likely) been kidnapped, enslaved and separated from their families forever. Oh yes, there were also those pesky eunuchs and the sultan’s controlling mother to contend with, not to mention stress-inducing rivalries between concubines that sometimes led to murder — or banishment from the harem (which usually resulted in a life of poverty).
I’m wiping all thoughts of “the harem” from my mind and enjoying Les Orientalistes as fragrances that pay homage to the art of perfumery in the Middle East…