We went from A to B to… P in a recent episode of Love At First Scent, with reviews of new releases from Aesop, Burberry, Boadicea The Victorious, Bentley and Papillon. Here’s a link to the video, followed, as ever, by timestamps and a few more thoughts on some of the scents: Boadicea The Victorious Defender, Bentley Become, Burberry Goddess edp intense, Aesop Virere and Papillon Epona reviews.
Boadicea The Victorious Defender (Kamila Lelakova) 3:19
Burberry Goddess edp intense (Amandine Clerc-Marie) 14:04
Bentley Become (Alienor Massenet) 24:06
Aesop Virere (Barnabe Fillion) 30:16
Papillon Epona (Liz Moores) 37:33
Quite unexpectedly, since I broadcast the video, I’ve found myself thinking about the Bentley more than any of the other scents, not because it’s original, unusual or memorable (it isn’t), but precisely because it is so deliberately unremarkable and generic. I wonder if the brief for its creation was to make as non-attention-grabbing an ‘office scent’ as possible: pleasant and inoffensive to the point of being a personality void. The absolute definition of anodyne. How curious, then, that its name is Become… almost as though its makers are aware that, as it stands, it doesn’t quite manage to ‘be’ anything. It is merely and perpetually ‘becoming’.
The Burberry and the Aesop are worth seeking out, for different reasons. The former’s juxtaposition of lavender with various Firmenich vanilla materials is intriguing: a sort of update on the ‘sweet and bitter’ structure of Caron Pour Un Homme and Chanel Jersey. It may lose its way slightly and become rather sneery in its final stages, but it’s one of the more commendable mainstream releases we’ve had this year. The drydown is the problem with the Aesop too — thin and bloodlessly woody — but the opening stages are enjoyable, conjuring parched fig trees swathed in tendrils of frankincense.
Papillon’s Epona is the one you really need to sample. A quieter, subtler, arguably more British Cuir De Russie (Cuir De Bretagne, anyone?), it doesn’t necessarily give us anything we haven’t smelt before — after all, leather perfumes aren’t exactly in short supply — but it tells its equestrian tale with a passion and a vividness that are impossible to resist. Saddle up.
Persolaise
[Review samples were provided by the brands, except the Papillon, which was obtained by me.]
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