Caron will launch a new cologne next month: Les plus Belles Lavandes de Caron, inspired by the lavender fields of Provence.
Developed by Caron house perfumer Richard Fraysse, the unisex scent features notes of lavender, creamy vanilla, amber and musk.
Les plus Belles Lavandes de Caron will be available in 100 ml Eau de Cologne refillable spray…
The year Caron Nocturnes was launched, 1981, marked the kick-off of a decade of excess. In 1981, Ronald Reagan took office, ending Jimmy Carter’s era of turning down the thermostat. The first De Lorean sports car, a symbol of wealth, rolled off the assembly line. Pope John Paul II was shot and nearly killed, Prince Charles and Lady Diana were married in a lavish ceremony broadcast around the world, Anwar Sadat was assassinated, and the first test-tube baby was born — all in 1981. Nocturnes, however, retains the spirit of the calm before the storm, fuzzy and ozonic, portending changes to come.
Perfumer Gerard Lefort created Nocturnes, giving it top notes of aldehydes, bergamot, and neroli; a heart of rose, jasmine, ylang ylang, tuberose, stephanotis, lily of the valley, orris, and cyclamen; and a base of vanilla, amber, musk, sandalwood, vetiver, and benzoin. Nocturnes is a quiet but lush, well-behaved aldehydic floral. Its aldehydes are rounded rather than sharp, and its flowers, which read like a funereal wallop, feel gentle, soapy, and sometimes green but sometimes sweet as amber and vanilla reach through…
A first visit to the Caron boutique in Manhattan can feel something like a treasure hunt. Although the shop’s address is 715 Lexington Avenue, you must enter at the side of the building, around the corner on 58th Street. The door is marked with a sign for PhytoUniverse, the botanical haircare salon that shares its quarters with Caron (they are owned by the same company, the Alès Group), but you might spy a few Caron bottles on display in the small entrance lobby. The receptionist will direct you into an elevator, which you ride to the third floor. There, Caron is ensconced in two elegantly appointed alcoves off the main waiting area of the Phyto salon.
Since it first opened its doors in Paris in 1904, Caron has specialized in floral fragrances of all persuasions, from the lush orange blossom of Narcisse Noir (memorably worn by femme fatale Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard) to the light, fresh lilies of the valley of Muguet de Bonheur…
Caron will relaunch Montaigne, a fragrance for women introduced in 1986 and named for Avenue Montaigne, the address of one of Caron's boutiques in Paris. The reintroduction, scheduled for September, is meant to boost Caron's feminine fragrance business, which currently accounts for only 25% of sales (men's fragrance accounts for 60%).
Montaigne is a spicy fruity floral with notes of jasmine, bitter orange, coriander, mandarin, daffodil, mimosa, cassie, sandalwood, benzoin and vanilla…
Bellodgia, which according to Caron has long been “a particular favorite of American customers”, was inspired by the Italian town of Bellagio on Lake Como and is intended to evoke “fields of carnations smothered in sunlight”. It was created by perfumer Ernest Daltroff and introduced in 1927; additional notes include rose, jasmine, violet, lily of the valley, sandalwood, vanilla and musk.
Bellodgia in Parfum opens heady and sweet, and calms to a rich, dense fragrance, peppery-spicy and warm, with the floral notes layered over the traditional dark Caron base…