Persolaise Lutens Keep Playing
…continued from yesterday’s post (click here to be taken to it) The latest entries from some of the more bling-tastic brands haven’t registered on my fragrance radar. I have sniffed…
Getting A Masterpiece
Bulgari’s Le Gemme Orientali Perfume prices continue to leap with a vigour that’s normally the preserve of Olympic athletes. Last year, Serge Lutens made a brave jump with the first…
Making Wasabi – An Interview With Céline Verleure Of Olfactive Studio
Regular readers will be aware that Olfactive Studio‘s Panorama is without question one of my favourite perfume releases of the year so far. With its juxtaposition of a laser-charged, green…
Persolaise Review: Florabellio from Diptyque (Fabrice Pellegrin; 2015)
How thrilling it is when an idea manages to survive the journey from thought to creation. At the London launch of Florabellio, perfumer Fabrice Pellegrin explained that the vision he’d…
Try To Negotiate
There’s lots and lots to do whilst life and I try to negotiate the most pain-free way of slipping back into regular routines. For one thing, I seem to have…
A Perfume Explosion At London’s Burlington Arcade
It’s all happening at Burlington Arcade! Penhaligon’s have had a branch there for years, of course, but Chanel unveiled a store beneath the elegant, arched ceiling not too long ago,…
Persolaise Review: Sunshine Man from Amouage (Pierre Negrin & Fabrice Pellegrin; 2015)
Ah, dear old lavender. When it’s misused – as it so often is – it’s a whopping clanger of a cliche, plunging a composition into the depths of the generic,…
The Rising Notes
Perfume and death. Connections between the two have been made for centuries. Roses are snuffed out so their essence may be captured. White flowers reveal their most seductive odours just…
Persolaise Review: Nanban from Arquiste (Rodrigo Flores-Roux; 2015)
After a side-step that saw him produce two scents in collaboration with J Crew, Arquiste‘s Carlos Huber returns to his signature range and quells fears that his sensibilities may have…
The Sweet Crust
Health & Safety be damned. The other day, I went to our local hospital to visit the ailing relative I mentioned in a recent post, bearing food for various family…
The 500 Greatest Modern Perfumes On Basenotes
Oh my goodness! Geek fest! Look at what Basenotes are doing. To celebrate their 15th anniversary, they’ve compiled a list of the “greatest perfumes” – as per various criteria described…
Simmering The Fruit
It really is a stultifying cliche, but the power of smells to evoke memories is tremendous. And always surprising. And often difficult to comprehend fully. I mentioned plums and jam…
A Therapeutic Business
Although the blue skies outside my window would suggest otherwise, the chill in the night air and my calendar tell me that summer is definitely over. Soon, I hope to…
Persolaise Review: J’Adore Touche De Parfum from Christian Dior (François Demachy; 2015)
The J’Adore family welcomes a glamorous new cousin, dubbed Touche De Parfum. With her oil-based constitution, she may well have been brought into the fold to woo the Middle Eastern…
Persolaise Review: Sauvage from Christian Dior (François Demachy; 2015)
Sigh sigh sigh. There are several springboards from which I could leap into my review of Dior‘s new Sauvage (composed by in-house perfumer, François Demachy), but despite my best efforts…
Persolaise Review: Jack from Jack Perfume (Aliénor Massenet; 2014)
According to his exhilarating account of the creation of his first scent (click here to read it), Richard E Grant was advised to aim for a polarising composition. Nothing wishy-washy:…
The Risk And The Reward – Richard E Grant On The Creation Of Jack
In his engrossing online account of the birth of his perfume Jack (I’d urge you to click here and check it out) Richard E Grant describes a creation process rich…
Persolaise Review: Ex Nihilo
I’m not sure my attempt at humour was appreciated. A few weeks ago, I was at the Salon De Parfums on the top floor of Harrods, being talked through the…
Perfume Mini-Reviews From Twitter – April to June 2015 [part 2]
Here’s part 2 of my round-up of Twitter mini-reviews, from April to June 2015. La Panthère Eau Légère from Cartier (Mathilde Laurent; 2015)* Lighter, more accessible version of the growling…
Perfume Mini-Reviews From Twitter – April to June 2015 [part 1]
Here come more mini-reviews from Twitter, covering the period April to June 2015. Modern Muse Chic from Estée Lauder (2014)* Somewhat more intense rendition of original‘s transparent white florals. Not…