Parfum

Perfume Review: ANGEL FRUITY FAIR by MUGLER

IMG_3076

Creating a flanker of an iconic fragrance is no easy task. There has to be balance between the familiar and the unfamiliar, with the resulting fragrance smelling similar enough to the original to bear its name, but also different enough to justify its own existence. Now, that problem is amplified when the iconic scent in question has already been flankered (not a word, but go with it) numerous times already. How does a brand bring something new when they’ve given a scent the flanker treatment dozens of times already? Well, in the case of most brands, the answer is ‘not very well’, but when it comes to MUGLER, flankers are where the brand really gets to have fun.

ANGEL is the MUGLER flagship and it has had many, many, many, many, many, many (do you see where I’m going with this?), many flankers. Its incredibly bold signature makes it perfect flanker material because one can always recognise it, whilst its gourmand facets are begging for thousands of fantastical culinary twists – also there’s lots of stuff going on in ANGEL so there are lots of paths to go down in terms of flankering. So yes, ANGEL lends itself well to flankers and proof can be found in its latest incarnation ANGEL FRUITY FAIR. This limited edition celebrates “gourmand indulgence” evoking a magical carnival filled to the brim with feelings of unabashed joy. Sign me up!

Continue reading →

Speed Sniff: Nubian Musk by Sana Jardin Paris

IMG_1916

Speed Sniffs is a way to bring you ‘to-the-point’ fragrance reviews that are quick and easy to digest. They are perfume reviews without the faff.

Sana Jardin is a new eco and ethically conscious fragrance house that aims to create luxurious niche fragrance that brings real change for the growers of the materials, specifically women. This is done through their Beyond Sustainability™ movement which, as Sana Jardin puts it, “is a movement to create tangible and measurable social change through commerce, not charity. It’s a movement to create female entrepreneurs who are agents of change in their community. It is built on traditional, sustainable practices and fair trade. Beyond Sustainability™ is preserving heritage skills while inspiring the next generation of artisans.”

It’s always good for fragrances houses to take a socially-conscious approach to their manufacturing and for this to be at the heart of a luxury niche brand is really encouraging. There are currently seven fragrances in the collection, one of which is the focus of today’s speed sniff! That scent is Nubian Musk and it’s described by Sana Jardin as follows; “A seductive scent recollection…a physical encounter, a chemical attraction, limbs entwined, souls lost to pure, carnal desire. Fragranced with the intoxicating, raw scent of skin, amplified in the heat of passion.” Sounds like it’s quite something, doesn’t it?!

Continue reading →

Share a #SMELLFIE for National Fragrance Day

IMG_2979

Show us your #Smellfie!

To celebrate National Fragrance Day today, The Perfume Society is encouraging perfume lovers across the land to share a selfie with a fragrance – something that they call a ‘smellfie’. Now in its fourth year, the idea of the smellfie is simple: one takes a snap of themselves with a fragrance, whether that be a favourite or simply the scent one happens to be wearing, and share it on social media. Easy, right? Other than the fact that we all adore a selfie, there’s also further incentive to share your smellfie in the form of a competition. To enter, you just need to do the following:

Continue reading →

What’s in my Gym Bag?

 

IMG_2870 (1)

I’ve become a bit obsessed with working out. 12 months ago I worked out once approximately every, well, 12 months. Now I’m on a regular cycle of six workouts a week. The transformation in my physical and mental health has been tremendously positive and I generally feel much better about how I look, and how I feel, despite the fact that I still have a long way to go to meet my goals. So every week I run 5K twice (not bad for someone who previously despised running), do two days of weights, one day of core strength and on my sixth day, a mixture of all of these things dependent on my mood. I may ache pretty much all of the time but I feel fantastic for it.

Since I’ve been going to the gym regularly I’ve turned my life into one of routines. I have routines for working out, for eating, for the clothes I wear (basically EVERYTHING is Superdry, I don’t know why, I must like the colour orange) and for the scented things I use. So, in this article I want to briefly take you though the contents of my gym bag to show you some of the scented (and non-scented) things I swear by. There are things for the skin and for the shower, and of course there’s scent too, because I’m The Candy Perfume Boy and I kind of have a thing for fragrance… Anyway, into the gym bag we go!

Continue reading →

Perfume Review: Agar Ébène, Cardamusc, Cèdre Sambac, Musc Pallida & Myrrhe Églantine by Hermès

IMG_2775

“I am free” says Perfumer Christine Nagel as she sits comfortably in the handsomely furnished apartment above Hermès’ New Bond Street store in London. Nagel is here to talk us through the five new fragrances she has created as in-house Perfumer at Hermès. The five are her first additions to the Hermessence collection, a series of olfactory haikus created by her predecessor Jean-Claude Ellena. Nagel’s style is somewhat different from Ellena’s – his domain was of watercolours and minerals, wrapped in cerebral, thought-provoking compositions that birthed the Hermès olfactory signature. If Ellena created this signature, then Nagel’s has opened it up to a new-found richness with her more immediate, grander and more voluptuous style. Despite their stylistic differences, the creations by both Ellena and Nagel are undeniably ‘Hermès’ in every way.

Anyway, back to freedom. Christine Nagel has full creative freedom at Hermès and with it she has chosen to create a collection of five oriental fragrances to add to Hermès iconic Hermessence collection. Nagel wanted to return to “the origins of perfumery” to create three Eau de Toilettes and two oil-based Perfume Essences. According to Nagel, when she proposed this to the CEO his answer was simply ‘yes’. So off to the origins of perfumery Nagel travelled, focusing on the noble and historic notes of myrrh, musk, agar wood and cedar, with which she has created five distinct fragrances that celebrate the styles of the orient in a way that is truly and faithfully ‘Hermès’.

Continue reading →