Roger & Gallet will launch Gingembre Rouge, a fragrance promising a sensory journey to Zanzibar, in March. Gingembre Rouge is a flanker to the brand’s 2003 scent Gingembre…
Penhaligon’s Iris Prima ~ perfume review
Iris Prima launched last fall, one of two 2013 fragrances from British niche house Penhaligon’s (the other was Vaara). I’m always happy to see a new iris, especially a unisex one. Iris Prima, like Vaara, has a great backstory: it was developed in collaboration with, and inspired by, the English National Ballet, and the tag line is “The spirit of the ballet. Bottled.” This of course made for all sorts of ballet-related promotional activities, including the lovely “ballet flash mob” at Saks in San Francisco and the liberal use of ballet shoes for displays (see here and here).
That said, Penhaligon’s is admittedly not one of my favorite perfume houses. Other than Vaara, which I was lukewarm about, the only other Penhaligon’s scent I’ve ever reviewed was Lily & Spice, which I was, likewise, lukewarm about, and the only Penhaligon’s fragrance that has ever made my buy list was perfumer Olivia Giacobetti’s brilliant spice-fest Elixir…
Issey Miyake L’Eau d’Issey Lotus & L’Eau d’Issey Pour Homme Yuzu ~ new fragrances
Issey Miyake will introduce L’Eau d’Issey Lotus and L’Eau d’Issey Pour Homme Yuzu. The new limited edition fragrances are flankers to 1993′s L’Eau d’Issey and 1994′s L’Eau d’Issey Pour Homme respectively…
Angel Schlesser Agua de Jazmin & Agua de Vetiver ~ new fragrances
Spanish house Angel Schlesser has launched two new fragrances: Agua de Jazmin for women and Agua de Vetiver for men…
Kenzo Flower in the Air ~ perfume review
Kenzo launched Flower in 2000, and it has staying power: it’s been a best seller for the brand ever since, and it’s still on the list of the top 10 selling fragrances in France.1 No surprise, then, that Kenzo releases flankers on a fairly regular basis. I wasn’t a huge fan of the original Flower; as I said in 100 Fragrances Every Perfumista Should Try, Flower was both wildly popular and just off-kilter enough to be interesting, but it isn’t really my sort of thing. Some of the flankers I’ve liked more than the original (Flower Oriental) and some of them I’ve found interesting but also not entirely me (Winter Flowers), and some of them I’ve skipped altogether (most of the spring and summer variations).
Flower in the Air is the latest. Like the original Kenzo Flower, it was developed by perfumer Alberto Morillas. Unlike previous flankers, it sports a brand new bottle, and the design is great fun (see below) — the (scentless) red poppy that was reportedly the inspiration for Flower floats above the bottle on a clear lucite cap, and although it’s hard to tell in the picture, the bottle has a slight teardrop shape.
As you might have guessed from the packaging, the scent is brand new as well…