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Fragrance Launch: L’Wren Scott for Barneys

As I descended the stairs in Barneys Madison Avenue store to their basement beauty emporium, I was struck by a vision so stunning, so compelling, so emphatically *startling* – that I was transfixed and could not look away. I tried, I really did… but I was mesmerized… and the champagne and iridescent pink and green macarons I was offered only intensified my hypnotic state.

The image I was gazing at was L’Wren Scott – 6’3″ of pure Amazonian gorgeousness and fashion designer to the famous (Ellen Barkin! Nicole Kidman!), long-time girlfriend of Mick Jagger, and now fragrance designer – and I was invited to the private launch of her first scent in collaboration with Barneys, the eponymous L’Wren Scott.

L’Wren the woman was poured into a form-fitting teal skirt and fuschia velvet jacket, that thick black lengthy stretch of hair flowing about her creamy ivory skin as if blown by an invisible wind machine… and suddenly I felt I had a deep understanding of the mind and psyche of Mick.

I chatted with Simon Doonan as he bought one of the first bottles (yes, he has to pay, but he gets a discount), Bettina O’Neill, Barney’s legendary copper-haired fragrance buyer, and my friend Richard Gonzalez, the charismatic president of Histoires de Parfums, the very creative niche fragrance house. Richard and I sniffed our arms repeatedly, waiting impatiently for the top notes to morph in to middle notes… we couldn’t wait for the drydown!

L’Wren Scott the fragrance is an eclectic mix of some of my favorite notes – black pepper, patchouli and anise – and you can smell them all definitively in the first blast. The bottle is a a tasty cherry-red hunk of glass, a large substantial cube with softened, curved edges, and anchored with a silver plaque with the Barneys New York insignia. L’Wren Scott is the first fragrance in a series of partnerships between Barneys and a selection of fashion designers.

L’Wren Scott Fragrance Notes:

Top: Absinthe, star anise, coriander, mandarin, marigold

Middle: Tuberose, jasmine, geranium, curry, clove buds

Base:  Brazilian patchouli, musk, leather, amber, moss