Love, Chloé

In July, I gave you the heads-up on Love, Chloé, the latest women’s fragrance from Chloé. Love, Chloé’s scent, created by Givaudan perfumers Louise Turner and Nathalie Cetto-Gracia, has top notes that include orange blossom and pink pepper. The heart of the scent is filled with iris absolute, lilac, hyacinth, wisteria blossom, and heliotropine. At its base are musks, talc, and rice powder. It's a floral scent that has been described as powdery. I perfer the term "soft" for this one.

Roman Coppola directed the television advertisement for Love, Chloé, an inspired choice by Coty, which owns Chloé. It features Raquel Zimmermann striding through a day in Paris. She’s featured in numerous locales, including the Pont Alexandre III. The ad is intended to simultaneously convey a sense of modernity and a vintage character. New and old even meet in the design of the flacon, which was inspired by an old bottle. It has a metal plaque at its base and an old-fashioned chain to keep the cap close to the bottle’s neck.

I read on another blog (can't remember which one) that the lightweight chain that holds the cap to the bottle had broken. The same was true on my bottle, and quality control is the issue. There is a ring to which the chain is attached, and the ring was open on mine. There was no way to keep the chain from slipping off a ring with a wide gap. I have two choices: 1) I can leave it off, which I will probably do, or 2) I can use a pair of needle-nosed pliers to fix it. I don't think I need to solder it. I don't care that much.

When I wrote about Love, Chloé this summer and how bummed I was that other countries were getting it before the U.S., Clarisse, my cherished reader in France, offered to buy it for me and send it. She did buy it, but got to the local post office in France to find that she couldn't ship perfume, a flammable liquid. That's another story, and don't get me going. I sincerely doubt terrorists are planning to ship a few fragrances to blow up an airplane, and those working around the planes are not allowed to smoke. Oh well, there must be something I don't understand or haven't taken the time to learn. Poor Clarisse! After going to all that trouble to buy Love, Chloé for me, she had to go to more trouble to return it.

Now I'll turn back to the fragrance, which is absolutely lovely, despite the bottle malfunction. While it is powdery, I would describe it as a fresh, soft floral with a hint of fruit. The notes. listed above, are a beautiful blend that includes some of my favorite scents. Couldn't you nap under a wisteria arbor? The pink pepper gives it just a slight zip. It does dry down to a fragrance that anyone close to you should find attractive. This is an office-friendly fragrance. I am very pleased with it - unusual since I am often dismissive of "department store fragrances." They are getting much more desirable!

I purchased mine at Saks during Friends & Family. It's my understanding that it's exclusive to Saks - for now at least.

Photo courtesy of Chloé

Coming Attraction: Love, Chloé

Set to arrive in August in the U.K., Love, Chloé is the latest women’s fragrance from Chloé. Love, Chloé’s scent, created by Givaudan perfumers Louise Turner and Nathalie Cetto-Gracia, has top notes that include orange blossom and pink pepper. The heart of the scent is filled with iris absolute, lilac, hyacinth, wisteria blossom, and heliotropine. At its base are musks, talc, and rice powder. The scent has been described as powdery, and it's got to be floral. It sounds heavenly. I am dying to get my hands on Love, Chloé.

Roman Coppola directed the television advertisement for Love, Chloé, an inspired choice by Coty, which owns Chloé. It features Raquel Zimmermann striding through a day in Paris. She’s featured in numerous locales, including the Pont Alexandre III. The ad is intended to simultaneously convey a sense of modernity and a vintage character. New and old even meet in the design of the flacon, which was inspired by an old bottle. It has a metal plaque at its base and an old-fashioned chain to keep the cap close to the bottle’s neck.

The new scent will be launched exclusively at Harrods in the U.K. on Aug. 22 and be introduced in all other markets starting in September - except for the U.S., where there will be an exclusive at Saks Fifth Avenue starting in mid-October. What? How does Harrods keep scoring all the latest fragrance launches? Why do we have to wait until mid-October? Is our market might slipping? Double sigh!

Photo courtesy of Chloé

Chloé Eau de Fleurs - Capucine Eau de Toilette

Chloé introduced a new collection of three fragrances in February 2010. The collection, named Eau de Fleurs ($135 each), offers three distinct fragrances: Capucine, Lavande, and Néroli, packed in elegant glass flacons with silver stoppers. Even the boxes are beautiful. Each fragrance comes in a solid white box with a top cover that can be lifted and separated from the base of the outer carton, leaving each heavy bottle on a stand.

My favorite of the three fragrances is Capucine (Nasturtium), and I love it! Capucine is a green floral fragrance - it's even green in color. It's crisp and refreshing, with notes of lemon, jasmine, and rose essence. I've read that it also has notes of galbanum (which gives it its green essence, almost like green apple), sage, bergamot, neroli, lily of the valley, musk - and juniper berry for a tiny dash of spice.

It's a beautiful, feminine, fresh fragrance - different from others in my collection. I'm wearing it now, and I'll wear it all summer. It lasts on my skin for about four hours (it is an eau de toilette, after all), with a soft dry-down. I made myself a little travel size to throw in my purse for mid-day sprays so that I can enjoy it after lunch as much as I do earlier in the day.

In care you're curious, Lavande is composed with citrus, violet leaves, and musk. I can't smell lavender in it, even though lavender is its namesake. Perhaps the spring pollen season has affected my nose. Néroli has mandarin orange, amber, sage, rosemary, tonka bean, cedar, and peony notes. Néroli isn't your typical orange flower fragrance. It strikes me as a heady, herby, woody fragrance with bitter orange barely peeking through the other notes.

What's interesting to me about this collection is that the three fragrances are so different. I'll bet there's one you will love. Try them at Saks, Bloomingdales, or Nordstrom and see which one that will be! They offer a spectrum of unique florals - so unique that I hesitate to call them florals. They aren't easy to characterize; each has an unmistakable originality. I think the collection is a win!

Photos courtesy of Chloé