Persolaise Review: Solar’1 from Jazmin Saraï (Dana El-Masri; 2015)
Persolaise The soundbites If Solar’1 were a colour, it would be burnished gold. If it were a poem, it would be Ozymandias by P B Shelley. If it were a texture,…
Persolaise Review: Lonesome Rider from Tauer Perfumes (Andy Tauer; 2016)
The soundbites If Lonesome Rider were a texture, it would be: dry, raw linen. If it were a colour, it would be: sandy beige. If it were a place, it…
Persolaise Review: Baptême Du Feu from Serge Lutens (Christopher Sheldrake; 2016)
The soundbites If Baptême Du Feu were a piece of music it would be Metamorphosis One by Philip Glass. If it were an image, it would be a bright sari…
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:…
“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: 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…
Persolaise Review: Métal Hurlant from Parfumerie Générale (Pierre Guillaume; 2015)
One man’s tiger is another man’s kitten, so it’s with some hesitation that I type the word ‘animalic’ today. In recent months, it’s been used in relation to a few…
Persolaise Review: Habit Rouge Dress Code from Guerlain (Thierry Wasser; 2015)
Thierry Wasser has had the thankless task of creating flankers for classics such as Shalimar, L’Heure Bleue and Habit Rouge (could any other perfumery endeavour be more worthy of the…
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…
Thierry Wasser On Habit Rouge
For my final interview to mark the 50th anniversary of Jean-Paul Guerlain’s Habit Rouge, we turn to the scent’s current guardian: Thierry Wasser. In his role as the venerable fragrance…
Persolaise Review: Cuir D’Ange from Hermès (Jean-Claude Ellena; 2014)
In David Almond’s book, Skellig, a young boy encounters a strange man in the ramshackle shed at his new house. He’s filthy, his clothes are in tatters and he reeks…
Persolaise Review: Rien Intense Incense from Etat Libre D’Orange (Antoine Lie; 2014)
Could Rien possibly get any bigger? Yes and no. Soon after it bulldozed its way onto the market in 2006, the scent became the very definition of a perfumery juggernaut.…
Persolaise Review: Colonia Leather from Acqua Di Parma (François Demachy; 2014) & Ginepro Di Sardegna (2014)
One of the pleasures of smelling new perfumes is that they sometimes jolt you into spotting undiscovered facets of older favourites. When I first encountered François Demachy‘s suave Colonia Leather…
Persolaise Review: L’Orpheline from Serge Lutens (Christopher Sheldrake; 2014)
Most press releases can be scanned and dismissed in a matter of seconds, but the ones from Serge Lutens are always worth a quiet read with a strong coffee and…
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: Ingrid from Tableau De Parfums (Andy Tauer; 2013)
You probably won’t believe this, but I assure you it’s true. When I first sniffed Ingrid, before I knew anything about the movie character on which it’s based, it seemed…
Persolaise Review: Oud from Reminiscence (2012)
As soon as I adopt a policy of never using the word ‘oud’ again, along comes an agar perfume which deserves a mention.The Côte d’Azur-based brand Reminiscence may seem like…
Persolaise Review: Oumma from 777 (Stéphane Humbert-Lucas; 2013)
If you’re going to do something that’s been done before, you’d better do it well. And if the thing you’re going to do is artistically suspect and quite possibly mercenary,…
A Little Bit Of Oud – Alberto Morillas On Making Iris Prima For Penhaligon’s
When Alberto Morillas (CK One, Kenzo Flower) hopped over to London a few months ago to launch Penhaligon’s Iris Prima, he revealed that the perfume contains – shock horror –…
Persolaise Review: Bottega Veneta Pour Homme from Bottega Veneta (Daniela Andrier & Antoine Maisondieu; 2013)
I keep smelling Amouage‘s Epic Man everywhere! Perhaps the substances responsible for its distinctive, ghosts-of-antiquity woodiness are becoming more readily available to perfumers. Or maybe other brands just want to…