We've already seen the promise of a Michael Jackson diamond using his DNA, now a new line of fragrances offers the scent of a variety of celebrities based on their DNA. One of the first offerings is M, based on the DNA of Michael Jackson. My DNA Fragrance has created the "Antiquity" line of fragrances which will include dead celebrities like Elvis Presley, Albert Einstein, Marilyn Monroe, Joan Crawford and Katherine Hepburn. The firm already makes individualized scents for living customers based on the analysis of a customer's cheek swab. DNA tests performed on hair clippings provided by celebrity hair collector John Reznikoff are used to develop the scents of these luminaries. The Antiquity line sells for $59.99 per bottle and is available online. What does M smell like? The website is vague saying that it is "composed of the lightest, but most volatile essences."

[via Now Smell This]

Can a scent capture a city? Many try but few with as much aplomb as the City Exclusive scents from Le Labo. The boutique perfumer has created six scents for the cities in which there are Le Labo shops. Usually each scent is only available in the city it was created for but fron now until November 30, the six scents are available on luckyscent.com

Tuberuese 40 (New York) is a tuberose and white flower scent. Aldehyde 44 (Dallas) combines narcissus, jasmine, musk and vanilla. Gaiac 10 (Tokyo) is a woodsy musk with hints of cedar and incense. Musc 25 (Los Angeles) is a musk with notes of vetiver, ambergris, lily of the valley, patchouli and rose absolute. Poivre 23 (London) combines the warmth of pepper with cistus, gaiac, patchouli, incense, Australian sandalwood, vanilla absolute and styrax resin. Vanille 44 (Paris) brings vanilla together with bergamot, incense and mandarin. There are just 25 bottles of each scent available and 50 ml sells for a steep $260.

[via All the Rage]

Model and style icon Kate Moss has launched her latest scent, Vintage. This is Moss' fourth scent, her other offerings are Kate, Summer Time and Velvet Hour. Vintage is described as a a fruity floriental fragrance and is meant to be a scented encapsulation of Kate's love of vintage clothes and objects d'art. On vintage objects, Kate Moss says "I am fascinated by vintage pieces because they not only have a remarkable beauty but also an innate sense of history - I love the fact that each object has its own story to tell."

The scent includes notes of pink pepper, white freesia and mandarin with a heart of heliotrope, jasmine and almond flower and base notes of tonka bean, vanilla and skin musks. The bottle was inspired by the Art Deco perfume bottles of the 1920s and 30s. The smoky glass flacon is finely faceted on the front, sides and cap with a rose-gold collar around the neck of the bottle, decorated with vintage inspired filigrees. The print ad shown above was shot by Mert and Marcus. Check out the television and and some behind-the-scenes footage of Kate Moss after the jump.

The name Natori is synonymous with lingerie. Josie Natori has been making soft, sexy chemises and fine undergarments for decades. Her new perfume therefore has a lot of sexiness to live up too. Natori's new scent is a redo of her earlier scent which was done with Avon back in 1984. This one was created by perfumer Caroline Sabas for Parlux fragrances and combines a bit of 1980s headiness with classic perfume glamour. The fragrance is a floral oriental with notes of sparkling aldehydes, rose, plum, ylang-ylang, purple peony, night-blooming jasmine, patchouli, amber and satin musk accord. The perfume is the natural accompaniment to a silk chemise. Check out this great review from Now Smell This.

The new scent is a world away from the pinky, fruity scents of late. This is a more mature scent, strong, sexy, a little old-fashioned, the Dita Von Teese of scent. The scent has been released as a Saks exclusive and sells for $110 for a 3.4 ounce eau du parfum. We are giving away a 3.4 ounce eau du parfum of this passion booster in a purple bottle to one reader.

Some other important details:

* To enter, leave a confirmed comment below.
* The comment must be left and confirmed before Friday, October 16, 2009 at 5:00PM Eastern Time.
* You may only enter once.
* One winner will be selected in a random drawing.
* One winner will receive the 3.4 ounce Natori Eau du Parfum valued at $110.
* Open to legal residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia.

See complete contest rules here.

This contest is now closed. Thank you for your participation.

Custom perfume artiste Francis Kurkdjian is launching his collection at Neiman Marcus and he offers far more than just bottles of elegantly crafted perfume. His line includes paper strip incense, candles, laundry detergents and even scented bubbles. These aren't bubbles for kids (although they are child-safe), they come in small bottles which sell for $20 each and are available in the scents of cut herbs, pear and fresh mint. Even more indulgent is the laundry detergent in his Aqua Universalis scent. The detergent has notes of bergamot, lemon, lily of the valley and musky wood and sells for $45.

[via All the Rage]

Fire and ice I've heard of but how about fire and cream? That's just one of the perfumes by Alexandra Balahoutis , a beautiful redhead with an unerring nose, who is behind Southern-California-based Strange Invisible Perfumes. Her scents are made of natural, botanical essences combined in ways that turn traditional perfumery on its ear. Instead of using solvents, essences are extracted using organic jojoba oil and set in a base of beverage-quality organic grape alcohol. Fire and Cream layers earthy vetiver, sandalwood, and patchouli with soft white lavender and tuberose and a spark of orange blossom. An eau de parfum 1.7 fl. oz sells for $145. Other heady scents with names like Narcotic and Black Rosette offer similar olfactory intensity. Custom scents are also available.

The news of Beyonce's new fragrance got a bit lost in the heady whiff of scandal following Kanye West's display of overeager support of her video at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, Beyonce has been the face of perfumes for Tommy Hilfiger and Giorgio Armani but now she has her own contract with Coty for a Beyonce fragrance that will debut next spring. WWD speculates that she could earn up to $20 million over the next three years in the deal. Beyonce's large fan following and tremendous popularity may add a boost to the celebrity fragrance market which has been slumping recently. One star in the celebrity fragrance arena who continues to thrive is Britney Spears and it is hoped that Beyonce has a similar allure.

Love your reality/modeling/singing/(fill in your fave genre here) stars? Want to small as good as you imagine they do? Then get ready to head to the stores sometime soon for the newest celebrity fragrance, Bikini Babe, by Keeping Up with the Kardashians' resident celebutante, Kim Kardashian. Few details were available at press time, except for this and this.

Also, this just in: Although not a new designer in the scent world, Anna Sui will launch her newest fragrance, "Rock Me!" this fall. Read more here. The ads are photographed by Stephen Meisel.

Venerable perfume company Krigler has set up shop in the Plaza Hotel in New York City offering not just scents but also candles, scrubs, lotions and other body care items. The perfumes come in old-fashioned glass bottles with simple golden tops. The brand's most famous scent is Sparkling Diamond No. 22. The scent was created in Monte Carlo in 1922 and the original had a diamond in the bottle. Now the scent of champagne, strawberry, musk and coconut (it's actually more subtle and less fruity than that description makes it sound) comes in a bottle that has Swarovksi crystals bouncing around in the bottom. Other scents to try include the Dolce Tuberose which is full of summer's heady deep florals. The Sparkling Diamond No. 22 is $170 for the 3.4 eau de parfum. Other scents including Mediterranean Peach and Manhattan Rose are $110.

A dog perfume you might want to spray on yourself? Pepper & Tanky is a collection of fine French, animal cruelty-free eau du parfum for dogs that use natural oils and less alcohol so as not to irritate sensitive skin. It comes in a couple of sweet scents Vanilla Woof and Peaches n' Cream as well as a pair that are more complex. Puppy Love is a bergamot-amber-jasmine blend and Big Dawg is a less floral combination of bergamot, neroli, lavender and musk. Pepper & Tanky is at upscale boutiques, pet-friendly hotels and pet spas and sells online for $44 for a two-ounce bottle.

Jeweler Chopard launched its latest fragrance, Cascade, this week in conjunction with the Cannes Film Festival. The event at Cannes' Eden Roc Hotel also included an haute jewelry collection specifically for the event. The new scent is an oriental with notes of Belle de Nuit, pink pepper, grapefruit, mandarin and orchid. It will launch in July (although a bottle has just popped up on eBay already). Over at perfume blog, Now Smell This, they are currently debating the merits of the bottle which features a design that looks a bit like a 1980s-style rhinestone earring has been draped over the top.

The Cannes event featured beautiful women and beautiful jewels, check out a few in the gallery below.

Rosewood Hotels & Resorts has partnered with Ralph Lauren to create a one-of-a-kind Valentine's Day getaway for stylish couples, called "Ralph Lauren Romance Always Yours." Celebrating the 10th anniversary of Ralph Lauren's Romance fragrance and the launch of their newest scent, Romance Always Yours, the package is available at select Rosewood properties including the famed Carlyle Hotel in New York (above); Rosewood's flagship hotels in Dallas, Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek and Rosewood Crescent Hotel; as well as the Inn of the Anasazi, A Rosewood Hotel in Sante Fe; the Mansion on Peachtree, A Rosewood Hotel & Residence in Atlanta; and CordeValle, A Rosewood Resort in San Martin, CA.

The two-night package, which starts at $799, includes a luxe room stocked with gifts including a bottle of champagne upon arrival and a custom monogrammed Ralph Lauren cashmere throw. A private candlelit dinner, created specially by one of Rosewood's acclaimed Executive Chefs, will be served en-suite. The indulgence will continue the following day with complimentary spa treatments for two and a limited edition bottle of Ralph Lauren's Always Yours, featuring a delicately hand-crafted glass dauber faceted like a diamond, to take home as a souvenir of an incredible weekend. See the gallery for pix of the participating properties.

I've been thinking a lot about the nose recently after reading Avery Gilbert's "What the Nose Knows" which is a fascinating look at scent from a scientific point of view. He talks about how the nose gets accustomed to certain scents and basically stops smelling them (which explains how people can work in some pretty smelly places and not go completely nuts). All the more reason then to sample the endless amount of perfumes in the world. The International Herald Tribune recently had an interesting piece on bespoke fragrance in Paris. Bespoke fragrances have a variety of price points but to get the attention of a classically-trained nose you will have to pay couture prices. At the top of the line we find Cartier. At Cartier in Paris, Mathilde Laurent is the in-house "nose" creating "made-to-measure" scents. For custom designs Cartier sells a set of two Baccarat flasks of five fluid ounces, three small spray bottles and two refill bottles, enough for three to five years for $75,500.

Small perfume company, l'Artisan Parfumeur is planning to introduce in January a line of single-edition perfumes. Only one bottle of each will be made and sold through the Paris store. Bertrand Duchaufour is the nose behind the Mon Numéro line which will be sold in one-off bottles designed by Pascale Riberolles, an artist and master glass blower and sell for about $20,000.

But the person in the article I'd most like to sniff out just might be Francis Kurkdjian, who doesn't work out of a boutique but has a website and a mobile laboratory which he travels around the world with to meet clients. He has worked on fragrances for Kenzo, Armani, Yves St. Laurent and others and has the type of obsessively passionate devotion to scent that is a hallmark of the best noses. Kurkdjian's bespoke scents are conceived, blended and matured over 6 to 10 months, and priced at $10,000 for two 60-milliliter flasks which are hand-engraved with a name or personal message.

Looks like another celebrity is having fragrance troubles. Prince is being sued by Revelations Perfume and Cosmetics, Inc., makers of 3121, the 2007 fragrance named after and inspired by his 2006 album. Revelations has sued Prince and Universal Music Publishing Group for $100,000, claiming he and his record company failed to help peddle the scent.

The suit was filed earlier this week in New York State Supreme Court. Revelations licensed Prince's name and likeness to create 3121 and another fragrance due out in 2009. According to court documents, Revelations put out more than $2.5 million for said privilege and promised to give Universal a 50 percent cut of the proceeds, and in return Prince was supposed to be available for marketing purposes.

"Since July 2007, despite repeated attempts by Revelations there have been virtually no communications from anyone who could commit to or coordinate any promotional efforts by Prince," the suit states.

Responding to the suit, which its legal team had not yet seen, Universal issued a statement calling the plaintiff's claims "completely without merit."

While nowhere near the amount of this suit, it's never a good time to (possibly) be out $100K. The jury's still out as to the results.

The Six Scents Fragrance Initiative brings together six perfumers and artists to create limited edition fragrances fora good cause. The six scents titled Six Scents Series One and curated by Seven New York's Joseph Quartana are: Gareth Pugh's "Diagonal," Bernhard Willhelm's "Wicken 3000," Preen's "Teen Spirit," Jeremy Scott's "Illicit Sex," Cosmic Wonder Light Source's "Spirit of the Wood" and Alexandre Herchcovitch's "Urban Tropicalia." The scents mix traditionally masculine and feminine fragrances with notes of bergamot, red pepper berries, magnolia, rose, fig leaves, green grass, sea breeze accord, rhubarb and sandalwood. Profits will got towards awareness and funding for the Designers Against AIDS' International AIDS Awareness Center set to open in December in Antwerp, Belgium. There are 2,000 bottles of each scent and each costs $85.

[via Now Smell This]