Candy Crush: Jo Malone London X Huntsman Saville Row

It’s impossible to deny the fact that Jo Malone London is a popular brand. They have seen massive growth in the last decade, with numerous stores and concessions across the country, nay, the whole world. They have a consistent, luxuriously-presented collection of products all of which seem to be selling a certain lifestyle: the Jo Malone London lifestyle. With their mix of British traditionalism and eccentricity the brand has always been incredibly creative with their olfactory output – commercial yes, but certainly creative. But one thing they’ve not cracked until this point is men. That’s right, gentleman, now is the time for you to get into Jo Malone London.

For their first ever masculine collection of fragrances, Jo Malone London has teamed up with Hunstman Saville Row, the famous London tailor established in 1849 and responsible for suiting thousands of gentleman since. The Jo Malone London Huntsman collection consists of four fragrances – four colognes from the Jo Malone London archive that have been reintroduced for me. In this capsule collection, the collaboration between British perfumery and tailor presents an olfactory wardrobe that offers citrus, oriental, gourmand and leather fragrances for day, for night, for casual and for smart. Versatility is the name of the game – let’s check them out.

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Candy Crush: LES EAUX DE CHANEL Toiletries by CHANEL

Earlier this year CHANEL launches LES EAUX DE CHANEL, a trio of cologne-style Eau de Toilette fragrances inspired by travel, taking their names from locations of historical importance to Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel, the brand’s founder. From Paris to Deauville, Biarritz and Venise, LES EAUX DE CHANEL take one on a journey through the world of perfumery, alighting at familiar genres; the cologne, the floral and the oriental. It’s a gorgeous collection.

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Candy Crush: We Are All Alien Collector Edition by MUGLER

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Look! At! This!

Is it not a thing of beauty? A resplendent rock! A glorious rainbow of loveliness! A majestic talisman befitting of the iconic juice it hides inside. This is ALIEN by MUGLER housed within the new We Are All Alien Collector Bottle and it is simply a thing of beauty. Now, I could go to great lengths to explain exactly why this has made it to the Candy Crush list this week, but it’s kind of obvious, don’t you think? So instead, I’ll simply say this: look at it!

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Candy Crush: L’Occitane Verveine Collection

It’s hot. Like real hot. We just went over 60 days without rain, in England. England! It’s been tough because we’re not used to it and we’ve been doing everything we can to keep cool. We’ve snacked on ice lollies, put fans everywhere, drunk gallons of water, and donned vests and shorts, much to no avail. Luckily for us though, L’Occitane have a few products up their sleeves that might just help us thanks to their cooling effect. This week’s Candy Crush takes a dive into the bracing and refreshing Verveine Collection and I tell you, Dear Reader, it’s the place to be!

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Candy Crush: ANGEL, ALIEN & AURA Perfuming Pens by MUGLER

Oh MUGLER, why do you keep releasing all of these lovely things that I want? New fragrances, candles, shower gels – eesh, it’s just a MUGLER fest this year and of course II am here for it. What’s that you say? Brand new Perfuming Pens for ANGEL, ALIEN and AURA, you say? Each of them under £30 too? Hmm, it’s a tough sell, I’ll be honest. OK FINE I’ll take ten of each, please! Damn you, MUGLER. Damn. You.

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Candy Crush: L’EAU TAN by CHANEL

I hate using fake tan. Past attempts have left me looking like an alien hybrid of streaky bacon and tangerines – not good. What’s more I LOATHE the smell – that hot, biscuit smell that lasts for days. So yes, I’m not a massive fan of the fake tan, but therein lies my problem, because I don’t actually mind a bit of a healthy glow on the ole bod and anything sun-related leaves me either burned or incredibly pale (due to the amount of SPF I use) so achieving such a hue is almost impossible. Argh, how annoying.

Enter CHANEL with L’EAU TAN…

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Candy Crush: Parterre @ Keyneston Mill

Do you ever have those days when you feel completely blissed out? Where there is not a care in the world and you feel great simply being alive? Well I do and I recently experience a wonderful day like this. It was the morning after the Fragrance Foundation Awards, at which Nick and I picked up our Jasmine Innovation Award for Fume Chat, so as you can imagine, on that morning after I was feeling, shall we say, ‘delicate’. But I have found that there is no hangover that can’t be sorted by a strong cup of Earl Grey so heading to Waterloo train station for a very special, early morning trip, I had myself sorted.

That trip was to Keyneston Mill in Dorset – the home of the very special Parterre fragrances. Now, if you haven’t heard of Parterre, you are missing out. With this brand, the name says it all and it simply means ‘of the earth’ and that’s because Parterre grows materials that are harvested and used in their fragrances. That may not sound that unique, after all, CHANEL does the same, but one must remember that this is all happening in England (a country not known for growing much perfumery-related) and for their first collection of fragrances Parterre has grown, harvested, distilled and used pelargonium, bergamot mint and vetiver. That’s right, vetiver, grown in England, not India, not Haiti, but England, of all places! I told you they were special!

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Candy Crush: Nº5 L’EAU ALL-OVER SPRAY & ON HAND CREAM by CHANEL

So these CHANEL Candy Crushes are becoming somewhat of a habit. Don’t blame me though, blame CHANEL – it’s them who keep releasing beautifully scented ancillary products based on some of their most iconic fragrances – I’m just a boy with a greedy nose who cannot resist their charms. What’s more, these two latest gems from CHANEL are scented with Nº5 L’EAU, which consequently is one of my favourite CHANEL fragrances, so I really couldn’t resist. You can’t keep doing this to me CHANEL. Who am I kidding – I’m not ready to quit the brand – keep ’em coming!

Nº5 L’EAU stands out because it manages to strike the perfect balance between the classic and the modern. It takes the inimitable structure of the most iconic fragrance in the world and creates a new, very current twist on it whilst remaining faithful to all that makes Nº5 good and great. To celebrate the popularity of Nº5 L’EAU, CHANEL has launched two new ‘essentials’ to the collection – an enveloping ALL-OVER BODY SPRAY and a tactile ON HAND CREAM. I am obsessed with both.

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Candy Crush: CHANCE BODY OILS by CHANEL

I should start this post by saying that, out of all of the CHANEL fragrances out there, CHANCE is the one that I have the least experience with, having only really sniffed it on others. This also extends to the entire CHANCE family of flankers, which I’m sure I have encountered in the wild but am yet to really dedicate some time to. So when these exciting body oils landed on my desk I must admit that I was most intrigued to try them, not only because I wanted to see how they worked as an ancillary product, but also as an introduction to a collection of fragrances I have had limited exposure to.

But before we get to how good these body oils are (which is very good – spoiler alert), let’s talk some context first. CHANCE launched in 2002 and targeted a younger audience for the iconic Parisian brand. CHANEL is famously known for its grand dames, the likes of Nº5, Nº19, COCO and even to some extent, CRISTALLE. Sure, COCO MADEMOISELLE came one year before CHANCE, but COCO M has a much broader audience. In comparison, CHANCE is the young CHANEL placing emphasis on playfulness as well as the brand’s signature of femininity that doesn’t give a fuck. It works very well.

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Candy Crush: Twilly d’Hermès Le Bain

I’ll be entirely honest and say that Twilly d’Hermès was a bit of a grower for me. Launched as an obvious attempt to court a new, younger customer, the fragrance, which was inspired by the brand’s famous Twilly scarves, was the first pillar from Hermès new in-house perfumer Christine Nagel. It is a very exuberant offering from the brand, with a giant shock of fresh ginger up top and a fresh, waxy tuberose note over a soft bed of sandalwood and musk. I thought it was cool last summer when I reviewed it but it wasn’t until the winter that I fell in love. Twilly and her quirky ginger-tuberose vibes are on regular rotation in my scent wardrobe, so imagine my excitement when I heard that Hermès were launching a range of accompanying body products. I died (figuratively, of course).

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