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Essential Essences
Which olfactory trends are attracting all the attention this season? Mouthwatering sweet scents are back in fashion, chypre is asserting itself, wood notes are revealing new aspects and floral bouquets are resplendent in rose, violet and peony.
Mouthwatering Moments
Men and women alike can enjoy a certain sweetness in the latest scents. After Hypnôse and its waves of vanilla and wood in 2005, this year Lancôme unveils Miracle Forever, bursting with mouthwatering notes. Blending with the sweetness of the flowers are tasty notes of black currant, vanilla and almond. Almond can also be found in the men’s scent 1881 Black. A ‘marzipan absolute’ note is wrapped around a woody-aromatic trail. In London for Men (Burberry), elegant wood-and-leather notes blend with vanilla-y waves of opoponax, with the fragrance’s syrupy, port-wine heart and with its spicy bursts of scent… all together, they succeed in creating a pleasantly masculine gingerbread effect. For women, from Nina Ricci, Nina’s apple-shaped bottle unveils a fruity-floral melody with the sweet notes of vanilla praline and candy apple.
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London for Men - Burberry |
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Chypre Sensations
Chypres are another big trend. Brought back into the spotlight thanks to Miss Dior Cherie, a chypre with fresh-fruity accents, and to For Her (Narciso Rodriguez), a chypre constructed over a trail of musks, they are making their presence felt this fall. Serge Lutens, for example, has come up with Chypre Rouge, built around a ‘red’ moss wrapped in candied notes. At Sisley, Soir de Lune reveals a powerful chypre adorned with fruity notes. Iskander by Parfum d’Empire offers a fresh, citrussy chypre dressed in aromatic herbs. With Perles, Lalique imagined a fine and sensual chypre, caressed with iris, Bourbon pepper and Bulgarian rose. |
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Iskander
Parfum d'Empire |
Chypre Rouge
Serge Lutens |
Soir de Lune
Sisley
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Waves of Wood
As we saw above, Bois d’Arménie is a warm, dense and mysterious wood scent. Rising like a benzoin-scented wisp of smoke, equally interesting on a man or a woman. At Givenchy, behind the floral-oriental trail, doesn’t the fragrance’s mystery also come from wood? Two notes blend voluptuous rosewood with the bold character of oak wood absolute. In KenzoAmour, wood takes on a more exotic role. The note of thanaka wood, used in Burma for make-up and skin care, imposes its gentle, sandalwood-like charm. In Dzongkha, on the other hand, the smoky-leathery wood is highlighted with a note of Indian papyrus. In 1881 Black (Cerruti), exotic agarwood and gaiac wood (or saintwood) underline the almond character. Other unusual woodnotes, like apple and lemon tree, are revealed by fragrance designers in the base notes of Nina and Boss Femme respectively.
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Rose, Peony, Violet
There are three big flowers for fall 2006. Peony is definitely holding its own. It can be found at the heart of Bright Crystal (Versace), a gentle but radiant floral bouquet, and in Noa Perle (Cacharel), warmed up with a ‘hazelnut blossom’ note. It puts in an appearance in Dzongkha, and it even gets the title role in Stella McCartney’s Stella in Two Peony.
But in the past few months, rose is on the rise. After the fresh, mouthwatering scent of La Rose Angel (Mugler) and the notes of centifolia rose and pink macaroon in Rose Divine (Isabel Derroisne, to celebrate the house’s 10 th anniversary), rose is still making a strong showing… Rose Absolue, for instance, is the second fragrance in the Yves Rocher’s Secrets d’Essences collection. A carnal, somewhat honeyed rose spiced with cinnamon. At Lancôme, Mille et Une Roses, a luminous amber rose, makes its entrance into La Collection Lancôme.
One other flower is attracting attention this year: violet is the star of Insolence by Guerlain. Maurice Roucel and Sylvaine Delacourte, who had already collaborated on the perfume L’Instant, wanted a very-present ‘over-dosed, over-excited’ violet. While asserting its bold and independent character, this violet, sparkling with red berries, possesses a very esthetic, uniquely Guerlain feel: velvety, powdery, woody.
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Other scents in the news
Obviously, we’ve had to leave some things out. For this season, rich in new releases, is also rich in surprises, as you will soon see at your favorite perfume shops. We will surely be talking soon about rice and tea notes, the return of mandarin orange in alternative fragrance (first Mandarine tout Simplement from L’Artisan Parfumeur, and now Mandarine-Mandarin by Serge Lutens), floral waves of orchid and frangipani blossom and more.
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Sheets of the |
Rice |
Mandarine
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