Lancôme has launched Parfait De Rôses and Rôses Berberanza, new additions to the Les Parfums Grands Crus collection…
Naomi Goodsir Iris Cendre ~ fragrance review
Iris must be the Meryl Streep of fragrance notes. In Frédéric Malle Iris Poudre, she plays a 17th century lady at her dressing table. In Le Labo Iris 39, she’s the earthy bohemian mistress with an intellectual bent. In Serge Lutens Iris Silver Mist, she’s the wild child with aristocratic roots and a pagan godmother.
In Naomi Goodsir Iris Cendré, iris might be a medieval monk who works in the garden during the day and faithfully attends incense-laden vespers, but who enjoys the comfort of his pipe and armchair in the wood-paneled library…
Masque Milano Russian Tea ~ fragrance review
There’s a kind of fragrance that especially intrigues me: it’s the type that reads as warm and cool at the same time. This kind of fragrance’s notes are warm — leather, spices, wood, for instance — but its overall feeling is thin and cool, like a splash of scented water. Masque Milano Russian Tea is that sort of fragrance.
Perfumer Julien Rasquinet developed Russian Tea. Its notes include mint, black pepper, raspberry, black tea, magnolia, everlasting flower (also known as immortelle), leather accord, incense, birchwood and labdanum. If you’re thinking this sounds a bit like Annick Goutal Duel, you’re right. Russian Tea might be Duel’s tougher brother, the one who came straight from the stables to lunch…
Masque Milano Russian Tea ~ new fragrance
Italian niche brand Masque Milano will launch Russian Tea, the brand’s fifth fragrance…
Naomi Goodsir Bois d’Ascese ~ fragrance review
Last week I bemoaned the fact that Etro Rajasthan didn’t smell like India. I’ve smelled what seems like a zillion perfumes, watched plenty ad campaigns, and read through news releases, so I know I shouldn’t expect fragrance names or PR to match reality. I may be disappointed Rajasthan didn’t conjure India (for me) but if that fragrance had been good, I would have forgiven false advertising. This week, I’m wearing Naomi Goodsir Bois d’Ascèse* (ascetic wood) and the aura of the perfume matches its name and description: “…a secluded CHAPEL, BLAZING dusk, moment of GRACE, DIVINE smoke, silent CANTIQUE….”
Bois d’Ascèse conjures one of my favorite places — northern New Mexico; the fragrance creates a dry, austere, pungent scene. Willa Cather was on my mind as I wore this fragrance (I’m reading her letters) and I think a tiny vial of Bois d’Ascèse should accompany every volume of Death Comes for the Archbishop — Cather’s New Mexico novel in which her European characters travel through Santa Fe, Ranchos de Taos, and Acoma, Isleta and Laguna pueblos…