The Slow Burn – Top 10 Best Tobacco Perfumes
Persolaise Smoking may be a socially dubious activity these days — and rightly so — but there’s no doubt whatsoever about the allure of tobacco perfumes, which is why I featured…
Chanel
Chanel Gabrielle L’Eau review – Olivier Polge; 2024
– I confess I keep forgetting about the existence of Gabrielle. In my mind, the last high-profile, mainstream, feminine release from Chanel was Coco Mademoiselle. And yet, the Gabrielle line…
Brioni Les Extraits, Chanel Pour Monsieur, L’Entropiste Ensang Noir and other reviews – 2025
Foxes, wolves and serpents — just three of the creatures that came up in my recent set of Love At First Scent episodes, during which I covered new releases from…
Scents For Classic Halloween Characters – Top 10 Perfumes For 2025
For this year’s Halloween list, I paired perfumes with some classic costume ideas, and enlisted a bit of visual assistance from Google Gemini. Here’s a link to the video: Top…
The Black Narcissus & Persolaise On Chanel Antaeus
My friend Neil Chapman (of The Black Narcissus) and I recently indulged in a chat about a vintage bottle of Chanel Antaeus, but if you don’t mind, I won’t write…
Chanel Bleu L’Exclusif review – Olivier Polge; 2025
– Regular readers will know that I’m not what you’d call the world’s biggest fan of Bleu. I remain an admirer of Chanel. I believe they continue to give us…
Persolaise And Chanel – Harrods Event On 10th July 2025
If you’re free on Thursday 10th July and you’re going to be in or near London, please come along to Harrods for a special Chanel event I’ll be co-hosting with…
Chanel Chance Eau Splendide, Serge Lutens Le Perce-Vent, Puente Aurora and other reviews – 2025
Chanel’s Chance range – the most insouciant in its portfolio – welcomed a new member a few weeks ago: the purple-hued Eau Splendide. I reviewed it in a recent set…
The Top 25 Perfumes Of The 21st Century… So Far
As 2024 came to an end, many of you asked if I’d compile a rundown of the best perfumes of the decade so far. I found the idea appealing —…
Top 10 Perfumes For Winter 2024 – Nostalgic Scents
I’m always slightly suspicious of the self-indulgent aspects of nostalgia, but I decided to revel in the feeling when broadcasting the rundown of my top 10 perfumes for winter 2024.…
Christmas 2024 Perfume Gift Guide
I have no doubt that the vast majority of you are forward-thinking, super-organised, careful-planning types, so I expect you finished all your Christmas shopping in October. However, if some of…
Serge Lutens Point Du Jour, Penhaligon’s The Dandy, Akro Smile and other reviews – 2024
Given that Love At First Scent has been off the air for several weeks, it was perhaps appropriate that the first post-summer review was of a scent inspired by daybreak:…
Celestial Scents – Persolaise In Harper’s Bazaar UK
If you’re based in Britain, you might be interested to learn that the September 2024 issue of Harper’s Bazaar UK (out now) contains an article by yours truly on the…
Top 10 Classic Eaux De Cologne – The Perfect Pick-Me-Up
It may be the oldest perfumery genre in existence, but it’s taken me until now to present my list of the Top 10 best eaux de cologne, for reasons which…
Timothee Chalamet, Martin Scorsese & John Galliano – Thoughts On Bleu and High & Low
— To be clear: I could not be happier about the impact of feminism and the improvements to the lives of women made over the course of the last few…
Top 10 Perfumes For Summer 2024 – Energising Scents
As I type these words, the summer solstice is just a few hours away, which means it’s the perfect time to present my latest seasonal list: Top 10 perfumes for…
An Artificial Perfume – Olivier Polge On The Creation Of Chanel Comete
— There’s this sentence that I always repeat: she asked for “an artificial perfume.” Artificial in the sense that she didn’t want the scent to smell exactly like a rose…
Chanel Comete, Frederic Malle Acne Studios, Serge Lutens La Fille Tour De Fer reviews – 2024
It was time to roll out the big guns over on YouTube the other day, with new releases from Chanel (Comete), Frederic Malle (Acne Studios) as well as Serge Lutens…
Top 10 Perfumes For Spring 2024 – The Power Of Nature
As I type these words, hailstones are tapping away on our roof, but never mind — spring is here, right? Ever the optimist, I presented my list of the Top…
Top 10 Baroque Perfumes – Rich, Detailed, Ornate Scents
Few things can dispel the winter gloom as effectively as perfume — especially if you choose a scent that’s distinctive, dramatic and full of striking contrasts. A Baroque perfume, you…