Frederic Malle Contre-Jour review – Annick Menardo; 2026
Persolaise – For years, the arrival of a Frederic Malle perfume has been a cue for a total nerd-fest. But the brand’s latest release, Contre-Jour, pushes the opportunities for geekery to…
Estee Lauder
Ask Me Anything To Mark 600 Episodes Of Love At First Scent
The other day I reached episode 600 of my Love At First Scent series, but as I didn’t want to devote any portion of that instalment to anything other than…
Estee Lauder Legacy White Linen Oud, Nicolai Patchouli Spirit, Maison Francis Kurkdjian Kurky and other reviews – 2025
Frederic Malle may have left Estee Lauder, but his name is all over the brand’s publicity material for one of the most unexpected flankers in recent years: an oud version…
Frederic Malle Portrait Of A Lady 15th Anniversary, Etat Libre D’Orange Clean Suede, Acqua Di Parma Colonia Il Profumo reviews – 2025
Time-hopping was high on the agenda in my recent set of Love At First Scent broadcasts: I compared the new Il Profumo version of Acqua Di Parma Colonia with the…
Balmain and Bottega Veneta 2024 re-launches, Dior Tendre Poison and Serge Lutens Iris Silver Mist reviews
The gremlins were out in full force for this year’s final set of Love At First Scent broadcasts. The audio at the start of one of the videos turned out…
Maison Noir Quandoley 805, To My Ships Polygonum, Jo Malone London Fir & Artemisia, Aramis Tuscany and other reviews – 2024
Ships, trains, airports, Tuscany and the Place Vendome — they all made themselves known in one way or another during a recent session of Love At First Scent over on…
Christmas 2024 Perfume Gift Guide
I have no doubt that the vast majority of you are forward-thinking, super-organised, careful-planning types, so I expect you finished all your Christmas shopping in October. However, if some of…
Hermes Barenia, Le Labo Coriandre 39 and other City Exclusives reviews – 2024
As though determined to send us fragrance nerds into fits of apoplexy, Hermes are calling their latest release, Barenia, their very first chypre. Yes, you may well gasp. But dubious…
Jo Malone London Orange Marmalade review – Marie Salamagne; 2021/2024
— On paper, the scent sounds as though it should be one of the company’s more likeable releases. The website blurb talks of orange peel simmering on a stove and…
Book review – American Legends: The Evolution Of American Fragrances – Michael Edwards; 2024
— If the perfume world has a guru, then it’s almost certainly Michael Edwards, the Australia-based expert whose Fragrances Of The World database has slavishly tracked and chronicled the rising…
Top 10 Tuberose Perfumes — All Our Favourite Divas
It was time for a bit of diva domination over on YouTube the other day when I presented my list of the Top 10 best tuberose perfumes — a compilation…
Michael Edwards, American Legends, Live Interview
He may be the busiest man in the business, but fortunately for all of us, Michael Edwards, the supreme perfume guru, found some time to pop into my virtual studio…
Thoughts On Frederic Malle Leaving His Own Brand — And Reviews Of Some Of His Classic Scents
— The speculators I alluded to above are theorising about all manner of likely (and less likely) reasons and scenarios. Take your pick from whichever of the following you fancy:…
Van Cleef & Arpels Encens Precieux, 27 87 Per Se, Arcadia London and other reviews – 2024
I presented a mixed bag of delights over on Love At First Scent the other day: new releases from Montblanc, Van Cleef & Arpels, 27 87, the UAE-based brand Arcadia…
Estee Lauder Legacy Collection review – Carlos Benaim, Anne Flipo & Bruno Jovanovic; 2024
Talk about opening a can of worms. At first glance, the project seems quite simple: Frederic Malle wants to reimagine a few classic Estee Lauder scents, so he enlists the…
Obey What The Fragrance Is Telling You — Frederic Malle On The Estee Lauder Legacy Collection
“The ideas were great, but the formulas were very, very long. I mean, Azuree was more than 200 products. We just had to shorten the formula, take all of the…
Chanel Coco review – Jacques Polge; 1984
It’s currently cool to be dismissive of Coco, in much the same way that it’s deemed acceptable to be snooty about Chance. Curiously, there’s a whiff of ageism in the…
Top 10 Best Perfumes For Winter 2023 – Scents Of Timeless Wisdom
Everyone needs a Gandalf in their life. Or an Athena, or an Atticus Finch. Sadly, such figures aren’t always easy to find, so perhaps that’s why I’ve recently been drawn…
Tom Ford Cafe Rose review – 2023
In 2012, Tom Ford Cafe Rose emerged as one of four ‘garden’ scents. It then went the way of many TF releases (which is to say it was pulled off…
Balenciaga 2025 releases, Nissaba Les Alpes, Prada Paradigme and other reviews – 2025
Five reviews in brief 9:21Le Dix 12:50Getaria 17:09Extra 23:10Muscara 27:07No Comment 31:17 A few years ago, brands followed the ‘why make one when you can make three’ strategy of perfume…