Smoky Eyes and Smoky Perfumes: The Allure of Scents That Smoulder

smokey eyes

Photo: 1995 Bruno Bisang Carmen (re-imaged by TSF)

The allure of a smoky eye is smoulder, the eye as ember. They say the eyes never lie, so surrounding the ocular window with haze and fumy chromatics offers some small shadow for subterfuge. The classic smoky eye is layers of the same hue in different tones, built on lid, brow bone, socket and lash lines to accentuate and shade, adding accent and intensity to the gaze. It is a look we find especially alluring in our stars. Four of my personal favourites are Eva Green, Brigitte Bardot, Anna Karina and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan; I wanted to imagine them in smoke and shadow, fumy incense  perfumes.

evagreen

Eva Green and Comme des Garçons Avignon Series 3

Eva Green’s French/Swedish heritage perhaps explains an unsettling blend of Gallic promise and arctic disdain. She seems perpetually wrapped in guilt; many of her performances are about the burden of secrets. Her role as Vesper Lynd in the 2006 reboot of Casino Royale is a tragic one, conflicted and betrayed, unsure who to trust until it really too late. She looks astonishing in the Casino scenes; in a clinging burgundy dress the colour of spilt altar wine. What else would she be wearing but Bertrand Duchaufour’s echoing Avignon by Comme des Garçons, a parched mix of incense, patchouli and ambrette sweetened with chamomile and vanilla? Vesper’s eyes seem inherently melancholy as she moves towards her fate, this mysterious undulation of avant-garde smoke following her like a desolate prayer.

bardot

Tom Ford Sahara Noir and Brigitte Bardot

Brigitte Bardot is a legend, but also a woman who created an image of blonde, tousled iconography and expected to live with that forever. She has aged defiantly without knives and silicone, a breast cancer survivor living among her beloved animals. She was at her most beautiful in her 30s, weariness translating into an luminescence that made her seem somehow more radiant. Shalako is an offbeat 1968 western with Bardot playing a French Countess named Irina Lazaar on a strange hunting party expedition in the American West. Cigar chewing, gun-toting and garbed in boots and holsters, veils and hunting attire, she seems like one of Andy Warhol’s jet set factory girls lost in the hot desert sun. For Brigitte, I chose Tom Ford's  big and ballsy Sahara Noir by Rodrigo Flores-Roux, a bone-dry essay in incense. It’s a huge, sensuous, shoot from the hip aroma with beeswax, rose, cedar, cypress, papyrus, spices and a golden amber glow in the base to stop the composition drying out. A whiff of cordite in the sun, perfect for Countess Lazaar.

annakarina

Anna Karina and Jovoy Liturgie des Heures

Anna Karina’s mournful beauty is an iconic part of Nouvelle Vague cinema.  Jean Luc Godard’s muse (and briefly his wife) appeared in a number of classics such as Une Femme est Une Femme and Pierrot Le Fou. Images of her haunt me.  She was a woman of her time, liberated and lost. In Alphaville Anna Karina's strange beatnik beauty embodies love and conscience, disabling a soulless future city. Her final words in the film ‘Je vous aime’ (I love you) are very moving. I dusted her in Jovoy’s Liturgie des Heures by Jaques Flori, a scent of vampiric turned earth and incense shot through the sun’s stained glass rays. Cypress, musks and myrrh make this holy aroma minimalist and coldly aloof. An ideal match for one of cinema’s most enigmatic faces.

aishwaryarai

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and CHANEL Cormandel

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is surely one of the world’s most beautiful women. A Miss World winner in 1994, her Indian heritage and startling blue eyes have made her one of the most desired women in the world. Renowned for her dignity and poise, Aishwarya has remained relatively aloof from the hurly-burly glitz of the movie industry yet starring roles in huge box office successes like Devdas and Jodhaa Akbar have ensured her place in Bollywood history. She would wear a  perfume with mystery and classicism and so I  turned to the Chanel Exclusifs Collection and Coromandel, inspired by the Chinese lacquer screens so beloved by Coco Chanel. Coromandel is a beguiling mix of creamy woods and dry frankincense that burn softly over a truly sensual base of aurous amber, benzoin and vanilla. The glow of bitter orange in the top is like sun setting on water. This scent has the colours and textures of Bollywood and a serenity that seems innate in the radiance of this graceful woman.

All these smokey-eyed icons, dream girls swathed in smoke and incense. Per fumum.. through smoke. Eva, Brigitte, Aishwayra and Anna. Goddesses of celluloid and retrospection, symbols of modern desire, here’s smoke in your eyes.

–  Sr Editor, The Silver Fox and Editor of The Silver Fox

Editorial Direction: Michelyn Camen Editor in Chief

 

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46 comments

  • How fun! I don’t wear much make up myself, but I do love to read about it. My favorite icon is Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, who is one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen. Coromandel seems like an aboslutely perfect choice for her! I am in the US, thank you.

  • Another superb and eloquent piece by The Silver Fox. My Favourite smoky eyed icon is Anna Karina. I live in the EU, In London in the UK

  • All of the women you detail are lovely, and their beauty so diverse. It’s hard to pick a favorite since they represent such different aesthetics. However, you still tie them together. Smokey eyes and smoky fragrances are both powerful and mysterious, and the fragrances seem as diverse as their representatives. Smokey eyes are a little dramatic for day-to-day life, but I love nontraditional environmental scents, like incense. I find truly smokey scents challenging, but that’s what’s so interesting about them! I’m in the U.S. Thanks!

  • I’m going with Eva Green. Coromandel is a great scent in any season (I think). These reviews by TSF are great reading and a unique perspective. u.s.a.

  • I think Eva Green is drop dead gorgeous. Smoky eyes and scents – very clever to pair them and SF, as always, has chosen his combinations with elegance and creativity. Thanks for another great draw, I’m in the US.

  • Oh, this was so much fun! I love Brigitte Bardot, especially now because she’s eschewed “knives and silicone” as The Silver Fox puts it. He’d practically sold me on Anna Karina, but it’s the scent, Liturgie des Heures, that I fell for with this:” a scent of vampiric turned earth and incense shot through the sun’s stained glass rays.” Indeed.

    I once wore the smokey eye. It’s alluring. Paired with perfume, magnifique! Thanks for the great post and giveaway. In the US. Cheers!

  • This article got me interested in the Avignon. I’m interested now in trying that one day. All the women in the photos are wearing the smokey eye quite nicely. U.S.A.

  • The smoke burnt my eyes for a faint moment, Foxy! Great connections and Icons in this post. I will have to go with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan from the list here.. dignity and poise perfect match with Coromandel which now I must spritz… Fabulous evening read. I am in the US

  • Very interesting article! I don’t make-up myself, but a woman with smokey eyes is just fascinating.
    As a French guy, I say… Brigitte Bardot !! 😉 I think “Sahara noir” suits very well BB-the character, but for BB-the woman, it would be a little to dramatic, maybe. I know that her favorite perfume is Jicky by Guerlain.
    This post got me interested in Cormandel; I have to sample it now!
    I’m in the EU.

  • fazal cheema says:

    my favorite has to be Eva Green. Eva Green and Avignon are great match because both stand out and alluring in an indescribable manner. This article is a genius idea by TSF as in to associate smoky incensy fragrances with smoky eyes since both conjure images of mystery and a bit darkness. thanks so much for the lovely day. I am in the US

  • I love Anna Karina! So beautiful and so cool. And I really enjoyed the article, thanks. I’d love to try La liturgie des heures, Avignon and Sahara noir.

  • Smoky eyes is one of the most alluring make up tricks ever and the Silver Fox´s eloquence makes this seduction tactic seem even more mysterious. My smoky eyed cinema icon would definitely be another more recent Bollywood star- Deepika Padhukone- expressing emotions through eyes is serious business in Indian cinema and it does not hurt that she is extraordinarily gorgeous. CDG Avignon is a great smoky scent and Jovoy’s Liturgie des Heures brings an otherwordly aura to Incense.
    Thank you for this draw!

  • Smokey-eyed Brigitte Bardon in her thirties was very stunning. And Sahara Noir is a very good choice for her. I myself don’t use too much make-up but I enjoy Sahara Noir, maybe I should wear it with smokey eyes sometimes… I am in the EU. Thanks for the draw.

  • My favourite smokey eyed Cinema Icon is Anna Karina. I have seen her in a couple of movies like Pierrot le Fou and Vivre sa vie and she is exactly how The Silver Fox has described her! Now I am very curious about La Liturgie des Heures. I wonder how it smells since it has been connected to her.

    I live in Europe. Thanks for the draw!

  • I think smokey eyes is the sexiest feature enhancing makeup! Not everyone can pull it off, but these gorgeous women certainly do! Their eyes say everything without a spoken word…
    Liturgie des Heures sounds hauntingly beautiful, and I would love to try it! I live in the US. Thanks for the draw!
    (another stunning smokey-eyed devotee is Michelyn!)

  • Meganinstmaxme says:

    Eva Green for is my smoky favourite and I loved her in Casino Royale and have been thinking about trying that TV series she is in Penny Dreadful. I really liked the pics of Brigitte Bardot that you chose though and Sahara Noir. I live near St Tropez and she is a huge icon in the local area and her 80th birthday this year was a pretty big event in the media. I’m in the EU and thanks for the draw.

  • Silver Fox, I love your reviews! They’re always so much fun, and this one doesn’t disappoint. Eva Green is my favorite. I’m in the US.

  • What a great piece from The Silver Fox, I really enjoyed reading it but my favorite smoky eye is and always will be Brigitte Bardot, she was simply out of this world! Thanks for the draw and for all the other smokey eyes divas, I live in the US.

  • Great choices of icons. My pick would be Brigitte Bardot as well. and Eva Green of course is wow. I’ve not tried Sahara Noir of the fragrances but TSF makes it sound lovely.
    I’m in the EU, ty

  • It’s funny, I never would have equated smoky scents with smoky eyes, one seems so much warmer than the other. Though I suppose that’s not necessarily true. My favorite would have to be Brigitte Bardot, and I’m in the US.

  • Dear Silver Fox thank you for this ingeniously written article which I really found so so interesting to read with all those lovely associations between cinema beauties (with their sexy smokey eyes) and legendary perfumes so lovely written so beautifully connected “iconic woman versus legendary perfume” in this case my favorite one is Eva Green. Eva Green and Avignon match wonderfully because both are very alluring in a strange way.
    I live in EU and I would love to experience La Liturgie des Heures because as you describe it “cypress, musks and myrrh make this a holy aroma minimalist and coldly aloof”
    Thank you again for this lovely review and draw.

  • My favorite smokey eyed Cinema Icon is Brigitte Bardot and I love Sahara Noir)
    I really enjoyed the article because smoky perfumes are one of my favorites. This is interesting idea to compare femmes fatales with this perfumes.
    I’ve tried Avignon, Sahara Noir and Coromandel and all of three are great. But I’ve never tried Liturgie des Heures. After this article I’m sure I’ll love this perfume.
    I’m in Russia. Thanks for the opportunity!

  • Ooh. Very interesting theme! My favorite smokey eyed icon is Eva Green, particularly her smokey eyed look in Kingdom of Heaven. I did enjoy reading the Silver Fox’s take on which perfumes best represented each icon’s smokey eyed appeal. I’d have to say that I agree with Aishwarya Rai’s Coromandel the most. Thank you for this draw. I am in the US.

  • Brigitte Bardot would be the obvious choice, considering my age, but I must say that Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is probably my smokey eye icon, that woman is simply stunning. The Tom Ford Sahara Noir is perfect for Brigitte Bardot, big and ballsy says it correctly. Liturgie des Heures sounds fantastic. I live in a cooler climate where smokey fragrances seem to work….I have to tell a quick story about a smokey fragrance I was wearing one day to work, to be more precise it was Les Heures de Cartier: La Treizieme Heure XIII. One of my co works came through the back area twice only to appear a third time at which I finally asked her if I could help her find something, she replied: Don’t you smell that??? I asked What??? She replied that smoke smell, like campfire smokiness…LOL, well it was me wearing that fragrance. I am in the US and thank you for the draw 🙂

  • Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is my favorite, and Foxy paired her perfectly with Coromandel! Wish I could wear smoky eye makeup myself, but I just end up looking like I’ve been through a bad accident. Perfectly happy with a smoky perfume, though. I’m in the US; thanks for the draw.

  • Great review! My favorite smokey eyed cinema icon is Brigitte Bardot. I would love to try Coromandel.
    Thank you for the draw!
    I’m in the U.S.

  • Fox nails it yet again with the perfume matches. I am partial to Brigitte Bardot, but associating Eva Green with Avignon tipped the balance for me in her favor.

    hank you for the draw. I am in the US.

  • Brigitte Bardot is on everybody’s lips.To be an icon for so long, over a few generations is an achievement not many Celebrities obtain. There is a classic elegance to her style and a very French iconic style. Not to sound as if I am cultural stereotyping although I suppose in a way it is. The Tom Ford Sahara Noir does sound as if it would be so suited to this iconic woman.I am trying to imagine all these exotic elements rolled into one bottle. I will be out to try it as I have never had the pleasure before. Thank you for this extremely informative review. I am in the US.

  • How stunning is Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and I love the scent she’s aligned with.Personally tho’ I’d also ask her what she thought of Incense and perhaps she’s like to visit my studio and try The Wild Goddess? I’d be fascinated to hear her about her journey into stardom. It’s not easy for Indian women in Bollywood despite the seemingly liberal view that can be portrayed at times. So I believe there would be stories of courage there for sure. I’d personally love to try Incense and I am international, in Aotearoa.

  • My favorite smokey eyed cinema icon among those mentioned by you is Anna Karina, but absolutely the perfect image of woman wrapped in smoke is Bette Davis, in my opinion.
    Thank you for the draw!
    I’m in the EU.

  • I’d go for Bardot. Her smoky eye in the Harley Davidson music video is legendary.
    I love that you paired Eva Green with Avignon. I don’t know why but I think that due to her very glamorous aura, one would have gone with something more diva like. Imagining her wearing a scent that, to me, is very rich but not all up-in-your-face is kind of exciting.
    Great article, as usual.
    I live in Paris, France.
    Bests,
    Jeremy

  • All I can say is wow
    What a fantastic post
    The Fox is an amazing writer and the comparison of movie stars known for smokey eyes with smoky scents is brilliant
    My choice is the beautiful Anna Karina
    USA reader
    I would love to win liturgies des heures

  • I love smoky eyes and I love incense in perfumes…I have never thought to pair scents with make-up, but it’s a great idea…Thank you for this article! May I choose two favourites? They are Brigitte Bardot – always wonderful; and Eva Green..I would love to test Avignon! I live in Italy.

  • All the ladies represented here are gorgeous but I found Aishwarya Rai Bachchan just out of this world beautiful. And with that dark hair she can really carry off the smokey eyes. Thanks to Jovoy for the prize. The perfume is hard for me to imagine but sounds interesting. I enjoyed this article on women stars away from the hideousness of celebrities today, and I think we all know who I’m talking about.

  • As a writer and cinephile, I’d have to go with Bardot – partly because Hitchcock got me stuck on blonds for a long time (Oh that Grace Kelly…). Of course I had a hard time reading this and not thinking of Spielberg’s “Always,” particularly When Smoke Gets In Your Eyes.

    I like the pairings in the article and would love to see something in the future with regards to pairing fragrances with moods of specific films (does Carol Reed’s “The Third Man” conjure images of Le 3eme Homme De Caron? What would Hitchcock’s Vertigo smell like? Surely something dizzying).

    I’m in the USA – thanks for the opportunity!

  • I would choose the off-kilter Anna Karina as my smoky eye model. This perfume sounds right up my street — in fact I was just considering ordering a sample when I saw this post!

  • Cynthia Richardson says:

    Brigitte Bardot is my favorite smokey eyed Cinema Icon and I like how TSF paired each siren with a specific scent. As usual, it is an evocative homage to smokey eyes and smoky scents. I live in the US

  • There is something deeply melancholic about this review…I like it a lot, actually. The smoky eyes mostly suit Eva Green, IMHO, but I am a Bardot devotee. Ana Karina is divine, as well as Aishwarya, but my heart belongs to Babette! I don’t know Sahara Noir, and I cannot imagine how it could match her, but Silver Fox’ words make it easier. I would rather choose CdG Kyoto for Eva Green, because it is colder and metallic – just like her steel eyes!
    I am in Bulgaria (EU), thanks for the chance!

  • I’ve always adored Brigitte Bardot, she is my favorite smoky-eyed icon. The Silver Fox’s review epitomizes the poetry of perfume, smoky scents in particular, which happen to be my favorite. I have wanted to try this Jovoy Liturgie des Heures for a very long time, and am overjoyed I may finally have the chance. I’m in the US, thanks!

  • Eva Green is the one I wish could play me in a movie, though she is several leagues out of mine. I am not good at doing smoky eyes on myself but appreciate them on others. Smoky scent, on the other hand, I can definitely pull off! Jovoy Liturgie des Heures sounds lovely, especially for the smoke-impaired like me. The earth, the feeling of sun in stained glass, aloof…yes!

    USA
    Thanks for the article and draw

  • Brigitte Bardot is the classic smoky-eyed icon to me, but Eva Green is gorgeous too! I wish I could pull off the smoky eye look… I am in the USA.

  • I like the idea of this article. It is original idea to create a link between smokey-eyed divas and different smoky perfumes. My absolute favorite is Anna Karina. Normal choice for big fan of the French New Wave, not only Anna Karina and Godard, but also my favorite director Truffaut and others. These movies are best of the best in history of cinematography. “Smoky” is maybe just the right term to describe many situations and atmosphere in Nouvelle Vague movies. I especially love Anna Karina in Rivette’s movie The Nun (La religieuse). It is also interesting that Hanne Karin Blarke Bayer got her artistic name Anna Karina thanks to Coco Chanel. Anna also worked as a model. I’m in the EU, Croatia. Thank you.

  • My favourite smokey eye goes to the french Brigitte Bardot and my favourite smokey fragance would be La liturgie des heures.
    I,m in EU, Spain.

  • glowquest_ says:

    Wow I loved this article so much! I enjoy a good smoky eye look, it somehow makes me feel more mysterious and devious. I think these picks sound perfect and now I really want to get my nose on Coromandel! In NY, US