WHAT WE DO IS SECRET
アート／Art  安藤忠雄／Tadao Ando  クリストフ ロダミエル／Christophe Laudamiel  クレモン ギャバリー／Clement Gavarry  ゲラン／Guerlain  建築／Architecture  広告／Ad  ザハ ハディッド／Zaha Hadid  ジボダン／Givaudan  ジャック キャバリエ／Jacques Cavallier  シャネル／Chanel  シュウ ウエムラ／Shu Uemura  ジョン バーナム シュワルツ／John Burnham Schwartz  ソフィア・グロスマン／Sophia Grojsman  高砂香料／Takasago    調香師 パフューマー／Perfumer  ティエリー ワッサー／Thierry Wasserr  デザイン／Design  テリー リチャードソン／Terry Richardson  匂い／Scent  フィルメニッヒ／Firmenich  フェラーリ／Ferrari  フランシス クルクジャン／Francis Kurkdjian  三宅一生／Issey Miyake  メイド バイ ブログ／Made by Blog  吉岡徳仁／Tokujin Yoshioka  レム コールハース／Rem Koolhaas  ロホン ルゲルネック／Laurent Le Guernec 

We Have a Winner!

Just when I started to think that perhaps I need to supply more clues, Benvenuta guessed the answer! Clement Gavarry’s favorite movie is indeed The Big Blue (Le Grand Bleu). The movie was one of the most financially successful French films in the 1980s, and played in French theaters for a whole year. It’s release was initially blocked in Italy, because Enzo Maiorca (the real-life diver and inspiration behind the character Enzo Molinari, played by Jean Reno) felt that his portrayal in the movie was unfair. Jean Reno connects The Big Blue to The Da Vinci Code, in which he plays Bezu Fache. And it is yet again the very active Jean Reno who released a scent called Jean Reno Loves You, created by Nathalie Lorson, the IFF perfumer based in France.

Congratulations, Benvenuta. Please send us your address to madebyblog at gmail dot com, and the bottle of Insolence will be on its way to you. Thank you, everyone, for playing, stay tuned for another quiz coming soon.

Quiz time! Clement’s Favorite Movie

Katie’s mods are on the way, mine are not quite complete. While we are waiting, let’s have a prize draw. Guess Clement Gavarry’s favorite movie and receive a bottle of Guerlain Insolence. Should there be several correct answers, the name of the winner will be chosen at random.

Clue 1:

Clue 2: It was so popular in one country, it played in its theaters for a whole year.
Clue 3: Its release was blocked in another country.
Clue 4: The film is one degree of separation from The Da Vinci Code (the movie).
Clue 5: A couple of years ago, a person who plays one of the main characters has released a fragrance, created by an IFF perfumer.

Quiz now closed. We have a winner!

Terry, Not Thierry

Gee, Clement and Laurent are busier than ever (new launches are showing no sign of slowing down…), and I don’t even get to speak to them these days But don’t worry, Katie and Marina, I received messages from both perfumers yesterday, and the mods are ready. All I got to do is to move my lazy xxx and pick them up. So, dear readers of this blog, a little more patience please. As we wait, Made by Blog will offer a special scent, and I hope there will be enough for everyone. But first read the following and check out the video before you jump to the opportunity.

I liked the early ad campaigns for Sisley (the Italian casual fashion, not Sisley Paris) very much. MORE »

For The Record

We all were very happy to be mentioned in WWD yesterday. Let me follow up the article by clarifying one thing since some are confused about who is running this blog. MORE »

Hey Marina!

I fell from a chair like the chimp in this video below when I opened one of the two bottles of the last mods for your fragrance after receiving them from Clement back in November (or was it in October?).

I’m just exaggerating about the refreshingly stinky note in R4/M. MORE »

A Rose By Any Other Name

So… here’s the thing: Auxeos is not a word. I got the root word for auxetic materials all wrong. (Going to go crawl under a rock now and then die there from embarrassment. Yes indeedy, I will.)

Now, on the one hand, one could argue that cosmetic companies make up words all the time, especially absurd quasi-French/quasi-English ones. On the other hand, auxeos is not a word.

It basically boils down to this: Laurent’s fragrance for me needs a new name. It’s something I’ve been mulling over for a little while now. I’d sounded out my husband Jon for some ideas, which gleaned nothing. To wit -

“Honey, what would you name a perfume?”

“Hm… I think I’d name it Steve.”

“?”

“C’mon! I bet there’s not any other Steves out there on the market.”

“Uh, no.”

“Okay, fine. How ’bout Craig?”

So then I was thinking, oh I know, I’ll name it “A Million Bucks.” And that way, when someone says to you, “Omigod, you smell like a million bucks!” you could be all, “Dude! I KNOW!” But that’s no good. Especially for my Canadian friends, who just won’t smell as quite as nice, what with the exchange rate and all. (Hacky currency joke! Apologies!)

Funnily enough, Nobi floats the name “Slinky” in the comments for his last post. Which… yeah. I like that. What do you all think? Does “Slinky” work?

Got your own ideas? What would YOU name a fragrance? And what might you name this particular fragrance?

(Please note, per conversations with Jon, that “Yoda,” “Stan,” and “Peggy” have already been rejected. As was his suggestion of “Jon,” because no one wants to hear they smell like the john.)

This is for you Katie!

Katie, perhaps this should be the concept of your next fragrance.
Have you any thoughts, Laurent?
Nobi

Laurent’s Reply: Moving on to Round 4

Katie,

Firstly, I would like to wish you a happy new year, and hopefully your dream fragrance will come true.

I was very happy to see that you enjoyed the last round of mod, and it even sounds like you are not the only one. I just want to take this opportunity to say that our phone conversation was very much a turning point, and that it shows how important it is to communicate and make sure that we are talking the same language.

I have to say that I am very impressed by your knowledge and you are right on target. Mod J is definitaly more balsamic aromatic: It is a combination of different resin like labdanum, peru balsam with geranium, coriander and thyme. Where mod K is more olibanum, musk and woody notes.

So for the next round and maybe the last, I am going to try to combine the best of these two mods and I will keep in mind the comfort of J and its saltyness.

I really enjoyed reading all the comments on the blog,

Talk to you soon,
Laurent.

A new comment on Katie’s review

I will now shut my bad mouth and get back to business. There’s a new comment for Katie’s last review on mods I, J & K. Check it out!