There are few perfumers who have a signature style. Certainly Jean-Claude Ellena is known for his minimalist style and whenever I sniff one of his fragrances it seems as if there is an ongoing fragrant conversation between us. The other perfumer, with which I also feel I have this connection, is Olivia Giacobetti.
Mme. Giacobetti also has an undeniable architecture to her fragrances, that of sheerness in beauty. Despite such sheerness her fragrances last for a long time on the skin and many times feel as if they are coming to my nose as if on a beautiful scented trade wind. She has been allowing those trade winds to blow most recently from the French Organic Perfume line, Honore des Pres. In 2008, she released four fragrances under the Honore des Pres banner. These were ECOCERT certified organic perfumes and as thus limited the ingredients Mme. Giacobetti could use. The vetiver and wood Chaman’s Party was my favorite of these first four.
Now Mme. Gicobetti returns with three new fragrances for Honore des Pres dubbed the “We Love NY” collection. The fragrances are packaged in that most disposable of New York City commodities the take-away coffee cup. While the packaging around this collection could be termed disposable, or common, the fragrances inside are not. Unlike the first four fragrances for Honore des Pres there is a real feel of pushing the boundaries of organic perfumery at play here and all three of the fragrances that make up this collection display that creativity.
I Love Les Carottes
If you walk the streets of New York City you will pass a juice bar at some point in your travels. If you have been walking awhile you might walk in and order a carrot juice to go. While the staff is busy juicing the carrots you will get that wonderful dichotomy of vegetal and sweet that carrots seem to produce. If that kind of dichotomy appeals to you then I Love Les Carottes is the fragrance for you.
Mme. Giacobetti uses earthy carrot flowers to begin I Love Les Carottes, this gives that vegetal opening. The sweet is then provided first by a lush orange and then vanilla before orris brings I Love Les Carottes back to its earthy beginnings. This grouping of notes might sound strong and cloying but one should always remember that this is Mme. Giacobetti we are talking about and while these notes have all of the power you would expect they also have her signature sheerness as well. I Love Les Carottes is juice of the wearable kind.
Love Coco
After you’ve had your carrot juice and done your shopping or museum walking it is time for lunch and as you return to the street you catch the hint of coconut and spice from the Thai food cart on the street. As you approach the steam is redolent of the smells of Thai ingredients as it envelops you. Or maybe you’re just wearing Love Coco.
Love Coco is a simple three note fragrance of coconut milk, coriander, and vanilla. Somehow Mme. Giacobetti makes it feel steamy and humid as if enveloped in that cloud coming off the cooking pot containing those three ingredients. At first it is the coconut milk which captures the attention but then the coriander adds piquant contrast before the vanilla pulls the sweet from the coconut and delineates the spice of the coriander. Love Coco is a cloud which I want to float on all day.
Vamp a NY
As the sun sets on the day in NYC you return to your apartment carrying a bottle of rum and a bouquet of tuberose from Chelsea Market; you enter to the remains of the incense you burned last night. This is what Vamp a NY smells like.
2010 has seen some wonderful tuberose fragrances released and Vamp a NY will take its place beside them. Mme. Giacobetti has found a way to take tuberose and make it feel as light and airy as possible. The opening stages of Vamp a NY are that sheer tuberose and Mme Giacobetti’s choice as dance partner is an unexpected one, rum. Her previous use of rum, in 2005’s Idole de Lubin, was uninspiring for me as I wanted it to be more boozy. In Vamp a NY that is what I get. This has the effect of adding an almost alcoholic haze surrounding the tuberose. It might not sound pleasant in words but on the skin these two notes combine to create a boozy floral that takes no prisoners but never feels heavy. As it develops further there is a resinous base note that stays on the periphery and adds a slightly exotic air to the final stages. Vamp a NY is a gorgeous piece of perfume composition.
All three fragrances in the We Love NY collection have above average longevity and moderate sillage.
Mme. Giacobetti’s We Love NY collection for Honore des Pres accurately captures many of the more pleasant smells of New York City and if one is up for an unusual olfactory tour your first step should be to acquire these fragrances.
Disclosure: This review was based on samples provided by First In Fragrance. www.first-in-fragrance.com
-Mark Behnke, Managing Editor