What a weekend! The GAoP is over, so it is time for a little report.
This year, for the first time, Parfumo was invited to join. We did not have a stand, but an official delegation of about 10 mods and users were there. We had lots of talks and meetings with perfume business people – and of course, a lot of fun. Look at the tweets on the German site!
The GAoP was important for Parfumo in order to become better known within the industry. None of the companies and sales accountants there could ignore us since almost everybody was contacted by somebody.
For us, it was a great experience to talk to people – especially the perfumers. I think, everybody who joined the Parfumo delegation felt like a kid in a candy store.
And here are the news that I picked up for you:
***
As every year, the
Micallefs were there! Their new releases are not only great fragrances, but also their perfume bottles are such a beautiful sight with their artistic Svarovski design. They presented a series of new vanilla fragrances. From a brief test on paper strip, they are going to compete with the Guerlain vanillas.
Their new "Ylang in Gold" won the second prize at the Prix de Parfum Artistique. Pazuzu joined the jury for Parfumo, and I hope he will drop some lines about his experience soon. Ylang in Gold has a nice gimmick: If you shake the flacon, the golden perfume becomes milky white!
Some more things to change: The side brand G.Nejman was integrated into the Micallef portfolio. The G.Nejman fragrances ("Emir", "Seducteur" and so on) are now presented in the round clock-like glas bottles. These bottles so far may not have been the highlight in their flacon design. But now, they have gone through a redesign, which gives them a more modern appeal. They are really good looking now, and due to their shape and solid material, it is a good feeling to simply hold them in your hand. This change means that the old flacons of such frags like "Aoud Gourmet", "Aoud Man", and of course the G.Nejman perfumes might be sold off cheaply here and there. Look out for snips!
***
There are news from
Jovoy: They make a radical change by discontinuing their whole portfolio and coming out with a complete new series of perfumes. They said good-bye to their round bottles for a new, IMHO much better design of solid and almost rectangle shaped flacons. They look less feminine, so Jovoy can now much better offer perfumes that would appeal to men as well.
Jovoy won the Prix de Parfum Artistique competition with "L'Enfant Terrible", but my attention was rather drawn to two of their other fragrances. Their fig leaf perfume "L'Arbre de la Connaissance" is worth a closer look: it seems to have a juicy and fruity appeal, and from a brief test, I can say that it is probably a completely new facet in the spectrum of fig leaf fragrances.
The other perfume I found highly interesting is "La Liturgie des Heures", inspired by a Belgium monastery. I know that frankincense perfumes are something that people on Parfumo really go for. My first impression is that it might be a bit more refined than Montale's Full Incense, and I am looking forward to having a closer look.
***
Parfumerie Générale was presented by their German distributor with only a few fragrances, and obviously not all was completely new: "Corps et Ames", "Indochine", "Papyrus de Ciane" and "L'Eau Guerriere". That's a good choice, and Papyrus de Ciane would be personal fav: it combines the paper-like papyrus with only a slight neroli appeal and mousse de saxe.
Corps et Ames 2012 is completely different from the former version: it is a citrusy fragrance now which nevertheless has some depth. It looks it is going to replace the beautiful Yuzu ab Irato which I heard is going to be discontinued. Glad to have a bottle of the Yuzu!
***
Good news: Finally, the Florentine brand
Farmacia SS. Annunziata stops their hard to get policy, and they presented themselves with a respectable choice of their lineup. They are already available at First in Fragrance.
***
At
Lubin, we had a talk with the owner
Gilles Thevenin. He presented the new "Idole de Lubin (Eau de Parfum)" for the ladies and "Black Jade". We talked about IFRA regulations that are causing a lot of trouble to the smaller brands. Msr Thevenin told us that the beautiful "L'Eau Neuve" contains a lot of oakmoss – Evernia Prunastri . According to the IFRA regulations, he is allowed to sell off his stock, but not to produce new batches. Currently, they are working hard on a reformulation. They already did fourteen attempts but nothing was able to match the quality of the original. According to Msr Thevenin it is just the oakmoss that provides elegance to L'Eau Neuve. At the moment, it is not clear what will become of L'Eau Neuve. I will probably buy another 125 ml flacon of it very soon and put it on stock.
Disturbing news: Msr. Thevenin informed us that the IFRA is currently planning to ban natural rose essences! He believes the reason for it is that they simply want to push the synthetic replacements. He pointed out that there are close links between the IFRA and the global players. I.e., the IFRA president is a former manager at Symrise. It looks like IFRA is simply a lobby group that has been given an official status within the EU administraion. High time to take action against this sleeze!
What I do not quite understand: Although all smaller or independent perfume companies have good reason to complain about the IFRA, they do not stand up for their own interests. It looks like they do not even have a lobby group of their own which is essential in the EU. I think this is the typical problem with all freelancers and small to mid-sized company owners. They only look after their individual benefit but are difficult to organize. Their individual complaints are in vain.
***
Quite new in Germany is
Officina delle Essenze from Italy. We met their perfumer - I think his name is
Maurizio Lembo - and he presented some home fragrances and the perfumes from the Puro line. The concept behind this series is to focus on a special ingredient: "Puro Talco", "Puro Musk", "Puro Fico" and others. I think he will have success as there is a certain trend towards more puristic fragrances – just think about CdG's Wonderwood or the men's fragrances by Dsquared.
***
Let's continue with the puristic trend.
Montana is back! Their new men's fragrance "Graphite" is just the opposite of their powerhouse style perfumes of the past. It seems to focus on woods and frankincense without lots of citruses, flowers or herbs. From a brief impression on a paper strip, I can say that I am looking forward to sample it.
***
Very puristic is also the men's perfume "Sombre Negra" by
Yosh, which made it to my skin. It is smoky, and it reminds me of cigarettes. Funny, after cigarette smoke has been banned in many countries from public places such as restaurants and offices, it slowly comes back as perfume.
***
A very welcome sight for me was the stand of
Maître Parfumeur et Gantier. This outstanding brand has always been hard to find in Germany, but now, there is a new distributor, and he has started to push this brand and find more sales partners. Mâitre Parfumeur et Gantier is finally available at First in Fragrance.
Their newest release "Cuir Fétiche" is a rather soft leather perfume for women, and I am sure it will find its way. It seems to be the female counterpart to their "Parfum d'Habit". Since Parfum d'Habit was Maître Parfumeur et Gantier's answer to Guerlain's Habit Rouge, Cuir Fétiche might go through as a kind of Habit Rouge for the ladies!
***
A highlight for the whole Parfumo team was the stand of
Xerjoff. Personally, I tend to be quite critical towards brands that ask more than 200 € for their perfumes. However, their new oud collection has impressed me. It seems that lots of natural oud oil has gone into those fragrances. There is a remarkable difference to the synthetical oud that you obviously find in so many less expensive perfumes. Natural oud is woody and musty while with synthetical oud, the mustiness is pronounced. Also, the synthetical 'hairspray' note you find in many of those cheaper perfumes was missing in all six fragrances.
The approach is rather traditional. They are generally close to the somewhat limited range of traditional Arabian perfumery, and almost every fragrance of that series quotes one of these facets. These Oud perfumes probably are able to stand up against the Arabian Dahn Al Ouds!
***
As for the world of Oud, we also talked to the distributor of
Jesus del Pozo. That gave me the opportunity to have a sniff on "Arabian Nights". I have seen this perfume being advertised and discussed on
www.aperfume.info which is the Arab language perfume community. It is a decent Rose and Oud perfume, but unlike the other popular Ouds around, it is reasonably priced with 99 € for what looked like a 75 ml bottle.
***
Do you remember
Steve McQueen? He was one of those macho movie actors from the 1960's and 70's! His heirs have decided to release a perfume under his name to commemorate him. Of course, one would expect a macho style aromatic fougère, but this is not the case. "Steve McQueen" is a sweetish, quite opulent oriental in the style of Boucherons Jaipur Homme EdP. On a paper strip, I could smell the somewhat medical scent of tagetes.
***
The most exotic stand on the GaoP was that of the brand
Di Ser - and I am sure you probably never heard of them. As they come from Japan, the ladies at this stand were traditionally dressed in Kimonos. They are committed to natural perfumery the Japanese way which means that their fragrances are light and fresh as a sushi meal, and much of it is about Yuzu. They are still looking for a German distributor, and I hope they find a good one.
***
Natural perfumery is also the topic of
Testa Maura. Their perfumer
Xavier Torre was there, and he presented his line. He lives in Korsika, near a nature reserve, and he has a special permission to pick plants. He makes his own essential oils from what he is allowed to collect there. So, these perfumes are handmade from scratch, and from the impression I got from Mr. Torres, with lots of passion and personal engagement. His really strong lavender perfume "Loriani" made it to my skin – so look out for my review which I will add soon.
***
Does anybody know
Alyssa Ashley? For me, they are well known as a provider of shower gels and other body cosmetics. However, they have come out with a ladies' fragrance "Ambre Gris". It is a somewhat opulent oriental, very reasonably priced, and the base note is just the same type of vanilla that we know from their vanilla shower gel!
***
For most of us, perfume culture is located in France, Italy, England, Arabia, maybe Spain and the USA. Have you ever wondered what kind of perfumes people used to wear in the former socialist countries?
Some of their brands have survived: Novara Zarya from Russia and Pani Wasilewska from Poland. In Germany, we have
Casino Parfüm Saxonia who preserve some of the fragrances that were sold in the GDR. Recently, the brand name was bought by some fanatics, and they sell well in the eastern parts of Germany, both to perfume shops and to nostalgic GDR shops. Their so called Chefsekretärin-Duft (personal assistant fragrance) named "Casino de luxe Parfum" is a classic chypre, and personally, I would not limit this to the ladies. Take a sniff of the East!
***
So, that's it – my personal prey of information from the GAoP 2012. I am looking forward till next year!
