Penhaligon's has launched Amaranthine, a new "corrupted floral oriental for those private moments when everything is anticipation"; the perfume is reportedly "reminiscent of the scent of the inside of a woman's thigh".
Amaranthine was developed by perfumer Bertrand Duchaufour, and the notes feature green tea, white freesia, banana tree leaf, coriander, cardamom, rose, carnation, clove, orange blossom, ylang ylang, Egyptian jasmine absolute, musk, vanilla, sandalwood, condensed milk and tonka bean.
Penhaligon's Amaranthine is available in 50 (£60) and 100 (£85) ml Eau de Parfum (bottle shown above). It will also be sold in 30 ml Parfum, in a limited edition crystal bottle designed by Alex Monroe.
(first quote via penhaligons.co.uk, second quote via cosmeticsinternational)
Update: see a review of Penhaligon's Amaranthine.
OMG; flittersniffer wrote on Twitter she has it and… better she tells herself!
Well, sexy copy, and the notes are very interesting. Hope it will cross my way, one of those tiny samples…
It sounds worth trying, for sure!
This is divine, i was able to get a bottle early and all i can say is Sexy in a Bottle. And it is most definitely the nicest of the Penhaligon’s line.
Oh good! I really loved Elixir, we’ll see if it can beat that (for me).
“What IS that smell, is it you?” “Me? no no, it’s that banana tree over there…”
LOL!
I can’t actually reach far enough to smell the inside of my thigh, but somehow I doubt I’m going to find a whole lot of green tea down there.
Yeah. Me neither.
Ha! I was just wondering about that. I’m not sure that anyone wants to smell like anyone else’s thighs, really.
Exactly!! Also the words “corrupted oriental” made me smile. What next?
*lol* okay, I just thought it’s sexy and a bit… skunky you say? but I confess I do not hide any condensed milk or banana or other leafs between my legs.
Sorry but this is really funny *rofl*
The notes seem so unlike a woman’s thigh…agree, it’s funny! But it’s also Bertrand Duchaufour, so I’ll probably love it anyway
Eys, that’s the point, Duchafour, and the price scares me: 95 Euro here in Germany. I can wait a year or two though on perfumes, I don’t need the brandnew stuff. *sprays some Premier Figuier and dremas*
Yeah, they forgot the yeast note.
Ack.
It is! I’m nearly choking on my lunch here.
TMI, lol!
Yes that! And such a jarring fit with…Penhaligon’s? REALLY?!
This apparently ain’t your Queen Victoria’s Penhaligons. LOL
Exactly what I was thinking – it’s a bit racy for *Penhaligon’s*, is it not?
I admit, though, that the notes sound appealing if I leave the concept of thighs out of my calculations.
Oh, agreed of course! Leave off the first para, and I’d have been drooling rather than choking. Still, I hate to miss out on some good fun.
Exactly!! Penhaligon’s is perhaps trying *too* hard to step outside of their box…
As someone flexible enough to smell my inner thigh I guarantee that I smell of none of those things. LOL Maybe if I dumped a tray of desserts and a bouquet of flowers in my lap it would be a different story
LOL…get back to us on that!
I’m really hoping you’re speaking as your bunny alter ego here…
Inside of a woman’s thigh? WTF? Gotta get a gimmick….
But … Duchaufour, milk, spices. Hmm. I’ll want to try it. I’ve been curious about this since perfumeshrine posted a photo of the LE crystal bottle (which looks really nice) a couple months back. Thanks (I think) for the reminder.
I’m going to be the only one who hates that bottle…I saw it on Basenotes. It’s not on the Penhaligon’s site yet (if it will be there at all).
I looked again and it’s a little frou-frou with a tacky cap, but I think what I liked was the rich violet color of that cut crystal.
You know, for some reason I thought they’d done the juice in that color (obviously just w/ the extrait) — but I bet you’re right, that’s the bottle.
I’m having trouble imagining how exactly the green tea, freesia, vanilla, etc. got that corrupted smell.
I think they’re trying to say its not a goody two-shoes perfume, that its got a bit of “skank” or something pheromel in it!
(oops)
Judging from the notes, it seems like it would smell like chai. Made with jasmine tea.
I could live with that!
So could I!
Should I worry over the fact that the inside of my thigh lacks pretty much all of those notes? That’s the most hilarious copy I’ve ever read.
Note that the inside of the thigh part is NOT on the Penhaligon’s site, but it was reported in Cosmetic News. So perhaps they thought better of it.
It’s not really in keeping with the idea of Penhaligon’s in my head – not sure about anyone elses. I mean, looking at the stores, they’re quite victorian looking affairs, polite, discreet…etc. Smell my thighs sounds more like an Agent Provocateur store, or even Vivienne Westwood. I’ll give it a smell though, because I am really curious if it is going to be as sweet as it sounds. Off the top of my head, they never really did the uber sweet or quasi gourmand floral before, did they? I know they say floral oriental, but that’s some foody stuff in there.
Penhaligon’s, I think, badly wants people to stop thinking of them as polite & discreet — they’ve been working with famous perfumers & doing different things the past couple years.
Green tea, banana, vanilla, and condensed milk? This is what you wear to attract Winnie-the-Pooh.
OK, I’m seriously trying to refrain from making a “honey pot” joke here…
Snort!
Double-snort! But it’s Duchaufour, and it sounds wonderful.
Best of luck
The comments on here are HILARIOUS. At first I thought, SOLD, although since it’s Duchaufour it’ll smell like old vasewater on me. Then I saw the list of notes… whose thighs has he been sniffing?!?
It’s so funny how completely our tastes diverge on BD…old vasewater cracks me up!
Clarifying — I love the IDEA of his scents, which I covet as creative concepts. And I mostly love them on other people. I find them too murky on my own skin.
Wonder if this one will be different — it doesn’t sound like BD very much.
Old vase water? VILE!
Have no fear of this one, those with whom BD’s scents don’t normally agree. This is not overly woody like Timbuktu or church incensey like Avignon, but rather the ultimate sensual floral fragrance – truly a “corrupted oriental floral” as billed. And yes, I have a bottle, signed in silver ink by the great man himself in a London branch of Penhaligon’s last week. He smelt the EDP on my arm vs the extrait and said the EDP was just fine! I am still pinching myself….
Fun, lucky you!
Flittersniffer, lucky you!
I am here at my thesis, I’ll write you soon!
Just on your arm? He didn’t spritz and sniff your inner thigh? (Just kidding — I’m jealous!)
Let’s see, this morning I spilled green tea on my inner thigh and then rubbed a banana on it to get the spot out. And it didn’t cost a penny!
HA!
Forgot to say that there is also a bit of tuberose and gardenia in there. The idea – as it was explained to me – was to build a white and milky floral around a green “skeleton” structure and then dirty it up a little, And yes, the net result is that Penhaligon’s is being “sexed up” somewhat, whilst still trading on its very English heritage. Cannot recommend this scent highly enough!
Oh goodie, can’t wait to smell it.
You know, Duchaufour made another milky floral, Flora Bella. It has a a condensed milk thing, too, but it’s a cool floral and this new one sounds warm. I like Flora Bella, but don’t love it.
I have a 10 ml d*cant of this and am sadly unimpressed by it, as much as I wanted to adore it. It is very green indeed, very floral as well with loads of tuberose, but there’s a strong perfumeyness to it… embarrassed by my lack of a better word at the moment. I don’t hate it, but I do.not.love.it ;-(
Oh dear. One love vote, one hate vote.
Grocery list today-
1 can of condensed milk
1 box of green tea
Cardamom, vanilla, coriander. Mental note- ask the floral dept for banana tree leaf.
I can smell great thighs in my future!
Let us know how it goes!
I am reminded of the novel “The Leopard”, in which the prince, sniffing a rose growing in his palace garden, likens it to sniffing the thigh of a dancer at the Opera. (Different opera than what they perform at the Met, apparently.)
Yeah, my thighs smell like roses too.
I know people are finding it hard to get past that silly sales blurb from Cosmetic News, but Amaranthine does manage to smell like a statement white floral, a fresh green scent, a comforting milky scent (think LTBL) AND something slightly risque – all at the same time. BD rattled off a whole list of spice names in French too fast for me to catch them all, but I reckon the “naughty” note must come from some combination of them. There’s more in this than listed, as ever with perfumes. It is not dirty in a skanky, heavy, civet ty way as in L’Air de Rien or Jicky, but has more the level of dirt in Lily & Spice, say, or a touch more than that.
And while I agree with Lovethescents that it is perfumey, it is not perfumey in the thick, somewhat viscous way of a Fracas or a Joy, but rather the fresh dewy green way of DelRae Debut or a Carnal Flower. And I think that is all I can say by way of sales pitch to persuade people to try this with an open mind!
Oh, I don’t think anybody is having any trouble getting past the blurb at all — they’re just having great fun talking about it.
Now that you’ve invoked Debut, I’ll have to put aside my utter disappointment with all things Penhaglion to try it.
Oh, and I get mainly jasmine and ylang ylang on me rather than tuberose as Lovethescents did. Apparently there are only two other perfume companies using ylang ylang of comparable quality and purity – my bet is that one of them must be Ajne (as in Calypso), the other possibly B Never Too Busy to Be Beautiful? I should have asked really…and sorry folks – that was a bit more of a sales pitch, wasn’t it?! I guess I don’t post very often at least!
: – )
I would have guessed Chanel & Guerlain…they’ve got the backing to afford it, and to get their hands on it.
The inside of a woman’s thigh?? Wow, sexy plus!!
I do like the sound of the notes – green tea, orange blossom and rose in particular. Very curious about banana tree leaf and condensed milk!
I’ve never had anything from Penhaligon’s as everything I’ve smelt that we have available in Adelaide always seemed too prim and proper – hopefully Amaranthine ends up on our shores so I can try it on my skin.
I do think they’re trying to branch out. Their recent Olivia Giacobetti scent, Elixir, was wonderful.
Elixir was lovely, and pretty raunchy for a Penhaligon, I thought. They also had LP No. 9 (as in Love Potion), so there’s a definite trend away from prim florals. It just doesn’t quite go with the decorous Edwardian presentation in the stores. Or those little ribbons.
Thanks for the amusing and informative comments, everyone; you never disappoint! Today’s thread and Friday’s (wedding perfumes) have been especially good. I’m new to posting (been reading for over a year though) and have a question: What is an “HG” scent? That term appeared several times on Friday’s discussion. I’m sure I’ll be back with more questions in the future.
Hi & welcome! It stands for Holy Grail, and you can read a full explanation here:
https://nstperfume.com/2008/04/25/a-perfumista-lexicon/
Don’t know for sure – I think it means ‘holy grail’?
I agree that this is quite a departure for Penhaligan’s. Well, the fragrance is a different approach anyway – the bottle is still prim and proper. All of this talk about the inside of women’s thighs and anticipation and a corrupted scent. Then it’s all wrapped up with a cute little bow.
Agree. On the one hand, I kind of like the bows. On the other, if Pen. wants to change their reputation, they might perhaps consider losing the bow!
I think their bottles are adorable, but they’re not exactly sexy.
Exactly.
i kind of like the prim bottle and whoa ! surprise..inside a sexy juice!!!
Bananas and inner thighs…. is it only my mind that is going to the BAD PLACE with that association????
It is only *your* mind!
Lol – you’re ~ corrupting ~ us Thenoseknows!
Thank you, Robin and RusticDove, for defining “HG”. And thanks also for the link to the lexicon, Robin; I missed that day’s blog, but it answered several other questions as well. I’m learning.
Good, glad it helped!
mmm….this is something i really want to try…i enjoy their soliflores as well as artemisia and elixer..and am glad they have stepped out their box..can’t wait to see how it turns out..(again…if it ever gets here)
They now have a Japanese website, so I do know they’re distributing in Asia.
btw robin, have noticed there is diorissimo extrect up for grabs on e-bay!!!!
No, I finally deleted my Diorissimo automatic search on eBay. I don’t want to know
LOL that ad copy is priceless, they really are trying too hard!
That said the perfume itself sounds like “me” – greens & tuberose – so I hope I will be able to try it. However, I don’t know why, if Penhaligon’s is trying to update their image, this “sexy” juice is still in that prim little round bottle with a ribbon tie.
It sounds very try-worthy.
I can get that scent free at the OB/GYN, thanks anyway Penhaligons. Talk about hilariously TMI copy. Say, smell my perfume. It smells like the insides of my thighs! Is anyone going to get the right impression from a statement like that?
It smell nothing like the inside of a womans thigh at all…….lol…its a very sexy fragrance……my favorite from Penhaligons
The note list is giving me deja vu in a Sira des Indes way – I think that’s got cardamom, jasmine, vanilla, banana leaf and sandalwood too.
Oh, true! Hope this is sexier than that (I was not a big fan of SdI)
It smells nohing like Sira des Indes to me at all. This is definitely a very sexy fragrance and unique, its nothing like i have smelled before. I do not like SdI either and Amaranthine is beyond Beautiful.
It isn’t like Sira des Indes to my nose, though I can see the “dessert-y” crossover in the notes. That one struck me as more of a tropical fruit number though. This is sheer – watery dewy – cloudy milky – big floral – very green – and smutty in an indefinable way.
Hey, parfumnut – glad to meet another fan of this!
Hey flittersniffer, i got your note……yes i loveeeeeeeeeeeee this one, its a very big floral….lots of green and yes “smutty” , i completely adore this one. I agree, the stupid sales pitch is not even close to what this smells like, i think people will be very pleasantly surprised once they try it. This is most definitely on my top 5 list of fragrances right now. Glad you love it too.
I seriously LOLed when I read the ad copy, but the perfume sounds sexy in a satin sheets on a warm spring night kind of way. I definitely want to check it out since I love some Boudoir and Fracas, so sweet, green, flowery and milky sounds fantastic.
Agree w/ all of that!
Hi and thank you for a great blog!
Tried this in London a week before the launch. My first thought on sniffing my wrist was “banoffee pie!”…The SA said it was heavy on the ylang on me, but I could only smell this mouthwatering pastry…As it dried down it became less gourmand, but still very sweet. I had Elixir (which was really what i wanted for fall/vinter) on the other wrist, but had it been available at the time I think Amaranthine would have been my London souvenir . For the love of pie…
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banoffee_pie)
I have never heard of banoffee pie, and that link doesn’t seem to point to a page at Wikipedia (it just says “Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name”). But thanks anyway!
Sorry, I’ll try without the parenthesis… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banoffee_pie
Condensed milk, banana and toffee. But if you never tasted it the comparison is pretty useless of course…
That worked, thanks! I guess you’re right that the comparison doesn’t help if you’ve never tried the pie, but now I want to try the pie!
Well on my skin this turns to incense and vanilla. Really crazy and I am pretty sure I want it (looks at flittersniffer:may I?)
Even my BFF liked it and she has a really “hard to satisfy” taste, I hope we can share a bottle…
It’s really nicely done. I still can’t decide if I like it or not. Glad you do!