Donna Karan DKNY Sweet Delicious

Donna Karan launches the limited DKNY Sweet Delicious collection of fragrances in the spring of 2012. The collection contains of three sweet scents: Pink Macaroon, Tart Key Lime and Creamy Meringue. The fragrances are inspired by recipes for creamy and delicious cupcakes.DKNY Sweet Delicious Pink Macaroon is a gourmand scent of yummy almond macaroons, refreshed with fruity flavors. It opens with... Read full article: Donna Karan DKNY Sweet Delicious from Fragrantica Perfumes and Colognes Magazine.

Hugo Boss Orange Charity Editions 2012!!

Hugo Boss launches two fragrances with unchanged compositions in new flacons intended for charities. One profit share from men's and women's limited editions for 2012 will be donated to UNICEF.

Read full article: Hugo Boss Orange Charity Editions 2012 from Fragrantica Perfumes and Colognes Magazine.

Esxence Milan 2012

 MARCH 29 - APRIL1  MILAN
PALAZZO LA PERMANENTE

Esxence is an annual exhibition of niche perfumery which takes place in Milan every spring. This year the exhibition will open its doors to industry specialists, sellers, buyers and press for the fourth time. Esxence is the right place to get fresh perfume news and meet perfumers and famous people from the industry. Along with dozens of fine Italian brands, Esxence attracts independent artists and distributors of their products from all over the world.

Read full article: Esxence Milan 2012 from Fragrantica Perfumes and Colognes Magazine. 

Global Art of Perfumery 2012 in Düsseldorf

For the fourth time, at the Maritim Hotel in Düsseldorf on
14 - 15 April 2012, all attention will be on fine fragrances and perfume trends from around the world. The Global Art of Perfumery – Cosmetic Innovations, which has established itself as a major industry gathering, expects around 60 international perfume suppliers for the upcoming event, who will present their
latest creations a... Read full article: Global Art of Perfumery 2012 in Dusseldorf from Fragrantica Perfumes and Colognes Magazine.

Happy New Year 2012

Osmotheque, The Perfume Museum

The Osmothèque was founded in 1990 by Jean Kerléo and several French perfumers. The idea was to create a house of perfumes. A fragrance museum. Maybe even a perfume shrine. But definitely a place where perfumers and perfume lovers could meet, discuss, rediscover and recreate perfumes that they have loved and maybe even worn. At the moment 2,500 fragrances have found a home in the Osmothèque which is located on the grounds of the ISIPCA in Versailles. 400 of the archived perfumes are so-called long lost ones and pride and joy of those working on the project of adding more and more perfumes to the fragrant library.

So far the Osmothèque has managed to acquire 170 formulas in order to recreate perfumes that can no longer be found anywhere. Recreating a fragrance that ceased to exist decades ago is a difficult and time-consuming process as some ingredients that were readily available many years ago can no longer be easily obtained. But thanks to Jean Kerléo, the former long-term in-house perfumer of Jean Patou, who kept some of the rarest and most expensive perfume oils, the perfumers' tedious task of getting their hands on rare oils is lessened.

Those rare ingredients, along with the perfume collection, are stored safely in the Osnothèque's cellar which is constantly cooled down to a chilly 12 degrees Celsius (53 degrees Fahrenheit). This is very important as sunlight and high and altering temperatures are the biggest enemies of perfumes and would spoil the fragrant juices in no time. In order to protect the perfumes from enemy number 3, oxygen, the Osmothèque uses argon to keep their perfume bottles, vials and other containers carrying fragrances or oils, safe from oxygen.

Argon is known to halt and even prevent the process of degradation of chemicals and has been used to preserve several manufactured items, e.g. pharmaceutical products, for a long time. On the rare occasion that a perfume does spoil, the Osmothèque will try to replace it. But as funds for the day-to-day running of Osmothèque come from the Société des Amis de l'Osmothèque only, it is important to have solid business relationships with perfume houses from all over the world, explains Patricia de Nicolaï, who is the president of the Osmothèque and a well-known and established perfumer herself.

The aim of the Osmothèque is to have as many perfumes as possible. While they do not focus on limited editions, the perfumers and assistants try to acquire classic and modern perfumes and expensive and budget fragrances alike. Therefore they always keep an eye on the market. With the help of many international brands that send fragrant gifts to the perfume museum, the fragrance library grows constantly and the second site has already been set up!

The New York base of the Osmothèque is run by Christophe Laudamiel. He is currently in possession of a small part of the collection which enables him to perform lectures. Besides recreating fragrances professional lectures are a main part of the Osmothèque's perfumers' jobs. The subjects are as multifaceted as perfume itself. They range from broad overviews of the world of perfume to specific requests like the history of British brands, speeches about fragrance families, materials, noses and simply anything that the listeners are interested in. Only one thing is for sure: Once a lecture on a certain subject is booked, the lecturer will be well prepared!

Some excursions are open for the public as well! The Osmothèque in Versailles welcomes those who are interested in perfumery on Wednesdays and Saturdays. As there is a limit on the number of people that can attend a class, it is necessary that your ticket is booked in advance! On the Osmothèque's web site you will find the dates and times when public excursions take place. In order to book please call the telephone number 01.39.55.46.99 in France.

On a personal note I would like to thank Patricia de Nicolaï and Sophie d'Auber for a pleasant interview and for providing Fragrantica with all the information. Merci!

Images: Osmothèque's web site, Fragrantica from Esxence, Milano 2011 (video & images), jafsegal

Plant Pdysiology

* Copyright © 2010, American Society of Plant Biologists

A copal-8-ol diphosphate synthase from the angiosperm Cistus creticus subsp. creticus is a putative key enzyme for the formation of pharmacologically active, oxygen-containing labdane-type diterpenes

1. Vasiliki Falara1 (vfalara@umich.edu),
2. Eran Pichersky1 (lelx@umich.edu) and
3. Angelos K. Kanellis2,3 (kanellis@pharm.auth.gr) (http://www.pharm.auth.gr/kanellis)

+ Author Affiliations

1 University of Michigan, Ann Arbor;
2 Aristotle University

1. * Corresponding author; email: kanellis@pharm.auth.gr

Abstract

The resin of Cistus creticus subsp. creticus, a plant native to Crete, is rich in labdane-type diterpenes with significant antimicrobial and cytotoxic activities. The full-length cDNA of a putative diterpene synthase was isolated from a C. creticus trichome cDNA library. The deduced amino acid sequence of this protein is highly similar (59 - 70% identical) to type B diterpene synthases from other angiosperm species that catalyze a protonation-initiated cyclization. The affinity-purified recombinant E. coli expressed protein used geranylgeranyl diphosphate as substrate, and catalyzed the formation of copal-8-ol diphosphate. This diterpene synthase was therefore named CcCLS (for Cistus creticus copal-8-ol diphosphate synthase). Copal-8-ol diphosphate is likely to be an intermediate in the biosynthesis of the oxygen-containing labdane-type diterpenes that are abundant in the resin of this plant. RNA gel blot analysis revealed that CcCLS is preferentially expressed in the trichomes, with higher transcript levels found in glands on young leaves than on fully expanded leaves while CcCLS transcript levels increased after mechanical wounding. Chemical analyses revealed that labdane-type diterpene production followed a similar pattern with higher concentrations in trichomes of young leaves and increased accumulation upon wounding

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