Diptyque’s New Anniversary Fragrance Traces the Path of an Iconic Arab Explorer

The very first shop, located at 34 Boulevard Saint-Germain in Paris, opens onto the street like a two-part Italian Renaissance or Flemish master’s painting. Three friends had found the ideal stage for their chic little bazaar of fascinating finds as well as the perfect name for it; Diptyque.

It’s tricky to spell, because the i and the y are cheeky letters. Mistakes were so common in the beginning that the Maison had to list it under both spellings in the phone book. Diptyque has such a refined ring to it, and in every language it is chic, eclectic, poetic, esthetic and graphic.

The secret to Diptyque’s singularity is the distinct chemistry between three unique individuals: Christiane Montadre-Gautrot, Yves Coueslant and Desmond Knox-Leet. When they met, it sparked a chain of creativity, that continues to resonate today.

They met through friends of friends. Christiane graduated from l’Ecole des Arts Décoratifs, Desmond was a painter. Together they designed fabric and wallpaper for ultra-chic British Maisons. Then, some other friends introduced them to Yves Coueslant, who had escaped an unlikely career in banking to follow his heart and work… in theatre. The three friends quickly became inseparable. In 1961, they opened an unusual boutique with a daring plan: listen to their intuition and only do what they love. Nothing dampened their friendship as their business grew, and diptyque spread the creations born of this incomparable friendship all around the world.

This year French Maison Diptyque is celebrating its 60th anniversary: an opportunity to immerse yourself in everything that has inspired the Maison since its creation. A cavalcade of youthful creativity, 2021 will be dedicated to graphic design, encounters, nature, travel and curiosity. A year that will be filled with collections and events.

To mark its anniversary, the niche perfume house presents the new perfume Eau Rihla in the spring of 2021. The fragrance is inspired by the spirit of the Middle East, named after the Arabic Rihla wood which means ‘journey’. It is dedicated to the 14th century globe-trotting merchant, Ibn Battuta – a prominent Arab Moroccan-Berber traveler and explorer – and his travels throughout the known world.

Perfumer Fabrice Pellegrin drew his inspiration directly from the Maison’s co-founder Desmond Knox-Leet’s leather-bound sketching notebook and Ibn Battuta’s leather luggage. Weathered and worn, the leather keynote is “an invitation to travel”, says Pellegrin. An exclusive to the perfume house molecule, extracted from rare cedar wood, forms the heart of the fragrance, layered with musk and precious iris. 

Top notes: raspberry, pink pepper, saffron
Heart: leather, iris, cedar
Base: vanilla, musk

A bazaar of spices – much like the ones encountered by Ibn Battuta in far-flung lands – linger, is depicted with notes of saffron, pink peppercorn, and vanilla. Diptyque’sparticular signature, an unusual combination of notes, or ‘olfactory accidents’, emerges as an energetic, sweet raspberry opening note.

The flacon’s artwork is unmistakably Middle Eastern, an etched illustration signed by Safia Ouares showing an iconic Bedouin landscape of desert dunes, date palms, a falcon and camels. Another special touch – the oval label is a glided gold, a different route from Diptyque’s usual black and white branding.

Available as an exclusive for the region, Eau Rihla will be available only in the Middle East from May 1st, until June 2021, when it will release to the international market.

Diptyque Eau Rihla is available as a 75 ml Eau de Parfum at Diptyque Boutiques and selected stores worldwide. This year we can expect more special editions on the occasion of the anniversary. Come into the beautiful world of Diptyque.

Pretty in Pink: Liz Claiborne Curve Pink Blossom

American fashion house Liz Claiborne is launching a new feminine flanker within their Curve collection, called Curve Pink Blossom. Liz Claiborne’s Curve Pink Blossom Eau de Toilette is a dewy, floral scent with a confident radiance and pink personality in a lovely matte pink flacon.

Top Notes: Magnolia, Apple Blossom, Aloe
Middle Notes: Pear Blossom, Water Lily, Green Leaf Accord
Base Notes: Pink Peony, Cashmere Musks, Woods

At first glance, the pink flacon brings the scent to life, highlighting the feminine fragrance within. The opening with luscious notes of pink apple blossom, is followed by fresh middle notes of water lily, and finishing with soft pink peonies that uplift your spirit. You find yourself in a garden of floral delight.

Liz Claiborne’s Curve Pink Blossom Eau de Toilette is available in a 30ml flacon and gift set with a Fine Fragrance Mist at selected stores worldwide.

Black Gold Louis Vuitton Pur Oud

Created just for the Middle East, Louis Vuitton’s new fragrance, Pur Oud, pays homage to the region’s iconic woody note. “The finest raw materials are perfumes in their own right”, says Jacques Cavallier Belletrud , master perfumer for the French Maison, and the mind behind the Maison’s latest fragrance. The perfume is, as its name suggests, composed almost entirely of natural Oud essence, making it exceptional in the world of perfumery. 

Following the release of Ombre Nomad, Les Sables Roses and Nuit de Feu, Louis Vuitton’s Oud fragrance collection continues to honour once again the culture of smell in the Middle East by offering a fragrance for the region’s most emblematic ingredient: Oud. The fact that the new scent is almost only made out of Assam Oud makes it perfect for layering, especially with Ombre Nomad.

Inspired by the Middle Eastern traditions of applying perfume and the culture of Oud, wonders of the world in its purest, truest and most luxurious images. Pure Oud perfume for fans of ‘Wood of the Gods’ the opportunity to appreciate one of the most beautiful wonders of the world in its purest, truest and most luxurious images. Louis Vuitton and Belletrud finally set upon an essence of Assam oud, produced by a family, who ‘maintains a sustainable forest, farmed ethically’.

I wanted to create something exceptional, that smells like a luxury. I was amazed by the way women and men practice layering in the Middle East, mixing and applying their very personal oud preparation. I wanted to offer an oud signature from Louis Vuitton, which is why I’ve invited the Middle Eastern style of perfumery into the Louis Vuitton flacon.

Jacques Cavallier Belletrud, Louis Vuitton -inhouse- master perfumer

It is said that it is the scent of paradise and its meaning in Arabic ‘wood’ Oud is an absolute component of any raw material that has great depth and multiple aspects, as if it contains all other aspects, it is a treasure of nature it is the precious ‘black gold’ to the extent that the finest in its purity is reserved for an exclusive elite of people. The Oud contains countless distinctive ingredients where it offers its fans a completely unique experience, in its complex components and richness of symbolism and global resonance the oud is a journey in itself, smuggled through time and space, a gateway to the absolute world.

To present the purest expression of oud by simplifying one of the most beautiful fragrances in the world is the essence of pure oud, to highlight the raw beauty of this rare ingredient, Jacques Cavallier Belletrud created a near-contradictory encounter between the dreary character of the Oud focused on 10% of the composition and luminous softness of two types of white musk, ambrettolide and helvetolide. A gentle and slightly fruity helveled, and a delicate cotton empreted. The Oud weaves into an ornate cocoon that encapsulates and supports it without strangulation, and emerges from it strong wooden puffs and reveals the richness of its animal reflections.

It is important to note that the agar trees used to create oud have been declared a potentially threatened species by CITES, making the harvesting of oud for fragrances potentially environmentally damaging. To ensure they are maintaining the least harmful production practices possible, Vuitton is working with a family-run team of producers in Bangladesh, who have cultivated oud for the past 200 years. 

Pure Oud is available in the French Maison’s iconic perfume flacon, but this time in stained black glass. Pure, dense and deep to the point that, paradoxically, it reveals a stunning reflection of light, such as the fragrance it carries.

Louis Vuitton Pur Oud is available as 100ml Eau de Parfum. A limited and rare fragrance (there are only 2,000 flacons available), and it’s the most expensive of the Louis Vuitton line-up (each flacon comes in at €1,200). It’s available exclusive to the Middle East countries at Louis Vuitton boutiques. Come into the beautiful world of Louis Vuitton.

Inspired by the sacred site of Pushkar in Rajasthan: Ella K Rose de Pushkar

Few current perfume houses have been created by women perfumers, so Ella K is no exception. Designer perfumer at Givaudan for the biggest brands, Sonia Constant pays tribute to feminine audacity with Ella K.

Trained in perfumery in two prestigious schools, ISIPCA and Givaudan, Sonia was fortunate to be accompanied during her theoretical and practical learning by renowned mentors, like Christine Nagel. True to the Givaudan house since the beginning of her career, she has shaped over the years, and olfactory successes, a creative personality of her own, where instinct and intuition do not have the part of beautiful by chance. Curious, her passion never seems to erode, Sonia constantly feeds on everything she doesn’t know.

Also in her bag, a Leica camera and a Moleskine notebook to catch images or thoughts and leave nothing unanswered. In her distant journeys, a miniature ‘head space’ captures for her unknown scents that she then sets out to analyze, decipher, decode. Stored in her memory, they may become the inspiration or backbone of one of his next compositions. Colors, atmospheres, landscapes or emotions become all pretexts to write a new olfactory score. As painters draw and musicians compose, Sonia Constant assembles ingredients from which she makes perfumes.

A journey in Africa, in Asia, from the cradle of the Renaissance to the wonders of the Orient… She wanders elegantly through time to every corner of the globe and created remarkable fragrances for Valentino, Viktor & Rolf, and Narciso Rodriguez.

Ella K, an adventure with vast horizons, in which Sonia Constant delivers her worldview from a more philosophical and personal point of view.

In 2017, in parallel with her work as a perfumer for the biggest brands, Sonia Constant created her own new brand wirh Olivier Gagliardi, an expert in raw materials, and also her partner and companion in this new olifactory and business adventure.

Ella K Parfums pays tribute to Asians regions and to women who dare to live their lives. Epupa My Love, Altai Melody, Reflection On The Okavango, Scream Of The Kalahari, Leather From Puskar, Memory Of Daisen In, Florance Kiss, Sagano’s Poem, Kaho-Sok Mists, Rain On Ha-Long, ten ways to answer the call of a new journey.

Ella K’s latest creation Rose de Puskar is presented as an ode to desire, inspired by the sacred site of Pushkar in Rajasthan. Visual opulence and intoxicating aromas underline Pushkar’s specialness. The roses bloom only on the shore of the lake and the setting sun provides a vivid backdrop to the dreamy place. Holding ‘the power of the dreamlike’, it is a heady fragrance composed of the richness of spices, precious woods, and rose. 

Pushkar Rose, a masterful, incandescent, proud and unsubmissive rose irradiated by the Oud… “I wanted to capture that suspended moment when the roses and their petals thrown as offerings by pilgrims during the day, still float at dusk and are reflected in the water of the sacred lake on full moon evenings. a vibrant rose, multi petals…”.

Top notes: rose water, lychee, black pepper, saffron, olibanum
Heart: rose oil, white cedar, oud, sandalwood, patchouli
Base: leather, cistus, tonka bean, amber, musk

In the background, the musk already irradiated by the rose comes alive in contact with the intoxicating smell of the oud and recalls the magical and unreal atmosphere of this sacred village. The saffron, in a fireworks carries the rose in a fiery pas de deux to the gates of the desert.

Ella K Rose de Puskar is available as a 70ml Eau de Parfum at selected stores worldwide and online. Come into the beautiful world of Ella K.

Rochas Girl, more than a fragrance

Early Spring, French Maison Rochas will presents its new fragrance called ‘Girl’ (Get In the Real Life) as an environmentally responsible project, from the juice to the packaging. Girl is the scent of a new generation conscious and attentive to its well-being. Because the world is changing, Girl is more environmentally friendly with a vegan formula and with an eco-designed flacon.

Feeling better is good and Feeling really good is even better! Be ready for a new fragrance that is good for you and safer for the planet.

Created by Anne Flipo, IFF master perfumer, it stands as an ode to well-being and freedom with a vegan formula, composed of 90% ingredients of natural origin, which produces a calming effect thanks to a neroli extract with proven relaxing properties by neuroscience. A precious ingredient, 100% natural, obtained in a responsible and fully traceable way, to feel good.

Anne Flipo created the floral-woody and citrusy composition with the key words as minimalist and cheerful in mind. At the top, luminous neroli notes with relaxing properties mingle with the freshness of pink berries and blackcurrant bud. At the heart, the fragrance develops around a bouquet composed of orange blossom and jasmine offering a dazzling femininity. Finally, white woods and vanilla leave a creamy and textured trail. A citrus woody floral fragrance, for a Spray Good – Feel Good just perfume yourself and feel good.

Top notes: neroli, pink pepper, black currant
Heart: orange blossom, jasmine, orchid
Base: sandalwood, cedar, vanilla

The first impression brings great relaxation thanks to the injection of natural freshness of the soothing neroli, which enhances the vigour of the black currant bud and the effervescence of the pink berries, which are distinguished by their liveliness. In a second breath, the light explodes. A large bouquet of white flowers displays all its femininity: the radiance of an immaculate orange blossom and jasmine, combined with the velvety facet of a slightly balsamic orchid. Lastly, sandalwood and cedar woods warm the skin, with a subtle vanilla sensuality for maximum fullness.

Rochas Girl comes in an eco-conscious flacon: its clear design with a timeless style is a production feat, made as closely as possible: except for the stopper, which is obtained in Spain, the rest of the flacon is 100% made in France. The smooth and soft cap, made of partially recycled plastic, crowns a flacon made up of 40% PCR recycled glass from the collection of household glass containers, which reduces the carbon footprint by 9% and water consumption by 12% during production.

The flacon is decorated with an almond green lacquer (Nigermat) – a water-based lacquer that contains only 5% solvents. Its clean water-based lacquer and ink printing allow energy savings of 30% and 50% respectively.

A committed line of perfumes: Rochas perfumes donate 1% of the sales volume of the GIRL line to the international organization 1% for the Planet to contribute to different associations that work to protect the environment. Girl does not pretend to be perfect. It is a fragrance that took the sincere approach of delivering excellence, striving to improve when industry know-how allows. An approach designed to continually evolve as innovations emerge.

Its time to feel good! Rochas Girl will be available as a 40, 60, and 100 ml Eau de Toilette. at selected stores worldwide. Want to discover more Rochas Girl? Come into the beautiful world of Rochas.

Lancôme La Vie Est Belle Soleil Cristal

French Maison Lancôme has expanded its La Vie Et Belle Collection with a new edition that will surely attract the attention of many fans of this popular line. Although it comes as this year’s flanker of the original, it seems to me that this new creation will arouse the desire of many others who have not favored the La Vie Est Belle line so far. The composition is different, a little less sweet, and more exotic and subtly powdery.

The radiance of the sun has been captured within Lancôme’s newest launch of 2021. La Vie Est Belle Soleil Cristal truly welcomes in the Spring/Summer season; a dazzling, solar energy, illuminating happiness. 

Lancôme La Vie Est Belle Soleil Cristal will offer juicy notes of mandarin oil and its solar sweetness mixed with bergamot and bright pink pepper in the opening. The goal is to emphasize the tropical flowers of ylang-ylang in the heart, which is embraced within white jasmine and orange blossoms, sprinkled with a delicate powdery veil. A flirtation  between fine elegance and mild exoticism is achieved by adding a blend of vanilla and coconut at the base, deepened by the warmth and earthy shade of patchouli.

Housed in the iconic La Vie Est Belle flacon, in you hand, the La Vie Est Belle Soleil Cristal perfume flacon reveals its infinite holographic shades, like a crystal enchanted by the light that passes through it. From its warm golden heart to the tip of its iridescent wings, light radiates from the perfume flacon like a halo of happiness. The flacon is a physical depiction of the name, Soleil Cristal.  

Lancôme La Vie Est Belle Soleil Cristal is available as 50 and 100ml Eau de Parfum at selected stores worldwide. Come into the beautiful world of Lancôme.

A New Classic Is Born: Serge Lutens La Dompteuse Encagée

Born during the war, on March 14, 1942 in Lille, northern France, Serge Lutens was separated from his mother’s first weeks, his personality will be marked by the feeling of an original abandonment. Constantly torn between two families, he lives at a distance and invents himself. He is a dreamer. At the Montesquieu school, he is said to be ‘in the moon’: he does not follow, even if his teachers recognize him as a storyteller. Today Serge Lutens is seen in the world of perfumery amd make-up as an extraordinary designer, a true artist.

This image is founded on his early career working for the most prestigious fashion magazines, like Vogue, before being commissioned in 1967 by Christian Dior to create their makeup line. He created colors, style ánd images for the Maison. He then signed a collaboration with Shiseido that allowed this Japanese cosmetics group, hitherto unknown on the international scene, to impose a visual identity so powerful that it became one of the world’s market players in the 80s and 90s. He became Artistic Director, developing their international image. In 1992, he launched the perfume Féminité du Bois, the first unisex perfume that revolutionized the field. 

If this first perfume marks the 80s, it is by the creation of ‘Femininity of Wood’ and the boutique of the Palais Royal in 1992 – with its dreamlike décor – that Serge Lutens affirms his first olfactory revolution in the field of perfume. Deeply influenced by the discovery of Morocco and in particular Marrakech (the city in which he acquired in 1974 an old house in the heart of the medina), Serge Lutens has made this country the cradle of his perfumery. Waxes, cedar wood, orange blossoms…, Marrakech inspired his first perfumes: ‘Amber Sultan’, ‘Moorish Leather’, ‘Chergui’ … Having become inescapable, they write a new page in the history of essences. Following logically in 2000, Serge Lutens created the brand that now bears his name and imposes an uncompromising style. Perfumes, blushes, his expressions in this field intersect between a sharp and selective distribution and that more confidential of its network of shops.

After his last launch in November 2020, a Harrods exclusive added to the Serge Lutens Flacons de Table Collection named Tarab, mister Lutens launched a new creation. Under the Collection Noire umbrella, named La Dompteuse Encagée, (The Caged Tamer)

The La Dompteuse Encagée is the new Eau de Parfum from the Black Collection. A floral fragrance, almond, radiant. A muzzled language, shaping a single way of thinking, La Dompteuse Encagée reminds us of the dangers of a society on the lookout for the slightest step aside. Hope, however, remains in the revelation of a frangipani flower that can be enjoyed here… on the skin!

From this cold, white-waxed girl, I owe it to myself to take responsibility for everything. However, from this dreaded snow as envisaged, I sense the avalanche. What has seen the whiteness of the flower does not augur the freshness, the smell of frangipane y pallie. Subtly almond, to be enjoyed on the skin!

Serge Lutens

Serge Lutens La Dompteuse Encagée is offered in the recognizable Collection Noire flacon. The consumer can choose the way of diffusion – by splashing or spraying – and the flacon is easily recyclable.

Serge Lutens La Dompteuse Encagée is available as 100 ml Eau de Parfum at the Serge Lutens Boutique, Palais Royal, Paris, and selected stores worldwide. Come into the beautiful world of Serge Lutens.

The New Fashion Lipstick Is Of Cacharel with Yes I Am Glorious

French fashion house Cacharel further extends its Yes I Am fragrance line with a new edition. The perfumes of the line that represents boldness and independence come in glass bottles with a lipstick-shaped design. Each of the fragrances comes with its own signature color. Yes I Am Glorious is the fourth edition of the collection, and it is characterized by a dusty pink shade.

Yes I Am Glorious is announced as a luminous and creamy perfume, energetic and bright. Opening with a velvety note of peach and fresh mandarin, it evolves into a heart of exotic flowers, while the base is warm and sweet with an accord of milkshake and woods.

Can you imagine a milky perfume? Yes I Am Glorous, it is literally a ‘delicious’ aroma because it uses a particular note of ‘Whipped Milk’ in this way and without being exaggerated, we could describe it as a milk in which you can enjoy the delicious aroma of peach, a slight vanilla freshness of a dazzling magnolia flower.

And if you like nude color, the lipstick-shaped flacon from the Yes I Am collection, reinvents itself with this new version with this natural shade, one of the most chic and trending of the moment.

Spectacular model and actress Shay Mitchell, known for participating in series such as Netflix’s ‘You’ becomes yes I Am Glorious’s ambassador. Let’s remember that Shay became the image of Yes I Am fragrances in 2020 after lending her face to the Yes I Am Fabulous edition in 2020.

Cacharel Yes I Am Glorious is available as 30, 50, and 75 ml Eau de Parfum at selected stores worldwide. Come into the beautiful world of Cacharel. 

Vince Camuto Illuminare Intensa

American fashion house Vince Camuto presented the new pillar fragrance Illuminare in 2019 as a bright and fresh floral oriental. Today a new, enhanced version comes out Illuminare Intensa – a perfume described as mysterious, deep, and unexpected. Alluring and feminine, Illuminare Intensa Vince Camuto reveals a subtle elegance through its sensual blend of dark, succulent fruit and unique spice notes. The velvety shades of plum blossom, black current and midnight orchid seduce the senses, while sandalwood and creamy musk entwine with the comforts of smooth vanilla.

Vince Camuto Illuminare Intensa is available as a 30 and 100 ml Eau de Parfum at selected stores worldwide. Come into the beautiful world of Vince Canuto.

Bvlgari Rose Goldea by Kathleen Kye

Bvlgari Parfums is the encounter of the jeweller & the perfumer, expressing with magnificence the contemporary mediterranean glamour. Bvlgari pioneer spirit, its sense of magnificence, its mastery of colors are deeply anchored in the eternal city of Rome. The jeweller-perfumer crafts the gems of nature, travelling all continents, inspired by the world’s diversity, to provide unique perfumes, created by the most coveted gallery of master perfumers in the world.

After the great success of Goldea, Bvlgari launches its successor Rose Goldea in July 2016. In Goldea, ‘goddess of gold’, jewelry house Bvlgari focused on the intoxicating sweetness of exotic ylang-ylang flowers mingling with elegant white flowers of jasmine and neroli, while the warmth comes from Goldea’s creamy shades of musk. Bvlgari descibes goldea as: “An homage to gold and femininity inspired by the Goddess of gold, and the beauty of the Sun”.

Rose Goldea ‘The Essence of The Jeweler’ brings a new fragrant story wrapped in a scented mantle of roses. Rose Goldea is feminine and seductive, but its beauty is reflected in the softness of rose petals. Created by Alberto Morillas this feminine composition focused on the tantalizing scent of pomegranate combined with aromas of rose and jasmine. Morillas is increasingly using pomegranate as a key note in fragrances such as Omnia Coral, also from the house of Bvlgari, a fragrance where the red fruit is blended with feminine water lotus flowers and hibiscus. Pomegranate opens Rose Goldea at the top of the composition. As the fragrance develops, the emphasis is on the Damascus rose absolute and jasmine grandiflorum, supported by musk, creamy sandalwood and olibanum. The smell is very expressive, with a distinctive oriental aroma.

Now the Italian jeweller Bvlgari will launch a new limited edition of their fragrance Rose Goldea, created in collaboration with young South Korean fashion designer Kathleen Kye. Using her characteristic elegance and a bold style, Kathleen Kye found inspiration in the mythology, symbolism, existing brand elements of the Bvlgari style and the power of modern women to represent the fragrance’s in new packaging. The new limited edition retains the original scent. Inspired by Bvlgari’s iconic Serpenti design, Rose Goldea is described as a bold and seductive jewel.

Bvlgari Rose Goldea by Kathleen Kye is available as 90 ml Limited Edition Eau de Parfum at selected stores worldwide. Come into the beautiful world of Bvlgari.