New York Confidential

So what’s new in New York? Lots of new brands, for starters. And to satisfy American fans of lovely essences, most of the European brands – even those for the happy few – are there. To help fragranistas stay up to date, Sniffapalooza* runs fragrance tours to perfume hotspots: Henri Bendel, Barney’s, Bergdorf Goodman, etc. where fragrance brands organize master classes and other special events for their fans (note to brands: we can’t wait for the idea to make it across the Atlantic!-).
Alongside well-known American brands like Estée Lauder, Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren, plenty of newer perfume designers are cropping up. While we were in New York, we found out about Canturi, a lovely and luminous ambry-chypre scent from the Australian jewelry store of the same name. Crazy about cubism, the designer came up with a black-and-gold patterned bottle with an Art Deco spirit.

Another exciting discovery: Atelier Cologne. Despite its French name and founder, the brand isn’t available in France yet. But fashion-forward department stores like Bloomingdale’s and Neiman Marcus are already presenting this niche brand to their customers. The house specialty is large bottles of lovely, fresh, but fairly concentrated compositions (the house calls them ‘Cologne Absolue’). We particularly enjoyed Orange Sanguine, a sweet citrus scent that evolves towards a velvety-woodsy signature. Since orange is trendy in fragrance right now, this unisex scent will probably appeal to lots of New Yorkers –male and female – this summer.

For men, we came across Kristiansand New York. This new brand was founded by two Norwegian women who live in the city. Their first fragrance explores a hot-and-cold effect, with dazzling green notes over a warmer musky-ambry-woody base. According to the perfumer who designed it, Kristiansand could easily appeal to women too. Which just goes to show that the niche brand and unisex scent trends haven’t caught on in Europe alone.

Another designer we enjoyed running into once again was Ulrich Lang New York. The brand, which is sold at the independent perfumery Aedes de Venustas and elsewhere, presents 3 fragrances. The most recent, Nightscape, reveals a sophisticated and modern scent composed around patchouli. The fairly masculine result is sweet, green and chypre, with an evolving skin effect.

Another find, for the home this time, was the fragrant creations from designer DayNa Decker. These unusual white or transparent candles burn via a system of brown wooden wicks. Both the candles and the black diffuser reeds come in white packages adorned with stylized flowers. The overall effect is very chic, and the fragrances are lovely. The Clementine diffuser, for instance, is enhanced with delightful white honey facets.

(*) Sniffapalooza is a sort of fragranista club that organizes perfume-themed events and outings in the USA. You can also check out the reports that Karen Dubin of Sniffapalooza wrote exclusively for osMoz.

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