Escentric Molecules M+, Tom Ford London, Pierre Guillaume Animal Mondain and other reviews – Skin Time March 2021

Escentric Molecules Molecule +

Why do we resist some pleasures? Intellectually, there’s every reason to be dismissive of the new Molecule + fragrances from Escentric Molecules*. They take what was always a rather cheeky concept (specifically: using nothing more than one aromachemical in a scent) and they make it even more facetious (by adding just one natural note to the aromachemical). If the first strategy was a case of the Emperor’s New Clothes, then this latest version must be the Emperor’s Bespoke VIP Wardrobe At Dolce And Gabbana. It howls with the very tricksiness that all self-respecting scenthusiasts should shun and keep at arm’s length. 

And yet, it would be hard to deny that the Molecule + releases work. In fact, they don’t just work: two of them are rather fetching. The Molecule 01 + Patchouli variant is probably redundant, on the grounds that it does no more than you’d expect it to do. The cedar-y cleanliness of Iso E Super (aka the sole ingredient in the original Molecule 01 from 2006) marries up very easily to the woody aspects of a scrubbed patchouli note, and no major dramas ensue.

Thankfully, Molecule 01 + Iris and Molecule 01 + Mandarin are more interesting, the latter chiefly for its long-term sustenance of a holographic, appetite-whetting citrus note, and the former for presenting iris in a way that doesn’t plump for obvious floral notes to reduce the material’s natural gauntness. This is an iris that remains assertively woody without becoming bleak: an effect that renders it more angular and more alluring than in many recent iris compositions. Of the three, this is the one that will most likely cause devoted fragrance buyers to reach for their credit cards. (For my live interview with the brand’s perfumer, Geza Schoen, in which he talks about the creation of these scents, please click here.)

House Of James

A streamlined sensibility is what the creators of the Australia-based brand, House Of James*, have clearly aimed to achieve. They’ve been most successful in Rambla Del Mar, where the cleanliness of the cardamom opening is contrasted in eyebrow-raising fashion with a heart of fig and minty tea (suggesting sea breezes mingling with urban centres). But their other efforts are too timid to be memorable. Hyde Park starts by offering a crisp, dewy vision of London, but then dwindles away into wishy-washy pleasantness. Tantomonta presents a commendable, strange greenness in its opening (like crushing sharp, brittle grass) but then moves to an unconvincing lavender-and-orange-blossom mid-section. And the leather base in Sun King is not unattractive, but it’s the sort of beast whose purr needs to be much louder (see Hermes Agar Ebene).

Olfactive Studio Collection Sepia

Going back to iris for a moment, Dominique Ropion’s Iris Shot is unquestionably one of the highlights of the Collection Sepia* from Olfactive Studio. Bringing to the fore not only his talents and experience but also his knowledge of classical perfumery, Ropion has sculpted a beauty possessed of the torso of a vintage Guerlain (Apres L’Ondee, perhaps) and the limbs of a modern, iris-inflected gender-bender, such as the original, Olivier Polge version of Dior Homme. Cool and peppery, parched and full-bodied, gauze-like and woody, it serves to show how there’s always something new to bring to what we could consider familiar forms.

Of the other Sepia scents, Bertrand Duchaufour’s Chypre Shot is worth seeking out. This one avoids any Guerlain-isms (no Mitsouko here) and attempts the trick many modern chypres attempt in order to earn the label: substitute oakmoss with a heavy dose of patchouli. It takes a while to get going — the use of coffee at the top is a touch too glaring and distracting — but it comes into its bitter, velvety own when it approaches its drydown. (For my review of the best scent from this mini-range, Violet Shot, also by Ropion, please click here.)

Pierre Guillaume Animal Mondain

Chypres were once considered the height of sophistication, but Pierre Guillaume (has he completely ditched the Parfumerie Generale name now?) evidently decided to seek worldliness elsewhere in Animal Mondain**. The early stage of the scent is the real star here: balancing contrasted gender codes (pear with hay, cherry with woods) to make an intriguing statement on fluidity. Towards the end, it opts to head into more overtly masculine-musky territory, but perhaps that’s part of the point.

Tom Ford London

Most true animals of the world eventually find their way to London. That would certainly seem to be the statement conveyed by Tom Ford London*, the 2013 release I recently enjoyed digging out of my collection. My original review (click here) picked up on the composition’s obvious references to the influx of Middle Eastern visitors to the UK’s capital, and those olfactory nods to the Arab world (the cardamom, the saffron, the incense) remain both intact and relevant. In fact, they may be even more resonant now, in this period when travelling for pleasure is pretty much non-existent. It’s a shame the brand decided to discontinue this jagged-edged curiosity.

Tauerville Incense Flash

There’s a blaze of Arabian mystique in Tauer Incense Flash*, but then it’s difficult to avoid such cliches when you make olibanum a key player in a composition. Thankfully, Tauer enjoys a challenge, and if there’s one thing he’s proven himself quite skilled at over the years, it is skimming over cliches like the proverbial stone across water. So yes, this particular scent (released in 2015 as part of his Tauerville collection; click here for my original review) presents the requisite smokiness and mineralic flintiness. But there’s also a medicinal feel to its outer edges that pulls it away from the figurative each time you think you’re about to collide with the walls of Chartres Cathedral. This is an incense that doesn’t mind showing that it’s as much lab-made as it is pulpit-formed, and is all the better for it.

Hermes Voyage D’Hermes

Finally, a combination of the abstraction of the Tauer and the simplicity of Molecule +. This blog celebrated its 11th anniversary a few weeks ago, and the very first review it featured, back in 2010, was of Voyage D’Hermes**, composed by then in-house perfumer, Jean-Claude Ellena. I’ve taken to using its body lotion of late (not that I’m avoiding the alcohol-based form for any particular reason) and each time I do, I’m reminded of the incomparable skill with which Ellena, at his best, makes the wholly unfamiliar seem comforting and welcoming. Yes, there are recognisable notes in Voyage (mainly cardamom, tea and citruses), but the overall effect is of a non-literal evocation of open spaces. The aforementioned M+ scents work because their simplicity stems from legibility: we enjoy spotting and discerning the presence of the mandarin, the iris, the patchouli. But Ellena’s genius is his ability to make simplicity rise out of compositions that, ultimately, don’t yield all their secrets. Their charm comes from a polite inscrutability. As far as olfactory pleasures go, this one may be more cerebral than others, but that doesn’t make it more worthy or valid. Although it does, perhaps, make it more durable.

Persolaise

* sample provided by the brand
** sample obtained by me

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