Houbigant Paris has launched Cologne Intense, a new fragrance paying tribute to classic cologne…
Houbigant Iris des Champs ~ fragrance review
Houbigant Iris des Champs was released in fall 2014; it is the brand’s first launch since Orangers en Fleurs, a fragrance that I happened to enjoy quite a bit. Iris des Champs is described as “a heady, plush homage to iris,” with notes of bergamot, pink pepper, rose, lily of the valley, pear, iris, jasmine, ylang-ylang, sandalwood, amber, woody notes, vanilla and musk. It was developed for Houbigant by perfumer Mathieu Nardin.
I looked forward to trying this fragrance, especially since I like many iris fragrances — and how beautiful is that packaging, right? Unfortunately, Iris des Champs didn’t quite live up to my expectations. I’ve been sampling the Extrait de Parfum version this week. It begins in a promising fashion, with a rooty-green iris accord. Weirdly, that iris only lasts about a half-hour…
Houbigant Iris des Champs ~ new perfume
Houbigant Paris will launch Iris des Champs, a new fragrance. It is the brand’s first launch since 2012’s Orangers en Fleurs…
Houbigant Quelques Fleurs Royale ~ fragrance review
Last week I stopped by the Goodwill boutique and found a gorgeous old pair of Gucci loafers. Their black leather was thick and shiny, and the creases from use only made them feel more luxurious. Someone had lovingly resoled them, probably many times. An abstract version of Gucci’s classic horse bit strapped the toes.
Did I buy them? No. As beautiful as they were, the shoes didn’t suit me. They would have been right at home in a (literally) well-heeled matron’s closet, and someone with Margot Tenenbaum’s chic could have pulled them off, but they weren’t for me. That’s how I feel about Houbigant Quelques Fleurs Royale. It smells pretty and not cheap, but it belongs in someone else’s perfume cupboard…
Top 10 Summer Fragrances 2013
Having appropriated most American technologies, cultural tics and lifestyle choices, Canadians feel we know a lot about our neighbors (neighbours!1) to the south and we tend to be quite sensitive about a perceived lack of knowledge on the other end. Canadian comedian Rick Mercer, a national hero of sorts, came to prominence with a series of television clips called Talking to Americans, where he poked gentle fun at this relationship by interviewing ordinary Americans on the street — in addition to people like George W. Bush2, David Hasselhoff and a Harvard Professor of International Relations — and getting them to do silly things on camera: to congratulate Canucks on converting to a 24-hour clock (from a 20-hour one)3, to sign a petition trying to stop the planned polar bear slaughters in Toronto, or to sing along with a completely fabricated Canadian national anthem. Once, I had an encounter in Buffalo, NY that felt like a Mercer moment: I struck up a conversation with the gentleman beside me at the mall, who turned out to believe that Canadians did not experience summer. “But I live an hour or so away from here,” I kept explaining to him. “We have summer! We have the same climate as you do!” I could not convince him…