My carrot: about the fashion for natural perfumes
The question is not trivial: in May, a round table was held by the French Society of Perfumery, dedicated to this topic. It cited data that the market of bio-organic cosmetics is growing at a crazy pace and in a couple of years it will be up to 12% of the entire market of cosmetics and perfumery with the prospect of growing up to 30%.
Over the past five years, many brands of perfume have appeared that have relied on the use of natural ingredients. On the one hand, they have interesting ideas, on the other - many of them lack the sophistication and chic, which are so important. I'm not talking about persistence and other technical parameters of fragrances.
In this sense, whether the brand positions itself as organic or not is not as important as in cosmetics. Natural ingredients are, of course, good, but their use should be a means, not an end. One of the great perfumers noticed that the main thing in perfumes was that they smelled good. Truism, of course, but they forget about it all the time. Perfumes should smell good, be persistent and sold in an elegant bottle, and whether they belong to the manufacturer with small or large quantities, whether they were made from natural ingredients or not, this is secondary.
Organic fragrances We Love NY. Photos: Honoré des Près press office
That's why I wanted to try the We Love NY trio from Honoré des Près, that in this brand of natural flavors I see a balance between environmental friendliness and chic. New items were presented in mid-September in Florence - at the exhibition of selective perfumes Pitti Immagine Fragranza.
There they were given to me by the art director Honore, a moving merry Christian David (by the way, he worked in the Christian Dior team and often went to Moscow when they were preparing for opening a monobrand in GUM).
Naturalness in the case of Honoré des Près is not just a loud statement. Aromas really passed certification in the European ecological organization Ecosert.
But even more interesting is that the composition is created by Olivia Giacobetti. Honestly, the signature “By Olivia Giacobetti”, and not an interest in organic matter as such, became a beacon for me. Olivia (in the perfumery world, in principle, it is enough to call her just by name, everyone will immediately understand who we are talking about) - one of the most authoritative perfumers of our time; beautiful woman and real creator.
She was behind the first release of the Honoré des Près two years ago - the top five Chaman's Party, Bonté's Bloom, Nu Green, Sexy Angelic and Honoré's Trip. Now the organic lady has moved to New York, hence the oxymoron “the natural flavors of the big city” We Love NY - the carrot I Love Carottes, the coconut Love Coco and the luxurious tuberose Vamp ry NY. The bottles are sold in packages resembling Starbucks cups of coffee.
Perfume Olivia Giacobetti
There is, for example, the most dignified author's brand of organic perfumery Strange Invisible Perfumes. However, its creator Alexandra Balautis became known precisely because of her brainchild. In the case of the Honoré des Près, the situation is exactly the opposite: for the first time, a real megastar is engaged in an environmental project.
Of course, for Jacobetti to create an organic line was a creative challenge. For a perfumer, intentionally limiting yourself in the choice of ingredients is a great chance to demonstrate your virtuosity. I remember Pierre Guillaume (Parfumerie Generale), who in his version of Cologne Grand Siècle cologne used only certified natural ingredients available at the time when Farina created his “Cologne water”, i.e. at the beginning of the XVIII century.
In the case of Jacobetti, the challenge is obviously this: to create high-level aromas from natural ingredients. By the way, there is always a big problem with organic matter - persistence. The top five in this sense is not particularly strong, but I Love Carrots and Vamp à NY are doing great.
The name of the brand’s founder Honore des Près is fictitious: it was borrowed from two fashionable places in Paris - Faubourg Saint Honore Street and Saint-Germain des Prés. Thus was born the whole universe of some fictional aristocrat - asthmatics, Balzac's namesake, esthete, turned on the environmental theme and travel. It includes even numerous relatives of Pre: Sister Bonte, Professor Leonard de Pre, a little English cousin with the typically German name Bettina and grandmother Fifi, a social lady of the 30s ... Honore himself invented Honor's Trip fragrance, and the nuances of Bonté's Bloom Olivia Giacobetti had to coordinate with Bonte des Prés.
The most interesting thing is that virtual de Pre is, not to say that a prototype, but a person close to him in spirit in the real world. They are Louis Albert de Broglie, belonging to one of the most noble French families. Nobel laureate in physics de Broglie (which is not Professor Leonard de Pré!) And Pushkin Broglio's lyceum comrade are his relatives, and the head of the entire large family with an extensive family tree carries a ducal title.
Chateau Bourdazière
Having abandoned the work of a banker, our hero bought from his brother Bourdazier’s castle in the Loire Valley and turned it into an ecotourism center. A great lover of work on the land, the titled agrarian spread more than five hundred varieties of tomatoes in the estate.
The stroke to the portrait: although the prince is very fond of animals, but he can not be called a narrow fan of ecology. When the historical store of the effigies of Deyrolle burned down in 2008, he drew Hermès, Christie's and the French army, and literally revived it from the ashes (about this the Greek princess Olga wrote an extensive article in Vanity Fair).
Fifteen years ago, de Broglie came up with an idea that was on the surface, and which for some reason nobody paid attention to. Caring for plants can be fun and enjoyable if you do them elegantly: in beautiful clothes, using elegant and comfortable tools. And - voila - a luxury garden accessories brand Le Prince Jardinier appeared. Later, a line of aromas was added to it.
They are interesting in that the Prince invites a wonderful perfumer for every fragrance. So L'Eau du Prince Jardinier was created by Isabel Doyen, well-known for Annick Goutal, Arboretum and Labyrinthe Libertin fragrances - Pierre Bourdon (Kouros from Yves Saint Laurent, Dolce Vita from Dior, Davidoff Cool Water), also Benois Lapus (Pucci Miss Puci ), Richard Ibanez (Azzaro fragrances) and Michel Saramito (GieFFeFFe from Gianfranco Ferré). Each fragrance conveys either the smells of one of the gardens of the estate de Broglie, or his impressions of travel. At the same time, the Le Prince Jardinier perfume collection is not intended to be called "organic" or "natural."
For me, these two brands - Honoré des Près and Le Prince Jardinier - are good examples of two components of a curious process in perfumery: the return of interest in nature. In the first case we are talking about the use of natural ingredients, in the second - the concept of fragrances as part of a healthy lifestyle in harmony with nature.
When the next perfume or cream presentation is held, the presenter says "Dear Ladies ...", looks around the room, pauses and adds with surprise: "... and Gentleman". The only gentleman in the company of beauty editors, as a rule, is Arseny Zagulyaev from Fashion Collection magazine. |