Gucci Rush Review

Apocryphal or otherwise, the story goes that Gucci’s Rush is inspired by that group of alkyl nitrites best known, at least when I was growing up, as ‘poppers’. As anyone who has ever taken a honking sniff from a bottle of Liquid Gold will attest, there’s very little in the experience to eulogise: from the synapse searing scent of jet fuel that fills your nostrils and clings to the back of your throat to the brief spell of vertigo that lands you with a banging headache, it’s a singularly unpleasant high.

Thankfully, Rush no more resembles the smell of poppers than Opium its namesake. Instead, the perfume opens with a chord of aldehydes (both real, i.e. aliphatic and so-called, i.e. C14 / gamma undecalactone) whose diffusive and sparkling milky peach scent constitutes the central theme. The lactonic side is developed with a white floral accord that’s dominated by jasmine, and leads down to a musky vanillic base where some tame patchouli adds contrast and a Chypre-like quality.  

Nose: Michel Almairac

House: Gucci

Release date: 1999
Notes (per Fragrantica): peach, gardenia, freesia, Turkish rose, coriander, vanilla, patchouli, vetiver

Vétiver Moloko Review

Vétiver Moloko employs a classic blend of vetiver and citrus backed by pale, almost sandalwoody woods. The listed notes include a 'milky accord', which quality is referenced too by the perfume's name (a Moloko Plus being a milk-based cocktail). However, compared to recent, über-creamy woody scents like Sacred Wood (By Kilian) and Tumultu (Les Liquides Imaginaires), it seems quite lactone-lite. The finish is nonetheless soft in a musky-vanillic way. 

Nose: Guillaume Flavigny

House: Ex Nihilo

Release date: 2014

Notes (per Ex Nihilo): vetiver, amyris, cypress, rose, bergamot, vanilla, milky accord.

Cuir Velours Review

Despite its name, Cuir Velours is far from being a headspace type reconstruction of leather, napped or otherwise. The titular suedey base here gets buried amidst a sticky oriental mass of dark spices and balsams, together with a big immortelle note that holds the composition in a maple-syrupy embrace.

When the latter eventually tapers off, what remains smells remarkably like cut tobacco, being a mix of dry wood, clean musk and a hint of spicy sweetness.

Nose: Julien Rasquinet

House: Naomi Goodsir

Release date: 2012

Notes (per Fragrantica): suede, immortelle, rum, labdanum, incense.

Or du Sérail Review

The basic theme for Or du Sérail recalls in many ways the earlier works of Lutens / Sheldrake: a dark and densely packed mélange of dry cedar/woods, sweetly animalic honey and labdanum and slightly bitter tobacco. Here is integrated a boozy, tropical fruit and coconut chord that, although very well blended, takes the overall sweetness to excess. Duchaufour is, of course, well known for his use of incense and there does seem to be a trace here, providing levity to the dry, woody base. It's far more apparent on blotter however, than skin. 

Nose: Betrand Duchaufour

House: Naomi Goodsir

Release date: 2014

Notes (per Fragrantica): apple, red berries, mango, sweet orange, rum, artemesia, sage, coconut, geranium, ylang-ylang, labdanum, beeswax, honey, tobacco, amber, oak, cedar, musk, vanilla.

Bloody Wood Review

Whilst not recalling a Bloody Mary as one might have guessed, Bloody Wood is nevertheless very much a boozy scent. 

The titular sanguineousness derives primarily from rose oxide, whose metallic greenery comes off as almost camphorous against an intensely yeasty, fermented, winey heart of cognac oil. Mercifully, the latter doesn't ever cross the line to vomity territory (as it does at higher concentrations), but the effect is still unsettling. 

Top marks for composition and innovation. 

Nose: Sonia Constant

House: Les Liquides Imaginaires

Release date: 2013

Notes (per Fragrantica): red wine, violet, rose, fruity notes, cherry, raspberry, woody notes, sandalwood, oak. 

Tumultu Review

An ultra smooth, creamy, slightly ambery sandalwood that's freshened with some grapefruit synth and maybe a trace of incense. 

Not much else to say !

Nose: Jacques Huclier

House: Les Liquides Imaginaires

Release date: 2013

Notes (per Fragrantica): pomelo, coconut, sandalwood, cedar, patchouli

Bello Rabelo Review

True to its name, Bello Rabelo evokes the scent of Port wine, with its characteristic profile of spicy dried fruits against a sweet and slightly woody background. Particularly interesting is the way a pronounced immortelle note initially pulls the composition into black licorice territory before dissolving the whole into a pool of maple syrup.

Nose: Sonia Constant

House: Les Liquides Imaginaires

Release date: 2013
Notes (per Fragrantica): red wine, dried fruits, resins, immortelle, labdanum, vanilla, woody notes, benzoin.