Arquiste has launched Esencia de El Palacio, a new trio of unisex fragrances for the Mexican upscale department chain El Palacio de Hierro. Azahares, Magnolios and Vetiveres are meant as an ‘olfactory portrait of the past, present and future’ of Mexico; all three were developed by perfumer Rodrigo Flores-Roux…
Following Kevin’s review of Arquiste Él, I’m here to report on its feminine counterpart, Ella. Like Él, Ella was inspired by Acapulco in the 1970s and was developed by perfumer Rodrigo Flores-Roux. It was designed to evoke “a sultry night of disco, plunging necklines and champagne-soaked skin” followed by a rendezvous on a “golden beach, under a silvery moon,” with notes of cannonball tree flower (curupita), angelica root, carrot seed, rose, jasmine, cardamom, buckwheat honey, amber, patchouli, civet, vetiver, cigarette smoke accord and “chypre accord.”
I’ve never been anywhere near Acapulco, and I don’t think I’ve ever worn a “plunging neckline,” but I do have some very early memories of the 1970s (in New Jersey and New York, anyway). And Ella brought me right back to those days: it reminds me of the fragrances that women — glamorous grown-ups! — were wearing before the mid-80s arrived and everyone began dousing themselves in Poison and Giorgio…
Arquiste Él’s1 backstory is based in 1970’s Acapulco, at Armando’s Le Club:
Nighttime at Acapulco’s sultriest disco. Revelry on the dance floor. In the heat of the moment, he smiles coyly and motions to the beach outside, hinting at a midnight swim. He unbuttons his shirt, flashing bronzed skin and the scent of his cologne, a virile muskiness loaded with patchouli, oak moss and elegant woody notes. A masculine impression of a day under the sun, intensified by the thrill of the night.
If a guy started undressing in a club after motioning to the beach…it would give me pause…
Things come and go in New York City — it’s always been that way — but a few of Manhattan’s grand old hotels remain. Nowadays they’re owned and managed as luxury brands by massive hotel companies, but if you’re lucky, you can step into a place like the St. Regis, sit for a moment in an ornately decorated lobby, and imagine yourself back to an earlier time.
The St. Regis Hotel was built in 1904 under the direction of founder John Jacob Astor IV, and it was declared a New York City landmark in 1988. (If you’re ever in the neighborhood and you’re in the mood for a classic cocktail, I highly recommend a visit to the St. Regis’s King Cole Bar.) And now it has its own signature scent, in the form of a room spray and candle developed for Arquiste by perfumer Rodrigo Flores-Roux…
Niche line Arquiste will launch a new fragrance duo, Él and Ella. The scents were inspired by jet-set Acapulco in the 1970s, and were developed by perfumer Rodrigo Flores-Roux…