I don't know about you, but my pockets have been rendered terrifically light by the blight of New Year cheers. I was still optimistic about my budget, but was thrown horribly askance by my the presence of a duty free store in the Domestic airport of Delhi. I don't know about you, but the word "duty free" draws me like a lodestone. If truth be told, the only two perfume that I have adored in my adult life are Clinique Happy and Daisy by Marc Jacobs. But the sight of the spiffy duty free store in the Delhi Domestic turf made me so happy, that I couldn't stop myself from taking a dekko.A dekko was what I was after I told myself sternly,but very soon, I was seriously cataloging the perfume stakes. No Marc Jacobs, reason being that it is still not officially launched in India. There was the standard Elizabeth Arden with the full range from Pretty to Green Tea.
Versace, Lacoste, Van Arpels, D&G, Burberry, Ralph Lauren, Lolita, Nina Ricci, CK was the line up. 15 mins of sniffing around and my olfactory glands cried for help. Coffee beans were offered in short order which restored the order of things.
Among all the eau de parfums, colognes, pour homme and what not, the one smell that caught my fancy was 18 La Lune from the the Anthology collection by Dolce & Gabbana.
The advertising brief goes something like five eternal personalities with resonating fragrances. So you have:
D&G Fragrance Anthology featuring Tyson Ballou as Le Bateleur 1 (Personality: The Seducer. Provocative and playful, Le Bateleur 1 is an accomplished Mediterranean seducer. Mills & Boon ahoy!)
D&G Fragrance Anthology featuring Naomi Campbell as LImperatrice 3 (Personality: The Star. Vibrant, magnetic, she exudes charisma and force of character...mix of reality TV start and spoilt brat)
D&G Fragrance Anthology featuring Noah Mills as L'Amoureux 6 (Personality: The charmer. incurable romantic, inherent nobility, dashing. Regency Romance anyone)
D&G Fragrance Anthology featuring Claudia Schiffer as La Lune 18 (Personality: The dreamer. fresh and sensual, dazzling, radiant and etheral beauty...very Greta Garbo)
D&G Fragrance Anthology featuring Eva Herzigova and Fernando Fernandes as La Roue de la Fortune 10 (Personality: The player. Adventorous and creative - the epitome of suprise....007ish I think!)
Frankly speaking, I have got no clue about top notes and base notes, indepth
knowledge I will leave to the perfumeofilles. The three things that I consider before buying a perfume are:
Do I like the scent? Can I wear it often without making the people around me gag? Whats the price tag and lastly is the bottle pretty? You may laugh at the last consideration, but packaging is a very important part of the whole garden in a bottle industry, and if I am to pay good money for 100 ml, then they better see to it that the said bottle looks pretty on a dressing table or cupboard ( poor me!)
Now the conflict raging in my mind resembled something like this:
The smell of D&G 18 La Lune I like. The price I did not like (Rs. 3,200 for 100 ml), and the bottle I did not like at all.
For reference see pic.
The marketing text for the packaging reads like this, and I quote:
" The scents that make p the D&G Fragrance Anthology are presented in sleek, impecably elegant falcons, at once strikingly simple yet sophisticated. Finished with a glossy jet pump and modern cap, the design takes it inspiration from a classic apothecary bottle."
In reality, the plastic "modern" cap with its horizontal lines resembled the Park Avenue bottle caps. And the bottle shared close similarities with the eau de colognes bottles of yesteryears.
I mean I could see this bottle on a dressing table with a bunch of lilies and a bottle of Anais Anais for company, but it will not sit pretty with a Marc Jacob Daisy or a Vera Wang Princess.
Finally after a bit of soul searching, I let it be and decided not to be a proud owner of No. 18 La Lune. I appeased my material soul by buying a BurBerry for Men as a new Year's gift for my father ( When in doubt, always stick to classics says the wise.)
But the entire flight home, I was wondering whether I did the right thing. I repeatedly sniffed my wrists to check the smell. But surprise surprise after two hours, the smell was almost gone. There was a lingering trace of sweetness reminiscent of Coty Vita powder, but that's all.
Miffed, I decide to do a bit of research on the Anthology collection. AND THIS IS WHAT I FOUND:
Apparently the D&G team did not have enough money to go ahead with their new fragrance line. A transparent base developed in the 80s and now regularly utilised by generic shampoos and body lotions was used. Every fragrance does have its essential bits of Patchouli, honey Vanilla and what not, but it is diluted at 1% to the base.
Tenacity on skin is weak (which means very generous squirts have to be applied) and diffussion power more so unless you step into a cloud of La Lune vapours. Now all this gyan is not by me but by another blogger who seems to be more in the know of things.
One look at the advertisement for the perfume would make you realise where the money had all gone...down the well shaped posteriors of Claudia Schiffer, Naomie Campbell, Eva Herzigova, Tyson Ballaou, Noah Mills and Fernando Fernandes, and of course Mario Testino.
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