Sophie Maisant, Bastille, Live Interview
Persolaise For my first YouTube broadcast of the year, I did one of my favourite things: ask lots of questions. The person at the receiving end of my nosiness was Sophie…
Top 10 Best Perfumes Of 2023
It’s often been said that perfumery doesn’t set trends: it simply latches onto the coat-tails of those formed by other creative endeavours. Perhaps this is why we had to wait…
Gucci Guilty Elixir Pour Femme & Pour Homme, Puente Eaden, Ulrich Lang Suncrest and other reviews – 2023
For this year’s final regular episode of Love At First Scent, we went all the way from sunny peaches to asteroid-bound rocket fuel, via delicate orange blossom and butcher-than-expected lavender,…
Dolce & Gabbana Devotion, Carine Roitfeld Forgive Me, Le Galion L’Astre and other reviews – 2023
The penultimate review video of the year was broadcast on YouTube the other day, featuring new releases from Dolce & Gabbana, Carine Roitfeld and others. Here’s a link to it,…
Creed Absolu Aventus, Gucci A Floral Verse, Peosym Horn OK Please and other reviews – 2023
Perhaps because two Aventuses weren’t enough to make us lose faith in humanity, Creed have just released yet another flanker to their inexplicably popular 2010 release. And to the alarm…
Top 10 Best Perfumes For Winter 2023 – Scents Of Timeless Wisdom
Everyone needs a Gandalf in their life. Or an Athena, or an Atticus Finch. Sadly, such figures aren’t always easy to find, so perhaps that’s why I’ve recently been drawn…
Scented Madonna – Perfumes For Her 10 Best Songs
I blame all of you. A few weeks ago, on my YouTube channel, one person suggested that I should match my favourite Madonna songs with appropriate perfumes. And from that…
Roberto Greco Rauque, Aesop Ouranon, Crivelli Oud Stallion and other reviews – 2023
From exploding stars to imploding bodies — there was no shortage of curious concepts and bold ideas in the perfumes I reviewed in episode 416 of Love At First Scent,…
Puente Showcase Review – 2023
What a delight it is to discover an exciting new fragrance house. A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of making just such a find when I tried a…
Strangelove Showcase Review – 2023
Better late than never, I suppose. In 2014, Elizabeth Gaynes launched Strangelove, a brand all of whose scents so far have been put together by Christophe Laudamiel, under the creative…
Lilanur Zafran Boise review – Honorine Blanc; 2023
Convincing woody-saffron scents aren’t exactly ubiquitous, so I was curious to see what Lilanur did with the idea in their latest release, Zafran Boise, composed by Honorine Blanc. Here’s a…
Renaud Salmon, Amouage, Live Interview On The New Exceptional Extraits
As part of their 40th anniversary celebrations, Amouage have just added two scents to their range of Exceptional Extraits: Jubilation 40 Man (Bertrand Duchaufour) and Dia 40 Woman (Alexandra Carlin).…
Persolaise Masterclass – Episode 9 – Ingredients – Labdanum & Ambergris
Two ancient materials featured in episode 9 of my Masterclass series on YouTube the other day — labdanum and ambergris — both of which have been used over the years…
Christmas 2023 Perfume Gift Guide
I started last year’s Christmas gift post by saying how hectic things were and how worried I was about getting everything ready in time for the big day. Little did…
Guerlain Les Extraits Signature review – Thierry Wasser & Delphine Jelk; 2023
As promised, over on YouTube the other day, I shared a few thoughts on the new, excruciatingly expensive extraits Guerlain have released under the L’Art & La Matiere banner. The…
Saskia Havekes, Grandiflora, Live Interview
Nine years ago, when I reviewed the superlative Magnolia Grandiflora Michel and Magnolia Grandilfora Sandrine, I had no idea that one day I’d be interviewing the brand’s founder in a…
20,000 Subscribers On YouTube! – Special ‘Ask Me Anything’ Episode Of Love At First Scent
Numbers aren’t everything. But they’re not to be sneezed at either. So I was truly delighted the other day when my YouTube app showed me that I’d gone over the…
Nishane X Collection review – 2023
In the decade since the brand was launched, Nishane has certainly managed to wrestle a significant patch of the perfumed limelight to itself and has worked its way into some…
Quartana Forest Of The Golden Dream review – Celine Barel; 2023
Joseph Quartana’s re-design and revival of his eponymous brand continues to make strong progress: after last year’s hypnotic Ierofante, he has now given us the equally mysterious Forest Of The…
Guerlain Tobacco Honey review – Delphine Jelk; 2023
Goodness me, the folks at Guerlain have been keeping busy. Not only have they given us new Shalimar, La Petite Robe Noire, L’Homme Ideal and Habit Rouge flankers this year,…