Amber : Sweet Labdanum ~ Perfume Notes and Fragrance Materials

The classical amber in perfumery is a sweet, rich accord of labdanum and vanilla. It is a pure fantasy accord like fougère or chypre, and despite the fact that its name evokes the fabled material, ambergris, it does not attempt to reproduce this animalic marine scent. Perfumery amber is so called, because the golden color of the blend resembles the semi-precious amber jewel. Sweet and voluptuous, perfumery amber is quite versatile, and whenever one encounters a fragrance named Amber or Ambre, it is likely to be a warm, vanilla and labdanum based blend.

Top Selling Masculine Fragrances 2010 USA: Popular Perfumes

MASCULININE TOP SELLERS

Top Selling Feminine Fragrances for 2011 USA

Top Selling Feminine Fragrances for 2010 USA

Top Selling Feminine Fragrances for 2010 France

To round out the list of blockbusters last year, the next two posts in this series will focus on masculine fragrances. Looking at the top sellers in men’s market, I was surprised to discover that a newcomer pastiche like Bleu de Chanel managed to outsell the traditional masculine blockbuster Giorgio Armani Acqua di Giò Pour Homme by quite a sizable margin. This discovery followed another one—there are more classical, older fragrance among masculine top sellers than is the case with the feminine ones.

Jo Malone Wild Bluebell : Perfume Review

Star rating: 5 stars--outstanding/potential classic, 4 stars--very good, 3 stars--adequate, 2 stars--disappointing, 1 star--poor.

In the past, it was more common for functional products to imitate luxurious fine fragrances. That is why there were hair sprays scented with something like Nina Ricci L’Air du Temps, car fresheners redolent of Guy Laroche Drakkar Noir, and bathroom cleaners strongly reminiscent of Lancôme Trésor. Today, I am much more likely to find resemblance to functional products in fine fragrances, thanks to the fashion for clean, simple scents and the cheapening of luxury perfume overall. My latest encounter of such a hybrid is Jo Malone Wild Bluebell. It is a bright, lily of the valley dominated floral that I can envision far easier as a shampoo or fabric softener rather than a fine fragrance.

Confusing Fragrance Terms : Perfume Jargon

What fragrance terms do you find confusing? About which perfume concepts would you have liked to learn more?

Amber, musk, petally, floralcy, butyric, crisp.... Fragrance professionals struggle with the language, with which to describe perfume, and it does not help matters that the information available to the consumers is often extremely confusing. Among the perfume adjectives that I have always found confusing (and still do) is soapy, which can mean lots of different things to different people.

Etat Libre d'Orange Tilda Swinton Like This : Perfume Review

Star rating: 5 stars--outstanding/potential classic, 4 stars--very good, 3 stars--adequate, 2 stars--disappointing, 1 star--poor.

Recently I found myself wishing for a woody oriental fragrance, where woods take the center stage, as opposed to the gourmand effects. While I love a mouthwatering dessert of a fragrance a la Lolita Lempicka or Prada Candy, I am even more partial to dark, rich blends with dry woody and incense accents. One such favorite is Etat Libre d'Orange Like This. Created in collaboration with the actress Tilda Swinton, Like This is a strange and unconventional blend. It is a cross between the woody richness of Serge Lutens Douce Amère and the smoldering darkness of Donna Karan Chaos, with plenty of its own surprising elements.