British niche line Penhaligon’s has added two more (and reportedly, the last) fragrances to their Anthology collection (“breathing new life into fragrances from our archive”), Esprit du Roi and Eau Sans Pareil…
Eau d’Italie Jardin du Poete ~ fragrance review
Based in Positano, its perfumes inspired by Italy — Baume du Doge (Venice), Bois d’Ombrie (Umbria), Eau d’Italie (Positano), Magnolia Romana (Rome), Paestum Rose (Paestum) and Sienne l’Hiver (Siena) — niche line Eau d’Italie’s fragrance names are in French (Perché? Do more people know how to pronounce French than Italian? Are French titles more “perfume-y”?) Eau d’Italie also uses a French perfumer, Bertrand Duchaufour, to create many of its fragrances, and I’ve enjoyed (almost) all of his Eau d’Italie perfumes (Magnolia Romana excepted).
Working with Eau d’Italie’s owners, Marina Sersale and Sebastián Alvarez Murena, Duchaufour supposedly took two years of “intense development” to create Jardin du Poète:
The inspiration for this fragrance is a tale from a bygone era, when nations were ruled by poets, and poets were sacred to Apollo. In those days Sicily was a Greek colony, Syracuse was a fragrant court, and its gardens vibrated with the scent of citrus orchards and rows of aromatic plants. Thus “Jardin du Poete”, the poet’s garden, a luminous fragrance to evoke Sicily and all things Sicilian.
It would require another article to tackle the confused notions expressed in that PR blip, but I’ll take Eau d’Italie at its word when it states it wanted Jardin du Poète to be “deliciously original and uncompromisingly contemporary.” Jardin du Poète succeeds on one of those two counts…
L’Artisan Parfumeur Mon Numero ~ new fragrances
L’Artisan Parfumeur will introduce the Mon Numéro collection in June. The eight fragrances are variations of the semi-bespoke Mon Numero scents that debuted in 2009, and all were developed by perfumer Bertrand Duchaufour. Each scent will be exclusive to a particular retailer or L’Artisan boutique, but the collection will also be available online…
The Different Company Oud Shamash ~ new fragrance
French niche house The Different Company has launched Oud Shamash:
A spiritual journey to the heart of the Far East…
Eau d’Italie Sienne l’Hiver ~ perfume review
Eau d’Italie’s Sienne l’Hiver has been hanging around in my purgatory basket1 since it launched back in 2006. I’ve taken it out a few times to give it another shot, and then I’ve put it right back where it was. I don’t know what keeps me from moving it to the “no” pile. Perhaps it’s because so many people love it,2 or perhaps it’s because it’s by perfumer Bertrand Duchaufour? Or perhaps it’s because it is named for Siena. I try not to get too wrapped up in fragrance back stories — they so rarely resonate with the juice, and often that’s just as well — but Siena is such a lovely place, wouldn’t it be nice if it had a fragrance to match?
The sample hung around in my purgatory basket long enough that it got mostly used up, and what was left was rather stale, and who knows, maybe the stuff has been reformulated in the interim. (While it languished, Eau d’Italie redid their packaging; the bottles still look like functional products instead of luxury perfumes, but now they look a little more expensive). So I got another sample.
The opening is, briefly, cold air tinged with green, then it moves indoors, and we get a rush of sensations…