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]

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.

If you were trying to capture the essence of a sportscar, what sort of scents would you put in the bottle? Burnt rubber? Leather? Gasoline? How about juniper berries, mandarin orange and myrtle? Because those are exactly the notes which Porsche Design has used in its new fragrance, The Essence Intense.

The follow-up to their original scent, The Essence, launched about a year and a half ago, Intense is a fresh, aromatic and woody fragrance for men. The scent was developed together with Clarins Group – which is responsible, among other things, for the Azzuro line – but since it's a Porsche Design, the bottle has received significant attention, combining smoked frosted glass and black brushed aluminum in a particularly sleek package. Although it's initially available only as a spray eau-de-toilette in 50 and 80 milliliter sprays, expect a whole range of scented products to follow.

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.

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.

The Oceanside Museum of Art in Oceanside, California will show an intriguing installation designed not for the eyes but for the nose. Institutional Wellbeing: An olfactory plan for the Oceanside Museum of Art runs from March 29 – August 9, 2009 and was created by conceptual artist Brian Goeltzenleuchter. The exhibit is meant to explore the perception of fragrance as an art media for interior environments whether it be in corporate aesthetics (like Westin's white tea scent perhaps) or in aromatherapy. The end result is a scent named OMA which is meant to capture the olfactory experience of Oceanside Museum of Art.

The fragrance will accompany the exhibition as both a scent presented in the installation and as a retail product available in the museum's store. This isn't Goeltzenleuchter's first scent as installation project, he also created "Institutional Wellbeing: An Olfactory Intervention for the GAU," Grafisch Atelier Utrecht, The Netherlands in 2006. The OMA scent will cost $20 and Goeltzenleuchter describes it in the San Diego Union-Tribune as "a sweet, green smell that immediately transitions into a warm, atmospheric tone underneath with hints of tobacco and tea."

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.

British designer John Galliano is introducing his debut scent some 20 years after launching his fashion brand. "We had about 360 tests -- more than for a couture collection," he noted in Women's Wear Daily.

Galliano was involved with every step of the scent's development. Its outer box is designed to look like a collage or a book, reminiscent of travel tomes he makes following fact-finding voyages undertaken before creating fashion collections. The bottle's neck was inspired by collars appearing in Galliano's first fashion collection, Les Incroyables, and the flacon is topped with a Gothic G. Model Guinevere Van Seenus is the face on the box.

Galliano, who also is the couturier at Christian Dior, had thoughts of flowers, particularly of rose, peony, iris with its powdery side, and violet. The scent will be launched at the end of September in the U.K., through an exclusive with Harrods, and in Germany. On October 11, it is to be introduced in France, exclusively at Sephora, and then a few days later in Switzerland. The launch in the rest of the world will take place in 2009.

Prices vary: 90-ml. eau de parfum spray, 100 euros, or $158; 60-ml. edp spray, 80 euros, or $126; 40-ml. edp spray, 60 euros, or $95; 200-ml. body milk for 38 euros, or $60; and a 200-ml. shower gel, 33 euros, or $52, will be available at launch. A 150-ml. body scrub, 39 euros, or $62, will come out after the initial fragrance introduction.

The first scent from Porsche Design Group will debut this fall. The men's scent -- "The Essence by Porsche Design" -- was developed jointly by the Porsche SE subsidiary producing high-end accessories and Groupe Clarins' Parfums Azzaro. As reported in Women's Wear Daily, "It is a name everyone knows; next to 'Porsche' is the word 'design,' which is something modern and in the l'air du temps," said Gérard Delcour, president of Parfums Azzaro and Porsche Design Fragrances.

OK ... but what does it smell like? One molecule -- Artical, from International Flavors & Fragrances -- was the starting point for the scent's "fresh aromatic woody juice." Azzaro executives envisioned an urban, cultured, intelligent, sporty, sensual man in the 25-50 age range as the user (that means you, Luxist reader). In addition to Artical, other top notes are juniper and blueberry. Among heart notes are Russian coriander, black pepper and Siberian pine, and in the base are notes of fir balsam, patchouli and incense. (I'm sure that clears things up for you.)

Around early October, the scent will be introduced in selective distribution, plus Porsche Design sales points and travel-retail locations in Europe, the Middle East and North America. In the United States, the scent will be launched in Bloomingdale's during the first week of October, then in Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom during the first week of November. The second phase, starting in early 2009, will include Latin America, Asia and Africa.

The Porsche Design U.S. collection will include a 1.7-oz. eau de toilette spray for $54, a 2.7-oz. eau de toilette spray for $70, a 6.7-oz. hair and body shampoo for $28, and a 2.5-oz. stick deodorant for $20. A 2.7-oz. "luxury" eau de toilette spray (in black glass, as compared to the blue glass in the rest of the collection) for $80 is scheduled to come out in the U.S. in November. Just in time for the winter holiday gift-giving season, of course!

Usually children follow in the footsteps of their parents, but in the case of the Hiltons one parent is following in those of her children: Kathy Hilton has her own fragrance. Called "My Secret" it comes in a very pretty jewel-like bottle (a pink heart though? Come on) and has top notes of mandarin, freesia, and peony, middle notes of rose, jasmine, and apricot leaf, and bottom notes of sandalwood, vanilla musk, and sandalwood. Available at Macy's for $52-$68 (FYI this version of the bottle featuring Kathy's signature is a limited edition).

BONUS: Register at KathyHiltonFragrance.com to win one of 20 vintage roller-ball heart 1.0 fl oz bottles of the Eau de Parfum or the Grand Prize of a Mother's Day brunch for you and your daughter with Kathy Hilton and her two daughters.

Whether you've been a fan of Diptyque's L'Eau for years or looking for a new scent, the celebratory new line of unisex fragrances may be what you've been looking for. As part of the 40th anniversary of L'Eau, creator Desmond Knox-Leets' first eau-de-toilette, three new colognes are being released in mid-May. Each with a distinctly different approach, L'Eau de l'Eaue (wow, that one is repetitive), L'Eau de Néroli and L'Eau des Hesperides will be in 220 mL bottles, the same look as the original L'Eau and will cost $145 each.

If you are anything like me, you may have found yourself completely burned out on perfume. Lately I've found that many fragrances have seemed to be too synthetic and sweet, bubblegum scents that hit the skin and quickly dissipate. It turns out that I am not alone, the Wall Street Journal has a great piece on the changing fragrance world. Many high-end brands who have, in the past few years, been catering to the masstige market by creating fragrances at the lower price point are now taking a different approach because the sales of the perfumes have been dropping off. Instead, companies like Chanel and Prada have launched ultra-exclusive scents that use pricey ingredients and have richer, more evocative fragrance profiles.

A quick sampling:
--Tom Ford created his Private Blend, a line of 12 fragrances that run from the frankly floral to more masculine smells like tobacco and cedar.
--Chanel created their Les Exclusifs line of six signature scents that had perfume lovers raving.
--Hermès has a new line of unique perfumes called Hermessence, like the other designer lines, this one moves into new ground with scents like the lavender-and-licorice-smelling Brin de Réglisse.
--Giorgio Armani's Privé line costs $185 a bottle and lures purchasers not just with ingredients bergamot, neroli and vetiver but with those sexy bottles made of African kotibe wood and caps that look jade, moonstone, amethyst and other gemstones.

These scents aren't exactly making big profits yet but the companies are hopeful that they will have more staying power with consumers than some of the cheaper, more forgettable designer brands. One thing that the WSJ article doesn't mention but which I would guess is also a factor is that each of these lines isn't just one signature fragrance, but a set. And the idea of owning a complete set, especially that looks as pretty as the Armani line shone above, may lure scent lovers to collect the whole line rather than just one bottle.

How much would you pay to smell like rain at any given moment? $5,000? Mane is hoping so, as they've launched their newest fragrance, Yu, with just such a price point.

I don't know that any perfume is worth that much, no matter how good it smells, unless it comes in some kind of jewel-encrusted bottle. But it's been impressing critics, with New York Times fragrance expert Chandler Burr saying "You can smell the money in it."

Personally, I think money smells funny.


Via Luxury Launches

The Byronic figure shown at right is Kilian Hennessy, a former marketing executive at L'Oréal and heir to the Hennessy cognac family, who has created a new luxurious line of six eau de parfums known as L'Oeuvre Noire, the Black Masterpiece, by Kilian. The fragrances are done in black lacquer wood boxes line in black satin. The bottles include a black metal pottle cap and subltle engravings on the side. The six scents grouped in three pairs Love and Beyond Love, Liasons Dangereuses and Cruel Intentions, A Taste of Heaven and Straight to Heaven. Love is soft with notes of neroli, Sambac jasmine, rose and iris. Beyond Love is tuberose with animal notes. Liasons Dangereuses includes notes of Egyptian geranium and cinnamon. Cruel Intentions includes bergamot, rose, vetiver and styrax. A Taste of Heaven is inspired by Absinthe and includes orange blossom, amber, and patchouli. Straight to Heaven has a rum scent deepened with nutmeg, Brazilian rosewood and cedar. The scents with their exotic ingredients sound a bit like Tom Ford's most recent offerings. The refillable bottle sells for $225. There is also a refillable fountain that resembles a cognac barrel that sells for $2500.

[via International Herald Tribune]

The Chez Moi home diffuser from L'Artisan Parfumeur is the result of two years of research and uses original technology to make the most of perfume and create the best olfactory experience possible. The diffuser itself appears sleek and modern, and there are 5 fragrances currently available including 4 drawn from L'Artisan Parfumeur's most popular scents and one created just for the Chez Moi.

The Chez Moi home diffuser runs on two AA batteries and easily travels where ever you may go. And you don't have to wait long either, when using the Chez Moi, as it fills a 50 cubic meter area with fragrance in less than 3 minutes. $250

via
Daily candy LA