Florence is not only a fashion capital but also it’s the city of perfume these days! My day started with a short stopover at the Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella on my way to Fragranze. At the fair I spent hours and hours sniffing new fragrances and talking to perfumers. Back in my hotel I am overwhelmed by what I have smelled today – so many new perfumes and impressions!
Fragranze is the place to be if you are interested in that “special perfume”. All important niche brands from all over the world are presenting their fragrances in the beautiful Stazione Leopolda in Florence. And all the perfumers are there in person: the gentle Keiko Mecheri, Swiss perfumer Andy Tauer, French genius Pierre Guillaume (Parfumerie Générale), the absolutely passionate Ineke Rühland (Ineke), the king of purism James Heeley (Heeley) – or the revolutionary Libertin Louison who can explain his line Technique Indiscrète with so much passion that I fell in love with each single scent. That’s what I think represents zeitgeist.
My picks of the day are:
Keiko Mecheri: the new men’s fragrance Les Zazous with woody notes, rose, lavender, amber and spices – what a wonderful scent! And I tried an older fragrance I didn’t know before and I fell in love with – Cuir Cordoba – a wonderful leather scent for both men and women with notes of suede leather, iris butter and cedar. Warm and comforting. Perfect when the days start to get chillier. In Berlin summer is over and I am thinking this could be my autumn scent.
Amouage: Memoir. Two new fragrances, one for women, one for men. Both are just so beautiful – I love orientals! Not if they are too heavy but these two are just so well balanced that you will love them from the bottom of your heart! Of course in both of them you will find frankincense but the women’s scent is so feminine with tangerine, pink pepper and leather, the men’s scent is a wonderful combination of green, dark and warm notes with leather, amber and tobacco.
Libertin Louison – Technique indiscrète: Paname Paname. Paname is an old slang name for Paris and the scent is just wonderful for the evening with notes of bergamot, green tangerine, jasmine, lotus, cumin, apple cake accord, vetiver, woody notes, musk and ambre essence and a chypre accord – Louison loves les chypres as he told me. At the fair he also presents three new fragrances, each of them is olfactory explosion: Saffran Nobile, Santa Subita and Delivre Moi. I am going to write more about the whole line soon. He has made a scented candle with black olive flavor that smells like Tapenade – amazing!
The new collection by Parfumerie Générale “Huitième Art Parfums” has been such a success today that they ran out off press kits. I don’t like the vials but I love what’s in it. The fragrances are very pure, only a few ingredients for each scent. And what do we want more? Eight new fragrances for all the Pierre Guillaume fans – me included. I am going to write more about this collection soon.
Ineke – Gilded Lily, a wonderful modern fruity chypre inspired by a quote from Shakespeare’s “King John“. It’s an “adult fruity“ to use the words of Ineke. I talked with her for an hour and she’s such a wonderful and passionate woman.
Parfums d’Orsay: L’intrigante – powdery and sexy with musk, camellia, pepper and vanilla. I have worn this the whole day on my left arm and it is really great.
On Saturday 11, 2010 Pitti Fragranze is open to the public. Take a sniff yourself! There is no better place to see more new perfume releases before they get to the stores and enjoy talking to the creative people behind those wonderful fragrances!
