Calyx was the debut fragrance from the skincare and color cosmetics line Prescriptives. It was created by perfumer Sophia Grojsman and launched in 1986; the notes include mandarin, bergamot, passion fruit, mango, guava, spearmint, muguet, lily, jasmine, marigold, melon, rose, cyclamen, raspberry, musk, moss and cedar…
Cindy Crawford has launched Summer Day, a fruity floral fragrance that “captures the sunny essence of a perfect summer day”.
The notes include watermelon, kiwi, papaya, pomegranate, yuzu, lily of the valley, syringa, hibiscus, golden sundust orchid, buddleia, cedar, amyris and sheer amber…
Tutti Kiwi is one of the two entries for 2006 in Guerlain’s Aqua Allegoria range. The Aqua Allegoria fragrances tend to be lighter, younger and simpler in composition than those in the regular line, and they are basically limited editions: if they do well, they hang around, but otherwise they hit the chopping block in short order — last year’s Orange Magnifica has already disappeared from the Guerlain website, as has my favorite Aqua Allegoria, Anisia Bella. Tutti Kiwi is attributed to perfumer Jean Paul Guerlain, and the notes are tangerine, rhubarb, frosted lemon, kiwi, geranium, mock orange, sandalwood, vanilla and woods.
I will start with a disclaimer for anyone who isn’t a regular reader: I don’t particularly love fruity florals. Beyond that, kiwi is firmly entrenched very near the bottom of the list of fruits I’d like to smell on my person. The first few minutes of Tutti Kiwi, however, were a pleasant surprise: a crisp and sparkling blend of rhubarb and citrus, very tart and slightly green. After that, the kiwi kicks in along with vague floral notes, and the crisp and sparkling part eventually gives way to a rather indistinct fruity floral over a Guerlain-ish base of sandalwood and vanilla…
Fruity floral is not my favorite fragrance category, so you will have to take my words with a larger than usual grain of salt…but here are two recent offerings from the perfume counters:
Délices de Cartier was launched earlier this year, and takes its name from a Cartier jewelry collection. The bottle, inspired by a Cartier brooch, is gorgeous (although oddly similar to last year’s MyQueen); the fragrance was created by Christine Nagel of Quest and features frozen morello cherry, bergamot, pink, white and yellow jasmine, pink pepper, freesia, violet, tonka beans, amber and sandalwood…
Nectarine Blossom & Honey is the latest fragrance release from Jo Malone, who established her line of perfumes in London in 1994. She remained with the brand as Creative Director even after it was sold to Estee Lauder in 1999, but has recently announced that she is moving on to pursue other goals. There are no plans to discontinue the line, but unless another fragrance was already in the works under her guidance, Nectarine Blossom & Honey, which was released in the UK last year and is only recently available in the US, may be the last real “Jo Malone” fragrance we see…