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Into the Blue

Etat Libre d’Orange is one of my all-time favourite perfume brands. They burst onto the scent with a collection of fragrances that stuck two big fingers up at the industry, acting in a manner that was disruptive, innovative and horrifyingly beautiful. Ever since their launch, Etat Libre d’Orange has proved that they have just as much substance as they have style and they’ve continued to innovate, creating some of the most fascinating scents of the last decade. So yes, I’m a fan, but because of this my expectations are very high.

For their latest fragrance, Etat Libre d’Orange have teamed up with journalist and author Chandler Burr to create a scent inspired by his novel ‘You or Someone Like You’, or more specifically, the novel’s lead character, Laura. The scent, which shares the novel’s name, has been created by perfumer Caroline Sabas and is her first outing for the brand. The notes have been left to the imagination of the wearer because, as Burr puts it “the scent is the scent, if you need to know what’s in it, “You” is probably not for you” (insert eye roll). That said, there are notes of rose and mint mentioned in the press release, and it’s clear from sniffing it that these two elements play a large role in this olfactory tale. Speaking of sniffing, let’s stick our noses into this latest chapter in Etat Libre d’Orange’s Odyssey of the Obscure.

The Givenchy Gentlemen Only Collection

Apologies for a somewhat lighter week of posts this week, I’ve been busy with work and launches. Regular service shall resume next week! For now, enjoy this round-up of Givenchy’s Gentlemen Only collection in this week’s Escentual column. Clicky here to read! Spoiler alert: there’s a competition to win the Givenchy Gentlemen Only collection over at Escentual too!

Nuit de Megève
Our Speed Sniff Subject: Nuit de Megève

There are so many fragrance launches each year it’s difficult to write about them all. Speed Sniffs is a way to bring you quick and easy to digest reviews o fragrances in a paragraph or two. After all, sometimes all one needs is a few lines to capture the essence of a scent. Speed Sniffs are perfume reviews without all of the faff and tell you whether the subject is something you want to sniff or not. So hurry up and read, because we don’t have much time…

The subject of today’s Speed Sniff is Nuit de Megève by Eight & Bob. You may know Eight & Bob as the brand who reportedly created a scent worn by JFK, who was rumoured to have loved the scent so much he ordered eight bottles of it, asking for one for Bobby too. Nuit de Megève is inspired by a chance encounter with a beautiful woman in a Megève ski resort and aims to capture that evening, through the smells of the “mountain air and the wood burning in the fireplace”. It’s a scent inspired by memory and like all of Eight & Bob’s fragrances, it tells a story.

Close Up: Macro Perfumery from Olfactive Studio
Close Up: Macro Perfumery from Olfactive Studio

Seeing as we spent yesterday talking about perfume and photography, it makes sense that our first fragrance review of the week is one inspired by that very art form. Now, if you’re not familiar with Olfactive Studio you really should familiarise yourself. I think it’s one of the most exciting and well thought-out niche brands out there and where so many try to do something different but do so in a muddled way, Olfactive Studio avoids gimmicks and succeeds in creating a strong narrative in each of their perfumes. So yes, they’re an exciting niche brand that you should really explore!

For their latest scent, Close Up, Olfactive Studio has taken inspiration from a photograph taken by Armenian photographer Suren Manvelyan.  The shot is a close up of an eye that questions one’s perceptions. As Olfactive Studio ask, “is it an eye wide open or a miniature world replete with lands and oceans?”. Close Up is inspired by these contrasts and presents in stunning detail, the opposition of warm, fuzzy notes against vibrant fruits. Is it a soft blanket of amber, or is it a bowl of alcohol-soaked cherries? The question persists.

Renegade Faces
Renegade Faces

Project Renegades is definitely a brand that packs a punch. I mean, let’s talk about the avatar in the room here and just acknowledge the fact that the bottles are presented with detachable magnets fashioned into caricatures of three iconic perfumers. The visual impact is cacophonous and bold, with shiny kaleidoscope-printed boxes, bullet holes and of course, those detachable magnetic caricatures of the perfumers… All of this comes right out to say that this brand and its perfumers are gonna do whatever the heck they like. In an industry that often relies on the same old formulaic way of making and launching perfume, we can only give Project Renegades kudos for bucking the trend.

With Project Renegades, three of the industry’s most iconic cult perfumers have teamed up to create a trio of olfactory cowboys who are going to swagger into town to teach them there locals about how perfume should be done proper, you hear. They are Mark Buxton, the man behind so many of Comme des Garçons’ cult fragrances, Bertrand Duchaufour, the world’s most prolific and varied perfumer, and Geza Schoen, the nose responsible for Escentric Molecules (I like to call him ‘Molecule Man’). The idea is to do something exciting with perfume and allow the perfumers to just make whatever the heck they want to without the constraints of marketing briefs, focus groups or trends. The results are unexpected.

Carbon
Carbon – The Latest Luna Rossa Flanker from Prada

As far as mainstream lines go, Prada is one of the very best. Everything about the many fragrances in their collection, which stretches from the likes of Candy, Les Infusions de Prada, L’Homme Prada and La Femme Prada, and Luna Rossa, feels finely curated and created in their inimitable house-style. Where many brands would take a cynical approach to masculine perfumery, Prada seeks to incorporate quality and a distinct signature to create fragrances that stand out from the crowd, but not so much that they don’t appeal to the average consumer. The result is something like Luna Rossa, which is a minty fresh blend of lavender, musk and spices inspired by the brand’s professional sailing boat. It’s an accessible fragrance made with a high degree of excellency.

With their latest launch in the Luna Rossa franchise, Prada seem to be innovating. For Luna Rossa Carbon they are exploring the clash of natural materials and synthetics to represent the olfactory idea of carbon. They call it “a set of intriguing, engineered-contradictions” and describe it as an “iconoclastic fougère”. Well, them some pretty big words you got there, Prada – let’s hope that this fragrance lives up to the hype. What I will say, before we get to the sniff test, is that it’s always refreshing for a mainstream brand to talk about the use of synthetics so openly. In an age where ‘natural’ is valued more and more, it’s encouraging to know that the technology and innovation of the industry can be promoted in such an open manner. Anyway, let’s sniff.

IMG_8856
Episode 15 is Here!

Get out your foam fingers and buckets o’ popcorn because it’s time for yet another Battle of the Bottles. This time, Thomas and Nick are battling with a live audience at Perfume Lovers London. Category is ‘department store fragrances of the new millennium (but more ‘House of Fraser’ than ‘Harrods’)’. Fun, fab fragrance and sore losing ensues once this battle commences.

Perfume Lovers London is a Meet Up Group run by Callum Langston-Bolt, Laurin Taylor and Lizzie Ostrom and it holds monthly fragrance events in, you guessed it, London. At their events they offer explorations of fragrance materials, guest perfumers, art, music and whatever else they can think of. To find out more follow the group on Twitter @PerfumeLDN.

The Gift of Muguet
The Gift of Muguet

In France on May Day it’s tradition to present a loved one with a bouquet of Lily-of-the-Valley (or ‘Muguet’ as it is called in France). To celebrate May Day and the beauty of Muguet, I’ve pulled together two reviews from the archives to showcase my favourite Lily-of-the-Valley fragrances.  Both come from entirely different eras, with the first being a vintage formulation of a classic made at time where the key materials that make recreating the scent of Muguet achievable were still readily usable, whilst the other is a modern interpretation that somehow captures the cool and aloof nature of the flower. They’re both entirely different but they’re also both wonderfully beautiful. Enjoy!

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Star Magnolia by Jo Malone London

Magnolia, much like Mimosa, is a floral note not commonly used in perfumery. Sure, there are magnolia scents out there but for every one magnolia there is a thousand tuberoses, a million orange blossoms and a billion jasmines, give or take a few. The strange thing about this is the fact that magnolias smell bloody fantastic, more so than many other white flowers. They’re an easy breezy white flower with wonderful citrus accents and a whole heap of headiness. So yes, we need more magnolia please.

Always ones to answer my cries of fragrant pain, Jo Malone London have just launched a limited edition fragrance called Star Magnolia. Woohoo! Bathed in white, the bottle comes complete a soft collar of white floral petals in an unusual display of exuberance from a brand that is so normally classic and paired back. They describe Star Magnolia as being flirtatious and what could be more apt than a flirtatious floral for spring? Nothing! Let’s sniff…