Persolaise Mini-Reviews: August to September 2018 [part 1]
Persolaise For more mini-reviews, please click here. Aura eau de toilette from Mugler (2018)* Plays it even safer than the edp, toning down the vine-y greenness to make more room for…
perfume review
Persolaise Review: Samsara from Guerlain (Jean-Paul Guerlain; 1989)
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…
Persolaise Review: Papyrus Oud from Parle Moi De Parfum (Michel Almairac; 2018)
It’s not often in perfumery that you’re given an opportunity to witness a scent-maker revisiting and honing a particular idea. Two examples that come to mind are Edmond Roudnitska following…
Persolaise Review: The Tycoon, The Stylist, The Actress, The Writer & The Mechanic from St Giles (Bertrand Duchaufour; 2017)
Ascribing a personality to a perfume has long been a trick used by the likes of yours truly to get past the challenge of conveying olfactory sensations in words. No…
Persolaise Review: Joy from Christian Dior (Francois Demachy; 2018)
Dior Joy review by award-winning perfume critic Persolaise (Francois Demachy; 2018)
Persolaise Review: Belgravia Chypre, Marylebone Wood & Kensington Amber from Penhaligon’s (2018)
At a time when the number of annual perfume releases continues to hit the 2000+ mark, it is increasingly difficult to work out which compositions influence the aesthetics of future…
Persolaise Review: Imitation Woman (Pierre Negrin) and Imitation Man (Leslie Girard) from Amouage (2018)
I wonder if Christopher Chong – Amouage’s unfailingly flamboyant Creative Director – wanted to call his latest scent duo Nostalgia. If he did, perhaps the more fiscally-minded forces at the…
Persolaise Review: Bois D’Hadrien from Goutal (Camille Goutal; 2018)
A re-brand is often a cause for concern, but thank goodness that when the Powers That Be at Annick Goutal decided they needed a facelift – different bottles; the ‘Annick’…
Persolaise Love At First Scent Episode 18 Now On YouTube
Episode 18 of Love At First Scent (broadcast live on YouTube) is now available as a permanent upload, complete with incorrect orientation, thanks to the ol’ Tube letting me down;…
Persolaise Love At First Scent Episode 17 Now On YouTube
Episode 17 of Love At First Scent (broadcast live on Facebook) is now available as a permanent upload on YouTube; watch it above or by clicking here. In this edition…
Persolaise Review: Orange Mauresque from Chopard (Alberto Morillas; 2018) + Rose Seljuke, Jasmin Moghol & Miel D’Arabie
One of my fondest memories of a summer spent in Marseilles is of a North African sweet shop not far from the Rue d’Aix. At both the beginning and the…
Persolaise Mini-Reviews: January to March 2018 [part 2]
For more mini-reviews, please click here. Declaration Parfum from Cartier (Mathilde Laurent; 2018)* I do declare, I think Cartier are on to another winner. This is the new parfum version…
Persolaise Review: Aqua Celestia Forte from Maison Francis Kurkdjian (Francis Kurkdjian; 2018)
I always think it’s interesting when a perfumer makes a stronger version of what was originally meant to be a weightless scent. The exercise seems to be something of an…
Persolaise Mini-Reviews: January to March 2018 [part 1]
For more mini-reviews, please click here. Agar Ebene from Hermès (Christine Nagel; 2018)* One of five new entries in the Hermessence collection composed by Christine Nagel. This one takes a…
Persolaise Love At First Scent Episode 16 Now On YouTube
Episode 16 of Love At First Scent (broadcast live on Sunday on YouTube) is now available as a permanent upload; watch it above or by clicking here. In this edition…
Persolaise Review: Blu Mediterraneo – Chinotto Di Liguria from Acqua Di Parma (2018)
As I write this, those of us living in the UK are going through another one of our all-too-rare bursts of a three-day summer (I expect that, as you read…
Persolaise Review: Amsterdam from Gallivant (Giorgia Navarra; 2017)
He may be better known as an incense expert, but Bertrand Duchaufour has also developed something of a specialism for conveying the scents of flowers which we don’t always associate…
Persolaise Review: Yael from Sammarco (Giovanni Sammarco; 2017)
The modern iris perfume is a curious beast: it pops up more frequently than one might expect thanks to the availability of new-fangled and affordable iris ingredients. But it often…
Persolaise Review: Good Girl Gone Bad Extreme from Kilian (Alberto Morillas; 2017)
I’m not sure why anyone would like to smell of toffee, but if the idea takes your fancy, I’ve found just the perfume: Kilian’s Good Girl Gone Bad Extreme, an…
Persolaise Review: 50 ml D’Ambiguité from Marlou (2017)
I do love a perfume name that makes me laugh. In much the same way that Etat Libre D’Orange’s Rien always elicits a chuckle – because, in fact, it contains…