Frenchwoman Celine Verleure, formerly of Kenzo, Osmoz.com and L’Orèal, is a true perfume lover. She wanted to realize her dream and create her own perfume label.
Said label existed long before any perfume did, since Celine decided to go down a new and interesting road – to let people who love perfume, be a part of it’s creation. So Celine opened a Facebook page (or two, one in French, one in English) called “The Blog For The Fragrance That Doesn’t Exist (yet)!”, inviting thousands of interested internet users to witness and take part in every step of the creation of a new brand.
“Take part in the creation of an intuitive, creative, artistic, unique niche brand of perfumes, with a powerful personality, and the polar opposite of perfumes brands launched with run-of-the-mill marketing campaigns. You can share your ideas and opinions, comment on proposals and artistic choices, and interact with the art director via the Facebook fan page.”
Over months, followers could see the development of the idea, the collaboration with the artists inspiring the perfumes to be, the design of bottles and overall visual impact of the line and even taking part in choosing the fragrance’s names.
I followed Celine’s project for some time now and she was so gracious as to offer me the chance to try her perfumes before the launch, which will take place on September 15 in Europe and the Middle East. The perfumes will be available from the company website from September 15, they ship to the US and Europe for now. The perfumes will also be available in niche boutiques throughout Europe, from the end of September. The US launch is planned for the beginning of 2012.
There are three perfumes is the line, called Autoportrait, Still Life and Chambre Noire. From those names it becomes clear how the perfumes came to be. A collaboration of three photographers and three perfumers, the fragrances are inspired by photography. Three works of art, three perfumes.
“Olfactive Studio is an encounter between contemporary artistic photography and perfumery; between the eye and the nose.”
The perfumers let themselves be inspired by the visual input of the photographer’s works, with the goal to create an olfactory work of art. Marketing strategies and focus groups had no place in this endeavor. All three perfumes are designed for men and women, as Celine says:
“The perfumes are angels; they have no gender, but they have a soul.”
While I was very attracted to the visual realization of Celine’s ideas, I didn’t know what to expect from the perfumes. I have spent a lot of time with those three, since I received generous decants to really allow me to get to know the perfumes intimately.
I will review each of the perfumes over the next three days in depth, since they deserve a close look, not only a quick mini-review. I hope to see you tomorrow!
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Now I see where your Monday question came from. 🙂
Can’t wait to read the reviews, especially Chambre Noire as it sounds great just by the name.
It all follows a grand plan! 😉
I think these perfumes have great names, I believe you just picked the one that you would love best out of the three (from what I think I know about your tastes). 🙂
Good luck with your venture
What intriguing names. I look forward to reading your reviews!
I think the names are very well
chosen and memorable.
Exciting! I look forward to the reviews (and I like the bottles, so check 1!).
Good! 🙂 I think the bottles are very well designed.
Looking forward to hearing more about these.
Just tune in over the next three days. 🙂
Interesting and original concept and you recommend them so tick, tick, tick! Plus I like that quote “The perfumes are angels; they have no gender, but they have a soul.”
That sentence is so beautiful, isn’t it? Perfumes as angels, perfect!
Can’t wait to read your reviews – I like the part about focus on soul, not gender 🙂
Me too, and those perfumes are really full of soul, gender designation does not even enter my mind when smelling them.
Stunning presentation! I am completely enamored with the look of the line— to answer your Monday question, appearance and story-line are the first things that attract me in a house (whether new to me, or new overall), and Olfactive Studio has both! Can’t wait for the reviews…
🙂
They look beautiful indeed! The bottle IS important… 🙂
I didn’t have much time during the latter part of last week to see what you were writing about. But I’m glad to be able to post again and I too am looking forward to your reviews. It sounds like a project on basenotes that has sadly stalled for quite a while. I’m sure it was an exciting thing to be a part of the creative process!
I hope you had a great time at the wedding!
Glad to have you back though. 🙂
Thank you, friend. The wedding was beautiful and I was honored to be a part of it. As for your blog- I’ll catch up 😉
I do not like these bottles (though, I do not dislike them either) but I like the names so I look forward to your reviews.
I must say, though, that for me terms “autoportrait” and “still life” are associated with paintings and not the photography. But even if to accept them as belonging to a more modern field, three of them hardly belong to the same logical set: first two describing a type of content and the third one being a device. But maybe I’m missing something, so I’ll wait for your reviews and more information from the company.
And yes, just 3 new perfumes at launch is very important to me. So it’s a definite plus 🙂
I guess art is not always logical. 🙂 You are right of course, but I can live with that inconsistency.
Other than offensive name or ad campaign (as we discussed recently) not much else will keep me from trying a new perfume with great recommendations. I mentioned it only because in the previous post we were talking about ideas behind a new brand, an attractive concept.
Everything else being equal (like, let’s say, Birgit has never came across and positively reviewed a brand), a logical (in my understanding) concept will be more attractive to me than a non-logical one. Just a thought.
I understand, you seem to be a very analytical person, such a thing stands out then. I hope it does not distract you too much from appreciating the perfumes in the end.
I can certainly follow Undina to some degree – poorly written ad copy bothers me – e.g. Miller Harris on L’air de Rien: We’ve captured Jane Birkin’s inimitable style. Well, if her style is just that, how can you capture it?! 😉 But my pet peeve is style Parfum d’Empire and their odd celebrations of oppressive regimes of the past – I could certainly do without those, although I realize that they are probably the result of a lack of thinking things through rather than malice. Also, their choice of artistic inspiration seems oddly out-dated. But I’ll leave that up to them 🙂 With respect to Olactive Studio and their fragrance names,- they haven’t promised anything other than concepts relating to art and photography not that the names of their fragrances would derive from specific linguistic categories. And the names have a certain aesthetic appeal – in contrast to e.g. Oesel and Shingl – ugly names! ;-).
Very true…
Chambre Noire stands out not only because of the different category, but also the different language. But I really don’t care about that, I like the names and think they are fitting the perfumes very well, as is the entire concept. For me it is cohesive enough. 🙂
Look forward to your reviews on these.
Thank you, Sharryn.
Looking forward to those reviews.
The first is up today!
Another great post.
Thanks, George.
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