Comme des Garçons has introduced the Luxe series, consisting of two fragrances, Champaca and Patchouli, debuting under the tag line "the true sign of luxury is rarity and quality".
Champaca is based on the "mythical flower of India", also known as the "Joy perfume tree", and includes notes of champaca, white pepper, angelica, bird pepper, cardamom, tuberose, white musk and iris.
Patchouli (shown) uses Sumatran patchouli "of the best quality in existence". The notes include white pepper, fenugreek, lovage, patchouli, oak, oppoponax, cedar, vanilla, vetiver and sandalwood.
Comme des Garçons Luxe Champaca (€170) and Patchouli (€190) are available in 45 ml Eau de Parfum. Each scent is available in one of two bottle designs, both in black crystal. (via colette.fr, achatvip, purs-sens)
Other recent releases from Comme des Garçons: Play.
Update: see a review of Comme des Garçons Luxe Champaca.
Um, these sound fascinating and uber expensive (given it's CdG, the former not surprising, the latter a bit surprising), but my overwhelming question after I read: what in the world is “bird pepper”? Admittedly not a positive initial reaction from me….
Bird pepper: http://tinyurl.com/36rfkq
I may calm down eventually, but my initial reaction is utter disgust. When even CdG is delving into the “We’re going for fewer customers, but customers with deeper pockets” mode of perfumery a la Tom Ford, the world is truly going to h*ll in a handbasket.
Yes. I'm dying to try the patchouli, but the price tag is killing me…
The slogan “the true sign of luxury is rarity and quality” has the advantage of making just as much (meaning as little) sense when rearranged.
– the true sign of rarity is luxury and quality
– the true sign of quality is rarity and luxury
Blah blah blah!
I agree, this trend with niche fragrances to go for expensive is a bore. Boo on aspirational pricing! But if the Champaca uses the low-temperature extracted champaca that Luca's friend Peter Wilde makes, the stuff I smelled a few months ago that knocked my socks off, then it might be mindblowingly good. OK, forget I said that. I'm just going to go smell the stuff and stop speculating.
At the moment, I'm not even interested in trying it. Will probably bow to curiosity in the end though…
The true sign of luxury in today's fragrance market, let's face it, is often ambitious pricing and nothing more.
No kidding!
Champacca is worth smelling! and for the concept, they just follow the trend. “true sign of luxury” it's already a stereotype.:)
Ah, but CdG is not supposed to follow trends. They're supposed to set trends. I'm still disgusted!
Crikey! Both sound fantastic!
Tsk tsk…you're supposed to say they're too expensive and they sound boring anyway
They're way too expensive. My last venture into Champaca (a room spray) was beyond boring; it was horrifying. I'll sit this one out.
Was that the Voluspa one that Kevin liked?
That's the one. One person's poison is another person's chocolate cake (or champaca).
You know, I didn't love that either, and was very surprised because Kevin & I usually have at least fairly similar tastes. Ah well.
Intrigued by the patchouli, but not by the price. I'm really surprised I haven't seen fenugreek in other fragrances. The scent of a new, fresh bottle of fenugreek seed is addictive.
It is true, you don't see it listed very often. The smell really is lovely.
dont know if anyone will see this comment since the post was from so long ago, but i just tried the patchouli and i absolutely love it, which is obviously a shame because i cant ever see myself shelling out that much for a fragrance. any suggestions for similar fragrances?
Over at Perfume Posse they have compared it to Serge Lutens Borneo, although Borneo isn't exactly a bargain either.
i seem to recall having heard about some sources for non-export sg's but i cant remember.
by the way, these are my first posts and i just love the site. thanks.
i mean sl's, not sg's. oops
Welcome, then, and thanks! You can buy decants or samples at The Perfumed Court, but can't think of any other easy sources other than to watch eBay for whole bottles now that eBay doesn't allow selling of decants.
Well, it’s available at Luckyscent now, so maybe someone will want to read this late comment. They threw it in as an unexpected sample in an other order, otherwise I would have never known about it. Right now it’s $290 for 45 ml. Yikes! However, I must say this is one really smells that expensive. A friend of mine once worked at an old wooden warehouse where he packed mail orders for an exotic spice importer, and this smells an awful lot like that warehouse, with lots of dry spices, a great patchouli with a deep, rich smell, and a lot of sweet dry wood in the base. I’ve got too much perfume already, maybe it would be worth it to save up a few months for something like this.