Well, here’s some good news! Last night The Fragrance Foundation UK held the annual Fragrance Foundation Awards and they announced the winners of the Jasmine Awards (the Oscars of fragrance writing). I was nominated in three categories and was thrilled to be awarded the Jasmine for Best Practical Guide for my article Material Focus: Cashmeran. This is my sixth (!!!) Jasmine Award and it’s still a complete surprise that anything I write is worthy. Thanks to all that continue to read this blog and for those who have supported me along the way.
Throughout July, I promised to do 10 things to celebrate 10 years of The Candy Perfume Boy. I’ve held four instagram live events, speaking to beauty journalist Alice du Parcq, Escentual founder Rakesh Aggarwal, PR legend Nicola de Burlet, and Olfiction founders Nick Gilbert and Pia Long. I’ve talked about 10 perfumes of significance from the last ten years over two IGTV videos (P1, P2), I’ve given away a £100 Escentual voucher and 5 Boujee Bougies, and I’m finishing off with this blog post and a celebration of my favourite photos over on instagram. It’s been a busy month.
For this blog post, I wanted to share just a small selection of the things I have learned since I started writing 10 years ago. From being someone who had never written anything longer than a tweet to a five-time award winning fragrance writer, it has been quite the journey and I have learned so, so many things. Here is a small selection, in no particular order:
As part of my 10 things for 10 years of The Candy Perfume Boy, I’m taking a look back at 10 perfumes from the last decade that are important to me. They might be perfumes of olfactory importance (the modern classics), or perfumes with sentimental value, or even just perfumes that I love to wear because they smell damn good. I’m doing this over two IGTV videos. Part One went live last week and you can check out Part Two over on my instagram or embedded below the jump.
As part of my 10 things for 10 years of The Candy Perfume Boy, I’m taking a look back at 10 perfumes from the last decade that are important to me. They might be perfumes of olfactory importance (the modern classics), or perfumes with sentimental value, or even just perfumes that I love to wear because they smell damn good. I’m doing this over two IGTV videos. Part One went live today and you can check it out on my instagram here or below the jump. Stay tuned for Part Two next Monday!
Out of the many things perfumer Christine Nagel has created for Hermés since joining the brand as in-house Perfumer, I think the Twilly franchise is my favourite. Created as an accessible entry point for younger consumers and inspired by the Hermès scarves of the same name, Twilly is a subversive tuberose zhuzzed up by a zing of ginger. Twilly has obviously been a popular addition for Hermès, because it was quickly followed by the sequel Twilly Eau Poivrée, a red rose electrified by the most photorealistic pink pepper accord known to man, which brought a sense of vibrancy and energy to the franchise. And now we have the third Twilly – Twilly d’Hermès Eau Ginger, which plays on the unusual ginger note of the original and is described by Hermès as “joyful, bright and sparkling”. Are you ready for Twilly 3: The Gingering? OK, fine, that was a bad pun. Moving on…
Maison Crivelli is fast becoming one of the most intriguing niche perfume houses out there. I’ve said before in reviews that they seem to have the visual aesthetic down, with a simple, luxuriously-executed presentation that is rich in texture and elegant design, but most importantly, they also have novel, high-quality perfumes to match. So I guess I don’t need to say that again but I’ve already typed the words out so….. Anyway, in summary, Maison Crivelli make beautiful smelling things that look equally as gorgeous, and I am always curious to see what they are up to. So yes, big fan.
Lys Solaberg is Maison Crivelli’s tenth addition to their (rapidly expanding) collection. As with all of their perfumes, its inspired by an encounter with materials, specifically a hidden field of lilies during a night hike through a Norwegian fjord. Maison Crivelli collaborated with independent perfumer Nathalie Feisthauer (who also created Absinthe Boreale for the brand) to create Lys Solaberg, and the result is an intriguing, yet understated fragrance that brings an unexpected, woody touch (and dare I say a little bit of gourmand) to a fjord of fresh, blooming lilies.
There are some brands that have a cohesive olfactory aesthetic – we call this a “house style”. Prada has it, with its sparkling, fizzy iris theme at the core of most of what it does. Hermès used to have it when Jean-Claude Ellena was at the helm, when everything he created felt like a mineral watercolour, painted with delicate strokes (Nagel’s style feels more diverse). Heck, CHANEL has it too, with their flowers, aldehydes and clarity of execution. Narciso Rodriguez is another however, their house style is somewhat more subtle and is reliant on one key theme, which finds itself blurred into the genres of chypre, woody, floral and more: the theme of musks.
We’ve seen many musk-powered fragrances from Narciso, each utilising the materials to create a distinct sense of colour – usually a block, neutral colour. Their latest, Musc Noir, is no exception. It’s technically a flanker to their flagship fragrance For Her (a musky, rosy chypre) however, it feels several flankers removed from the original at this point. Musc Noir was created by Givaudan perfumer Sonia Constant and is seen as a more sensual essay on the darker side of For Her’s musks, whereas Pure Musc, which launched in 2019 (I never got around to reviewing it, but I enjoyed it) celebrates the lighter side. Comparing the two, they really are light and dark, and Musc Noir stands out as a unique entry into the Narciso Rodriguez collection. Let’s sniff!
Candy Crush is where I write about scent-related things that I’m currently obsessed with
I love my car. It’s a sleek red and black, electric BMW that goes like a rocket with a beautiful interior filled with supple, chocolate-coloured leather. I like to keep it nice and shiny, both inside and out, but most importantly, I like it to smell good. This will be a surprise to absolutely nobody, of course, and whilst I can’t deny that new car smell is a lovely thing, I do like to have a bit more of an elevated odour profile when I step in to my electric rocket. His name is Bruno, btw….
I’ve tried lots of different car scenting devices but haven’t really found any that fully satisfy me. Many smell gross, for a start (I’m looking at you Yankee Candles…..) and others just don’t last (I loved my DS & DURGA Auto Fragrance, but the wonderful scent didn’t last as long as I’d like in the end). Enter Acqua di Parma with their latest innovative launch – the Airound Car Diffuser created in collaboration with Poltrona Frau, the luxury Italian furniture makers. It’s a beautiful object, exquisitely made, that scents your car with the luxurious fragrances of Acqua di Parma. Bruno loves it.
In my Escentual this week, I’m continuing my exploration of the fragrance families. The latest stop on the journey is aromatic fragrances. This genre focuses on herbaceous notes and overlaps with the worlds of green and fougere, usually with a drier, more herbal vibe. I’m a big fan of the genre and you can find out all about it (and discover some beautiful aromatic scents) all over at Escentual. Click here to read.
Let’s talk LES EAUX DE CHANEL. As far as capsule collections go, it is easily one of the most cohesive, elegant and on-brand lines to exist. Inspired by travel and the routes out of Paris Coco Chanel took to places of significance in her life, LES EAUX tell rich olfactory stories in that effortless CHANEL style. There is Deauville, the resort town where Chanel opened her first boutique, translated into a sparkling citrus-chypre with green notes. Then Biarritz, another resort and another boutique, represented in scent form by a refreshing, oceanic muguet. One cannot forget Venise, a city Chanel loved and visited following the death of her lover, Arthur ‘Boy’ Capel – a city imagined in vanilla and silk. Then finally, Riviera, inspired by Chanel’s villa on the Côte d’Azur – society’s hotspot captured in a powdery, solar orange blossom. It’s a great collection and now there’s one more addition…
And that edition is Paris-Édimbourg. Transporting us straight to the Scottish Highlands (via Paris, of course), Paris-Édimbourg tells the story of the refuge and sanctuary Chanel sought in this wild and rugged landscape with the Duke of Westminster, her lover in the early 1900s. The scent itself stands out as a subversive summer scent that relies on aromatic and resinous notes to create an unusual sense of freshness, with a rugged, masculine quality that slots in nicely along the freshness, silkiness, aquaticness (not a word), and powderiness (also not a word) of the current line up. It completes the range quite nicely, if you ask me, which I’m assuming you did, because you’re here reading this review…. Anyway, let’s sniff!
The Candy Perfume Boy 