Start saving your pennies…
Bergdorf Goodman in NYC now has the JAR line of perfumes from Paris jeweller Joel Arthur Rosenthal. They are not online yet; prices range from $300 to $800.
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I missed sniffing those last month at BG, but I must go back next week and try them out. The prices are a bit steep, and I'm not sure the scents will totally thrill, actually, I hope I DON'T love any of them!
R, what can you tell us about this line? What accounts for the steep price?
I went to the JAR perfume boutique when I was in Paris last October and tried Jardenia, Diamond Water and Ferme tes Yeux. Jardenia was like a more rococco version of Fracas. The last two were more interesting, but an hour later, the notes were too diffuse, musty and cloudy, like the drydown of the Annick Goutal's Passion. I thought they were interesting, but was not in love with them. Anyway the 200 -300 Euros retail price made the Serge Lutens perfumes seem very reasonable indeed, especially as the SL scents are so beautiful and original from start to finish, so in the end of the afternoon I bought Bois de Violette instead.
A few years ago there was an exhibit of Joel Rosenthal's jewels in London, and there was a beautiful slip cased catalog published to commemorate the exhibit. I didn't get to go to see the exhibit in London, but whenever I'm in Rizzoli, I always browse through the catalog because his jewels are just so over the top gorgeous. He's just the best fine jewelry designer working today, and as his shop in the Place Vendome is so low-key and hidden, and he doesn't bend over backwards to bejewel the stars at Oscar night, he's still kind of an insiders' secret. I think the steep prices of the perfume are just there to satisfy his demographic, and to keep the scents inaccessible (he's not out there to go after the Bvlgari or Van Cleef and Arpel's fragrance market) and even if the construction is not fantastic, the raw materials are definitely of excellent quality.
K, please let me know if they have Bolt of Lightning, and if it is really as wonderful as I've heard! I have only tried 3 so far, and happily don't need any of them.
Iris, I reviewed 2 of them and you can see that if you use the search function. I have since tried 1 other. I liked 2 of the 3 I tried, but the price is I think more due to the exclusivity & mystique of JAR. The bottles are also supposed to be beautiful, but I've never seen one so can't comment! Golconda and Bolt of Lightning are the 2 I've heard the most about, but haven't tried either one.
Thanks so much for all the information! What did you think of Jardenia? I thought Diamond Waters was nice; Ferme tes Yeux I did not like at all.
And yes, SL is a veritable bargain in comparison!
Jardenia is good if you like your gardenia and tuberose not so soliflorish, and more with an opulent, Bal a Versailles kind of feel. The salesman at the JAR store was perfectly nice, but he told me he was forbidden to tell customers the notes the perfumes consisted of, or even what family the scents belonged to whether it was chypre, oriental or whatever. I have a feeling that Bergdorf will be a little more straightforward with their customers. The JAR scents and jewelry are definitely in the baroque school. When I look at his jewelry I'm reminded of that gem encrusted turtle in JK Huysman's A REBOURS.
Oops — thanks. I'll search for your previous reviews.
The Jardenia one just turned my stomach – parislondres can attest to the horrified look on my face when I sniffed it in front of her. :-0
The others were pleasant but nothing I felt I had to buy.
It cracks me up that they are “forbidden” to give any helpful information! I have never seen his jewelry but will have to do a search online.
Wow! Ferme tes Yeux probably put the exact same expression on my face.
With his track record in inducing nausea, maybe one of these days he can make a scent with durian. No one has tried it as far as I know. It would be kind of cool as an experiment.
Here's the webpage for the London exhibit of the JAR jewels, underwritten by Ron Perelman and Ellen Barkin, who must have a quite a collection from her husband.
http://www.gilbert-collection.org.uk/previous_exhibitions/jewels_of_jar/
LOL — to boldly go where no perfumer has ever gone before!
Thanks so much for the link, I will check that out.
When I first started on MUA, I smelled the Jardenia. I thought it was nice, but nothing spectacular. Do you think the price is what makes them so exclusive, or that the complexity of the scents themselves warrant the high prices?
B, I have yet to smell the perfume that I think is “worth” $800, or even $300. I think you pay for the packaging and the mystique of the line, much as you do with Clive Christian.
I tried Golconda several years ago, it was a half-vial sent to me by the fella who used to own Rare-Essence (whatever happened to them?) and he told me that as a fragrance lover, he wanted me to sniff Golconda. They only received a few bottles a year. It is a nice white floral, with mostly a carnation note, and was so not extraordinary to my nose. I passed that sample on a long time ago, now I wonder where it is!
I am not intrigued by the rest of the JAR line, happy to say!
P, what was Rare-Essence, a retail store? It must have been before my time (in other words, before my perfume addiction).