Quickie reviews of three new-ish department store fragrances: Vera Wang Princess Night, Swarovski Aura and Ferragamo Signorina.
Princess Night is the fifth flanker in Vera Wang’s ever popular Princess franchise. It came out last December, so I’m late, and I know all of you have been holding your breath through the winter, waiting to hear what I think of it…
Anyone who regularly samples mainstream fragrances can vouch for the fact that a disconnect between the advertising and the juice is not an uncommon occurrence, and the gulf can be just as wide at the higher reaches of the price (and status) scale as at the lower. It’s not at all unusual for an aura of luxury, sensuality and sophistication to be projected onto what smells, essentially, like a strawberry lollipop.
Valentino’s new1 Valentina does not sink into strawberry lollipop status, but it’s far too well-behaved to live up to its advertising — I almost wished for strawberry lollipop, or some other sign of exuberance. (There, I’ve already given away the ending, so now you can skip the rest of today’s post and go on about your business). Valentina is supposed to be sensual and sexy, and the advertising, featuring model Freja Beha Erichsen, might also lead you to expect something playful but elegant, rebellious but sophisticated, with all the funding such attributes might require, and then plenty more to spare. The bottle’s floral decoration in subdued tones of pink and ivory could be the haute couture version of the stick-a-flower-on-it trend that started with Marc Jacobs Daisy…
Five perfumers, one from each of the major fragrance and flavor companies, were named Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres last week by the French Minister of Culture…
Penhaligon’s new Juniper Sling was “inspired by London Dry Gin and the gin-drinking Bright Young Things of the 1920s.” Nancy Mitford, Cecil Beaton and Evelyn Waugh were B.Y.T. in England, and let’s throw in some Americans, too: Louise Brooks, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Louis Armstrong will do. How far we’ve dimmed — “our” bright young things include the Kardashian sisters, Justin Bieber, Prince Harry and Pippa (not to mention hoards of reality TV cringe-inducers). Much less depressing to talk about perfume!
Juniper Sling* does smell, upon first sniff, like a fragrant bottle of gin — there’s “booze,” citrus, angelica and vibrant cardamom (the opening is the best part of the fragrance). Under those head notes floats transparent iris and light-smooth leather…
Several years ago, the Bond no. 9 van skidded off the road and all perfumers onboard suffered minor head traumas that affected their sense of smell.* After the accident, Bond no. 9 perfumes started to smell alike, as if the same perfumes were being released over and over again, but in different bottles. Recent Bond no. 9 perfumes smell like middling-mainstream fragrances (Bond no. 9 pricing has not been affected, mind you). It’s been years since the debut of a Bond no. 9 fragrance excited me. (Of course, the Bond no. 9 “New York” idea is running out of steam. Pretty soon we’ll be getting “Fire Hydrant, South Corner of Central Park W. and W. 81st St.” in bright yellow bottles.)
Bond no. 9 is not the only perfume company that’s gotten lazy and complacent and pumps out the same type of “stuff” over and over again. When was the last launch that made you mad with desire…after you smelled the scent? At the same time I sniffed Bond no. 9’s new I Love New York for All, I received Thierry Mugler A*Men Taste of Fragrance and Jean Paul Gaultier Kokorico.
Today, I have three short and (cocoa) sweet perfume reviews. These perfumes have a lot in common; they are gourmands with coffee, cocoa, pepper, vanilla, patchouli, indistinct “woods” and sheer musk. I could almost write one review that would cover them all…