Beauty Beat: Burlingham Truly Joins Fragrance Arena … Coty Forms Mideast Affiliate … Lauder Takes Bloomingdale’s

Burlingham Truly Joins Fragrance Arena

NEW YORK — Artist Stephen Burlingham is truly excited about his latest creation.

Burlingham, a great-great-grandson of Tiffany & Co. founder Charles Tiffany who has designed for Cartier and Tiffany & Co., is turning his attention to something completely different: a fragrance called Truly. And although Truly marks Burlingham’s entry into the fragrance business, the company producing it has big expectations, projecting retail sales of $2 million in the launch period.

Truly marks another first: It will be the first scent launched by LuxeFragrances LLC, a privately held firm formed in January 2003 of which Burlingham is creative director and chief executive officer. Spencer Kanis, who formerly was chief financial officer for Intercosmetics, the Wella arm that is now Cosmopolitan Cosmetics (U.S.), is president of retail operations for LuxeFragrances.

Burlingham says he decided to delve into the olfactory medium “because it is invisible to the eye, yet powerfully present in our lives — affecting our moods and shaping our self-expression and how we feel about ourselves.” He worked closely with Robertet’s Michel Almairac and Patrick de Givenchy to create Truly, resulting in a floral chypre juice that has top notes of hyacinth and citrus petals; middle notes of jasmine, peony and orris, and bottom notes of oak moss, musk, orris and patchouli.

Stockkeeping units will include a 15-ml. parfum extract for $250; a 15-ml. eau de parfum spray for $175, and a body cream that has not yet been priced. Burlingham designed the bottle, which is being manufactured by Pochet.

And Burlingham is not planning to stop with one fragrance. Following Truly will be Madly and Deeply, still in development and slated to be released in 2005 and 2006, respectively.

Kanis is using his considerable experience in the fragrance business to lead a grassroots approach to the scent’s marketing. According to Kanis, trend-setting socialites will host parties for those in their social circles beginning at the end of August in an attempt to create buzz and aid sales. At these parties, Burlingham will formally introduce and sell his product to the people he feels will be most instrumental in the overall success of the brand.And though the market may be saturated by heavily advertised luxury fragrance brands, Kanis believes there is room — and demand — for an alternative. “The consumer is looking for a unique brand, something that she feels is made just for her,” he said. “She doesn’t want to walk into a room today and have three or four other women wearing her fragrance.”

Burlingham and Kanis are still working on distribution, but it is expected that the scent will enter a tightly edited lineup of high-end specialty store doors in the fall. And the brand is taking a different approach than most fragrance hawkers: Informational pieces and blotters promoting Truly will be distributed in-store, but samples will not.

Coty Forms Mideast Affiliate

NEW YORK — Coty Inc. has entered a joint venture with its distributor in the Middle East in order to consolidate its operations in the region.

The beauty company formed a new Dubai-based subsidiary, called Coty Middle East FZCO, via an agreement with a unit of Michel Chaloub Trading Co., which has distributed Coty Beauty and Lancaster Group products in the Middle East for seven years. “Our strategy is to build a leadership position for Coty in new areas,” stated Bernd Beetz, chief executive officer of Coty Inc. “We recognized the enormous potential of the Middle East fragrance and cosmetics market.” Coty has appointed Hani Jabbour to general manager of Coty Middle East FZCO. Most recently, he was general manager of Fitra International Fze, a distributor of international fashion, accessories and fragrance brands. Prior to joining Fitra, Jabbour worked at Michel Chaloub Trading Co.

Lauder Takes Bloomingdale’s

NEW YORK — Sixteen members of Estée Lauder’s national makeup artist team descended on Bloomingdale’s 59th Street store July 15 to give eight hours of beauty consultations and makeovers to store customers. The event, said to be the largest gathering of the Lauder team at the store to date, generated sales in excess of $25,000. Lauder estimated the activities, which also marked the launch of Electric Intense Lip Crème, garnered 100 new customers for the brand.