Penhaligon’s will launch Portraits, a new collection of four fragrances (with more to come in 2017): The Tragedy of Lord George, The Revenge of Lady Blanche, Much Ado About The Duke and The Coveted Duchess Rose.
What are the secrets of the British aristocracy? Are they as well behaved, courteous and polite as they seem to be? “Portraits” is a tribute to the English spirit; between establishment, humour and provocation.
The Tragedy of Lord George ~ "Deceptively traditional, Lord George is a perfect reminder that one should be aware of appearances. He himself maintains that one should never be able to divine what a man is thinking. This ability being, of course, the key to a happy marriage. Honourable, to a tee, his fidelity to King and Country is resolute. His penchant for muttering “the flesh is weak” over the breakfast kippers is entirely without explanation." A woody amber fougère from perfumer Alberto Morillas, with rum, tonka bean and ambrox.
The Revenge of Lady Blanche ~ "Lady Blanche is a picture of devotion, charm – and criminal intentions. A social butterfly with a dangerous bite one might say. Shakespeare did try to warn us “hell hath no fury like a woman scorned”. Indeed, a woman does always know. Lady Blanche wishes, oh how she wishes! that she did not. The real crime you see is the inelegance of not having kept all of this where it belongs – in the dark, with the lights off! (Cross her at your peril.)" A green floral from perfumer Daphné Bugey, with narcissus, angelica and ginger flower.
Much Ado About The Duke ~ "Who could say if it was the evenings spent at the theatre that gave the Duke his ravishing, ravished air. A slight perfume of intrigue engulfs him nevertheless. Exquisitely ubiquitous, a decadent dandy, an utterly charming chap, virulently ambivalent, a thoroughly ambiguous first son-in-law – hearts throb wherever he goes, but not the ones you might think. His wife agrees that the theatre is no place for a Duchess. Sometimes she longs not to be a Duchess…" A spicy woody rose from perfumer Daphné Bugey, with rose, gin and cumin.
The Coveted Duchess Rose ~ "A fresh, sweet Rose – ready for the picking. Ever since her recent marriage (anything but a bed of roses) our demure Duchess is urgently desirous of desire. Her bosom is aching for release from the corsets of Victorian life, she dreams of nothing but Paradise Regained, again and again. When one’s husband is at the theatre every evening, one does become terribly bored…" A woody rose from perfumer Christophe Raynaud with mandarin, rose and ambrox.
Penhaligon's Portraits Chapter 1 The Tragedy of Lord George, The Revenge of Lady Blanche, Much Ado About The Duke and The Coveted Duchess Rose will be £178 each for 75 ml.
(via press release)
Those bottles are kind of awful….. It makes me think of “Sex Panther” cologne from Anchorman.
Aha, ha, ha, ha. The backstories are eye rollers too.
You know, a little backstory is good, but these are drowning in backstory — I didn’t even include all of it.
I am frightened to think of what you have saved us from reading.
Are you sure these aren’t entries in Prix Eau Faux?
Or editors’ rejections of author-proposed jacket blurbs?
Possibly for the masochists among us you could add them as an update with the warning “Not Safe for Sane People.”
‘The Revenge of Lady Blanche’ and ‘Much Ado About The Duke’ is possibly the most ventilated and slightly puerile ad copy I’ve ever read on this otherwise very fine site. I’d rather not imagine the kind of businessperson who would look at this press release without a tinge of bitterness.
It’s pretty bad. I assume it’s meant as very tongue in cheek, but it’s totally missed the mark.
Makes me wonder if someone at Penhaligon’s has been following Imaginary Authors.
The pricing here strikes me as rather serious considering the goofy story lines. Probably just me…
No, not just you.
I was thinking the same thing about Imaginary Authors. The fictional stories don’t really do anything for me with those either, but the perfumes are at least pretty reasonably priced.
I think I’m the only one who doesn’t hate the bottles, though(maybe they’ve been following MDCI-or MDCI meets Monty Python?)I especially like the deer head!
The Tragedy of Lord George is that the bottle cap is going to take an eye out…
And now I have to clean water off my computer monitor. . . .
Wait. When did Penhaligons develop a sense of humor? I assume this was meant to be humorous. If I imagine Bertie Wooster enthusiastically describing this fabulous new line to Jeeves, it makes me snicker.
Really, the quartet should have been Bertie, Jeeves, Aunt Agatha and Gussie Fink-Nottle.
Gosh I’d love a Gussie Fink-Nottle perfume!! Eau de newt, with orange juice and gin! I wonder what kind of customer Penhaligon’s is aiming for with this release though.
I’m guessing that the Penhaligon’s marketing dept. thoughtful that people would laugh with them and not at them. Plus, their regular bottles are so much nicer.
The real joke will be if the scents are gorgeous and we’ll all have these rediculous looking bottles on our dressers. ???? I wonder if these will show up on the discount websites next season?
Stupid auto correct, thought – not thoughtful
It will be a tragedy if any of these actually smells good!
I was recycling papers the other day and accidentally mistook the Penhaligon’s Times for the Trader Joe’s Fearless Flyer!
I looked at those golden decapitations and burst out laughing. I don’t know if that is the reaction Penhaligon’s is going for or not…
They just look so *cheap*. The price is staggering considering those chintzy, tacky, plasticky caps. For all I know they’re metal, but if so, they’re really badly photographed. Add in that overheated, risible ad copy and it’s just a complete failure.
Hideous packaging. Pass.
What the — ??? If I squint, the 3rd one from the left looks like Scooby-Doo’s head in shadowed profile.
Ha!
Zoinks! Now I see it, too!
DYING! DEAD! LOVE THESE! Those stories are just deliciously lascivious potboilers all unto themselves! GOSH! Sometimes you feel the Verve and Fun have been taken out of everything and so much is so serious or just gag-inducingly awful… These are Purest Fun! Delightful Knee-Slapping Fun! I want to smell them and own them all! Kitcshy Bottle tops included (especially that Stag one… That’s Kind of Over-Over-The-Top!)
At first glance I honestly thought these were Game of Thrones perfumes based on the houses and their respective animals, etc. I guess those perfume releases are yet to come from HBO…they are churning out so much GOT merchandise.
Maybe we will see Eau de Cersei yet…
Oh dear, over the top back story, ridiculous prices – those who know me from NST will be aware how much I love Bluebell, but they may lose me as a customer completely if they continue down this path. A new release from Penhaligon’s used to be a rare & much anticipated event…
I completely agree. They are diluting the brand.
I actually bought a bottle of the Lord George today (some Penhaligons shops have it as a soft launch).
My initial observations are:
1) the bottle is really pleasing in real life.
2) the cap is metal not plastic.
3) the bottle is a decent evolution on the classic Penhaligons shape but feels better made (for instance it has a sort of soft close click and is fairly heavy).
4) the caps are now silver not gold.
5) the price is ridiculous.
6) the marketing reads like the PR department drank the fragrance before they wrote it.
7) my initial view of the fragrance is that it is pleasingly classic, has a definite resinous complexity, but is not quite up to the level of the hype.
Why so negative? Have any of you actually smelt the fragrances ?
Duchesse Rose is amazing