What really matters is the smell you will wear all day, but the visual appeal pf a fragrance is not irrelevant. it at least sparks curiosity about it. Esxence, the Art perfumery event taking place at Triennale, MIlan’s temple of arts and design, launched a contest for under 35 designers. The challenge is creating a bottle worth of Etoilesxence, lthe fragrance by ALexander Lee, winner of last edition’s contest for young perfumers. You can read the contest rules here.
My favourite bottles
The content is not always as good as the container, for instance I’d rather buy an empty bottle of Féerie (*), but these are my favourite ones and I believe they are little sculptures, worth keeping forever.
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- Vol de Nuit, Guerlain 1933. Il flacone art decò è ispirato all’elica di un aereo. Celebra l’epoca d’oro dell’aviazione.
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- L’air du Temps Nina Ricci, 1948 Il tappo con le due colombe, creato da Lalique, esprime la speranza di un futuro di pace dopo la seconda guerra mondiale.
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- L’Interdit Givenchy, 1957. Creato per Audrey Hepburn, ha la forma di delicate spalle femminili
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- Feminitè du Bois, Shiseido, 1992. Le linee fluide, disegnate da Serge Lutens, sono ispirate all’arte giapponese.
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- Organza Indecence, Givenchy, 1999. Un omaggio all’arte greca, con un tocco liberty.
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- Idole, Lubin, 2005. Un esempio di esotismo contemporaneo dello scultore Serge Mansau
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- Féerie, Van Cleef & Arpels, 2005. Il flacone creato da Joel Desgrippes sembra uno zaffiro e il tappo si può usare come porta anelli.
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- Lola, Marc Jacobs, 2009. Il tappo a forma di fiore, in gomma, è un omaggio all’alta moda.
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- Fusion Sacrèe, Majida Bekkali 2012. Contenuto e contenitore sono ispirati alla scultura Tsaddé fusion sacrée di Isabelle Jeandot.
Eau de Purcel 
From time to time I buy a bottle of perfume because of the bottle (e.g. Annick Goutal’s Nuit Étoilée). I do like those perfumes but if it weren’t for the bottle, I’d be fine with just a couple of samples or a small decant. But then there are some perfumes for which I do not care at all but I still plan to buy a bottle – just for the bottle. Féerie is one of the examples. Salvador Dali’s bottles also attract me. Luckily, most of those perfumes can be bought relatively cheap.