Since the news has been leaked on Basenotes about the new Guerlain, Arsène Lupin, I’ve been in touch with Sylvaine Delacourte and can set the record straight on the slightly erroneous info that’s been circulating on the interwebs and which I have myself relayed: there are indeed two versions of the fragrance, around a leather theme, but BOTH are signed by Jean-Paul Guerlain (and not by Mr. Guerlain and Thierry Wasser as previously announced).
The quirky organics line Honoré des Prés is launching a new trio of fragrances by Olivia Giacobetti: Vamp à NY, a tuberose with a top note of rum on a benzoin base, considerably more tenacious than the previous offerings of the line (with the exception of Chaman’s Party), I love les carottes, which is -- surprise! – a carrot themed fragrance with iris and earthy but very transparent patchouli and Love Coco, a fresh coriander-coconut. All the flacons are presented in cardboard coffee-cup boxes wrapped in a brown paper bag. I’ll report back, but I think for the moment I heart the carrot in particular… The launch is set for May in France and this fall for the USA.
Thierry Mugler in person – and a much more muscular person he was – presented his new Womanity this evening, with the ambition of creating a new perfume family, the sweet-savoury. Mane Laboratories, who created the fragrance under the art direction of Pierre Aulas (who also art-directed the Miroir des Vanités series and is the creator of Ego Facto) and the perfumer Fabrice Pellegrin (who coordinated the team of Mane perfumers), provided accords obtained through their patented Molecular Extraction technique. The three main accords are fig, fig tree wood and leaves and… caviar. Which sounds like a program for a mess, but isn’t: the caviar accord, which could be smelled individually during the press presentation, is actually marine-salty-leathery and a bit animalic, but absolutely not fishy – in fact, if anything, it conjures echoes of ambergris.
Again, I’ll be reporting back as soon as I’ve given Womanity a good test run. But the one thing I can say about the Mugler team is that they’ve never put out anything that was unoriginal, bless their hearts…
Between the fig – the Italian slang for lady bits – and caviar –la fica definitely smells of the sea – one can’t help thinking that this fragrance named after the female half of humanity conjures, at least symbolically, the place from which the whole of humanity came into the world…
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I for one am really looking forward to trying Womanity, bizarre as the bottle is. The idea of savory, in my mind, translates to "grounded". Sometimes it's the pungent individual bits that bring an entire composition to life, and I love life. Salty, sweet, and leathery? Can't wait for your review!!!
RépondreSupprimerDee, I'd say the scent as a whole is more sweet-milky-green-woody, with a touch of brine. it's true that the idea of the sea does tie in strongly with life.
RépondreSupprimerWow, what a review for Womanity! Until reading this particular post, I had no interest in smelling it. Now I can't wait! A whole new family of perfumes?! Salty and sweet AND fig, too? Woo hoo!
RépondreSupprimerAny word about distribution? Will this be something that ends up in Sephora? Or just the more exclusive stores?
Gator Grad, this isn't a review, just a preview! I think anything Mugler puts out is worth a sniff: love it or hate it, it's never boring.
RépondreSupprimerI wrote the post late at night and forgot to mention: Womanity will be on sale online in June, exclusive to Harrod's and Bloomingdale's as of July and the international roll-out will be in September.
Hmmm...March and I were just having a back and forth about cumin and salt over on the Posse...it doesn't directly equate with what you are saying about Womanity, but it is interesting that they were being discussed in the sense of "intimate" and "human."
RépondreSupprimerMeanwhile, given the way Mugler likes to push boundaries, I am glad to have you around to go first into the cave! (I guess that would be a sea cave in this case...)
ScentScelf, it's a strange new take on marine, totally non-ozonic... I'm still wrapping my nose around it, so to speak, but there's no reason to run away screaming.
RépondreSupprimerHah! I KNEW Mugler would come through on Womanity! (Although I'm not wild about the name, or the bottle.) I just read a long, interesting interview with him in the NY Times, odd duck he is -- all about his body modification, etc. And as I said on Now Smell This, I thought fig/caviar sounded kind of nice, and probably wouldn't be dull. Whether it fails on me will probably depend on just how "marine" it is. Thanks for the slang explanation.
RépondreSupprimerMarch, the bottle is not quite... what I prefer. The scent is interesting, not hugely marine, just a little salty-briny. I've applied it cautiously today (I *still* remember my Angel trauma) but it's not a clear-the-room sillage monster.
RépondreSupprimerAs an aside: I wondered whether they'd have fig-and-caviar canapés at the launch. They didn't, but I'd marry the guy who came up with the idea of foie gras blocks on dark chocolate wafers (a journalist friend said in that case, it would have to be a menage-a-trois, but she's being greedy, she's *got* a husband).
Also I'm going to bug you over here: Musette, who comments on the Posse, got a decant of Le Labo Aldehyde 44, which I'm guessing you haven't tried (could be wrong.) She's getting cumin -- like in new Femme. I've checked several stateside reviews, nobody mentions cumin. I certainly don't get cumin. Notes are aldehydes, narcissus, jasmine, tuberose, vanilla, musks. To my nose it's sort of like new Baghari -- an aldehydic floral, slightly indolic from the jasmine. Any theories about the cuminy note? Something in the musks? Bad bottle? She's going to play with a friend to see whether it's maybe just her nose.
RépondreSupprimerMarch, I'm re-smelling it now on skin and strip, while looking at my notes... Big ole'wall of aldehydes, soapy muguet note with a dash of violet, incense-y facet of aldehyde C-12 mna... But no cumin. God, this is nose-searing. I have no idea what might come off as cumin here. Maybe that lick of sandalwood.
RépondreSupprimerHeh. A delicate flower it isn't. Okay, I'm going to direct her here. Thanks for your input!
RépondreSupprimerOn the subject of foie gras & chocolate...
RépondreSupprimerI had a similar something last summer, at a chef's tasting meal. Desert was "grown up s'mores"...essentially foie gras on dark chocolate on a graham cracker. Like the waiter said, it sounds not right, but please taste it...I was converted, and I think you will be, too. We were.
I *like* salt, incidentally...olfactory and gustatory...so I remain alert as far as Womanity is concerned. (Nope, I'm not running...)
Interestingly, Pierre Aulas told me they'd tried to extract the odorant molecules of a million salty things, including Guerande salt, which smelled of violets, and even sardines! Compared to the latter, caviar ain't half bad...
RépondreSupprimerI'd really like to see an in-depth review of the Honoré des Prés because I love Olivia Giacobetti =) *pretty please?*
RépondreSupprimerwomo531, I definitely intend to review these as soon as I get samples. The air was so saturated at the launch that it was hard to do them justice. I also admire Giacobetti very much indeed: she's got one of the most distinctive styles on the market.
RépondreSupprimerI love a bit of salt tang in my perfume, so to speak...
RépondreSupprimerReally, figs and caviar doesn't seem at all a stretch to me. I wait every year for the day when the tiny green pink-hearted sugar figs ripen so I can stuff them with local chevre and give them a little time to carmelize and absorb some smoke on the grill. (Dash of olive oil and grind of pepper please, some honey for those who like excess.) Caviar does not seem out of place in that dish...
But for the love of womankind, we are going to have to come up with a pet name for Mugler if it's any good. Because I am not writing "womanity" over and over again.
That was supposed to be "pet name for *the* Mugler" though I suppose we could come up with a pet name for Thierry while we're at it...
RépondreSupprimerAlyssa, I eat figs with salty things all summer: San Daniele, chèvre, roquette and parmesan salads... Yum.
RépondreSupprimerThierry Mugler already has a new first name: Manfred. Womanity? I don't know, March at the Posse is much better at finding those things than me...
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