Lucien Lelong- N (Vintage Perfume)

According to Octavian Coifan's article about the history and composition of N by Lucien Lelong on 1000 Fragrances, the small extrait bottle I have is the one from 1936. I'm not sure when they stopped making it, but I knew had a treasure the second I held the still sealed box in its original paper wrapping in my hand. I unwrapped  it carefully, for once managing to preserve the paper, opened the box (similar to design to the old Lanvin ones), and released the glass stopper from its cord and crackling onion skin-like seal.

At least two thirds of the content was gone and the old juice has darkened overtime. I have no doubt some of the potency and top notes were also lost. But N, as old as it is, opens up with such a zing that every time I dab it on I think of fresh ginger. A few seconds later it becomes more of the broken green stem of a flower, then a carnation note emerges, spicy and a little bitter. It almost bites. The striking thing about Lucien Lelong's N is how alive and present it smells even after all these years.

N dries down rather quickly (old perfumes often give the effect of crumbing or collapsing into themselves). It becomes a powdery iris that fades into a very dry and dusty vetiver. I call it the Miss Havisham Vetiver. It's still good, even if it's more like a diorama of a vintage scene than something you can actually wear the entire day (If I were to refresh it every 90 minutes I'd have nothing left in the elegant Lucien Lelong bottle). N was probably too floral for me in its heyday, but I'm thankful to it for another lesson in vintage fashion and perfume.

Images--
Lucien Lelong Parfums vintage ad: hprints.com
Fashion photos of Princess Natalie Paley, Lucien Lelong's second wife who might (or might not) have been the inspiration for the perfume and its name, from myvintagevogue.com.

Happy Groundhog Day!

It's been 19 years, by the way.

All photos from the movie Groundhog Day: by Columbia Pictures.

YSL Effet Faux Cils Long-Wear Cream Eyeliner

Cream and gel eyeliners are probably my favorite. I tend to have them in several colors at any given time and use them up more than other type of liners. YSL released their Effet Faux Cils Long-Wear Cream Eyeliner last year, and just like their waterproof eye pencils, they've earned their keep (I just started testing the new felt tip pen, so review is coming in a few weeks).

YSL Effet Faux Cils Long-Wear Cream Eyeliner comes in six shades (Sephora only has four at the moment), from the inevitable black to green. I chose to start with two: Deep Black (01) and Sea Black (04). The regular black has a vinyl-like glossy finish in the pot as well as on the lid. The surprise was Sea Black, a rich and saturated midnight blue that looks scarily glittery in the pan but ends up as a very very blue shade with a glossy shimmer finish. It's not an almost-blue or a blackened blue. It's blue all the way, so take that into account. I find myself applying the Sea Black Effet Faux Cils with a light hand and drawing a thinner line than I'd do with blue eyeliners that are more navy and subtle.

The texture of YSL Effet Faux Cils is very soft and pliable. It responds to all brushes and is easy to work with. The longevity is exactly as promised. The line stays put as glossy as it was when first applied 10 hours later. It requires a little soaking in an eye makeup remover before it goes away, so I trust it when I need good performance.

Bottom Line: easy to love.

YSL Effet Faux Cils Long-Wear Cream Eyeliner ($25 each) is available at the counters, Sephora nd from yslbeautyus.com.

Chantecaille- Frangipane

I first smelled Frangipane by Chantecaille about ten or eleven years ago and quite liked it, even if I knew instantly that it was not meant for me. I remember testing it several times side by side next to Michael (Michael Kors), the tuberose bomb, and ended up buying Michael, which I wear to this day (in pure parfum form). Chantecaille's Frangipane was more flirty, more floral and I remember it clearly as having a candy aspect, almost marzipan rolled in generous amounts of powdered vanilla sugar. But the frangipani and jasmine by the bucket were always too much for me, and I likes Michael's tuberose-over-incense a lot better.

Chantecaille made some obvious changes to Frangipane that go beyond the new bottles and boxes. I won't even go into the price, which I find outrageous for what this is. After all, for those who love it and smell good in Frangipane, the price makes perfect sense. Today's Frangipane smells on my skin like a big bouquet of lily laced with some jasmine sprigs. It's very sweet (but that might be my skin) but without the almondy vanilla base that made me spray from the tester whenever I was around one and sneaking a sniff here and there. It's just sweet and flowery and a little musky, and I don't think it smells very attractive on me.

In defense of Frangipane I can say that usually this kind of overflowing white florals and jasmine blends can turn very Glade on me, while this one from Chantecaille retains a more refined and expensive air (it better, considering what you pay for it). The right person with the right skin will probably enjoy this fragrance just like my friend Charlestongirl from Best Things In Beauty. She's very close to being my evil scent twin, so no surprises there.  I just wish sometimes that I could smell what she's smelling.

Notes: water hyacinth, violet leaf, orange, jasmine, incense, ylang-ylang, frangipani, amber, musk and vanilla.

Frangipane by Chantecaille ($175 , 75ml EDP or $68 for the 8ml roll-on) is available at Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, and anywhere else that stocks Chantecaille products.

Photo: Ladies' Home Journal, April 1950, via myvintagevogue.com

Katherine Heigl And Juliette Binoche- Two Paris Premieres

We've seen quite a few gowns with sheer "nude" panels on red carpets lately, and I have to say that I'm not a fan. That's also true in the case of Katherine Heigl and the dress she wore to her Paris premiere of One For The Money . Between the cutouts, the yellowish looking panel, the too-visible slip or underskirt. It just doesn't work for me. I love the hair and makeup, though, and the earrings are gorgeous, so that's something I guess.

On the Parisian premiere of Elle, Juliette Binoche was her usual stunning self. Looking as French as they come and sporting a smoky eye better than much younger stars who think they invented the style. Is she too casual for the red carpet? I don't think so, but I've always been a Binoche fan.

All photos via Zimbio.

Butter London Marrow Nail Polish

My poor vegetarian self has an issue with Marrow as a nail polish name. It's just not... appetizing. Especially knowing that this was exactly what Butter London was aiming for when creating the polish. In their own words:

Hand mixed for the Vena Cava designers, who named it after the dark purple, rusty center of a bone.

Whatever. This is a pretty dark purple that looks almost creamy with the microest of all micro shimmer. It's a wonderful mid-winter color, and I especially like that it doesn't look black even in the shade (unless it's really pitch dark).

While the color of Butter London Marrow is almost opaque even with one coat, application goes somewhat streaky so a second and even a third coat are recommended. I've experienced chipping at the tips around the third day, but I'm really hard on my nails. Reinforcing the top coat every day always helps with preserving the polish (and my sanity. I can't stand chipped nails).

Butter London Marrow Nail Polish ($14) is available from Ulta, Nordstrom and butterlondon.com.

Esteban Paris- Classic Chypre

Fans of classic chypre perfumes have been hunting high and low to get their fix. The old ones no longer smell like themselves and whatever it is they call a "modern chypre" rarely comes close to the satisfying sensation we used to get when wearing the real thing. Between restrictions on raw material and the simple fact that anything that smells so oakmossy and perfumy is sadly out of style, they no longer make them that way.

Except for those who do. I already reviewed Chypre d'Orient, the little-known gem from Molinard. Today I'm bringing you another one of those new-perfume-that-smells-like-vintage, Classic Chypre by Esteban Paris. Compred to Molinard's Chypre, Esteban made things a bit safer with a lighter hand and a lighter concentration. Classic Chypre sneaks up on you rather than hit you on the head with its big pointy brassiere. The opening is an elegant mild green, a touch of bergamot, a hint of leafy herbs, perhaps something fruit with a dash of citrus juice dripped over it. A very spicy floral heart follows without committing to a specific note. It's abstract the way older perfumes meant to be: smoothly blended, opaque and a bit naughty, all the while keeping their expensive-looking gloves on.

I do smell the rose, somewhat powdery with no tartness in sight. I also feel the phantom presence of a red carnation, but that might be clove. This is where Esteban's Classic Chypre really starts soaring and you can just lean back and enjoy the ride back in time. A solid foundation of patchouli and oakmoss holds everything together. It has that deep and dark color of the forest floor or thick velvet curtains at an old mansion's library. This fragrance is absolutely delicious in a chypre kind of way, but not because it has vanilla listed in the notes. As a matter of fact I can't smell vanilla here to save my life and the only hint of sweetness comes from a somewhat mellowed-down patchouli.

If I have any reservations about Esteban's Classic Chypre is that it's an eau de toilette, thus a bit too airy and light. I wish it were at least an eau de parfum if not an extract. I keep imagining how luxurious it could be to dab a couple of drops where it matters instead of the heavy spraying I have to do whenever I choose Classic Chypre as my scent of the day.

Notes: bergamot, basil, jasmine, rose, spices, patchouli, vetiver, oarkmoss, vanilla.

Classic Chypre ($95, 50ml EDT) is available from estebanparis.com.  Samples can be found on The Perfumed Court.

Image: a 1957 photo that appeared in Playboy via The Nifty Fifties.