Light is rooted deep in the soul of Lebanese couturier Elie Saab. All his work is woven with strands of light and his pursuit of brightness: from his choice of fabrics and silks to the lustre of embroidery, from designs that drape the female silhouette to the gems applied to haute couture gowns.
Once again, ELIE SAAB turned to one of the most talented perfumers, Francis Kurkdjian. They worked together to create the brand’s first fragrance ELIE SAAB Le Parfum, an impeccable fusion of orange blossom, jasmine absolute, honey rose and cedar wood – still a worldwide success today. This season, Francis Kurkdjian and Elie Saab created an extremely elegant new fragrance, an accord of jasmine blossom’s heady carnal notes at dawn with the delicate sunset seduction of tuberose, strongly evoking the light of day captured in the bottle. Le Parfum Lumière is an ode to light, to utter elegance, to glowing feminine grace, however, Francis Kurkdjian went one step further with his floral signature for LE PARFUM, pushing the boundaries of the chypre family to become a modern floral woody chypre.
As in all symphonies, the opening is subtle and surprising: nuances of Italian mandarin oil blend with a hint of Madagascan ylang ylang oil, which unfolds little by little, like the sun’s rays at dawn. The result is a gentle but caressing perfume, feminine and floral yet with the surprising depth of a woody background.
Francis Kurkdjian chose premium essential oils for this fragrance, distilled using the most refined methods to ensure the best quality raw materials. The fragrance is therefore a fusion of India, Italy, Madagascar and South America, which creates an amazing melting pot of cultures and craftsmanship.
Indian jasmine sambac absolute adds a warm, almost feral, deeply seductive note, filling the air with scents of white flowers while conjuring up the south, North Africa and the Middle East: all those countries where this generous plant blooms, gifting millions of blossoms every year.
Ylang ylang is a small flower with six petals, green and odourless when it blooms. A few weeks later, as if by magic, the petals turn yellow and the flower develops a wonderful scent. Tuberose is handed down to us by pre-Columbian America, where its intense fragrance was an Aztec favourite. Its white flowers open after sunset, when they release their scent, once considered so hypnotic and even an aphrodisiac that it was forbidden to young women.
Patchouli heart is an oil extracted by fractional distillation from the dried leaves of Pogostemon patchouli, a shrub native to southeast Asia. This method ensures the essential oil is far more stable than the commonly used version, and has rounder, more velvet accents.
DETAILS
LE PARFUM LUMIERE is available from November 2021 in three sizes from department stores and pharmacies nationwide.
LE PARFUM LUMIERE ELIE SAAB EDP 30 ml, €57 /£50
LE PARFUM LUMIERE ELIE SAAB EDP 50ml, €87 / £76
LE PARFUM LUMIERE ELIE SAAB EDP 90 ml, €113 / £98
