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Frederic Malle Lipstick Rose ~ perfume review

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Norma Talmadge (circa 1919)

Roses are red, violets are blue…and this “valentine” to Lipstick Rose is long overdue. Seriously, I’ve intended to write a review of this fragrance for quite a while, but I kept getting distracted by new releases and so on. Sometimes we tend to take our loved ones for granted, in perfume as in relationships, but I’ve decided not to delay any longer in sharing my thoughts on Lipstick Rose.

Lipstick Rose was launched in 2000 as part of the original product line from Editions de Parfums. It was created for Frédéric Malle by perfumer Ralf Schwieger, and it is described by Editions de Parfums as “a vision of glamorized femininity” that evokes the “bonbon” scent of lipstick; its notes are listed as rose, violet, musk, vanilla, vetiver, and amber. Lipstick Rose has a fizzy, aldehydic opening with a sweet-but-tart raspberry note. The fragrance’s heart is a blend of talc-dusted tea rose petals and violet liqueur that does, yes, remind me of certain highly-scented lipstick brands. After Lipstick Rose’s flirtatious early development, its base of vetiver and soft musk makes a sophisticated appearance. The lasting dry down is a haze of candied violets and plush, ambery vanilla, with that sly musk lingering beneath. This fragrance has excellent staying power and noticeable sillage (particularly during the first hour or so).

Lipstick Rose is something of a paradox…

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Parfums de Nicolai Violette in Love ~ perfume review, with a quick poll about making up your mind

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African violet

Violette in Love, by Parfums de Nicolaï, came out in 2009. I can’t remember when I first tried it, but I think it wasn’t until much later, possibly the following year. At any rate, I thought it was pretty but maybe too charming for my taste, and I set it aside.

Now, there was a time when I tried almost everything — everything I didn’t absolutely detest, anyway — at least a few times. Many fragrances I tried more than that. I might have worn the same fragrance, off and on, for a few weeks: lived with it awhile, in other words, before deciding what I thought of it.

Those days are long gone. It is not just that there are too many fragrances, practically speaking, to spend that much time on each one. It’s also a psychological effect, distantly related, perhaps, to the well-documented studies that show that more choice does not lead to more happiness: when there are so many fragrances, it seems less important (to me, anyway, slacker that I am) if I miss one or two gems. I know I can’t find them all, but surely I’ll find plenty of other gems…

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Laura Tonatto Eleonora Duse ~ fragrance review

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Eleonora Duse

When asked by a reporter — “What’s your favorite perfume?” — the Italian stage actress Eleonora Duse replied that such questions were “ridiculous and puerile.” 1 Duse avoided the press whenever possible and felt an actress “must not attract attention when she’s not on stage…an actress must pass through life unobserved.” 2 If Duse were alive and working today, I’m betting there would be no “Eleonora Duse” celebrity fragrance on the market. But it’s good, in the 21st century, to see or hear the name Eleonora Duse because she was such a cultural force in her lifetime.

Duse started acting at the age of four in her family’s theatrical troupe. As a child, she was often forced to beg on the streets, but Duse went on to become one of the most famous actors in the world. Using the theory of “six degrees of separation,” I feel a small connection to Duse. Right out of high school, I went to New York to study acting with Stella Adler, who was a student of Konstantin Stanislavsky, who said that he “got his inspiration for founding the Moscow Art Theatre from witnessing a performance of Duse’s.”3

At a time when actors assumed histrionic, unnatural poses, declaimed their dialogue, and displayed their own personalities on stage, Duse was different…

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MAC Asphalt Flower ~ fragrance review

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MAC Asphalt Flower perfumeCrushed Violets by Oksidor on FlickrMAC Asphalt Flower perfume

The trend-setting cosmetics company MAC recently released a fall trend collection inspired by urban architecture, including makeup in a palette of charcoal gray, slate blue, and deep plum, as well as a fragrance called Asphalt Flower. Asphalt Flower is billed as “a limited-life scent as bold and urbane as the modern metropolis,” in which “glossy violet and iris petals cast an ebonized sheen over dark clouds of vanilla and patchouli.” (As Robin has previously noted, it may or not be exactly the same MAC fragrance released under this name in 1999; I missed the chance to try that earlier iteration, so I can’t verify this theory either way.)

Asphalt Flower is packaged in a sleek, portable roll-on dispenser of shaded gray glass. It looks androgynous and urban, and it smells that way, too. Yes, there is a candied-violet note in the opening phase of the fragrance’s development, but within a few minutes, it’s surrounded by dusky swirls of incense…

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