One YouTube broadcast will never be sufficient to discuss everything there is to say about the increasingly thorny and emotive issue of perfume prices, but I did my best to get to grips with the subject in a recent instalment of Love At First Scent. One of the fragrances I reviewed currently costs £1350 for 100 ml; another one is available for £90 for the same quantity. I’ll leave it to you to discover which of the two I recommended. Here’s a link to the episode, followed by further thoughts on a few of the scents: Puente Virescence, Hiram Green Philtre, Parfums De Marly Perseus and other reviews.
Louis Vuitton Pur Santal (Jacques Cavallier) 3:50
Louis Vuitton Pur Ambre (Jacques Cavallier) 14:02
Louis Vuitton Pur Oud (Jacques Cavallier) 19:39
Andrea Maack Jest (Julien Rasquinet) 26:30
Parfums De Marly Perseus 31:00
Fragrance Du Bois Sirene (Nanako Ogi) 37:00
Calvin Klein Eternity Aromatic Essence Woman (Veronique Nyberg & Julie Masse)
& Eternity Aromatic Essence Man (Daphne Bugey & Frank Voelkl) 43:05
Hiram Green Philtre (Hiram Green) 51:40
Puente Virescence (Eliam Puente) 58:58
Why people continue to wear compositions such as Sirene is beyond me. And I mean that genuinely: it is a phenomenon that is beyond my understanding. But clearly, there is a market for wanting to project the personality of a sub-amoeboid blob (or, to put it in olfactory terms: a garishly sweet cherry coated in semi-skimmed milk powder). Each to their own.
Thankfully, the rest of us are able to enjoy the likes of Hiram Green Philtre and Puente Virescence. The former channels the hip-swaying sass of carnation and rose through a gauzy haze of black pepper. The brand’s website links it to Titania, but I’d say this is much more Puck, and deliciously so. It may not last as long as some would want it to, but then it is a natural composition (which, incidentally, manages to avoid most all-natural cliches). Equally impassioned, but olfactively very different, Virescence comes to us via Bandit, Aramis and No. 19 to present a green leather that feels like an embrace from someone not given to displays of emotion. If I had to keep the Shakespearean analogy going, I’d say someone like Brutus, perhaps. Do make an effort to seek them both out.
Persolaise
[Samples of the Louis Vuitton, Calvin Klein and Puente were provided by the brands; the remainder were obtained by me.]
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