One of my favorite fragrance stories of the last two years has been the slow and steady resurrection of the Lubin perfume house. I reviewed both of the more recent releases of Black Jade and the extrait version of Idole de Lubin. At the recent Elements Showcase I was reminded that there was a set of three other fragrances, Figaro, Itasca, and Bluff from back in 2010 that I also thought were pretty good.
Every time I am at a trade show the best part of it is when I find a something completely new to me. That moment of discovery is where the magic is. At the most recent Elements Showcase that bit of serendipity occurred midway through the first day as I approached the Di Ser Eau de Parfums booth. What was there was a display of ten fragrances completely unknown to me and I’m guessing the rest of the attendees as well.
One good thing about January is there is a little bit of a pause post-Holidays and it allows me to catch up on things which keep getting displaced in my review on-deck circle. One of those new houses which I have been very interested to try is A Lab On Fire. Both L’Anonyme ou OP-1475-A and Rose Rebelle SC-7545 are good examples of their perfume ethos.
Ralf Schweiger pulls off a neat trick here as a fragrance named Ambre Nue has no amber as a distinct note in it but the notes that are present create an amber accord, an ambery bouquet if you will, and in that construction makes Ambre Nue something to be admired.
When I see the word “blue” in a perfumes title, very often I cringe. It is either some ubiquitous aquatic or a “nice clean” laundry fragrance. When I received Bellyflowers’ Blue Jasmine, for this review, its notes were very intriguing to me. Lotus, jasmine, more jasmine, vetiver, cypriol and sandalwood were all that was mentioned by the perfumer, but there was so much more.
In Spain at a Michelin three-star restaurant named El Celler de Can Roca fragrance plays a co-starring role in pastry chef Jordi Roca’s creations. With a dessert called Lemon Distillation he included a fragrance meant to enhance the citrus notes of the dessert. After a number of requests to buy the perfume Sr. Roca has bottled it and under the Roca Perfums label released Nuvol di Llimona (Lemon Cloud).
