Scent in Glass

In 2017 the internationally renowned Glassware company Lalique created a collection of three perfumes that celebrated scent, colour and emotion.  The collection called Les Compositions Perfumes (written about below) has now in 2020 added three new feminine perfumes making it six in the collection altogether. As before the company has collaborated with great noses to sharpen our senses and let us drown in their beauty. The three new are:

Blue Rise  Fresh. Luxuriant. and Tropical,  a dewy floral paradise, by Vincent Ricord.  A balance of where tropical waters meet Jasmine Sambac absolute with a fruity dewy molecule and a green tropical one.  Also in the mix is subtle beautiful powdery iris with musky soft cashmere.

‘An emerald forest. A blue lagoon. A swirl of white petals, dancing in a transparent aqua pool’.

Next comes  Velvet Plum, A lush. glamorous and bohemian scent . A sensual suede and cashmere wrap, by Valérie Garnuch-Mentzel. Think butter soft suede of cashmeran meet musk and sun warmed wood.  These bleed into helitrope iris and patchouli for velvet softness with a hit of powder, finally melding with osmanthis that soft apricot scent.

‘Is it the real life? Is it just fantasy? With Velvet Plum, slide on your butter-soft suede jacket.’

Lastly in the new collection is  The spicy, fiery and wild Infinite Shine, a flamboyant veil of saffron and rose, by Corinne Cachen.

A veil of rose, sandalwood and saffron for spicy warmth. Here, is also the orange spice expressed by safranal, a molecule that produces its warm, leather-tinged scent. A crimson rose fires up its sensuality. Creamy sandalwood tempers its animal facets.

‘The flamboyant colours of a sunset on desert dunes’.

Below we outline more of the brand heritage as well as the original three fragances created in the Les Compositions collection.

The House of Lalique was started initially not to produce glass but came from the originator René Lalique, who started his creative journey in jewellery. Initially inspired by nature and daring for the time, the female form both of which were very much ensconced in the world of  both Art Nouveau and then on Art Deco

At the time René Lalique was a renegade within the world of jewellery and was not afraid to combine the most unexpected of materials, gold and precious stones with horn, ivory, semi-precious stones, enamel and of course, glass. For him the feel took precedence over the material. He managed to attract a  clientele of intellectuals and the artistic elite, who like him, disregarded conventions.  His customers included such luminaries of the time like Sarah Bernhardt, Calouste and Sarkis Gulbenkian.

Triumph awaiting at the Universal Exhibition in 1900. His stand caused a sensation and his innovative works were universally admired, earning him a promotion to the rank of Officier de la Légion d’Honneur. From then on, he received orders from all over the world and was invited to every major event in the art world held in Europe and the United State. However, as he had already felt glass was of great importance (his experimentation had been going on since the 1890’s) to him and as he saw pretenders to his throne, he decided a new part of his career was ripe for him to plunder.

It was because of his production skills and manufacturing with his jewellery that he became familiar with vitrifiable materials from enamel through which he discovered glass. Engraving it, setting it, he used it more and more to replace gemstones. At this time he also started to create small artifacts, vases and sculptures using the cire perdue technique (a process that consists of making a wax model). It was his meeting  with François Coty, (one of the most important French perfumers) which led him not only to design but also to produce perfume bottles,

Lalique designed the bottles for Coty’s early scents, such as Ambre Antique and L’Origan, which became bestsellers. He also designed the labels for Coty perfume, which were printed on a gold background with raised lettering. Lalique’s designs for Coty were very much in the Art Nouveau style that was prevalent in the period, and incorporated classic themes of nature, flowers, and female figures.

Lalique was not just inpsired by the art and design movements of the time but certainly looked back at great artworks from the Roman and Greek periods,  the art of the Byzantines, the Florentines and of the Japanese. All this is visible in his extensive works, which went from jewellery to litterally interiors of greater buildings and modes of travel.

His son Marc Lalique took over the House of Lalique and ushered in the era of crystal, but it was not until 1977 when Marie-Claude Lalique, Marc’s daughter, took over as head of the company. She revived the creation of jewellery and developed a line of perfume flacons.

And so begins the long line of perfumes the brand are recognised for, and in 1992 Lalique launched the first fragrance for women: Lalique de Lalique.

Since then there have been many launches including collections such as the Lalique de Lalique range, the Lalique Amethyst collection, the crystal collection,  the Mon premier crystal collection, the Nilang collection and the noir premier collection.  Then there is the  Encre noir for men collection, as well as the L’Insoumis  collection also for men

Les Compositions Parfumées is a collection for women that was expanded with three new scents in 2017: Electric Purple, Sweet Ambwer and Pink Paradise.

The perfumers brief was for three modern olfactory stories based on emotions, which use both natural and molecular ingredients. So, let’s start with:

Electric Purple by Natalie Lorson: Who talked about this fragrance being very personal to her. Its juicy and joyful poppy sparkling berry meets Chypre. A celebration of synthetic boysenberry gives a fruity punch. This lays next to bitter grapefruit for zest, mint and violet leaves. It’s the moss and patchouli at its base is a chypre of moss and patchouli. The Art Deco-inspired flacon is frosted allowing for a light purple haze to eliminate from the bottle.

Sweet Amber by Philippe Romano: As before in the small falcon presents as an amber coloured scent. It was created by Philippe Romano. It has one foot firmly in the gourmand family, notes of vanilla and soft spices. It firmly stands ultimately in oriental florals; there is a full bouquet of white flowers including jasmine sambac, tuberose and orange blossom flourishes at the end with vanilla and a synthetic called Galaxolide (clean sweet musky floral woody odor), there to engage with the floral bouquet.

And lastly:

Pink Paradise by Ane Ayo: The most obviously emotive: A celebration of a moment at the beach, one we can all engage with. Think sea breeze juicy citrus alongside oceanic and mineral notes. Strung with musky cloudy notes with warm amber,  a floral heart, sandalwood and a sprinkle of pepper moving into the rather magical Iso E Super (its smell is very often loved because of its comforting softness and warm woodiness) giving the scent a velvety finish.

The collection is certainly emotive with a sense of direct ‘cut through’ like a big bam into your emotions.

The fragrances launch  follow on from the launch of the original six Les Compositions Parfumées in 2017.