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Portia
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Hello Fellow Fumies,
At APJ we have a Saturday Question. Everyone gets to chime in with an answer, chat with other responders and it’s a fun event each week. Taking sides never means taking offence and everyone keeps it respectful and light, even though we can sometimes trawl the depths.
The idea is you’ll see it on the weekend or chime in through the week. Hopefully you will come back regularly and see if anyone has responded to your comment and you can reply to them. The aim is to generate real conversation and connection even though we are scattered around the globe.
Over 100 responses I will draw a Secret Scent Sample Pack (from my collection)
Last Weeks Winner: Cassieflower
eMail me at (portia underscore turbo at yahoo dot com dot au) with your address please
Saturday Question: What Would You Name and Include In Your Fragrance?
Imagine. Givenchy, Kilian, Neela Vermeire, LUSH, Estee Lauder, CHANEL or Christian Dior has called (or any other brand that makes fragrance). They’ve seen your chatter online and really rate your input and opinion. It took them a few weeks to get your number but they did. You are being asked to name and curate the three main accords in a new pillar fragrance for their brand. There are no restrictions but you will have to work with one of these perfumers: Mathilde Laurent, Jean Claude Ellena, Geza Schoen or Patricia de Nicolaï.
So. What will you call your fragrance, which company will it be made for, three leading accords and who will be your nose?
My Answer:
My wish is that Yves Saint Laurent Beauty would call. They have been a major player and innovator in the field before they started caring more for focus groups than exploring the power of new and exceptional. It woulds be amazing fun to be part of the revitalisation of the brands perfume range.
The perfumer I would choose is Patricia de Nicolai. She is clever, fun, talented and would have saved Guerlain’s bacon if they hadn’t been a patrimonial oligarchy. She has shown herself to be master of subtlety and nuance, creates seamless perfection in her fragrances and would totally understand the need for something wearably weird as a revitalisation of brand perfume.
My three leading accords would be
Vanilla: because I love the different facets of it and think it can be used in three different ways through the progression of the scent. Starting out dry and desiccated, sweetening with breathy animalisation through the heart to become a warm caramelised woodsy hug at the dry down.
Salt: I love the way salt and vanilla interact, hopefully it would only be a major player in the first two phases. A counterpoint and addition to the dry desert of the opening and keeping the heart texturally unusual.
Tuberose: The sensual, wanton white flower that gives all the breath and cool tropical sappiness. A green temptation, that also is multifaceted and can go from petroleum to bubblegum. We can explore that dynamic through the life of the fragrance too. Hopefully to do it without the usual coconut, creamy sandalwood and lotion trope.
What would I call my fragrance? Rive Safari. It would play on Yves Saint Laurent’s Rive Gauche line, perfume and the bohemian wanderlust that the line evinced. Safari because YSL made the colonial workwear into a worldwide era defining fashion statement, the journeys it conjures and the wistful (untrue) romanticism of that time. I also think the name is totally unisex and creates its own new phenomenon from pieces of the houses history. PLUS, imagine the marketing twists and turns that could evolve over time.
I pick Mathilde Laurent to make a potent gourmand, with vanilla, cocoa and musk. Not good with names though – Délice Gourmand? Lame, I know.
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OOOOH! Sounds fab TaraC,
Délice Gourmand sounds like it’s in the Guerlain line up.
Portia xx
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I would choose Mathilde Laurent of the choices you provided, and include orange blossom, jasmine, and amber. I would want the jasmine to be lush and heady. And the perfume would be simply called Indole.
I’m not sure it would suit the style of the houses that you mentioned Portia. But maybe a good comeback scent for the house of Givenchy if I had to chose one?
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WOW Kathleen,
Givenchy needs to listen to your advice. What a great name for a new pillar line.
Portia xx
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What a fantastic question! I pick Patricia de Nicolai, and I assume she’d prefer to work with her own company. I’d like her to create a yellow-green woodland floral, and my three leading accords would be:
1. Daffodils
2. Muguet with a dose of galbanum
3. Oakmoss
I know, this sounds a lot like her discontinued Le Temps d’Une Fete, but I’ve been lusting after that for a long time and have never been able to try it! I would love for her to take another look at its themes and add some of the lily of the valley she has in Odalisque and Week-End in Normandy. I would call it “La Belle Au Bois Dormant.”
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Hey OH,
I have some of the older LTdF. Next time you win remind me and I’ll send you some.
Your frag sounds really beautiful too.
Portia xx
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Thank you, Portia! That is so kind. As you and I are both fans of Patricia de Nicolai, let’s call her up and pitch our ideas, lol!
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HA! If I had her number we could. She took our Master Class at the Osmotheque Perfume Museum last year. So funny, and full of quiet snark. We loved her. What a woman.
Portia xx
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I think that would be a wonderful perfume.X
Congrats to Cassieflower on your win.
I like amber….Iris…. Vanilla, but I’m not very sure they would go together to make a perfume. Maybe there’s one out there that I’ve never heard of !!
I’d call my perfume Marianne.
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I got curious so I did a little browsing, and it seems there is a very affordable fragrance that combines your three notes! It’s called Natalie and it is made by Milton Lloyd/Perfumer’s Choice. I’ve never tried anything from that brand but it seems to be popular.
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Thank you for looking those notes up. Milton Lloyd do dupes and are cheapies. Some of them are quite nice., especially when you’re broke !!!!
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I think it’s supposed to smell like Lancome La Vie Est Belle.
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Hey Matty,
Iris, Vanilla and Amber sound good to me. Carrotty, earthy, smooth or cool iris? Marianne is a lovely name too.
“What is that lovely fragrance your wearing?” “Marianne by Matty!”
Portia xx
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Congrats Cassie! I would definitely choose Patricia de Nicolai. I have a large Nicolai collection so I clearly enjoy her work. I would choose cardamom and amber… not sure what floral would fit in. I’m thinking of a more sheer Jungle L’Elephant type perfume that I could wear anywhere. I would name it Cantabile. (Music term for in a singing style).
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FANTASTIC name MMKinPA,
A Jungle Elephant style frag would be right up so many perfumistas alley. MMMM
Portia xx
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I would do an musky animalic with some vanilla and a bit of patchouly.
I have no idea, which perfumer to choose but this would be a scent for Lush. I would call it Attila ‘s Dream
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Hey Tanja,
LUSH does some crazy good stuff. I love them.
I can’t go near the stores with Jin though. His eyes and nose start streaming madly. No problem with using their products though, just the intensity of the stores.
Portia xx
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The perfumer would be Pissara Umavijani of Dusita. It would have carnation, a gentle wood/incense, and something to make it last longer than 15 minutes (my main difficulty with Dusita’s other offerings).
Not great at coming up with a name quickly, but will go with “On Arrival”, the title of a poem by Montri Umavijani which mentions flowers.
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WOW! Sounds good AnnieA.
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I have no clue of which ‘nose’ to choose, because I have never really paid much attention to who created what. { I know I shouldn’t be so ignorant}, and as a consequence I don’t know which brand to ‘work’ for!!!! However I would name my scent Saffy…because…why not. The notes I would choose are galbanum , basil/tomato leaf{ either one} and clary sage. I would like it to have an ‘ethereal feel’ not dissimilar to De Profundis.
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OOOOH! Love De Profundis Sally Anne,
So good you’re naming it Saffy.
Portia xx
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I would choose Francoise Caron, arguably my most favorite perfumer though there are others, too whom I admire a lot. Three notes I may include are plum, hedione, and cedar. I may name my fragrance “Rencontre Mémorable” meaning Memorable Encounter
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Great question! and totally with you on YSL…the magic is gone. I would pick YSL or maybe Givenchy, with a team of Maurice Roucel and Annick Menardo, notes would include Aldehydes, Civet and Patchouli – and I would have to call it “Stank Drizzle”. I’m sure a modern animalic would invigorate the brand 😛
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I would like to add black pepper rose and petrichord to my perfume please! Lol
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Wohoo, I’m late to comment, was very busy for a couple of days and look what happened 😺
Weeelll. . . This is a great question. I’ve just gotten a call from Germaine Cellier, she’s begging me to help her out. Of course I’ll oblige. My three main notes are desiccated coconut, dry and refined. Tuberose. Incense. There’s lots of other stuff as well because this needs an opener to lift it, but I’ll leave that to Germaine, I know she’ll make it work. I think we’ll call it Badass. Lanvin will be on the label. This will get them back in the press and eye level on the shelves. They need a bit of a kick.
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Oops, I got carried away and didn’t read the instructions properly 😉 If I can’t have Germaine I’ll gladly work with Geza Schoen. He’s responsible for one of my top ten loves.
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