Elizabeth Arden is set to launch its new fragrance ’Pretty’ which is due to hit our markets in Spring 2009.

The fragrance and cosmetic brand who has already successfully launched 13 fragrances since 1996 including the hugely popular Green Tea and Blue Grass perfumes is about to launch its new floral scent for 2009; the new perfume is the creation of Givaudan’s Claude Dir.

Elizabeth Arden is set to launch ‘Pretty’ globally by March 2009. The scent is considered an industry break through as it showcases a new floral molecule which has been discovered by the creator of the scent and has never been available in a fragrance until now.

Director of Marketing & Sales at Arden Inc, Mathias Ogier said

“The fragrance celebrates the ritual of getting ready to go out. It represents the last touch, that final must-have accessory.”

We can look forward to a mix of orange blossom, peach nectar, pink iris, white peony, fluffy musk, amber and jacaranda wood. The new ingredient to the perfume industry is known as Petalia, it is a newly discovered molecule which has been created by Givaudan himself and makes its debut in this exciting new scent.

President of the ‘Fragrance Foundation’ said that the fragrance sector needs to focus more upon the art of perfumery to survive long term changes within the sector.

The fragrance sector has changed from a sector that was seeing around 20 new fragrances coming to the market a year to a market that saw over 80 annual launches in 2008.

Rochelle Bloom, the President of Fragrance Foundation said:

“Before we had twenty new fragrances a year, each with significant retailer backing, and the consumer eagerly awaited the new offering. Now nobody waits anymore. In short, the aspirational value of fragrance has been lost. The ideal would be if marketers launched fewer products but became better storytellers. Current marketing campaigns do not inform the consumer of the elements of a fragrance. What consumer wouldn’t be fascinated to know that Jasmine must be picked by hand before sunrise or it will lose 20 percent of its fragrance value? And that it takes 12,000 pounds of the delicate white flowers to make 2 pounds of oil?”

Other factors that can help with encouraging consumers to buy a fragrance include telling them who the ‘nose’ is behind the fragrance. Also telling the story behind its creation may help to improve people’s passion for fragrance and may be something for fragrance brands to consider in the future.

Tresor was created by IFF perfumer Sophia Grosjman and launched by Lancôme in 1990. Lancôme has used the name Trésor before, when it named a fragrance it produced in 1952 the same name. However, the 1990 Tresor launch has seen a much more successful perfume hit an excited market and stay popular through the years.

Tresor has many notes to its complex fragrance with top notes of lily, lilac, rose and lily of the valley, at the heart of the scent is heliotrope and iris and then base notes of musk, sandalwood, amber, modified by apricot and peach.

The special glass bottle that holds the Tresor fragrance is an inverted, ridged pyramid which was designed by Style Marque.

Many expert perfumers are of the same opinion; that they find the Tresor fragrance particularly significant and groundbreaking because of its complex structure. Tresor was constructed via a unitary method which means that even though you can smell the top, middle and bottom notes of this fragrance, the difference between this perfume and many others is that the top note holds its power throughout the whole evaporation process, which is unusual.

Traditionally, a perfume will unfold one scent after another as it is drying; however, with Tresor, what you spray is what you get.

It is said that Tresor has many powerful synthetic aroma ingredients which is the reason the top note retains its scent for so long.

Over the years, fragrances have been worn to enhance fashion, to seduce and during religious ceremonies.

Pre-History: Fragrant materials were burnt during rites and ceremonies

Ancient Egypt: Purification, hygiene and seduction were the reasons for the popular use of perfumes/perfumed materials. (The first recorded association of perfume with sexual seduction was made as far back as 750BC.) Cleopatra helped raise awareness of perfumes and it reached its zenith during her time of ruling.

Ancient Greece: A religious and artistic culture that used perfume for religious ceremonies.

Ancient Rome: The use of perfumes for seduction, entertainment and religion.

During Middle Ages/Renaissance periods: Leather goods were widely perfumed.

9th -12th Centuries: The Greeks taught the Arabs the art and science of chemistry and an Arab physician called Avicenna discovered distillation.

13th Century: A more developed and highly advanced perfume culture was brought to Europe by the Arabs which included fragrance oils and aromatic spices.

14th Century: Through the distillation of aromatic plants and wine the first alcohol-based perfume was made for the queen of Hungary. It swept through Europe and was known as Hungary Water.

16th & 17th Century: The French court commissioned perfumes for their royalty and nobility. The uses of fragrances were to counteract odours. This was to be the beginning of a long and continuing relationship in France’s culture which began to embrace the beauty of fragrance. This is where the perfume/fragrance capital was born and retains its roots to this day.

Before the middle of the 19th century fragrances and perfumes were used largely by the wealthy, royalty or nobility.

The turn of the 20th century brought with it a time of rapid advancement. Fashion and science has turned the exclusive designer fragrance market into the exciting, fast moving and creative thing that it is today.