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Laura Biagiotti\'s iconic Laura, with its aqueous character, has been so characteristic of its era that 30 years later it still springs forth in our minds as a 1990s staple, alongside L?Eau d?Issey (1992), L?Eau Par Kenzo (1996), Aqua di Gio... |
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 Cacharel\'s Eden from 1994 is the precursor of neon green compositions like Mark Jacobs Decadence and Thierry Mugler\'s Aura, which were introduced as so trailblazing in recent years, but they\'re not. Considering that the latter with its... |
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Lately I have been noticing a strange phenomenon which brought about this examination. Versace\'s post-millennium child, Crystal Noir from 2004, has been the über perennial for each and every occasion on the Fragrantica members\' collections!... |
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 Papilio, the latest Puredistance fragrance, almost coaxes a butterfly to sit upon your shoulder: Its realistic depiction of a magnolia tree in bloom, of the fresh, lightly green scent of far off jasmine vines, the hint of greenery, the almost... |
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 There is a serenity but also a dark horror surrounding incense. The zen and the apocryphal. Which is which, each time" While Kilian\'s Incense Oud composition is overwhelmingly frankincense dominant rather than aloeswood (oudh), which is... |
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 When Etat Libre d\'Orange introduced Exit the King as a soapy fragrance to the perfume loving crowd it was lost upon the majority that the tale derived from not Shakespeare, but a surrealist play of the same name by Ionesco.open rose peonies... |
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 It doesn\'t matter that Dior Homme is everywhere, either in one of its -many- versions, or in some copy of it from another brand. It remains one of the most interesting men\'s releases of the last twenty years, because the formula brings a... |
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 Happy new year!The following pictures from Dior\'s opening and exhibits in Asian metropolises are testament to LVMH\'s wish to dominate those markets. The beautiful images are breath taking! |
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Photo by Bianca Czarnock on behance, borrowed for educational purposes Dior\'s Dolce Vita fetes its 30th anniversary this year, being launched in 1994, when Dior was very careful with its new launches and the firm was creating mega-hits that... |
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In 2016, the house of Thierry Mugler opened a new chapter in the story of the famous gourmand galaxy of Angel fragrances - the "futuristic-gourmand" Angel Muse. The Muse Eau de Toilette version of this scent came out at the end of 2017.  The... |
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Encens Mythique by Guerlain is a great choice for mid-season as well as wintertime in the north hemisphere, because it adapts so well to a multitude of requisites. I\'m talking of the revamped edition in the cylindrical bottle with the gold... |
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A dirty mind is a joy forever, they say! The newest Baruti perfume, Oh my deer!, a play upon the expression and the deer musk ingredient prized in perfumery, started as an exercise in recreating the scent of deer musk. That ages old animalistic... |
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 It was a full seven years since Prada introduced an entirely new perfume for either gender, exploiting its established lines all this time. To my disappointment, the new women\'s pillar fragrance, Prada Paradoxe, fell short. It\'s a women\'s... |
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 Glamour fragrances go hand in hand with the celebrities who endorsed them. No myth is stronger than the tie of Marylin Monroe with Chanel No 5 Parfum or Audrey Hepburn with L\'Interdit by her preferred couturier Givenchy from the 1950s. Whereas... |
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 Much of our information on the particularities of Sergey Diaghilev the man come from the many exhibitions and press catalogues which have been relying on the lasting aftermath of Les Ballet Russes in Europe. Apparently the story of the Diaghilev... |
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 My friend Chandler Burr unfolded the story of how the charming and cerebral Jean Claude Ellena was inspired for this fragrance in a New Yorker piece which catapulted a series of events for both him and perfumery reportage. Looking for the starting... |
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 Sometimes surprises come in the guise of super market shopping. The German supermarkets Lidl are known for their thrift store policies and odd placement of products on shelves (with the crate). Among those products and trinkets lies fragrance... |
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 The drift into the corporate mainstream by some of the older niche brands always creates the risk of a possible (or rather probable") diminishing of innovation and creativity as a result: Tom Ford, L\'Artisan Parfumeur, Penhaligon\'s, Le... |
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 This glorious resinous scent of cool frankincense is pure magic at this time of the year!  I absolutely love La Liturgie des Heures by Jovoy; its goth spirit, chilling, cool, anchorite is perfect for someone like Wednesday Addams. Here are some... |
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Chanel often comes to mind when we talk about festive occasion drenched in champagne, if only because of the reputation of aldehydes being fizzy and sparkling materials (the aldehyde sequence in No.5 is mostly citrusy and waxy, to be honest,... |
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 Hermès launched another vegetal, light, and airy fragrance in its Cologne collection in July 2022. Eau de Basilic Pourpre represents a sunny and summery Mediterranean scent, inspired by basil at a farmer\'s market, a very common occurrence in... |
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Although we tend to overlook Boss fragrances, if only because of their ubiquitousness and confusing names, apparently, they still possess the power to surprise us. Color me impressed, then, upon discovering that Boss Bottled Elixir is nothing short... |
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I have been consulted on an article on Gourmand Fragrances on the prestigious publication of Who What Wear. The author Marie Lori covers the reasons and nuances of gourmand fragrances on the market now and why they clicked with audiences so much,... |
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 Naked Lady Godiva, Countess of Mercia, rides on her proud gray horse, with leather bridles and wet saddle, keeping her word as a personal wager against her husband, on the occasion of relief from her husband\'s excessive taxation to the... |
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Back in August 2023, Jean Paul Gaultier launched Gaultier Divine, the brand\'s new feminine fragrance, classified as a gourmand marine floral. American actress Yara Shahidi has been selected to represent the new fragrance, imagined as a... |
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 For many of us, the process of elimination is fierce and daunting. How
to go about it without a sense of loss" On the other hand, the specter
of chaos is looming. We tend to amass hundreds of bottles and, on top of
that, thousands (it... |
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Elizabeth Arden Green Tea is one of Francis Kurkjian\'s timeless success stories, which built his reputation for
effortless light diaphanous fragrances, in turn setting the record for
his own Maison Francis Kurkdjian creations that sparkle and... |
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 There are not as many fragrances with a leading narcissus note, as I would wish, and some of the best have been discontinued, for example, Le Temps d?Une Fête Nicolaï Parfumeur Créateur and Ostara Penhaligon\'s. Patricia de Nicolaï\'s Le Temps... |
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 The house of Roger & Gallet presented Bois d\'Orange built from fresh accords of citruses and the warm nuances and strength of wood several years ago, but it\'s still in production, perfect for warmer weather. The fragrance invites for a long... |
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 True Love is a classic Sophia Grojsman composition in that it possesses three main constituents: a clean, groomed outlook with lots of musk, mainly Galaxolide; a peachy fruity component that blends with the skin; and heaps of sillage with... |
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 Although iris scents are often mentioned in regards to powdery and starchy shades in perfumery, which would recall paper, skin, and bulbous vegetables, with Bois d\'Iris The Different Company (not to be confused with Van Cleef & Arpel?s... |
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Kobako means "small box" in Japanese, as far as I know. But try adding a katana-blade symbol over the first "o," and it turns into K?bako. Then it gains the nuance of a small box for solid aromatics used in the incense ceremony in k?d? (??,... |
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 Fashion designer Thierry Mugler passed away on January 23rd 2022 as announced on the designer\'s Instagram account. Although he had distanced himself from designing for many years,
earned profits from his rights into several products bearing... |
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 The actor who is best known to perfume lovers thanks to fronting the advertising campaign for Bleu de Chanel is no more. The star of many films, including an Yves Saint Laurent biopic (named Saint Laurent, an excellent casting choice!), Sibyl... |
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 The new year opens before us with the world of perfumes reflecting everything that concerns us in the rest of pop culture. From the world of woke to environmental consciousness and artificial intelligence, 2022 is set to be an exciting... |
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 Apart from the pandemic, which made 2021 a very hard year to test out fragrances in physical stores, since testers were removed, there were three significant signposts that pertain to the fragrance market at large and which dictate how 2022 and the... |
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 Finding one\'s perfect soapy fragrance is a question of defining the scent of soap in the first place. Will it be the classic Camay and Lux soap of yesteryear, which smelled of roses and aldehydes" Will it be the original Dove with its iris-musk... |
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 There are few things I appreciate more than stumbling upon a clever word play which intrigues my mind and excites my hopes for something unusual. Mousse d\'Arbre Gris was one such thing in the perfume world, and it caught me by surprise, since I... |
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 It\'s been almost two years since my last At the Moment post. Whew, what a realization. These past two years with the pandemic have taken a toll on everyone I suppose. It was productive for me, though I understand it\'s not the same for all. So... |
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 Anne Rice, the author of the gothic novel Interview with the Vampire, among many many others in different genres, has died at the age of 80. You might have read the obituary, you might also have read her books, she was mighty popular; and for good... |
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 I suppose it was all pre-mapped out for me in a way, but like Indiana
Jones famously said ?there?s no X marking the spot.? I found the way to
being a perfume historian while enjoying myself.  Thus begins my autoethnography article for The... |
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One often sees young girls looking for a perfume for everyday -clean, that will be well liked by their entourage, that will make them feel feminine, and in full possession of the coolness of their youth. They\'re offered a pile of branded products... |
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 The beauty of the gigantic blossoms of magnolia is their happy citrusy freshness: I always find myself surprised that the sheer awe the blossom creates, in terms of visual volume (their size is quite something!) is transliterated into a scent that... |
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