The whole idea of niche fragrance is to offer something special and different, something you can't find on the perfume counter at your local Macy's. The best sort of niche perfume house, presumably, will put artistic integrity before mass appeal. I came to perfume addiction via niche, as it were, and I'm still an easy target: tell me you've got an incense by Bertrand Duchaufour made with the best possible materials or Jean Claude Ellena re-engineering lavender at the molecular level or Aurelien Guichard conjuring up 1960s pop culture, and I'm there.
But niche, like luxury, has become so ubiquitous as to lose its cachet. So many niche lines have cropped up in the past two years that I can hardly keep them all straight, and frankly, some of the twaddle meant to convey their "artistic integrity" is more annoying than the sparkle-and-sex-appeal ad copy we see from the conglomerates. I used to be willing to jump through considerable hoops in order to try the latest, hottest niche fragrances, now I get considerable satisfaction out of deciding to ignore whole lines. Nasomatto finds it beneath them to share the fragrance notes with their customers? Indult won't sell me a bottle of Tihota unless I join the "Indult Club" by purchasing one of the first 999 bottles? Whatever. I've plenty of other fish to fry, and if the juice is that great, it doesn't take a strip tease to get my attention.
Juliette Has A Gun came on the scene in 2006. They've got everything a new niche line needs — the background (the line was founded by Romano Ricci, grandson of Nina Ricci) and the stand-out-in-a-crowd backstory (rose perfumes inspired by Shakespearean heroines) and the talent (the first two fragrances, Miss Charming and Lady Vengeance, were developed by perfumer Francis Kurkdjian) and the playful but appealing packaging. They're expensive but not outrageously so ($80 for 50 ml). The line's raison d'être: to "lead a new rock & elegant trend in the perfumery world, by creating romantic and original creations. Hostilities in progress."
Miss Charming, which features Moroccan rose, wild strawberry, lychee and musk, is a perfect fit with its name: a dewy little rose, fruity and sweet and pink at the start. It is nicely done, but the opening is perhaps a bit too charming for my taste. Later, the dry, earthy-mossy base starts to peek through and add a bit of an edge, and then I like it much better. Still, this sort of thing has been done. If you're looking for dewy and charming, you've much of the Les Parfums de Rosine line to play with, and on MakeupAlley, you'll find many comparisons between Miss Charming and Bond no. 9's Bryant Park.
Like Miss Charming, Lady Vengeance makes a nice conceptual fit with its name; you could smell these blindfolded, and easily enough figure out which was Charming and which wasn't. This is a darker take on rose, with vanilla and patchouli, but it isn't overly dark or overly edgy. The base is earthy-woody but smooth (and not altogether different from Miss Charming's — after a couple hours, they are more similar than not on skin), and while Lady Vengeance is more dry than not, it has enough vanilla to make it easy to wear, and it isn't as sultry (or vengeful) as some other rose-patchouli perfumes.
Of the two, I like Lady Vengeance the best, and I'd wear it quite happily if I had a bottle. Still, while both of them are nice enough, they are lacking something, some element of surprise, or daring, or something. These are just not particularly adventurous or unusual fragrances, and so while I might be impressed if they'd come from some more mainstream brand, as the flag bearers of a yet another new niche fragrance line, they leave me cold. "Hostilities in progress" promises far more audacity than the line has delivered, at least so far (reportedly, there are three more fragrances to come).
Juliette Has A Gun Miss Charming and Lady Vengeance are available in 50 and 100 ml Eau de Parfum. For buying information, see the listing for Juliette Has A Gun under Perfume Houses.
Side note: fun if you're bored at work, the Shakespearean Insulter.
Have you tried anything by Kilian? I have been wanting to but at $225 a bottle, I'm not going to buy without testing.
I haven't. I might bow to curiosity eventually, but their haughty-exclusive aura puts me off. But you know, you needn't spend so much to try them — you can get samples at Aedes or The Perfumed Court.
I found the Juliettes to be quite unoriginal. Miss Charming was a dead-on copy of Bryant Park, and Lady Vengeance reminded me very strongly of something I can't quite put my finger on…perhaps a sweeter version of L'Artisan's Voleur de Roses?
Was thinking, actually, that if you gave Juliette a gun, hopefully she'd have the balls to wear Voleur de Roses. Miss Vengeance is sweeter than VdR, as you say, but also much tamer, in fact, I find it tamer than Midnight Poison (although admittedly, perhaps done w/ nicer materials).
I have ordered FM from Perfumed Court. Then, I ordered two of the fragrances from Barney's and they smelled different. I think Perfumed Court is really hoest. I think it just made me wonder if when you take perfume from the original bottle to put in a vial, if the risk of changing the fragrance is just too much?
There is no doubt that decanted perfumes are subject to air exposure, and then you've the spray vs. dab issue (unless you pay extra for the spray samples). To my mind, they should still be close enough to decide if you love the fragrance or not — it does beat spending $225, or making the trek to NY just to smell something. But if your FM samples were VERY different, I understand why you'd hesitate.
Agree with everything.
Miss Charming smells like Stella on me.
Yes, you know, if you crossed Stella with Bryant Park, you'd have something darned close to Miss Charming.
Great review, Robin.
Even though I'm a juice “n00b”, I feel the line is blurring between the slick marketing campaignes of designer-helmed department store lines and the posturing of avante-garde indidualist niche lines. By being ostensibly commited to quality and creative goals, I expect more from a niche product. Strip away the ad copy (the bullitzer?) and the twee packaging and what is left? It seems as it this line could have committed more time and money to the formulation and less to the clever imagery.
It seems that Juliette is shooting blanks.
Agree, but feel overly curmudgeonly to say they didn't commit time & money to the formulation. I mean, the juices are really nicely done — they got FK, after all, so I can't claim they skimped on that side of things. If JHAG had launched in 2005, I'd probably have a very different reaction. There are just too many of these lines now — IMHO, they need to justify their existence in some way, and soooo many of them, quite frankly, could disappear from the face of the earth without any great loss to perfumanity.
Great concept and review–and I agree that I will follow a fab jus and pay a lot for it, but I also expect a lot. And in many niches, I'm getting a big opening, and then a collapse. Particularly in the naturals (and I know, I know, naturals are short-lived), I'm finding an opening that's almost hysterical, and a long slide into musk from there.
It's as if noses got bored, and simply ended by fading out, or a blast of armpit musk to prove something I don't understand.
I'm not a rose fan, or for that matter a floral fan, but I keep trying. And neither of Juliet's double-barreled guns enchanted me. I do dream of trying Lipstick Rose someday.
I'm holding my breath, however, because I just spent a whopping (for me) $140 on Frapin's Caravelle Epicee. I went through two samples to be sure (one sample doesn't do it, and you need time between samples) but that spice concoction works on me, and lasts while it dances from note to note.
Etat Libre really did that stripper thing. Sheesh. Like you, I happily ignore whole lines and easily avoid the hype. I've not sniffed either of these – rose scents are easily off my radar and faux-Shakespeare makes them slide even further. Call me curmudgeonly if you like, but VdR is enough rose for the rest of my days.
I did just get my bottle of Jubilation XXV though. Ouch. But such a wondrous ouch.
The girl in that video had a Etat Libre d`Orange badge. Fitting. *rolleyes*
Robin, I'm so with you on the nouveau-niche-so-whatness… As a class V perfumista, I'm becoming somewhat blasé.
The Juliette perfumes are long on concept (well: longish) and short on innovation. I mean, FK is very talented, but how many roses do we need? Lots of these new lines I just don't make the effort to discover anymore. If it's too expensive (By Kilian), too hard to access (I live in Paris, fer cryin' out loud — Nasomatto, I'm looking at you), conceptually contrived (Histoires de Parfums) or faux-elitist (Indult), I just pass.
The few exceptions I've made recently are Veroprofumo by Swiss perfumer Vero Kern (a friend of Andy Tauer's), a real discovery, and Amouage (still haven't scored samps on that).
There are enough classics to study carefully to keep my nose and wrists occupied for quite some time.
I thought they were both well done, charming and easy to wear, although Miss Charming is way too charming for me and Lady Vengeance smells quite astonishingly like the slightly more fabulous Agent Provocateur (can you tell I adore that one?). Since the price is about the same and AP smells so gorgeous on me, I can easily do without the perhaps a tad less confrontational version. Unless, of course, they discontinue my beloved and I'll be most happy to have Lady V to ease the pain.
Nice lines lately seem to be a bit like mushrooms after a warm rain: cropping up underfoot with astonishing speed. Must be the change in climate…..
We so jaded, babes.
Haven't smelled them. Made a solemn vow to myself that I wouldn't sniff “wild strawberry and lychee” unless someone put a gun to my head.
*hangs head at not avoiding the gun joke*
But let's get JCE right on that lavender remolecularization thing, shall we?
“hangs head at not avoiding the gun joke”
it's ok, I already did the more obvious “shooting blanks” joke.
Fresh vegetal note of rose + ambergris like note/ ambrox. Must be something like Stella by Stella Mc Carney. Lancôme 1001 Roses is almost the same olfactory concept
QC, do try Lipstick Rose, and in the same vein, L'Artisan Drole de Rose, which actually, could easily enough have been named Miss Charming, and which I find more charming that JHAG's version.
I still need to try those Frapins…
Hmm.. 80 USD is 55 Euro and for that price I don not see a niche fragrance here.
Or maybe I just do not know that they are niche.
Oh well, as long as they do not put too much patchouli or too much vanilla/tonka bean in a fragrance with delicate flowers.
And coffee and chocolate and cloves and nutmeg should be very moderately used in any scent, as far as I am concerned, niche or no niche.
OOOOH, congrats on your Jubilation!! I am going to be using my sample very, very carefully to make it last. Is the bottle gorgeous in person???
Yep.
At the moment, the faux-elitist & hyper-expensive get most of my scorn. But this “we will make our customers experience the scents OUR way — and we're not going to share information we think they're too stupid to handle” thing that Jar & Nasomatto do really pisses me off too.
Hey, he got on it already: Hermes Brin de Reglisse.
Ah, I can see the comparison to AP too, although AP seems to be a much more complex & full-bodied scent.
*hangs head in more shame*
I've been AWOL in the Great Perfume Samplin' Arena this year. Good for the pocketbook, but apparently not so good for the quips.
Hey, lucky you, and lucky pocketbook
Thou tottering rampallian boar-pig!
Oh, that was fun. Thanks for the link!
This line did nothing for me — I feel like too much of the effort went into the image. But then if they put little or *no* effort into the image/packaging I ding them for being cheapskates, so they can't win.
I have joined you on the bench, however. For most stuff I just wait for it to come to me. I can't believe I haven't ordered the Annicks off the Court, I need to get on that.
[Thou] vicious mole of nature!
Thou rank plume-plucked pumpion!
I can't believe I've done nothing to get my hands on the AGs either, but I haven't. And can't believe I haven't made a single pilgrimage to NY all of this year. I am going to lose my perfumista badge eventually…
I am with you on the ennui- Seems like there's a new “niche” line popping up every three seconds, most if not all with about 12 new scents, most if not all that strike me as paler imitations of other things. I ma getting choosier about these, and a lot more annoyed at being played to.
Of course once in a while one comes along that really sings and makes it worth it, and I suppose that 80% of these new lines will have gone the way of the dodo in about 3 years. I only hope that they don't take some of the good lines with them
I also find the idea of hiding fragrances (under the guise of exclusivity) bizzare. If the idea is to keep a fragrance expensive and accessible only to an elite few, don't these houses realize that anyone who searches out a niche house to test a fragrance IS the ideal audience they're aiming towards? There are plenty of fashionista-luxury hounds that will drop $600.00 on a scent, once, simply because it's advertised as exclusive, then it's on to the next fascination—the die-hard fragrance worshippers will shell out the same every year, for the rest of their lives, if they've found a true “Holy Grail” scent. I lose faith in fragrance houses that aren't excited to share their supposed masterpieces. Such an attitude reeks strongly of “The Emperor's New Clothes”.
So true, and I will say this for JHAG: at least they didn't launch all 5 scents at once. New lines w/ 10+ scents are getting really annoying. Take your time, people!
2nd all of that! Exclusivity just for the sake of exclusivity is a huge turn off.
For me the real exclusive ones are the fragrances that are not being made anymore, whether they stem come from a few decades ago or not even that long ago. And there are those fragrances that were actually good but somehow were overshadowed and thus overlooked by the customers.
I wouldn't have thought it possible, but I feel exactly as you do Robin. I'm yawning now when I hear about any new niche offerings. In particular, the Biehl scents did little recently to rock my world. I ordered a sample pack from LuckyScent and there isn't one of the 13 that was remotely inspiring. As for Nasomatto, besides not sharing their notes, they're boring! The only one that was somewhat interesting was the Absinthe scent, but the drydown turned out to be horrible.
Niche fragrances are starting to resemble designer “it” bags: boring, way too expensive, and so not worth their hype. I'm getting tired of the hoops you have to jump through to try them.
Well, if you can't buy them any more any more, that is truly exclusive
The niche lines need to do the same thing the mainstream lines need to do: slooooow down. Release one scent at a time, then wait a year and release another. I've been wanting something new from Delrae & Ormonde Jayne, but beginning to appreciate the brands that aren't flooding the market with new product.
R, imagine my utter surprise when, on my way from work today, I stumbled upon a cute tiny shop downtown with “Juliette Has a Gun” written over the shop window. Honestly, in a Guerlainless, L'Artisanless Belgrade I thought this must be a joke. Hell no! The charming SAs (for a change!) inside kindly explained to me that yes, the shop does carry the line and that it'll soon start importing Piguet, Jovoy and some other brands. Hurrah!
Anyway, I went out with a smiling face and two cards sprayed generously with MC and LV. Although MC doesn't exactly rock my world, it is a charming, debutante rose. But my oh my, LV is just lovely! Granted, there's nothing particularly edgy about it but the truth is I don't need it to be. I love its candied rose and…am I crazy or is there a dusting of saffron there as well? Reminds me somewhat of Midnight Poison for its treatment of rose and patch. I'd love to smell LV on my GF, it's très sexy, but she just turned her nose up and said: “It stinks!” LOL!
Hey, lucky you! LV certainly seems to have more fans than MC. Did you think it was better than MP in relation to the price, that is, was it THAT much better than MP?
I will have to smell it again to see if I can smell saffron, but it certainly seems like everyone is throwing saffron in w/ rose+dark base these days.
Looks like you'll probably get to smell the Jovoys long before me, do tell me how there are!
R, I thought MP was really nicely done and would have to test the two together for a fair comparison. Speaking from memory, MP to me has a smidgen darker and more polished base in that department-store-fragrance kind of way, but don't consider that to be a bad thing and no, don't think LV is that much better at all. What's more, I feel as though these two develop in the opposite way – MP starts herbal heading for the dark and candied sweet, whereas LV smells, 8 hours after application (on the card, mind you), fresher than in the opening and yes, definitely spicy/peppery (don't take my word for the saffron, it might be sommin else) and earthy (as opposed to MP's clean patch).
All this is a loooong, roundabout way of saying that I don't think LV's price tag necessarily reflects the quality of its ingredients and that I'd love to smell either on my GF.
Will report on the JOVOYs when they get'em.
Do go back and try LV on skin! And make your GF try it too! I don't think it stays all that fresh on skin.
I tired Love by Kilian. It was definitely a unique scent but I couldn't bring myself to pay $225 for a bottle of perfume.
The sales lady suggested Love and Lady Vengeance to me when I was shopping in Holt Renfrew. I ended up buying Lady Vengeance, and the sales lady gave me a sample of Love by Kilian. That sample would probably cost $10 considering how expensive the perfume was.
The bKs are REALLY expensive. Happily I've now tried them all and don't need a single one.
my daughter is a rose fanatic, Stella being her first rose love. we sniffed these last week and were underwhelmed. as mentioned abouve we totally agree that Miss Charming struck us as a watered down and less pretty Drole de Rose (a summer staple for me) and LV a less gutsy Voleur de Rose (a winter staple for me…hm perhaps i am a rose fanatic as well….) we thought the bottles interesting but that was where interesting ended.
I'm hoping Citizen Queen, the new one, will be a gutsier fragrance!
I’ve heard of these and wanted to try them, but no stores have them in. only online.
the black one seems more appealing
You could always order samples.
I’ve sampled all of JHAG perfumes and the two you reviewed here are two I didn’t love. You have to sample at least two others by JHAG…Not A Perfume and Vengeance Supreme.
I’m afraid I did not love either of those either…but have not yet tried the newest one, Juliette Has A Gun Anyway.