Perfume

This black tinged glass makes up the bottle of a rare and elusive edition of Flowerbomb from Viktor and Rolf that I didn't have the money to buy at the time- now this picture haunts my dreams and nightmares. For inside this vessel lay the elixir of dreams which I so heavily desired to douse myself with daily but it's not available anywhere on eBay.

While I may not be able to find Viktor and Rolf's Flowerbomb for cheap on eBay, there are many beautiful and empty bottles of perfume with atomizers available on Etsy and being sold as vintage pieces. I've even found some pretty cat shaped bottles that held perfume at once stage in their life and if I had room on my desk I would love to create a small row of them to watch over me as I study. There's something so sculptural, as well as feminine about a perfume bottle. I think it's that marriage of design which can be almost architectural as well as the feminine fabric pouch of the atomizer and tassel connected to what is often a glass bottle with intricate design.

Daisy Marc Jacobs

 

I don't know a lot about the scent of Marc Jacob's two perfumes Daisy and Daisy Eau so Fresh but I do love the romantic photo shoots in which the two scents star in. I wish I could know a little of the ingredients but online results only turn up sites where I can buy the perfume- I suppose I'll have to wait for my next birthday or something to receive perfume to keep me smelling lovely and alluring. When I worked as a perfume spritzer girl for Chanel I learned that Marc Jacobs is owned by/ is a division of Calvin Klein but their perfume lines are very different with Marc Jacobs perfume having a younger approach and using more floral tones as well as floral designs for the bottles of their perfume.

The use of long wild hair and pure white dresses reminds me a lot of a poem I studied in Literature, 'La Belle Dame Sans Merci' or the beautiful lady without pity as it translates to in English. It's about a woman who ensnares men and her hair was long and her foot was light, and her eyes were wild. I suppose for all we know she well could have existed and at one point she may have danced around with a large perfume bottle in her hands and her eyes closed spinning around a field.

 

I can't really imagine the Marc Jacobs line of fragrance getting any more feminine, but i was proved wrong with the launch of Eau So Fresh- a pun regarding perfume lines, the term 'eau' preceding either toilette or parfum in distinguishing between the strength of the fragrance. That adds a little more mystery to whether the new and fresh look on the second Daisy scent is stronger or lighter than the first scent of the range.

I've been meaning to wear more perfume and more often so I can collect a few more bottles but I have little occasion to wear perfume and I usually forget. The times I did remember to wear perfume I was single and I guess trying to attract the opposite sex but since I am not in a happy and settled relationship I have a weaker mindset when it comes to fighting for attention. I have a few little bottles of parfum from Chanel as well as a similar small range of perfumes from Estee Lauder that I've failed to make a dint in.

This highly sexualised photograph sort of emphasises the mental link I make with perfume and how it attracts the opposite sex. While I do love the use of the over sized prop bottles in photo shoots for perfumes one can't help but be a little disappointed with their real-sized perfume bottle. It does take a while just to finish a normal bottle of perfume and there is no vanity big enough to fit these monsters but it would be nice to be able to own one, just for the sort of rough photography you could pull off yourself.

When I finally get the chance to meet new people and make friends I should endeavour to wear some new perfumes or at least finish off the bottle of what I used most frequently. I haven't yet properly finished a bottle of perfume, but wearing it when I don't lead much of an exciting life seems like a waste and while I do sometimes think to buy perfume it's only at Christmas time that it sort of enters my mind to do so. I'm more into discovering jewellery and clothing rather than perfume but my current situations prevents me from buying any of the three.

No. 5

Etched into history and folklore comes the golden elixir and most famous perfume world wide, No. 5 by Coco Chanel. I had the opportunity to work as a spritzer girl last Summer promoting Chanel perfume and had to learn the ingredients of a lot of their perfumes as well as No. 5. It taught me that being in a job that's not stimulating and standing up the entire time will make my ribs feel like their being pried from my chest cavity, spraying perfume too much ruins nail polish and that you eventually get used to the smells in your environment and prevents you from no longer enjoying them.

Mademoiselle Gabrielle 'Coco' Chanel was a women who was very superstitious and believed in lucky numbers and took inspiration from her French apartment into her perfume. For example, I was told that the stopper of the classic glass bottle for No. 5 took inspiration from the rectangular shape of the court yard outside her window but the glass bottle also took inspiration from toiletry bottles/ whiskey bottles from her lover. For added class and style, each bottle neck is tied off with a white ribbon and wax seal.

This lovely photo shoot contrasts the blue stripes on the straw with the yellow of the jumper, which both match respectively the blue wall and the yellow perfume No. 5- while I don't think it will kill you to try drinking perfume it's not something I would personally recommend. I haven't tried it myself but never have a known anyone to try it, the ingredients are May Rose as well as Jasmine, both originating from a place called Grasse in France. Of course it's only expected to use the finest ingredients and while both those flowers aren't poisonous I'm sure the mixture of alcohol with their absolute and distilled bodies can't taste as nice as it smells.

 

Wish I could own these lovely singlets- I would literally wear them every where I go and team them up with thin pants for comfort as well as flirty skirts and shorts. Too bad these types of designs seem to only live about in alternative markets and hide from the main stream likes of retailers and can't be found anywhere on the Internet.

The iconic bottle has been subjected to many new interpretations among the community on Tumblr such as this cosmic background edited into within the contents of the glass bottle. I've seen a few palmed off and I do like the new take on the bottle, one gets a little sick and bored with seeing the same amber coloured liquid in the bottle. That doesn't necessarily mean I prefer the counter part perfume No. 19 which was Mademoiselle's personal favourite. It has a 'fresh' smell which roughly translates to 'if you like grass and being reminded of hay fever try this one'.

Reinvented and renewed countless times, since the bottle's launch in 1921 it continues to be a firm source of revenue for the fashion house with sales exceeding $100 million a year and a bottle of this perfume, No. 5 is sold once every thirty seconds around the globe. It's success will never really be hampered by economic trends and as perfume is a popular gift at Christmas time I am sure 2011 was no exception to seeing bumper sales records.

Viktor and Rolf Flowerbomb

Christmas is the time where perfume sales are through the roof being gifted to loved ones as presents, and the top of my Christmas list this season is Viktor & Rolf's Flowerbomb. I did some promotional work for Chanel last year spraying perfume and selling the prestigious brand but as a young woman I'm more drawn to the sweet smell of aromatic flowers and fruit. Even before that and for a year or two I was fascinated by the body of the perfume bottle which is more like an emerald cut gemstone rather than a bottle and the wax seal carrying the Viktor & Rolf logo was also cute and eye-catching. It reminds me of Harry Potter when Harry first received word of his magical heritage so for me wax seals are seemingly life-changing and bear good news. 

As well as being the geniuses behind the flowerbomb fragrances, Viktor & Rolf is an Amsterdam based fashion house founded in 1993 (my year of birth) and their first fragrance, flowerbomb was launched in 2005 in collaboration with L’Oreal. There's been a few variations on the bottle and presentation of the perfume, ranging from various shades of pink and black for their Eau de Parfum and Eau de Toilette variation on each of the fragrances. In an old edition of Vogue I spotted a rare variation that had a black and speckled body, the flowerbomb fragrance was limited edition and I've seen neither hair nor hide of it anywhere! I love the continuous change to the look of the bottle but it'd be nice to know exactly what is out there for this floral and feminine fragrance.

 

Their campaign photograph was what also caught my eye, the ribboning effect to save grace for the model was well as the material wrapping her head like a tornado and flaring outwards beautifully captures and emulates the feminine nature of a flower. It was so minimalist but also breath-taking. There are some fantastic campaigns for perfume but in terms of one that has no clothing and just a plain white background, Flowerbomb by Viktor and Rolf takes the cake. It's a shame that I can't really write about the fragrance too much without owning it myself... I had a card somewhere from my last trip to Myer in Melbourne spritzed in the fragrance which smelt sweet in all of it's three tones. Hard to say what flowers were actually used in the production of the liquid perfume though.

 

This tulle wrapped edition of Flowerbomb by Viktor and Rolf matches the outfit worn by Allison Goldfrapp for the launch of the fragrance- you've got to love those strong ruffles over a tight fitting black dress which frames her golden curls. I love the sort of pink champagne colour as well as the inscribed shield on the front of this edition of the fragrance. It's so hard to know what strength what bottle is, what with all the different editions and it's also hard to know whether someone's just added an extra little something to re-launch an already existing fragrance.

 

The inner princess within my that I continually starve and suppress deep down within the pit of my stomach adores this sparkly body of Flowerbomb as well as the thick black ribbon rosette next to the atomizer of the bottle. One of my favourite things about fragrance as well as liquor are the different packagings of small glass bottles that they come in left to collect once the remnants of the bottle is gone. Snuff bottles have a similar effect but at least this way I can smell alluring for my boyfriend when doused in perfume and it's not often you see a pink snuff bottle covered in a pink and sparkly sheen. I can only imagine that the smell of the fragrance is equally as feminine and as sweet smell as this exterior packaging.