ANTONIO ALESSADRIA PARFUMS - A NEW Italian Niche Brand!

ANTONIO ALESSANDRIA PARFUMS SAMPLES

This week I had the joy of receiving the samples of 3 fragrances created by Antonio Alessandria. Mio carissimo Ermano was a super gentleman to make the introduction.

So here you will get to know a bit more about the perfumer and owner of the brand and his fragrances before its commercial launch!

A little bit about the perfumer:

Antonio Alessandria is Italian, born in Catania - Sicily. Although his love for fragrances comes from childhood he pursued a carrier in Electronic Engineering and started to work in the semiconductor industry (probably where he met Ermano, no?) for many years. The passion for fragrances could not be forgotten, so in 2005 he opened a niche fragrances shop in Catania after he finished his professional training in perfumery. Soon Bourdoir 36 became famous in the region and Antonio's expertise recognized in all Italy and abroad.

The collection:

In 2008 Antonio Alessandria began to create the collection Hommage à La Lune with 3 EAU de PARFUMS (Nacre Blanche, Nuit Rouge and Noir Obscure). Its debut was in this last Exsence - Milano 2014, to be launched for consumers this incoming month.

The collection tells a story divided into 3 fragrances, or 3 olfactory tomes of a poem dedicated to the moon, because Antonio feels that the moon is the natural expression of his idea of perfumery: Mystery, sensuality and seduction.

Note: The fragrances has in common not only the initial letter N in their name, but also the scent of a leather note combined in different ways in each fragrance. You will also find patchouli and musk notes in all his fragrances.

ANTONIO ALESSANDRIA PARFUMS

NACRE BLANCHE EDP - 50ml

DESCRIPTION BY THE BRAND: "The light of the moon, white as a pearl, enters the window and through a mirror illuminates the skin of a young woman, white and transparent as alabaster. The intense fragrance of the night blooming tuberose, drifting from the garden, mergers with the scent of a private chamber."

Olfactory family: Floral

Description: green, amber-oriental, leather

Olfactive notes: Bergamot, grapefruit, tangerine, petitgrain, coriander, tuberose, jasmine, ylang-ylang, osmanthus, benzoin, vanilla, soft leather, patchouli, sandalwood, musk.

+ Q PERFUME BLOG IMPRESSIONS: It is a tuberose exuberance! It is very luxurious, very chic and it contains an animal background. It both sexy - carnal. As Antonio A. mentions in his own description...you will want to meet this young woman in her private chambers! 

Here you won't find the plastic doll hair note that I mention when describing tuberose fragrances. Here tuberose also has nothing to do with doll's hair or laundry! (if you are my follower you know what I mean!). If not - go to: HERE or HERE or HERE.

Top notes bring a citrus blast that makes me think of summer right away! The transition to the heart is quite fast and the bridge is the coriander. Slightly soapy, slightly green. Very gentle on the skin. The heart contains a chic and kinky luxurious bouquet. 

The image that comes to my mind is the perfect tanned skin and voluptuous body of Luisa Ranieri. Her full lips, intense eyes and class... yes darlings...Italian women are hot and classy...and so you will be wearing NACRE BLANCHE EDP.

LUISA RANIERI

LUISA RANIERI

If you are not familiar with Italian actresses you will see what I mean with Jennifer A. in Just Go for It video:

NUIT ROUGE EDP - 50ml

DESCRIPTION BY THE BRAND: A silvery moon illuminates the frosty night. The volcano looms volatile in the dark. The red glow of a sudden eruption inspires both fear and attraction."

Olfactory family: woody

Description: green, leather, soft-spicy

Olfactive notes: Bergamot, grapefruit, lemon, black currant buds, rhubarb, geranium, iris, saffron, black pepper, nutmeg, coffee,  vanilla, leather, patchouli, tonka bean, incense, sandalwood, musk.

+ Q PERFUME BLOG IMPRESSIONS:
This perfume is by far one of the best unisex fragrances I have ever tried - Black Bulgari by Annick Ménardo has the same quality for that matter. It is also one of the best perfumes I have ever encountered - for its personality, structure and combination of notes.
Nuit Rouge is the perfume of Russian Nobility - Dvoryanstvo.
It is a royal deep red elixir with a gentle iris-y cloud. A haze, better describing it.
Saffron, coffee, patchouli  and vanilla creates an virile accord that brings a bit of lust to this beautiful perfume and that is why I also think of Excalibur and Medieval Kings. I think of sensual Igrayne dancing for the Knights of the Round Table.
I have been wearing this fragrance for 3 days now and each day I find another aspect to love. Another facet to explore. Another pleasure to enjoy.
If you relate to Russian Dvoryanstvo, you will find both austerity and attraction (Alessandria mentions fear...In this case I would say is not exactly a fear, but a respect for the power). 
Nobility - either Russian or English brings both sensations - we are drawn to their power. 

NOIR OBSCUR EDP - 50ml

DESCRIPTION BY THE BRAND: In the dark still night of a new moon, the memory of the light makes its way through the maze of the soul to lead the way along unknown paths. Soft as a cloud, sensual as velvet, sweet as sin."

Olfactory family: Floral

Description: amber-oriental

Olfactive notes: Orange, tangerine, davana, rum absolute, spicy notes, Bulgarian rose,  jasmine, iris, osmanthus, leather, patchouli, cedarwood, incense, amber, musk.

+ Q PERFUME BLOG IMPRESSIONS:

How can I explain what I feel smelling this fragrance? It is a combination of an old English austere library and a cozy hug? Or being the daughter of Jeremy Irons and receiving a loving hug from him? Wearing a fluffy cozy blanket or robe in a sauna? Crazy. Hard to explain!

If you saw the movie THe Book Thief you will remember the scene of Liesel in the mayor's library in his home reading books. Her beauty and the joy she encountered inside that library is maybe what I relate to with NOIR OBSCUR.

The thing is - the movie is too sad and too touchy and Alessandria perfume does not contain any sadness at all. So let's just pretend Liesel was not in Nazi Germany. Lets just see this amazing 10 yrs old creature discovering the beauty of words in a cozy library!

NOIR OBSCUR EDP has a serenity and a gentleness that makes me want to meet Antonio Alessadria. In fact, all 3 fragrances contain a large dose of gentleness.

Thank you Ermano for introducing me to Antonio and Grazie Tanto Antonio for being such a wonderful perfumer and a gentleman!

Perfume Sampling - Part II

The great financial recession of 2009 brought some impact on beauty consumers so travel size* and samples allowed brand owners to give an opportunity for the consumers to try their fragrances before an initial investment, and also to continue to keep them loyal.

*Travel size perfumes became a must since 9/11 due to travel restrictions and the fact that today we are wireless, always on-the-go, practically modern nomads, created the need for smaller versions of everything, and small vials of perfumes became a must. Many consumers began to purchase full size bottles and sample vials of the same perfumes to wear outside their homes.  Many websites selling perfumes online began to offer samples for a smaller price. Luckyscent, one of these websites, usually charges USD4 per sample.
Brands saw this mobility and this need for smaller sized perfumes as an opportunity to market samples as products in their own lines.

ORMONDE JAYNE DISCOVERY SET

With the rise of niche perfumery, also niche brands began to sell sample vials of their fragrances which allowed the consumers to get to know their fragrances before making a larger investment. The reason niche brands succeeded in selling samples and turning them into a product was the fact that their fragrances were (and still are) more expensive than prestige fragrances. After purchasing a sample niche perfume consumers impressed by the fragrance sampled would not hesitate to pass the credit card for a greater amount.  Many bought (and still buy) only the samples because they could not/can't really afford a full bottle, but still want to have the pleasure of wear them.

Sample selling developed to discovery sets and niche brands invested in beautiful and luxurious packing so these sets could not only be purchased to be given as gifts, but also to become fancy collectibles products. 

Ormonde Jayne, a British brand so reviewed and commented here in my blog, developed a beautiful discovery set with a very luxurious design, including a velvety inner housing and a booklet with explanations of each of the fragrances offered. All housed in a beautiful black and gold box. I have it and I am amazed each time I open it!

Another brand who invested into a very creative, detailed and hip design for discovery sets is American niche brand INEKE from San Francisco. Her Deluxe Sample Collection Volume 5. includes eight samples of fragrances, each wrapped in a fine paper, packed in a small box and all eight housed in a beautiful package that comes with a brochure describing each of the fragrances.

Sample vial package by INEKE (2013)

Deluxe Sample Collection 

Sent by INEKE to + Q Perfume Blog (2009)

Deluxe Sample Collection brochure and samples

Sent by INEKE to + Q Perfume Blog (2009)

Ineke brand also offers a clever approach of low risk sampling of the fragrances where the initial USD25 spent on a sample vial of 1.5ml is totally redeemable when the final purchase of a new 75ml perfume is completed by the client through website.

LES EXCLUSIFS BY CHANEL

Luxury brands such as Chanel uses a similar approach of niche perfumery sampling in their exclusive lines,with one small different - they are free of charge. By purchasing one of the 14 fragrances of the Les Exclusifs collection the client receives samples of ALL the other fragrances. Chanel believes that once a client already bought one of the exclusive fragrances offered, he/she will be teased with the samples, he/she is more likely to come for more. 

By the way, many department stores are shifting their approach when it comes to samples using them as an opportunity to better educate the consumer and enhance interaction between consultants and customers: 

“In-store consultants are guiding consumers in trying new products. Consumers will leave the store with samples, providing them with more time to make the final decision,” says Sylvie Darensbourg, regional market development manager for Aptar Gift + Promotion in an article published by beauty Packing Magazine - Sept. issue,2012.

Fragrance Foundation voting/sampling consumer's choice nominees 

This year the voting for the Fragrance Foundation Consumer's Choice Award came with a surprise - voting consumers could enter to the Foundation's website and request samples of all the nominees fragrances before casting their votes. The idea of a more interactive voting process came from the sampling strategies used online by brands in social medias such as twitter and facebook.

Fact is that this high demand for samples sized fragrances or travel sized vials is also demanding innovative packaging, and in the competition some companies are coming out with rather curious solutions! One of them is the scented perfume packages allowing consumers to smell the fragrance without even having to take them out of the box. Although this technology is smart enough not to interfere in the graphics of the package, can you imagine if all brands decide to apply it? Or if one brand decides to apply it in all the perfumes of its collection? It will be practically impossible to enter to a perfume shop or even try one fragrance inside these shops.

Stay tuned for more!

Perfume Sampling - PART I

Perfume sampling goes way back in time when a company named California Perfume Company (today called AVON) in 1880's used samples to demonstrate its products (perfumes, toilette waters, powders, soups and food preparations) to their clients.

It is a bit controversial if David H. McConnell, founder of the company, did or did not intend originally to create a beauty company. According to Avon's website McConnell was a book salesman and during his travels he realized that women were more interested in the free perfume samples he offered with his books than the books he was selling (a strategy he had to pitch his sales). According to the website since the beginning he noticed 2 important things:

1. women were isolated in their homes while their husbands were off to work; 2. women at that time were confine to jobs in agriculture and manufacture or domestic services.

I researched more and the truth is told in the founder's biographical book:  He was giving these fragrances away to learn about this market and to test products that he was interested in selling in the near future.

THE LITTLE DOT BOX BY AVON

"In 1887, on my return from Chicago, I purchased the entire business from my employer and managed it myself for some time. During this time the one thing I learned successfully was how to sell goods to the consumer.

My ambition was to manufacture a line of goods that would be consumed, used up, and to sell it through canvassing agents, direct from the factory to the consumer.

The starting of the perfume business was the result of most careful and thorough investigation, guided by the experience of several years' successful operation in the book business; that is, in selling goods direct to the consumer or purchaser. I learned during this time that the proper and most advantageous way of selling goods was to be able to submit the goods themselves to the people. In investigating this matter nearly every line of business was gone over, and it seemed to me, then, as it has since been proven, that the perfume business in its different branches afforded the very best possible opportunity to build up a permanent and well-established trade. Having once decided that the perfume business was the business, the question naturally presented itself, "By what name are these perfumes to be known; by what name is this company to be called?" The gentleman who took me from the farm as a boy, became in the past years not only my employer, but my personal friend and, after buying him out, he moved to California, and while there wrote me glowing accounts of the country, and to him belongs the idea of the name California, as associated with this business.

It was in 1888 that I started the perfume business in a space scarcely larger than an ordinary kitchen pantry.

At first I manufactured but five odors: Violet, White Rose, Heliotrope, Lily-of-the-Valley and Hyacinth. I did much experimental work in making these odors, and the selling price of the first batch of perfumes I made did not cover one-half the actual cost of the goods, but experience is a great teacher, and I applied myself to the task of making perfumes with the same vim and energy that I had in selling books and, after a short time, I fancied that I could produce as fine an odor as some of the old and tried perfumers; at least, my perfumes pleased my customers; they were the natural perfumes of the flower, made in the most natural way and by the same process employed by the large French perfumers.

I soon found it necessary to increase the odors and to add to the line other articles for the toilet, among those first put out were: Shampoo Cream, Witch Hazel Cream, Almond Cream Balm, Tooth Paste, which afterwards was made in the Tooth Tablet, Toilet Waters, etc." (Excerpt extracted from A brief history of the california Perfume Company by David h. McConnell  in 1903).

Mostly, what the company understood in terms of marketing strategy was that placing the actual products into the hands of consumers within their own homes was immediately apparent so customers could see and examine the actual goods offered for purchase in a familiar inviting environment, and that customers could more easily appreciate the quality, the simplicity and the beauty of the containers, labels and packing elements that helped to secure increased sales.

Also a visionary, François Coty in 1910 introduced the marketing strategy called affordable luxury - At that time he made available smaller bottles of identical perfume products at lower prices in order to make his brand affordable to a broader range of women,  a strategy soon to be adopted by his competitor Gabrielle Chanel who in 1932 launched her handbag flacons - small pocket-size bottles of her entire collection as a solution to continue to sell her luxury products during the economic collapse of the Great Depression.

ESTÉE LAUDER  at the counter of her brand

We can't study the history of fragrance sampling without bringing the most innovative of all entrepreneurs and marketing strategists in the cosmetic & fragrance business - Estée Lauder. Born Josephine Esther Mentzer, the daughter  of Hungarian Jewish immigrants from Queens began to sell cosmetics in the late 20's and created the GIVE AWAY marketing strategy for her products. She believed that giving away free samples of her products was the most honest way to do business and in the early 30's she was giving a dollop sample of her cream in waxpaper. She believed that customers receiving these samples were not only encouraged to buy her products, but also to tell others about the brand (she called it Tell a Woman strategy). This concept of marking developed later to the gift-with-purchase strategy (GWP), also her idea. In the early 50's women who came to Estée Lauder counters would receive a free gift, learn more about the products and purchase what they needed. In fact this strategist invested all her money in samples to be mailed directly to customers with their monthly bills, to be given together with other items purchased at her counters, or simply by giving them away in charity events.

Back in 1940 a research chemist for the NCR Corporation in the process of trying to solve a problem with the stains that remained after changing the company's cash register tapes, produced tiny capsules of ink that were safely sealed in chemical bubbles, that later was incremented by 3m and NCR resulting in a new micro-encapsulation process that inspired the scratch-n-sniff strips. It is also known that ORLANDI, a company in the printing business since 1915 was already developing a custom made chemically pure paper for fragrance testing. Later in 1950 the company developed a blotter scenting process that allowed the application of fragrance in printing paper and that was a turning point to fragrance marketing. Direct mail and in-store sampling became tools to increase sales and millions of blotter cards were shipped daily to department store clients. 

In the early 80's a fashion store called Giorgio from Beverly Hills saw its potential by inserting scented strips with the fragrance they were about to launch in several magazines and attached to envelopes sent to clients. The strips were responsible for the success of sales that reached $2.5 million in the first year - a number that reached more than $100 million.

According to the NYT in an article of 1988, at that decade perfumes were sold mainly at department stores and the fragrance counters were always placed on the first floor for maximum exposure. A sales person was always standing behind the corner luring customers to come closer where she or he would be persuaded to try a fragrance. At that time some brands offered trial vials but it was highly expensive. Soon they discovered the power of scented adds as a cheaper and broader way to sample perfumes. In 1985 Calvin Klein launched a controversial advertising campaign for the iconic fragrance Obsession with printed adds which were mailed to millions of homes through scent strips in magazines, showing a muted picture of three nude men hovering around a nude woman.

THE SUPER MODELS

The decade of the 90's were a turning point to scented ads when model agencies and fashion magazines created and promoted the so-called Super Models.  Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington and Claudia Schiffer became as famous and glamorous as movie stars. They were in the spotlight of gossips, trendy night clubs,  and covers of fashion magazines worldwide. Everyone wanted to see these glamourous women and magazine sales skyrocket. During this period fragrance adverting in magazines was never so intense and so explored. In an analysis of the New York Times in 1992 we get the numbers: "Fragrance strips, sometimes known as scent strips, are just a decade old, but they have already created a $40 million a year business and breathed new life into the $4 billion a year American fragrance industry". The newspaper explained the success of this sampling strategy: "Two senses are touched by fragrance strips - sight and smell. A reader turning a page can see a gorgeous woman dreaming of who knows what delicious things and, by simply lifting a flap of paper, can sample the fresh scent of spring flowers or something musky, exotic, maybe a little sexy. This might just prompt many women - and some harried men too busy for shopping - to fill out the scented envelope attached to the page and order up a bottle or two or three with their credit cards.The potential is enormous in a nation that is both the world's largest fragrance market and the world's largest direct-mail market. The fragrance strips play on two thoroughly modern, very American traits: the desire to smell good and the compulsion to save time".

ORLANDI for Lancôme Trésor

In the turn of the millennium innovative sampling strategies emerged. Brands looked for more targeted campaigns, getting consumer's attention through unusual and creative distribution channels such as beauty salons, night clubs, concerts, spas, hotels, etc... The cross marketing strategy was introduced by grouping samples with different retails sized products. Internet became also a distribution channel for sampling programs. Many brands began to offer free samples in exchange of personal information and opinion about the fragrances. Many brands began to offer free samples of fragrances as a pre-launch event and websites for each and every perfume launch began to pop up.

New sampling packing solutions were developed and launched in the marketing. Delivery by insertion of samples in magazines and newspapers still had to be flexible and flat, but it became more creative and more technological. Front foils shaped and printed containing perfumed gels, perfumed tissues and pads to be discovered and sampled as they were peeled became available. Unique cuts were developed and more complex designs were available. Sampling systems mimicking the shape and the graphics of the retail-sized perfumes became also a hit and a way to maintain brand identity.

In terms of vials, mini sprays substituted the traditional force-fit plug and dabbing with the fingers. Rexam developed mini sprayers and dispensing systems enabling customer to have a very similar experience they had with full sized bottles.

TO BE CONTINUED...