Shelter; Under the Veil
By Sophie Field
Ok, we are now into September when the veil of Autumn starts to close around us. What better way to lift the spirits than to discover a new fragrance? Whether you are in need of cosy wooden scents, something to add to your disco spirit, you’re in search of a little lightness from an aqua-style fragrance or maybe still don’t have enough roses in your life, check out a few of the new launches below.
Roos and Roos: In the Wood for Love
The name of a childhood story? No, but it is a beautiful tale of femininity that is told in the new scent In the Wood For Love by mother and daughter duo Roos and Roos.
Harkening back to childhood dreams of romance, we take a journey through sparkly hopeful notes of light citrus glimmering atop honeyed and dewy mandarin and powdery violet, waxing and waning through a woody and powerful background of delight. Indeed, we are forever being led through a story by Roos and Roos.
A true romance of scent occurs in this delicate kaleidoscopic vision and is reflected in the bottle’s design. Interwoven outlines of sage cream and black delineate what we start to make out as the shape of doves, their wings recalling the skeletons of leaves, in a geometric tapestry of a dream.
The scent similarly creates a tapestry of an enchanted forest, where Roos and Roos use hints of orange blossom that trickle down like sap into middle notes of iris, violet and bergamot lying amongst the heavy-felt and lingering woods of vetiver, cedarwood and patchouli. A fairy tale indeed.
Saturday night? Then get out your newest bottle of Fever!
Jimmy Choo always creates the boldest of scents to match the boldest of women. And Fever is no different. Captivating not just the eye by its’ wine coloured, snakeskin enveloped design but also the nose, Jimmy Choo uses hypnotic scents of roasted almond and honeyed plum to create a feverish scent perfect for our 21st-century independent woman.
The fragrance celebrates the utterly feminine. Audacious and unapologetic, she places herself at the centre of the room. Unforgettable, she leaves behind a powerful and bewitching trail of seductive confidence.
Delicate sweet Black Plum nectar coats middle notes of ‘cherried’ Heliotrope on top of a spicy cinnamon like base of roasted Tonka Bean. Not shy of sweetness, Jimmy Choo creates a powerful feminine scent using a heavy and intoxicating mix of purple heavy fruits and flowers.
Issey Miyake: L’Eau Super Majeure D’Issey
Intense. Strong. Elemental. Water. The four words to best describe this intensification of the original LEau Majeure D’Issey.
Intense Masculine Confidence. This sea storm of powerful scent is inspired by the crisp burnt edges of sun-bleached wood and bittersweet black sea salt. Super salty waters, encrusted with essence of clary sage and rosemary, twist and froth with middle notes of dark patchouli, golden amber and cashmeran, finally all crashing into and caressing the smooth and leathery sandbanks of smoky and sweet base notes: tonka bean and salt-laced vanilla.
This scent is bold. Its’ super sleek blue lines and metallic blue top translate into daring confidence for its’ night-time vibes. L’Eau Super Majeure D’Issey is a super statement of power from the house of Issey Miyake.
L.K.Bennett has launched their first and indeed ‘signature’ perfume.
Staying true to their timeless and classic style, the longstanding luxury fashion brand has developed an English garden of luxuriously complex scents, that intermingle with one another perfectly to create Signature.
The fragrance, resembling an art deco crystal ornament, topped with a gold cap, infuses top notes of citrus, pepper and (surprising yet successful) rhubarb with middle notes of rose, jasmine and ylang-ylang, all carrying through the lingering base notes of warm woods and dry amber.
This beautiful scent is light and heavy in all the right ways and truly does leave its heavenly mark. Or if you will, its signature.
A girl’s best friend? Well, this new revolutionary perfume by Mathilde Laurent in collaboration with Cartier may be just that. Refracting light, colour and smell in its’ bottle shaped like a diamond, Cartier gives us a pure and scintillating new scent.
Simple yet mesmerizing. Using 7 different floral scents reflecting the 7 different colours of the rainbow, Mathilde Laurent creates a new synesthetic vision of refracted floral fragrance. Violet, lily, hyacinth, ylang-ylang, narcissus, honeysuckle and tulips are combined and developed into one pure and unique scent. Like a diamond, whose beauty lies in the multitude of ways it can refract light, Carat by Cartier refracts scent to create something truly unique.
Quoting French author Huysmans, Mathilde Laurent makes the connection between jeweller and perfumer; both reducing something from nature into a ring or bottle. Wearing Carat will feel just as special as wearing a diamond necklace.
Van Cleef and Arpels: Rose Rouge Collection Extraordinaire
Once a renowned Luxury Jeweller, Van Cleef & Arpels took its inspiration from flowers and nature and carrying this through into high end Perfumery have produced a new addition to their longstanding Collection Extraordinaire. Truly extraordinary, this collection takes inspiration from mythical ingredients and nature and gives a unique twist to any given note.
Rose Rouge. The red rose. From Lewis Carol’s Queen of hearts, Shakespeare’s House of Lancaster, Beauty and the beast, Dante’s Rose, the Name of the Rose, American Beauty…etc, these images of the red rose flood the brain in a synapse of memory and time. And thus, we think of the rose in these powerful terms of love, lust, romance and war. A powerful thing to make one’s own.
A Rose is a Rose is A Rose. But is it? In this creation, collaborating with Perfumer Julien Rasquinet, Van Cleef & Arpels create their very own Rose. Rose Rouge. Although a rose is often deemed a purely feminine scent, it is re-imagined here in its’ unisex form, made heavy and powerful with an unexpected base note of Cocoa Absolute.
Using top notes of the purest form of rose that infuse and simmer amongst the Eastern heart of Turkish Rose Essence, mingling finally with base notes of gourmand influence, Van Cleef &Arpels create a luxurious and truly unique version of the mythical rose.
Acqua Di Parma: Colonia Sandalo
At the beginning of the 20th century, in the heart of Sicily, Parma, Acqua di Parma launched its’ very first fragrance: Colonia. Simple Italian Elegance. That is what this perfume house so eloquently captures in each unique bottle and scent. Originally used to scent handkerchiefs, Colonia became synonymous with 1950s celebrity.
September sees the launch of the 14th scent to the Colonia range; Colonia Sandalo: an elegant fragrance using a rare and precious variety of sandalwood from India, balanced with a refined combination of sunny citrus top notes like bergamot, lemon, orange, and petit-grain which follow on to a heady blend of cardamon and lavender notes, building this aromatic, elegant heart. This cushions a seat of elegance for the base of creamy balsamic notes of Indian sandalwood accented by warm accents of tonka bean and amber.
As with all the range in this collection, it is packaged in the iconic Art Deco bottle, in a chocolate brown glass which enhances any shelf: all Italian craft and elegance held in a satin lined box
Colours that run through the entire collection: a deep brown for the bottle made from the clearest glass and for the stopper, with light bronze satin highlights for the label. Every detail, material and workmanship reflect the Italian craftsmanship that has always distinguished every Acqua di Parma creation. Colonia Sandalo comes in two sizes: the classic 100ml and the larger, more spectacular 180ml bottle.
Sandalwood has always been considered a spiritual wood used in many religions as part of a spiritual practice, as well as having been used in woodcraft from furniture to musical instruments. It is still considered a grand note to use in perfumery being distinguished as valuable and noble.
Roos & Roos, Jimmy Choo, Issey Miyake, L.K.Bennett, Cartier, Van Cleef &Arpels, Acqua Di Parma
