Made With Love at Papillon Artisan Perfumes

Liz Moores, the Papillon Perfumer hard at work

There is no perfumery quite like Papillon Artisan Perfumes. Situated within a peaceful lodge tucked just inside the New Forest, this perfumery doesn’t march to the rapid beat of the perfume industry, choosing instead to move at its own pace. “It’s hard not to be inspired here”, says Papillon perfumer, Liz Moores, and I can see what she means. In a space surrounded by the natural beauty of expansive woodland, and a practical menagerie of animals (I counted two cats, two dogs, an owl, an assortment of snakes, a bearded dragon, a tortoise, and a horse, and I’m pretty sure I didn’t catch them all), and not to mention Liz’s very own family clan, one can see that Papillon is very much a unique outfit where fragrances are hand made as and when the inspiration comes.

Working from home, Moores is able to set her own schedule, balancing duties of motherhood with perfume-hood. But Papillon is a growing business. The brand now has four fragrances on the market (Angélique, Anubis, Salome and Tobacco Rose) which can be found at a number of points of sale across the globe, so expectant noses around the world are pointing towards the New Forest hoping for more. On a recent trip to Liz’s home studio, I asked her what he release schedule will be and she firmly says that she will only release another perfume when it’s right and won’t follow a set pattern of a scent or two per year, as is often driven by the industry. It’s admirable to see a perfumer work in such a way and it’s clear from the four fragrances within the Papillon line that this particular nose is a perfectionist who strives to create beautiful and unique fragrances without bowing to market pressure.

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New Escentual Post: DIOR J’adore Touche de Parfum

I’m not sure why, but as the festive season approaches I often find myself yearning for fragrances from the house of Dior. Perhaps its the glittery glamour of scents such as Pure Poison and J’adore, or the unconventional warmth of Hypnotic Poison that get me dreaming of Dior, or maybe it’s just that I usually scour stores for a gift set bargain. Whatever the reason, I find myself drawn to Dior and this Christmas la maison has something particularly special to offer: J’adore Touche de Parfum.

Created as a new interpretation of Dior’s flagship fragrance (is it their flagship, or Miss Dior? I can’t keep up), Touche de Parfum is an oil based composition that can be worn under J’adore or all on its lonesome. Personally, I think it is the best version of J’adore to date and I have been literally bathing myself in its golden, glamorous tones over the last week. Also worth noting is the clever bottle, which draws up and delivers a drop of oil all with one simple twist of the stopper. Click here to head on over to Escentual to check out my review.

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Candy’s Christmas Gift Edit: Scented Candles

Candy's Christmas Edit — Candy’s Christmas Edit

That’s right, I’m about to drop a whole heap of Yuletide realness in your browsers. I apologise in advance, but at this time of year it’s simply jolly good fun to do a gift guide, and that’s exactly what I intend to do. Over the coming weeks you will be treated to four gift guides, starting with this one and ending with an installment in my Escentual column. I want to point you to a veritable cornucopia of scented awesomeness this Christmas with guides that look at affordable, wallet-destroying and quirky yuletide fragrances for the body and home.

We start today with scented candles and a confession: I blinking well love a fragranced candle. To me, there are few joys more pleasant than walking through the front door at home and being greeted by an intense wave of delightful fragrance, all of which emanates from one simple flame. In this guide you will find five scented candles, some from well-known brands and others from more subversive outfits, but all with The Candy Perfume Boy’s seal of approval. Each has excellent project and longevity, and will make a wonderful treat this Christmas.

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New Escentual Post: Icons of Guerlain

I think most perfume lovers have a soft spot for the house of Guerlain. Their fragrances have an undeniably coquettish spirit and often, a wonderfully delicious sensibility as well. Guerlain makes fragrances with humour that smell good enough to eat, but with just enough abstraction to prevent them from being literal gourmands. The history of the house is rich and varied, spanning almost 200 years and boasting a lineage of fragrances that range from the animalic wonder of Jicky to the playful glacier fruit of the unapologetic La Petite Robe Noire.

For my Escentual column this week I have put together a piece that looks at Guerlain’s fragrance icons – 12 fragrances that demonstrate just how important, classic and innovative the legendary Parisian house is. It was difficult not to include absolute every fragrance in Guerlain’s back catalogue, I tell you, but I think the 12 included are some of the absolute best that the house has to offer. Click here to head over to Escentual to read the piece and do leave a comment, I’d love to hear your thoughts on which Guerlain fragrances are iconic to you.

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Domestic Chic – MOSCHINO Fresh Couture Perfume Review

It’s time to put on the Marigolds and start scrubbing because the new fragrance from MOSCHINO is here, and it’s very much channelling spring clean couture. The concept of this eye-catching new scent, the superbly named ‘Fresh Couture‘, is an interesting one. Packaged within the familiar form of an everyday household item, namely a bottle of spray cleaner, Fresh Couture has been created to “juxtapose the most mundane and commonplace of all products, the household cleaner, with something so precious – the juice of a luxury brand’s fragrance”. It is this “dichotomy of high and low”, i.e. the luxury of a fragrance and the value-lacking vessel of a functional cleaner, that is Fresh Couture’s inspiration, and it’s served with Creative Director, Jeremy Scott’s playful signature.

Unlike MOSCHINO’s other kitsch fragrance, the cute teddy bear that is ‘TOY‘ (all style and no substance, as much as I hate to admit it), Fresh Couture is delivered with a definite concept behind the juice. The whole thing plays, unsurprisingly on the idea of freshness in a feminine way boasting notes of citrus, flowers and woods. What could be more MOSCHINO than a “surprising and ironic perfume”, says the brand, and whilst I may not be on board with the idea of this being surprising or ironic, I’m perfectly happy to concede that Fresh Couture says ‘MOSCHINO’ right from head to toe. I should mention that it’s also quite a bit of fun, too.

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New Escentual Post: Amouage Sunshine Man

Let the Sun Shine... — Let the Sun Shine…

Summer may be but a distant memory now, but that doesn’t mean that we should forget about it entirely! With the mercury heading downwards and the knitwear usage on the up, it’s a good time to be a little bit nostalgic about summer or, if that’s not the case for you, it’s at least a perfect opportunity to rock something warm and delightful. Amouage’s tremendously delightful lavender, Sunshine Man is just the scent and it’s certainly got my olfactory senses running in overdrive. Check out my review on Escentual.com here.

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Raw, Elemental Vetiver – Lalique Encre Noire À L’Extrême Perfume Review

Raw. Elemental. Encre Noire À L'Extrême. — Raw. Elemental. Encre Noire À L’Extrême.

I like vetiver but I don’t own many vetiver fragrances. A brief sweep of my collection highlights the truth that I only own four vetiver-centric scents; Grey Vetiver by Tom Ford in Eau de Parfum and Eau de Toilette concentrations, Carven’s reissued Vetiver and a bottle of Guerlain’s Vetiver (a must for any card carrying perfume nut). In fact, that’s not the truth at all because all four of these technically belong to my husband who, for the record, does enjoy a good vetiver. So why the vetiver snubbing at Candy Perfume Towers? In all honesty, I do not know. Perhaps I’m too busy focusing on my florals and macerating over my Muglers to really allowed vetiver to show me its veritas. Who knows?!

There is a new vetiver in town though, that may just sway my opinion. Well, I say new, but once again I am being creative with the truth. This vetiver is a flanker to a cult vetiver and I have to admit that it’s rather blinking good. Most of you will be familiar with Lalique’s famous Encre Noire (Nathalie Lorson; 2006), a dark and brooding vetiver that is often regarded as one of the very best the genre has to offer. Well now, Encre Noire has spawned a child – an intense and more raw version of itself that has one mission, and one mission only: to smell damn good.

The scent is called Encre Noire À L’Extrême and it is pretty much what you would expect from a fragrance boasting that sort of name: a richer, more intense and more extreme version of the original. To celebrate the tenth anniversary of Encre Noire, perfumer Nathalie Lorson has reinterpreted the iconic vetiver fragrance, or as Lalique put it Lorson pens “a new chapter in the saga”. Pushing the signature of the original “to its limits”, Encre Noire À L’Extrême is a fragrance that “plays on contrasts to express every facet of masculinity through powerful, seductive accords.” I’d say that it does a pretty good job of it too!

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New Escentual Posts: Scents for Dark Nights & Les Absolus d’Annick Goutal

Today I am sharing with you my two most recent posts for Escentual.com. This week’s post is a celebration of the clocks going back (wasn’t that extra hour in bed very much needed, people?!) in the form of musings on scents to wear on those dark nights. I love wintry weather, even more so when there’s a good scent to accompany the chilly air. In this post you’ll find scents to wear by the fire, in bed, out in the open and for trick or treating.

Last week I took a look at the new exclusive collection from Annick Goutal: ‘Les Absolus d’Annick Goutal’. These three fragrances take inspiration from the orient and each are centred on a famous material, specifically; amber, oud and vanilla. They’re a mixed bunch, if I’m honest, but each has elements of interest that would make them a worthwhile sniff. Check out my review here.

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A New Kind of Bag Envy – Marc Jacobs Decadence Perfume Review

If you’ve ever thought that the plastic flowers that adorn the bottles of Marc Jacobs’ popular fragrances Daisy, Lola and Dot were more than slightly OTT, you may want to turn away for the rest of this review. With his latest feminine fragrance, entitled ‘Decadence‘, Jacobs has pulled out all of the bottle design stops and has fashioned a flacon that resembles one of the designer’s much sought after handbags, capturing the familiar shape of his bags. After all, what is the ultimate accessory next to fragrance? Here the designer bag and the designer scent combine to create something that will have the eyes of many fashion fans bulging and their mouths shouting “gimme”! As the press release says, it’s “the ultimate statement maker”, and a statement it certainly makes.

Decadence, the fragrance, was composed by Annie Buzantian (Puredistance I & Marc Jacobs Dot) and is billed as something “glamorous and indulgent” and “impulsively luxurious”. The whole thing seems aimed at a more serious audience and isn’t as youth-courting as Jacobs’ earlier fragrances. In an industry where only the young matter, it’s good to see something that isn’t aimed at tweens, but Decadence is far from mature and appears to simply offer an alternative to the wishy washy bottles of clean florals that saturate the market. But just how decadent is it?

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Scented Stories: A Sardinian Wedding

We live in an incredibly fragrant world. The sights and sounds we encounter every day are accompanied by a layer of smell that adds texture, colour and depth. Without this fragrant fourth dimension, our experiences of the planet would be less vivid, and certainly less enjoyable. I therefore, think it’s vital that we stop to smell the roses, as it were, and appreciate the joys that the smells around us, both pleasant and unpleasant (and occasionally revolting, gross and repugnant), bring. Even in our busiest moments, we should take stock of the wonderfully fragrant world we live in.

The Scented Stories series pays homage to this scented fourth dimension of that permeates every atom of our good, green Earth. So far on our olfactory odyssey, we’ve traversed the hash-soaked canal district of Amsterdam and traipsed (rather uncomfortably) over the chunky pebble beach of a quaint British seaside town. On both occasions, we have sniffed some intriguing odours and enjoyed the good, the bad, the ugly, and the downright disgusting smells of life in interesting places. We have been beguiled, moved and disturbed, often in one sniff, and we’ve had a great time.

The fragrant quest continues and our latest Scented Story takes place on the Italian island of Sardina for a very special occasion. A few weeks ago my sister-in-law (Nigel’s lovely sister) and her equally lovely partner finally tied the knot, and they did so overlooking a wild ocean flirting violently with the rocky coast. The days leading up to the wedding, and of course, the big day itself, made for a once in a lifetime experience – one that was wonderfully fragrant, of course. There was food a plenty, even more wine, and most importantly, fun times with friends and family. Below is our story.

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