Next up from the export collection at Serge Lutens, Five O'Clock Au Gingembre.
The fragrance is described as a fresh oriental with bergamot, vetiver, ginger, honey or beeswax, cistus labdanum and vanilla.
Serge Lutens Five O'Clock Au Gingembre will be available in 50 ml Eau de Parfum, 79€. (via cosmetiquemag.fr)
Other recent releases from Serge Lutens: Rousse, Louve, Sarrasins. Update: see a review of Serge Lutens Five O'Clock Au Gingembre.
Coming in March from Paco Rabanne, the Ultrared duo:
Ultrared for women (shown) is a fruity floral Eau de Parfum with notes of red currant, wild strawberry, star anise, licorice, jasmine, marshmallow, cedar and vanilla.
Ultrared Man is an Eau de Toilette with notes of blood orange zest, praline, tonka bean, patchouli and vanilla..
Paco Rabanne Ultrared Woman & Man will be available in 50 ml. (via diarydirectory, cosmeticsbusiness)
Other recent releases from Paco Rabanne: Ultraviolet Summer Pop, Black XS For Her.
that's a funny name for the SL, but I like it. I really enjoy ginger scents (Origins Ginger, the first Max Mara scent) so I'll look forward to testing it.
Dare we hope that this will be fabulous?! The name seems kind of goofy – but I love saying “gingembre” – though Douce Amere, one of my favourites, is also described as a “fresh oriental” and the notes sound great.
I was puzzling over how to pronounce “Gingembre” . I've got a cold, which makes me really woozy, so I was sort of mumbling the word to myself a few times, trying to figure it out. But I can still smell things, and that's all that really matters.
I adore ginger! There was a thread on basenotes where Bela explained that “Le Five O'Clock” is an expression used in France to indicate tea time, or something like that — basenotes is down at the moment so I can't find it.
Well, I'm going to dare, LOL…the notes sound wonderful. And I love Douce Amere too. There, that is all I need in order to dare!
I think we can just say “Five O'Clock with Ginger”, can't we? The name is too long anyway, it's going to get abbreviated on the boards to 5OG or something before too long.
Hope your cold is better soon!
Ultrared? That's just stupid. They couldn't call it InfraRed? (The men's version sounds nice, though. In theory.)
I want to try the new Lutens very, very much, despite the silly name.
“Gingembre” is pronounced approximately “zhan-zhom-bruh”, where the “zh-” sound is very close to “sh-“, but with the tongue pulled back to make a “z-” sound.
And is that 5:00 AM or PM? (Feeling silly today.) Thank you – I hope it gets better soon, too – very tiresome being sick.
They've already got an “ultra” series (ultraviolet & don't remember what else) so they're stuck with it, perhaps
I didn't even pick up on the “ultrared/infrared” thing. Shame on me. And thanks for the pronunciation key, that helps. Chene is the only Lutens I have tried so far, and I like it very much, except at the very end, for some reason. Which is sort of inconvenient, since it lasts so very long.
Oops – just read above that it is supposed to represent tea time.
S'ok, you're sick, you can have tea whenever you like
I agree, totally funny name for and SL, my first reaction was that it sounds too low end and undignified to be a name for an SL. But the notes! This is the most excited I've been about a new release in a long time, the description just calls my name.
It is a new trend though…we've a 7:15 in Bali coming from Kenzo, and there is a new Italian line with a fragrance called the 8:15 something or another to Venice (obviously I'm paraphrasing, don't remember that one well).
Agree it is the best sounding scent from SL in some time!
Yeah, they're probably stuck with it, but I still hate it. “Ultraviolet” literally means “beyond violet”, and “infrared” means “below red”, so “ultrared” is actually “orange”, which is just stupid. You can't just randomly jam Latin prefixes onto words without considering what they mean.
Thank you.
Thank you, I need it, too!
Goodness, I thought the bottle was by Donna Karan.
Infrared is good for nightvision in cameras. Ultrared is probably the 'mother of all reds'.
What a decent price for SL's new fragrance! I LOVE ginger.
I think they will, but the french won 't oh well maybe some will who knows but generally they 're used to long worded expressions. I love that Lutens injected a good *over*dose of humor with such a name. Frederic Malle could do the same but his latest fragrance names are really cheesy, French Lover and Outrageous…I couldn 't even believe it he was stooping that low.
So much for the rumor that Sarrasins would be Serge Lutens' last fragrance release. I'm happy for that. “Fresh Oriental?” Fresh is not the first word that comes to mind when considering Lutens.
am really curious about the 5 o'clock (didn't een bother to copy and paste the name, :P) one even though I don't like vanilla much – it's the bergamot and ginger and Serge Luten make it so appealing
Closest phonetic approximation: zhanh – ZHEM – bruh, Existentialist!
It sounds must-gettable. But don't listen to me: I'm the only woman alive who seems to love Louve!
let me reassure that you 're not! I love Louve and it 's already a Lutens best-seller (from Barney 's NY floor manager own word last tuesday).
The new SL sounds lovely! I was so excited to read comments about it that I completely skipped the rest of the article, and then when I saw comments mention “ultra red,” I had to go back and see what I missed.
On the PR, however, the only thing I'm wondering is how did a house that created Calandre and Metal end up putting out frags with marshmallow notes. What a falling-off was there.
I'm right there with you on adoring ginger AND the name does sound terrific! Ginger lover that you are, you should try Bvlgari Blv or better yet the men's version, which is a real gingerfest.
I liked the Blv for men WAY better than the women's — but I think later they did some sort of intense version of the women's, maybe (?), and I didn't try that.
I adored the name French Lover, it sounded very tongue in cheek! Was disappointed they changed it for the US version — or was it the other way around? Outrageous was pretty cheesy though, esp. given that the scent wasn't any such thing.
R, have seen lots of raves for Louve on the fragrance forums, admittedly fewer on the blogs.
OK, I'm confused — why does ultraviolet mean beyond violet, but ultrared doesn't mean beyond red?
It does look like the Delicious bottle! He's been using that shape for awhile though, not sure who had it first.
Ouch, is that a rumor? I guess he'll have to retire some time or another
I am curious too! This sounds much more “up my alley” than Louve.
Paco Rabanne is retired, perhaps that is what happened? Sorry to say that I pay so little attention to fashion that I don't know how creative the PR fashions are these days either.
Infrared and ultraviolet are at the two sides of the spectrum, both not visible for the human eye.
Infra versus ultra.
Yep, I think the intense version was called Blv Absolute or sommin, haven't tried it either. There is also a duo of Blv Notte, a more oriental take on the originals with the added note of dark chocolate. They're very nice and not at all heavy.
Off-topic: I don't know what's with me, I'm craving light (green, floral) frags lately, can't wear orientals and musks nauseate me, which is a bummer since they constitute 90% of my collection, LOL! First meatier paycheck and I'm getting myself Eau de Cartier, l.o.v.e it!
Thanks, Daim Blond and Robin. I'm at that silly, thin-skinned perfumista stage where I feel hopelessly out of step with more experienced contributors and can all too easily become filled with self-doubt! As though my ignorant nostrils just refuse to smell what they should. I know some of it is a matter of personal preference and sensitivities, but my inner critic tells me I'm wrong, wrong, wrong!! Thanks for pointing out the reassuring truth. You are very patient with us newbies, I must say, and we appreciate it more than you know.
French Lover sounds like something that Gaultier would come up with (I think the US version is called Bois d 'Orage wich in turn sounds like a bad cross between Lutens and Parfumerie Generale), as for Outrageous yea this was cheesy, the concept was cheesy too, sometimes I have the feeling Malle doesn 't know where he 's going. I only love Lipstick Rose and Iris Poudre but his other frags leave me cold. I don 't like everything Lutens does (Citronnier and Mandarin weren 't groundbreaking) but his line 's concept is much more cohesive.
I also find Rahat Loukoum more magic and beautiful but Louve is this perfect understated everyday Lutens for me, I don 't care if critics find it generic.
The new SL does sound wonderful, doesn't it? Can't wait to try it.
There is really nothing to be thin-skinned about, seriously — beyond the fact that there are not any “objective” criteria that everyone can agree on to determine whether or not a fragrance is high art, the simple fact is that there is nothing wrong (in my book, anyway) with loving fragrances that are clearly NOT high art. I have plenty of favorites that I can't make any “artistic” claims for, anyway.
The Blv Notte I never tried. Sounds intriguing. But my “get sample and try” list is soooooo looooonnnnggg!! I'm seriously going to die with 500 untried samples.
What's the weather there? When it's cold and grey, I start wanting citrus after awhile.
Yep! We've a long line waiting for samples, LOL…
If I may: as usual with French words, the final 'e' is not pronounced at all, so the end sound is more like 'brrr' than 'bruh'. The stress being on the penultimate syllable. English speakers have no problem pronouncing 'zh' as in 'Zhivago'; the difficult bits in Gingembre are the nasal vowels 'in' and 'em' (='an'), for which there are no equivalents in English.
HTH
I thought I'd quashed that one a while ago by posting – on MUA – an email I'd received from the manageress of the Salons assuring me SL was ceasing to create perfumes.
Oops, meant to write 'was NOT ceasing to create perfumes', of course. Sorry.
Absolutely true. My concern is that Brrr might be misconstrued by literal, non-French-speaking, typically North American minds like mine to sound more like Burrrr, which wouldn't be at all right, and much wronger that Bruh. I think that Bruh, while not exactly on the money, will lead most of us down a slightly more accurate path. . .But heck, I'm all for Five O'Clock Ginger!! Oh, that reminds me of the Serge Lutens website, which lets us hear exactly how to pronounce Serge Lutens. It's not Surge Lootens so much as Sairzh Lutahns! Ooh boy!
Dare you to name names, R!!
But seriously, thank you. You know, it's gentle, encouraging comments like those which keep so many of us looking forward to logging on and reading NST from *cover to cover* every day!
Hmm… hadn't thought of that – about 'brrr' being pronounced as 'burrr'. In that case, I agree that 'bruh' is the nearest approximation. Anyway, if one stresses the second syllable strongly enough, the last one comes naturally.
As for Lutens, you have to forget that it is spelt the way it is (with 'en') and pretend it's Lutins. 'En' can be pronounced in various ways and it can get very confusing. (Re. that website, I believe you're referring to my SL page and it's my voice you can hear there.
I need to pull out my sample of Blv for men and try it with my “Ginger Sensors” turned on, because I absolutely didn't get anything spicy or gingery (nor anything interesting at all) from it. For me, it was a nice, “wearable” (as you'd say, Robin) scent, but nothing exciting. Maybe I'll like it better when I think it's “gingery.” I feel like an idiot saying that, but I'm sure I'm influenced sometimes by what I know or have read about a scent — it's not possible to sniff anything as if I'm blind or ignorant, as it were (and well, I *am* ignorant, but you know what I mean).
Yes, I think it must be the weather. For a month and a half we were in dismal and unrelenting 20s up until a few days ago when it started thawing shyly, but still not warm enough for me
The Nottes aren't *that* much different to the originals, so no need to go out of your way to try them what with your busy sampling schedule. OTOH, if you feel absolutely swamped with vials and decants, you can always send them over to me, LOL! J/K, after my engagement to EdC and our subsequent marriage (yet to be financed), I plan on being monogamous (um, at least for a month). Lord knows how hard that's going to be
Doubt you've got round to Armani White, but know that it's gorgeous citrus greens on a creamy white-musk base. Just sayin'…
I would happily send them to you once I'd tried them, but for some reason, if it comes in the house, I can't send it away til I've tried it. Even if the scent in question must sit 5 years waiting! The summer is lovely, because in shorts & a Tshirt I can try 8 or 10 things at once, but winter is harder, and sampling slows down to a crawl.
You know, the opening is spicy, but it calms, and it isn't exactly a BLAST OF GINGER. Frankly, I don't know of anything offhand that is really, massively gingery, and stays that way through the drydown?
And adding: HA. EdC may believe you, but I don't.
Body Time Egyptian Musk, Kai, Demeter Gingerale…my memory is too pathetic to go on, but I'm sure there are many more!
LOL!
I was at les Salons Shiseido last month and spoke to the director about that (I 've been a faithful Lutens client since 1996 spending thousands of dollars throughout the years lol) anyways she told me there 's more to come in the near future but she left me under the impression we 're near the “end”. they don 't divulge much information even to special clients like me. I respect them for that. in the mean time I 'm sure more perfume creations are to come. I won 't be the one complaning!
I left a previous post but can 't see it – let 's not take this fragrance name as too literal omitting the humourous dimension. I believe this is a brilliant wink at british humor, the theme is british luxurious lifestyle meets Orient! really stunning and mouthwatering!
I will think of it as “Happy Hour on Gillilgan's Island.” Raise your coconuts!
I'm not a ginger lover in fragrance — it's usually too tart for my taste — but I don't doubt that an SL rendition of ginger will be worth trying. Oh, whom do I think I'm kidding? I'll probably buy it unsniffed (sigh)…
PERFECT! That is how will think of it from now on. You are so quotable, K!
And yep, this might be my unsniffed purchase for 2008 too.
I'm in danger, too. “Ginger”, “light oriental” plus “Serge Lutens”! Sounds heavenly.
The SL sounds lovely, maybe a little like Tea for Two or is that just the association in my mind with teatime? Does bergamot feature often in SL fragrances – I do love bergamot as a top note. I have worked out that I am a fan of SL's perfumes at the spare end of the spectrum. My local dept store has put Chene in the sale and I'm watching it like a hawk – it might be my first SL purchase. (They are also selling Arabie at reduced price -no danger of me buying that!)
What more could you ask for
Chene on discount, seriously?? Or you just mean it is “for sale”? I'd get that in a heartbeat.
Sort of hoping it has a nice smoky tea note like the L'Artisan, that would be lovely w/ tons of ginger.
Yes, it's less than half price! (just under £30)There are three bottles so I could pick one up and send it to you if you wanted? Even with shipping it's probably a bargain. Rousse is also on sale….
Wow. Please don't make a special trip for me, as I need more perfume like I need a hole in the head, but *if* you were to go to that store again, I'd take bottles of both Chene & Rousse if they still had them.
When I go for mine I'll get what I can and let you know. Probably tomorrow or early next week.
How about a donator?
Huge thanks!
I'm stunned – and so envious: high-end perfume is hardly ever discounted in the UK, and never in France.
LOL — true enough!
Bela, if that's your voice, oh, you've got a beautiful one!!!!
I feel fortunate being Canadian, because in Western Canada we're taught French in school with Parisian-style pronunciation. Makes it easier for us to wrap our lips around all the French fragrance names out there — although I'd ALWAYS defer to a true Frenchwoman!! I'll never have your lovely accent. . .but at least I can give a good running start at things like Chevrefeuille!!
Hi, Robin. If you were referring to Serge Lutens – Nearly All the Facts, then, yes, it is me saying that name. Thank you very much for your kind words. I myself think I sound quite shrill there: I freeze and get all uptight in front of a microphone, even if I'm the one wielding it. LOL!
Ah, 'chèvrefeuille' and words like 'tilleul', etc. They're murder, aren't they? I'm sure you're pronouncing them very well.
Not as well as I'd like, Bela. Vis-a-vis that tricky French language, I don't think we have to go too far collectively to improve just a titch. I think if the English-speaking perfumista world could all say *Sairzh* instead of *Surge* we'd hear the applause clear across the Atlantic!
Proving that even the most revered perfumistas are ANYthing but snobs! Thanks, R.
P.S. I wonder if “Guilty Pleasures” might be an interesting topic — or has it been done a zillion times??? Here's one of mine: Calgon ahh.spa! Tropics conditioning body mist!!! It ain't Azuree Soleil, but it's got a nice, beachy vibe and costs $6 for 8oz!!!
Hi Bela, I did not buy Paul Smith Rose haha…each time when I see Paul Smith's bottles in Sephora That Woman you described, redoing the appartment above you, her face with that hard blank stare pops up in my mind. You have some sort of sweet revenge in microscale…:-D one costumer less…
I know now what must be missing on that box: the thorns of the rose.. big black thorns..
Yay! Sweet revenge, at last! (Don't let *them* hear you say that, though: they might be litigious. LOL!)
Thanks for reading my blog, btw.
Bela, I love reading your blog! “Lititious”…I am adding more English words to my vocabulary…haha I have an “Oxford Concise English Dictionary” which I bought when living in Toronto. And…I even have a Thesaurus ^''^
And even then I wrote it the wrong way of course: meaning litigious instead of whatever..:)
Oh, thank you!
Where do you live now, if you don't mind my asking?
Yes, the OCED is a wonderful dictionary. And I don't know what I would do without a thesaurus. I am full of admiration for the people who compile these monster works. It's funny, I used to think dictionaries just 'happened' somehow. Like maps – I had no idea how much work went into the making of a map, until my partner started working as an editor for a publisher of travel guides. Anyway, I also have a very very old and very very big English/French Harrap's, which I keep b/c it has the most obscure words and the weirdest – and wrongest – translations ever. It makes me hoot with laughter.
That would be a good start. And then we can teach the French to say the word 'imagine' with the stress in the right place. LOL!
I have a feeling you are being very modest.
At the moment I live in Prague CZ. Abt 18 more months to go and then who knows where I'll be next. And yes I have more dictionaries…French, German, Spanish and a tiny one Czech.
Wish there was a LaRousse-size dictionary Czech-Dutch, but no such luck. Slavonic languages are not 'my thing'
I gather Prague is very beautiful still. (Films set in Paris in the past keep being made there; the problem is that Czech buildings do not look at all like Parisian ones, but Hollywood producers don't seem to have noticed yet. The Affair of the Necklace, for instance, looked ludicrous. LOL!)
.
Ah, if we can include body products, I'll add BBW Coconut Lime Verbena! But no, really, I'm still a snob I'm sure.
Haven't seen that movie. Prague is getting better since all buildings are getting cleaned up. Personally I think that many buildings are very similar both in Prague as in Paris (neo classique). But then Prague has added to that a lot of roccoco and jugendstil architecture, which makes this city really lively – well the centre at least.
The colour of the stone is different – Paris is grey; Prague looks to me to be cream-coloured. Paris roofs are slate-grey; Prague ones are red. Etc. etc. The overall look is not the same.
You haven't missed anything, re. that film: it wasn't just the fact that there was no way it had been shot in Paris that was a problem, LOL!. It was a real turkey.
Just tried the Ultra Red for Men for the second time today and this stuff is so sweet it could give you diabetes. It's like the sweet part of Black XS concentrated and then concentrated some more. It's even sweeter than my daughter's Vera Wang Princess.
The good part is that as a launch promotion you get a free pair of headphones with the scent. I presume that's so you won't be able to hear passersby cry out in horror as they asphixiate.
LOL — good one! I still haven't seen it, in fact, not sure where they sell Paco Rabanne in the US although I'm sure they sell it somewhere.
I'm from Michigan and i cant find this anywhere except online (escentual) in Europe. Any ideas where I could find Ultrared Man in the USA?
Sephora France has it but not Sephora USA. Do you think Ultrared Man will get to the USA this year?
It is only very recently released. Don't know if Sephora USA will get it, but would be surprised if you couldn't find it online somewhere by the end of the year.
Hi, R! Ultrared for men is… like living inside a giant squishy blood orange whose roof is leaking honey and tonka syrup while the walls are lined with marzipan cookies… it is tart and very sweet all at once (think Ruban d'Orange to the power of 3 plus the burnt sugar base of Lempicka's L) but surprisingly never gets cloying. To me, that is – I'm smitten though not sure I'd want to wear it. You, OTOH, will most probably hate it, lol! At least I think you will…
Just wanted to share this tidbit – hope you are having a lovely time on your vacation!
P.S. When and if you try Ultrared, make sure it's on the skin.
Hey, odd description but somehow sort of compelling! A giant squishy blood orange w/ honey & tonka, anyway…maybe leave out the marzipan
And had a great vacation, thanks!