One can always count on Serge Lutens to create something interesting. Year-on-year he offers up thought-provoking fragrances that push the boundaries of conventional perfumery. They are often orientals, gourmands and florals that smell otherworldly and are paired with poetic descriptions filled with riddles. This year’s addition to the collection is Baptême du Feu, a battle-inspired fragrance that takes cues from the fairgrounds and gun ranges M. Lutens frequented as a child. To find out my thoughts on this latest instalment in the Serge Lutens saga, click here to read my review at Escentual.com.
Well here’s a rather wonderful treat for the card carrying members of the Muglerati out there: an Angel scented candle. Now, those of you who follow MUGLER will know that the brand has previously dabbled with the world of home fragrance, having launched some beautiful Angel candles previously in dinky star-shaped votives in addition to small Alien candles in purple tins as gifts with purchases. But never has MUGLER gone all out candle-wise, well, until now that is and it would be fair to say that they are now absolutely spoiling us with some wonderfully delectable treats to burn and scent one’s home.
Launching as a limited edition for 2016, the MUGLER Perfumed Candles are available scented with the brand’s two iconic feminines: Angel and Alien. What’s more, they are also available online at MUGLER scented with the Les Exceptions fragrances for a slightly higher price. These candles extend one’s MUGLER addiction into the home, allowing members of the Muglerati to truly commit to the cause by allowing their favourite MUGLER fragrance to permeate their boudoir as well as their body. MUGLER says that these Perfumed Candles will “prolong fragrant pleasures with a new perfume ritual” and guess what? I’m all for that in every way, shape and form!
“The Angel candle will transform your interior into a boudoir of delight: a whirlwind of delicious emotions, sensuality and glamour. Containing notes of vanilla, chocolate and caramel counterbalanced by the forceful woody scent of patchouli, the fragrance will envelop the home in a warming oriental gourmand scent.”
‘Uomo’ is easily becoming the new ‘Homme’ with each Italian designer brand rocking their own version. So far Valentino has one, Roberto Cavalli has one and now, Salvatore Ferragamo has their very own Uomo too. Ferragamo’s Uomo is a wonderfully versatile masculine that is soft & creamy enough to rock with jersey athleisurewear and suave & deep enough to pair with a black bow tie. In essence, it’s a scent for any man, any time and any place. Click here to head on over to Escentual to read my full review of Salvatore Ferragamo’s Uomo.
There’s always a sense of unease amongst the perfume-appreciating public when a brand announces that they are tinkering with a classic and presenting it in a new guise. Teeth are clenched, short breaths are inhaled and noses are on guard, all held in hope that whatever this new fragrance child turns out to be, it lives up to the high standards set by its forbearer. Personally, I’m not so precious about the classics and I view these remixes as being similar to the remake of an iconic film. Just because something is being remade, doesn’t mean that every single copy of the original will be deleted. The classic will still be there so if the new version doesn’t resonate, that’s fine, one still has their classic to enjoy. So yes, brands can remix and remake as much as they like because you know what? The results can often be quite interesting indeed (case in point: Shalimar Parfum Initial).
I say all of this because CHANEL are just about to launch Nº5 L’EAU, an entirely new interpretation of none other than Nº5, arguably the most famous perfume in the world. L’EAU comes as the first rehash of Nº5 under the penmanship of Olivier Polge, CHANEL’s latest in-house perfumer, who took the reigns in 2015. This however, is not the first rebirth of Nº5, which has seen a number of incarnations in its time, starting as an Extrait composed in 1921 by Ernest Beaux before the perfumer revisited the composition to create an Eau de Toilette just two years late in 1924. Under perfumer Jacques Polge’s tenure, we saw an Eau de Parfum concentration composed in 1986 in addition to an ‘Eau Première’ version which followed in 2007 as an introductory scent for a younger audience. Now we have L’EAU, a fragrance that is being billed by CHANEL as the Nº5 of today.
“A fragrance for here, now and always” – that’s how CHANEL describe Nº5 L’EAU. The fragrance is a “complete reinvention” of the original but at the same time, the brand is quick to point out that Olivier Polge has been respectful of Nº5’s history whilst he has dissected the formula to see just how it ticks, and rightly so. Nº5 L’EAU looks to the future to create a new Nº5 – a Nº5 for the modern generation. The trick here is to create something new from something so instantly recognisable, to make the known surprising and to not lose the spirit of the composition along the way. So how successful has the exercise in modernising and lightening an olfactory icon been? Well, you’ll just have to read on to find out!
I have no chest hair. I’ll just let you digest that fact or a second. Nope, none, nada, zilch. Not a speck. I know, Dear Reader, that this will be of tremendous interest to you, and I’m sure you now have a wonderful image in your mind of my pale, hairless chest (oh yes, I’m pasty too) so, once again, I shall allow you a brief moment to enjoy this thought. Done? OK, we’ll move on. Now, I share this fascinating tidbit with you because I often look to perfume (where else?) to give me what I lack and luckily for me, perfume answers with some impressively hairy-chested fragrances to provide me with what I so desperately lust for: spray-on chest hair.
This post celebrates six scents that could put hairs on your chest. They range from the machismo-classics of the 1980s – you know the ones where you can literally smell the testosterone emanating from their sprayers – all the way up to the more modern scents that just so happen to be so badass that they can’t keep their chest rugs tamed. So prepare yourself to spritz some scent and sprout some chest hair as we traverse the world of butch masculines – fragrances for men that could put hairs on the chest of the smoothest of guys. Put your trimmers aside and get set, folks, because things are set to get a bit hairy up in here.
TOM FORD is a bit of a legend in the fragrance world. Well, that’s more than just a touch of an understatement, if I’m honest, and it would be fair to say that he is one of the few modern fashion designers that has successful built a fragrance empire that works in complete symbiosis with their clothing lines. TOM FORD perfumes ooze with style and finesse, but they often also boast bold signatures that set them apart from the crowd. Sniffing them, one gets the impression that Mr. Ford is genuinely a fragrance aficionado and his collection offers up its fair share of cool classics and olfactory oddities. In short, the TOM FORD fragrance line is one of the best out there.
The first fragrance to be launched under the TOM FORD name was Black Orchid (side note: we mustn’t forget that Mr. Ford launched a number of amazing scents at Gucci and YSL, namely Envy & Rush for Gucci and Rive Gauche Pour Homme, M7 and Nu for YSL) – a scent that quickly established the brand as a serious contender within the industry. Since then, Black Orchid has been remixed and revisited a number of times, the latest version of which is Orchid Soleil, a fantastically radiant blend of florals and warm, skin-like notes. Without giving too much away, I’d say it’s one of TOM FORD’s best offerings to date. Yup, that sounds about right!
INTRODUCING THE SOLAR SIDE OF THE ELUSIVE TOM FORD ORCHID. A RADIANT AND SENSUAL FORCE OF NATURE, THE NEW SCENT CAPTURES THE SEDUCTIVE WARMTH AND REFLECTIVE BARE SKIN OF THE TOM FORD WOMAN.
I have a confession to make: I’ve always found leather perfumes difficult. They’re just so damn demanding most of the time and one has to commit to wearing them for the whole day, which can be a chore if they start to get annoying, which I find they often do. Don’t get me wrong, the smell of leather in fragrance is often beautiful, but with time it can become dry, harsh and tar-like, suffocating a guy and sending himm reaching for a mouthwatering cologne to quench the nose-thirst. So yes, I like leather, but it’s not often that I find myself loving a leather fragrance, and whilst there are exceptions (Tom Ford’s Tuscan Leatherbeing the most notable), leather just isn’t my thing as a rule.
With that in mind, I’m always very happy when a scent comes along to convince me that I do, in fact, like a style I’m slightly averse to. In terms of leather, that very scent is the new Étui Noir by Miller Harris. Described, rather fantastically, as being “like a well-worn leather jacket shared by lovers with comforting flashbacks of each other” and “as deep as the night”, Étui Noir is a leather with a difference. This is a leather fragrance crafted with an emotional point of view, speaking in nuanced and eclectic tones. It’s representative of the new style of Miller Harris, which is much more focused than it has been in recent years and to put it simply, Étui Noir just is an interesting fragrance to unravel.
I was faced with a predicament rather recently. Nosing around the Cire Trudon store in London, which is neatly tucked away along the rather immaculate Chiltern Street, I was guided through the brand’s extensive range of scented candles. Each of the candles takes inspiration from something unique, whether that be the mossy stone walls of a convent, the cerebral strangeness of an art movement or even Parisian Laundry Maids. It is most definitely an eclectic collection and it would be fair to say that Cire Trudon do things a little bit differently and they make some striking, and nose-tinglingly beautiful candles as a result – candles that smell unusual and modern, which is no mean feat considering Cire Trudon’s illustrious history.
“Founded in 1663, on the threshold of the reign of Louis XIV, Cire Trudon is the oldest candlemaker in the world still active today. Throughout the 17th century, the manufacturer became the Royal Wax Manufacturer and official supplier to the French court, then to Napoleon Bonaparte. Cire Trudon received a gold medal during the 1889 Universal Exhibit as a reward for the outstanding quality of its candles and wax.”
– Cire Trudon
So, back to my dilemma. As I moved along the line of candles, picking up the heavy glass cloches that encases each of the jade-coloured glass jars, twisting them towards my nose to inhale their swirling aromas, I was posed with an impossible question: which one would you like? “Argh! Don’t make me choose”, I thought, “they’re all so darn nice, how am I ever going to pick one to take away?” Not one to be good at making decisions on the spot, and not being a fan of the idea of having to move into the store to live out the rest of my days because choosing when there is extensive choice is impossible for me, I let my nose do the talking, as it were, and picked out the candle whose scent intrigued me the most. That candle was Solis Rex.
Heliotropia – Inspired by London’s Quirkiest Department Store
Whenever I go to London I inevitably end up paying a visit to Liberty. The place is like a fairytale, I tell you. Housed within a mock-Tudor building built using the timber from two ships (HMS Impregnable and HMS Hindustan), Liberty stocks a wonderful array of treats, ranging from silk scarves in beautiful Liberty Art Fabric to exotic nicknacks, not to mention their impressive perfumery which houses classic and contemporary brands aplenty. It’s London’s most unique retail destination and it epitomises everything that is great about Britain: quirkiness and higgledy-piggledy-ness.
Swedish fragrance house, BYREDO, who have a space within the store, have just launched a fragrance exclusive to and inspired by Liberty. It’s called ‘Heliotropia‘ and it’s described as a “heady infusion, in turns virginal and narcotic” that “carries the mind to a dream like place, a higher state of illusion.” Much like Liberty the store, Heliotropia the fragrance is a fantastical experience that beguiles, fascinates and amuses. One may not enter it expecting to make a purchase, but they will leave with something that money can’t buy: a sense of bewilderment. How’s that for a headline?
You may remember that one of my favourite fragrances from 2014 (a little while ago, I know) was Acqua di Parma’s Rosa Nobile. In fact, in The Candies that year, Rosa Nobile was one of my honourable mentions for Best Mainstream Feminine and it also found its way into my Guide to Rose as the ‘Straight-Up Rose’. Why? Well it presents a glassy pink rose in its most pure and perfect form, not to mention that fact that it simply smells so darn pretty I want to marry it.
This year, Acqua di Parma are continuing their Nobile Collection with the launch of Peonia Nobile – yet another ode to one beautiful flower. Without giving too much away, this noble peony is just as gorgeous as its rosy sister and it serves as further proof that Acqua di Parma really do know how to take the simplest of things and present them with a beautiful flourish. Click here to head on over to Escentual to read my full review of Peonia Nobile.
The Candy Perfume Boy 