Demeter has launched Giant Sequoia, plus four new candy-inspired fragrances which make up the Hershey Collection:
Giant Sequoia ~ “Think BIG! A big, bold, fresh evergreen and woody fragrance capturing the unique scent of the majestic Giant Sequoia.” In 15 ml Splash ($5), 30 ($20) or 120 ($39.50) ml Cologne Spray, and in matching bath & body products…
New at neimanmarcus: Yves Saint Laurent Elle Intense.
New at nordstrom: Estee Lauder Amber Ylang Ylang.
Deal at parfumsraffy: take 10% off with coupon code SALE2008, good through 10/23. New items include Amouage Lyric.
Deal at yslbeautyus: get a free Elle Yves Saint Laurent miniature with any full-sized Elle purchase using coupon code ELLEMINI; or get a Yves Saint Laurent messenger bag with the purchase of a 100 ml L'Homme Yves Saint Laurent using coupon code LHOMMEBAG. Expiration dates unknown.
The London-based niche perfumery Ormonde Jayne offers a collection of bath and body products, including Essential Bathing Oil, Hydrating Bath & Shower Crème, and Replenishing Body Lotion, to accompany its fragrances. These body products claim to benefit the skin while equaling the elegance and richness of their namesake perfumes.
I’ve tried the Replenishing Body Lotion in Frangipani Absolute, wearing it with Frangipani Absolute Eau de Parfum for the sake of comparison. The compositions for both the Eau de Parfum and the Body Lotion include top notes of linden blossom, magnolia flower, lime peel; a heart of white frangipani, jasmine, rose, tuberose, water lily, plum, green orchid; and a base of amber, musk, cedar, French vanilla…
Niche line Humiecki & Graef has introduced four new fragrances:
Eau Radieuse (shown) ~ “A fragrance about desire. A futuristic remake of an Eau de Cologne. Celestial spheres. Light. Total clarity. You yearn for ease and are transported to a wondrous place on an unknown planet.” With notes of green banana, mandarin peel, lemon, mint leaves, rhubarb, bamboo sape [sic] accord….
I always enjoy watching Sylvaine Delacourte, Guerlain’s head of fragrance development, in action; I have no idea if she would be fun to work with or for, but she always appears vivacious and flirtatious in Guerlain film clips. Watching Delacourte and Thierry Wasser, Guerlain’s exclusive house perfumer, discuss Guerlain Homme on the Guerlain Homme website is amusing. Delacourte, sitting next to Wasser and staring straight at the camera, claims the idea for Guerlain Homme came to her six years ago as she drank a thirst-quenching mojito in Cuba at the Hemingway Bar. Wasser, upon hearing this pronouncement, lowers his head, laughs and gives Delacourte a look that reads: “Oh, NO she didn’t!” Wasser then says HE’S been working on a mojito accord (rum, mint and lime) “on my own”. (It’s really too bad there’s not a Liz Smith of the perfume world; let’s just say Delacourte and Wasser collaborated on Guerlain Homme.)
Guerlain is marketing Guerlain Homme as a new type of fragrance — a new type of ‘freshness’ in perfumery; Wasser calls it “inimitable”. The Guerlain Homme film ad is set in a jungle, where a well-groomed, half-naked, modern-day ‘Tarzan’ drinks at a watering hole alongside wild animals. I like the goofy ad but there is nothing really new, wild or animalic about Guerlain Homme. As I wear Guerlain Homme, I don’t think “Tarzan” or “jungle” — I imagine a Lacoste-clad guy on a Caribbean veranda sipping a mojito alongside Delacourte. But just because Guerlain Homme is not wild, or wildly original, does not mean it’s bad; in fact, this is the first new mainstream Guerlain fragrance I’ve liked in a long time…