Yü: Super-Haute Perfume
Haute perfume Yü, which translates as rain in Chinese, is the creation of perfumer Cecile Krakower, (Mane, USA). She was given freedom to create without time or cost constraints. The resulting limited-edition fragrance costs $5,000 for 1.7oz eau de parfum. Yes, you read that correctly. This ultra-luxurious fragrance costs $5,000 and is limited to 500 numbered bottles.
Yü has been available at aedes for a few months. It is also also available at Bergdorf Goodman by invitation only and through personal shopper programs. It will launch in Hong Kong’s Lane Crawford in June and debut in Nordstrom in the fall.
Part of what makes this perfume so costly is the innovative extraction technique used in obtaining some of the plant essences. This proprietary technique is called Jungle Essence technology:
Described as an evolution of head-space technology and standard extraction methods, Jungle Essence is a portable process that captures the olfactive integrity of a plant in its natural habitat (via cosmeticworld.com).
The floral fragrance contains notes of genet (broom), champaca, Sicilian bergamot, Floridian tangerine, orange flower absolute, Asian mandarin tree leaf Jungle Essence, African freesia Jungle Essence, Madagascan ylang ylang, Brazilian rosewood leaf, vetyver, Mysore sandalwood and vanilla absolute.
Each raindrop-shaped flacon is numbered and is presented in a lovely, leather-lined birch box.
I am intrigued by this Jungle Essence technology (and whoever came up with that name is a genius!) It seems that it has great potential for preserving the integrity of rare and endangered plant sources. Hopefully the cost of using this technology will come down over time, thereby lowering the cost of perfumes which use it. Very interesting…
