Pierre Guillaume of niche line Parfumerie Generale has launched Huitième Art Parfums, a new line of fragrances. The name comes from Octavian Coifan of fragrance blog 1000 Fragrances, who says that perfume is the 8th art. There are 8 fragrances: Ambre Céruléen, Aube Pashmina, Ciel d'Airain, Fareb, Manguier Métisse, Naïviris, Sucre d'Ébène and Vohina.
Ambre Céruléen ~ "A powdery balm with a light amber note ... opoponax, tonka bean and sandalwood, delicately illuminated by precious organic verbena extracts from Morocco."
Aube Pashmina ~ "Pierre Guillaume created Aube Pashmina with the olfactory impression of a morning walk through a well-grown herb garden: rosemary, basil and fresh tomato leaves give glory to this dark green still life. Covered with dew they stretch towards the rising sun, entwined with black currant and geraniums bushes - observed by an anonymous passer-by who witnesses the beginning of the day from an old wooden bench."
Ciel d'Airain ~ "A lonely perfume portrait, that Pierre Guillaume paints for us with words. The fragrance Ciel d'Airain also quotes loneliness as a contemplative moment, the calm before the storm so to speak ... Sour, fruity and soft-mealy pear, ensnared by a hidden green fig and accented with subtle, salty olives immediately settle on a soft skin-close base reminiscent of warm, sun-kissed skin. An indulging and contemplative fragrance to lose yourself in."
Fareb ~ "Fareb, which means temptation but also phantom, is all about the intense interplay of two unusual fragrance notes: Immortelle, the Italian straw flower, and ginseng. A bone-dry fragrance reminiscent of warm sand and the prominent spiciness of immortelle merged with fresh herbaceous notes of ginseng, complemented by strong leather notes. A desert fragrance for modern urban nomads - concise, angular and full of character."
Manguier Métisse ~ "Juicy-ripe mango meets with luscious frangipani in a topical rendezvous, whose sugary-sweet nectar is modestly contrasted by a few tea blossoms. A bright and happy affair with a soft and clean vanilla base. A fruity and exotic adventure with the usual suspects in the form of white-floral seducers – sweets tidbits for adults."
Naïviris ~ "A Passion Tree, inevitably in red... A gallant tryst between the spicy aroma of African red iris (Kigelia Africana) and hot, animalistic zebrawood. Earthy-powdery Iris, wrapped in a robe of finest quality leather in the most intimate embrace with hot and spicy woods - a fatal passion with tiny animalistic sparks, bedded on a clean, soft base..."
Sucre d'Ébène ~ "The tender breath of the trade winds ... an infusion of brown sugar, hamamelis extracts and benzoin. The tropical winds serve as inspiration for Pierre Guillaume’s creation Sucre d'Ébène. A sheer delight for fans of gourmand scents: Velvety resin notes combine with pronounced notes of caramelized sugar to create a dark, sweet pleasure, subtly accented by spicy witch-hazel also known as hamamelis."
Vohina ~ "A summer afternoon in the countryside, a floral carpet of peach blossom and lavender honey on a bed of gold, shining straw. That’s how Pierre Guillaume describes his fragrance Vohina - and in fact, he outlines its character pretty well: lively and light-hearted peach dances here on honey-sweet, sun-soaked hay, interspersed with herbs, followed by a hint of bitter melancholic Lavender, reminiscent of a light veil gently lowered over sweet fruit."
The Huitième Art Parfums are available in 50 ml Eau de Parfum. They can be found at First in Fragrance in Germany (95€) or at The Perfume Shoppe in the US and Canada ($110, I think those are US dollars?). (via first-in-fragrance)
hmm…
Did we need yet another niche line?
With a whooping 8 fragrances debut?
Wan’t Monsieur Guillame busy enough with Parfumerie Generale?
Weren’t his PG perfumes unmemorable enough?
I once was excited in discovering of new lines, new potential treasures… It gave me pleasure to hunt down perfumes, and smell new stuff. Maybe it’s just me, content with a handful of houses I care for, and an even smaller number of noses I “follow”… but I feel the (perfume) world really doesn’t need 8 new lauches!
Full of typos – sorry!
IFRA ought to stop regulating materials and start regulating the number of new launches, LOL…nobody ought to be allowed to do more than a few at a time, IMHO. When there are 8, I don’t even want to smell them.
Typos are always excused!
Ha, ha – brilliant! That would give them something useful to do AND it could be argued that we’d be less exposed to any potentially hazardous chemicals if we had fewer launches to sample!
you know it , Noz!!
You know that always has me wondering. 8 launches? It makes me think of how much thought goes into each one. Seems like a crank out for the holiday season.
I was looking at these on Fragrantica just the other day. A few look interesting to me, and i suppose they are reasonably priced. The bottle design is kind of weak in my opinion tho. The cap looks like something from an easy open pill container for people with arthiritis riddled hands.
The bottle looks like it’s designed to be carefully unisex
Actually the bottle reminds me of Eve, the gleaming white robot from the movie Wall-E.
Yes! Now I want it, darn you.
I do like opaque bottles, and have a feeling I’d like this one in person. In pictures I know what you mean — it looks like some functional product, I would have said deodorant.
that’s exactly what I was thinking : deodorant.
I’m sick to death of multi-fragrance launches, too. It’s already hard enough to keep up with all the new things coming out, all the new lines and flankers. In fact, it’s impossible. Nobody could smell everything new in any kind of meaningful way and still be able to wear and experience the things they already love.
I haven’t even touched lines like Boadicea the Victorious because there are just too many of them to process, so my mind just rebels altogether (plus it’s expensive to get that many samples, and hard to choose just a few without thinking I’m missing something): even lines that interest me like Bond No. 9 and Etat Libre d’Orange overwhelm me, and I have lots of their samples but haven’t tried them all.
If perfumers have to show off like this, can’t they at least space their creations out a little? Start with maybe two, and then launch them on a schedule of one every six months or whatever, instead of egurgitating a huge mass of them?
I suppose there are economies of scale here…especially when you’re using a custom bottle. But can’t help but agree with you. If there were 3 I’d by dying to try them, since there are 8 it seems almost easier to skip the whole thing.
Ooh, I really like the bottle: it’s Amouage meets Art Deco.
Vohina sounds pretty good, but only because I love his Bois Blonde so much… I’ve smelled four of PG’s creations—but I now own those four.
I don’t know if that speaks to luck (the one’s I’ve smelled happen to be his good ones), or that I’m just smitten with his style.
I really wouldn’t mind that bottle in my cabinet.
I like many from the PG line too…but not 100% by any means. If I liked that many I’d be afraid to try more
oops— I mean five. I’ve smelled five, and own all five.
100% is dangerous territory for sure! I’ve got a samle somewhere in my pile of one that I haven’t smelled yet; maybe that will be the magic one that I hate!
I think I hear a bottle sobbing quietly in the background….sad at being forgotten….tut tut, Dee….who’s crying? (in other words: what 5 do you have???)
I really love some of his PG fragrances! I am curious about these but simultaneously fatigued, to the point where I will pass… for now.
Love the bottle. Really fond of many PG fragrances. Looks like a must sniff…
I’ve now sampled all of these and wasn’t bored by any of them. They have a much more spare aesthetic than the Parfumerie Generales, focussing on just a few notes, some of which are quite unusual. I think they are all really interesting and like two of them, Manguier Metisse and Vohina, a lot. I wasn’t thrilled by the bottle design when I first saw a picture of it, but was happily surprised when I saw it in person. It’s made out of a heavy white ceramic with a surface that feels like a river washed stone. It fits my hand perfectly.
Just chiming in to write that this line is also available at Henri Bendel in NYC .
Thank you, that’s good to know! I might sniff them at HB; I’m not sending away for all these.
Thanks for this information. I think Naïviris would really suit me.
PG’s Cuir d’Iris is the only hing I’ve tried from the line, butit’s so fantastic that I’d love to try these.
The thing is, though I’m tired as well of multi-launch lines, that if they came out with one fragrance to start, then people can try the two or three that they like and have a higher chance of success. It’s incredibly risky to pull something like Ormonde Jayne did (she did start with only OJ woman, right?). She pulled it off but still….
The thing I take issue with is Pierre Guillaume needing a second line. Does he need another line? Does he really?
That said, I’d love to try Naiviris, though that name is certainly a poorly-done portmanteau. “Viris” is like, RIGHT THERE.
I’ve skipped several whole lines – it is just impossible to cover everything. And to be honest, one thing I loved about March’s seven-day signature scent challenge was being relieved of the nagging guilt toward my scores of untried samples and neglected bottles.
Nevertheless, I LOVE PG Cozé, would own several other PGs in a perfect world, and also love that PG took up Octavian’s theme of the 8th art. Therefore, so I will probably order up an octet of samples at some point.
Did he leave PG altogether or did he just start another line?
Just started another line.
I’ve tried two – Fareb (smells like cumin, the spice. Which is nice, but disappears in about 10 seconds. That’s only my impression, of course. YMMV) and Sucre d’Ebène (top notes smell of window cleaner on me. After that it dries down to a quite nice caramel-and-woods). All in all they seem well-made but not really exciting.
First—I seem to be the only who hates the bottle. Sorry, it’s fine if y’all like it but I think it looks like deordorant….maybe expensive deordorant if that makes you feel better….
Second—too many at once. What is wrong with these people? how can they not get it that too much at once is TOO MUCH! Even separated by a mere month–I think would improve interest.
Third—I think I’d like to try Fareb (although the previous cumin comment has me concerned) but Naiviris sounds the very best to me. Even if I don’t care for the name….I think I’d pronounce it like Nay-VEER-iss…..regardless of what is correct. (I’m just that way)
Almost forgot a complaint:
Fourth –I hate the label. it’s ugly. it makes it look even more like body product. okay, I’m done now.