Who are these people who shop designer resort collections? I imagine a group of jet setters who demand spanking white capris and sorbet-toned nail polish for their stays in Bermuda or Antigua or wherever the resort collection set go. They pack multiple bikinis, and they invest in gym memberships and waxing regimens so they look good in those bikinis. They have friends with magazine-worthy island homes whose casement windows are eternally open to the sun and sky-blue sea. They drink fruity cocktails on the yacht’s deck.
Sniffing Elie Saab Le Parfum Resort Collection Eau de Toilette — whew! let’s just call it “Resort” for short — leads me to think that perfumer Francis Kurkdjian had a similar vision of this (to me, anyway) mythical community. Resort’s notes include orange blossom, jasmine, frangipani, fig, cedar and amber. It’s a well-heeled tropical party in a bottle.
Resort is at heart a fresh orange blossom fragrance with a restrained, slightly musky, weedy feel. It isn’t soapy or overly bridal. But if you judge Resort by its first few moments, you’d never guess it would settle down into such a nicely behaved perfume. At first spritz, Resort shouts with big, sweet, juicy mandarin and a tingle and exotic floral-fruity combo that had me thinking of guava or papaya until I saw fig among the fragrance’s notes. I wouldn’t have thought of blending the almost caramelized earthiness of fig with the tropical femininity of frangipani, but it successfully signals “tropical” and “beach” without the usual tricks of coconut and tiare. I bet Resort sells ninety percent of its bottles based on this fruity siren song alone.
And then Resort yanks down the volume. The fragrance hastily retreats to skin, and its fruity notes fly off to that disco of perfumed memory otherwise inhabited by limited edition Escadas. Resort is now a cheerful if not particularly memorable orange flower fragrance that purrs quietly along for a solid twelve hours.
Next to Elie Saab’s first fragrance, Elie Saab Le Parfum, Resort is playful and straightforward, while Le Parfum is bigger, more classically oriental, and more exotic with its wisp of incense in the dry down. Resort is what it says it is: a romp with good manners. (In comparison, Bottega Veneta Knot, another orange blossom fragrance, is mostly relaxed good manners, minus the romp.)
If you were to design a fragrance to encompass your idea of a relaxing getaway, what would it smell like? Mine would probably have notes of gin and novels.
Elie Saab Le Parfum Resort Collection Eau de Toilette is available in 50 ml (£47) and 90 ml ($98) sizes and is available in higher end department stores.
My personal vaca in a bottle is already with us: AG Eau de Sud. I want to ride my classic bicycle (without getting my long printed skirt stuck in the chain!) through lavender fields on the way to a wine and cheese picnic under some shady cypress trees…..
I love the sound of that! As for the skirt and bike, I ride my bike most days and wear skirts or dresses every day, and I’ve dreamed of some kind of cage over the rear wheel and chain.
You think after all these years someone would have figured that out?
No kidding! Sometimes I use clothes pins to take in my skirt if its a big one.
Can i come along? It sounds marvelous.
Of course! You can tell us if our skirts are in danger of being sucked into the bike chain.
Yes. You can bring the screw pull for the bottle(s) of wine!
My vacation in a bottle would smell like stepping out of an air conditioned train carriage into the heat and humidity of Roma Termini in August. It would feature an indistinct, big city, baking garbage note.
I know just the smell you mean, and I’m surprised that Comme des Garcons hasn’t bottled it yet.
Yes, CDG would be perfect for that. How about an I <3 NY Subway from Bond No. 9? It could be followed by a flanker called I <3 NY Subway Summer Sweat.
Jonas, its not related, but I did want to thank you for the idea of Vetiver EO in the bath. It now feels like a daily spa!
I’m glad you enjoyed it. Unscented Epsom salt + Vetiver is just perfect. I find the scent really clings to the skin but never becomes overbearing.
Brilliant idea!
Going shopping for Epsom tomorrow! What proportions are best? I used to try lavender EO but in the bath it just disappears. A drop of vetiver oil has a fabulous effect!
Merlin, I just mix them directly in the bath. I suppose you could pre mix them but I’m not sure what proportions to use. I’ll see if I can find a recipe. Btw, I finally got around to testing Vetiver Tonka the other day. I really liked it. The Vetiver is very prominent (much more so than in Terre d’Hermes) and there’s a pleasant sort of burnt sugar note. It reminds me somewhat of L’Artisan Mechant Loup.
Also, I found the same thing with lavender EO. It just doesn’t seem to project out of the bath water like Vetiver does. I’m considering other EOs to try. Maybe I’ll splurge on some Neroli.
http://boisdejasmin.com/2012/11/elegant-handmade-holiday-gift-sel-de-vetiver-bath-salts.html
V.T sounds great!
Thanks for the link. I’ll probably just add a drop of oil to my tub until I feel like actually doing the project
The citrus oils seem less expensive than others so Neroli might be worth trying. I think they have less of a lifespan though….
I suspect I’m going to overdo the vetiver thing, and ultimately end up with an aversion, lol!
I believe those would have a dedicated–if specialized–fan base! Some perfume company should snap you up.
He has made me into an addict…
I’m there if it’s Venice, lol. It would be easy to replicate the smell of garlic, tons of people, and sea air!…. and a dash of canal!
That sounds so romantic!
I’m not too good at imagining new scents, but Philosykos is a holiday in a bottle to me. There is something so carefree about it! (So the fig in this one does interest me…
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With Philosykos I really feel like you smell the whole tree, too. It’s wonderful.
Escada Sunset Heat is my idea of a fun get away scent that exists already. My idea for a relaxing scent would be a boozy aquatic, something that gives you the beach air and sand smell but also the drink in your hand!
Boozy Aquatic! I sense a whole new genre of fragrance coming. Puerto Vallarta might be ocean + margarita, for instance.
A “resort” line of clothing is presumably a wildly summer look being sold in the middle of winter. I get it. Resort=winter vacation in a hot climate. But a resort fragrance? That sort of works like an “Authentic Irish Pub,” or “Genuine Heirloom Quality”… it is the marketing equivalent of calling a perfume “Billionaire Boyfriend.” Too wannabe wish-for maybe this’ll make me pass…. I to be manipulated more subtly.
In that vein, how about Wauwinet Village, with notes of rose hips, concord grapes, iris, beach grasses, sun-bleached woods, sea glass and very dry white wine.
Once I drove by a workshop in West Virginia with a sign outside that read “Antique Tables Made Daily.”
I love the sound of Eau de Wauwinet Village! Maybe the bottle could be sea-glass, too.
Maybe it was intended to be some sort of statement about the quality of their work? After all, if their tables are still around 100 years from now, they will be antique.
You are far more generous than I! But yes, now that you put it that way, it might just have been savvy marketing.
That is a great first line for a poem. It is both ridiculous, optimistic, and possible true… love it!
I hope you write that poem!
After reading reviews like this I love to ponder how the people who produced the perfume would react to it: the perfumer/s, the art director, the designer, the marketing folk, the evaluators and the focus group organisers … all that work and all those furrowed brows … And what they read is : ‘ … its fruity notes fly off to that disco of perfumed memory otherwise inhabited by limited edition Escadas.’
A let down? Or would they just laugh quietly to themselves while they get on with the next project?
Doesn’t matter I suppose, as long as someone is making money.
…and as long as fruity perfumes are doing the hustle in some faraway olfactory reminiscence.
For me, vacation is that heady combination of many perfumes being sprayed over the course of the day in duty free shops.
Love it!
Ha! That is SO TRUE!
I used to transit in Zurich a few times a year with 7 hours of lay-over time; every single time.
I practically lived in the perfume section!
Excellent! So true!
The common scents of my vacations are unscented sunscreen, insect repellent, and the solid perfume (L’Occitane Vanilla) that I travel with.
A relaxing day would be a trip to the beach and the woods in Marin County. It would smell like California Bay Laurels.
I love the smell of sunscreen–the classic old Coppertone kind–probably because of all the memories associated with it. Bay laurel is a wonderful scent, too.
I will very ptobably get this for the beautiful blue bottle and the fact its a new easy, no-brainer scent.
I did drain my bottle of L’eau Couture last year..(HUGELY credited to the unfortunate combination of the unbelieveably minimal strength with my perfume eating skin)
My vacay in a bottle is something beachy/sunscreen and maybe a little “sweaty” (Terracotta, Bronze Goddess, Beach etc.). But its actually a little ironic because despite the fact that I adore bright sunny days, I tend to avoid direct sun exposure like the plague (pale skin FRIES within 2 minutes) so I never do beaches..
I’m probably more of a “walk on a windy beach” than “lie around on a hot beach” type of person, and I fry in a jiffy, too. A real “Bronze Goddess” I will never be.
“If you were to design a fragrance to encompass your idea of a relaxing getaway, what would it smell like?”
Ahem … don’t ask. I like wild, windswept beaches and the breeze of sun, sand, salt, warm bleached driftwood, wild rosemary, and maybe a whiff of fish and seaweed. It is wonderfully uplifting and addictive but probably not something to wear as a fragrance away from the beach.
I wouldn’t mind having a fun and realistic scent like that every once in a while! (I enjoy Demeter’s stormy, damp earth, pavement scent!) But I think the fish can stay at the beach
That Demeter scent sounds nice! I love that pavement smell.
Oh, I don’t know. It sounds wonderful! I admit the fish part might be tough to stomach some days, but as an EdC in a big spray bottle, it would be great in the summer.
To me vacation smells like my grandmother’s house around Midsummer – a monstrous pungent Jasmine slowly devouring one corner of the grounds, mown grass, dusty gravel roads, sun-warmed, oiled wood, big coniferous forests with hints of tar and swamp and cow. Normally the Midsummer visit includes manual labour around her dilapidated farm, so add a touch of sweat and paint and sawdust!
Strong Jasmine in general is enough to transport me to a vacation mindset, so I sometimes use Lush Lust perfume as a nighttime scent to calm me when I’m having a very stressful week.
That sounds so nice! I’m imagining your grandmother’s farm in the south, with long, warm nights.
Read the review and then – the comments…
Wow!
without any effort Angela stole the conversation from the subject of the review (E.S. new perfume) and graciously gave it to the real topic of the day – a vacation.
not a single comment about E. Saab…. only nice blend of words, meanings and longings…..the dead of winter…..
Bravo, Angela!
expertly done!
Thank you! I’m just going with the flow, and the flow seems to be toward vacation! On a dreary late February day, it sounds good to me.
yes, absolutely , and tastefully done
I look forward to your next review.
How about some Jacques Fath?
I think Erin touched on Fath de Fath in a post on top notes. It’s a lovely fragrance.