BOP News - Blog on Perfume News

We currently live in an age largely dominated by fashion and lifestyle. These are in turn largely dominated by celebrities. Celebrities are, well, dominated by nothing or no one.

So naturally, we want to look like celebrities. We want to wear like celebrities, speak like celebrities, act like celebrities, etc.

But what about SMELL?

Believe it or not, I do find that it is a factor of celebrity-appeal that is hardly ever mentioned when it could be. Of course, in the past, perfumes were always appreciated according to just how good they smelt, how attractive they were, and how generally up-market they appeared. It has, however, now become something of a custom for the younger generations to follow perfumes which do not bear the name of their perfumer - but bear the name of a celebrity. Examples of celebs who have released perfumes include Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Lopez, and of course, David and Victoria Beckham.

In fact, sales of celebrity perfumes have gone up 2′000 percent since 2004, confirming that we are currently in an age of celebrity perfume popularity.

Pop Diva Christina Aguilera released her new perfume called ‘Inspire’ on september 1st 2008.

Aguilera, in association with Proctor & Gamble Prestige Products, was seen showing off her new fragrance. Apparently, it contains notes usually found in perfumes for men, as Aguilera did used to like wearing her husband’s perfume.

Ignore the “Encoding” errors

Clive Christian is not a perfume brand which is know in every household. It is not a perfume brand which is common, or well known. But it is significant for one thing: it produces the most expensive perfume in the World.

Clive Christian “Imperial Majesty”, is sold in bottles of 16.9 ounces, adorned with a gold collar, and holding a beautiful five-carat diamond. Yes, thats a good diamond.

I dread to think about buying the empty bottle - let alone the actual perfume in it!

However, it’s not something you can just waltz into Selfridges and buy, regardless of it’s cost. Only five bottles are manufactured anually, making it the most rare perfume in commercial production.

So the final question: how much is it?

Well, at only $215′000 USD a bottle, it’s quite affordable if you are the Duke of somwhere. Apart from that, it is something to be marvelled at, more than desired.

Annick Goutal is has launched it’s first British boutique in London. The store, which can be found on Motcomb Street, London, is Annick Goutal’s hideway. In fact, it is relatively tucked away for a brand as well-known and versatile as Annick Goutal.

On the main floor is a quiet room, with seats, and a basin to try/remove the fragrances. Downstairs is a lingerie area with a small range of jewellery. They are also hoping to open a spa and treatment room sometime in the near future.

So many good wishes to Annick Goutal Perfume, in their new house tucked away in Knightsbridge, London.

So, we all know of THE American fashion company: Juicy Couture. We have all seen their sexy tracksuits, felt their gorgeoes velour, tried their lustuous handbags for size and seen pictures of our favourite celebrities wearing Juicy apparel. However, not so many of us have had the opportunity to SMELL their perfume.

Juicy Couture Perfume (yes, the perfume modestly named after the company) has been a hit fragrance since it’s release in August 2006.  Juicy Couture is now one of the most desirable fragrances in existence, as it’s scent is CLASSY, old-fashioned, and with distinctive notes of France, but in a bottle and from a company who are the height of current fashion.

The thing is, deep down inside everybody there is a longing for things from the past to return. All girls know they look pretty in a traditional dress, and all men look fantastic in a rustic suit. However, Juicy Couture is a fragrance which IS a tradition, but with touches of pink and watermelon, and it’s fresh, non-musky hints, it’s a complete perfume of the past, present, and future.

At this site one can find more details on Juicy Couture Perfume

As it’s nearly a week before Valentine’s Day, here are a list of facts for you:

• The average spend in the UK of Valentine’s Day Products is £65. Most of that goes on Perfumes and Fragrances.
• Over 1 Billion Valentine’s Day cards are sent (and I still don’t get one!). Surprisingly, Teachers receive the most, followed by children.
• Lace, a fabric associated with valentines day, is so named after Love And Romance.
• The heart is associated to Valentine’s Day as it is considered the source of all human emotions. The custom of drawing a heart shape is supposed to have come from early attempts to draw an organ that no one had seen. The symbol came on to become as a sign of love.
• In the Middle Ages young men and women drew the names from a bowl to see who would be their Valentine. They would wear this name pinned on their sleeves for one week. This was done so that it becomes easy for other people to know your true feelings. This was known as “to wear your heart on your sleeve”.
• In America, the pilgrims used to sent confections, such as sugar wafers, marzipan, sweetmeats and sugar plums, to their affianced. Lot of value was placed on these gifts because they included what was then a rare product, sugar. After the late 1800’s, beet sugar became widely used and more available, and sweet gifts continued to be cherished and enjoyed.

Source: My Dear Valentine

No. 1 Perfume has gone recently into the record books as the worlds most expensive perfume. The fragrance, which comes in a unique bottle, is said to cost $26,000 per ounce. That’s more than some people earn in a year, and for what? Just to smell nice I guess.

Source: Elite Choice, Spluch, Letters From The Soul

A Columbia based Neurobiology laboratory have come up with a more hi-tech method of the rather prehistoric “Scratch ‘n’ Sniff” cards you get in glossy magazines world wide. The iSmell - which has nothing to do with Apple - works by combining 50 base scents together to mimic common smells and perfume brands, similar to how an inkjet printer works by combining 5 base colours to make 36,000.

Of course, the prime candidate is for advertising perfume brands and improved web experiences, but already Avery Gilbert - the R&D Chief - has suggested a novel use for it:

“We’re doing the smell of decay and trash and everything and naturally, 15-year-old boys will want burning rubber and farts.”

We Say: It’s interesting how well it compares itself to an inkjet printer. When I print with my inkjet, and a colour is beginning to run out, I get wierd looking colours. I wonder what sort of smells you’d get if one of the 50 base smells expires before another.

Source: BNET

File this one under wierd. Perfumebay.com have lost a court case with a giant website after they succesfully argued that “people would click on Perfumebay.com instead of their site, thus causing a loss of revenue.”

The website who beat perfumebay.com in court? eBay.

From TG Daily:

[The owner, Jacquelyn] Tran, admitted that she sometimes would capitalize the b in perfumeBay much in the same way the b in eBay is capitalized.  Tran told the court she did this because, “it was a common thing she saw online where companies would capitalize the first letter of the first word if they had separate words.”

We Say: We find this story preposterous. There’s now a law against capitalising letters and having company names sneakily hidden within other company names. I’m sure nobody in their right mind would get confused. Now I’m off to visit tesconamy.com!