Fragrance News

• Last updated 5/17/13 by Grant

  The UK FiFi Awards were held last night in London. The event was held at The Brewery and was hosted by Natasha Kaplinsky. The winners were as follows:   Best New Female Print Advertisement Jaipur Bracelet - Boucheron Best New Male Print Advertisement Kokorico – Jean Paul Gaultier Best New Female Fragrance Commercial La Petite Robe Noire - Guerlain Best New Male Fragrance Commercial Kokorico – Jean Paul Gaultier Best New Female Fragrance Design & Packaging Florabotanica – Balenciaga Best New Male Fragrance Design & Packaging Hommage à l’Homme –... read more

• Last updated 5/16/13 by Grant

Tonight will see the UK fragrance industry decide on their best fragrances of 2012. Basenotes will be tweeting live from the event at twitter.com/basenotes. A list of the finalists can be seen below:           The FiFi Awards 2013 Finalists   Best New Female Fragrance Coco Noir - Chanel Dot - Marc Jacobs Elie Saab Le Parfum Eau de Toilette - Elie Saab Florabotanica - Balenciaga Infusion d'Iris Absolue - Prada La Petite Robe Noire Eau de Parfum - Guerlain Petale Noir - Agent Provocateur      Best New Male Fragrance James Bond... read more

• Last updated 5/17/13 by Judith Brockless

Angela Flanders has created a special limited edition fragrance to celebrate the arrival of Spring, after our ‘long, cold winter’. Sakura, or cherry blossom, is of great symbolic importance in Japanese culture. Every Spring, the festival of Hanami is specifically devoted to enjoying the brief spell when the cherry trees are in bloom. People pick a spot under a tree to spend the day, and picnic beneath it with family and friends. The delicate pink and white petals of the cherry blossom reflect ‘the fragile, ephemeral nature of existence’. Inspired by the ‘fragile... read more

• Last updated 5/10/13 by Judith Brockless

On 4th May the long-awaited Guerlain ‘Les Parisiens’ collection arrived in Britain, with an exclusive launch at Harrods. Until now, the men's collection was only available from Maison Guerlain, at 68 Champs-Élysées in Paris. Now repackaged in elegant, monolithic bottles, the collection comprises five Guerlain favourites, originally created by Jean-Paul Guerlain: Derby, Chamade Pour Homme, L' Âme d'un Héros, Arsène Lupin (aka Dandy) and Arsène Lupin Voyou. The Guerlain website describes the collection as ‘composed of exclusive re-editions of fragrances that belong to... read more

• Last updated 5/14/13 by Lila Das Gupta

This event was presented by Andy Bradshaw with assistance from Lila Das Gupta. The evening started with Andy reciting a poem called 'Roses' by George Eliot:You love the roses - so do I. I wish The sky would rain down roses, as they rain From off the shaken bush. Why will it not? Then all the valley would be pink and white And soft to tread on. They would fall as light As feathers, smelling sweet; and it would be Like sleeping and like waking, all at once! The Traditional Rose: Elizabethan Rose Penhaligons Andy started off by asking how many people in the room had made... read more

• Last updated 5/6/13 by Grant

Banana Republic have announced two launches for this Autumn. Wildblue Noir is a masculine fragrance and is described as being "inspired by the darker side of an ocean wave". Wildbloom Rouge is feminine and is "embodies a youthful spirit with a sensual spark for the stylish woman" Jean-Claude Delville of Drom, who also created Wildblue, Wildbloom, Classic, M and W for Banana Republic, has also created Wildblue Noir for the brand. The fragrance is an aromatic woody scent with a head of Crisp Aquatic and Herbal Notes; the heart is fougere and features 'dewy spices'.... read more

• Last updated 4/30/13 by Grant Osborne

Basenotes has an exciting opportunity to interview Chanel perfumer Christopher Sheldrake. We know that many of our readers are big fans of his work, and would like to offer you the opportunity to ask him your questions. Sheldrake is Chanel's director of research and development and works alongside Jacques Polges. Previously Sheldrake had worked at Quest and has created many fragrances for Serge Lutens. Please feel free to leave your questions for Christopher Sheldrake in the comments, or email them to grant.osborne@basenotes.net read more

• Last updated 5/8/13 by Grant

This Spring, Rochas are launching Les Cascades de Rochas Songe d’Iris, which follows up last year's Eclat d'Agrumes. The fragrance is described as a "fresh and serene, floral scent inspired by the tranquility and freshness of calm water. " "When Nicolas Manounas created Eau de Rochas in 1970 he had the idea of a fresh, mineral fragrance, taking energy from the water falling down the hills of a Greek source: the Apollo fountain in Delphes." says Jean-Michel Duriez, the in-house nose at Rochas. “We took this idea to create the collection of Les Cascades. Water can be... read more

• Last updated 5/21/13 by Grant

Hermès have extended its Cologne Collection with Eau de Mandarine Ambrée and Eau de Narcisse Bleu. The new fragrances have been created by in-house perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena and are available now. Eau de Mandarine Ambrée contains mandarin, passion fruit and amber. Ellena comments that he doesn't know of "any smell more joyful than the mandarin's smell, smoother than amber" Of Eau de Narcisse Bleu, Ellena says "A creation with complete freedom where I particularly tried to express material's tactile aspect". The fragrances contains narcisse and woody... read more

• Last updated 4/29/13 by Grant

L'Occitane are launching La Collection de Grasse which consists of four fragrances. Each fragrance in the collection brings together two ingredients together – the company say that "sometimes [the ingredients] seem destined for each other. At other times, it’s like a wonderful chance encounter." The fragrances were created by L'Occitane's newly announced in-house perfumer, Karine Dubreuil. Dubreuil (left) previously worked at Mane, and has worked on fragrances such as Thierry Mugler's Womanity, L'Artisan's Mûre et Musc Extreme and L'Eau D'Ambre, Gucci's Envy Me and for... read more