Perfumer Francis Kurkdjian will be making an appearance at Liberty of London this Thursday, October 22nd to introduce the new Maison Francis Kurkdjian line. The general appearance is from 4:30 to 8:30 in the Perfume Hall.
Basenotes is also holding a competition: the first 15 people to email info@basenotes.net with a name and contact number can join Mr. Kurkdjian for afternoon tea before the 4:30 appearance.
Denyse Beaulieu of the Grain de Musc blog will be teaching a 3-day course titled ‘An intensive perfume primer’ at the London College of Fashion this coming December:
The course, designed and given by the Paris-based fragrance writer Denyse Beaulieu, will be a direct, hands-on, sensory initiation to perfume appreciation…
In continental Europe, there’s a kind of boutique you find in every town and city. It sells a couple of high-end cosmetic / skincare lines, and an eclectic mixture of perfumes. Every boutique is different. It’s always a bit of an adventure.
In the UK, you rarely find such shops. You get the occasional ambitious chemist (pharmacy), stocking perfumes and blusher along with the bottles of antacid and chilblain plasters. The nearest thing to the continental boutiques is the national chain, Boots, but of course they all stock much the same thing. There’s no adventure.
One place that follows the European model is The Garden Pharmacy, round the corner from Covent Garden. It doesn’t look much from the outside, and it’s not as glossy and elegant as the European boutiques, but it’s an independent store with an entertaining range of cosmetics and especially perfumes…
Ineke Ruhland of Ineke will be at Liberty of London on September 22nd from 1 to 3 pm to introduce the line's latest fragrance, Field Notes from Paris.
On the 23rd of September, purchase of 50 ml or larger bottle of Moschino Glamour at Harrods and be entered to win a "Return to Glamour" trip to Milan, including airfare, accomodations and tickets to the A/W10 Moschino Womenswear show.
Ever since Mohamed Al Fayed became the owner of Harrods in 1985, there’s been a steadily growing Arabic feel to this corner of Knightsbridge. Apart from the shops, this is where you’ll find the highest concentration of mysterious figures in burkhas, and glamorous wives and daughters gliding up the Harrods escalators in head-to-toe black silk, with (real) Chanel handbags. It’s all rather exotic and intriguing.
It’s therefore not surprising that an Arabic perfume shop opened in 2008, directly across from Harrods’ main entrance. Al Qurashi is part of a Middle Eastern chain, and only the second store to be opened outside the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia (the other one is in Paris). The owner, Abdul Samad Al Qurashi, has created custom scents for members of various royal families…