The essence of masculinity

What should a man smell like?
This is not an inquiry to be undertaken lightly - particularly at this time of the year, when the gauntlet of parties and events that stretches from December into the new year is destined to put the fragrance profiles of near strangers beneath our noses as surely as stockings dangle from the fireplace.
It's a timely question for other reasons. One-quarter of all annual sales in the prestige fragrance category take place in the two weeks before Christmas, according to the NPD Group, an American market research company.

Image via WikipediaConsider that men's fragrance sales are growing faster than women's (12 per cent compared with 9 per cent for the first nine months of this year over the same period last year, according to NPD). And that Gucci Guilty Pour Homme topped the list of both men's and women's fragrance launches this year. Clearly, attempts to divine the olfactory essence of masculinity are a matter of both dollars and scents.
One way to answer the question is to look at what men (or the people who shop for them) are buying. The five best-selling men's fragrances between January and October of this year were Giorgio Armani's Acqua di Gio Pour Homme (in the No.1 spot), Chanel's Bleu de Chanel, Gucci Guilty Pour Homme, Armani Code and Dolce&Gabbana's Light Blue Pour Homme, according to NPD.
What do all of these fragrances have in common - besides abundant references to the colour blue and things aquatic? They all have scent profiles grounded in a combination of wood (including but not limited to forests full of cedar, sandalwood, juniper, oak moss and musk wood) and spice (practically an entire rack of Sichuan pepper, ginger, bergamot, coriander and pink peppercorns).
Pull the common elements from those bestsellers, says the managing editor for online fragrance publication The Perfume Magazine, Mark David Boberick, and a guy can start to get a whiff of what the everyman most likely smells like. ''Nowadays it's all about the aquatics mixed with the woods,'' Boberick says. ''Scents like Bulgari Aqua are a good example. It's aquatic but has a woody base. And Bleu de Chanel is the same way.''
Does that mean Gucci Guilty Pour Homme (which I found redolent of cedar-planked orange slices dipped in glacier water) experienced the best-selling fragrance launch of the year because its chemical cocktail approximates quintessential manliness in some unique and different way?
Boberick doesn't think so. Gucci Guilty Pour Homme ''smells like a lot of other men's fragrances with maybe a slight twist'', he says. ''It's good stuff but it's not groundbreaking. What probably put it on the list was an exceptional advertising campaign and a designer luxury label.''
The designer luxury label is the Italian fashion house of Gucci, of course, and the exceptional advertising campaign he's referring to includes a fever dream of a commercial directed by writer-artist Frank Miller (who wrote the comic book series 300). It features leather jacket-wearing actor Chris Evans (Captain America) roaring through darkened city streets on a fire-belching motorcycle on his way to an assignation with Evan Rachel Wood (The Wrestler, The Ides of March).
Gucci's ad campaign is just the latest to rely on Hollywood firepower to promote a new men's fragrance. When Chanel's Bleu de Chanel launched last year, commercials starring French actor Gaspard Ulliel had none other than Martin Scorsese in the director's chair and a Rolling Stones song on the soundtrack.
Celebrity affiliation - via advertising campaigns or celebrity-branded product - has long been a key way to create the emotional connection and resonance needed to sell consumers bottles of scented liquid. Matthew McConaughey doffs his shirt for Dolce&Gabbana's The One for Men; James Franco was the face of Gucci by Gucci Pour Homme; and country singer Tim McGraw had a hit with his own branded fragrance, to mention but a few.
''A celebrity endorsement is a shorthand way of saying it's a scent of significance,'' Boberick says. ''In this age of the internet and the fixation on celebrity, for someone who isn't thinking too much about it, the idea that they might smell like a celebrity - or what a celebrity wears or puts their name on - is an easy way out. It's acceptable.''
Another way to answer the question of what a man should smell like - at least when the goal is attracting a mate - is to determine what smells cause the greatest increase in sexual arousal. This is what Dr Alan Hirsch and his colleagues at the Chicago-based Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation endeavoured to do in the mid-1990s.
The odour that resulted in the highest level of arousal among females was a combination of sweets and cucumber, according to its findings. (Men, it found, responded best to a combination of lavender and pumpkin pie.) But Hirsch says those findings come with some caveats.
''There are certainly trends in scents,'' Hirsch says. ''So, yes, it's possible that something else - say, the smell of cotton candy or the new iPhone - could cause greater sexual arousal. You also have to realise that humans can detect anywhere from 10,000 to 30,000 different odours. Clearly we couldn't have even begun to test all of them, so it is a distinct possibility that other odours would have an effect - maybe even a greater effect.''
We may not be any closer to answering our inquiry about what a man should smell like but Hirsch offers some guidance about what a man probably shouldn't smell like: ''Cherries, charcoal barbecue smoke and men's cologne were the things found to be the biggest turn-offs to women,'' he says.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/executive-style/style/the-essence-of-masculinity-20111214-1ouux.html#ixzz1hn8mIg2X

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• Judging by men's fragrance sales, there are three kinds of guys (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Top Selling Masculine Fragrances 2010 USA: Popular Perfumes (boisdejasmin.typepad.com)
• Gucci Goes for Round II (fabsugar.com)
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The scent of a man

Image via WikipediaWhat should a man smell like?

This is not an inquiry to be undertaken lightly -- particularly at this time of the year when the gantlet of parties, events and mixers that stretches from Thanksgiving into the new year is destined to put the fragrance profiles of near strangers beneath our noses as surely as stockings dangle from the fireplace mantle.

It's a timely question for other reasons. One-quarter of all annual sales in the prestige fragrance category (scents sold at the department store level and higher) take place the two weeks before Christmas, according to the NPD Group, a Port Washington, N.Y., market research firm.

Consider that men’s fragrance sales are growing faster than women’s (12 per cent compared with 9 per cent for the first nine months of 2011 over the same period in 2010, according to NPD). And that Gucci Guilty Pour Homme topped the list of men’s and women’s fragrance launches this year. Clearly, attempts to divine the olfactory essence of dudeness are a matter of both dollars and scents.

One way to answer the question is to look at what men (or the people who shop for them) are buying. The five bestselling men's fragrances between January and October of this year were Giorgio Armani's Acqua di Gio Pour Homme (in the No. 1 spot), Chanel's Bleu de Chanel, Gucci Guilty Pour Homme, Armani Code and Dolce & Gabbana's Light Blue Pour Homme, according to NPD.

What do all of these fragrances have in common -- besides abundant references to the colour blue and things aquatic? They all have scent profiles grounded in a combination of wood (including but not limited to forests full of cedar, sandalwood, juniper, oak moss and musk wood) and spice (practically an entire rack full of Szechwan pepper, ginger, bergamot, coriander and pink peppercorns).

Pull the common elements from those bestsellers, says Mark David Boberick, managing editor for the online fragrance publication the Perfume Magazine, and a guy can start to get a whiff of what America’s everyman most likely smells like. "Nowadays it’s all about the aquatics mixed with the woods," Boberick said. "Scents like Bulgari Acqua are a good example. It's aquatic but has a woody base. And Bleu de Chanel is the same way."

Does that mean Gucci Guilty Pour Homme (which we found redolent of cedar-planked orange slices dipped in glacier water) became the bestselling fragrance launch of the year because its chemical cocktail approximates quintessential manliness in some unique and different way?

Boberick doesn’t think so. Gucci Guilty Homme "smells like a lot of other men’s fragrances with maybe a slight twist," he said. "It’s good stuff, but it’s not groundbreaking. What probably put it on the list was an exceptional advertising campaign and a designer luxury label."

The designer luxury label is the Italian fashion house of Gucci, of course, and the exceptional advertising campaign he's referring to includes a fever dream of a commercial directed by writer-artist Frank Miller (who wrote the comic-book series "300"). It features a leather-jacket wearing Chris Evans ("Captain America") roaring through darkened city streets on a fire-belching motorcycle on his way to bed Evan Rachel Wood ("The Wrestler," "Ides of March").

Gucci’s ad campaign is just the latest to rely on serious Hollywood firepower to promote a new men’s fragrance. When Chanel's Bleu de Chanel launched in 2010, commercials starring French actor Gaspard Ulliel had none other than Martin Scorsese in the director’s chair and a Rolling Stones song on the soundtrack.

The video on Chanel's YouTube channel has been viewed nearly 1.25 million times since it was posted 15 months ago, and the scent has become the second-bestselling men’s fragrance of 2011.

Celebrity affiliation -- via advertising campaigns or full-on celebrity-branded product -- has long been a key way to create the emotional connection and resonance needed to sell consumers on pretty bottles of scented liquid. Matthew McConaughey doffs his shirt for Dolce & Gabbana’s the One for Men; James Franco was the face of Gucci by Gucci Pour Homme; and country singer Tim McGraw had a hit with his own branded fragrance, to mention but a few.

"A celebrity endorsement is a shorthand way of saying it’s a scent of significance," Boberick said. "In this age of the Internet and the fixation on celebrity, for someone who isn’t thinking too much about it, the idea that they might smell like a celebrity -- or what a celebrity wears or puts their name on -- is an easy way out. It’s acceptable."

Another way to answer the question of what a man should smell like -- at least when the goal is attracting a mate -- is to determine what smells cause the greatest increase in sexual arousal. Which is exactly what Dr. Alan R. Hirsch and his colleagues at the Chicago-based Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation endeavoured to do in the mid-1990s.

The odour that resulted in the highest level of arousal among females was the combination of Good & Plenty candy and cucumber, according to their widely reported findings. (Men, they found, responded best to a combination of lavender and pumpkin pie.) But Hirsch says those findings come with a couple of caveats.

"There are certainly trends in scents," Hirsch said. "So, yes, it’s possible that something else -- say the smell of cotton candy or the new iPhone -- could cause greater sexual arousal. You also have to realize that humans can detect anywhere from 10,000 to 30,000 different odours. Clearly we couldn’t have even begun to test all of them, so it is a distinct possibility that other odours would have an effect -- maybe even a greater effect."

Hirsch said that in early tests, the scent of baked goods was intended to be used as a control but became more integral after researchers noticed how test subjects were reacting.

Although Hirsch hasn’t updated his results (to see if, perhaps, the smell of a new iPhone is a turn-on), he says the foundation continues to study the effects of odour on perception.

One such study discovered that a "spicy floral scent" will result in a man perceiving a woman to be about 12 pounds lighter, and that the scent of pink grapefruit will cause him to perceive a woman to be six years younger. And the combined scent of eucalyptus, camphor and menthol induces feelings of empathy in both genders.

Though we may not be any closer to answering our inquiry about what a man should smell like, Hirsch offered some guidance about what a man probably shouldn’t smell like: "Cherries, charcoal barbecue smoke and men’s cologne were the things found to be the biggest turn-offs to women," he said. (It should be noted that the study failed to identify any scents that decreased sexual arousal in men.)

Hirsch explained that the inclusion of men’s cologne on the list more than likely stemmed from the subjects’ repeated exposure to men who, on the whole, tend to drench when they should splash.

"It’s important to remember that women have a much better ability to smell than men do," he said. "So men tend to use a lot more cologne, body spray or what-have-you, and that tends to overwhelm women because their sense of smell is so much better.

"Also, men tend to go out with women that are usually younger than they are, and when you’re younger your sense of smell is much better."

Hirsch’s rule of thumb? "If a guy is putting on the amount (of fragrance) he thinks he should be putting on, it’s probably too much."

In other words, no matter what a man should smell like -- and to hedge our bets we're going with Chris Evans and Matthew McConaughey in a slow-motion Martin Scorsese video where they shirtlessly race motorcycles through a grove of moss-covered cedar trees, pockets bulging with pink peppercorns, cucumbers and Good & Plentys -- he shouldn’t smell like it too much.



Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/life/scent/5778054/story.html#ixzz1h6sn3pNg

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• Chris Evans Is 'Guilty' of Smelling Good (stylenews.peoplestylewatch.com)
• Gucci Pour Homme By Gucci For Men. Eau De Toilette Spray 3.3 Ounces (fclothes.com)
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When it comes to gifts, the nose knows best

I JUST DON'T like Christmas shopping. My reasons are both simple and just: The stores are too crowded.

True enough, I could shop online — like much of America does these days — but I am more of the see-it, touch-it, feel-it, smell-it school of consumerism. And it's the smelling part that I wanted to share with you today.

Image via WikipediaWhen I was a kid I was always much too busy doing important things, like injecting vodka into oranges for the big New Year's fete, to do my Christmas shopping anytime prior to roughly 8 p.m. on Christmas Eve. That left me with very little latitude in the area of product selection. Generally, the only places remaining open at my selected shopping time were drugstores and Chinese restaurants.

Being one who always wanted to opt for the gift that keeps on giving, I decided against the Egg Foo Yung for mom and a nice Moo Goo Gai Pan for dad. It left the drugstore. So, my dad always got a cellophane-wrapped Christmas edition of English Leather, and my mom a lovely half-gallon jug of whatever $10 perfume had just arrived from Paris that day.

They were both very kind. Our toilet smelled great for a couple of days after I had bestowed my mom's perfume upon her, and the neighbor's cat had that come-hither musky smell of English Leather for weeks.

So, when my wife asked me what I wanted for Christmas this year it took me back.

"Just get me a bottle of cologne," I said.
Knowing that, were my wife to actually make that purchase, it would sit on my bathroom shelf like every other cologne that I have ever owned until it became distilled enough that I could guzzle it on the rocks with a touch of tonic water and a squeeze of lime.

It did, however, send me running to the Internet to see what this millennium's version of Old Spice and English Leather actually looked like. And, do you know what? It's just not your father's musk ox anymore.

Come to find out that men's colognes are reviewed — obviously, by people with noses the size of vacuum cleaners and a penchant for hyperbole never before seen outside the WWF.

Consider this review of Eau de LeCoste, the Blanc Edition: "The essence of tuberose, ylang-ylang and olibanum gives off a quietly dignified masculinity."

Who knew? My experience had always been mixing ylang-ylang with olibanum could give you warts. I say this wrapped securely in my quiet dignified masculinity.

It also seems that men's cologne is once again in the process of evolving. No longer is the "bold, craggy, masculine smell" of the '80s acceptable. As we all know, that gave way to the "dry, green, aromatic take on rose and leather — the animalic note" that fell from fashion in the '90s. We are now headlong into the "bold but far too poised to be read as brash or cross" era of male smellage.

So here — slashed from the pages of the latest reviews of what women want in wafting — are the good and bad of olfactory perception.

Jublilation XXV by Amouage: Apparently the gold standard of what women want their man to emit in 2011. It took XXIV tries before perfecting "a blend of patchouli-incense accord with opopnax cedar and a hint of oud. A perfect mixture between sensuality and masculinity."

I looked up "oud" — it is a pear-shaped, stringed instrument. But, apparently, it really smells great.

Compare that with one man's review of Acqua di Gio pour Homme by Giorgio Armani. "The most stomach-turning fragrance my nose has ever experienced."

Ouch, Giorgio — back to the musk ox, man.

That was a cruel review and blatantly obvious to me that the writer has never been in my son's room.

Armed with these facts, I am reporting back to my wife that I do not want cologne for Christmas. Just a simple order of Egg Foo Yung.

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• It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas... (reasonablyenlightenedmama.com)
• New Spring Fragrance Collection from Chantecaille (bellasugar.com)
• Christmas Guide: Let's hear it for the boys (abimarvel.com)
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The scent of a man

What should a man smell like?

This is not an inquiry to be undertaken lightly -- particularly at this time of the year when the gantlet of parties, events and mixers that stretches from Thanksgiving into the new year is destined to put the fragrance profiles of near strangers beneath our noses as surely as stockings dangle from the fireplace mantle.

Image via WikipediaIt's a timely question for other reasons. One-quarter of all annual sales in the prestige fragrance category (scents sold at the department store level and higher) take place the two weeks before Christmas, according to the NPD Group, a Port Washington, N.Y., market research firm.

Consider that men’s fragrance sales are growing faster than women’s (12 per cent compared with 9 per cent for the first nine months of 2011 over the same period in 2010, according to NPD). And that Gucci Guilty Pour Homme topped the list of men’s and women’s fragrance launches this year. Clearly, attempts to divine the olfactory essence of dudeness are a matter of both dollars and scents.

One way to answer the question is to look at what men (or the people who shop for them) are buying. The five bestselling men's fragrances between January and October of this year were Giorgio Armani's Acqua di Gio Pour Homme (in the No. 1 spot), Chanel's Bleu de Chanel, Gucci Guilty Pour Homme, Armani Code and Dolce & Gabbana's Light Blue Pour Homme, according to NPD.

What do all of these fragrances have in common -- besides abundant references to the colour blue and things aquatic? They all have scent profiles grounded in a combination of wood (including but not limited to forests full of cedar, sandalwood, juniper, oak moss and musk wood) and spice (practically an entire rack full of Szechwan pepper, ginger, bergamot, coriander and pink peppercorns).

Pull the common elements from those bestsellers, says Mark David Boberick, managing editor for the online fragrance publication the Perfume Magazine, and a guy can start to get a whiff of what America’s everyman most likely smells like. "Nowadays it’s all about the aquatics mixed with the woods," Boberick said. "Scents like Bulgari Acqua are a good example. It's aquatic but has a woody base. And Bleu de Chanel is the same way."

Does that mean Gucci Guilty Pour Homme (which we found redolent of cedar-planked orange slices dipped in glacier water) became the bestselling fragrance launch of the year because its chemical cocktail approximates quintessential manliness in some unique and different way?

Boberick doesn’t think so. Gucci Guilty Homme "smells like a lot of other men’s fragrances with maybe a slight twist," he said. "It’s good stuff, but it’s not groundbreaking. What probably put it on the list was an exceptional advertising campaign and a designer luxury label."

The designer luxury label is the Italian fashion house of Gucci, of course, and the exceptional advertising campaign he's referring to includes a fever dream of a commercial directed by writer-artist Frank Miller (who wrote the comic-book series "300"). It features a leather-jacket wearing Chris Evans ("Captain America") roaring through darkened city streets on a fire-belching motorcycle on his way to bed Evan Rachel Wood ("The Wrestler," "Ides of March").

Gucci’s ad campaign is just the latest to rely on serious Hollywood firepower to promote a new men’s fragrance. When Chanel's Bleu de Chanel launched in 2010, commercials starring French actor Gaspard Ulliel had none other than Martin Scorsese in the director’s chair and a Rolling Stones song on the soundtrack.

The video on Chanel's YouTube channel has been viewed nearly 1.25 million times since it was posted 15 months ago, and the scent has become the second-bestselling men’s fragrance of 2011.

Celebrity affiliation -- via advertising campaigns or full-on celebrity-branded product -- has long been a key way to create the emotional connection and resonance needed to sell consumers on pretty bottles of scented liquid. Matthew McConaughey doffs his shirt for Dolce & Gabbana’s the One for Men; James Franco was the face of Gucci by Gucci Pour Homme; and country singer Tim McGraw had a hit with his own branded fragrance, to mention but a few.

"A celebrity endorsement is a shorthand way of saying it’s a scent of significance," Boberick said. "In this age of the Internet and the fixation on celebrity, for someone who isn’t thinking too much about it, the idea that they might smell like a celebrity -- or what a celebrity wears or puts their name on -- is an easy way out. It’s acceptable."

Another way to answer the question of what a man should smell like -- at least when the goal is attracting a mate -- is to determine what smells cause the greatest increase in sexual arousal. Which is exactly what Dr. Alan R. Hirsch and his colleagues at the Chicago-based Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation endeavoured to do in the mid-1990s.

The odour that resulted in the highest level of arousal among females was the combination of Good & Plenty candy and cucumber, according to their widely reported findings. (Men, they found, responded best to a combination of lavender and pumpkin pie.) But Hirsch says those findings come with a couple of caveats.

"There are certainly trends in scents," Hirsch said. "So, yes, it’s possible that something else -- say the smell of cotton candy or the new iPhone -- could cause greater sexual arousal. You also have to realize that humans can detect anywhere from 10,000 to 30,000 different odours. Clearly we couldn’t have even begun to test all of them, so it is a distinct possibility that other odours would have an effect -- maybe even a greater effect."

Hirsch said that in early tests, the scent of baked goods was intended to be used as a control but became more integral after researchers noticed how test subjects were reacting.

Although Hirsch hasn’t updated his results (to see if, perhaps, the smell of a new iPhone is a turn-on), he says the foundation continues to study the effects of odour on perception.

One such study discovered that a "spicy floral scent" will result in a man perceiving a woman to be about 12 pounds lighter, and that the scent of pink grapefruit will cause him to perceive a woman to be six years younger. And the combined scent of eucalyptus, camphor and menthol induces feelings of empathy in both genders.

Though we may not be any closer to answering our inquiry about what a man should smell like, Hirsch offered some guidance about what a man probably shouldn’t smell like: "Cherries, charcoal barbecue smoke and men’s cologne were the things found to be the biggest turn-offs to women," he said. (It should be noted that the study failed to identify any scents that decreased sexual arousal in men.)

Hirsch explained that the inclusion of men’s cologne on the list more than likely stemmed from the subjects’ repeated exposure to men who, on the whole, tend to drench when they should splash.

"It’s important to remember that women have a much better ability to smell than men do," he said. "So men tend to use a lot more cologne, body spray or what-have-you, and that tends to overwhelm women because their sense of smell is so much better.

"Also, men tend to go out with women that are usually younger than they are, and when you’re younger your sense of smell is much better."

Hirsch’s rule of thumb? "If a guy is putting on the amount (of fragrance) he thinks he should be putting on, it’s probably too much."

In other words, no matter what a man should smell like -- and to hedge our bets we're going with Chris Evans and Matthew McConaughey in a slow-motion Martin Scorsese video where they shirtlessly race motorcycles through a grove of moss-covered cedar trees, pockets bulging with pink peppercorns, cucumbers and Good & Plentys -- he shouldn’t smell like it too much.



Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/life/scent/5778054/story.html#ixzz1fHBmhtWx

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That Man Smells Familiar

AS nostalgia for the early 1960s persists, a handful of men’s fragrances from that period are getting a second look.

heir names evoke two-button Botany 500 suits and martinis sipped in a 707’s front cabin: Eau Sauvage, Habit Rouge, Pour Monsieur. And although sales are a fraction of the overall market for fine men’s fragrances in the United States, experts in the field acknowledge their lasting relevance. “They’re like benchmarks — anything that comes after is almost always a direct descendant,” said Grant Osborne, founder and editor of Basenotes, a Web site for perfume enthusiasts.

Chanel Pour Monsieur, introduced in 1955, “should by all rights be sitting under a triple-glass bell jar next to the meter and kilogram at the Pavillon de Breteuil as the reference masculine fragrance,” wrote Luca Turin, the biophysicist and olfactory scholar and an author of “Perfumes: The Guide” (Viking, 2008). Christian Dior’s Eau Sauvage, introduced in 1966, revolutionized the men’s category as the first perfume to make heavy use of hedione, a synthetic analog of jasmine; Guerlain Vetiver, based on the aromatic grass and introduced in 1961 after similar scents by Givenchy (1959) and Carven (1957), continues to beget modern iterations like Grey Vetiver, by Tom Ford.

These classic men’s fragrances “left very long-lasting impacts on how people develop perfumes,” said Eddie Roschi, a founder of Le Labo artisanal perfumery in New York. “You look at what Guerlain did with vetiver, and so much of it has been copied. In some countries you can smell it in the subways because everyone wears it.” (In Europe, the classics still sell as if it’s 1969; last year Eau Sauvage was the third best-selling men’s fragrance in France, according to the NDP Group, a market research company that tracks sales in department stores.)

The vogue for all things retro is a marketing opportunity not lost on perfume makers. Christian Dior promoted Eau Sauvage with a print and television campaign built around a 1966 photo of the French actor Alain Delon. (The music for one commercial was a snippet from the theme of “Mad Men.”) In an age when hip young people transformed the flat-lining Pabst Blue Ribbon and Parliament brands into winking fashion statements, it makes sense that artifacts like Eau Sauvage and Habit Rouge might follow.

Indeed, the venerable Old Spice has been brand-extended so deftly that most younger users are probably unaware that the formula dates to 1938 or was derived from a women’s perfume.

Last year, the flagship Old Spice line, including the original aftershave in a buoy-shaped bottle, grossed $33 million at mass-merchandise outlets excluding Wal-Mart, according to Symphony IRI, a Chicago-based market research company. Meanwhile Brut, which was introduced in 1964 and endorsed by Joe Namath during his heyday, grossed $9 million. “Brut is an amazing fougère,” said Mr. Roschi, referring to the lavender-based fragrance family also including Canoe (introduced in 1936 and still in production).

But for a generation raised on CK Be and body sprays like Axe, retro scents aren’t necessarily an easy sell. At Beverly Hills Perfumery, which stocks a comprehensive collection of vintage perfumes, the owner, Alan Berdjis, sprayed a test card with Pour Monsieur and took a long sniff. “It’s kind of a thin, creamy citrus,” he said approvingly. But Mr. Berdjis, 30, added, “If you introduced this today and it did not have the Chanel brand recognition, I don’t think it would do well.” Why? “You smell it and just know: this is an old fragrance.”

Epitomizing the new is Acqua di Gio, introduced by Giorgio Armani in 1996 and the No. 1-selling fine men’s fragrance for the past 10 years, according to the NDP Group. Acqua di Gio popularized the light, quiescent “aquatic” accord that dominates men’s fragrances today and has inspired countless imitators — “a slew of apologetic, bloodless, gray, whippetlike, shivering little things that are probably impossible, and certainly pointless, to tell apart,” Mr. Turin said.

Compared to the breezy aquatics, certainly, the classic ’60s scents — with their base notes of musk, oak moss, sandalwood and leather — can seem leaden, especially to younger noses. Nevertheless, sweet, unisex aquatics are ceding market share to scents redolent of woods and spices. Of the top four men’s fragrances introduced in 2010, “two were woods, one was a woody oriental and only one was a water,” said Karen Grant, a beauty industry analyst with the NDP Group.

The introduction last year of Bleu de Chanel, which despite its sport-aquatic-sounding name is considered a woody aromatic, was a sign that the pendulum is swinging toward earthier accords; it became the No. 3 best-selling men’s scent in the United States.

Men are far more brand-loyal than women when it comes to fragrance, Ms. Grant said, “which is why when something becomes a top scent it continues to be a top scent — it’s hard to break into that ranking.” She added that in survey after survey, men say the No. 1 consideration when they buy a fragrance is that it appeal to their partners.

“A lot of women feel the newer fragrances for men are a little too feminine,” Mr. Berdjis said, a sentiment hammered home in the recent “The Old Spice Guy” campaign, which pointedly mocked “lady-scented body washes” with the tag, “smell like a man, man.” Female customers at his store, Mr. Berdjis added, “buy the older-type fragrances to give to their boyfriends.”

“Their preference on a man goes back to the more masculine type of smell,” he continued. “That might speak to how society has changed — you didn’t have metrosexuals in the 1960s.”

Indeed, what constitutes a masculine fragrance today, said Mr. Roschi, who himself wore Chanel No. 5 for several months, “is going to be much more diverse than it was in the ’50s and ’60s, because masculinity has evolved so much.”

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• Skin Deep: A Revival for Classic Men's Fragrances - Skin Deep (nytimes.com)
• How To Choose A Perfume (firstchoice.co.uk)
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MMA stresses global entries for forthcoming awards

Significantly, the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) is emphasizing its global reach with the announcement of the marketer and agency finalists for its 2011 Mobile Marketing awards for innovation, creativity and Leadership. There are entries in the running from South Africa, France and Hong Kong. The association claims that the finalists represent the best-of-the- best in mobile marketing from across the globe. The winners will be revealed at the forthcoming MMA Awards gala stage in Los Angeles, USA on November 17th [2011] which is held in conjunction with the MMA Forum Los Angeles.The MMA claims somewhat modestly that its awards programme is the world’s only global mobile marketing awards that recognize and celebrate outstanding achievement within the mobile marketing industry.

Image via WikipediaGlobal is the word, however. Greg Stuart, CEO with the Mobile Marketing Association, pointed out that, “The over 25 per cent increase in submissions from all over the world is indicative of how mobile marketing is being embraced by major brand marketers everywhere as integral to their marketing mix.”

He added that the finalists are, “Chosen from an extraordinarily competitive field of entrants, our finalists showcase the immense potential of the mobile medium.”

The MMA Global awards 2011 competitors are currently being reviewed and judged by a distinguished panel of international marketers and agency leaders.

This year [2011] the awards are being sponsored this by presenting Motricity with Millennial Media being the supporting sponsor.

The finalists are as follows; (Branding).- Coca-Cola and UM and McCann World group for ‘Coca-Cola Summer Campaign’ Hong Kong.

Competitors are Converse and R/GA for ‘Converse The Sampler’ USA; and OMO washing powder and Brandtone for ‘OMO door To door challenge – Brandtone mobile engagement’, South Africa.

Plus Louis Vuitton and Ogilvy France for ‘Louis Vuitton’ (France).

In the Cross media integration category, there is Pringles, Crispin Porter and Bogusky for ‘Pringles Crunch Band App’. (USA? – the MMA forgot to say where).

Rivals include Old Navy, Crispin Porter and Bogusky for ‘Old Navy Records’ and Coca-Cola (again!) and Scholz & Volkmer for Coca-Cola ‘Snowglobes’ iPhone application (Germany).

lastly, there’s National Geographic Society and One to One Interactive for ‘National Geographic Kids Almanac 2012 QR Code Campaign’ (USA).

In the social impact category there is Giorgio Armani and R/GA for ‘Aqua di Gio Armani Drops for LifeApp’ against Waterfall Mobile for ‘Waiting for ‘Superman’ social action ampaign.

The other finalists are YoungAfrica Live & Praekelt Group for ‘YoungAfricaLive’ with Busday and TELiBrahma for ‘Busday gets buzzier’.

Then as mobile marketing academic of the year there is Jeff Rohrs and Morgan Stewart for ‘subscribers, fans & followers’; William Humphrey and Debra Laverie for ‘brand community and location service social & mobile research’

And then there is Ramin Vatanparast. The MMA forgot to say why he is in the running!

GoMo News thinks this event will be a bit like the recent Rugby World Cup where the host nation takes home most of the prizes.

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The Drive to Win at Groupe Clarins

Image via WikipediaWith a career that spans more than 30 years, Philip Shearer, an avid competitor, thrives on big moments, making big decisions. Utterly comfortable with taking risks, he’s reaped the rewards throughout his career, whether it was betting the farm (and winning) on the launch of Giorgio Armani’s Acqua di Gio while at L’Oréal or being a pioneer in introducing Western beauty brands into the Chinese market. Today, as head of the $1.38 billion Groupe Clarins, Shearer oversees an equally iconoclastic group of brands, including its eponymous skin care powerhouse and Parfums Thierry Mugler.

How was it coming into a company that is so family oriented? You’re one of only two outsiders to have ever headed Clarins.
I’ve actually been involved with family companies my whole career, from the Lauder family to L’Oréal. Even my first job, at Eli Lilly, had a family side to it. And I’m on the board of a privately owned spirits company, Bacardi, which is family-run. The culture of family businesses doesn’t surprise me. The twist at Clarins is that it’s French, which makes it more special.

How so?
It’s good and bad. It’s very different from working in the U.S. But the business is the same. The business is the business.

Where is the business going in the next two-to-five years?
On the consumer side, there will be an erosion of the fragrance business. In countries like the U.S., there may be a cultural change, toward wearing less fragrance. Skin care will be booming, though. We have an aging population. People know more about beauty than they ever have. There are geographical changes in the market, with a changing weight of different ethnic groups. The Chinese consumer is evolving rapidly, becoming more sophisticated, and that helps skin care. Then you have Latin America, especially Brazil, whose population is so diverse it’s a market in itself. Plus, there is the growing Latino population in the U.S.
All of these groups are reacting to different things. Some are more focused on skin care, some on makeup. In Asia the first step into beauty is often hair; in Brazil, the body. Of course you can’t write off Europe or America. I’m a strong believer of the everlasting power of the U.S. All the transformational inventions of the last 40 years are coming from there. Google, Microsoft, Apple.

So you have to play a whole new game today.
Exactly. For people like me who have done business for a long, long time, it opens up a fantastic number of opportunities we didn’t have 30 years ago. But even if you have deep pockets you have to allocate your resources to meet the best opportunity. In our case, [it’s] skin care.

It feels like we’re ripe for the next killer skin care innovation. What research most excites you now?
We’re more scientific than ever, but for skin care, we look first to efficiency and safety. Research is evolving at an incredible rate. That means there are extraordinary opportunities ahead of us, but we have to have huge humility. The more you discover, the more you have to admit what you didn’t know before. For instance, we just launched a product for firming, an idea that’s very important for us. We’ve discovered that it’s not just the cells that are important but the links between them too, via enzymes and proteins. So our products will become more sophisticated. In 2010, we launched Vital Light based on research we did on a peptide combined with plant extracts, making a new molecule. But with discoveries just ahead of us, we still have to choose which ones we want to go with. We play to our strengths. For us, that often means firmness and slimming, and also protection. Back to humility, we’re also going to start working more closely with outside research institutions, universities and suppliers. We have French institutions and hospitals that we’ve been working with for years, but now we’re going to try some new associations. Back to geography, there are other cultures that have been dealing with plants for thousands of years, and we may want to think more about them too.

So you’re getting more global in your research as well as your sales arm?
We’ve accelerated that in the last couple of years, attracting employees from different cultures too. We have a more international profile to our workforce now. But people make so much of globalization! It’s been going on forever. Everyone forgets the potato was once a New World product. Chocolate too. Google did not exist in 1997. Now it’s the only word that exists in all languages.

Have you ever launched a serious clunker of a product?
Of course! Though at Clarins, under my watch, not yet.

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Love perfume

In this season the fragrances are aimed at fresh or spicy aromas. See what's new perfume and I chose one you identify.

As a weapon of seduction are, for many women, an essential key of your outfit. Perfumes and fragrances are reinvented and persist over time, and make more than one / to ask you "what do you use?". This spring brings changes in the aroma, but also follow the classics that women continue to choose. I followed this road map to seduce without resistance. Tops and irresistible Esterponi Paola , a member of one of the major perfume Mendoza, advised us about some new and classic fragrances.

Takes note of the selection:

Image via Wikipedia1 - Kenzo Madly : A fragrance that accompanies and stimulates and, now, Madly here to add daring and sensuality. A flavor beyond standard, a single line of fully impregnated with incense flowers. The colorful top note: orange blossom and pink pepper. A floral heart, heliotrope flower, incense and Bulgarian rose. A sensual vanilla, cedar, musk. "This is a fragrance for any age, who draws much attention for its spicy floral scent," she added. The bottle. Ron Arad invented the wing movement of the butterfly. Staying true to his plastic vocabulary, steeped in curves, recreated the stylized nature so cherished by Kenzo. 's case. A circle of butterflies in flight, a bouquet of brightly colored red, yellow and violet to illustrate the whirlwind and the intoxication of freedom. Prices: 50 ml ($ 415) and 80 ml ​​($ 540).

2 - Dona Karan, Be Delicious . It was inspired by "The Big Apple", hence the shape of the bottle chosen by Donna Karan. It is innocent and sexy fragrance, simple and sophisticated. Departure Notes: mist, acid green cucumber and grapefruit. Middle notes: magnolia, tuberose, white muguet rose. Endnotes: touches of sandalwood, blonde woods and white amber. Prices: 50 ml ($ 400), 100 ml ($ 510).

3 - Nina Ricci, L'Elixir . Temptation is the new output of the French maison Nina Ricci, a version of "Nina", perfume created in 2006. With this new fragrance, the house extends a collection of perfumes that are the hits such as "L'Air Dus Temps', 'Love In Paris' or' Ricci Ricci '. "This version is highly sought after perfume for women than for adults. Its intensity, and persistence makes it elected, "he said Esterponi. The perfumer Olivier Cresp was asked to reformulate the fragrance, more sensual and intense than the "Eau de Toilette", 2006. The result is a bold fragrance, deep, lasting and vibrant that combines the fruity and floral with an oriental touch. Nina L'Elixir, Nina Ricci, opens with a citrus lemon entry Capiriña Calabria and lime. The red apple, symbol of the perfume, coexists with jasmine and berries in his heart. And finally, amber, cedarwood, and musk gives soul seductive fragrance. Prices: 50 ml ($ 350) and 100 ml ($ 410).

4 - Acqua di Gioia. The name is a nod to his best-selling male "Acqua di Gio". In Italian gioia means joy, but also jewelry. This 'water of joy', seen by the Italian designer, is inspired by the idea of heavily vegetated tropical islands. "Remote islands where Giorgio Armani likes to go to regain strength." This fragrance, which explores the issue of osmosis between women and nature, dressed in a sober bottle of "pure and organic design." The green tint water perfume evokes a certain freshness. The fragrance, fresh and feminine, combining floral notes, fruit and green with touches water, woody and sweet. The perfume opens with a lively fruit notes, crisp and somewhat exotic. He recalls a mix of passion fruit and citrus. The heart is slightly water, in a rather cool iodine. The fragrance, feminine and cheerful, has also woody and slightly sugary facets. The Bottle: a "drop of thick glass," or as a boulder, reveals a green perfume water. Prices : 50 ml ($ 360), 100 ml ($ 450).

5 - Paula Cahen D'Anvers Paula. This is a classic fragrance. "There are many that seek Mendoza. Option is a timeless, undeniable, "he said Esterponi. "Paula" is a fresh and innovative fragrance combines notes of bergamot, lemon, sage and melon, in bold counterpoint with amber, cedar, sandalwood and a touch exotic seeds Tonka. Prices : 60 ml ($ 87) and 100 ml ($ 109).

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