Mistral Patchouli Review

One to win over the patchophobes, Mistral Patchouli fronts a ‘cœur’-type patchouli oil fractionation that’s high in desired patchoulol. The smell is exceptionally smooth, clean and ambered, with additional musky-floral and cedar nuances.

The bright, lemony-grapefruit top helps pick up some incensey inflections, while a prominent anise note in the head and heart blends well with patchouli’s darker aspects.

Nose: Jérôme Epinette

House: Atelier Cologne

Release date: 2013

Notes (per Fragrantica): star anise, geranium, iris, patchouli.

Oolang Infini Review

What begins as a chord of zesty, transparent wood very soon devolves into a murky, terpy, waxy monolith that smells like a collision between all the non-citrusy parts of citrus oils. To my nose, it’s harsh and unpleasant and largely obscures the Earl Grey-like tea note that could profitably have been shifted to the fore. A half teaspoon’s worth of sweetness meanwhile, provides a bridge to a Cashmeran-type woody-musk base. 

Nose: Jérôme Epinette.

House: Atelier Cologne.

Release date: 2010.

Notes (per Fragrantica): bergamot, Tunisian neroli, oolong tea, blond leather, tobacco blossom, guaiac wood, vetiver from Haiti.

Silver Iris Review

Lurking behind the tonka-Ambrox-berry-musk blackout curtain, whose jammy, candied sweetness enters Maltol territory, is actually a rather substantial (and attractive) green iris accord.

Nose: Jérôme Epinette, 

House: Atelier Cologne

Release date: 2013

Notes (per Fragrantica): tangerine, pink pepper blackcurrant, mimosa, violet leaf, iris, patchouli, white amber, musk. 

Bois Blonds Review

Although Bois Blonds eventually delivers on its promise, it does so with such a lack of enthusiasm as to seem almost grudging.

The head consists of an attractive arrangement of peppery citrus that’s bright without being blindingly so. There follows in quick succession however, an agrestic heart-accord, whose raw, green-herbal odour (redolent of linalyl acetate) overwhelms any subtleties of the vetiver. Only once the perfume has well developed do the titular bois blonds make their presence felt in the form of a wan, woody-musk fond. 

Nose: Jérôme Epinette

House: Atelier Cologne

Release date: 2010

Notes (per Fragrantica): neroli, pink pepper, orange blossom, incense, wood notes, musk, vetiver.