New Fragrance Launch Mariah Carey

US. Elizabeth Arden and Bazooka Candy Brands, a division of Topps Company, have announced a strategic partnership for the launch of Mariah Carey's new confectionery-inspired fragrance collection, Lollipop Bling. The partnership brings together three powerful entities – fragrance, confectionery and music – under the name of superstar Mariah Carey. Carey joined Arden's celebrity stable in 2006. Lollipop Bling was inspired by the “fun and playful nature” of her marriage proposal – an engagement ring hidden inside a Ring Pop lollipop package. Mariah Carey's Lollipop Bling, a trio of confectionery-inspired scents, is described as a breakthrough concept unique to both the fragrance and candy categories. The inspiration for Lollipop Bling, Carey's marriage proposal, and the brand story will be told in multiple ways. Each fragrance purchase will include a Ring Pop, and the national advertising will feature Carey wearing Ring Pops. The fragrance and packaging are candy- and flavour-inspired. In addition, an interactive on-line experience will incorporate the Ring Pop inspiration.

Lollipop Bling's 1.0fl oz scents – Honey, Mine Again and Ribbon – will retail for US$35 each. Candy-inspired promotions, including a gumball machine gift set and a lollipop rollerball fragrance set, will be introduced this autumn.

Fendi Fan di Fendi fragrance

Fendi will launch Fan di Fendi in September. The new fragrance is for ‘playful and passionate’ women. Fan di Fendi is a floral with leather accents; the notes include pear, blackcurrant, mandarin, pink pepper, rose, jasmine, soft leather and patchouli.

Fendi Fan di Fendi will be available in 30, 50 and 75 ml Eau de Parfum.

Coty Prestige and Chloé pledge their Love in Paris

FRANCE. Coty Prestige unveiled the new feminine fragrance from the house of Chloé, called Love, Chloé, at a launch event in Paris last night. The scent will be launched worldwide from September.

The official reveal took place at the upscale, Michelin-starred Apicius restaurant in the heart of the city. The venue featured specially designed “mood rooms” to help guests fully immerse themselves in the Chloé universe. Journalists then enjoyed pink Champagne and a gastronomic cocktail dinner.

The event was attended by the Love, Chloé face, model Raquel Zimmerman, who arrived looking impossibly glamorous in head-to-toe Chloé, at the wheel of the vintage Mercedes convertible that features in the advertising campaign, which was shot by Roman Coppola.

Coty CEO Bernd Beetz and Coty Prestige President Michele Scannavini were also in attendance, along with Chloé Creative director Hannah MacGibbon. Flying the flag for travel retail were ANA Trading Duty Free Co President Shuichi Kamiyama; NAA Retailing Corp Manager, Merchandising, Product Division II Norifumi Uesugi; and Gebr Heinemann Purchasing Director Perfume & Cosmetics Inken Menck.

Love, Chloé is described as an elegant, powdery fragrance, a “celebration of radiant, generous, spontaneous femininity, free and graceful movement and contagious beauty”.

Composed by Givaudan noses Louise Turner and Nathalie Cettogracia, the Love, Chloé edp follows in the footsteps of the house’s floral fragrance history. “To reproduce the cult powdery signature, we had to play with the abstract and resist the pitfall of a figurative bouquet,” noted Turner.

The juice opens on top notes of orange blossom and pink pepper. The heart is a blend of iris absolute, lilac, hyacinth, wisteria blossom and heliotropine (an iconic ingredient used in perfumery for over a century, which delivers an almond/subtle vanilla tone). The base combines powdery musks, talc and rice powder.

The Love, Chloé flacon has been designed to resemble a must-have accessory. The rectangular glass displays the brand’s signature nude pink-coloured juice, while the base is engraved with the fragrance name. In a nod to the house’s well-known leathergoods offer, a delicate gold chain fastens the cap to the bottle.

Nina Ricci Nina L’Elixir perfume

Nina Ricci will launch Nina L’Elixir, a new flanker to 2006’s Nina fragrance for women. The fragrance will be fronted by British singer Florrie Arnold (you can see her covering Blondie’s Sunday Girl at a Nina L’Elixir press event). Like the original, Nina L’Elixir was developed by perfumer Olivier Cresp. The notes include jasmine, red fruit, lime caipirinha and cotton musk. I will update with sizes / prices when I can find them

Baby Phat Dare Me 2010

Dare Me, which launched earlier this spring under her Baby Phat line, is Simmons’ fifth fragrance, and she’s joined a number of her colleagues in the celebrity fragrance world in going downmarket: Dare Me is in mass market stores instead of Macy’s and the like, and can be had for a song (relatively speaking, of course). The (presumably) diminished resources have not dimmed her style, though: Dare Me’s opening is almost (but not quite) as over-the-top fruity and sweet as its predecessor, Baby Phat Fabulosity. It’s fruity, but it’s hard to say what fruits are meant to be represented — it smells resolutely “standard-issue pink celebrity fruity floral”. It’s enlivened by a bit of creamy coconut, but the rest of the notes (magnolia, honeysuckle, white milkwood, creme de musk and sandalwood) are pretty much the usual blur. The dry down is considerably lighter and cleaner than Fabulosity’s, and Dare Me fizzles out faster.

Dare Me is neither interesting nor gorgeous, and it doesn’t smell like it costs any more than it does. Still, it’s fine: if you’re in need of a casual, summery fruity floral with some coconut and a celebrity name, Dare Me won’t kill you. Personally, if I was after a casual, summery fruity floral with some coconut and a celebrity name, I’d go for J Lo’s Miami Glow, which can be had for a few dollars less if you shop around.

Gucci by Gucci Sport pour Homme

Gucci by Gucci Sport pour Homme is a flanker to 2008’s Gucci by Gucci pour Homme. According to Gucci creative director Frida Giannini, Sport is “…a new, fresher and lighter fragrance to suit the demands of a spontaneous lifestyle. I don’t necessarily link it literally with sports. It’s more a sporty state of mind. Meaning, off-duty time and the attitude that comes from being relaxed and carefree.” 2

Gucci by Gucci Sport seems to have been created by committee (“a collaboration involving Giannini, the Procter & Gamble Prestige Products fragrance creation team and fragrance supplier Givaudan….” 2) Gucci by Gucci Sport contains grapefruit, mandarin, cypress, lemon, cardamom, fig, vetiver, patchouli, and ambrette seeds.

Gucci by Gucci Sport begins with “abrasive” citrus and a menthol-y note (cardamom on steroids? eucalyptus?); there’s also a second or two of “ripe” (cat-pee) grapefruit. As the citrus fades, minty/menthol notes dominate; I don’t smell most of the (well-blended) listed notes. In its early phase of development, I’d call Gucci by Gucci Sport a “mouthwash” fragrance with a hygiene-product odor: Listerine, meet Axe! Gucci by Gucci Sport dries down to a woody (cedar)-musk-fresh accord with a hint of hard-candy/patchouli sweetness In the extreme dry-down, the notes are a bit discordant and “salty.”

I really like the Gucci by Gucci pour Homme ‘horse-bit’ bottle (and I especially like Gucci by Gucci Sport pour Homme’s clear glass bottle filled with green juice). The Gucci bottle “elevates” the fragrance from the usual boring blue bottles and blue juice of many sport fragrances on the market and it avoids a kitschy “sport”-theme design.

Gucci by Gucci Sport Eau de Toilette is sold in 50 and 90 ml ($57/73); the fragrance is also available in after shave lotion and balm, deodorant (spray/stick) and shower gel.

Neither Burberry Sport for Men nor Gucci by Gucci Sport pour Homme are innovative. I’ve smelled this type of “stuff” time and time again…and with the wild commercial success of sport scents, I’ll probably smell these aromas many more times in the future. After drenching myself with these two fragrances over the course of a week, I came to prefer the Gucci fragrance. Even if Gucci by Gucci Sport pour Homme’s weird, harsh, off-kilter notes are an “accident” or miscalculation, they provide more interest for me than the staid, “soap bar” scent of Burberry Sport for Men.

Sky+HD Eau de Stade

Sky+HD, a UK-based high definition tv service, has launched Eau de Stade, a new limited edition unisex fragrance for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The scent is fronted by British pop star Rachel Stevens; the ad is apparently an homage to the Keira Knightley ad for Chanel’s Coco Mademoiselle. Per John Bailey of The Perfumers Guild, who developed the fragrance…

…The fragrance not only hits the back of the net with the classic scents of football from around the world, but also the aromas of the host nation.

Salty notes have been used to encapsulate the smell of the fresh sea breeze in Cape Town- known as the ‘Cape doctor’ – alongside woody, smoky hints to represent the nation’s passion for barbecues, and also Tagette, an essential oil sourced directly from South Africa.

Eau de Stade is £19.99, and can be purchased at Soccer Scene’s World Cup pop-up store in London.