ELIE SAAB Le Parfum
Given the 500-odd new fragrances launched each year, it can still be hard to find absolute favourites that not everyone else adopts (Flowerbomb was ruined for me when I started to smell it on so many friends). Not only that but so many offerings feel very commercial, very safe and very similar. Most of us are seeking something a little bit different to call our own.
Fortunately the trend for florals has slowed down with woody or orientals taking over (the relaunch of Opium is the perfect example of this). It would appear that the fragrance world wants us to be more seductive than fresh.
Nothing reflects this more than the new fragrance by Lebanese Couture designer Elie Saab, Le Parfum. Created by Francis Kurkdjian, it is a Floral Solar Wood, meaning that it playfully dances between being a floral and wood. It is very elegant and slightly reminiscent of an older time and place – it feels almost like a vintage fragrance.
It starts with orange blossom and then develops into jasmines and very strong patchouli heart before being finished with a cedar woody accord and rose honey.
“What I found fascinating in working for Elie Saab, was the idea of interpreting light; I didn’t have any specific images in mind, just sensations: the whiteness of the sun at its zenith, radiant femininity, a modern interpretation of voluptuousness” the perfumer explains.
Indeed Elie himself says he likes womanly women who twirl their dresses with desire and pride. “Ever since my childhood in Lebanon, I’ve examined the way they dress, I’ve always wanted to please them by flattering their curves.” He admits that his sole ambition is to inject beauty into the lives of women.
This project was very clear to him: “A fragrance which expresses a radiant femininity and which includes the duality of my world: the light of the Middle East and the modernity of the West.”
Just as every nuance of the juice had been considered, so too had the bottle design. “I wanted something simple, straight lines, the rigor of a cube and the sensation of an object made to be held in the hand, but with the density of beautiful objects. And as always, light as the overarching theme. For me, light is eternal strength,” commented the couturier. Sylvie de France designed the luxurious bottle, cut like crystal in a kind of prism shape it reflects light and shows off the beautiful honeyed tones of the perfume.
If you’re not into patchouli then this isn’t for you – it does have a strong patchouli accord. It’s not the type of fragrance I would normally turn to, yet I love it. And my husband does to. Unfortunately my pilates instructor doesn’t! He asked if I had been chewing on a cough lozenge?! Which I can only put down to that strong patchouli heart. While it hasn’t quite knocked off my favourite from its perch, it is proudly adorning my dressing table (how could it not with that beautiful bottle) and is on high rotation. In fact, it’s half empty. I wear it day or night when I feel like I want to add a bit of glamour to my jeans and t-shirt Mummy-uniform.
Elie Saab is available at department stores like Smith & Caughey’s, Kirkcaldie and Steins, Arthur Barnett and Ballentynes.
Le Parfum Eau de Parfum 30ml, RRP$98.00
Le Parfum Eau de Parfum 50ml, RRP$170.00
Le Parfum Eau de Parfum 90ml, RRP$220.00
ELIE SAAB Le Parfum Body Line also available.
