Friday, March 09, 2007

L'Artisan Ananas Fizz

I had the extraordinary privilege, along with many of my fragrance friends, to hear Francois Duquense speak at the LA Sniffapalooza. Monsieur Duquense accepted the position of US President and Board Member at L’Artisan Parfumeur Worldwide in August 2004. He has quickly become quite the beauty mogul, since taking on President of Erno Laszlo and North American President and Member of the Board Worldwide for Penhaligon’s. Most noteworthy, however, is how quickly he turned around L’Artisan Perfumeur’s lagging sales, nearly doubling them in merely one year. A portion of that time was the year that Ananas Fizz was released, 2004.

What impressed me most about M. Duquense’s discussion was the following paraphrased statement, “Give the power back to the perfumer and take it away from the marketing department.” The waters can get muddied and the scents uninteresting when dollar signs are at the helm of the ship. Thank goodness for dedication to the art of perfumery. In addition, I remain inspired by his acknowledgement that the choice of scent is very personal. These ideas and their implementation create a marvelous perfume house that continues to create innovative, interesting and artistic scents. One of them is the cocktail in a bottle production Ananas Fizz.

The fragrance is built around and inspired by the Victorian pineapple, the smallest, rarest and most charming of all pineapples. At the top of the fragrance, a burst of pink grapefruit and bitter orange ignite the senses immediately. The fruit is not sweet, but tart and eye opening. As these notes quickly dissipate, almost too quickly because of their refreshing quality, the Victorian pineapple is revealed as when a tide delivers an unexpected treasure. The pineapple smells not of drenched pineapples in artificial corn syrup, but rather fresh pineapple combined with a trifle vanilla. Other notes include lychee sap, rum and creamy cocoa milk. The result creates a light, airy, luminous scent the transports the wearer to an island vacation.

Unfortunately, the vacation is quite short. After asking the L’Artisan representative at Apothia why it disappears so quickly, I was told it is due to the small molecules comprising the fragrance. I would imagine layering with the luscious body crème would help and I plan to try it soon, after I save my pennies for a bit. Incidentally, L'Artisan's body care line contains 100% natural and 95% organic ingredients. Despite its short duration, Ananas Fizz will accompany me during the insipid, arid summer days that endure far too long where I live. I will just carry a small decant with me to re-spritz!


L'Artisan Ananas Fizz can be purchased at aedes.com, 3.4 oz. EDT retails for $125 and 6.8 oz. body cream retails for $80.

Image sources: aromat.ru., usballoon.com

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