Persolaise Review: Azurée D’Or from Estée Lauder (2017)
Persolaise It’s hard not to succumb to a sense of ennui at the interminable parade of flankers presented to us by mainstream brands these days. But when a company leaves a…
leather
Persolaise Review: Pour Homme Parfum from Bottega Veneta (Daniela Andrier & Antoine Maisondieu; 2017)
I can’t help but envy Italian men their sense of style. Yes, I know I’m making a generalisation as broad as the shoulders of Michelangelo’s David, but spend a few…
Persolaise Review: Gucci Guilty Absolute Pour Homme (Alberto Morillas; 2017)
Woah! Don’t ever let me say that mainstream masculine scents can’t be surprising any more. After years of fobbing us off with various editions of the amoeboid dross that is…
Persolaise Review: Kimonanthe from Diptyque (Fabrice Pellegrin; 2016)
The soundbites If Kimonanthe were an item of food, it would be marmalade shot through with slivers of charcoal. If it were a painting, it would be Untitled (Violet, Black,…
Persolaise Review: Sideshow from Gri Gri (Anaïs Biguine; 2016)
The soundbites If Sideshow were a sculpture, it would be David Cerny’s floating hand. If it were an item of clothing, it would be a little girl’s pink party dress,…
Persolaise Review: Dark Rebel Rider from John Varvatos (Rodrigo Flores-Roux; 2016)
The soundbites If Dark Rebel Rider were a wardrobe accessory, it would be a dark grey scarf. If it were a time of day, it would be that moment on…
Persolaise Review: Galop D’Hermès from Hermès (Christine Nagel; 2016)
THIS POST WAS SHORTLISTED IN THE ‘INDEPENDENT – SOUNDBITE’ CATEGORY OF THE 2016/17 UK JASMINE AWARDS The soundbites If Galop D’Hermès were a painting, it would be Two Dancers In…
Persolaise Review: Solar’1 from Jazmin Saraï (Dana El-Masri; 2015)
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…