Louis Vuitton Parfums: Mille Feux & Dans La Peau

Posted on September 23, 2016 by Kafkaesque

Different treatments and interpretations of leather are the focus of today’s Louis Vuitton reviews. Last time, I looked at Matière Noire, Turbulences, and Contre Moi, and now it’s the turn of Mille Feux and Dans La Peau. Like the others, they are also eau de parfums in concentration and created by Jacques Cavallier. So, let’s get straight to it.

MILLE FEUX:

Mille Feux. Source: Fragrantica.

Mille Feux translates to “A Thousand Fires”, a bold name that I find highly ironic for such a sheer and translucent scent.

On its American website, Louis Vuitton sums up Mille Feux as “fireworks” and an “emotional bombshell,” in addition to comparing it to aurora borealis. If my eyes rolled any further, they would fall out of my head. I mean, seriously, “emotional bombshell”?? For this fragrance?! One that basically copies a very well-known and popular designer scent from Tom Ford? If you ask me, LV’s marketing department needs to be dunked in iced water, and any hallucinogenic drugs that they might have used while concocting this balderdash should be removed pronto.

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Louis Vuitton Parfums: Matiere Noire, Turbulences & Contre Moi

Posted on September 20, 2016 by Kafkaesque

The Louis Vuitton Parfums collection. Source: nymag.com via Louis Vuitton. [Photo lightly cropped on top by me.]

The Louis Vuitton Parfums collection. Source: nymag.com via Louis Vuitton. [The photo’s white top portion has been lightly cropped by me.]

Louis Vuitton has re-entered the perfume world, almost 90 years since its first fragrance and 70 years since its last. This month, the luxury goods giant launched Les Parfums de Louis Vuitton, a collection of seven fragrances. Each one is an eau de parfum that was created by Jacques Cavallier-Belletrud, a Firmenich nose who made Acqua di Gio, L’Eau d’Issey, and Lancome‘s Poeme.

Today, I’ll look at three of the new fragrances, Matière Noire, Turbulences, and Contre Moi. In the next post, I’ll cover Mille Feux and Dans La Peau. So, let’s get straight to it.

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A Guide to “Amber” – Part II: 50 Fragrances To Consider

Posted on September 16, 2016 by Kafkaesque

Do you love your amber with a shot of booze, or straight up? Do you want it as dark as night, its toffee’d chewiness beset by either tobacco, leather or incense, or would you prefer it to be so golden that it evokes James Bond’s Goldfinger girl? Have you sought an “amber” fragrance layered with the creamiest and silkiest vanilla, or do you prefer it accompanied by some combination of dry woods, spices, salty caramel, bitter expresso, chocolate, jammy roses, or aromatic herbs instead? Whatever the combination or your particular preferences, my hope is that there will an “amber” on this list of 50 fragrances to tempt you to explore further.

The tsars’ famous “Amber Room,” St. Petersburg. Photo: Anna or “I Love Travel,” ITravelSPB, on Twitter. (Direct website link embedded within.) [Photo lightly cropped by me.]

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A Guide to Amber – Part I: Types, Definitions, Materials & Scent

Posted on September 8, 2016 by Kafkaesque

“Amber” is a glorious genre of perfumery, a showcase for all that is decadent, inviting, resinous, and golden in scent, with facets that range across a broad spectrum from the musky, sultry, smoky, and spicy to the deliciously cozy with sweetened aromas of toffee, caramel, or vanilla. But “amber” is a word that needs to be in quotation marks because it is, in reality, an umbrella catch-all term that encompasses many varieties of materials and, as a result, a slew of different aromas or styles.

I’d like to go over the basics of those genres or, to be more precise, sub-genres in what will be a two-part series, starting today with the history, definitions, basics, and scent profile of the materials in each group. In the next post, Part II, I’ll list fragrances that I love and recommend within each category, as well as a few famous ones beloved by others, even if they don’t strike the same chord with me.

Fossilized amber. Source: amberpieces.com

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