Vamp a NY by Honore des Pres & a Prize Draw
 In their description of Vamp à NY, Honoré des Prés call the scent, "futuristic". If so, it is back to the future for me. This tuberose rendition by Olivia Giacobetti smells like plombir, an ice cream from my Soviet childhood. Borrowed originally from the French Glace Plombières, the recipe of plombir calls for cream with high fat content, because as we know, all the best things in life are fattening. And the plombir I remember was certainly one of the best things in life.There are two kinds of plombir, "classic", with 12-13% of fat, and "fatty", with 15-20%. Vamp à NY falls into the "classic" category, and that is plenty. As far as tuberoses are concerned, that buttery feel is my favorite part. This is what I look for first of all, when I encounter a tuberose perfume, and if the creamy smoothness is lacking, I go no further. If it is there, I sniff for bonus qualities, which make a tuberose interesting: rubberiness, mentholated feel, earthiness. In other words, I want plombir with a twist. With its strangely raw, slightly verdant, subtly earthy feel, Vamp à NY is such a plombir. It has rum, and its molasses enhance both the sweet-creamy and the raw-chilly characteristics of the composition. For a lover of balms in perfume, the base of Vamp à NY is a delight, since it has several kinds, each displaying a vanillic aspect: an almost chocolatty vanilla for benzoin, a smoky one for Peru balsam and a vaguely floral one for Tolu. The balsamic drydown, again, ties in with both the dry-green-raw and the sweet-fatty-gourmand aspects of the blend, rounding up the composition in a very satisfying manner. Coming back to the earthy and raw feel of Vamp à NY...I find that the quality runs through all three scents in the We Love NY collection. I Love Les Carottes is staggeringly earthy, almost on the level of some CB I Hate Perfume creations, like Memory of Kindness (almost!). Love Coco has a very appealing raw quality too, which sets it apart from typical, overly sweet, obviously edible coconut fragrances.  I can't mention the star ingredients, tuberose, carrot, coconut, and not ask the question, why? Why these particular notes for the NY themed collection? Christian David, the artistic director, of Honoré des Prés told me that for them the tuberose is "definitely a scent of NY City, you can smell it in a lot of lobbies of beautiful hotels there". For Les Carottes, Olivia Giacobetti found the inspiration "at the Organic Market in Harlem". As far as the coconut is concerned, "we love the new trends to drink Coconut water in the States, so Pure and Healthy" - said Christian. "We think that it's the perfect Chic detox Scent to remember the good time of hollidays in NYC ..."In the end, any note can be "New York". After all, as Stefon from SNL would say, New York has Everything. Personally, if I had to come up with an idea for a perfume with NY in the title, the title note of such perfume would have been coffee...If only somebody out there could bottle the smell of Starbucks for me...with coffee as the main ingredient, with a touch of pumpkin spice and cream...with a little bit of wood and leather... That brings me to the packaging of We Love NY collection. It is genius. Even if I did not like a single one of the three fragrance, I would have gotten one anyway, just for that coffee cup of a "box". As it happens, I love Vamp a NY. Created by a French perfumer and smelling of Soviet ice cream... How cosmopolitan and random. How, in fact, very New York. Courtesy of Honore des Pres, 30 commenters will be able try a scent from the NY collection. To participate, tell me what YOUR New-York-themed perfume would smell like and leave your email in the body of the comment for me to contact you for the mailing address. 10 commenters will be randomly chosen to receive a sample of Vamp à NY, Love Les Carottes and Love Coco. 20 more commenters will then be randomly chosen to receive a sample of Vamp à NY. Vamp à NY is available at Henri Bendel and Beauty Habit, $98.00 for 50 ml. Images © Perfume-Smellin' Things. Labels: Honore des Pres, tuberose |
posted by Marina |
12:00 AM
80 Comments:
A lovely perfume friend (Ines) was nice enough to send me a decant of Vamp a NY, and I immediately knew that it was one of those scents that could take me to my happy place. It makes me feel girlish, and sometimes, that is just how I want to feel. I love so much of what Olivia Giacobetti creates.
The one I have not tried yet but would love to, is I Love Carottes.
If I could create my own NY scent, it would be modern, a blend of different woods with a touch of carnation for a spiced effect.
email: eyelineronacat at gmail dot com
These sound lovely.
I admit, when I think of NY, I think of Chinatown. My NY-themed fragrance would have to be both savory and sweet, with a dry resiny aspect - cistus, cumin, rosewood, maybe star anise. Possibly a little plum.
wildrosechance@gmail.com
when I imagine NY, I think of energetic somehing- tar, for sure, basilicum some mint and a faint but green rose
I would love to be included in the draw- thank you
irreiter@gmail.com
I would like to try these, thanks - Alica - alica@cleis.net
I have never been to New York, I am sorry to say.
If I could create my own scent of the New York that I would like to visit, it would be the scent of gardens and parks.
Cool cement and warm dirt, green grass and old trees and flowers on the breeze.
I would love to smell that NY scent.
rbchimes at sbcglobal dot net
OMG, plombir! непрекращающаяся мечта детства! :)
New York to me smells like a hundred different things at once: citrus and gin-like juniper of first martini, bright gardenia, woods and smoke of streets, and incense of churches...
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sorry, keyboard issue. skipped some. tashatitova at gmail.com
This is a great series, I'm glad you like Vamp! Hearkening back to Jeux de Peau, the first smell I think of with NYC is fresh baked bread. Then old books. Could those be combined in one perfume??
-Marla
Hmm..... I think if I were to create a NY fragrance, it would focus on iris/orris, and leather - cool elegance mixed with bad-ass sexiness :-)
My e-mail address is: poetria@optonline.net - I'd love to try I Love Les Carrottes sometime, and thank you for the chance to have the opportunity! :-)
I havent tried a single one of theese but I would really like to. Especially vamp.
When I think of New York I think of the smell that emerges from the subway. That warm smell of dust, stone and sitting air. I actually kind of like it. Gasoline fumes from the cars mixed with wiffs of coffee and hot buns.
e-mail sketchwars at yahoo dot se
I also always asked myself what these notes have to do with NY, thanks for clearing that up. :)
My ideal NY scent? It would have to be at least three perfumes, one representing the park, green and woody, a spicy one for Chinatown and a totally elegant and noble and arrogant Upper East Side fragrance.
email: olfactoria at gmail dot com
oh, the skank of New York is what I remember; but you know, like a skunk way off in the distance while you're driving up to a horse farm by the ocean, it has some undefinable allure, too. Please enter me: Katherine B.
you had me at Plombir... I'd love to sniff this! A big thank you to PST and Honore des Pres for the chance!
I've never been to New York, but when I think of the city, I think of Jean Michel Basquiat. I'm not expert enough to name out the notes that'd be orchestrated in it, but it'd be scent with lots of contrasts- a mixture of a saturated boldness- like his works- and a tinge of melancholy, of his short, quick paced life. I wonder if that makes any sense.
e-mail: refinedhedonism107 at gmail dot com
They've already made my "New York" perfume. It is Caron's Montaigne (sp?). I know it's supposed to be Paris, but I first tried it in New York, and to me it typified the glamour, the excitement, Everything! I do love the tuberrose version of I love NY, but must admit, I don't et the tuberose tie in. Great perfume, though!
Have only been in New York for a few days when leaving and returning from a trip to England via the France ocean liner. Since this happened when I was twelve, my scent memory of New York is bagels, lox and cream cheese. A wonderful smell but not so sure how it would translate into perfume!
Please enter me in the drawing! My email is el-benjamino@speakeasy.net
NY?
I would think of something wet and asphalt-y... probably something I wouldn't really wear!
I do prefer tuberose, coconuts, and carrots to wear.
And oh, how I long a trip to the big apple.
Come to think of it... NY: a fragarnce based on apples? I wouldn't wear that either, that's for sure!
zazie dot bleue at gmail dot com
Great draw! Thank you!
I have never been to New York, and there must be so many different smells there...
But somehow I think it could be green and fresh, soapy and a little bit fruity.
That's why I'm inspired by images of Central Park, Laundromats and fruit shops because I once read that all that things were the scent of a NY morning.
imgcas at gmail dot com
Haven't tried any of these but they all sound interesting. NY...sweaty, leather, metallic, green, dry book smells, spices.
(Can you tell my NY experience came by taking the cherubs there for fencing competitions and hitting museums while we were there?)
reglisse87@Hotmail.com
Hmmm... One aspect of New York that is very much a part of it's culture is the fashion. I would love a fragrance that takes inspiration from a fashionista. Perhaps the smell of skin, along with accents of leather, and the 'fumes' of the city.
my email is - aanews@me.com
Semi-(un)related -
I <3 O.Giacobetti and wish she brings her IUNX line to New York. :)
I would love to enter the drawing! My NYC scent would somehow encorporate a metallic-concrete smell--you know, when it's freshly poured and the smell of wet cobblestones and some animalic notes.
my email is:
saralevy at starpower dot net
I went to grad school in the Columbia U neighborhood, worked in the Upper West Side and Midtown, and dated a guy in Greenwich Village. There would not be a single scent that can be representative of NY (specifically - Manhattan, of course). However, leather fashion and black in general were big trends, and so I would focus on dark leather on a chypre base, with citrus and aldehydes on top for energy, and a mix of florals and spices in the middle for the melting pot.
I can be reached at mollyseb at hotmail dot com
How wonderful! I would particularly love trying Coco. I have a secret, or perhaps not so secret, love affair with the coconut; love it on skin, hair, desserts, savories, drinks, etc, etc.
Now if I were to develop a fragrance that says NYC, it would contain notes of car fumes, hints of sweet orange for the sun that shines there in the summer, baked bread, and spices like cardamom, cumin and saffron---sweetened with a hint of vanilla in the base because New York is a lady, after all :-)
lovethescents
samcads AT yahoo dot co dot uk
I'd create a New York in winter scent that contrasts a cold, metallic snow smell with the warm, smoky aroma of the roasted chestnuts sold by street vendors.
I'd love to try the We Love NY scents. Please enter me:
ancelynk at yahoo dot com
A friend of mine just told me how much she liked Vamp a NY. I haven't tried it yet. I've only been to NY once (loved it). I am thinking something lightly rain smelling blended with patchouli and salt with tobacco and vetiver.
I've never been in NY but I have and love Nicolai New York and I hope that is a nice representation of the city since I really wanna go there...
robertocrisanto@yahoo.com
I'd love to try Vamp a NY and Love Coco - such interesting choices to represent New York! I've been to NYC only once, for a foggy wintry weekend while in college. Being from a small town, I was struck by the skyscrapers and concrete, the Statue of Liberty, Central Park. I know there is so much more to the city - but based on this small recollection, my fragrance notes would include wet pavement, winter air, some green notes and maybe a deeper warm amber base to represent the warm lights and delicious food we could see through enticing restaurant windows. email: debbymsrd at comcast dot net. Thanks for the draw!
My NY perfume would be similar to SIP's Magaznine Street...smoky, thick, indolic...just like the NY streets!
egeither at bw dot edu
The only time I have even been in New York was 28 years ago. We spent an afternoon there with a crying baby and a husband sure we were going to get mugged.
I am not sure what my perfume would smell like but, please not that!
I have never been to NY, but I would like it to smell of excitement and possibilities. Like the way the air smells, hot and humid and crackling, right before a thunderstorm. The kind of heat that makes everything smell more intense. Boxwood, dirt, and cement.
Carole MacLeod
The smells of NYC near the holiday season are delightful. Doughy pretzels (bread note), cheasnuts roasting on each corner (sweet with a touch of bitter), the tree at 30 Rock (pine and woods). Someone please make that for me!
langlie at aol dot com
new york always smells to me like the art student friend's apartment i visited 20 years ago...coffee, turpentine, ink and sensimilla. and hot wet asphalt from outside the window. and whatever cheap china musk we wore at the time. actually, that might be kinda interesting....
i'm leszap66@yahoo.com
Please enter me in the draw. My NYC scent would have to enclude exhaust fumes, metal, dust, concrete, hot dogs and sauerkraut, sweat, and an artifical flower smell (the crowd's collective smell), plus it would have a watery/humid feel. .... I did a lot of walking when I loved there many moon ago! Thanks for the sample giveaway
onyxode@gmail.com
I am big fan of Olivia Giacobetti, creator of one of my first favorite perfumes, En Passant.
I've never been to New York, but hope to go one day. I imagine it to be an exciting and wonderful place.
I always think of tall trees in the Fall, when I think of New York, upstate New York, golden, red and brilliant leaves. So perhaps it is a woods scent...forest, green, incense, earth, freshness that I would love to see...with just a touch of cinnamon and smoke.
Thank you for entering me!
linda@lindayapp.com
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I would be happy to try any of those three. I think they all have a unique scent combination that's sure to surprise anyone sampling this line. Thank you. ryhenblue@gmail.com
Wow! That scent containing coffee, spices, cream, wood and leather exactly describes one that I'm currently working on for my "Scents of Place" series! It's not Starbucks, though, but a local cafe in the Seattle Capitol Hill area. On second thought, maybe Starbucks would like to sponsor it!
Vamp smells too much like rootbeer to be sexy to me, but I'm glad it works for you, M! Look forward to smelling the carrot one.
I think of Jasmin et Cigarette when I think of New York, but that is as much about moment and memory as it is about scent.
No need to enter me.
Doc Ely
I'd love to try it! :)
Salt, cement, soft pretzel, and a gin drink from Bistro Modern. That's the smell of NY.
desyl at hot mail dot com!
Martinis, spray paint, spicy bodegas and subway steam say NYC to me. (I love reading everyone's ideas as to what makes New York for them.) htroutma at aol.com
I think it would be something that smells like wet cement, gasoline, and perhaps freshly cut grass or spring flowers.
I would love to try Vamp! Not sure about the NY scent - I like olfactorias' idea about 3 scents. Those 3 are the things I associate with NY as well, even though I've only been there a few times. And also the smell of damp leaking subway stations - last time I was there it rained almost the entrie week.
email: julie.souza@gmail.com
I've been wanting to try this one for a while! My NY perfume would definitely be boozy since I associate the city with staying up too late. Maybe a lime-ginger-bourbon accord. :)
I would go with coffee as well, the quintessential New York scent!
kcscott21 at gmail dot com
What a generous offer from Honore de Pres! I LOVE their Sexy Angelic, and I have a sample of Vamp a NY. Would love to try the others.
I can't say I know enough about NYC to envision a perfume for it, but I'll take a stab at it. I think of "bright lights, big city", which to me says big, bold, energetic, and creative. Large like an 80's floral, but with an edge of smoke, leather, and OUD (ha ha...just kidding on the oud). ;-)
Oh, sorry - email is krnszn at gmail dot com!
Would love to be entered in the draw!
I have visited New York only once but I would want my NY scent would be both sad and happy, dense yet light, white but red- if that makes any sense at all..(like a bunch of white opulent flowers dressed in aldehydes with one spicy red rose caught in between. One can always dream, right?)
oops- email id: maybemeeATgmailDOTcom
I've never been to NY but all the images I've seen of crowded streets filled with ppl makes me think of sweat. My NY scent would smell just like my sweaty man after a good workout or a session of hot love making. Sweet smelling sweaty pits with a touch of groin. It stinks so good!!! Scents that resemble sweet smelling B.O. hold a special place in my heart! I'd love to try a sample of the Vamp a NY, thnx. seductricefatale@gmail.com
I've only been to NYC a couple of times many years ago. Was on my way somewhere else. I don't remember any particular smells but would think asphalt, coffee, and books would smell like places in NYC.
Thank you for this generous give away. I've never tried any of this line and Vamp sounds fantastic
My email is:
mo at classicmodesigns dot com
Yes, coffee is the note for New York (if one is forced to chose), not just because of the smell (we always spend so much time in cafes when we're visiting there) but for the incredibly stimulating high energy of the city. (I'm from laid back Berkeley, CA.)
nina at wanderingmind dot com
NYC, what fond memories. Having been born/raised there and now an ex-pat, I'd have to say that my "New York-themed" perfume would smell a bit rough on the edges (no fruits please), and a smooth "talker" down the middle (perhaps a tonka base). Throw in a bit of cumin and asphalt/concrete or birchtar as a base to finish it off. Now we're talking!
email: zeram1 at hotmail dot com
Lots of great ideas for a NY perfume! For me when I lived in NYC, the apartment buildings always smelled of delicious foods from different countries - Italian, Indian, Chinese, Latin American . . . so I would try to make a perfume with spices like cumin, cardoman, ginger, and jalopeno, and make it smoky.
email: smyspam@yahoo.com
Ho !!! I love Vamp à NY, it's my favorite Tuberose !!!
Lily
Back in my art school days, New York was the dream we all shared. So for me, New York is a mix of the bohemian smells from late student nights with something unattainable...Smokey for sure...cade? sapsang souchong? And leather...(so many classmates dead of AIDS) And something impossibly rich and decadent and narcoticcc...jasmine grandiflorum? And something sparkling and youthful on top of it all...citrus and pepper?
Thank you for the drawing and for asking us to create our own virtual New York scents.
urbaneden@gmail.com
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I lived in NYC and left in part because of the daily assault on my nose of food grease, car exhaust, and urine.
The most positive street smell I remember was the intensely sweet stargazer lily emanating from corner markets. Those with a hint of curry drifting over from East 6th and a puff of bright green marijuana would make my potion.
sammanberg1@yahoo.com
New York to me would smell like coffee, rain, metal and car exhaust. I think a perfume like that would smell wonderful.
My addy is mina_blue88 at hotmail dot com.
Wow! So many talented perfumers posting here.
I would like to think there could be a chic, sophisticated apple fragrance to represent New York. How about a boozy apple with a leather base?
Thanks for the draw.
d6brooks at ruraltel dot net
This comment has been removed by the author.
I've never been to New York! How could I know how to scent it? Street food, horse manure, car exhaust, the green of the park, the salt air of the Atlantic...
matadecoco2001 at hotmail dot com
this is a fun trio and to me much better then the rest of the Honores des Pres line. Yes the I love les Carottes is definitely earthy. I have yet to try Coco one ...i bet its really nice. These warm so nicely on the skin. Would love to try :)
It is a pleasure reading everyone's ideas, I wish there was a way to smell each, bottled. Keep them coming, the draw will stay open for a while longer!
We all know that NYC is the center of the universe. My NY scent would have to include the Kind and Queen of flowers, Jasmine and rose; green cognac, cade and cumin for jaded youth clubbing all night; cepes for fine dining, an overabundance of sparkling citrus for glamour and more glamour; galbanum for aloof elegance; something majestic- Lebanon cedar, maybe- in tribute to the Chrysler building; and civet, for those on the prowl or castoreum for the downtrodden and dirty, and because New Yorkers are definitely trendsetters, whatever else- no oud!- that would be way, too passe!
My email is pansat32@aol.com
A sample of vamp a ny would be right up my alley
My New York themed scent would have to be sophisticated enough to encompass it all from the Mets to the Met taking in the Demoiselles d'Avignon in MOMA, the amazing ethnic and cuiltural mix of food,faces and fragrances, the yellow taxis bagels and pretzels along the way. I have only ever been a visitor from England, I'd love to hear what smells native New Yorkers miss? maureen.casey2@btinternet.com
What a wonderful post and draw!! :) I think that a scent based on the native greens, herbs and wildflowers found in Central Park would make an interesting perfume; something zesty and green!
email: dsh@dshperfumes.com
I haven't been to NYC in a very long time, but the smells I remember are the dusty, parchment smells of museums and bookstores, the slightly screechy smells of too much perfume at the opera, and a holiday smell of spices and greenery that I probably only imagined because we were there at Christmas. Less appealing are the summer smells of food carts, garbage combined with wet pavement. For my NY themed perfume, I would have to go with an aldehyde to match the sparkling lights at night.
Thanks for the drawing!
Thanks for such a phenomenal draw!
My New York themed perfume... the only one time I've been to New York I was in an extremely melancholic mood, wandering scentless, having fun with friends yet shrouded in a cloud of a secret loss of a secret love. However, in the end everything came out great. I just did not know it at the time. So I am looking for a perfume that starts dark and melancholy and ends hopeful. Ava Luxe Midnight violet for me.
If someone could bottle the scent of the huge flowermarts when they are stocked to the roof w/ all the newly delivered bundles of flowers in the early AM hours!! :-)
OOPS! here is the e-mail!! hotlantalinda@hotmail.com
Thanks to review !! great line
I love the photos on the website www.honoredespres.com
Vamp A NY is gorgeous !!
Veronica (NY/Paris)
Hi, great review of a perfume that sounds delicious. I have been to NYC 13 years ago only for a day. I remember the humidity ( hope I am not wrong here), so a smell of NYC for me would be humid air and fumes of the cars:) my email is lgzagha@yahoo.com and thanks for all the beautiful reviews,
Lidia
As a child I preferred фруктовое but as I'm getting ...wiser my tastes are changing and I'm leaning towards пломбир.
NY perfume... It can be anything, NY has so many faces! The closest associations I have on the top of my head are: coffee (not that novel, I know, but what can I do?), a garden on the roof, a fruit stand.
undinaba@gmail.com
The smell of Starbucks - exactly as you describe! - would sum up most of America for me. I always dive in there when I am travelling because the format is familiar and meets all my needs - tea, cake and restroom!
I was never in New York, but I LOVE Vamp! Would love to be entered in the draw unless it's closed already. Thanks! hagarwo at gmail dot com
Ooops, I realize I should have added in my comment above: in my imagination, NY smells predominantly of leather. Leather and hints of peppermint and smoke...
I have only been to New York City one time. I think I would include the scents of Central Park (which happened to be on an overcast, drizzly spring day), along with some exotic notes reminiscent of the cute little Indian restaurant we found in Greenwich Village.
ccdouglass@aol.com
I think it's still open??
My NY-themed perfume... hmm. Probably earthy-fruity, very likely earthy-appley. Get some of the grunge and of course the 'big apple.' There have been NYC inspired apple scents (DKNY Be Delicious), and the association works for me, but I'd like it not so fresh.
I have a bottle of the Vamp a NY that I purchased at a lovely little soap shop in Paris while there on my honeymoon. I put on all three scents and had my husband tell me which he liked best. We both picked the same one - Vamp a NY. Now it's my absolute favorite keepsake from the trip and I know every time I put it on, it takes me back to the wonderful memories we shared on that trip.
When I'm having a down day, I wear it & as soon as I put it on, it makes me happy. One of the other commenters (Carrie M.) said it takes her to her happy place. I agree. It's truly amazing. I don't think I've ever been so fond of a perfume before. To me, the title should be Vamp a Paris.
For the contest... a NY perfume, I would expect it to be a bit more gritty (definitely not floral), maybe some exhaust, roasted nuts, pine trees & hotdogs :)
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