Earlier this spring, Fragonard launched Belle d’Avril, a new fragrance for women…
Perfume in the magazines, July 2011: Allure, Elle, GQ and W
Perfume coverage in the July issues of Allure, Elle, GQ and W (there are no July issues of Details or Harper’s Bazaar); please comment on any fragrance-related coverage you’ve seen in other fashion & beauty magazines:
Allure
Cover: Fergie
Scent strips: None.
Editorial coverage: Cover Look (p. 22) includes a mention of Fergie’s Outspoken Intense fragrance for Avon. Beauty Reporter includes a “Smell This” section in which random passersby comment on Lancôme Ô d’Azur (p. 36)…
Givenchy Hot Couture ~ fragrance review
Hot Couture has hovered at the edge of my fragrance consciousness for years, but I never actually tried it until this week, when I was feeling particularly jaded at Sephora and I wanted to smell something, anything that wasn’t a summer limited edition. And now that I think about it, I’m intrigued by this fragrance: Hot Couture has been holding its place in the Givenchy section of perfume counters since it was released in 2000, yet it’s such a “neither/nor” fragrance for the venerable brand. It’s neither Audrey Hepburn nor Liv Tyler, neither the classic L’Interdit nor the blandly trendy Very Irresistible and all its flankers. Nor is it one of Givenchy’s coming-on-strong fragrances of the 1990s, like Amarige or Organza. What is it?
In Givenchy’s official (and generally meaningless) description, “Hot Couture is a creation that aims to complement the woman’s body, combining sensuality and glamour with refinement and elegance. Very fashionable, the Hot Couture woman is both refined and original, slightly provocative and so uniquely charismatic.” Hot Couture is “a voluptuous fragrance with spicy and woody notes (raspberry nectar, magnolia, amber-vetiver),” and it was developed by perfumers Alberto Morillas and Jacques Cavallier. Its title is a silly pun on “haute couture,” and the bottle’s logo looks like a dressmaker’s label with pinked edges. (The older bottle design bore an image resembling a vintage fashion sketch.)
Hot Couture starts off with a flashy burst of raspberry and vanilla…
A dilapidated motel room strewn with dirty clothes
For a series of television commercials and online videos, the brand recruited subjects off the street, who agreed to be blindfolded for what they were told was a scent experiment. Then, in video captured by hidden cameras, the participants were guided into odoriferous settings, like a dilapidated motel room strewn with dirty clothes, a secondhand store filled with threadbare furniture and soiled stuffed animals, and a cramped Chinese restaurant kitchen with whole uncooked fish on counters.
— Don't worry, the commercials are for Febreze — it all ends up smelling like lilacs. Read more at Diving Into Reeking Squalor to Test an Air Freshener at the New York Times, and if you missed it check out Angie's Goodbye Lilacs. Hat tip to Jessica!
Liquid rock ‘n roll
A 10 minute clip from BBC 4's Perfume series, this one focusing on the development of Tommy Hilfiger Loud. It cuts off mid-sentence, unfortunately, but for those of us who aren't able to see the program, it's better than nothing.