Persolaise Review: Dior – The Perfumes by Chandler Burr (Rizzoli; 2014)
Persolaise This article originally appeared in issue 3 of ODOU magazine under the title Meeting In The Garden Christian Dior is one of a tiny number of brands capable of striking…
Best Perfumes Of 2014 – A Time For Looking Back
If a pining for the past is a sign of social disquiet, then 2014 must have been a worrying year for the perfume industry: a significant proportion of new releases…
Persolaise Review: Dior Homme Parfum from Christian Dior (François Demachy; 2014)
Dior Homme parfum review by award-winning perfume critic Persolaise (Francois Demachy, 2014)
Kicking Up A Stink – The Definitive Guide To The Best Oud Perfumes
Guide to the best oud perfumes by award-winning critic Persolaise (feat. Tom Ford, Amouage, Dior, Le Labo, Montale, Nicolai, Ajmal, Francis Kurkdjian)
‘My Most Important Ally’ – Chandler Burr On Dior
As someone who owns very well-thumbed copies of The Perfect Scent and The Emperor Of Scent, I was excited to discover that Chandler Burr’s distinctive prose style has once again…
Bring On The Bling – The Salon De Parfums At Harrods
I’m reliably informed that mere hours before its official opening, a few sections of Harrods‘ Salon De Parfums didn’t even have a floor yet. Well, someone must have worked their…
Harrods Unveil The Salon De Parfums… And Move The Roja Dove Haute Parfumerie
The Roja Dove Haute Perfumerie photographed in July 2014, a few weeks before its transformation If there’s one reason for the enduring success of Harrods, it’s the fact that the…
Persolaise Review: Dior Homme Eau For Men from Christian Dior (François Demachy), Déclaration L’Eau from Cartier (Mathilde Laurent) & Terre D’Hermès Eau Très Fraîche from Hermès (Jean-Claude Ellena)
I still haven’t signed up to the policy which says that the arrival of warmer weather means we can wear only light scents. I always enjoy a spritz of sharp…
Persolaise Review: Cuir Cannage from Christian Dior (François Demachy; 2014)
When the arrival of Cuir Cannage was first rumoured, the story went that François Demachy wanted it to represent his memories of his mother’s handbag. This very personal anecdote now…
Persolaise Review: Fahrenheit Le Parfum from Christian Dior (François Demachy; 2014)
They say men mellow with age. Whether the statement is true is up for debate – last time I checked, grumpy old codgers weren’t exactly thin on the ground –…
The Achilles Heel In Our Business: An Exclusive Interview With Frederic Malle (part 1)
If there’s one figure in the niche world who needs no introduction, it’s Frederic Malle. This is more than a little ironic, as the Frenchman owes his status and reputation…
Scent On The Catwalk – Perfume For Fashion
It’s joint-list-making time again here in our corner of the blogosphere and the task of choosing our theme has fallen to the Candy Perfume Boy. As he gave us a…
Twenty Blotters For… Rodrigo Flores-Roux
Pick a blotter… read the question… give a short, snappy answer! I mean this as a compliment: Rodrigo Flores-Roux loves to talk. The Givaudan perfumer is a bundle of anecdotes,…
Persolaise Review: Gris Montaigne from Christian Dior (François Demachy; 2013)
In the press release for the latest addition to the Collection Privée, Dior‘s in-house perfumer, François Demachy, is quoted as saying that the “chypre is the grey of the perfume…
The (Not Entirely) Unbearable Lightness Of Lightness – Perfumes For Summer 2013
There was once a pot which called a kettle black. I try to remind myself of this each time I feel the urge to become snooty about so-called ‘summer scents’.…
Persolaise Review: Oxygen, Carbon & Hydrogen from nu_be (Antoine Lie, Françoise Caron; 2012)
Pick a concept for a new perfume brand. What hasn’t been done yet? Scents inspired by famous authors? That idea’s taken. Fragrances linked to blood groups? That one’s gone too.…
Today’s Miss Dior Is Not Quite The Same As Yesterday’s
I rarely paste excerpts from press releases on this blog; there are other sites that do a far better job than I ever could of keeping up with the stream…
Persolaise Review: Lys Du Desert from Decennial + Coeur En Mai from MDCI + J’Adore L’Absolu from Christian Dior (2012)
It’s not often that a perfume brand celebrates the arrival of a reformulation, but that’s exactly what’s happened with MDCI. 2009’s Coeur En Mai recently fell foul of IFRA guidelines,…
Persolaise Review: Ambre Doré from Maître Parfumeur Et Gantier (2012) + La Petite Robe Noire extrait from Guerlain (2012) + Miss Dior Le Parfum from Dior (2012) + Cloon Keen Atelier (2011)
In the same way that theatre producers use Macbeth to get bums on seats, perfume houses tend to use vanilla-based scents as their cash cows. And more often than not,…
Persolaise Review: Coco Noir from Chanel and Grand Bal from Christian Dior (2012)
Whilst watching Joe Wright’s over-egged version of Anna Karenina, I wondered if the impeccably groomed counts and countesses waltzing across the screen could possibly have worn François Demachy‘s new Grand…