Reviews: The Smell Of Freedom & Orange Blossom by Gorilla Perfumes (2010)
Persolaise 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…
oud
Review: Memoir Man & Memoir Woman by Amouage (2010)
My experience of living in the Middle East taught me that Gulf Arab men tend to have no qualms about wearing scents that would be considered far too heady and…
Doughnuts
My head’s full of smoke and leather. It’s a shame the same can’t be said for the empty vials on my window sill. I keep telling myself that one day,…
A Two-Minute Walk In Mumbai
You stroll past a sugar-cane juice seller and catch a whiff of an incense cone: rich and smoky, a Catholic scent that feels out of place amidst the noise of…
Amouage – New London Boutique
On a peaceful street in Knightsbridge, hidden behind an unsightly pyramid of scaffolding, is London’s first stand-alone boutique for Amouage, the highly-respected house founded in the early 80s by a…
Glass, Ash & Sand
I guess my refusal to buy some civet-infused oud must have angered the gods, because the volcano in Iceland has meant that my wife and I are now stranded in…
All Rosy In Istanbul
Istanbul’s Spice Bazaar doesn’t offer nearly as many olfactory temptations as the markets in Marrakesh and Tangiers, but I can’t deny I’ve spent a good deal of time sniffing the…