Lancôme has launched a new fragrance for women, Peut-Être:
The hope of love, soft as a breeze.
Alone in her beloved French garden, a woman wanders among roses, lilac, iris and jasmine. She is thinking of him, knowing that he loves her but hoping he will soon show her a sign that will banish all her doubts…
So. I have a series of little plastic drawer thingies (you can see a picture here if you scroll down) where I store fragrance samples that are waiting to be tried. Once I take a sample out of its drawer, it hangs around on my desk until I’ve given it a few tries. Then I have a large plastic cart with drawers (you can see a picture here) that holds fragrance samples I’ve already tried but want to keep. Every so often I try something a few times and still can’t make up my mind about it either way. I don’t give up easy; some of my very favorite perfumes were not love at first sight. So those samples go into what I think of as “the purgatory basket”, and there they languish, sometimes for weeks, sometimes for months, yes, sometimes for years.
Recently the purgatory basket started to overflow. I thought about getting a bigger basket — that tells you most of what you need to know about my organizational style — but decided last week to make a concerted effort to clear an inch or so off the top. Most of the samples ended up in the “give away” box, a few got stored away in the “to keep” drawers, but a few sternly resisted categorization for the umpteenth time…
Cardinal is a recent fragrance release from the niche line Heeley, and the notes include incense, cistus, grey amber, patchouli and vetiver.
Cardinal is easily my favorite scent from Heeley so far. As you might guess from the name and the notes, it is a take on church incense, and so immediately invites comparison to what I think of as the industry standard, Comme des Garçons Avignon. Like Avignon, Cardinal starts off rather strong, but it has nothing like Avignon’s uncompromisingly gloomy stance: it is brighter, smoother, and not quite so bone-dry, although I wouldn’t go so far as to call it sweet. The dry down is soft and mildly earthy, and like many incense-focused fragrances, has a meditative quality…
Heeley has launched three new fragrances:
Cuir Pleine Fleur or Fine Leather features violet, mimosa, birch, soft leather notes and vetiver…
James Heeley is a British designer living in Paris. He is best known for his vases, but also creates furniture and other home accessories; you can see some of his work on his website. His range includes 5 fragrances in Eau de Parfum. Eau de Figuier is easily my favorite of the 5, and includes notes of fig, fig leaves, white cedar and lime.
Eau de Figuier is a relatively simple rendition of fig. It doesn’t push the boundaries of modern perfumery…