New Fragrance News

This week saw a number of new fragrances for the fall, and into 2011, announced in traditional and not so traditional ways. One trend that is continuing is that of fashion stores making deals to have their own signature fragrance. WWD.com reports that Firmenich will develop a fragrance for Nine West. They are expected to be sold in department stores as well as Nine West stores and the first fragrance is due in 2011.

S by Shakira marks the second celebrity brand for Puig and, according to WWD.com, they hope to use the same blueprint that has seen success for them with the Antonio Banderas branded fragrances. The fragrance is described as “a concoction of bright jasmine, sandalwood and a base of a fusion of resins such as benzoin, an amber accord and vanilla. S by Shakira is due to be in 15,000 stores this September mostly mid-tier department stores and drug stores. We know her hips don’t lie it will be interesting to see what her fragrance does.

The un-traditional announcement came from Britney Spears as the ad above was released through Britney Spears Twitter account. The tweet came out on Wednesday, “Just got the imaging for my new fragrance Radiance and thought I’d share it with all my tweethearts”, and is in advance of the September release of the ninth Britney Spears fragrance. I wonder if we will see more celebrity scents tweeted about in the future.

I was in Neiman-Marcus on Saturday and got to preview the new Acqua di Parma men’s fragrance Essenza.  Essenza is described as a Citrus Woody fragrance in the press materials I received about it. The citrus comes from the same components of the original Acqua di Parma Colonia but boosted with the addition of grapefruit, mandarin and petit-grain. The heart notes are rosemary, lily of the valley, rose, jasmine and a hint of clove. The base is the woody base of Colonia plus the addition of a high quality patchouli, white musk, and amber. The bottle is a departure from the past as Essenza comes in an all-black bottle which fits the theme of a fragrance for formal occasions. The ad-campaign, shown above, pairing the bottle with black tie formality and old Hollywood style will usher in the formal release on August 13.

My 5 Favorite (Non-Cafleurebon) Internet Posts Of The Week

1.)   Elena Vosnaki of Perfume Shrine has been one of the best writers about what specific phrases and ingredients in perfumery mean. This week she added three new posts to the already impressive content on Perfume Shrine. In the latest articles she took on "Soapy Fragrances: More Than Just A Matter Of Clean", “Amber or Ambergris?" and “Defining Powdery and Dry in Fragrances”. As always she defines by using examples and her articles are a valuable resource for any perfumista.

2.)   David Colman of The New York Times wrote a piece on why there is so much Blue/Blu/Bleu in men’s fragrances in his article entitled “Those Aqua Velva Folks Knew Something”

3.)   Marie-Helene Wagner of The Scented Salamander is rolling out her “30 Of The Very Best Beach & Marine Fragrances”. Part 1 contained 10 very interesting  and unique choices which make me look forward to see what the remaining 20 are.

4.)   Denyse Beaulieu of Grain de Musc reminded us that history is always repeating itself. In her post “Edmond Roudnitska said it all…” M. Roudnitska speaks from 30 years ago but it sounds as if it could have come from 30 seconds ago.

5.)   My favorite review of the week comes from Vanessa Musson/Flittersniffer on her Bonkers About Perfume blog. Her review of Ajne Calypso is simultaneously review and readably amusing stream of consciousness which leads from Bo Derek to Greek myth.

That’s the way it is fragrance fans for this week July 24-30, 2010. I hope you are all having a great smelling weekend.

-Mark Behnke, Managing Editor