The last day of Spring

Natures Gift: Chypre

Chypre (french for Cypress) perfumes are one of the the classic fragrance families.

(Cistus Creticus :Unique Cistus that it charges in Cyprus "Chypre" and gives the laudanum.)

The authorities vary on giving guides to pronouciation. "Sheeprah" is close, but not exact. (I want to say "CHEYE-pruh"...definitely not correct!)















Chypres originated in the Roman Empire as a blend of mossy and animalic raw materials and botanicals. Remnants of Chypre type aromatics have been found in archeological finds. The Romans once produced a perfume in Cyprus that contained storax , labdanum and calamus. It was dense and almost oriental in feeling and its use continued through the Middle ages, with oakmoss as its base.

(labdanum from Cistus Creticus) - (oakamoss)

On the Island of Cypress, scents were made in the 12th century, using Labdanum Resin and other local aromatics from flowers and herbs.

Perfumery guides from the 18th century give formulas for Chypre blends containing Oakmoss, Civet, Ambergris and Musk, as well as various resins and plants, including Rose and Orange Blossom. In the 18th Century Chypre accords were described as mossy-leather blends.

François Coty reintroduced the name Chypre in the twentieth century (1917), we are told in attempt to reproduce the aromas found in the Island of Cypress.

Classic Chypre formulas are based on four single notes: Bergamot (other citrus oils may be substituted, but Bergamot is the Classic;) Labdanum, Oakmoss, and (usually!) Patchouli. These form the basic structure... with infinite possibilities and variations.
Modern Chypres generally consist of oakmoss , patchouli , labdanum, angelica or clary sage , with the addition of floral middle notes such as rose-jasmin and a bright, fresh, lightly sweet top note of bergamot or even lemon.

The term is usually reserved for blends featuring bergamot in the top notes and oakmoss and amber notes, often with patchouli as well--in the base. This of course leaves the middle wide open... giving room for various categories of Chypres:

Floral Chypres: Rose,Jasmine,Neroli or Orange Blossom, Lavender, Champa, Ylangylang, etc.

Animalic Chypres: Angelica Root, Black Currant, Calamus,Valerian

Fresh Chypres: More Citrus - Any citrus oil, Litsea cubeba, Petitgrain, Melissa, Yuzu Absolute, Lemon Verbena oil or absolute

Green/Herbal Chypres: (Carven's Ma Griffe was the first commercial "Green Chypre and a beloved memory of my teen years.) Geranium, Basil, Tarragon, Helichrysum, Chamomiles, bay laurel, Davana, Hyssop, Sage or Clary Sage

Leather Chypres: Choya Loban, Tobacco Absolute, Cade, Birch tar, Tea Absolute, Angelica

Coniferous Chypres: Cedar Leaf, Pine Needle, Fir balsam Abs and oil, Silver fir, Scotch pine, Cypress absolute and oil - any conifer, either absolute or oil, or, most interesting, the pair.
Woody Chypres: Himalayan or Atlas Cedarwood, Sandalwood, Coriander, Agarwood oil or co2, Vetiver, Rosewood, Araucaria, Guaicwood, carrot seed

For more information please refer to Victoria's BoisdeJasmin Blog. or the Perfume Shrine Blog.

FiFi Awards:the 37th Annual FiFI - WINNERS 2009

http://www.fragrance.org/







On Wednesday evening May 27th The Fragrance Foundation celebrated 60 fragrant years and the 37th Annual FiFi® Awards Ceremony.

FiFi Awards
http://blogs.myspace.com...

The 2009 FiFi Award winners are:

Fragrance of the Year – Women’s Luxe:
Harajuku Lovers Fragrance – Love, Lil’Angel, Music, Baby, “G” – Coty Prestige





Fragrance of the Year – Men’s Luxe:
I am King – Sean John – Sean John Fragrances



Fragrance of the Year – Women’s Popular Appeal
American Beauty Beloved - BeautyBank

Fragrance of the Year – Men’s Popular Appeal:
McGraw by Tim McGraw – Coty Inc.

Fragrance of the Year Unique Boutique:
Tom Ford Private Blend Champaca Absolute – Tom Ford Beauty

Fragrance of the Year Women’s Nouveau Niche:
Chloe Eau de Parfum – Coty Prestige



Fragrance of the Year Men’s Nouveau Niche:
Burberry the Beat for Men – P & G Prestige Products, Inc.

Hall of Fame:
Marc Jacobs

Female Celebrity Fragrance of the Year:
Paris Hilton




Fragrance of the Year - Private Label/Direct Sell:
Victoria’s Secret Sexy Little Things Noir Eau de Parfum – Victoria’s Secret Beauty



Fragrance Hall of Fame - two winners!
Davidoff Cool Water – Coty Prestige
White Diamonds Elizabeth Taylor – Elizabeth Arden

Perfume Extraordinaire of the Year:
MANE for A Travers Le Miroir Thierry Mugler, Clarins Fragrance Group
(Perfumer: Alexis Dadier, Mane Paris)

Editorial Excellence in Fragrance Coverage:
Women’s Scent Feature won by Allure Magazine for “Uncommon Scents”

Men’s Scent Feature won by Elle Magazine for “This Year’s Model: What a Boy Wants”
“Scent Bite” won by Elle Magazine for “Advanced Chemistry”

Blog won by Bois de Jasmin for “Scents of Cities – Kiev”

Technological Breakthrough of the Year:
Mane USA for Aquafine

Bath and Body Line of the Year:
Angel “Les Parfums Corps” by Thierry Mugler, Clarins Fragrance Group

Interior Scent Collection of the Year:
Nest Fragrances Collection Candles – Candela Group

Best Packaging of the Year Women’s Prestige – A TIE!
Harajuku Lovers Fragrances – Coty Prestige
Ma Dame – Jean Paul Gaultier – Beaute Prestige International

Best Packaging of the Year Men’s Prestige:
RIX Rocawear – Elizabeth Arden

Best Packaging of the Year Women’s Popular Appeal:
Avon Bond Girl 007 – Avon Products, Inc.

Best Packaging of the Year Men’s Popular Appeal:
McGraw by Tim McGraw – Coty Inc.

Best Media Campaign of the Year Women’s:
Sensuous – The Estee Lauder Lauder Companies

Congratutions to all !!!!!!

I LOVE CRETA

Perfume Shrine: Kypre by Lancome: fragrance review & history

Perfume Shrine: Kypre by Lancome: fragrance review & history

Finalists Announced for 9th Annual Basenotes Awards Sponsored by FragranceNet - Best Blog

Finalists Announced for 9th Annual Basenotes Awards Sponsored by FragranceNet.

Congratutions to all of the finalists!!!!

BEST BLOG

1:http://1000fragrances.blogspot.com/



2:http://bergamottoebenzoino.blogspot.com/


3: http://boisdejasmin.typepad.com/

4:http://www.nstperfume.com/


5:http://perfumedarosanegra.blogspot.com/


6:http://perfumeposse.com/


7:http://perfumeshrine.blogspot.com/


8:http://perfumesmellinthings.blogspot.com/


9:http://www.mimifroufrou.com/scentedsalamander/


10: http://sorceryofscent.blogspot.com/

You Tobe - Video

FiFi Awards - May 27, 2009. New York.

New York City will once again host the FiFi Awards coming up on May 27, 2009. The 37th annual awards ceremony will be held at The Downtown Armory, Lexington Avenue & 26th Street at 6:00pm EST. Last year's FiFi winner in the women's Luxe division was Marc Jacobs Daisy by Coty. According to The Fragrance Foundation (www.fragrance.org).

I love New York.

The Crook and Flail in Ancient Egypt

The crook (heka) and the flail or flabellum (nekhakha), are two of the most prominent items in the royal regalia of ancient Egypt. Actual, very fine examples of both survive from ancient Egypt, as do statues and various wall reliefs, paintings and papyrus with representations of these objects.

The crook and flail, though different scepters, could every so often be depicted separately, though usually paired with some other type of scepter, but they were most commonly represented together, held across the chest of the kings, Osiris, or other gods identified with them. They were insignias of kingship, and while other deities could proffer them, they never Note the flail held by King Narmer on his famous Palette, a very early example, but also note the lack of a crook.kept them.



Both insignias derived from the iconography of Andjety, who was the local god of the Delta town named Djedu. He was represented in human form with two feathers on his head and holding the crook and flail in his hands At a very early date in Egyptian history, Andjety, who had a close relationship with kingship from the earliest of times, was absorbed into Osiris of Busiris, who became a national god known simply as Osiris. Osiris, of course, was regarded not only as a god but also as a deified deceased king and consequently his insignia, and particularly that of the crook and flail, were treated as symbols of royalty.



Sacred models of them were kept in Heliopolis. The crook was a cane with a hooked handle, sometimes gold-plated and reinforced with blue copper bands. It probably derived from the shepherd's crosier. Its hieroglyphic value was "rule". The earliest example of a crook or heqa scepter comes from Abydos and the tomb There were many crooks and flails in the Tomb of Tutankhamun, including even adorning the small coffin that held his internal organslisted as U-547, dated to the late Naqada II period. This scepter, made of limestone, was found fragmented, but a complete scepter made of ivory was found in another Abydos grave, the one listed as tomb U-j. This is the largest tomb of Abydos found to date. The earliest representation of a king carrying the crook is a small statue of Ninetjer from the 2nd Dynasty.



The flail was a rod with three attached beaded, strands. The strands could very considerably, using different types of beads and the lengths between the beads could be broken up into several segments. The flail appears alone on some of the earliest representations of royal ceremonies, as shown in the example from a label of King Den in the 1st Dynasty, sitting under a canopy or in some ritual structure, waiting to run the Sed-festival. It possibly derived from a shepherd's whip or a fly whisk. However, some scholars prefer to regard it as a ladanisterion, a flail-like instrument used until the present day by shepherds in the Mediterranean region and elsewhere A very rare depiction of Osiris as Res-udja (he who awakens intact) from the tomb of Seti I. Looking more like Ptah than Osiris, he holds the typical crook and flail.for collecting ladanum, a gummy substance excreted from the leaves of the Cistus plant. According to classical writers, it was used in the preparation of incense and unguents. This suggestion, proposed by the late Professor P.E. Newberry who helped in the clearance of Tutankhamun's tomb, is plausible, but, as yet, there is no clear evidence that the Cistus plant grew in Egypt during pharaonic times, but perhaps it could have been used to harvest other gums.



Mysteriously, a flail is sometimes depicted floating above the upraised hand of Min and other ithyphallic deities. Certain sacred animals carried the flail on their backs.


Here, the Four Sons of Horus hold flails only, in both hands, above the canopic chamber door in the tomb of AyeAlthough the crook and flail were most often represented as emblems of the god Osiris, they were also carried on some ceremonial occasions, besides the coronation, by the reigning pharaoh. Very occasionally, the crook was held by viceroys of Nubia and also by viziers. A painted scene of tribute from Asia in the tomb of Tutankhamun's viceroy of Nubia, Huy, depicts the king holding both the crook and flail in his left hand and the sign for "life" in his right, while the viceroy holds a crook, but no flail, in his left hand and a single ostrich plume in his right. Only very rarely is the flail shown in the hands of priests or officials and such instances are limited to scenes of royal jubilee festivals.



The crook and flail did not die out altogether with the end of the Pharaonic Period of Egyptian history. At least visually, these objects wee carried over into Roman times.



In silhouette, the flail resembles the fly-whisk, a stick with three pendant animal pelts, but despite their similar appearance, they are not interchangeable.

Perfume Expo America 2009

June 30th - July 2nd 2009

Perfume Expo America

THE NEW YORK HILTON

Website:

http://www.perfumexamerica.com/

Welcome Spring (part 3). There are a lot of flowers and perfumes ... everywhere.

Photo from North Crete.

Perfume Expo America (PXA) 2009

Perfume Expo America (PXA) 2009

at the Hilton Americas NY

New York.

June 30th - July 2nd.

Web Site:
http://www.perfumexamerica.com/

Frank Sinatra - Theme from New York, New York

I Love Paris - Frank Sinatra