FRAGRANCES & HIPPIE TRAIL

"The desert is unpredictable, enigmatic. One minute you will be smelling dust. The next, the desert can smell just like the rain." (Gary Nabham - The Desert Smells Like the Rain)

Continuing the journey where you can see a never ending horizon and feel the breeze of freedom on the face I will share a secret with you. Although I am a super urban person, I have two passions - taking a road challenge and deserts.  

Believe it or not my dream trip is to hit the road on a Hippie Trail. 

For those of you who are not familiar with the Hippie Trail or The Overland we need to go back in time. It was journeys that youngsters took during the 60's and early 70's, from Europe to India, Nepal and beyond, usually in an old Volkswagen vain, by train, by bus or hitchhiking. 7.000 miles in the lowest budget possible, meeting other adventurers  and interacting with locals at each stop.  

Hippies trails were taken so young people could scape from conventional lifestyles, feel the freedom, be enlighten, "go native" (as in be naked and natural) and smoke weed. A lot of weed. 

The classic hippie trail ended in 1979 when the Slamic Revolution in Iran and the invasion of Afghanistan by the Russians closed the overland route to western travellers.

Alternative tourism is my thing. Feeling the wind on my face and driving long hours to meet the horizon is also me. I would never take a trip on a cruise or with those annoying tourist guides. I like to mingle with locals, take my time, sip a cup of their coffee and listen to their stories. To know a country is to know the people, the culture.

But I am no hippie. I like to shower and eat good food. I would never think of Afghanistan...I have taken trips to deserts in Israel thou. 

For your surprise I was always the one driving the car or the van. I drove along the Incense Trail, the Negev, the Judaean desert...so beautiful, but so f.hot. One have weird experiences such as mirages and other visions. The heat simply takes over your brain and you literally trip out from it... 

The hippie style dream trail to me would be cross the entire USA in an a van, specially and conquer its deserts. I dream of sitting nowhere in the desert, listening to good music and just do nothing besides watching the sundown.

I would simply love to take route 66; smell creosotes in the Mojave desert on route 247; smell the green watery scent of cactuses; the mushroom-y odor of Joshua trees blooming; the herbaceous scent of sage, the resinous woody christmas-y smell of pine; the earthy, mineral and dusty smell of sand and dirt... 

Well, my dream will not come true in the near future so I decided to put up a list list of fragrances that best describe the smells of the desert and get us in the Hippie vintage adventurous mood. I will be an olfactory journey or a Scent journal of a Hippie Trail.

Needless to say that sandalwood and patchouli were the favs of hippies. It is said that hippies used patchuli to desguise the smell of marijuana and the BO and sour body odors because they didn't take showers. 

Although I am not into hippie scents, patchouli is one of my most beloved scents after iris. Click on the link and you will have many fragrances reviews with all kids of patchouli based fragrances and a huge list of options!

If you want a complete hippie experience, be my guest with MALIN + GOETZ CANNABIS PERFUME OIL (Notes of fig, pepper, orange, lemon, sandalwood and patchouli).

For a original hippie patchouli fragrance of the 70's experience with ingredients of the overland you should try INOUBLIABLE ELIXIR PATCHOULI BY REMINISCENSE. Launched in the seventies, it was reissued in 2007.(Notes of virginian cedar, patchouli from Java, Haitian vetiver, Australian sandalwood, frankincense, vanilla from Madagascar, tonka, tolu and light musk.

Now you got yourself into the hippie mood, let's hit the road!

Our journey starts with LARREA EDP by LA CURIE, a fragrance inspired by the southwest rainstorms, where dust encounters rain. Notes of Chaparral, musk, petrichor, ozone, leather). Open the window and feel a whiff of desert there right into our noses! 

As we travel deeper into the desertic landscape we stop the car and start to explore the trails with EL COSMICO EDP by D.S & DURGA (notes of desert shrubs, desert pepper, pinyon pine, creosote, oak, khella, dry accord and shrub wax) and PURPLE SAGE by Perfumes of the Desert.

MOJAVE GHOST EDP  BY BYREDO is an ode to the ghost flower of the Mojave desert - the mohavea confertiflora.(Notes of ambrette, sapodilla, violet, sandalwood, magnolia, ambergris and cedar). Although many fragrance reviewers are saying it is not really special, I had to list it because it tells a desertic story in the Mojave landscape!

For cactus fragrances we have some options such as PRICKLY PEAR (Opuntia fragrance) and SAGUARO CACTUS (Saguaro fragrance) COLOGNES BY DEMETER.

Although FRIDA EDP BY ENVOYAGE is a fragrance celebrates artist Frida Kahlo it contains a very greeny watery scent of cactus that made me think of deserts when I first tried the sample sent by the perfumer. (Notes of apricot, watermelon, peach, lemon, fruity and green notes, tuberose, hibiscus, cactus flower, champaca, ylang, gardenia, jasmine, woody notes, sugar, oakmoss, aldehydes, myrrh, olibanum, copal, tobacco, green pepper, amber and musk. I also want to point out that while making the trip to the the Negev in Israel Shelly Waddington was always on my mind. Specially MAKEDA EDP, but mostly for historical reasons, but it is worth reading the review...

and if we are already going a little bit aside MOON DUST EDP by MIN NY is supposed to be inspired by the smell of the moon. If you read my review you will find out that there are conspiracies saying that actually it was a hoax shooted in the Nevada desert. So probably the smell of the moon is the same of the desert dirt... Worth reading, worth sampling.

Back to California, we will stop the van because it is getting dark and we are tired and hungry. It is time to sit around the fire, barbecue, tell spooky stories and wrap ourselves in a cozy Indian blanket that we bought when mingling with the locals. I can't think of a better olfative translation than Californian fragrance FIRESIDE INTENSE EDP BY SONOMA SCENT STUDIO ( click HERE for  a complete review)

More desert hippie trail experiences:

Joshua Tree Candle by Michael Aram

Mojave Soy Candle by P.F. Candle Co.

Tucson Verdure Soy Candle

Desert Queen Fragrances

Juniper Ridge Products

Desert Dancer oils

Petrichor natural perfume

I had to finish with a good laugh! Since hippies did not bath, I bring you the B.O. Wheel  !!

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PLASIR D'AMOUR EDP by TECHNIQUE INDISCRÈTE

Veronica Lake

PLASIR D'AMOUR EDP by Technique Indiscrete (Belgian niche perfume brand) offers to reveal the Belle de Jour in you.

With a chypre composition classic style you will plunge into bergamot, rose, jasmine, patchouli and a chypre accent. Kumquat, flour d'oranges, blue Lily of the valley, vetiver and muscs will play along to give you a complete diva experience. 

You will find seduction hidden in a room. You will find pleasure hidden in a secret love affair. You will find kinkiness hidden in desires and fetishes.

Catherine Deneuve 

But just like Severine (the character played by Catherine Deneuve in Carlos Bunuel's Belle du Jour) there is also a lady-like aura to the fragrance. It is really up to you to decide if you are the wife, or the hooker!

Catherine Deneuve YSL

I decided to wear this fragrance dressed very chic and far from sensual. I think wearing it with a red lipstick or a leather jacket is simply too obvious. It goes well. The challenge is to bring a very elegant persona to the fragrance because it is just as Louison, perfumer and owner of the brand describes:

"She appears to be conservative...gives away to her naughty side that only a few get to discover..."

Jackie O

Jackie O, Grace Kelly, Audrey H., Tippy Hedren...they all could be wearing Plasir D'Amour because somehow it contains the chic aura of the 60's. Truth is that PLASIR D'AMOUR EDP is a fragrance containing 100% of the iconic beauty of British model Jean Shrimpton! Classic, stylish...but a blast with her long lean legs and miniskirts!

Jean Shrimpton

Dedicated to J.S.

FLEURS ET FLAMMES EDP BY ANTONIO ALESSADRIA - The best was saved for last II

THE BEST WAS SAVED FOR LAST!

Continuing to bring beauties for the Holidays today we will explore Italian fragrances!

Fleurs et Flammes EDP by Antonio Alessandria is the forth perfume launched by the brand and the most beautiful one; if not the best of 2015 at all!

Olfactive notes of: Galbanum, bergamot, citrus, summer fruits, green and mineral notes, carnation, lily, rose, white flowers, soft woods, almond milk effect, musk.

Description by + Q Perfume Blog: green, flowery, MILKY-almondy, warm, SMOKEY.

Antonio's nose signature is the combination of Italian citruses, beautiful heart notes and a warm heavier base. All fragrances of his collection are luxurious, well blended and beautifully composed. Fleurs et Flammes  EDP is not an exception. 

FLEURS ET FLAMMES EDP

Photo credit: Antonio Alessandria

Here citruses were combined with galbanum and green notes, bringing to this fragrance the a verdant opening that will be much loved if you like the contrast of green and mellow. If you found Untitled by Margiela exquisite, you will find this fragrance much more interesting because you will find the combination of galbanum, citruses, musk, flowers and fire, but you won't find the fatty and ashtray notes of Untitled EDP that is not so appealing to the senses.Also, If you loved Champaca by Ormonde Jayne you will also love Fleurs et Flammes EDP because although both have no common notes in their compositions, they present somehow the same flower-creamy/milky-smoke-y combo beautifully explored.

Fleurs et Flammes EDP has a sensuality that is not imposed. It is revealed in flower petals and a mineral-animalic combination of notes. The mellow gourmandise touch is presented by a softly blended milk and almond-y warmth and it brings the idea of youth. Youth translated to freshness; first time falling in love kind of aura. 

Alessandria presents somehow a classic kind of perfume wrapped into a hip, contemporary fragrance. You won't be taken to a past distant era, but you will find the quality and the expertise that most modern launches are lacking these days.

Perfect for winter times, wearing Fleurs et Flammes EDP you will feel wrapped in both coziness and happiness.

You can find Fleurs et Flammes EDP at his website.

CALVIN KLEIN'S FRAGRANCE MARKETING STRATEGIES OVER THE DECADES

"Calvin Klein used to be raw. In the ’90s the brand was seductive, uncensored, and with the help of a topless Kate Moss, the essence of cool".

In 1993 Kate Moss met with Calvin Klein. At that time the brand was in a crisis and Kate was not famous. Calvin Klein loved the fact that Kate was plain, real and beautiful. They wanted her to be shot shirtless, although she had small breasts. She was always shot in black-and-white, sometimes nude, sometimes in a black tank and cotton underwear. Her stark, fragile beauty amplified by lank hair and little makeup. Fabien Baron, the creative director launched what was defined as the heroin chic look. In a culture scared of Aids the sex approach of the campaign was very risky, but somehow it actually worked. The campaign brought the finances of Calvin Klein back to profit and also launched Kate's career. She was soon the sole face of Calvin Klein jeans, underwear and fragrance.

Today we know that Kate was closing the door of the excessiveness of the 80's. So did the fragrance the brand was about to launch - CK ONE EDT. 


CK ONE EDT was designed a fragrance that embodied, in its flat little screw- top bottle, the disaffected, sexually ambivalent grunge youth of the moment. CK ONE EDT, with its unconventional black-and-white advertisements filled with moping, androgynous models, was arguably the most perfectly tailored fragrance ever pitched to one market, breaking industry rules and records, selling twenty bottles per minute at its peak. 

A unisex brand that was so authentically grunge it was carried in record stores alongside albums by Nirvana.

The fragrance was created by Alberto Morillas and Harry Fremont, with top notes of pineapple, green notes, mandarin orange, papaya, bergamot, cardamom and lemon; middle notes of nutmeg, violet, orris root, jasmine, lily-of-the-valley and rose; and base notes of sandalwood, amber, musk, cedar and oakmoss.

It broke gender barriers and was marketed as a SHARED fragrance instead of unisex. CK ONE EDT  had an introductory budget of $17-18 million, which may be largest budget for any of the so-called prestige fragrances introduced in 1994 and reached 250 million dollars in sales in its first year.

"Be hot. Be cool. Just BE."

In 1996 Calvin Klein did it again with CK Be EDT. It was one of the best selling new scents EVER. 

The company described the scent as “raceless, genderless, ageless, and shared statement. ” It was called “the new fragrance for people.” The ads, once again shot by Avedon, were like a amalgam of all the work that had been put into creating a unique aesthetic for the brand, it was Heroin Chic at its finest: waifish and disoriented models who were young, multicultural and highly androgynous gathered into shot looking bored and gorgeous. The commercials showed Kate Moss speaking into the camera talking about “one more bad habit you have to break.” The ad ends with a voiceover: Be hot. Be cool. Just BE. Calvin Klein had done it. He created a media virus, an answer to any question that Generation X might have had: Just Be. All this from basic denim, a quiet unisex fragrance and white cotton underwear. His empire was built.

Each Calvin Klein ad campaign had its own characteristic image and its own particular target market. While the ads for CK ONE EDT portrayed groups of young, multicultural, mostly androgynous urban men and women, the CK Be EDT campaign featured an intimate and raw close-up of the individuals within the CK ONE EDT groups. According to Pauline Mancuso - Calvin Klein's CEO back then, ‘‘The CK be EDT campaign pulls you into these people’s lives.’’




"Freedom and possibilities of young people to explore the world".

CK in2U fragrances were launched in 2007. The brand launched two separated masculine and the feminine versions and it was described as the fragrance for the internet connected or techno-sexuals, a term the company made up to describe its intended audience of thumb-texting young people whose romantic lives are defined in part by the casual hookup. CK IN2U expressed freedom and possibilities of young people to explore the world. That same year, during its launch, Coty executives gathered to explain that the fragrances were  a portrait of a generation physically bold, but emotionally guarded; having grown up using computers as a primary means of interaction. Now young adults, they are post-Abercrombie, post-Juicy Couture and over any number of scents derived from the essences of Jennifer Lopez, Britney Spears, and Paris Hilton.

As Coty's Vice president for Global marketing Lori Singer explained about the fragrances targeted group of 20-ish youngsters  “They don’t want to feel that they are being marketed to or spoken at. They are much more empowered, but they are unshockable. They have seen everything from 9/11 to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears without underwear. They see everything instantaneously that goes on in the world.” 

To seem more authentic, Calvin Klein was trying to reach consumers on their own turf by creating an online community, whatareyouin2.com, patterned after sites like MySpace and Facebook. The company invited students at film schools around the country to submit shorts addressing the theme of “what are you into?” and their clips were to be found on the site. The response to CK in2u among fragrance retailers at trade shows was so strong, the company said, that it delayed its introduction by a month to increase production to close to two million units, nearly twice the 258 initial volume of its Euphoria women’s fragrance in 2005. (Eric Wilson edited)

Gottlieb, the perfumer who created the fragrance explained that because Millennials are used to fast-moving information and images, the fragrance is meant to be quick-acting and immediately recognizable on the skin. Their food and drinks, like Smartwater and coffee-flavored colas, and gum charged with flavor crystals, all come in high-definition, intensified varieties. So their fragrance should also seem busy. 

“It is about two individuals defined by who they are, not what they are”

The newest launch for 2016 - CK2 EDT


Ten years later Calvin Klein is putting its chips again into a fragrance for a new generation - The Millennials. Not as unisex or shared, but now it is introducing a new term: gender-neutral. As Coty describes it: "CK2 embodies the thrill of life and celebrates the diversity of connections between two people. Two individuals defined by who they are, not what they are. one gender-free fragrance for a man or a woman, without prejudices, to unite and create an experience that can be shared together in love, lust and friendship. We come together void of stereotypes and free of conformity; a youthful connection between 2 people to celebrate the differences that make our connections richer and define what makes us, us. Life is better when we are 2."

The composition

Defined as urban woody - fresh scent, CK2 EDT is developed by International Flavors and Fragrances with notes of  wasabi, mandarin and violet leaf, wet cobblestones and orris concrete accords, rose absolute and a woody base of vetiver, sandalwood and incense.

According to Melisa Goldie, interviews by WWD, the brand wishes to target young consumers: “The launch of CK2 represents an extension of our overall brand strategy to reach a younger consumer base through modern, authentic storytelling. Given its relevant cultural messaging and youthful spirit, CK2 aligns well with this evolving approach to consumer engagement.”

Camillo Pane from Coty explained to WWD that they are targeting a new generation that values authenticity and fluidity in their everyday lives, and CK2 encapsulates this in every facet of the brand, whether via the scent, packaging, or campaign creative.

The company also gave details about its distribution strategy: “The launch of CK2 brings a new fragrance proposition to the marketplace with its relevant and disruptive brand messaging. We will launch exclusively in Macy’s in the U.S. in February, and then broaden distribution through alternative channels, while telling the story of CK2 through engaging media tools that resonate with the target audience.” (Distribution is expected to top out at 2,000 doors in the U.S. by yearend 2016).

The design of the new bottle

The bottle, a thick glass cylinder set in a clear base that allows the fragrance to be viewed either upside down or right side up, is intended to reinterpret minimalism and the minimalist design continues on the outside packaging, which is a drawing of the bottle inside.

The advertising campaign, shot by Ryan McGinley, includes both TV and print and is intended to celebrate the diversity of people’s connections. “It is about two individuals defined by who they are, not what they are. The campaign features four stories that fold into one another in unexpected ways. Four couples play out free spirited, raw narratives of today’s youth. The connections emphasize the thrill of life shared by two people and magnify the uniqueness of each relationship in our lives.

From what I watched, I saw young people finding sex partners via social media...pretty real. Twenty years later Calvin Klein is doing it again - portraying one entire generation in one fragrance, one concept.


Twenty two years from the launch of CK ONE EDT, twenty years after the CK be EDT and nine years after the launch of  CK IN2U EDT, one can affirm that if Luca Turin once said that fragrances are not about sex he was wrong. One can even study the sexual behaviour of generations just by analysing the marketing strategies to sell Calvin Klein's perfumes!

All photos are credited to Clavin Klein brand.