Created by : Harry Frémont

Date : 2007

Genre : Gardenia soliflore

Concentration : eau de parfum

The first potted plant I bought when I left home was a gardenia.  I still remember that fresh, heady scent and I bought it because I had seen Lady Sings the Blues and I was fascinated by Billie Holiday.  She often wore gardenias in her hair and although Private Collection Tuberose Gardenia is not as true as a real gardenia bouquet, it comes pretty close.

I wore Tuberose Gardenia regularly to the office a couple of years ago and it was addictive.  I loved wearing it and while researching this post, I wasn’t surprised to read that it is attributed to Harry Frémont because I also love his David Yurman rose chypre.  The man can put a fragrance together!  And Aerin Lauder, Estée Lauder’s granddaughter, was behind this one which is proof positive that good taste is genetic.

Luca Turin says that “women have no business smelling like flowers” but Tuberose Gardenia makes a very convincing case for the contrary.  In fact, TG is so beautiful even men should wear it.  Anyone who doesn’t like this fragrance probably hates flowers… and kittens.

As for the tuberose… it probably represents 20% of the bouquet.  It adds a creaminess to the fragrance… not the full buttery note found in Fracas but just a warmth with a contrasting, transient vein of menthol giving the overall effect a green tinge.

Whenever I feel that there’s just too much crap out there, I spray Tuberose Gardenia on a scent strip and remember beauty is never far away.

Buy Private Collection Tuberose Gardenia even if you never wear it.

Image : Jeune Tahitien or Jeune homme à la fleur (1891) by Paul Gauguin

I didn’t have time last week to test any perfumes because I was preparing to give a lecture to the École de bibliothéconomie et des sciences de l’information (the library school) at the Université de Montréal on perfume classification.  Specifically, I was comparing the Société Française des Parfumeurs classification with the Michael Edwards’ Fragrances of the World taxonomy.  Approximately 50 professors, researchers  and students attended and I had a great time putting it together and sharing what I had learned of perfume classification over the past few years… fascinating subject.

Part of the presentation included cataloguing Chanel No. 5 as a MARC21 record (in French) which will probably only interest 1 or 2 people on the planet!  So… here is the result of my work.  I must say that an expert cataloguer helped me through this… (in fact, Gaston did 99% of it).  He prefers to remain anonymous but I’ll thank him here.

This record is absolutely free for anyone who would like to add Chanel No. 5 to their library collection and is looking for a pretty nice MARC21 record to go along with it.  Beauty!

100 1#  $a Beaux, Ernest,$d 1881-1961.$e parfumeur
245 10  $a Chanel No 5$h [parfum] :$b eau de toilette /$c [parfumeur Ernest Beaux, éditrice Gabrielle Chanel]
260 ## $a Paris :$b [Parfums Chanel,$c 1921].
300 ## $a 1 flacon (100 ml) dans une boîte.
700 1# $a Chanel, Gabrielle,$d 1883-1971.$e éditeur

P.S.  I know there shouldn’t be blank spaces within the record but I added them to make it more readable.

February 15th addendum – Two corrections to my MARC21 record were sent to me by a highly respected scholar and Director of the Library School.  The record has since been corrected.  I removed the periods after No. and ml.   “Merci beaucoup Monsieur Arsenault!”

After 8 perfume talks, one thing is becoming clear.  Women love Chanel’s masculine Bleu while men love feminine rose chypres, notably David Yurman.  And so my question to my women readers is… do you love Bleu enough to wear it or would you want your man to wear it?  As for the men, do you like David Yurman enough to wear it or would you be attracted to a woman wearing it… or both?  Are women’s perfumes meant to seduce women at the perfume counter… or men in the bedroom?  So let’s say a male friend asks me how to attract the woman who works in the cubicle next to him.  Am I better to recommend Bleu or David Yurman?  Or nothing!  (No scent, that is.  Naked doesn’t work… I tried.)

As for colognes, everyone loves them.  The Farina eau de cologne that I distribute during my talks continues to get compliments about how clean it smells while Fracas is the great divide!  It could part the Red Sea a second time!  Half my audiences love it, the other half hates it.

People find White Linen too aggressive and Paris too overpowering.  They much prefer local favourite Neiges by Lise Watier in the floral aldehydic genre.

Although I set up Muscs Koublaï Khän before distribution as an animalic musk, they don’t hate it.  “Pas si pire”, they say.  (Loosely translated, “not that bad”.)  People don’t seem to know what to do with Chanel’s Cuir de Russie.  I think they admire it for what it does (smells of leather)… but they’re not likely to run out and buy a bottle… although I did get an email awhile back from a woman pleading to tell her where I bought my own bottle.  So when people get it, I guess they REALLY get it!

Everyone loves Eau Sauvage… in fact, many women confess to wearing it in the past.  As for Diorella, not so much.  Aqua Allègoria Pamplelune gets two thumbs up.  They appear to be neutral to Chanel No. 5 and less than neutral to Shalimar although I quickly tell them about Shalimar Parfum Initial, pleading with them not to dismiss it altogether.

Last week’s group at Saint-Basile-le-Grand was absolutely charming!  They asked intelligent questions and, more importantly, they laughed at my jokes!  But some of those people already knew about perfume.  While I was setting up Jicky as a confection of vanillin and lavender, one participant spoke out… Pour Un Homme de Caron!  Very, very bright!  Another participant yelled out “Angel” when I asked what perfume was the instigator of the gourmand family.  Lots of fun and a great group!

Have a nice week everyone!

Addendum (Feb. 8, 2012) – Everyone seems to love Pour Monsieur by Chanel.  Participants are encouraged to take scent strips at the end of the lecture and I never come home with Pour Monsieur scent strips.  Never.  The same goes for Caron’s Pour Un Homme and Knowing by Estée Lauder.

Date : 1970/2007

Genre : Green chypre

Concentration : eau de toilette

I brought my bottle of Les Mythiques Givenchy III (2007) out of retirement twice this week to counterbalance a dark Dzongkha which I wore last week for my review. This week I wanted something with more light and I wanted something green to remind me of spring. And because I considered Givenchy III to be my reset button perfume AND my BFF (Best Fragrance Forever), I figured I couldn’t lose. Well… I didn’t lose but I didn’t win either.  For some reason, Givenchy III smells thin to my nose now and maybe even a little more synthetic than I remembered.  I loved the freshly-cut green grass scent over a chypre base and I was still attracted to the big, white soapy note but somehow, it didn’t deliver. On the second day, I layered it with Chanel’s Pour Monsieur and it worked much better… but suddenly Givenchy III was not my BFF anymore. Something was broken.

I’m glad I never wrote about Givenchy III in the past because I probably would have run out of superlatives to describe my love affair with it.  For me, it was the ultimate perfume.  Nothing else came close to it.  But today, it reminds me of this dialogue between Frasier and Niles in the Dinner at Eight episode of Frasier (1993).

Niles: Dad’s so set in his ways.
Frasier: Well, we all are, at some point in our lives. Remember when you used to think the 1812 Overture was a great piece of classical music?
Niles: Was I ever that young?

There is an innocence about treating Givenchy III with such reverence.  Maybe I’ve “grown up”.  To be frank, I now own a bottle of Chanel’s Cuir de Russie and Serge Lutens’ Muscs Koublaï Khän doesn’t smell so dirty afterall… definitely a shift going on in my perfume tastes.

So… I guess I’ll retire Givenchy III and maybe come back to it at some later date.  I’ve read on other blogs that the pre-formulation Givenchy III is far superior to the reformulated one so I guess I’ll have to find a bottle.

In the meantime, my heart is broken… a little.

Image : L’Absinthe (1878) by Edgar Degas

Created by : Bertrand Duchaufour

Date : 2006

Genre : Woody iris

Concentration : eau de toilette

When I test a fragrance I always wear it twice but in this case, I made an exception.  One day was enough.  It’s not that Dzongkha is bad, it’s just that it’s not for me.

I suppose Dzongkha was considered a breakthrough when it came out… an iris for men with a woody facet but that’s about it.  There isn’t much else to say other than it smells synthetic to me because the woody-iris accord didn’t evolve much and almost 24 hours later I could still smell it on my skin… and that was even after a hot shower at the end of the day!  I said in an earlier review of La Traversée du Bosphore that Bertrand Duchaufour was the King of Cold.  The same goes for Dzongkha.  It’s downright chilly.

The iris in this one is a rooty, vegetable iris.  If you like Serge Lutens’ Iris Silver Mist, you know what I’m talking about.  But be careful, Dzongkha is overlaid with a wood veneer so my reference should be taken with a grain of salt.  The notes are tightly packed and as my friend FiveoaksBouquet would say “there are no spaces between the notes”.  In addition, this one is two-dimensional.  It’s missing a third dimension… some door to let one in!  It reminds me of Van Gogh’s doorless church at Auvers with opaque windows that leaves the viewer outside!

So let me finish this post with the fact that I’m not a fan of woods… so if you like woody scents, try this one out.  As for me… get me out of here!  Next week I’m reviewing something green to help me forget this cold, dark winter!

You’re out of the woods (!)
You’re out of the dark
You’re out of the night
Step into the sun, step into the light
Keep straight ahead
For the most glorious place
On the face of the Earth or the sky
Hold onto your breath
Hold onto your heart
Hold onto your hope
March up to the gate and bid it open

Top image : Church at Auvers (1890) by Vincent Van Gogh

Bottom image : Optimistic Voices from The Wizard of Oz (1939)

From Diana Vreeland’s autobiography, D.V.,

“There’s a whole school now that says that the scent must be faint.  This is ridiculous.  I’m speaking from the experience of a lifetime.

I always carry purse scent – that way I’m never without it.  Do you notice any scent on me now?  Don’t come any closer – if you have to sniff like a hound, it’s not enough!

Perfume is an extravagance.  But it’s odd that Americans, who God knows are an extravagant people, have never used scents properly.  They buy bottles, but they don’t splash it on.  Chanel always used to say, keep a bottle in your bag, and refresh yourself with it continually.”

Can you believe that Diana wrote this in 1984?  It sounds like it might have been written yesterday!

A sales associate at a major department store wears an Estée Lauder perfume and whenever she sees me she asks if I can smell her fragrance.  She does this while lifting her hair and leaning towards me?  I’m always afraid that a security guard is going to attack me from behind as I lean into her bosom to smell her Knowing!  Of course, I understand her dilemma.  She doesn’t work for Estée Lauder (she works for a competitor) and so she keeps her perfume close to her… very understandable.

But in general, people don’t seem to put a lot on!  And, things won’t get better any time soon.  While talking to a friend about my perfume lectures, she said, “You could get more people but there is such a movement against wearing fragrance today!  You just can’t wear it anymore!”  Regrettably, she is mostly right.

I think there’s a movement against extravagance!  Just look at the clothes we wear today… BORING!  It’s not very different than what we wore 10 years ago… or even 20 years ago.  Coincidentally, I heard an interview on the radio this week where an observer mentioned that day-to-day fashion hasn’t changed much since ultra-casual hip hop which has been around since the 90s!  Hopefully, we’re at the end of an era and extravagance will come charging back… bringing along big, beautiful perfumes with it.

The last extravagant decade was the 80s with those over-the-top, Dynasty-inspired fashions.  You know… for all that has been said of the ridiculously big hair and godzilla shoulder pads… we got some really great perfume out of that era – Poison, Opium, Coco, Paris, Boucheron, Knowing and for the men, Obsession for Men, Drakkar Noir, Bel Ami and Fahrenheit.  Loud, yes!  But great nonetheless.  I MISS THE 80S!

Have a nice week everyone!  I’ll be back next week with a perfume review… something big I hope.

Image : 1933 drawing by Étienne Drian with text “La robe de la Belle Ferronnière portée par Mme Cécile Sorel“

What is a “reset-button” scent?  You won’t find it in the dictionary but for perfume lovers it’s easily explained as a perfume in which a person can take refuge when nothing smells good anymore or, conversely, when everything smells so good it’s hard to choose.

Sometimes after smelling, testing or wearing a lot of perfumes or from wearing the same scent for a long time, olfactory fatigue can set in and nothing seems right.  When this happens, it helps to step back and literally take a breather.  Some may do that by abstaining from the use of perfume altogether, but for others, such as myself, scent is an important facet of the total person and abstinence is not an option! When feeling conflicted about what to wear, I reach for my reset-button scent.

These days that would be Guerlain’s Cologne du Parfumeur.  Its herbal and citrusy notes take me back many decades to when I first discovered the exhilarating lift of classic eau de cologne, an accord created centuries ago and still used in modern perfumery.  Leafy green overtones evoke a timeless image of being transported to a pristine forest glade and reawaken the joy of smelling.

Despite its roots in history, Cologne du Parfumeur is a relative newcomer on the scene, having been created in 2010 by nose Thierry Wasser.  Before it came along, my reset button of choice was Chanel No5.  No5 is the prime example of my favourite category of perfume, the aldehydic florals, and it worked equally well, by taking me back to the source of my own preferences.

Do you have a reset-button scent?  It can be anything that re-centers your olfactory perceptions, something you can rely on to help put other perfumes into perspective based on the smells you love the best.  Which perfume was your first love?  Which perfume lifts anxiety and makes you feel serene?  Which perfume makes no demands on you and at the same time delights with some of your favourite notes?  If anything like that is sitting on your dresser, it could be your reset-button scent.

Image : Artwork by FiveoaksBouquet

I have a bottle of Paloma Picasso in my magic closet and although I never wrote about it officially, I feel that I know it quite well as I have worn it several times.  I always thought it was a bit “too much”… that it wore me.  I knew it was a masterpiece… but I just couldn’t commit.

I’ll write a more complete review of Paloma Picasso in 2012 because this post doesn’t do it justice.  One thing I know, however, is that I’ll never forget the sheer burst of beauty that hit me on December 16th.  It changed the rest of my day and I’m going to pull my bottle out from the back of my closet for the holidays.

And so… Christmas is around the corner and although we’ve all seen A Charlie Brown Christmas a million times, the main message is more pertinent than ever.

Enjoy!  I’ll be back after Christmas with a perfume review.

Date : 1972

Genre : Floral (jasmine) wood

Concentration : eau de toilette

I often refer to Diorella as the feminine Eau Sauvage because in the literature that is how it is presented.  But when recently rereading Michael Edwards’ Perfume Legends : French Feminine Fragrances, I was surprised to read the following passage :

Diorella has been called a feminine Eau Sauvage, but Roudnitska disagrees.  “Diorella was not inspired by Eau Sauvage,” he claims.  “I worked with a different formula.  Like Eau Sauvage, Diorella has a touch of chypre, but apart from that, it has absolutely nothing to do with Eau Sauvage.  Of course I had made use of the experience I had gained from my earlier work, but if Eau Sauvage was the daughter of Diorissimo (1956), the formal structure of Diorella makes it the granddaughter of Diorissimo, without really being the daughter of Eau Sauvage.  Diorella was the transformation of quite another formula.”

I’m not sure I understand the convoluted geneaology, but having tested the latest formulation of Diorella recently I can attest that it is NOT the feminine Eau Sauvage, it is the masculine Eau Sauvage (and consequently, Eau Sauvage is the feminine Diorella).  Both start quite similarly but Diorella doesn’t have the citrus flourishes of Eau Sauvage.  One could confuse Eau Sauvage with an eau de cologne but never Diorella.  More importantly, Diorella’s  jasmine heart is denser and although there is the occasional soapy note its voice is in the masculine range.

As for classification, I’m going to disagree with Michael Edwards on this one who puts Diorella in his Citrus family, although I suspect he was working from a preformulated Diorella.  For me, it’s more of a floral wood, the floral part supplied by Hedione or jasmine.  Both men and women could wear Diorella but I think most women would prefer the lighter, citrusy Eau Sauvage as would most men.  It doesn’t surprise me that Eau Sauvage is available everywhere as opposed to Diorella which is a treasure hunt find… still beautiful but after wearing it for a few days, I prefer Eau Sauvage.

Now when I think of perfume advertising I think of Chanel.  But for me, this Dior J’adore advertisement with Grace Kelly, Marlene Dietrich and Marilyn Monroe gives Chanel a run for its money.  Great soundtrack.

Enjoy!

Date : 1955

Genre : Aldehydic animalic

Concentration : Eau de parfum

What used to be called Eau de Joy has since been renamed Joy eau de parfum and as far as I’m concerned, it’s false advertising.  It should be called Joy eau de civet.  I mean I knew that the eau de parfum would be less floral and more aldehydic than the eau de toilette but all this synthetic civet is way too much.  So, it doesn’t surprise me that the people in charge of the Jean Patou line, Designer Parfums, have hired Thomas Fontaine to oversee “the fragrance development for its heritage brands… Worth, Jean Louis Scherrer and Jean Patou.”  And from the same press release, ”Today Fontaine is recognised as a leading specialist in recasting vintage formulas for modern times.”  The man for the job!  (Thanks to FiveOaks from Perfume of Life for this link.)

Joy eau de parfum needs a “parfum initial” treatment à la Shalimar from Guerlain.  Joy edp is too heavy, too dense and too animalic.  It needs some lightening up with bergamot or powder or something.  Hopefully Thomas Fontaine will be able to bring it in step with modernity otherwise I can’t imagine it will be around very much longer.  I’ll admit though that in the first 15 minutes, I smelled the most beautiful rose note and I kept hoping that it would keep going in that direction… but no.  It went to civet and stayed there.

I understand that Joy eau de toilette is still beautiful.  The first time I sniffed the edt was a few years back and I remember the sheer beauty of it just knocked me over.  The rose and jasmine notes were so very clear… the most beautiful duet I think I’ve ever experienced.  But this eau de parfum needs a makeover.

I don’t mean to be catty (ouch) but this next duet pretty wells sums it up.

Today, I went to Montréal’s Expozine -Small Press, Comic and Zine Fair!  It was crowded and smelly but kudos to the participants who showered this morning with patchouli soap and oil!  Honestly, it was the best smell blast I’ve had in a long time.