New Escentual Post: A Guide to Fougère

In a continuation of my bite size fragrance family guides on Escentual, my column this week takes a look at the dapper, debonair and definitely manly world of the fern-esque Fougère. Despite my love for all things feminine, floral and ridiculously over-the-top I do happen to quite like a good Fougère, whether it be something as abstract as Guerlain’s Jicky or a scent as handsome as Jean Paul Gaultier’s Fleur du Mâle. In my world the Fougère is the best kind of masculine.

This Guide to Fougère takes a whistle stop tour of the genre, taking a look at three key examples; one classic, one modern and one contemporary. Amongst these interpretations one will find something elegant, something rebellious and something altogether more brooding. If you fancy reading the piece (and topping up on your Fougère fix) please click here to head on over to Escentual. Don’t forget to let me know what your favourite Fougères are whilst you’re there!

Continue reading →

New Escentual Post: A Gift of Roses

A Gift of Roses for Valentine's Day — A Gift of Roses for Valentine’s Day

So if you’re just recovering from Christmas Day and New Year (personally, I’m still trying to shed that darn turkey-weight) you’ll be shocked to know that Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. That’s right, you blinked and missed January so now it’s time to think about showering that special someone in your life with lots of lovely gifts to say those important three words.

Of course you don’t have to give gifts to say “I love you” and you don’t need one special day in the year to do so – I for one try to make an effort to profess my undying adoration for my beau at least once a day (normally just after I’ve been served dinner). But if you’re looking for a little token for your love, then what better way to show your love than with the gift of perfume?

Roses are the traditional flower to gift on the day of Saint Valentine, so for my Escentual column this week I have pieced together a veritable bouquet of beautiful rose scents for you to give as lovely fragrant gifts. They range from the straight-up photorealistic rose to the hedonistic oriental rose via a brief stop at the raunchy bedroom rose. So, please click here to head on over to the Escentual blog and read ‘A Gift of Roses’.

Continue reading →

Perfume Pic of the Week No.5: Le Tentation de Nina Macarons

I love Ladurée, I love macarons and I most certainly love perfume. So it will come as no surprise that I am quite keen on the above picture, which very quickly become my perfume pic of the week when I stumbled across it, whilst preparing for my upcoming review (due to be up next week) of the latest Nina Ricci fragrance – the macaron inspired ‘Le Tentation de Nina‘.

Nina Ricci (the brand, obv), perfumer Olivier Cresp and Vincent Lemains (the Head Pastry Chef at Ladurée) have teamed up to create a macaron “inspired by a perfume” and a perfume “inspired by a macaron”. The macarons, which are winking at you in the above picture, are a devilishly delicious-sounding blend of lemon, raspberry, Bulgarian rose absolute and almond, all of which is topped off with a dash of gold leaf. The perfume is very much in the same spirit and lists similar notes. Does it perfectly capture the spirit of the most darling of pastries? Well, you’ll have to wait until my review for that little nugget of information…

Continue reading →

Perfume Pic of the Week No.4: The Wedding Scent Shortlist

A scary fact dawned on me this weekend – the fact that it is not long at all until my dear fiancée and I get married, 103 days in fact. And I mean properly hitched, thanks to our lovely politicians allowing for gay marriages to take place for the first time in the UK in 2014. It’s a brave and wonderful world that we’re leaving in and I hope that all around the world others will have the same opportunities that I am ever so fortunate to have.

Now I’m very excited for my pending nuptials of course, but there is a lot to organise and whilst Nigel and I are very much on top of things, the pressure definitely feels on to get things done in the little time that we have left. We’ve sorted the flowers, cake, venue, Butler & Wilson bling, favours and a whole host of other things – but there’s still a lot to do and I’m hoping not to turn into a Groomzilla anytime soon!

Of course, one of the most important decisions for me to make is what perfume to wear on the big day. I posted a little while back, pooling some of my ideas together for the big wedding scent hunt. So how far have I come now? Have I finally picked my wedding scent? Or am I just as clueless as I was when I first started this little journey? Well the answer is…

Continue reading →

Scent a Celebrity Series: Scentcraft – Scenting the Witches of American Horror Story: Coven

“The Scent a Celebrity Series is my vain attempt at picking perfumes for those who don’t know any better, yes I mean celebrities. Let’s face it, most celebrities are incapable of choosing decent clothing, boyfriends, girlfriends, movies, (insert-celebrity-mistake-here) let alone having the ability to make decisions about something as important as their scent – that’s where I come in. Never fear my dear schlebs, I will ensure that you are appropriately scented, all you need to do is listen.”

Have you been watching American Horror Story: Coven? If you haven’t, or God forbid that you’ve not seen any seasons or episodes of this wonderful anthology series then shame on you! The premise is simple, each series tells a different story with the same ensemble cast playing a different set of characters. So far the show has killed a ton of people off in a murder house, shoved some unfortunate people in a properly dodgy asylum and most recently taken a deep insight into a coven of witches in New Orleans. Yes, it’s utterly brilliant.

Following a request on Twitter I have decided to scent four of the most fabulous witches of American Horror Story: Coven (i.e. Season 3). These characters and actresses represent the best of the show and range from the effortless glamour of Jessica Lange as one heck of a ruthless witch to the more than slightly unhinged but ever so fashion-forward supreme wannabe played by Frances Conroy. So sit back, read on and fall under the spell (or should that be ‘smell’?) of Scentcraft…

Continue reading →

New Escentual Post: M is for Mugler

It’s been a little while since I last created an entry for my Escentual A-Z of Fragrance and it felt about the right time to further explore the alphabet of perfume with a look at an iconic perfume house. In the A-Z we’ve taken a look at esteemed perfume brands such as Amouage, Dior and Guerlain, but the one I was really looking forward to sinking my teeth into was the house of Thierry Mugler. I was so excited in fact, that I couldn’t even wait until we got to the letter ‘T’!

In my Escentual column this week the letter of the moment is ‘M’ for Mugler. I take a brief look at the history of the house and talk about the house’s five unique, high-fashion and downright weird perfumes; Angel, A*Men, Cologne, Alien and Womanity. So please hop on your Battlestar Muglactica and head over to the Escentual blog (by simply clicking the image above) to explore the world of Mugler. Don’t forget to tell me which Mugler scent floats your boat whilst you’re there!

Continue reading →

New Escentual Post: Winter Fragrance Guide for Him

Winter Warmers 'Pour Homme' — Winter Warmers ‘Pour Homme’

For my Escentual column this week I was tasked with selecting some of my favourite ‘winter warmers’ for men and with the weather being as turbulent and dreadful as it is, I was definitely up for the challenge! My picks include; a new classic from Amouage, a wild card from Dior and a severely underrated scent from Jean Paul Gaultier – to name just a few.

So boys and girls (because, unsurprisingly, the list is pretty unisex), if you’re in the mood for some olfactory comfort blankets, head on over to Escentual by clicking the image above to read all about my favourite manly fragrances for winter. Don’t forget to tell me what winter warmers you’ll be rocking this season, too!

Continue reading →

Perfume Pic of the Week No. 1: Vintage Shalimar Eau de Toilette

So it’s a brand new year and after a short break its time to get one’s nose firmly back to the grindstone (booo!). This year I am hoping to be more dedicated to regular posts on The Candy Perfume Boy after a slightly turbulent 2013, with reviews and routine instalments in my ‘Scent a Celebrity‘, ‘Guide to‘ and ‘Desert Island Sniffs‘ series. I’ll also be sharing my weekly Escentual column and updates on the hunt for my wedding scent with you – all-in-all, I hope for it to be a very exciting year!

One new addition to The Candy Perfume Boy’s roster in 2014, is the ‘Perfume Pic of the Week’. Starting today and running every Monday, I hope that this visual feature allows us to connect more and discuss all elements of perfume ranging from new and exciting launches to perfume advertising, bottles from my collection and anything else that is smelly and intriguing.

The inaugural Perfume Pic of the Week is an image of some vintage Shalimar Eau de Toilette I picked up in Tesco of all places (other supermarkets are available). My online snooping dates it as being from the late ’90s/early ’00s, but if you have a better estimate then please say. I’ve included the Shalimar here because a vintage purchase is most unusual for me, simply because I avoid the chase for vintage formulations as a general rule of thumb.

Continue reading →

Christmas Smells (Really Good)

Christmas is just round the corner. I mean it people, the 25th of December is just up the street, lurking down a dark alley with criminal intent and an evil glint in its eye. By now one should have completed the super-fun/awful task of Christmas shopping (I have and yes I’m smug about it) and will now be putting the final touches to the Christmas plans that one is so looking forward to.

With all of the traditions and festivities it is unsurprising that Christmas is an incredibly fragrant time of year. The abundance of yuletide food, church masses and changes in the season make for an incredible wealth of smells associated solely with the one celebration, and each year one looks forward to reliving those odours that make the season so darn ‘Christmassy’.

As I’m a lover of both scent and Christmas I thought it would be fun to put together some of my favourite yuletide smells alongside perfumes that manage to capture the essence of these odours. Here you’ll find smells of the season and fragrances that are evocative of such wonderful treats as gingerbread and mulled wine. Christmas smells (really good in fact) and on The Candy Perfume Boy this winter, it has never smelled better!

Continue reading →

What’s On Your Christmas Wish List?

It’s that time of year where we all start to put together our Christmas wish lists for Santa, or as I like to call him – ‘Nigel’. Being the perfume nuts that we are means that beloved family and friends can sometimes struggle to pick fragrances out as gifts for us, after all we’re a selective (read: ‘picky’) bunch by nature and nobody would want us to open up a gift that we would deem as unsuitable on the big day.

To mitigate the chances of a botched perfume purchase at Christmas I supply a perfume wish list to my partner and my father every year. The other members of my family family flatly refuses to buy me any perfume, stating that I have “too much” and it’s “bordering on an obsession”. Who knows what they’re smoking, but I can always rely on my dad and Nigel (if he’s in a good mood) to pick something from my carefully selected list.

Let’s take a look at what’s on my list this year!

Continue reading →