Elegant Frenchwoman Carole Bouquet was the face of Chanel N°5 in the 1980s.
Here is the commercial for the perfume.
Aesthetics have changed, fashion changes on a daily basis, but style and elegance are timeless, as both Carol and N°5 demonstrate.
I’m currently obsessing (yes, obsessing, there is no other word) about N°5, it is one of the great loves of my perfumed life, I feel I have come full circle in the last ten years.
How about you? What is your relationship with this iconic scent?
Beloved couldn’t have come to my mailbox courtesy of the wonderful Christopher Chong, at a more opportune moment. I was deeply in love with another perfume at the time, I had been wearing it non-stop for four unprecedented days in a row – another big, abstract floral, another quintessentially French perfume, Chanel N°5. So, already in a floral state of mind, Beloved was just what I needed to be reassured that something as beautiful and special as N°5 was still being made today.
Beloved was created by Bernard Ellena and includes notes of jasmine, rose, clary sage, clove bud, chamomile, cardamom, ylang-ylang, violet, everlasting flower, cistus, benzoin, olibanum, patchouli, cedar, sandalwood, castoreum, civet, leather, musk, vanilla, maltol and amber.
Beloved opens like a symphony orchestra – that is still tuning their instruments. But that tuning phase lasts a mere minute and then quickly, the conductor arrives and the opulent opening accords of a grand romantic symphony can be heard (smelled of course, but bear with me and my musical analogy).
The full orchestra is playing, a massive body of strings carrying the melody, the brass instruments coming on strong and the timbal is there too. Now and again an oboe solo (rose) weaves its way out, the clarinet (jasmine) joining in for a sweet duet, but mostly it is the full complement of musicians joining together in a magnificent symphonic piece of art.
The bass group is gaining prominence over time. The violins and flutes playing softer now, receding and fading, but only after a few hours, while the celli and bassoons carry on the melody and the trombones and tubas provide a steady background thrum.
Robert Schumann‘s Symphony No. 3 “Die Rheinische” in E flat major, Op. 97 seems to be an appropriate musical comparison, in its grand scope, its full romantic orchestration, not always comfortable flow and its ever changing moods are dramatic and emotional, but always beautiful and above all joyful.
Beloved is a big perfume, and despite the previous comments about its grandeur and drama, it is not hard to wear, actually I find Beloved particularly easy to wear, with a lovely, but not intrusive sillage and excellent lasting power (Do you know an Amouage that is gone in two hours? I don’t, and this one is no exception.)
Großer Musikvereinssaal In Vienna
Beloved is a wonderful perfume, it tells its story differently to everyone as the different reviews coming out here and there suggest, but all the reviewers agree on the fact that Beloved is a beautiful addition to the impeccably edited Amouage line. My only gripe is its limited availability and ambitious price.
That aside, I have fallen for my dearly Beloved and reveling in its enveloping, symphonic beauty, I feel the same inner movement like when I hear Herbert von Karajan gracefully conducting the Berlin Philharmonic.
Amouage Beloved is available in 100 ml Eau de Parfum. It is sold at Bergdorf Goodman, Harrods, Tsum and Amouage boutiques.
The blog sale is open again, I have added another round of bottles seeking a new home.
Please inquire per email (olfactoria at gmail dot com) about details and prices, I also can be reached through the contact page above or FB.
Hopefully there is something you are looking for…
Thank you all for participating in the April giveaway for two 2.5ml samples of Cuir de Lancome and Cuir Beluga.
I loved reading about your various indiscretions, and take solace in the fact that my own rule breaking is no exception. We like our rules, but we seem to like breaking them even more. 😉
So I consulted my trusty friend random.org again and the winner is
Hanna in Prague
Congratulations, Hanna! Please contact me with your address details as soon as possible.
I was very touched by one comment, where a woman told us about her late husband always selecting perfumes for her, now she would like to enter in the draw to once more get a perfume chosen for her.
I’d love to do that! So I decided to send a second set of samples to
anitathepianist
Please contact me with your details, Anita!
Thanks for entering and commenting in the giveaway, until the next one at the end of May!
L’Heure Convoitée, the coveted hour, is the latest release in the boutique exclusive line by Cartier. I own one perfume – L’Heure Fougueuse, I still think it is the most unusual and unique of the entire line.
“L’Heure Convoiteé is lips reddened, rustling fabrics, blushing, it is the hour of the lovers parade. A fragrance which recalls the smell of a theatre box, a stage, a lipstick. A floral and spicy fragrance around the carnation, with Iris notes, velvety and powdery notes, to make the cheeks turn red.”
– from the press release
Created in 2011 by Mathilde Laurent, L’Heure Convoitée includes the official notes of strawberry pulp, chestnut cream, iris, red rose, clove and fresh green notes.
Although it sounds like a recipe, it is not nearly as gourmand as the delicious sounding notes make you believe. *short pause for getting a snack, meet you back here in five*
Despite the images the press release wants to evoke, mine are decidedly different.
When I was in New York, I smelled this for the first time a the Cartier counter at Saks. The SA told me it reminded him of the smell of dolls. Plastic dolls, he or his sister played with as children. This image stuck with me.
Now every time I freshly apply L’Heure Convoitée I get an amalgam of weird images:
On some days all I get is the soap and I find myself wondering what exactly Cartier was thinking, some days there is more of the floral aspect and I’m quite charmed, and on some occasions the highly artificial strawberry takes completely over and I can only resort to real soap to end the drama.
It was either this image or a dead Brezhnev...
While L’Heure Convoitée is not a perfume I would pursue, I enjoyed the memories it triggered (well, I could have done without Brezhnev).
Did you try the latest L’Heure? What did you think?
On May 1st it is traditional in France to give a small bouquet of lily of the valley. In Paris, you go to Guerlain and give your beloved a bottle of the yearly issued, strictly limited Muguet Eau de Toilette. The motto is “Un jour, un parfum!” and Muguet is only available for one day a year at the Maison Guerlain and Guerlain boutiques.
That is a lovely and romantic tradition, and I benefitted from the generosity of a friend whose husband is the type to go to Guerlain and get his wife one of those yearly changing, but always beautiful bottles. Thank you for the sample, dear N!
Atomizer bottle from 2009, original bottle from 1906, Quadrilobe bottle from 2007.
On Sorcery of Scent is a post about the changing bottle design, please hop on over to read all about that aspect of the perfume.
Muguet was first created in 1905 by Jacques Guerlain and includes notes of bergamot, lily, lily of the valley, jasmine and rose.
Muguet opens with bergamot and green notes, but almost immediately the fresh, a little bit soapy lily of the valley accord is here, sweet and strong. The jasmine is there to prop it up and it is the kind that teeters on the very edge of clean and indolic.
The design for 2011 never saw the light of day...
The base is very Guerlain to my nose – the familiar vanilla, tonka amber combination gives the perfume a cosy and warm aspect that I find lacking in many lily of the valley perfumes, which I why they are not usually among my favorites. The almost gourmand base makes this little flower famed for its innocence and primness more grown up and down to earth.
Muguet is less a perfume for angels, more one for people.
The final bottle of 2011
I find the way Muguet is presented, both the bottle designs and the fact that it is available for that special occasion once a year only, very romantic and appealing, even though it makes it more difficult to obtain it.
But isn’t the hunt a big part of our passion for perfume?
By Tara
What rules do you have in place to limit the number of bottles of perfume you buy?
Do you have a perfume budget or allow yourself a certain number of bottles a month or year?
Do you perhaps only allow yourself a full bottle of perfume once you’ve finished a decant of it first ?
How is your chosen strategy working out for you and are there exceptions to it?
Or is there no limit on your purchases?
My Answer:
I’m lucky in as much as I don’t fall in love with a new perfume very often, so I don’t yet feel the need to impose a strict monetary budget or particular number of purchases per year. However, I do feel most comfortable with my collection at around the 25 bottles mark. Certainly under 30, anyway. For me, that is a usable amount and a figure I feel OK with. Too keep within that limit I sell the bottles I am tiring of, to make room for more. This may change at some point (probably when I hit 31 bottles!) but right now that works for me.
Now, I know methods for sanctioning and preventing new bottle purchases vary widely from perfumista to perfumista, so please share yours .
The bottle for the month of April came from the beautiful Belgian haven/heaven of perfume called Place Vendome.
Guerlain Cuir Beluga is such an elegant and comforting as well as comfortable scent, I just had to have it.
Since Cuir Beluga is famous for not actually containing leather, and exploring the leather note seemed the right thing to do for the sake of the blog and my further olfactory education, a very small, insignificant almost, and decidedly cheap little bottle was added that month – Cuir de Lancome. I think we can all agree that this is totally Tara’s fault and I am not to be blamed for this minuscule breach of my own rules. (That is what they are for, isn’t it?)
All complaints (including The Husband’s) are to be addressed to Tara.
So do you want to try those two very different leathers?
Leave a comment on this post stating a little indiscretion of your own, a little rule-breaking you are guilty of and you are in the draw for 2,5ml samples of Cuir Beluga and Cuir de Lancome.
The giveaway is open until May 2, the winner will be announced on May 3.
Good luck and I’m looking forward to your answers!
The last Monday Question pitched two houses against one another – the luxurious By Kilian and the prolific Parfumerie Générale.
The lovely Undina, uncontested statistics champion of Perfumeland, was kind enough to devote her time again to make to amazing graphs showing the outcome of your votes. Thank you so much, Undina!
Mr Hennessy looks decidedly sad in this photo, no wonder – he lost to the perfectly asymmetrical Pierre Guillaume.
The PG bottle has garnered more votes than Kilian’s.
Thank you all for casting your votes and agonizing with me over this impossible choice. (Ruth, I hope your stress levels are back to normal by now!)
Until next time!
By Guest Writer Alexandra
Editor’s Note: Please let us welcome regular reader Alexandra, who graciously agreed to write a post on scenting Greek Goddesses. Alexandra is a museum professional and lives in London.
A few weeks ago Birgit offered some beautiful perfume suggestions for a selection of her favourite characters; I have always found scenting people difficult because of the subtleties and contradictions of human nature. I am slowly building up my perfume wardrobe: I have formal scents, sexy scents, scents for relaxing, for working hard, for making a good impression at work and scents for warm spring days – I can’t ever imagine finding one perfume that sums me up entirely.
But the exercise did get me thinking: there is no such difficulty when it comes to the Greek Goddesses; they represent the extremes of human nature made manifest. Aphrodite is sexy, she doesn’t have to worry about an appropriate scent for a quiet night in.
I have always loved the Greek myths and have a soft spot for the Classical gods in films:
Ursula Andress as Aphrodite – GENIUS! But my perfume-loving soul now needs to add an extra dimension to them, so below are my own humble offerings to the Goddesses that make up the Greek Pantheon:
Hera – Queen of the Gods and sacred guardian of marriage and family.
Easy! A regal, grand dame of perfume that still smells like a loving embrace, for me this could only ever be Shalimar. And as Queen of the Gods she can have as many crystal flacons of the extrait as her heart desires.
Artemis – Virgin Goddess of the hunt.
Mysterious and proud, Artemis is most at home running through the depths of the forest in wild pursuit. For me Artemis wears Ormonde Woman, the bewitching scent of a dark green forest, sliced by shards of sunlight.
Athene – the Goddess of wisdom, skill and justice, born in full battle armour.
I see Athene in Mitsouko, the very epitome of civilised perfection, classical and true.
Aphrodite – not a romantic Goddess, but the goddess of pure unadulterated lust.
I was torn on this one, I initially chose Penhaligon’s Amaranthine (has Amaran-thigh ever been so appropriate?), which always reminds me of sweaty bodies (in a good way…), but in the end I opted for Fracas. Fracas is fleshy and re-blooded, but also attention grabbing, it can not be ignored – Aphrodite’s kinda perfume.
Demeter – Goddess of seasons, nature and the cornfield.
This has to be Parfumerie Générale’s Bois Blond, the only perfume I have ever smelled where you can follow the grass through summer to the hay of autumn, perfect!
Persephone – Queen of Tartarus
OK, so Persephone is not officially of the Pantheon, but I love the name, and I knew immediately how to scent her. Persephone is the daughter of Demeter and was abducted by Hades while collecting flowers. What could suit her better than L’Artisan Parfumeur’s Voleur de Roses? A beautiful flower shrouded in earthy darkness.
Finally, my knowledge of men’s fragrances let’s me down when it comes to the Gods, do let me know if you have any ideas
– may I just offer Serge Lutens’s Muscs Koublai Khan for the violent, philandering Ares?
Olfactoria's Travels 