Perfume Stars: Summer Favorites. Part 1

The perfumes that celebrities wear are a topic that seems to fascinate many. For a perfume-addict like me, a person who spends a lot of time thinking and reading about perfume, the term “celebrity” includes not just actors, singers, politicians and other “typical” kinds of famous people, but also perfumers, creators of fragrance lines and perfume experts and writers. In fact, this perfume nerd is much more likely to be all aflutter, star-struck and tongue-tied having accidentally bumped into say, Maurice Roucel or Lorenzo Villoresi rather than say, George Clooney or Bill Clinton. And while I am mildly curious to know what perfume the said Clooney, Clinton or even the much-admired Catherine Deneuve wear, it is far more interesting for me to find out about the favorite fragrances of the perfume stars. So this summer I decided to gather my courage and to talk to some of the most fascinating people in the perfume industry, about their warm-weather favorites. As a bonus juicy tidbit, I also asked them about their preferred holiday destinations. In the course of the next couple of weeks I will be posting the answers. Today is the first installment. I hope you enjoy reading the feature as much as I have enjoyed preparing it. Linda Pilkington, Ormonde Jayne What are your favorite summer fragrances? What are the characteristics of your ideal summer scent? “My favourite summer fragrances are Osmanthus and Frangipani… Osmanthus when traveling in a hot country, together with an Osmanthus bath & shower crème, you can’t go wrong, it cuts through the heat and keeps you going, when the heat is on. Frangipani for European summers, slightly more floral, but in a soft captivating way. The type of perfume people ask, what are you wearing? Men find it highly attractive.” What is your favorite holiday destination? “Holidays are usually 50% work as well, so Laos, to visit the growers I use for our perfumes and it’s an undiscovered area, so it’s more special for a holiday but also the South of France, Grasse. I have a close relationship with a few small companies and like to meet up. You can’t beat good food, rose wine, the sea and arrogant chauvinistic good looking French men.” Keiko Mecheri What are your favorite summer fragrances? What are the characteristics of your ideal summer scent? “In my private collection, I love the Jasmine de Provence, which looks like a field of Jasmine in a summer morning. I just finished creating for the home fragrance collection, a wonderful fragrance of fig leaves and green almonds with a refreshing zest of argumes, a souvenir from a sojourn to Tunisia. I also love fragrances that are reminiscent of my sailing cruise with my two little boys to Bora Bora, with the smell of monoi (coconut oil) / tiare with a hint of vanilla and ylang-ylang oil. I even imagine creating a fragrance with mother of pearl. (Does it have a smell?) It is my favorite season of the year as it is the greatest time for inspiration. The characteristics of my ideal summer scent is very much a reflection of how I spend my summers with my loved ones, a time of relaxation, reflection, carefree expression, a time of discovery, perhaps even a suspension of time, or even transcending time and space. Whether I am staying in my home in California or traveling abroad, it is always a time of evocation, inspiration. Perfumes for me are always associated with precious moments.” What is your favorite holiday destination? “With recent discovery for sailing, I have rediscovered with my loved the beautiful coast of Sicily. We are planning a big sojourn to "discover" the atolls of Polynesia. One of my best vacation destinations is a leisure day in my garden.” Mona di Orio What are your favorite summer fragrances? What are the characteristics of your ideal summer scent? “The summer brings so many intense and deep scents, especially in the South of France where I chose to live, for me it's a pure felicity, to smell again and again each year: in the market, the fresh basil, the ripe melon, the velvety peaches, the green tomato leaves... in the "garigue", the warm pine needles, the aromatic dried earth, the strong fig leaves, the wild fennel... and when the lukewarm breeze transports the lavender fields smell, I feel elated! But also the sunny sprays of seawater... And above all, the jasmine fragrance when the warm starry night comes... During the summer time, I love to splash my neck and my shoulders with some very citrus fragrances like : "Eau de Fleurs de Cedrat" from Guerlain, "Eau Sauvage" from Christian Dior, "Eau d'Hadrien" from Annick Goutal, and my sparkling "Lux" !!!!! During the evening, I enjoy to wear mysterious fragrances like "Vol de Nuit" from Guerlain, "Narcisse Noire" from Caron, or "Nuit Noire"...” What is your favorite holiday destination? “All the Mediterranean beautiful and wild places, Corsica, Sardinia and Sicilia, and some parts of the Provence....because it's full of wonderful smells… [and] reminds of my magical childhood in my grandmother 's garden in the South of France, where I found my passion... to smell, and my vocation... to create fragrances...” Lorenzo Villoresi What are your favorite summer fragrances? What are the characteristics of your ideal summer scent? “My favourite summer fragrances are fresh and herbaceous, with citrus notes and light spices (mint, cardamom, coriander). Not too heavy, not too strong. Something like my “Uomo” or “Dilmun”.” What is your favorite holiday destination? “My ideal holiday destination is a peaceful, silent, secluded spot where I can enjoy the sounds and the odours of Nature (real nature, the wilderness, no pretty gardens but real forests), possibly close to the sea. I am thinking of Tasmania, maybe…” Claude Marchal, Parfums MDCI What are your favorite summer fragrances? What are the characteristics of your ideal summer scent? “If I had to pick a summer fragrance, I would definitely go towards something flowery and light (not very original a statement, sorry!) which would fit an outdoor, natural, sunny, free, relaxed way of life. But if I had to tell which scent I really love and immediately associate to summer, I would definitely say....Monoï, or tiare. What???! Tiare? Yes. This may come as a disappointment to you, but this is simply true. Tiare will forever remind me of my younger days on the beaches of the Mediterranean, of happy, careless times when I paid for my vacations working as a sailing instructor at Club Med: there is prescription now as this was 30 years ago, but whenever I smell tiare, I am instantly brought back to Morocco, Corsica or other places and moments perfect happiness. The scent of oleanders under the sun, of salt on tanned skin, the sound of cicadas in the pinetrees, the blue blue Mediterranean sea in the back... Simple, maybe simplistic, but this is what to me is the summer scent. Now if I had to pick one feminine fragrance for the summer, it would be L' Eau de Thé Vert by Roger & Gallet.” What is your favorite holiday destination? “Now a tough one, my favorite summer destination...the mountains! As far as possible from the elegant fashionable quarters of Paris, and the subtleties of the world of fragrances. I love to be alone or with a good friend, on the glaciers of the French Alps near Chamonix, near the Mont Blanc, for two or three day long hunts for crystals; the mountains are so spectacular, so beautiful, so pure, it is like a spell which draws me year after year to these not always very friendly spots . Just magical. The search is as exciting as possible, a bit dangerous but the rewards are priceless in terms of what a find means and all the memories that go with it. This is my way to forget about Paris and its notorious traffic jams. Other favorite destination - a bit more conventional- the beaches with my daughters and patient wife! As you can see, I am a very simple person and my preferences go towards nature a thousand times more than towards sophisticated, fashionable, trendy destinations...I hope that this does not come as a disappointment, you may have imagined I was a sort of elegant Serge Lutens...Sorry...” To be continued next week. Images courtesy of grasse-riviera.com, monadiorio.com, lorenzovilloresi.it, Claude Marchal.