New Escentual Post: Alaïa Paris by Azzedine Alaïa

It’s not a new thing for a fashion designer to launch an eponymous fragrance, or any fragrance for that matter. In fact, at this point, the idea is decidedly old hat. But the worlds of fashion and perfume are so inextricably linked that it still makes perfect sense for such a thing as the ‘designer fragrance’ to exist. After all, we simply cannot deny that perfume is the ultimate fashion accessory. Can you imagine leaving the house without any? Sacré bleu! It doesn’t bare thinking about!

Tunisian-born designer Azzedine Alaïa has waited a long time to launch his debut (and semi-eponymous) perfume, ‘Alaïa Paris‘ (penned by the talented Marie Salamagne, no less), and having spent some time with the fragrance this week I would say that it has been worth the wait. With Alaïa Paris, the aesthetic of the designer is perfectly in tune with the olfactory composition, making for a scent that, whilst not boasting any particularly bold statements, is unique and interesting enough to represent the style of such a venerable designer. Click here to head on over to Escentual to read my full review. Don’t forget to comment with your thoughts if you have tried Alaïa Paris.

Continue reading →

Scented Stories: Amsterdam

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.

A few weeks back, I paid a nostalgic visit to the British seaside town of Aldeburgh with my family and to honour the sentimental, and smelly, significance of this particular place, I documented the sights and smells of the trip on my Instagram account, and then later collated them on this blog. A new series, ‘Scented Stories’, was born and over the coming months I intend to further explore this fragrant little place we call Earth with additional instalments that look at the specific scents of interesting places. I encourage you, dear readers, to share your experiences too.

For this latest instalment, I took a spontaneous mini-break to the land of clogs, legalised cannabis, Gouda cheese and trams, so many trams. If you haven’t guessed it yet, I am of course referring to the fascinating city of Amsterdam. So with my iPhone and passport packed, and my husband by my side, I took a short hop across the North Sea for a three day exploration of a picturesque, and laid-back city unlike any another. Below you will find my #ScentedStories snaps, including fragrant captions, as well as some standard holiday selfies, and glamour shots for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!

Continue reading →

New Escentual Post: Around the World in 80 Sprays

I’ve been away for a couple of days so there won’t be new posts from me this week, excluding my usual weekly column for Escentual. As you may have read, I have started to share ‘Scented Stories’ of the sights and smells of the places I visit on my Instagram page, and subsequently on my blog. These thoughts of scent and travel got me to thinking about what other cities may smell like, and specifically what perfumes can evoke different fragrant elements of these varied landscapes.

For my Escentual column this week I’ve taken an imaginary trip around the world to eight amazing cities, some I’ve personally visited and some I am yet to. To create a fragrant picture of each city I have selected ten fragrances that relate to the scented nuances of these places. Some are literal, capturing the smells one encounters when visiting these cities, and some are a little bit more abstract, evoking thoughts and feels from within my imagination. So, pack your passport and your sunblock, and click here, to go around the world in 80 sprays!

Continue reading →

New Escentual Post: Acqua di Parma Colonia Club Perfume Review

I’m starting to really get into Acqua di Parma as a fragrance brand. Their classic Colonia is an iconic eau de cologne that’s difficult not to love and last year’s Rosa Nobile has quickly made its way into my regular rotation. There’s an effortless simplicity to all things Acqua di Parma that appeals to my calmer and more refined sides. Of course, they may be a paired-back brand, but that doesn’t mean that Acqua di Parma is exempt from releasing lots of flankers, and their famous Colonia is available in a number of interpretations, ranging from intense versions to oud and leather fusions.

This summer, Acqua di Parma are extending their fragrant wardrobe by launching Colonia Club, a new twist on Colonia that is inspired by the idea of an private members sports club. The result is a surprisingly complex eau de cologne that is somewhere between a salty marine scent and a minty fougére. I think its great and it also proves that sporty fragrances don’t have to smell like sweaty Lynx-soaked boys (or Axe-soaked for my American buddies). Click here to head over to Escentual to check out my full review.

Continue reading →

The Green Wonder – Olfactive Studio Panorama Perfume Review

If you’re ever feeling bored with the state of modern perfumery or exhausted by the endless onslaught of (often underwhelming) launches, I recommend that you take a few minutes out to explore the fascinating fragrant offerings from Olfactive Studio. This French-based niche house creates scents inspired by photography, specifically the images and techniques associated with the prevalent medium, and their range covers a vast number of olfactory styles, from smoky florals to strange spice creations. In short, Olfactive Studio is an exciting brand with an entirely unique viewpoint.

The studio have just launched their seventh fragrance – the Clement Gavarry-penned ‘Panorama’. Inspired by the Miguel Sandinha photograph of the legendary Sheats Goldstein house in Los Angeles, California (see below), Panorama is a green fragrance that boasts an unconventional note of wasabi. In keeping with the photograph from which it takes inspiration, Panorama contrasts urban and modern landscapes with verdant vegetation to create a fragrance that is large and expansive, with a plethora of nuances that are all intensely green. Get ready to be fascinated, folks, because this scent is one heck of a green wonder.

Continue reading →

Scented Stories: The Seaside

My favourite medium of Social Media is Instagram, so it will be no surprise that my Instagram account (you can follow me here, BTW) is filled with many, many pictures of my favourite things, specifically a variety of images related to perfume, food and my family. You can say a lot with a simple picture and I personally find it to be a fantastic way to represent the spirit, or essence of a fragrance by pairing it with a piece of art, or a carefully-selected background. I’m a bit in love with Instagram, if I’m being honest with you, whether I be using it to flirt with perfume photography or simply stroking my ego with a cheeky, but essential selfie…

One thing I’d like to start doing via my favourite medium is record some of my everyday scented experiences using photography and a smelly commentary. I’m calling the series ‘Scented Stories’, or ‘#ScentedStories’ for the social media savvy amongst us, and I’d like to invite you along with me to explore the smellier things in life. Photos and captions will initially be posted on my Instagram and then collated in a blog post here. But this isn’t just about me (not everything can be, I know…) and I’d like to hear/see your #ScentedStories too! So, tell me about the interesting smells you come across and share your photographs, comment away, and let’s traverse this wonderfully, and beautifully fragrant world together.

For my first Scented Story I have documented a recent trip to that most wonderful of places – the British seaside. When we were kids, my father would take my siblings and me to a small town in Suffolk called Aldeburgh. Unlike many seaside towns, Aldeburgh is quaint, laid back and fairly untourist-y, but it does have all of the things one expects from such a place, namely; a beach with painful pebbles (murder for the feet, let’s face it), plentiful ice cream, tacky gift shops and, most importantly, killer fish and chips. To rekindle fun times spent by the coast, we (as in my siblings, father, step-mother, husband and I) have started taking semi-regular trips back to Aldeburgh with my nephew and below the jump is just a small photo essay, complete with scented commentary, of this year’s trip. Enjoy!

Continue reading →

Tactile Tuberose – Robbie Honey Tuberose Scented Candle Review

Regular visitors may know that I have somewhat of a predilection for white florals. Actually, that’s an understatement, and I should correct myself by saying that, in truth, I blinking love anything that sends forth a hefty wind of white floral loveliness. My favourite fragrances are classics like Robert Piguet’s Fracas (a vampish tuberose) and Cartier’s La Panthère (a feline gardenia), and a thousand others. I’m an addict with no intention of curbing my lust for hot white petals anytime soon.

So, imagine my glee when I heard that a line of white floral-inspired scented candles just launched. The line comes from “one of London’s most foremost florists [and] Floral Creative”, Robbie Honey, who is launching his lifestyle brand with four candles (each with a 60hr burn time) inspired by white flowers, specifically; ‘Muguet des Bois’, ‘Jasmine’, ‘Casa Blanca’ and ‘Tuberose’. Of course I was immediately drawn to the heady, intoxicating signature of the Tuberose (I just can’t help myself) which, as you will see, lives up to the resplendent nature of its floral muse.

“In a garden filled with night-blooming that I first became hypnotized by their intoxicating fragrance. Cut after nightfall, their creamy petals exude an intense perfume; softened with sandalwood and amber.”

– Robbie Honey

Continue reading →

New Escentual Post: Lolita Lempicka Sweet Perfume Review

The ‘Candy’ in my pseudonym may be a glaring link to the fact that I have a huge sweet tooth. I’m being deadly serious here – when it comes to sugar there is no time for humour. From food to fragrance I must admit that I enjoy a bit of the sweet stuff and no brand does sugar more prolifically than Lolita Lempicka. With their latest launch, the appropriately named ‘Sweet‘, they have gone sugar and cuteness overload with a fragrance based on a “cherry-cocoa lipgloss accord”. Need I say more? Click here to check out my review in this week’s Escentual column.

Continue reading →

Aloof Amber – LM Parfums Cicatrices Extrait de Parfum

Just a speedy review from me today. I was recently sent a sample of Cicatrices, the latest Extrait de Parfum from LM Parfums. It’s interesting for me, to try something completely new from a brand that I’ve had no exposure to previously – it’s almost like opening a tiny window into a new world. Sometimes there’ll be a marvellous fantasy land just behind the curtains, and sometimes, all there is to be found is a barren wasteland of cold, depressing nothingness. Cicatrices definitely isn’t the latter, but it’s not quite the former either.

LM Parfums is a French brand created by Laurent Mazzone, a figure within the fashion industry who has worked with “some of the greats of French perfumery” to create his line of fragrances. His latest fragrance, Cicatrices is named after the French word for scars and is described as an “intimate oriental” that boasts notes of amber and liquorice. Available in Extrait de Parfum, Cicatrices is a rich fragrance with top notch ingredients and a pleasing sense of depth.

“Beautiful, rich and complex this is a scar of the most delicate kind – a fragrance that leaves its mark, locking in the emotion of a moment for all time.”

– LM Parfums

Continue reading →

Salt and Steel – Paco Rabanne Olympēa Perfume Review

Olympēa - Paco Rabanne's new Goddess — Olympēa – Paco Rabanne’s new Goddess

Criticise Paco Rabanne all you want, but you can never say that they don’t have a knack for tapping into the zeitgeist. Their fragrance launches are a perfect example of how marketing drives the success of a modern perfume, with irresistible packaging and expensive advertising campaigns drawing the consumer in. Take 1 Million for instance – a perfectly decent woody amber fragrance that most likely wouldn’t have had the phenomenal success it has if it weren’t packaged inside a faux piece of gold bullion and marketed with a club-culture inspired ad that tapped into the image and money-obsessed nature of modern youth. They are anything, if not clever.

Their latest launch for women, ‘Olympēa‘, which arrives as the feminine counterpart to 2013’s Invictus, comes with all of the trappings of a typical Paco Rabanne launch right from the show-stopping bottle shaped like a laurel crown to the high-budget visuals, but the scent itself appears to have a bit more depth than one would usually expect. Created by perfumers Anne Flipo, Dominique Ropion and Loc Dong, Olympēa is described as the “fragrance of a modern day goddess” and a “statuesque idol of conquest and victory”. That is quite the description, I must say, and in truth, the fragrance is more intimate and cuddly than the concept would lead one to expect, but that’s not to say that Olympēa is without interest, in fact, it’s really quite intriguing.

“The fragrance of a modern day goddess, Paco Rabanne Olympea Eau de Parfum makes a statement of strength, power and seduction. Between myth and reality is where you’ll find Olympēa, a statuesque idol of conquest and victory. Her fragrance is just as commanding as she is, featuring a legend-inspiring salted vanilla accord that elevates her above the clouds.”

– Paco Rabanne

Continue reading →