Rochas has an exciting, new fragrance set to launch in May.  This fresh fragrance is entirely new, but "on the other hand, it really connects back to the core heritage of the brand,” explained Bill Brace, vice president of Procter & Gamble Prestige who owns Rochas.

The scent brings a modern, contemporary twist with notes including Sichuan pepper, mandarin, pineapple, mango, white flowers, bergamot, and musk.

The inspiration for Les Cascades is "really a Parisian fountain in the summer,” said Brace. The inspiration shines through in the fragrances ad campaign, which portrays socialite Olivia Palermo by a fountain outside of Paris' Palais Royal.  The print ad was shot by Camilla Akrans and the video campaign, which will run on TV and the internet, was produced by none other than Dimitri Karakatsanis.

Coach introduces it's new Signature Summer Limited Edition Eau de Toilette to it's fragrance collection.  With modern feminity defined by it's bright freshness and sensual warmth, this new scent embraces the classic American style of Coach's signature fragrance with it's unique sophisticated and sexy twist.

Notes include water lily, mandarin, lush gardenia and magnolia leaf.  The new, limited edition scent is of course adorned with the classic "C" in shades of pink with the signature Coach hang-tag draped around the neck.

Photo Courtesy: Coach

This is a different game plan we've ever seen taken by the NY Yankees, do you think this will be a homerun for them? The New York Yankees have launched their men's and women's fragrance!  The fragrances have been developed by perfumers at Firmenich; the men's fragrance containing top notes of bergamot, coriander and blue sage.  The women's fragrance features top notes of guava, plum, and apricot.

The men's bottle is a dark blue with a silver NY Yankees emblem, the women's bottle, a light powdery pink with the same silver Yankees emblem. 
Would you buy the NY Yankees fragrance for yourself? I'm sure they won't be selling this one in Massachusetts, what do you say?

The Fragrance Foundation has shared the 2012 Top Ten FiFi Finalists and we can't be more pleased! “Announcing the top ten finalists is exciting as now we can really say we are in FiFi® mode and look forward to the fun and anticipation at The FiFi® Finalists Breakfast, April 27th in the Grand Ballroom of The Mandarin Oriental when it gets narrowed down to the top five,” commented Jill Belasco, Chair of The Fragrance Foundation Board. Check out the long awaited list of the FiFi Finalists for luxe women and luxe men fragrances below. For more info and a full list of categories and finalists, check out www.fragrance.org

Fragrance of the Year
Luxe Women

Angel Eau de Toilette by Thierry Mugler – Clarins Fragrance Group
Beyoncé Pulse – Coty Inc.
Bottega Veneta – Coty Prestige
Elie Saab Le Parfum – Beauté Prestige International
Fan di Fendi – LVMH Fragrance Brands
Gucci Guilty Intense – P&G Prestige
Prada Candy Eau de Parfum Spray – PUIG USA
Someday by Justin Bieber – Give Back Brands, LLC
Tom Ford Violet Blonde – Tom Ford Beauty
Wonderstruck Taylor Swift – Elizabeth Arden

Luxe Men

A*MEN Pure Havane by Thierry Mugler – Clarins Fragrance Group
Armani Code Sport – Giorgio Armani Beauty
Eau de Lacoste L.12.12 Collection: Blanc, Bleu, Verte – P& G Prestige
Gucci Guilty Pour Homme – P&G Prestige
Guess Seductive Homme – Coty Inc.
John Varvatos ★ U.S.A. – Elizabeth Arden
Juniper Sling – Penhaligon’s Inc.
L’Homme Libre – Yves Saint Laurent
Original Penguin – Falic Fashion Group
Un Jardin Sur Le Toit – Hermès – Beauté Prestige International

And the best artistic fragrance is...
For the first time ever at the Global Art of Perfumery, an award will be presented for most artistic fragrance. What exactly is an 'artistic' perfume you may wonder? A lot of factors go into an "artistic perfume", it is considered to be an exclusive creation that is only available in select specialty stores.

You may also be wondering who has the expertise to be on the prestige jury?  
The jury of the 1st Prix de Parfum Artistique is as follows
• Thomas Bergmann, publisher of the trade magazine "Keysale“
• Frank Dopheide, advertising expert and chairman of Scholz & Friends
• Astrid Elbers, lawyer and "First Lady“ of Dusseldorf
• Jenny Jürgens, actress, singer and presenter
• Inga Griese, journalist and editor of the style magazine "Icon/The Iconist“ 
• Waltraut von Mengden, CEO MVG Medien (Cosmopolitan)
• Thomas Rath, fashion designer and juror on "Germanys Next Top-Model"
• Frank von Stielow, founder of L’estétic GmbH 
• Sasha Urban, international scent creator from New York
• Felix Weiss, member of the Parfumo-Team
• Jeremy Williams, singer and presenter

A pretty impressive list of people I say, right?  This jury will have no easy task, they must assess the fragrance itself, take account of the novelty of the ingredients, the flacon design and packaging, the development of the fragrance on the skin, the perfume story, as well as its market potential.

"Artistic brands have long been more than niche products internationally. They are being focused on more frequently and can provide opportunities to compete in particular for smaller, owner-operated perfumeries. Through this award we want to give them their own forum," explained Frank J. Schnitzler, internationally sought-after perfume expert and initiator of the Global Art of Perfumery. 

Crafted with the rarest of ingredients and authentic sources, Fleur de Louis and Infanta en Flor restore the sense of smell of a particular place and time, allowing both men and women to unlock their own personal revelations in the most intimate way.

Fleur de Louis is a woody floral with notes including orange blossom, florentine orris, jasmine, and white cedar wood. 

Infanta en Flor is a floral musky amber with notes including orange flower water, spanish leather, cistus resin, and immortelle.

Check out all the ARQUISTE parfums created by perfumer Carlos Huber in the photo below.  His fragrances, including L'ETROG, flor y canto, Fleur de Louis, Infanta en flor, ANIMA DULCIS, and Aleksandr are said to transport you to another place in time.

Photo Courtesy: Arquiste via BeautyPress

What if we told you that a cocktail or two can make you pretty? You wouldn't believe it would you? But it may be true, a study in France found that after consuming (or thinking you are consuming) a martini or two, may make you feel prettier.  Don't drink?  That' ok...just think you have consumed alchohol.  Sounds crazy? IT IS!

So how was this study conducted? Interestingly enough, volunteers were split into two groups, alchoholic drinks and non-alchoholic drinks. Results were "those who believed they consumed alcohol, graded themselves as being more attractive than those who believed they did not consume alcohol."

What we think?

We think that a drink, by no means, is a new makeover or beauty trend, but we do believe that it's all about confidence.  Typically, people become more relaxed after their first cocktail, so it makes sense that one's confidence will experience a boost, however, we definitely wouldn't abide by this beauty trend.

Would you?

Madonna's newly launched Truth or Dare perfume for women has got her thinking of launching a mens fragrance too.  Wondering what her thoughts & inspiration on the cologne may be?

"I love musk and amber and woody kind of fragrances on men. I love the smell of whiskey — we should make a men's cologne that smells like whiskey. I can't drink it, it's too strong, but it smells amazing — a really good old whiskey."

Do you think it's a good idea?

“My daughter thinks [it’s a good idea],” she told WWD in an interview. “She wants to wear it. She likes to wear men’s cologne -- don’t ask me why.”

Smell like Apple, and no we're not talking about DKNY's BE Delicious, we're talking about MAC Apple products.  A techies dream come true, a new fragrance based on the smell of new Apple products is in the works.

Melbourne-based artists Gavin Bell, Jarrah de Kuijer, and Simon McGlinn teamed up with Air Aroma to create this unique fragrance.  With fragrance notes of ripped open cardboard, tape, plastic, and MacBook pro, there is nothing that smells like a just opened, new apple product.  In reality, the scent created "encompasses the smell of the plastic wrap covering the box, printed ink on the cardboard, the smell of paper and plastic components within the box and of course the aluminum laptop which has come straight from the factory where it was assembled in China," the company said in a blog post.

"To replicate the smell, a brand new unopened Apple was sent to our fragrance lab in France. From there, professional perfume makers used the scents they observed unboxing the new Apple computer to source fragrance samples. On completion the laptop was sent back to Australia, travelling nearly 50,000kms and returned to our clients together with scent of an Apple Macbook Pro."

The scent will be featured in an art exhibition in Melbourne called the "De facto Standard" and will 'fortunately'  not be hitting retail shelves.
If it were, would you buy this scent?

Giorgio Armani is busy creating new looks for Lady GaGa for her new upcoming tour starting April 27th.  The Italian designer said, “Collaborating with Lady Gaga is always an exciting experience for me,” said Armani, who has dressed the singer on numerous occasions, including the Grammy awards in 2010. “I admire the way she uses fashion as a scenic element and as a means to build a character. She is an artist of many talents and great intelligence.”

The pieces will no doubt be eccentric and over the top, what would a Lady GaGa show be without it? Pieces of the collection for the upcoming tour include gloves with mirrored nails, a black bodice with transparent Plexiglas, and lots of black crystals, studs and Swarvoski.  We can't forget to mention the spikes, thigh high boots and latex, and one of the most talked about sketch is an over the top costume that includes an abstract composition of guitars and a...keyboard headpiece? Sounds like Lady GaGa!

Do you love or hate that Italian designer Giorgio Armani is creating Lady GaGa's tour looks?