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Things got a little bit whiffy in my virtual studio the other day… but in the most compelling way. Taking my cue from a suggestion made by one of you, I presented my list of the Top 10 ‘challenging’ perfumes — scents that are perhaps more difficult to pull off than others. As far as these lists go, this one was particularly subjective, because of course one person’s scrubber is another one’s signature. But never mind: the discussion that the broadcast generated was arguably more interesting than the list itself, which made the exercise worthwhile. Here’s a link to the episode, followed by all the scents that were covered, with timestamps: Top 10 challenging perfumes.

Etat Libre D’Orange Secretions Magnifiques (Antoine Lie) 5:28
Serge Lutens Muscs Koublai Khan (Christopher Sheldrake) 10:51
Byredo Accord Oud 14:44
Zoologist Bat (Ellen Covey) 19:55
Ajmal Dahn Oud Al Shams 24:42
Maison Francis Kurkdjian Absolue Pour Le Soir (Francis Kurkdjian) 29:23
Mugler Womanity (Fabrice Pellegrin) 32:05
Parfum D’Empire Musc Tonkin (Marc-Antoine Corticchiato) 35:59
YSL Kouros (Pierre Bourdon) 40:40
Frederic Malle Monsieur (Bruno Jovanovic) 44:20
Piguet Oud (Aurelien Guichard) 48:06
Akro Night (Olivier Cresp) 53:20

Stinkers or not, these are all fascinating pieces of work, so please do try to seek them out. Two points worth mentioning. The version of Zoologist Bat I presented in the broadcast is now reportedly sold as Olympic Orchids Night Flyer. Contrary to what I said in the video, it would appear that Mugler Womanity hasn’t been entirely discontinued and is still available on some countries’ Mugler websites.

Persolaise

[Samples of the Byredo, Malle, Piguet and Akro were provided by the brands for review purposes; the rest were obtained by me.]


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Top 10 challenging perfumes, selected by award-winning crit

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