PERFUME which was presumed lost forever when the Titanic sunk has been revived and was set to be showcased for the first time today.
David Pybus, director of ALQemy Limited and a perfume historian, was expected to offer an exclusive preview of a scent salvaged from the doomed liner at the Edinburgh Science Festival.
It was more than three years ago when Mr Pybus, known as the Indiana Jones of the perfume world because he travels around the globe looking for lost scents, read about a case which had been found on the seabed containing 65 intact vials of perfume.
He later discovered the case had belonged to Adolphe Saalfeld - a German-born perfumer who was taking the samples to America to seek his fortune.
Even though Saalfeld survived the sinking of the Titanic, he never made any more perfume.
Mr Pybus has now recreated one of the scents, which is nicknamed "pink" because of its rosy and violet smell.
Though the perfume has not yet been named it will be launched later this year by a major international firm.
He said: "I cannot wait for this to hit the shelves as I will finally be able to realise the dream of Adolphe Saalfeld more than 90 years on."
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
La Fuite Des Heures by Cristobal Balenciaga
La Fuite des Heures, also marketed under the English name Fleeting Moment, was created in 1949 by the great perfumer Germaine Cellier who also gave us Coeur-Joie by Nina Ricci, Bandit by Piguet, Elysées 64-83, Jolie Madame,Vent Vert, and Monsieur Balmain by Balmain, amongst others. Her style can be characterized as bold, forceful (Bandit, Vent Vert) yet also capable of creating infinitesimally subtle nuances (Coeur-Joie). Today, one can find traces of her more forceful, almost primitive style at times in Mona di Orio's work, while her originality can be found again in Olivia Giacobetti's creations. La Fuite des Heures contains both her primitivist and softer romantic sense of nuances.
Like the picture La Danse (The Dance) by Fauvist André Derain who was a friend of Germaine Cellier and for whom she posed, it is an ensemble of bold and graceful lines and as it turns out, seems to be colored with the same color tones: the brown of the amber, the grey of ambergris, the dark brown of leather, the chartreuse green of the anise, the darker green of thyme, the yellow of the hay, the mauve of the violet or orris, the golden hues (for me) of jasmine......
La Fuite des Heures, or The Fleeting Hours literally translated, was Cristobal Balenciaga's second perfume following Le Dix, named after his new boutique address in Paris located 10, Avenue George V which he opened in 1948. For the couturier, perfume is said to have been but "fashion breathing all around us." Within the perfume heritage of the brand of Balenciaga, which went on longer than the fashion activities of the house, La Fuite des Heures makes one think of Quadrille for its unconventional mix of masculine and feminine elements and its dry aromatic character. But where La Fuite des Heures smells very original and natural, Quadrille, by comparison, seems suddenly affected, shallower, and too easily resorting to the effect of sophistication and polish that a classic coded use of aldehydes can offer. This happens only if you compare them side by side. On its own, Quadrille is beautiful.
Regarding the historical context, there seems to be little immediate available information concerning La Fuite des Heures without delving deeper into primary sources. The Société Française des Parfumeurs (French Society of Perfumers) however describes the perfume as being based on a rich jasmine and thyme accord. We were lucky enough to find a bottle of the parfum extract and so we will offer an olfactory description of it together with our impressions.
La Fuite Des Heures appears to be a woody herbal and floral composition with hints of leather. Its beginning is forceful, liquorishey and herbal and its drydown is soft and round, more woody and floral although the herbal character remains throughout. The first impressions immediately brings to mind aromatic memories associated with traditional household French herbal remedies such as Elixir Bonjean and Eau de Mélisse des Carmes Boyer.
There is an amberey rush at first that seems to layer two kinds of amber, warm sweet amber and ambergris, with its distinctive colder saltier marine tones, slowly and more surely unveiling the chartreuse green accents of a kitchen garden full of aromatic herbs that normally and more conventionally impart interest to edible concoctions. This is followed by another rush of dry dirty herbal notes. It smells almost bad but not quite.
The curtain then opens on the memory of a summer day during one's childhood spent flat on one's stomach, the nose being tickled by aromatic herbs while chewing on a blade of hay looking at the insects getting much busier and noisier than oneself. Later the bell would ring for dinner and a cold-hot herbal soup would be served perfuming those days from then on. The fleeting hours of a nonchalant afternoon turn into a substratum of meaning in adulthood. As delicate and fragile as herbs or hay in the summer, time takes on the smells of those aromas to convey the passing of time.
The herbs seem not so much blended into the perfume as made to figuratively appear in the imagination of the perfume wearer as slightly withered herbs on which the sun and the wind would have left their marks. The floral notes make their presence felt as a field of wild flowers dancing playfully in the wind. There are stacks of hay nearby with their blonde smells. The jasmine rounds off the notes rather than appears showcased.
The heart of the perfume develops a prominent cool green anise note with sweet undertones. It is reminiscent of yet another French specialty this time based on anise, Anis de l'Abbaye de Flavigny.
The base smells like hay warmed up by the sun. The perfume softens down to very mellow woods with facets of fennel, hay, even sweet caramelized yellow onions with yellow peach undertones. It smells like a day in the summer spent in the kitchen garden.
The drydown is extremely soft, fruity-woody, slightly leathery and peppery. It seems to smell of violet or orris or both. The sweetness seems to derive from a very subtle vanilla. The drydown especially is particularly multi-faceted which makes one think that there is an important proportion of natural essences.
La Fuite Des Heures is a very original and adult perfume, the perfume of one who has fully lived one's childhood and in which maturity contains that childhood instead of reliving it. The dried herbs were made part of a perfume that is both very feminine and very masculine in keeping with its author's strong personality. In fact, judging by today's standards of marketable perfumes, it is astonishing to think that La Fuite Des Heures was meant for a wider public than the perfumer herself. It is so personal as to make one think that it was made for Cellier's nose only and then only made more widely available.
This impression is probably not too far from the truth as if there ever was a perfumer who did not make compromises with ambient "good taste", that would have to have been Germaine Cellier. The originality and authenticity of the perfume derives from the impression that it seems to have been inspired by first-hand sensations, directly motivated by ingredients intimately known to the perfumer, rather than by social codes. It also shows her lack of prejudice regarding a separation between low-brow gourmand, edible notes and perfumey ones. Swiftly filling the symbolic gap between kitchen cupboard and perfumer's lab she has created an early discreetly gourmand-medicinal perfume resting more on savory notes than sweet ones contrary to what is overwhelmingly the case today. La Fuite des Heures is a perfume both innocent and seductive, strange and beautiful.
Like the picture La Danse (The Dance) by Fauvist André Derain who was a friend of Germaine Cellier and for whom she posed, it is an ensemble of bold and graceful lines and as it turns out, seems to be colored with the same color tones: the brown of the amber, the grey of ambergris, the dark brown of leather, the chartreuse green of the anise, the darker green of thyme, the yellow of the hay, the mauve of the violet or orris, the golden hues (for me) of jasmine......
La Fuite des Heures, or The Fleeting Hours literally translated, was Cristobal Balenciaga's second perfume following Le Dix, named after his new boutique address in Paris located 10, Avenue George V which he opened in 1948. For the couturier, perfume is said to have been but "fashion breathing all around us." Within the perfume heritage of the brand of Balenciaga, which went on longer than the fashion activities of the house, La Fuite des Heures makes one think of Quadrille for its unconventional mix of masculine and feminine elements and its dry aromatic character. But where La Fuite des Heures smells very original and natural, Quadrille, by comparison, seems suddenly affected, shallower, and too easily resorting to the effect of sophistication and polish that a classic coded use of aldehydes can offer. This happens only if you compare them side by side. On its own, Quadrille is beautiful.
Regarding the historical context, there seems to be little immediate available information concerning La Fuite des Heures without delving deeper into primary sources. The Société Française des Parfumeurs (French Society of Perfumers) however describes the perfume as being based on a rich jasmine and thyme accord. We were lucky enough to find a bottle of the parfum extract and so we will offer an olfactory description of it together with our impressions.
La Fuite Des Heures appears to be a woody herbal and floral composition with hints of leather. Its beginning is forceful, liquorishey and herbal and its drydown is soft and round, more woody and floral although the herbal character remains throughout. The first impressions immediately brings to mind aromatic memories associated with traditional household French herbal remedies such as Elixir Bonjean and Eau de Mélisse des Carmes Boyer.
There is an amberey rush at first that seems to layer two kinds of amber, warm sweet amber and ambergris, with its distinctive colder saltier marine tones, slowly and more surely unveiling the chartreuse green accents of a kitchen garden full of aromatic herbs that normally and more conventionally impart interest to edible concoctions. This is followed by another rush of dry dirty herbal notes. It smells almost bad but not quite.
The curtain then opens on the memory of a summer day during one's childhood spent flat on one's stomach, the nose being tickled by aromatic herbs while chewing on a blade of hay looking at the insects getting much busier and noisier than oneself. Later the bell would ring for dinner and a cold-hot herbal soup would be served perfuming those days from then on. The fleeting hours of a nonchalant afternoon turn into a substratum of meaning in adulthood. As delicate and fragile as herbs or hay in the summer, time takes on the smells of those aromas to convey the passing of time.
The herbs seem not so much blended into the perfume as made to figuratively appear in the imagination of the perfume wearer as slightly withered herbs on which the sun and the wind would have left their marks. The floral notes make their presence felt as a field of wild flowers dancing playfully in the wind. There are stacks of hay nearby with their blonde smells. The jasmine rounds off the notes rather than appears showcased.
The heart of the perfume develops a prominent cool green anise note with sweet undertones. It is reminiscent of yet another French specialty this time based on anise, Anis de l'Abbaye de Flavigny.
The base smells like hay warmed up by the sun. The perfume softens down to very mellow woods with facets of fennel, hay, even sweet caramelized yellow onions with yellow peach undertones. It smells like a day in the summer spent in the kitchen garden.
The drydown is extremely soft, fruity-woody, slightly leathery and peppery. It seems to smell of violet or orris or both. The sweetness seems to derive from a very subtle vanilla. The drydown especially is particularly multi-faceted which makes one think that there is an important proportion of natural essences.
La Fuite Des Heures is a very original and adult perfume, the perfume of one who has fully lived one's childhood and in which maturity contains that childhood instead of reliving it. The dried herbs were made part of a perfume that is both very feminine and very masculine in keeping with its author's strong personality. In fact, judging by today's standards of marketable perfumes, it is astonishing to think that La Fuite Des Heures was meant for a wider public than the perfumer herself. It is so personal as to make one think that it was made for Cellier's nose only and then only made more widely available.
This impression is probably not too far from the truth as if there ever was a perfumer who did not make compromises with ambient "good taste", that would have to have been Germaine Cellier. The originality and authenticity of the perfume derives from the impression that it seems to have been inspired by first-hand sensations, directly motivated by ingredients intimately known to the perfumer, rather than by social codes. It also shows her lack of prejudice regarding a separation between low-brow gourmand, edible notes and perfumey ones. Swiftly filling the symbolic gap between kitchen cupboard and perfumer's lab she has created an early discreetly gourmand-medicinal perfume resting more on savory notes than sweet ones contrary to what is overwhelmingly the case today. La Fuite des Heures is a perfume both innocent and seductive, strange and beautiful.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Escada Collection
Escada Collection has been released in 1997 and seems to have been discontinued, but still pops up in the stores here and there, with its ever-changing limited edition bottles. Escada is a warm, rich woody-oriental with the notes of manadarine, cola, tuberose, jasmine, sandalwood, musk and vanilla. It is one of my favorite comfort scents, in fact, it is my ultimate comfort perfume; whenever I am cold, tired and miserable, I put on some Collection and instantly I am soothed and warmed by its sweet, smoky, velvety aroma.
I was quite surprised to see mandarine among the notes of Collection, this note is not at all apparent on my skin. Different lists of notes tell different stories, some have a plum note and some don’t, I believe that it is there, because Collection has certain lush, ripe, sweet fruitiness that smells nothing like mandarine. That sweetness perhaps can also be explained by the presence of the “cola” note, though I am not entirely sure that I can distinguish that accord in Collection. Tuberose adds wonderfull creaminess to the scent, and the blend of sandalwood, musk and vanilla in the drydown is soft and smooth. I do not know where it comes from, perhaps there is a tobacco note here as well, but there is a delectable sweet smokiness in Collection, not unlike that of Cherry Shisha Tobacco used in hookahs (waterpipes, narguiles). Collection is a delicious, sensual, rich scent, very different from Escada’s other rather forgettable offerings, it is a must have for the dreary winter days and nights.
Collection is right now available at Nordstrom, $100.00 for a Limited Edition 1,7oz bottle. The same bottle can often be found on eBay for almost half the price. The rumour has it that Collection has been seen in some TJMaxx and Marshalls stores for as little as $19.99, I have never had such luck and suspect that it is just an urban myth.
http://perfumesmellinthings.blogspot.com/2005_11_01_archive.html
I was quite surprised to see mandarine among the notes of Collection, this note is not at all apparent on my skin. Different lists of notes tell different stories, some have a plum note and some don’t, I believe that it is there, because Collection has certain lush, ripe, sweet fruitiness that smells nothing like mandarine. That sweetness perhaps can also be explained by the presence of the “cola” note, though I am not entirely sure that I can distinguish that accord in Collection. Tuberose adds wonderfull creaminess to the scent, and the blend of sandalwood, musk and vanilla in the drydown is soft and smooth. I do not know where it comes from, perhaps there is a tobacco note here as well, but there is a delectable sweet smokiness in Collection, not unlike that of Cherry Shisha Tobacco used in hookahs (waterpipes, narguiles). Collection is a delicious, sensual, rich scent, very different from Escada’s other rather forgettable offerings, it is a must have for the dreary winter days and nights.
Collection is right now available at Nordstrom, $100.00 for a Limited Edition 1,7oz bottle. The same bottle can often be found on eBay for almost half the price. The rumour has it that Collection has been seen in some TJMaxx and Marshalls stores for as little as $19.99, I have never had such luck and suspect that it is just an urban myth.
http://perfumesmellinthings.blogspot.com/2005_11_01_archive.html
Muscs Koublai Khan by Serge Lutens
Koublai Khan, 1215-94, was a Mongol emperor, founder of the Yüan dynasty of China. He succeeded his brother Mongke as the ruler of the empire that their grandfather Jenghiz Khan had founded. The empire reached its greatest territorial scope with Kublai's final defeat of the Sung dynasty of China. Koublai promoted economic prosperity by rebuilding the Grand Canal, repairing public granaries, and extending highways; he fostered Chinese scholarship and arts; although he favored Tibetan Buddhism, other religions (except Taoism) were tolerated. Kublai encouraged foreign commerce, and his magnificent capital at Cambuluc (now Beijing) was visited by several Europeans, including Marco Polo.
As far as I am concerned, there is none of that imperial splendor in Muscs Koublai Khan, no enlightened interest in arts and science; magnificent palaces full of priceless objects don’t rise before my eyes when I smell this fragrance. Serge Lutens creation is all about Koublai the warrior, a soldier among his soldiers, a conqueror prowling the great plains. Muscs Koublai Khan is raw, dirty and sensual.
On the first sniff, this is, shockingly, the smell of a circus, you know the one, animal sweat and animal skin and all the things I will not mention here, a very distinctive smell that is repulsive yet weirdly appealing at the same time…Civet, castoreum, costus roots, patchouli…I have no doubt that this is exactly what Koublai Khan smelled like on his cleanest day while on a conquering spree.
I would have never expected myself to like a scent like that, yet I find it incredibly alluring. Perhaps, Ambrose Bierce was right, and every Russian is a person with a Caucasian body and a Mongolian soul, and these are the deepest and the darkest recesses of my soul that crave Muscs Koublai Khan, this eau de blood-thirsty unwashed horse-rider of the steppes…Like Nikolai Gumilev, sometimes “I’m bored with people and the stories, and dream of the treasures of the kingdom, glories, and yataghans, all covered with blood.”
http://perfumesmellinthings.blogspot.com/
As far as I am concerned, there is none of that imperial splendor in Muscs Koublai Khan, no enlightened interest in arts and science; magnificent palaces full of priceless objects don’t rise before my eyes when I smell this fragrance. Serge Lutens creation is all about Koublai the warrior, a soldier among his soldiers, a conqueror prowling the great plains. Muscs Koublai Khan is raw, dirty and sensual.
On the first sniff, this is, shockingly, the smell of a circus, you know the one, animal sweat and animal skin and all the things I will not mention here, a very distinctive smell that is repulsive yet weirdly appealing at the same time…Civet, castoreum, costus roots, patchouli…I have no doubt that this is exactly what Koublai Khan smelled like on his cleanest day while on a conquering spree.
I would have never expected myself to like a scent like that, yet I find it incredibly alluring. Perhaps, Ambrose Bierce was right, and every Russian is a person with a Caucasian body and a Mongolian soul, and these are the deepest and the darkest recesses of my soul that crave Muscs Koublai Khan, this eau de blood-thirsty unwashed horse-rider of the steppes…Like Nikolai Gumilev, sometimes “I’m bored with people and the stories, and dream of the treasures of the kingdom, glories, and yataghans, all covered with blood.”
http://perfumesmellinthings.blogspot.com/
Friday, March 9, 2007
Perfume reading in the Times
Arielle Dombasle, the French actress and singer described as "perhaps the Frenchest person alive"...
...is not content just to dab on a bit of store-bought stuff, a 20th-century practice she derides as lacking in imagination. Rather, she concocts her own mixture from Cuir de Russie by Chanel, Aromatic Elixir by Clinique and a cheap off-brand white musk she stockpiles from a shop on the Lower East Side.
Read the rest in the New York Times (and thanks to Ruth for the link!), and also check out Chandler Burr's latest fragrance reviews in Scent Strip.
...is not content just to dab on a bit of store-bought stuff, a 20th-century practice she derides as lacking in imagination. Rather, she concocts her own mixture from Cuir de Russie by Chanel, Aromatic Elixir by Clinique and a cheap off-brand white musk she stockpiles from a shop on the Lower East Side.
Read the rest in the New York Times (and thanks to Ruth for the link!), and also check out Chandler Burr's latest fragrance reviews in Scent Strip.
Thursday, March 8, 2007
Paris Hilton's Heiress: scent like fame, can be fleeting
Sometimes as charming as it is, I grow weary of pink. Everywhere pink phones, pink bags, perky pink shoes, it's as if young girls are unaware of any other colors. But what really irritates me is pink scents, the Betsy Johnson, the Juicy Couture and others which seem the very essence of the less appealing version of pink, hyper fruity, cloying light florals with a headache-inducing sweetness. I just came across Paris Hilton's "Heiress" in a magazine and curiosity overcame me, a moment I have lived to regret. This scent is the very essence of negative pink.
Like Paris herself, the first impression is not unpleasant, a sort of bubblegum kiss of perfume, suitable for preteens. But afterwards there is this rank chemical tang that just doesn't resemble anything found in nature. It has been discribed as having top notes of passion fruit, orange and champagne mimosa, a heart of star jasmine, tiare flower, honeysuckle, dewberry blossom and grenadine and a dry-down of vetiver, Tahitian tonka and blonde woods which sounds sort of appealing. While I definitely got the passion fruit and honeysuckle in an early kick of scent, the drydown was a whisper at best. It quickly dissipates into nothingness. I've sniffed dishwashing soap with a more layered scent profile. If you must, you can find the spray for around $35.
Deidre Woollard (c)
Like Paris herself, the first impression is not unpleasant, a sort of bubblegum kiss of perfume, suitable for preteens. But afterwards there is this rank chemical tang that just doesn't resemble anything found in nature. It has been discribed as having top notes of passion fruit, orange and champagne mimosa, a heart of star jasmine, tiare flower, honeysuckle, dewberry blossom and grenadine and a dry-down of vetiver, Tahitian tonka and blonde woods which sounds sort of appealing. While I definitely got the passion fruit and honeysuckle in an early kick of scent, the drydown was a whisper at best. It quickly dissipates into nothingness. I've sniffed dishwashing soap with a more layered scent profile. If you must, you can find the spray for around $35.
Deidre Woollard (c)
History of perfume and perfumery
The word perfume used today derives from the Latin "per fume", meaning through smoke. Perfumery, or the art of making perfumes, began in ancient Egypt but was developed and further refined by the Romans and the Arabs. Although perfume and perfumery also existed in East Asia, much of its fragrances are incense based.
The world's first chemist is considered to be a person named Tapputi, a perfume maker who was mentioned in a cuneiform tablet from the second millennium BC in Mesopotamia.[7]
The Iranian doctor and chemist Avicenna introduced the process of extracting oils from flowers by means of distillation, (the procedure most commonly used today). He first experimented with the rose. Until his discovery, liquid perfumes were mixtures of oil and crushed herbs, or petals which made a strong blend. Rose water was more delicate, and immediately became popular. Both of the raw ingredients and distillation technology significantly influenced western perfumery and scientific developments, particularly chemistry.
Knowledge of perfumery came to Europe as early as the 14th century due partially to Arabic influences and knowledge. But it was the Hungarians who ultimately introduced the first modern perfume. The first modern perfume, made of scented oils blended in an alcohol solution, was made in 1370 at the command of Queen Elizabeth of Hungary and was known throughout Europe as Hungary Water. The art of perfumery prospered in Renaissance Italy, and in the 16th century, Italian refinements were taken to France by Catherine de Medicis personal perfumer, Rene le Florentin. His laboratory was connected with her apartments by a secret passageway, so that no formulas could be stolen en route. France quickly became the European center of perfume and cosmetic manufacture. Cultivation of flowers for their perfume essence, which had begun in the 14th century, grew into a major industry in the south of France. During the Renaissance period, perfumes were used primarily by royalty and the wealthy to mask body odors resulting from the sanitary practices of the day. Partly due to this patronage, the western perfumery industry was created. By the 18th century, aromatic plants were being grown in the Grasse region of France to provide the growing perfume industry with raw materials. Even today, France remains the centre of the European perfume design and trade.
The world's first chemist is considered to be a person named Tapputi, a perfume maker who was mentioned in a cuneiform tablet from the second millennium BC in Mesopotamia.[7]
The Iranian doctor and chemist Avicenna introduced the process of extracting oils from flowers by means of distillation, (the procedure most commonly used today). He first experimented with the rose. Until his discovery, liquid perfumes were mixtures of oil and crushed herbs, or petals which made a strong blend. Rose water was more delicate, and immediately became popular. Both of the raw ingredients and distillation technology significantly influenced western perfumery and scientific developments, particularly chemistry.
Knowledge of perfumery came to Europe as early as the 14th century due partially to Arabic influences and knowledge. But it was the Hungarians who ultimately introduced the first modern perfume. The first modern perfume, made of scented oils blended in an alcohol solution, was made in 1370 at the command of Queen Elizabeth of Hungary and was known throughout Europe as Hungary Water. The art of perfumery prospered in Renaissance Italy, and in the 16th century, Italian refinements were taken to France by Catherine de Medicis personal perfumer, Rene le Florentin. His laboratory was connected with her apartments by a secret passageway, so that no formulas could be stolen en route. France quickly became the European center of perfume and cosmetic manufacture. Cultivation of flowers for their perfume essence, which had begun in the 14th century, grew into a major industry in the south of France. During the Renaissance period, perfumes were used primarily by royalty and the wealthy to mask body odors resulting from the sanitary practices of the day. Partly due to this patronage, the western perfumery industry was created. By the 18th century, aromatic plants were being grown in the Grasse region of France to provide the growing perfume industry with raw materials. Even today, France remains the centre of the European perfume design and trade.
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