Parure Extrait Review

Released in 1975, yet smelling more of 1925, Parure’s fate was arguably sealed from the outset.

A giddily dense, even chaotic Chypre, J.-P. Guerlain’s creation explores the dark, fruity facets of rose by pairing it with a deep plum note that’s bordering on the alcoholic. Unlike Nahéma, which was launched just four years later and blazed a pioneering trail with  its overdose of alpha-damascone that forever changed the representation of rose in perfumery, Parure seems contentedly retrospect, quoting the spicy-green complex of Vol de Nuit over a dry, leathery, backdrop. In the base, patchouli blends with plenty of pungent oakmoss and an amber-(styrax ?)-balsamic accord to bittersweet effect.

Nose: Jean-Paul Guerlain

House: Guerlain

Release date: 1975 (discontinued)

Notes (per Fragrantica): plum, bergamot, green notes lily of the valley, rose, iris, lilac, jasmine, narcissus, oak moss, spices, amber, rose 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.

Sa Majesté la Rose Review

Sa Majesté la Rose is a peerless rose soliflore at whose heart lies an unusually high dose of Rosa damascena absolute.

Following a nostril-singeing flare of waxy citrus, there emerges an astonishing facsimile of a freshly-cut, Madame Alfred Carrière-type blossom; all pink and dewy with an unmistakable lychee fruit accent. As the perfume develops, it gains a honey-like hue that’s shaded by dark spices and yet, somehow, Sa Majesté la Rose never looses its geranium-like brightness and verdant vibrancy - no mean feat given its remarkable longevity.

Nose: Christopher Sheldrake

House: Serge Lutens
Release date: 2000

Notes (per Fragrantica): Moroccan rose, guaiac wood, clove, white honey, musk.

Jack Eau de Parfum (Richard E Grant) Review

Jack opens with a sparklingly tart citrus accord with an emphasis on the green grapefruit scent recalling Methyl Pamplemousse. Balancing the hesperidic head is the ambery sweetness of Ambrox (vel.sim.), which material also serves to introduce the perfume’s woody theme: Initially green with slight earthy-spicy overtones, the more sombre facets of vetiver are developed in the fond where the perfume takes on a predominantly dry, lightly smoked character. Thus it effectively remains with some soft musk(s) only really becoming noticeable at the very tail end.

The absence of any obvious floral components renders Richard E Grant’s début perfume somewhat austere, and whilst the cheery opening is sure to have broad appeal, those purchasing the scent after a quick sniff in-store may ultimately be caught unawares by its volte-face.

Nose: Alienor Massenet

House: Richard E Grant
Release date: 2014

Notes (per Fragrantica): lime, cannabis, mandarin orange, cloves, pepper nutmeg, agarwood (oud), vetiver, white musk, tobacco, olibanum.

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. 

Jour d'Hermès (EdP) Review

An abstracted floral that feels as if it were pulled straight from Plato’s realm of the ἰδέα, Jour d’Hermès references the olfactive Form of flowers without bringing a single one to full realisation.

Apparent through much of the perfume’s development is the tart, fruity-green scent of Gardenol (Styralyl Acetate). Although the material is a key component in re-creating the smell of gardenia, when afforded a more prominent role, as here, it in fact resembles most closely rhubarb. Adding to the somewhat acerbic top is a squeeze of lemon and, depending on how one slices the composition, this serves to broaden the range of floral impressions: thus, for example, in tandem with the sweet muguet complex it conjures the Shade of magnolia (less perhaps, the clovey nuance). There is, naturally, more than a hint of rose floating in the mix, as well perhaps a suggestion of jasmine. One could continue with this exercise but ultimately, it all becomes a bit too academic. And therein lies the rub:

Jour d’Hermès is an unimpeachably well-blended fragrance with all the myriad floral components singing in concert and integrating perfectly with the woodsy-musky-lactonic fond. But paradoxically, in saying everything all at one, it ends up saying not very much at all.

Nose: Jean-Claude Ellena

House: Hermès

Release date: 2012

Notes (per Fragrantica): none

Laine de Verre Review

With Laine de Verre, Mssrs. Lutens and Sheldrake remain at the nexus of functional and fine fragrance in their meditation on ‘clean’. Where the original L’Eau evoked the scent of a hot iron and freshly laundered linen, the latest addition takes us in the direction of personal hygiene products as are familiar from the morning routine.

After a mentholic, pepperminty opening whose icy freshness is a quotation from mouthwash, the fragrance is overtaken by a blend of aliphatic aldehydes (esp. C-12 MNA) that are zingy, metallic and waxy, and responsible for a textbook ‘soapy’ accord. In the background, citric notes combine with floral ingredients like Geraniol to give a vague impression of rose, but it’s a rose that’s been run through the wash so many times as to loose all its colour and become almost indistinguishable from the anonymous, musky base.

Nose: Christopher Sheldrake

House: Serge Lutens

Release date: 2014

Notes (per Fragrantica): Citruses, aldehydes, musks.