Rose Alexandrie and Vétiver Babylone have joined Giorgio Armani's Armani Privé line under the name "Les Eaux Armani Privé".
Armani Privé Rose Alexandrie, shown, "invites you to discover the fragile strength of Alexandrie legendary gardens". The notes include bergamot, Italian mandarin, neroli, yellow mimosa, rose and benzoin.
Armani Privé Vétiver Babylone "presents a loving tribute to the nature tamed, the profusion of plants, colourful, sunny and fresh of the Babylone Gardens". The fragrance notes feature bergamot, citron, mandarin, green cardamom, coriander, pink pepper, patchouli and vetiver.
Armani Privé Rose Alexandrie and Vétiver Babylone are available in 100 ml Eau de Toilette. (via giorgioarmanibeauty) Update: see a review of Armani Privé Vétiver Babylone.
Other Armani Privé scents: Bois d'Encens, Eau de Jade, Pierre de Lune, Ambre Soie, Cuir Amethyste, Eclat de Jasmin.
Other recent releases from Giorgio Armani: Armani Attitude, Emporio Armani Diamonds, Emporio Armani (PRODUCT) Red She & He.
Very interesting exploration on “history & perfume” trend. There will be quite a lot this year. But I still don't remember vetiver in any historical description of Babylon gardens … other than the recent history saying that vetiver notes (Terre d'Hermès, Paul Smith Story, etc) sell well and are trendy.
I agree, while it sounds catchy it doesn't really make sense. Vetiver is a new world plant isn't it? Rose Babylone would have fit nicely.
Java, Haiti, Reunion island – the main sources of vetiver. I doubt they found some vetiver in the remains of what was believed to be the Hanging Gardens. At least l'Oreal (Armani) with al their money could support/finance some historical reasearch. It's worth, nedeed and would be more ethical than just sticking a name on a bottle.
As for the Rose Alexandrie – it's hard to know which one because Alexander the Great put his name on more than one city. I think they reffer to the egyptian one.
But it makes sense. If Hermès found mango in Egypt, maybe Armani found the rose and the ancient stories about Cleopatra (very Shakespeare).
I'd say the recent history is the bigger inspiration here, yes!
I'm sure it's Alexandria in Egypt that is referred to here. I can't actually think of any other that is as famous as that one. And it's there that was located another of the Seven Wonders of the World (the Hanging Gardens of Babylon being one of them) – the Great Library.
These have been out in London for months, and I was lucky enough to be given samples by an Armani SA. They're nice, but not really special. I liked the Vetiver much more than the Rose, but then I'm no great lover of rose scents. To my mind, they're a kind of pale attempt at Hermessences, especially Rose Ikebana and Osmanthe Yunnan. They're very much summer scents, though. I'll test again when the weather warms up.
C, I think they've been at Saks for some time too, although I haven't tried them myself. Haven't heard any big raves about them — but IMHO, the whole AP line is a pale attempt at the Hermessences.
I've tried the Rose Alexandrie. Lovely, delicate. Perhaps delicate to a fault. However, it's around $100 less a bottle than the original Prive line, so I guess it's not packin' as much of a wallop by design.
R, how much is it then? The regular Armani Prive scents used to be $185, but that was back in 2005 and I assume they've gone up in price like everything else.
I don't know how useful Canadian prices are to you, R., but the comparison might be interesting: Bois d'Encens et al are currently $225 Cdn for 50mls, while RA and VB are $135.
Well then, yes, that's much cheaper, isn't it? But guessing it will still be more than I'd pay — the $135 is about what I'd be willing to pay for Bois d'Encens.