Emanuel Ungaro will launch Ungaro, a new fragrance for women, next month.
Ungaro is a floriental scent developed by perfumer Francis Kurkdjian, with notes of jasmine, saffron and amber…
Narciso Rodriguez For Him ~ fragrance review, with an aside on Houbigant Fougere Royale
Rarely do “simple” fragrances (scents with few ingredients or little development) hold my attention or gain my affection. I prefer perfumes that change their expression several times a day — perfumes that make a journey. The uncomplicated scents I do wear tend to be classic compositions made with rich ingredients (woods/resins, spices, incense or leather notes). I own several fragrances whose development is minimal: Christian Lacroix’ Tumulte (pour homme), Maître Parfumeur et Gantier’s Parfum d’Habit and Hermès Bel Ami. These warm scents begin with a glint, a spark, and settle almost immediately into a long-lasting glow — Narciso Rodriguez’ For Him is such a scent.
For Him is fashion designer Narciso Rodriguez’ debut men’s fragrance. “This fragrance is the first extension of my men’s wear collection,” Rodriguez told Women’s Wear Daily (May 18, 2007). “It is an important component of the total image, an expression of the man. For Him enhances the existing foundation of my vision for men’s wear and is the first of many categories to come.” For Him was created by perfumer Francis Kurkdjian and is composed of violet leaf, patchouli, amber and musk. According to Parfums Narciso Rodriguez Vice President, Nathalie Helloin-Kamel (also quoted in WWD), For Him’s inspiration came from an earlier era of men’s perfumery: “The benchmark was the great fougères of the Eighties.”
The fougère (fern) category of men’s fragrances is large…
Narciso Rodriguez For Him ~ new fragrance
Narciso Rodriguez will follow up on his signature fragrance for women, 2003's Narciso Rodriguez For Her, with Narciso Rodriguez For Him, expected to debut this July.
The new fragrance was developed by perfumer Francis Kurkdjian, who also worked on For Her. For Him takes its cues from “the great fougères of the Eighties”, and will feature musk, amber, violet leaf and patchouli notes.
Narciso Rodriguez For Him will be in a grey bottle similar to that of the women's fragrance…
Jean Paul Gaultier Fleur du Male ~ fragrance review
Reader, have you at times inhaled
With rapture and slow greediness,
That grain of incense which pervades a church,
Or the inveterate musk of a sachet?*
…asks Charles Baudelaire in his poem Un Fantôme. Knowing NowSmellThis readers, I’m sure the answer is a resounding “Yes!”
The name of Jean Paul Gaultier’s new men’s fragrance Fleur du Mâle (Flower of the Male) was inspired by the title of Baudelaire’s collection of poems — Les fleurs du mal (The Flowers of Evil). I don’t know if Gaultier’s research team studied the poems (or simply loved the title) but Les fleurs du mal is full of poems that acknowledge the power of scent, of perfumes, in this world. For Baudelaire, aromas inspire exultation, lust, creation (the poems themselves), happy and sad memories. One of my favorite passages is from the poem Le Flacon (The Perfume Flask):
There are strong perfumes for which all matter
Is porous. One would say they go through glass.
On opening a coffer that has come from the East,
Whose creaking lock resists and grates,
Or in a deserted house, some cabinet
Full of the Past’s acrid odor, dusty and black,
Sometimes one finds an antique phial which remembers,
Whence gushes forth a living soul returned to life.
The debut of Jean Paul Gaultier’s Fleur du Mâle has been accompanied not only by references to poetry but by much talk (dare I say ‘mumbo jumbo’?) concerning the state of men’s lives in 2007…
Jean Paul Gaultier Le Male ~ fragrance review
In 1995, a scented bomb was detonated and the effects of the bomb were felt around the globe. The ‘bomb’ was the release of Jean Paul Gaultier’s flowery, powdery, spicy, sweet and strong Le Mâle. Almost overnight, Le Mâle could be smelled in clubs and bars, in dormitories, gyms (yikes! fresh out of the bottle!), elevators, parks, taxis, airplanes, supermarkets, theatres, deserts and rainforests. I was happy for Gaultier’s success (and that his cologne was more audacious than most men’s fragrances), but since every other man was saturated with Le Mâle, I had no intention of wearing it.
Twelve years have passed since Le Mâle’s debut and I’m finally giving the fragrance a try…