That’s right, Folks, Random.org has spoken and we have a winner in The Candy Perfume Boy’s fifth birthday giveaway. The very lucky winner takes away a £100 voucher to use at Escentual on just about anything they like. Before I say who that lucky, lucky person is I’ll take an extended X-Factor-style agonising pause to say thank you to everybody who entered (I thoroughly enjoyed reading your favourite fragrance discoveries over the last five years) but also to say an even bigger thank you to everyone who has read the blog since its inception in 2011. There have been good times, hard times and times where I didn’t even know whether I could keep it up, but you have each encouraged me to keep plodding on, so thank you! Anyway onto the winner…
I was faced with a predicament rather recently. Nosing around the Cire Trudon store in London, which is neatly tucked away along the rather immaculate Chiltern Street, I was guided through the brand’s extensive range of scented candles. Each of the candles takes inspiration from something unique, whether that be the mossy stone walls of a convent, the cerebral strangeness of an art movement or even Parisian Laundry Maids. It is most definitely an eclectic collection and it would be fair to say that Cire Trudon do things a little bit differently and they make some striking, and nose-tinglingly beautiful candles as a result – candles that smell unusual and modern, which is no mean feat considering Cire Trudon’s illustrious history.
“Founded in 1663, on the threshold of the reign of Louis XIV, Cire Trudon is the oldest candlemaker in the world still active today. Throughout the 17th century, the manufacturer became the Royal Wax Manufacturer and official supplier to the French court, then to Napoleon Bonaparte. Cire Trudon received a gold medal during the 1889 Universal Exhibit as a reward for the outstanding quality of its candles and wax.”
– Cire Trudon
So, back to my dilemma. As I moved along the line of candles, picking up the heavy glass cloches that encases each of the jade-coloured glass jars, twisting them towards my nose to inhale their swirling aromas, I was posed with an impossible question: which one would you like? “Argh! Don’t make me choose”, I thought, “they’re all so darn nice, how am I ever going to pick one to take away?” Not one to be good at making decisions on the spot, and not being a fan of the idea of having to move into the store to live out the rest of my days because choosing when there is extensive choice is impossible for me, I let my nose do the talking, as it were, and picked out the candle whose scent intrigued me the most. That candle was Solis Rex.
Heliotropia – Inspired by London’s Quirkiest Department Store
Whenever I go to London I inevitably end up paying a visit to Liberty. The place is like a fairytale, I tell you. Housed within a mock-Tudor building built using the timber from two ships (HMS Impregnable and HMS Hindustan), Liberty stocks a wonderful array of treats, ranging from silk scarves in beautiful Liberty Art Fabric to exotic nicknacks, not to mention their impressive perfumery which houses classic and contemporary brands aplenty. It’s London’s most unique retail destination and it epitomises everything that is great about Britain: quirkiness and higgledy-piggledy-ness.
Swedish fragrance house, BYREDO, who have a space within the store, have just launched a fragrance exclusive to and inspired by Liberty. It’s called ‘Heliotropia‘ and it’s described as a “heady infusion, in turns virginal and narcotic” that “carries the mind to a dream like place, a higher state of illusion.” Much like Liberty the store, Heliotropia the fragrance is a fantastical experience that beguiles, fascinates and amuses. One may not enter it expecting to make a purchase, but they will leave with something that money can’t buy: a sense of bewilderment. How’s that for a headline?
You may remember that one of my favourite fragrances from 2014 (a little while ago, I know) was Acqua di Parma’s Rosa Nobile. In fact, in The Candies that year, Rosa Nobile was one of my honourable mentions for Best Mainstream Feminine and it also found its way into my Guide to Rose as the ‘Straight-Up Rose’. Why? Well it presents a glassy pink rose in its most pure and perfect form, not to mention that fact that it simply smells so darn pretty I want to marry it.
This year, Acqua di Parma are continuing their Nobile Collection with the launch of Peonia Nobile – yet another ode to one beautiful flower. Without giving too much away, this noble peony is just as gorgeous as its rosy sister and it serves as further proof that Acqua di Parma really do know how to take the simplest of things and present them with a beautiful flourish. Click here to head on over to Escentual to read my full review of Peonia Nobile.
As you may know, Nick Gilbert, my scented partner in crime and I run a perfumed Twitter project called ‘@Fragrantreviews’, in which we review fragrances in 140 characters or less. Well, if you didn’t you do now and you’re in luck because it’s that time of the month where we round up all of the reviews from the last 30 days. Without further ado, I bring you all of our reviews posted in June 2017! They range from the sublime to the disappointing, and all that’s in between!
Oh and don’t forget, if you’re based in the UK and fancy the chance of winning a £100 voucher to be used at Escentual, then click here to enter my fifth birthday giveaway. You’ve got to be in it to win it, as they say!
Woah! I can’t quite believe it but this month The Candy Perfume Boy turned five years old. That’s right, we’ve been going at this fragrance blogging malarky for five whole years and what a wonderful time it has been. Since July 2011 we have chucked a few perfumers and brand owners onto desert islands, scented The Muppets, Björk and Kate Bush, delved deep into notes such as tuberose, violet and oud, and talked about Thierry Mugler one heck of a lot. What a wonderful five years!
To celebrate this big milestone, I’ve put together a quick retrospective of some of my favourite articles, one for each year, published on The Candy Perfume Boy since its inauguration in 2011. I’ve also asked my friends at Escentual to share some of their favourite columns AND to top it all off they’ve been generous enough to offer up a £100 voucher as a giveaway to celebrate. So let’s hop to it!
MUGLER may only have one masculine fragrance on the market, the astronomically excessive A*Men (or Angel Men as it’s also known), but they’ve certainly made up for a lack of diversity in their male lineup with a prolific number of flankers. Since its launch in 1996, A*Men has been boozed up, sexed up and made to sit down with a hot cup of coffee to recover. It’s a fragrance that lends itself very well to enhancements and MUGLER have been incredibly savvy with their many interpretations of the scent’s chocolate cacophony, always taking its signature and teasing out an entirely new and exciting facet in the way that a good flanker should.
20 years on and the latest olfactory twist in the A*Men lineup is Pure Tonka an “exhilarating fragrance for a man no one can resist” that sees a “searing fusion between the sensuality of tonka beans and the purity of lavender”. The tonka bean is a staple of masculine perfumery due to its high content of coumarin, which is a key part of the fougére accord. It has a vast and complex odour profile that ranges from hay, vanilla and marzipan to sour cherry, liquorice and clove. In the original A*Men, the tonka bean was merely a small cog within a much larger wheel, which also consisted of other moving parts such as; lavender, mint, coffee, patchouli, tar, vanilla and caramel. In A*Men Pure Tonka, the tonka bean is pulled right into the forefront and centre, and the volume is dialled way up to extreme levels to create a MUGLER fragrance that is really quite something to behold, even by their standards.
Pack your Pokéballs and prepare for a LOT of walking because Pokémon Go fever is here! That’s right, adults and children all over the world (myself included) can be found traipsing around and through fields to find some adorable but deadly pocket monsters. There will be gym battles and friendly rivalry but from what I’ve seen so far, the game has got people out of the house and talking to each other, which is not a bad thing at all.
For my Escentual column this week I have nerded out and brought two of my obsessions together: perfume and Pokémon. In this piece, I talk about some fragrances that you will need on your journey to become a Pokémon Master – scents that’ll keep you smelling fresh but will also help you out if you’re stuck between a Snorlax and a field of Pidgeys. So, if you’re Pokémon and perfume mad, click here to head over to Escentual to read ‘Gotta Spritz Them All’.
La Petite Robe Noire Intense – The Latest Addition for Your Wardrobe
GUERLAIN’S La Petite Robe Noire has quickly become a part of the fabric of the brand, taking its place next to the likes of icons such as Shalimar,Mitsouko and Samsara, and deservedly so. With LPRN, GUERLAIN took the fruity floral genre and showed everybody else just how it should be done, specifically with fizz, flair and a shedload of fun. The fragrance has been a huge hit, and whilst marketing may have played a big part in this, one cannot deny that La Petite Robe Noire is; a) an excellent fragrance (that fizzy cherry juxtaposed against that smoky black tea is just gorgeous); and b) a GUERLAIN fragrance through and through.
So with success come flankers and GUERLAIN have served us a number of delectable noire treats since LPRN’s launch in 2012 (well it’s mainstream launch, that is, the scent was a boutique exclusive launched in 2009 that was subsequently remixed for the wider market). The latest of which is La Petite Robe Noire Intense, a fragrance that evokes the idea of a breeze billowing though the pleats of a dress as it is transported around the world. That’s right, Miss La Petite Robe Noire is globetrotting and she has packed a brand new dress for her journey. But what does this particular garment smell like? Well, the answer is simple: it smells like fun!
I’m taking a bit of a blogging break this week to enjoy the gorgeous weather we are having, and perhaps also to play lots of Pokémon Go too… Anyway, less of the Pokémon and on to perfume. This week I have mostly been falling for Stella McCartney’s POP, which is probably the most fun a person can have with their clothes on and in olfactory form. This is watermelon bubblegum and plastic tuberose shrink wrap in neon shades of pink and green. Honestly, it’s enough to make you grin from ear-to-ear like the Cheshire Cat. Click here to head on over to Escentual to read my review in full.
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