Olfactics

  • Kouros by Yves Saint Laurent

    I love fragrant outings in unknown territories… It means I can act clueless.  My plan (scheme, actually) early one December was at once evil and genius. I would wander around promoting the idea that I had never worn a fragrance (despite the fact I was lingering around with both arms…

  • La Myrrhe by Serge Lutens

    The way the ‘r’ in Myrrhe rolls off the tongue is much like the eventual smoothness of this fragrance. A cacophony resolving to silence; from discord to accord. Serge Luten’s La Myrrhe is something recognised immediately, but never quite grasped. Its complexity is a testament to this fact, and seems…

  • Chaperone by Fleurage

    Chaperone by Fleurage

    I am often quite cautious and avoiding of small independent perfume setups. I am wary because in my experience I have encountered far too many lacklustre and utterly erroneous perfumes that I begin to feel a higher duty to warn people of their danger. But, Fleurage tells a different story.…

  • Santal Massoïa by Hermès

    Originally on APJ There is no secret that I dislike gourmand perfumes: I can’t stand them! But, there’s another side of myself that secretly adores the sort of gourmand that doesn’t make itself out to be one. Shalimar and L’Heure Bleue are considered gourmands to an extent, but perhaps because…

  • A Moment with Criminal Elements

    A Moment with Criminal Elements

    After much dilly-dallying deciding what to do to celebrate the blog’s one year anniversary, I had finally reached a decision. I had decided to celebrate perfumery unconstrained by the commercial and reflect back at the very essence of perfume – scent.  I can often be led astray by perfume fairytales…

  • Cologne Indelebile by Frederic Malle

    Cologne Indelebile’s popularity came from its novelty, a lasting cologne. For many, the benefit of a lasting cologne derived from a more functional desire than a pleasurable one. Cologne is something I celebrate for its fleeting nature and its pick-me-up qualities like a black coffee. Doused onto the bare body and…

  • Pour Un Homme by Caron

    “Like tea or coffee, lavender is best served sole and black; treated with a light touch and in consideration of conformity.” Blogging never becomes an easy task. Instead, it seems to get harder. I am forced to make posts constantly engaging to attract an audience, with a clear and readily observable…

  • Vie De Chateau Intense by Parfums de Nicolaï

    The life for the rich should especially not be intense. It should be languid and calm as the rhythm of their life follow the slow paces of nature. The aristocratic are not rushed, nor are they temperamental. Nature seems to be overly kind for them as their life falls perfectly into place.…

  • Vanilla Flash by Tauerville

    Treat this as a follow up to my Rose Flash review. Andy Tauer is a sceptic. Perhaps not in reality, but in careful method. This method, which begins at a juncture where everything is taken and then hastily rejected (or rather, built up from and then upon) allows for the…

  • Plum Japonais by Tom Ford

    When smelling Plum Japonais, a magical occurrence takes place: I envisage location and taste. I love these moments in perfumery, namely because as someone that drives the ‘perfume is art’ dogma with a great passion, I feel that if scent evokes another sense, it satisfies one of the functions of art.…