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Scent of a woman
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Anne Gottlieb, the New York perfumer, believes some perfumes are masculine while others are feminine
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Estee Lauder felt that Anne Gottlieb had a talent for smell. Says Anne: “She was the one who discovered my nose.” Anne who is known as the “international diva of fragrances” started off in Revlon and calls Estee Lauder her mentor.
She’s been involved in the business of sweet, desirable smells and fragrances for 25 years. “I had no idea about fragrances and it was a challenge initially.”
Through the years, the perfumer from New York City has developed fragrances for Calvin Klein like Obsession, Eternity, Escape, Contradiction and Crave, and has also been involved with Caroline Herrera, Chic and 212. Anne says she doesn’t believe that Paris is the fragrance centre of the world. “New York has been just as important, as many fragrances were developed here. There have been American-manufactured perfumes like those of Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren.”
And the diva who has also been credited with Dior, Elizabeth Arden, Clairns and more, has put together “The New Axe Formulation” from Hindustan Unilever Ltd. She feels that the Axe fragrance is ‘global’.
“The strategy is not just about smelling good”, says Anne, who ‘translates an image into scent’. “It is about the brand, target and concept.” She continues, “All these elements make a fragrance work so the bottle, colour, design will all have an effect on the fragrance.” Creating a new scent is like “a brand new puzzle” for Anne. “It involves matching it up to the consumer, to the market needs.”
“Each fragrance is created keeping in mind that it needs to be a scent of desire. This new formulation has been developed over three years and has a new base with higher efficacy to help men in attracting the fairer sex better than ever! It also happens to be the best deodorant active ever tested.”
She reveals: “Globally, the fragrance business is having its problems. There is confusion about what to use as the market is bombarded with different perfumes of many brands. Though it is challenging globally, for India it is a fascinating and exciting time. The fragrance business is about to explode here. And India being the passionate country it is, and passionate people love fragrances.”
She feels that the business of creating scents for men has been beautiful and successful. “You have to have more taste and understanding.”
Anne doesn’t vouch for unisex perfumes, which might satisfy some users. She believes that feminine scents should be for women and masculine for men. “There might be some feminine perfumes which have a hint of maleness, which is okay.” The new Axe Formulation is available in Vice, Touch, Click, Pulse, Unlimited, Dimension and Denim fragrances at Rs. 130 and is said to be “much livelier, yet still instantly recognisable as the original variants”.
AYESHA MATTHAN
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