Persolaise Persolaise Review: Bottega Veneta Pour Homme Essence Aromatique (Amandine Marie; 2016)
Where’s the line between old-school masculines which are too… well… old-school and those which don’t feel out of place in a contemporary setting? Is it somewhere near notions of transparency:…
Persolaise Wins 4th Jasmine Award + Final Reminder About Aerin Event
Yesterday, I had the tremendous and unexpected honour of winning a Jasmine Award – my fourth! – for an article I wrote for the Perfume Society‘s Scented Letter about my…
“Treading In Funny Territory” – Rodrigo Flores-Roux At The Launch Of John Varvatos Dark Rebel
I haven’t had many opportunities to meet Givaudan‘s Rodrigo Flores-Roux (Neroli Portofino, Anima Dulcis, Oeillet Bengale, amongst several others), but each time our paths have crossed, I’ve bemoaned the fact…
Persolaise Review: Opus X from Amouage (Pierre Negrin & Annick Menardo; 2016)
If the number of comments a perfume receives is a direct measure of the distinctiveness of its personality, then Amouage‘s Opus X (composed by Pierre Negrin and none other than…
Persolaise Turns 6
If there’s anything the passage of the last 12 months has taught me, it’s that… well… nothing moves as relentlessly as time. However, today, I’d like to take just a…
Persolaise & Aerin At Selfridges On 21st March
It’s the eve of the 6th anniversary of my blog, which makes me doubly excited to announce that I’ll be talking about my passion for perfume, my scented writing and,…
The Best Perfumes Of 2015 In ParfumPlus
The latest edition of the Middle East’s ParfumPlus magazine features my run-down of the best perfumes of last year. If you’d like to read it, please click here. For an…
Persolaise Review: Neroli Portofino Forte & Neroli Portofino Acqua from Tom Ford (2016)
Until now, I’ve been ambivalent towards Tom Ford‘s Neroli Portofino (2011). On the one hand, I’ve always felt suspicious about and appalled by its price (£145 for 50 ml as…
Persolaise On BBC Radio Chatting About Love Potions
A few weeks ago, I appeared on BBC Hereford & Worcester’s Malcolm Boyden show to share my thoughts on some research that had just been published about that dear old…
Persolaise Review: Peau De Bête from Liquides Imaginaires (Karine Bouin; 2015)
When Karine Bouin’s Peau De Bête pounced on us last year, it elicited a fair number of gasps, with several writers stating they were overwhelmed by its scandalous dosage of…
Perfume Mini-Reviews From Twitter – October to December 2015 [part 3]
Here’s the third and final part of the latest compilation of mini-reviews. Fresh Couture from Moschino (2015)* Yes, the bottle is original & chuckle-worthy. The scent is a cliched mandarin-floral…
Persolaise Review Showcase: Replica from Maison Martin Margiela (various perfumers; 2012-2015)
Ever since the Maison Martin Margiela brand made its perfume debut – and won considerable critical acclaim – with Daniela Andrier‘s Untitled, critics and commentators have appeared reluctant to write…
“You Have To Give, Give, Give” – Nathalie Lorson On Lalique, Le Labo & L’Oreal
Lalique‘s Encre Noire enjoys what you might call a god-like status in the perfume community. Not long after it emerged in 2006, its uncompromising, legible structure of vetivert and musks…
Persolaise Review: Monsieur. from Editions De Parfums Frederic Malle (Bruno Jovanovic; 2016)
My closest friend recently discovered Malle. After decades of not considering perfume to be an important factor in how he presents himself to the world, he got in touch and…
Malle, Oud & Sex – An Interview With Dominique Ropion
A few months ago, when he was in London for an IFF event, I managed to have an all-too-brief conversation with one of the undisputed masters of scent composition: Dominique…
Perfume Mini-Reviews From Twitter – October to December 2015 [part 2]
Here’s part 2 of my latest compendium of Twitter mini-reviews. Please note that, this time around, we’ve got a part 3; it’ll be published soon. Shalimar Cologne from Guerlain (Thierry…
Perfume Mini-Reviews From Twitter – October to December 2015 [part 1]
Here’s another digest of my Twitter mini-reviews, spanning the period October to December 2015. Pallisandre D’Or from Aedes De Venustas (Alberto Morillas; 2015)* Red rather than gold take on rosewood,…
Persolaise Shortlisted For 4 2015/16 UK Jasmine Awards
Please forgive a paragraph of immodest self-promotion. This year’s Jasmine Awards shortlists were announced on Friday and I was delighted and honoured to learn that four efforts penned by me…
Super Scent – The Very Best Of Etat Libre D’Orange
Etienne De Swardt THIS POST WAS SHORTLISTED IN THE ‘INDEPENDENT – SOUNDBITE’ CATEGORY OF THE 2016/17 UK JASMINE AWARDS It doesn’t seem possible that Etat Libre D’Orange is only 10…
Persolaise Review: Eau Parfumée Au Thé Bleu from Bulgari (Daniela Andrier; 2015)
What’s commendable about Bulgari‘s tea scents isn’t so much that they offer a literal representation of the smell of the drink – which, to varying degrees, they all do –…