927 posts tagged "Fragrance"
D.S. & Durga Head For The HYLNDS
The progressive perfuming pair behind D.S. & Durga have been known to pluck inspiration from unexpected sources for their exquisite hand-distilled creations. Take Siberian Snow, for example: The heady powdered-incense-and-jasmine fragrance is their riff on the scent worn by Countess Anna Vladoska at her infamous balls. Then there’s Freetrapper, an olfactive homage to renegade beaver trappers in cowboy-era America that’s spiked with dark cedar, synthetic beaver castor, and snakeroot. After poring over The Wanderings of Oisin, by W.B. Yeats, the duo has now set about trying to evoke the otherworldly and mythical feel of Northern European cultures past—Norse, Orcadian, and Celtic among them—with a brand-new upmarket range called HYLNDS. Launching with three scents, the collective feeling of the range is definitely otherworldly, although, to be perfectly honest, the world they evoked for this reporter upon first whiff was the one George R. R. Martin created for HBO’s Game of Thrones. Each one of the luxe flacons seemed to call to mind a specific character from the epic fantasy series: Isle Ryder, with its fir cones, honeyed mead, and jasmine, mirrors the at once sweet and mysterious ways of the smirky queen to the Iron Throne, Margaery Tyrell. The purslane, marsh violet, and lichen of Pale Grey Mountain, Small Black Lake seem a fitting match for the frosty, tenacious Ygritte, the paramour of the hunky Jon Snow. And finally, there’s something about Bitter Rose, Broken Spear—a blend of smelted iron, thistle, amber, and wild mountain thyme—that could make it the ultimate signature scent of the strong but warm Daenerys Targaryen, a.k.a Khaleesi, a.k.a the Mother of Dragons. Must-wear scents, must-see TV.
$180 each, available exclusively at Barneys New York.
Rooney Mara Gets A Fragrance Deal
There are a few celebrity beauty deals that stand out from the increasingly crowded pack, for both the caliber of the celebrity in question and the brand they choose to partner with. Time stood momentarily still, for example, when Lancôme nabbed Julia Roberts; when Dior signed Natalie Portman; and when Coty got Beyoncé’s fragrance license. But as of this morning, Calvin Klein appears to have scored this year’s biggest beauty coup: The iconic New York design house, whose fragrances are produced by Coty’s Prestige arm, has just announced that Rooney Mara will front its latest fragrance, Downtown. The Italian cedrat, bergamot, Tunisian neroli, gardenia, violet leaf, Texan cedarwood and incense eau, which launches in September, has another big name to its credit, too: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo director, David Fincher, has signed on to create the television ad campaign starring Mara.
It’s Rooney’s first foray into beauty, a move that was certainly a long time coming, although one that we always assumed would involve Parfums Givenchy, considering the actress’ close ties to Riccardo Tisci. But partnering with Klein—he of such groundbreaking fragrances as ck one and Euphoria—is certainly nothing to sneeze at. One question remains, however: Who will win over Mara when skincare, makeup, and hair-care deals are on the table? Let us know your bets below.
Rihanna: Back To Blonde; Red-Carpet Makeovers For Men; And More…
Just when you were getting used to Rihanna’s impossibly long ombré side shave, the Barbadian beauty has transitioned into a short platinum bob—with bangs! [E!]
Makeup for men is a growing phenomenon—most notably, perhaps, in Hollywood. For some of Tinseltown’s boldest-face male names, a light touch-up for the red carpet typically includes tinted moisturizer, concealer, mattifying powders, blotting film, and even some matte bronzer. [Daily Beast]
Say it with a scented chat. Scentee, the latest “what will they think of next?” app for your phone allows you to text friends different fragrances. [Wired UK]
In other perfume-for-the-people news, the Fragrance Foundation wants you…to vote for your favorite scent. The governing body has added a Consumer Choice category to its annual FiFi Awards, which will be held on June 12 this year. [Refinery29]
Bianca Balti: Light Blue Beach Babe
One whiff of Dolce & Gabbana’s iconic Light Blue fragrance, and it’s easy to see why the Sicilian-citron, Granny Smith-apple, jasmine, bamboo, amber, and musk eau has remained a best seller for twelve years. The scent is lighthearted, boasting a certain effervescence that allows it to be unobtrusive while still making a lasting impression. “When you smell it, you smell summer,” says Bianca Balti, the latest face of the iconic scent, whose Mario Testino-lensed ads, shot in Capri, just started to appear in glossies worldwide. A first for Balti—a season-spanning favorite of the Italian design duo who has fronted a number of their fashion campaigns but never a fragrance—the images feature her golden limbs alongside those of male model extraordinaire David Gandy as the two lounge around the Mediterranean island. Here, the model reveals how she wears her Light Blue, as well as summer hair remedies to live by.
How does this scent embody the spirit of the Mediterranean climes featured in its ad campaign?
It’s not because of the campaign or the TV ad that we think about the Mediterranean with this fragrance. When you smell it, it’s really citrusy—lemon. When you smell it, you smell summer. Then comes the Capri sentiment. If I have to think about a woman who wears it, it’s more of a teenager. It’s like the excitement of holidays from school. It’s fresh and bubbly, like the flirtation when you’re a teenager, and you fall so much in love for a week with a guy you meet when you’re on vacation with your parents, and then you never see that guy again! It’s so strong, but fresh. There are not very similar fragrances. It suits you better in summer, but if you put it on with gray skies, then you feel a little bit of summer, too.
Are your summers, as I imagine them based on these ad images, all bronzed limbs, beautiful beaches, and gorgeous white bikinis?
I’m Italian. I go to the beach. I put SPF 50 on, but I get tan anyway. You need to keep your skin safe, but you know, my whole routine is under the sun, diving in the water, under the sun, diving in the water…
Where does fragrance factor in? Where do you apply it—and when?
[I apply it] everywhere. After I get out of the shower, I put on the perfume, and then after, when I get dressed, when I go to the mirror to check [myself] out. I spray it and walk through it so it gets on my clothes and in my hair—just in case. My bag is usually already really heavy, so if I take the perfume, it’s too much. That’s why I put a lot on in the morning.
What are your other big beauty indulgences?
When I lived in New York, I got a manicure and pedicure twice a week—I loved it. I relaxed, I read magazines. Even if I didn’t need it, I loved it. In Italy, it’s different. You don’t have that kind of walk-in process.
What about makeup? Do you never leave the house without foundation, mascara, et cetera?
Working so much, I don’t put so much makeup on myself. I go with no makeup to shoots, and then when I take a shower, I moisturize my skin, and I do a hair mask. My hair gets very much stressed-out, and that stresses me out. I’m really obsessed with my hair. I feel like I had twice the amount of hair that I have now before I started modeling.
What kind of mask do you use?
I put a lot of oil [on]—whenever I fly, even through the night—and wash it out the morning after. If I don’t work for three days, I keep it in for three days, comb it, and put my hair in a chignon. It just looks really clean. On flights it’s great because it’s so dry. I try to keep my hair moist, and the more it’s moist, the less I have split ends. I started with the Argan oil when I went to Morocco. That’s when it all started. But sometimes it’s hard to wash it out, so I use the L’Oréal [Elvive] Extraordinary Oil. It absorbs very fast, so it doesn’t dirty the pillow—and it washes out very easily.
Reese Lightens Up; Kate Is Still Number One; and More…
Reese Witherspoon is back to blonde. Following some, er, negative associations with her brooding brunette, the actress has returned to her former shade of honey gold, which she revealed this wekkend underneath the protection of a sun hat. [Daily Mail]
Spoiler alert: Kate Middleton is still the number-one hair icon in Great Britain, according to a survey recently conducted by Kérastase. [Hello]
Blake Lively’s Mother’s Day shopping was made easy, thanks to her lucrative fragrance contract with Gucci. “When [my mom] smelled my Gucci Premiere, the bottle was gone from my shelf in about two seconds,” the actress said when discussing how she planned on gifting her mom this past weekend. [InTouch]
Had Lively’s mother been a Chanel No. 5 fan, we imagine this new release from the French brand might have caught her eye: Today comes news that Chanel has created a limited-edition, giant bottle of the Grand Extrait version of its iconic scent, which is filled with nearly two pounds of perfume. The oversize flacon rings in at a whopping $4,200. [WSJ.]