The winter perfume parade with new unisex fragrances from Loewe, Celine and Frédéric MalleRoshanak Amini for Berliner Zeitung. Photos used: LOEWE EARTH, CELINE BOIS DORMANT, FEDERIC MALLE UNCUT GEM
Whether you’re looking for Christmas gifts or just want to try a new fragrance for yourself, luxury brands are celebrating this winter with intense perfume creations and inspiring stories behind them. Frédéric Malle focuses on intellectual sensuality, Celine bows to music, and Loewe offers a modular perfume kit for the whole body. And now: Follow your nose!
1. “Earth” by Loewe
In line with its exalted, intellectual fashion, the Loewe brand presents fragrances that are just as complex. Namely, those that only reveal their unusual notes on closer sniffing. The recently released Eau de Parfum “Earth” is such a complex, meaningful creation: It was inspired by the “Kingdom of Mushrooms”, according to head perfumer Núria Cruelles, so the truffle is the olfactory focus here. Its tart and earthy scent is complemented by lighter, powderier notes of pear, elemi, violet and mimosa. The result is a spicy-heavy fragrance that can be combined with others.
“Earth” focuses on the tart and evenly earthy scented truffle.Loewe
“Earth” is part of the “Botanical Rainbow” collection, which deliberately focuses on the possibility of allowing different perfumes in the range to communicate with each other. For example, try a composition of “Earth” and the lighter creations “Solo Ella” and “Esencia EDP,” Cruelles recommends, each applied to a different part of the body. This creates a very unique, harmonious overall picture. Those who prefer to try out these and other combinations before buying and who live in Berlin are in luck: last week the label’s only perfume counter in Germany opened at KaDeWe.
The “Botanical Rainbow” collection provides for combining.
The Eau de Parfum „Earth“ from Loewe costs 89 euros in a 50-milliliter bottle and is available, for example, in KaDeWe on Tauentzienstraße.
2. “Sleeping Wood” by Celine
Like all Hedi Slimane fragrances, the latest Celine composition tells of Fender guitars, narrow blazers and tousled hair. The perfume line launched in 2019 is the fragrant counterpart to Slimane’s high-gloss indie, which runs like a red thread through his work – first at Dior and Saint Laurent, now at Celine. The most recent composition “Bois Dormant” is similar.
The latest of the eleven fragrances composed by Hedi Slimane in the luxurious Celine Signature bottle with a magnetic closureCeline
When he created the fragrance, he had in mind those Savile Row double-breasted blazers he was looking for when he was in London as a young man, says Slimane. “Bois Dormant” is “a fine fragrance with notes of wood and accents of powdery cologne,” says Celine’s creative director of the bouquet. And further: “The idea was also the audiophile dimension of the velvety sound of a first pressing on vinyl.”
Notes of bergamot, juniper, iris, cedar wood and vetiver mingle in “Bois Dormant”. The secret of the fragrance may also lie in the fact that there is no dominant top note and one tries in vain to decode “Bois Dormant” olfactorily. That’s why the perfume, which was launched as a daytime fragrance, also works just as well at night.
Hedi Slimane also photographed the campaign for his fragrances himself in typical black and white.Bois Dormant by Hedi Slimane
The Eau de Parfume “Bois Dormant” in a 100-milliliter bottle costs 210 euros. The Celine boutique in KaDeWe does not currently stock the fragrances, they can be ordered at celine.com. Samples are included with all Celine fragrance deliveries, so that the goods can be returned unopened if you don’t like them.
3. „Maurice Raucel – Uncut Gem“ by Frédéric Malle
Frédéric Malle’s bottles always look a bit scientific and intellectual in their simplicity. And indeed, the company, founded in 2000, functions like a publishing house: Malle is the publisher, the perfumers are his authors. With “Uncut Gem” Malle published a composition by Maurice Roucel, friend and perfume author from the very beginning. Roucel, who began his career at Chanel, has already created a number of Malle fragrances, including “Musc Ravageur”.
Intense and poignant: the new fragrance by Maurice Roucel.Frederic Malle
This fragrance is now inspired by Raucel himself: in the presence of his friend, Malle was always fascinated by the fragrance that wafted around the handsome man. Roucel is said to have initially resisted, but after five years he agreed to create a perfume from his personal bouquet, so the story goes. The result is a deep fragrance that lingers on the skin all day with spicy vehemence. This is ensured by the top notes of ginger, bergamot, mandarine, angelica root and nutmeg as well as a leathery accord, vetiver, frankincense, amber and a hint of musk. This fragrance is not reserved, it can rather be understood as an announcement: No small talk, please!
The limited-edition packaging for the celebration is a book-like folding box designed by French luxury shoe designer Pierre Hardy.Frederic Malle
The Eau de Parfume “Maurice Raucel – Uncut Gem” by Frédéric Malle in a 100-milliliter bottle costs 305 euros. Berliners can get the fragrance from MDC Cosmetics or KaDeWe, for example.
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