Persolaise Review: Samsara from Guerlain (Jean-Paul Guerlain; 1989)
Persolaise Does anyone else play this game? A few weeks ago, Madame Persolaise and I found ourselves in a medium-sized European airport and, as she usually does in such situations, she’d…
jasmine
Persolaise Sixty Second Scents: Alien Musc Mysterieux from Mugler (Dominique Ropion; 2017)
Time for a dose of Sixty Second Scents. Today it’s the turn of yet another Mugler flanker: Alien Musc Mysterieux. If you’d prefer to watch it on the YouTube site,…
Persolaise Review: Madagascan Jasmine from Grandiflora (Michel Roudnitska; 2015)
He may not be prolific, but Michel Roudnitska must surely be one of the most fearless perfumers working today. With an apparent disdain for the path of least resistance, he…
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: Chance Eau Vive from Chanel (Olivier Polge; 2015)
Olivier Polge‘s profile at Chanel continues to rise. A few months ago, the guardians of the double-C logo released his first sole-authored creation, Misia, but that was part of the…
Persolaise Review: Le Jardin De Monsieur Li from Hermès (Jean-Claude Ellena; 2015)
At the Paris launch of his fifth ‘garden’ scent for Hermès – which he refused to concede would be his last – Jean-Claude Ellena stated that Le Jardin De Monsieur…
Persolaise Review: La Religieuse from Serge Lutens (Christopher Sheldrake; 2015)
Waiting for the next Lutens release has almost become like anticipating the next movie from Terrence Malick. Granted, Uncle Serge doesn’t exercise our patience quite as much as Malick does,…
Persolaise Review: Journey Woman and Journey Man from Amouage (Alberto Morillas and Pierre Negrin, 2014)
In the non-perfume-related aspects of my professional life, I’m frequently reminded of a wise proverb: punish the sin, not the sinner. Journey Woman and Journey Man (both by Alberto Morillas…
Persolaise Review: Opus VIII from Amouage (Pierre Negrin & Richard Herpin; 2014)
Years ago, I used to argue with a food-loving, atheist friend of mine that there simply must be a God. He’d ask me for evidence. And my response would be…
Persolaise Review: George from Jardins D’Ecrivains (perfumer unknown; 2012)
The marketing of perfume tends to be an intensely gender-specific business, so it’s always interesting to think about which materials and accords signify ‘feminine’ or ‘masculine’ at any given moment…
Persolaise Review: Caligna from L’Artisan Parfumeur (Dora Arnaud; 2013)
When Firmenich‘s Dora Arnaud told me that she’d put together a ‘jasmine marmalade’ accord for her first L’Artisan Parfumeur creation, I was determined to track down a real life example…
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…
Persolaise Review: Séville À L’Aube from L’Artisan Parfumeur (2012) + Orange Blossom + Jasmine from Organic Glam
You’re haunted by a ghost… but unlike other spectres, it seems to be approaching you from the future, rather than shadowing you from the past. You feel its presence upon…
Santal Blush & Jasmin Rouge from Tom Ford Private Blend (2011) + Jersey Winner
Tom Ford Santal Blush and Jasmin Rouge review by award-winning perfume critic Persolaise (Yann Vasnier, Rodrigo Flores-Roux, 2011)
Review: Blessings eau de parfum from Belinda Brown (2011)
I think my brain’s vocab centre has had a slight melt-down. I need a synonym for ‘fuzzy’, but none of the ones I’ve come up with so far capture the…
Let Me Whisper In Your Ear + Orange Star Give-Away
It’s been a while since I’ve written in any meaningful detail about my own perfume making. Paradoxically, this isn’t because I haven’t been doing any, but because I’ve actually been…
Jasmine Cheesecake
Allow me to acknowledge a positive: this weekend, I got a chance to improve my jasmine accord. It’s coming along well; I wish I could say the same about my…
Where Did I Leave My TARDIS?
Here’s at least one thing for which I was grateful this weekend: I got to spend an hour on formulating. And as I cleaned my pipettes with alcohol, I was…
Reviews: The Smell Of Freedom & Orange Blossom by Gorilla Perfumes (2010)
It’s always helpful to be reminded that snobbery has no place in perfume appreciation. A branch of Lush – with its cheerfully dressed-down aesthetics – may not be the first…
Review Showcase: Vero Profumo
A few years ago, Swiss aromatherapist-turned-perfumer Vero Kern released three extrait-strength fragrances that have since developed a loyal following. She has now formulated distinctly different, eau de parfum versions of…