Living on the equator has its advantages – year-round warmth, sun, lush greenery, the endless availability of mangoes – but heading into my second autumn in Africa, I do find myself longing for…
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Narcotico Narcotico follows a pattern I’ve begun to notice in the work of Giuseppe Imprezzabile, the perfumer behind Meo Fusciuni, in that the perfumes are all either monstrously complex facades hiding simple…
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Luce Luce is like a plain girl whose face suddenly transforms when she smiles. Full of blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moments that shuffle so quietly underneath its sweet, minty beeswax skin that you’d be forgiven for…
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#1 Nota di Viaggio (Rites de Passage) The opening is pure Italian apothecary chic – a veritable cacophony of brackish herbs, aged citrus, and homemade toothpaste underscored by a streak of medicated…
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Un Bel Amour d’Été by Parfum d'Empire is a stupendously sexy, humid, fleshy white floral monster the likes of which have not been seen since Fracas and Songes. …
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All Natural Aromatic Balsamic Cult of Raw Materials Fougere Herbal Incense Independent Perfumery Masculine Oud Review Rosewood Saffron SmokeOud Taiwan by Areej Le Dore
Oud Taiwan by Areej Le Dore smells great, but not the ‘perfume’ kind of great. It smells great in the way that certain spaces – a carpenter’s workshop, a fuel court, a supplies…
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Chypre Floral Hay Honey Incense Independent Perfumery Iris Review VioletEpona by Papillon Artisan Perfumes: A Review
Epona is pure gorgeousness. Though I do have an equestrian background myself, horsey perfumes can be a little bit too on the nose with the mane accord – Arabian Horse by Pierre Guillaume,…
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All Natural Independent Perfumery Review Rose Single note explorationThree Roses by Annette Neuffer
The only possible reason why Annette Neuffer is not discussed in the same breadth as other talented, self-made European perfumers (Andy Tauer, Vero Kern, Antonio Gardoni, etc.) is because, unlike these, she has…
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When you move to Africa after a whole life spent in Europe, you quickly begin to grasp the economies of scale (and lack of trade tariffs) that made your nine euro litre of…
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Vanille des Afriques is essentially a reformulation of Vanille d’Iris to adhere to IFRA regulations but with the addition of a bourbon and a Madagascan vanilla absolute to replace the Tahitian vanilla of…
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Ambergris Animalic Aromatic Chocolate Chypre Civet Collection Cult of Raw Materials Floral Oriental Fruity Chypre Hay Honey House Exploration Incense Independent Perfumery Iris Jasmine Leather Musk Osmanthus Oud Patchouli Review Rose Saffron Sandalwood Smoke Spice Tuberose Violet White Floral Woods Ylang ylangThe Musk Collection by Areej Le Doré: Reviews
I can’t help feeling sad that ‘regular’ people who just love a good, well-constructed perfume rather than obsessing on one or two of their constituent raw materials will likely never get to smell the…
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I was back in Rome recently for a strategic retreat and thought it might be interesting to wear an Italian dessert fragrance every day to mark the occasion. Caveat: I have incredibly narrow…
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Five O’ Clock Au Gingembre, I love ya, even if you are a B side in the Lutensian catalogue. Christopher Sheldrake and Serge Lutens were probably going for zest rather than realism when…
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Il Dieci X by Bogue had a very short run of 50 bottles produced in 2019, so perhaps it doesn’t even make sense for me to write about it. But I have to…
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Herbal Honey Independent Perfumery Review Spice VetiverOnda Voile d’Extrait by Vero Profumo: A Review
I always thought of Onda by Vero Profumo as a difficult perfume, but now, at a distance of a decade, I understand that I was just not grown enough for it. Though I…
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Ambrette Iris Leather Musk Spice Spicy Floral Suede VetiverHeaven Can Wait by Frederic Malle: A Review
I can’t decide if Heaven Can Wait by Jean-Claude Ellena for Editions de Parfums Frederic Malle is really that good or if I am just happy to get some relief from the heady…
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Aromatic Citrus Designer Gourmand Green ReviewA Tale of Two Pistachios: Un Jardin à Cythère and Yum Pistachio Gelato | 33
Un Jardin à Cythère by Christine Nagel for Hermes is two thirds of a good fragrance. The burst of citrus up top is a tonic for the soul, full of the rinsing sourness…
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Roses are an intensely personal thing, aren’t they? A fresh, wet ‘ripped from nature’ rose is one person’s idea of heaven and another person’s hell. Now, this is kind of fun because it…
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I don’t require Fève Délicieuse by Dior to do anything more than it does, which is to step between me and this cold, cold world like a bodyguard. In the late nineties, I…
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Aromatic Chypre Herbal Oakmoss Patchouli Review Sandalwood SpiceMarescialla by Santa Maria Novella: Mad, bad, and dangerous to know
Santa Maria Novella’s Marescialla is one of only three fragrances in the ‘interesting and ugly-beautiful but almost too brutal to love’ category that I keep around and wear on a regular basis –…
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I fought tooth and nail to get my hands on a vintage-ish bottle of Annick Goutal’s Heure Exquise, and each time I wear it, I am less and less convinced that the juice…
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Serge Lutens’ Ambre Sultan is the Elvis Presley of amber fragrances – it’s left the building, but its influence is still felt everywhere. Its sugar rush of resins playing tag with dry, aromatic…
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All Natural Amber Aromatic Balsamic Chypre Cult of Raw Materials Floral Oriental Independent Perfumery Patchouli Review RoseRaven by Teone Reinthal Natural Perfume: A Review
Raven by Teone Reinthal Natural Perfume (TRNP) is the kind of rose chypre that hasn’t been in production since the 1980s – big, tart roses spread strewn across bittersweet, glittery balsams and a…
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Amber Aromatic Hay Honey Immortelle Independent Perfumery Oakmoss Review Spice TobaccoLadamo by O’driu: A Review
Ladamo by O’driu smells like a Christmas craft store – scads of thick, velvety dirt, fallen apples, mulled wine, grated ginger root, the whole nine yards – but without the nasty chemical edge…
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Amber Balsamic Carnation Leather Opoponox Review Rose Smoke Spice Spicy Floral SuedeEn Avion by Caron: A Review
There’s no mistaking En Avion as anything other than a Caron. Everything comes from a well-established rulebook – flip to page ten for the stinging clove topnote of Poivre, the smoky, medicinal…
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Fruity Scents Iris Japanese Perfumery Review Suede The Discard PileCittá di Kyoto by Santa Maria Novella: A Review
I don’t mind the soft projection or poor longevity of Cittá di Kyoto, but what I can’t forgive is its vagueness. It is mostly iris – that rooty, plaster-of-Paris iris material that…
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Sakura by Ormonde Jayne is a Venetian sunset in a bottle, a serene blue sky streaked with pink, apricot, and gold. It gives me the curious sensation of being relaxed and invigorated at…
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Animalic Balsamic Floral Herbal Incense Oud Resins Review Rose Sandalwood Spice Spicy FloralBaruti Indigo: A Review
Spyros Drosopoulos of Baruti is one of the most consistently original perfumers I have ever encountered. Baruti Indigo is a case in point. This is a perfume built on a series of weird…
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Aromatic Chocolate Chypre Fruity Chypre Gourmand Immortelle Patchouli Rose Single note exploration Smoke Spice WoodsPersonal Pantheon of Patchouli Perfumes: PART II (The Deviations)
Fragrances in this group – the patchouli deviations – tend to be more perfumey, abstract, and therefore more individual in character. Some of these deviations treat the patchouli as a fixed point…
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Amber Aromatic Chocolate Patchouli Round-Ups Single note exploration ThoughtsPersonal Pantheon of Patchouli Perfumes: PART I (Patchouli Bellwethers)
I adore patchouli. But is it necessary for me to own every iteration? No, of course not (she said sternly to herself). My problem is that, because I love patchouli so much, I…
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Animalic Chypre Floral Fruity Chypre Independent Perfumery Iris Leather Oakmoss Review Ylang ylangFruit, Flowers, and Funk: Hedonik Obsessive Devotion
I love that in the promotional materials, Francesca Bianchi refers to the fact that champaca absolute has a fleshy, ‘human bodies’-like smell. It really does. In perfumery, champaca is managed in one…
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Aromatic Balsamic Hay Immortelle Patchouli Review Rose Spicy FloralLe Mat by Mendittorosa: A Review
Le Mat is a study in decrepitude. Picture a time-release reel of a rose blooming violently and then slowly desaturating in hue from a pulpy, blackened red to brown, dirty gold, and…
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English Oak and Hazelnut is one of the most generic-smelling things in my collection but also one of the most mindlessly pleasant. It is the only Jo Malone fragrance I have ever bought,…
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Dior Mitzah is a silky veil of vaporized rose honey, spices, and patchouli that pushes no buttons other than those of pleasure and comfort. And I am fine with that.…
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All Natural Ambergris Animalic Attars & CPOs Chocolate Civet Collection Cult of Raw Materials Independent Perfumery Mukhallats Musk Review Rose Saffron Sandalwood The Attar Guide ThoughtsAreej Le Doré Exclusive Attar Collection: Thoughts and Reviews
Thoughts As of 2023, anyone stumbling onto Areej Le Doré for the first time might be a bit confused about what the house does and what it stands for. After all,…
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Amber Ambergris Animalic Aromatic Balsamic Chocolate Independent Perfumery Review Smoke Spice Tobacco TonkaSundowner by Tauer Perfumes: A Review
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. Unless it's Sundowner by Tauer Perfumes and then you're in for something a little more special and unexpected than your regular humdrum tobacco vanille-like take. …
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Aromatic Attars & CPOs Fougere Green Hay Herbal Immortelle Mukhallats Oakmoss Patchouli Review Saffron Spice The Attar GuideThe Attar Guide to Earth, Herbs, Spice & Aromatics: Reviews N-Z
Last installment of the Attar Guide to Earth, Herbs, Spice & Aromatics: Reviews N-Z,. If you love shamama attars, then you're in for a treat.…
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Aromatic Attars & CPOs Fougere Green Herbal Mukhallats Oakmoss Review Saffron Spice The Attar GuideThe Attar Guide to Earth, Herbs, Spice & Aromatics: Reviews D-M
The Attar Guide to Earth, Herbs, Spice & Aromatics: Reviews D-M. Lots of inky mossy stuff, as well as soap and spice and all things nice. …
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Aromatic Attars & CPOs Fougere Green Herbal Lavender Mukhallats Oudy Concentrated Perfume Oils Oudy mukhallats Patchouli Review Saffron Spice The Attar Guide VetiverThe Attar Guide Earth, Herbs, Spice & Aromatics: Reviews A-C
The Attar Guide Earth, Herbs, Spice & Aromatics: Reviews A-C. Pungent patchoulis, sparkling saffron, healing herbs and amazing aromatics.…
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All Natural Ambrette Aromatic Attars & CPOs Herbal Mukhallats Patchouli Saffron Spice The Attar Guide VetiverThe Attar Guide: Earth, Herbs, Spice & Aromatics
The Attar Guide Primer on all the earthy, herbal, spicy or aromatic materials most commonly used in attar, mukhallat, and CPO perfumery. From charila, choyas, and patchai to bakula, saffron, and cypriol, if you…
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Amber Ambergris Animalic Aromatic Attars & CPOs Collection Cult of Raw Materials Frankincense Green Floral Herbal Honey Independent Perfumery Jasmine Mukhallats Musk Oakmoss Oud Oudy mukhallats Patchouli Review Rose Round-Ups Sandalwood The Attar GuideAreej Le Doré History of Attar Collection (Fragrances): Reviews
Reviews of all seven fragrances in the Areej Le Doré History of Attar Collection - a triumphant ode to the beauty of Indian perfumery…
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All Natural Attars & CPOs Collection Cult of Raw Materials Floral Independent Perfumery Review Sandalwood The Attar Guide ThoughtsThe Areej Le Doré History of Attar Collection Thoughts and Reviews
The Areej Le Doré History of Attar Collection is a reference 'smelling' library for those interested in the traditional attar genre…
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Attars & CPOs Collection Dominique Ropion Frankincense Mukhallats Oudy Concentrated Perfume Oils Oudy mukhallats Review Saffron The Attar Guide The Business of Perfume Thoughts VanillaThe New Generation Amouage Attars: Thoughts and Reviews
Amouage's new attars ≠ the OG attars. In fact, they are not attars at all but niche perfume oils. And they're good but not $540 good.…
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Smyrna by Le Couvent is a peppery rosewater scent that feels like Rose Poivrée or Rose 31 soaked in stain remover and run through a hot cycle. …
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Aromatic Chocolate Green Herbal Iris Leather Masculine Review Smoke Spice Spicy Floral Suede Vanilla WoodsIris Malikhân by Maison Crivelli
Iris Malikhân by Maison Crivelli is a dissonant, borderline unpleasant and weirdly habit-forming fragrance that is only nominally about iris. …
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Rozu by Aesop fills a Rozu-shaped hole in my heart that I never even knew was there. A fresh-earthy-spicy-woody rose that gives me joy. …
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Animalic Carnation Cult of Raw Materials Independent Perfumery Iris Musk Review Sandalwood VioletIris Ghalia by Ensar Oud
Iris Ghalia by Ensar Oud pits a silver spoon iris against the great unwashed hoards of zoo animal secrete. Somehow, just somehow, it works.…
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All Natural Animalic Aromatic Chypre Cult of Raw Materials Green Hay Herbal Independent Perfumery Jasmine Leather Masculine Musk Oud Review Sandalwood Spice WoodsChypre Sultan by Ensar Oud
Chypre Sultan by Ensar Oud is a proper chypre, by which I mean that it smells like a chypre, not that it is at all proper (which it is not). …
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Vaniglia by Santa Maria Novella smells reasonably like posh gelato in the air but like burning black plastic on the skin. (Minority opinion). Sometimes I like it, sometimes it gives me the dry heaves.…
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Aromatic Citrus Floral Fruity Scents Green Floral Musk Review Suede Summer Vetiver Violet WoodsGatsby 22 by Ormonde Jayne
Gatsby 22 by Ormonde Jayne is a fresh, citrusy floral musk that's definitely not for me but perfect for a modern-day Daisy Buchanan…
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The secret to Cuir d’Iris is that it is simultaneously sooty and wet. Bone-dry cedarwood and iris kick up dust eddies as stale as the air from a newly-fired radiator. Floating in this…
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Aromatic Attars & CPOs Balsamic Cult of Raw Materials House Exploration Incense MukhallatsOudologie: A Sampling
Reviews about attars and mukhallats for my Attar Guide aren’t conjured out of thin air. When I write about a Sultan Pasha or an Abdul Samad Al Qurashi oil, I come armed with…
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Fiore d’Ambra by Profumum Roma is the rare amber that confronts rather than comforts. Which makes sense, because it's barely an amber at all. …
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Amber Cult of Raw Materials Musk Oriental Review VanillaShalimar Millésime Vanilla Plantifolia by Guerlain
Shalimar Millésime Vanilla Plantifolia by Guerlain is a lot of words to say 80% Shalimar spliced with 20% of an expensive niche bakery vanilla like Lira or Tihota, but I am surprised at just…
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Animalic Chypre Citrus Cult of Raw Materials Floral Independent Perfumery Oakmoss Orange Blossom Review Spicy Floral Tuberose White Floral Woods Ylang ylangCasablanca by St. Clair Scents
Casablanca by St. Clair Scents is a tour de force of the indie BWF (Big White Floral) perfumery, perfect for modern day sirens and sexpots.…
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Aromatic Chypre Citrus Green Independent Perfumery Leather Masculine Musk Neroli Oakmoss Review WoodsLibertine Neroli by Francesca Bianchi
Fresh but dark, bitter and woody-musky, Libertine Neroli by Francesca Bianchi is a fantastic neroli-oakmoss chypre that nods at 1950s classic masculine perfumery without getting pulled into it completely. …
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Amber Attars & CPOs Balsamic Incense Mukhallats Resins Review Round-Ups Smoke The Attar GuideThe Attar Guide: Resin Reviews K-T
The Attar Guide: Resin Reviews K-T wraps up the Resin portion of the Guide, with some very mediocre indie oils bringing up the rear. …
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Amber Attars & CPOs Balsamic Cult of Raw Materials Frankincense Incense Mukhallats Myrrh opoponax Resins Round-Ups The Attar GuideThe Attar Guide: Resin Reviews B-I
The Attar Guide: Resin Reviews B-I covers of the most barn-storming, sturm-und-drang incense scents in the genre. Frankincense, myrrh, benzoin, and amber arm huffers and shirt-cuff sniffers, come get your resin freak on.…
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Amber Attars & CPOs Balsamic Cult of Raw Materials Frankincense Gold Incense Mukhallats Myrrh opoponax Resins Review Single note exploration Smoke Spice The Attar GuideThe Attar Guide: Resin Reviews 0-A
The Attar Guide: Resin Reviews 0-A is the 50 Shades of Amber (and Amber Absolute knock offs), which, I guess, is as good a place to start as any. If you love the…
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Amber Attars & CPOs Balsamic Cult of Raw Materials Frankincense Incense Myrrh opoponax Oriental Resins Round-Ups Single note exploration Smoke Spice The Attar GuideThe Attar Guide to Resins
The Attar Guide to Resins - a brief guide to the difference between myrrh and sweet myrrh, frankincense and benzoin, and what even is amber anyway? A sweet and smoky exploration of sticky bush…
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Ambergris Animalic Aromatic Balsamic Citrus Cult of Raw Materials Incense Leather Myrrh Neroli Oud Resins Review Saffron Spice Summer WoodsAquilaria Blossom by Areej le Doré X Agar Aura
Aquilaria Blossom by Areej le Doré X Agar Aura is a woodsy citrus-oud-leather scent that surprises with its simplicity and lightness. Remarkably uncluttered for an oudy scent, and with only minor floral facets (an…
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Attars & CPOs Oud Oudy Concentrated Perfume Oils Review The Attar GuideOudy Concentrated Perfume Oils (CPOs)
Wrapping up the Oud section of the Attar Guide now with a final set of reviews, this time specifically looking at oudy concentrated perfume oils (CPOs), which run the gamut from the bougiest of…
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Attars & CPOs Cult of Raw Materials Mukhallats Oud Oudy mukhallats Review The Attar GuideOudy Mukhallat Reviews: D-W
Oudy Mukhallat Reviews: D-W, covering some of the most beautiful oudy mukhallats ever made and others you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy.…
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Ambergris Ambrette Floral Independent Perfumery Iris Myrrh Orange Blossom Review Smoke Spice Spicy Floral Violet White Floral Woods Ylang ylangHera by Papillon Artisan Perfumes
Hera by Papillon Artisan Perfumes is a surprisingly abstract, resolutely non-literal take on the theme of a bridal perfume. As complex and as bittersweet as marriage itself, rather than the picture perfect shininess of…
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Attars & CPOs Cult of Raw Materials Mukhallats Oud Review Single note exploration The Attar GuideOudy Mukhallat Reviews: A-C
Reviews of oudy mukhallats A-C, with an aside on cultural misappropriation in the attar or mukhallat world. …
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Amber Balsamic Gold Herbal Incense opoponax Oriental Resins Review Single note exploration Spice UncategorizedEmpire des Indes by Oriza L. Legrand
Empire des Indes by Oriza L. Legrand is a soft, spicy opoponax scent that stands out even against the gazillion other opoponax perfumes I own…
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Aldehydes Ambergris Animalic Attars & CPOs Chocolate Civet Cult of Raw Materials Floral Honey Independent Perfumery Jasmine Leather Musk Oakmoss Review Tobacco Ylang ylangCivet de Nuit by Areej Le Doré X Sultan Pasha
Civet de Nuit by Areej Le Doré X Sultan Pasha is a collaboration between Russian Adam of Areej Le Doré and Sultan Pasha - a retro floral bomb with a purring civet and lascivious licked-skin…
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The Attar Guide's Pure Oud Oil Reviews: P-Y features great examples of how creative distillation techniques can produce big surprises! From an oud oil by Rising Phoenix Perfumery that smells like a double espresso…
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The Attar Guide's Pure Oud Oil Reviews: L-O looks at oud oils that range in aroma from wild mint, baked lamp, and soot-blackened walls to truffles, cèpes, myrrh, aged patchouli, humus, prunes soaking in…
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The Attar Guide's PURE OUD Oil Reviews: D-K covers some of my very favorite pure oud oils ever, from the stunning, honeyed Medieval panforte of Agar Aura's Hirta and the honeysuckle floral-ishness of Ensar…
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The Attar Guide Pure Oud Oil Reviews: 0-C. Kicking off the oud review section with PURE OUD OIL reviews. Oud, the whole oud, and nothing but the oud, so help us God. No fillers,…
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Attars & CPOs Cult of Raw Materials Mukhallats Oud Single note exploration The Attar GuideThe Attar Guide: The Different Styles of Oud
The Attar Guide: The Different Styles of Oud. From berrylicious Cambodis and feral Hindis to sparkling Borneos and jungly Maraokes. …
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Attars & CPOs Cult of Raw Materials Mukhallats Oud Single note exploration The Attar GuideThe Attar Guide: Why Oud Smells the Way it Does
In Part II of the Attar Guide Oud Primer, we ask: why does oud smell the way it does? Species, terroir, manner of cultivation, distillation techniques - they all play a part. Like with…
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Attars & CPOs Cult of Raw Materials Mukhallats Oud Single note exploration The Attar GuideThe Attar Guide: The Challenges of Oud
Oud, glorious oud. Part I of the Attar Guide Oud Primer, addressing the most common challenges that a newcomer will face when exploring oud for the first time. From the challenge of accessing samples…
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Attars & CPOs Cult of Raw Materials Mukhallats Review Sandalwood Single note exploration The Attar Guide UncategorizedThe Attar Guide: Sandalwood Reviews P-S
Part II of II: The Attar Guide's sandalwood reviews from P to S, covering everything from an exceptional Ava Luxe take on the classic Guerlainesque animalic-wood of Jicky, a couple of surprisingly satisfying sandalwood-like…
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Attars & CPOs Cult of Raw Materials Mukhallats Review Round-Ups Sandalwood Single note exploration The Attar GuideThe Attar Guide: Sandalwood Reviews 0-M
Part I of II of reviews of sandalwood attars, mukhallats, and CPOs. Everything from Mysore marketing shenanigans in the indie oil sector to slightly dodgy souk oils and the real deal from artisans like…
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Attars & CPOs Cult of Raw Materials Mukhallats Sandalwood Single note exploration The Attar GuideSandalwood: A Primer
A primer on sandalwood - what makes it smell so special, the different types, the availability of Mysore sandalwood, alternatives to sandalwood, and the role of sandalwood in attar perfumery. …
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Ambergris Attars & CPOs Cult of Raw Materials Mukhallats Review The Attar GuideThe Attar Guide: Ambergris Reviews G-Y
Chapter 28 of The Attar Guide: Ambergris Reviews G-Y, in which we explore ambergris attars that smell like everything from fruit rot and coconut to resin and mucked-out stables.…
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Ambergris Attars & CPOs Cult of Raw Materials Review Single note exploration The Attar GuideThe Attar Guide: Ambergris Reviews A-E
Chapter 27 of the Attar Guide takes us reviews of ambergris-focused attars, mukhallats, and CPOs from A to E, and from stinky fishing tackle to the silkiest white chocolate souffle and even a roll…
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Ambergris Attars & CPOs Cult of Raw Materials Mukhallats Single note exploration The Attar GuideThe Attar Guide: Ambergris – A Primer
Chapter 26 of the Attar Guide, and we're talking about ambergris. First a primer. to be followed by reviews of ambergris-focused attars, mukhallats and CPOs. An attenuated version of an article first published by…
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Attars & CPOs Floral Mukhallats Review Rose Spicy Floral The Attar Guide Tuberose Vetiver Violet White Floral Ylang ylangThe Attar Guide: Floral Reviews (T-Y)
Chapter 25 of the Attar Guide: Floral Reviews (T-Y) - the last of the Floral Reviews and the last of the Attar Guide in 2021 - compares, inter alia, several Abdes Salaam Attar attars…
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Attars & CPOs Chypre Floral Green Floral Jasmine Mukhallats Review Rose Saffron Spicy Floral The Attar Guide White FloralThe Attar Guide: Floral Reviews (S)
Chapter 24 of the Attar Guide: Floral Reviews (S) takes us from a room-busting 1970s-style rose chypre by Al Rehab that costs peanuts to the rare Sultan Pasha attar that got the better of…
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Attars & CPOs Floral Green Floral Jasmine Mukhallats Orange Blossom Patchouli Review Rose Saffron Spicy Floral The Attar Guide Violet White FloralThe Attar Guide: Floral Reviews (P-R)
Chpater 23 of the Attar Guide and we are in the P-R section of the Floral reviews, so gird your loins for lots and lots of rose this and rose that (and a couple…
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Attars & CPOs Floral Floral Oriental Green Floral Mukhallats Orange Blossom Review Rose Spicy Floral The Attar Guide White FloralThe Attar Guide: Floral Reviews (M-O)
Chapter 22 of the Attar Guide: Floral Reviews (M-O), featuring, inter alia, a very passable Noir de Noir dupe, a feral narcissus attar that may cause sexual hysteria and a perfume pretending to be…
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Attars & CPOs Floral Green Floral Iris Jasmine Mukhallats Orange Blossom Osmanthus Review Rose Saffron Spicy Floral The Attar Guide Tuberose Violet White FloralThe Attar Guide: Floral Reviews (J-L)
The Attar Guide: Floral Reviews (J-L) takes us on a tour through several really trashy Malle dupe oils, mega-expensive jasmine niche oils, and some sublime gardenia attars by Strangelove NYC and Sultan Pasha. Read…
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Attars & CPOs Floral Green Floral Mukhallats Orange Blossom Review Rose The Attar GuideThe Attar Guide: Floral Reviews (E-I)
Eidyya (Amouage) Type: mukhallat Eidyya, a mukhallat presumably linked to the celebration of Eid or the giving of gifts for Eid, is a potent floral affair with a deeply…
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Attars & CPOs Chypre Floral Green Floral Mukhallats Review The Attar GuideThe Attar Guide: Floral Reviews (B-D)
Badar (Al Haramain) Type: mukhallat Badar is a honey-forward mukhallat that sounds more exciting than it really is. (It also looks more exciting than it is, packaged as it is…
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Attars & CPOs Floral Green Floral Mukhallats Orange Blossom Osmanthus Review Rose Sandalwood Spicy Floral The Attar Guide Tuberose Violet White Floral Ylang ylangThe Attar Guide: Floral Reviews (0-A)
007 (Hyde & Alchemy) Type: concentrated perfume oil No. 007 is a little bum fluff of a thing – a peachy honeysuckle that leans waxy rather than green or fresh.…
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Oriental Musk (Kuumba Made) Type: concentrated perfume oil Oriental Musk is a light, clean musk built around the idea of Egyptian skin musk but spruced up with some spice in the…
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Kama (Ava Luxe) Type: concentrated perfume oil Kama is a musk fragrance with a briefly fecal topnote that sees it frequently compared to the famous Muscs Khoublai Khan by Serge…
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010 (Hyde & Alchemy) Type: concentrated perfume oil No. 010 is a pink-smelling scent with a cheerful cherry blossom note pitched halfway between fruit and flower. The opening is not half…
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Attars & CPOs Mukhallats Musk Single note exploration The Attar Guide The Business of PerfumeMusk: Technicalities, Legalities, and Ethicalities
From here on out, we are going to go material by material, grouped according to the most important scent families for attars, mukhallats, and concentrated perfume oils. Each section will start with a…
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Attars & CPOs Mukhallats Musk Single note exploration The Attar GuideMusk: Perfumery, Profiles, & Ethical Alternatives
Musk in perfumery Musk is one of the four great animalic bases of perfumery, the other three being ambergris, civet, and castoreum. When smelled in isolation in their pure state, all four…
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Attars & CPOs Independent Perfumery Round-Ups The Attar Guide The Business of PerfumeThe Attar Guide: Concentrated Perfume Oils (CPOs)
The final category of oil perfume is that of concentrated perfume oils. You might get to this section and groan. After all, are attars and mukhallats not concentrated perfume oils? The short answer…
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Although I will be doing a much deeper dive on both sandalwood and oud in their respective sections, I wanted to use this chapter and the previous one as an introduction to the…
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Attars & CPOs Sandalwood The Attar Guide The Business of PerfumeFoundational Essential Oils: Part 1 (Sandalwood)
Sandalwood and oud are truly essential oils, in that they are the building blocks of their respective styles of perfumery. In traditional Indian attar perfumery, fragrant materials are distilled directly into sandalwood oil,…
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Now we come to Middle-Eastern mukhallats. First, let’s get etymology out of the way. The word mukhallat simply means blend in Arabic and refers to a mix of pre-distilled attars and ruhs…
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Complex Indian attars are the result of a multi-distillation process, whereby several fragrant materials are co-distilled in the same deg or created by mixing several distillates and attars together after distillation. In…
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Traditional Indian attars (and ruhs) can be divided roughly into two groups. First, there are attars made by distilling a single material, like, for example, rose or vetiver. (These are the subject of…
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Attars & CPOs The Attar Guide The Business of PerfumeThe Attar Guide: Traditionally Distilled Attars and Ruhs
Attar – an old Persian word for perfume (ațr, pronounced atir) – is the world’s earliest form of fragrance still in existence today. The word ‘attar’ is used in some form in most…
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One big misconception I have come across while exploring the world of oil-based perfumery concerns purity. Attars, mukhallats, oud oils, and concentrated perfume oils (CPOs) are, technically speaking, pure perfumes because they do…
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Alright, before we get into the fun stuff, let’s get the practicalities out of the way. Certain questions and concerns consistently pop up when people start getting into oil-based perfumes, such as: How much…
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The longer form of that question being: why wear an attar or oil-based perfume at all when there are plenty of perfectly good spray perfumes out there? Actually, there are several reasons. …
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Chapter 1 of the Attar Guide: An introduction…
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I have yet to come across a review that captures what Le Labo Iris 39 smells like to me, so I’m going to take a run at it myself. Despite the advertised violets…
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Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez have an extraordinary turn of phrase, don’t they? One of the many things they have written that has lingered in my mind for years is their description of L’Eau…
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Animalic Citrus Floral Fruity Scents Gourmand Honey Independent Perfumery Orange Blossom Patchouli Review Sandalwood Vanilla White Floral WoodsAnamcara by Parfums Dusita
The fact that something as weird and borderline confrontational as Anamcara by Parfums Dusita was workshopped in a Facebook group known for its strict ‘say something nice or don’t say anything at all’…
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Aromatic Cult of Raw Materials Independent Perfumery Musk Oakmoss Round-Ups Single note explorationRule Evernia: An (Ormonde Jayne) Essay on Oakmoss
Evernia by Ormonde Jayne takes its name from Evernia prunastri, the species of lichen from which oakmoss absolute – the star ingredient here – is obtained. It is interesting that Ormonde Jayne, one of…
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Amber Animalic Fruity Scents Green Independent Perfumery Iris Leather Review Ylang ylangLuxe, Calme, Volupté by Francesca Bianchi
I was going to start this review by saying that despite having studied French literature in college, my only experience with Baudelaire was with his poem Les Fleurs du Mal, but then I Googled…
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Balsamic Coniferous Green Independent Perfumery Oud Review Violet WoodsOrmonde Elixir by Ormonde Jayne: A Review
Ormonde Elixir is 45% Ormonde Woman, 45% Ormonde Man, and 10% oud oil. I’m not mad at those percentages. The oud smells like the real deal has been used, and in more than holistic…
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I blame my workload for a lot of life stuff that just doesn’t get done, including, inter alia, regular exercise, parenting that extends to more than rubbing their little heads fondly as I pass…
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For all that vetiver famously possesses an olfactory range stretching between hazelnut, roses, and earth, it is always unmistakably ‘vetiver’ in the same way that patchouli is always patchouli. You’ll notice, therefore, that descriptions…
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Amber Floral Fruity Scents Gourmand House Exploration Incense Independent Perfumery Jasmine Review Scent Memory Smoke Spice Tea White Floral WoodsThree by Frassaï: Tian Di, A Fuego Lento, and Teisenddu
Based on my sampling of three perfumes from the Argentinian brand Frassaï, I can say that this is exactly the kind of thing that one hopes to see from modern niche perfumery…
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Ambergris Ambrette House Exploration Independent Perfumery Iris Leather Oud Review Smoke VetiverNeandertal: Them, Us, Light, Dark
The indie perfume brand Neandertal boasts some of the most achingly cool bottles I’ve ever seen, one of the hottest talents on the indie perfumery scene (Euan McCall), and several glowing Luca Turin reviews…
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Aromatic Citrus Cult of Raw Materials Floral Fougere Fruity Scents Green Floral Hay House Exploration Iris Lavender Neroli Orange Blossom Review Rose Tonka Tuberose White FloralLes Indémodables Part II: Iris Perle, Fougère Émeraude, Rose de Jamal, and Chypre Azural
Iris Perle Username checks out. In its totality, Iris Perle is an opalescent soap bubble of freshly peeled mandarin over soapy-waxy-fatty mimosa clasped in a child’s slightly sweaty paw, but studied closely…
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Ambergris Aromatic Collection Cult of Raw Materials House Exploration Independent Perfumery ReviewLes Indémodables Part I: Vanille Havane, Oriental Velours, Musc des Sables, and Cuir de Chine
Vanille Havane Vanille Havane is an undeniably good smell. How could it not be? It is basically a Greatest Hits tour of some of the most feelgood smells in modern niche…
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Floral Oriental Fruity Scents Hay Honey Incense Independent Perfumery Leather Musk Review Tuberose White Floral WoodsTyger Tyger by Francesca Bianchi
There are three types of tuberose fragrance and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Category I is Photorealistic Tuberose, which is where you find the dewy ‘ripped from nature’ takes like Carnal Flower (Malle),…
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Ambergris Balsamic Frankincense Green Incense Independent Perfumery Leather Review SmokeSpell 125 by Papillon Artisan Perfumes: Love in the Time of COVID
I keep trying to sum up Spell 125 by Papillon Artisan Perfumes for myself in one of those snappy two-liners that Luca Turin excels in, but it is a testament to the perfume’s shape-shifty-ness…
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Aldehydes Amber Ambergris Attars & CPOs Balsamic Chypre Cult of Raw Materials Gold Lists Oriental Osmanthus Oud Resins ReviewGifts of the Three Magi: Going for Gold
Gold is the most challenging of the gifts of the three Magi, of course, given that, unlike myrrh and frankincense, it is not a fragrant material in and of itself. I could write about…
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Amber Animalic Aromatic Attars & CPOs Balsamic Citrus Cult of Raw Materials Frankincense Incense Lists Resins Round-Ups Scent Memory Smoke Spice Thoughts WoodsGifts of the Three Magi: Frankly Frankincense
Each of the gifts of the three Magi carried a special symbolic meaning – gold representing kingship, myrrh foreshadowing the death of Jesus (myrrh being commonly used as an embalming and purifying ointment in…
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Amber Aromatic Attars & CPOs Balsamic Citrus Cult of Raw Materials Herbal Honey Incense Lists Myrrh Oriental Osmanthus Oud Resins Review WoodsGifts of the Three Magi: A Myrrh-athon
Myrrh is the sulky emo teenager of the resin family. From soapy to waxy to mushroomy to medicinal, let's do a deep dive on this most recalcitrant of resins. …
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Aromatic Balsamic Citrus Herbal Incense Independent Perfumery Masculine Review Sandalwood Smoke WoodsKerosene Part 2: Blackmail and R’Oud Elements
Mining the same marshmallow-meets-campfire vein as By the Fireplace by Maison Martin Margiela, albeit only about a hundred times more pleasant and natural-smelling, Blackmail captures that exciting feeling of anticipation your tummy gets at…
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Amber Aromatic Balsamic Herbal Incense Independent Perfumery Oud Resins Review Sandalwood Smoke Spice Tobacco Vanilla WoodsKerosene Part 1: Copper Skies and Broken Theories
Copper Skies Sometimes you want a silky pâté that rolls around velvetily in your mouth for a few seconds before dissolving into perfumed air, and sometimes you want the thick, meaty savor of a…
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Aromatic Balsamic Chypre Fruity Chypre Incense Leather Patchouli Resins Review Suede WoodsKintsugi by Masque Milano
Kintsugi by Masque Milano smells the way those mysterious salted fruits and chutneys in an Asian restaurant taste – perfumey, bitter, and dark in a way that sucks all the moisture out of your…
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Balsamic Citrus Coffee Collection Cult of Raw Materials Floral Fougere Green Floral Incense Independent Perfumery Iris Jasmine Lavender Leather Musk Oriental Osmanthus Oud Resins Review Rose Round-Ups Saffron Sandalwood Smoke Spice Spicy Floral Thoughts Violet White Floral WoodsAreej Le Doré Agar de Noir, Musk Lave, Cuir de Russie, Grandenia, & Santal Galore
The challenge for any reviewer in reviewing the Areej Le Doré releases is that (a) either you’re late and the perfumes you’re writing about are no longer available to buy, or (b) you’re on…
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Honey Maurice Roucel Milk Musk Review Spice TeaHongkong Oolong by Maurice Roucel for Nez, the Olfactory Magazine
What a beautiful and refreshingly to-the-point fragrance. In the tinderbox of nowtimes where the fuse is short and the flashpoint just a meter downwind of someone having a bad day on Twitter, Hongkong Oolong…
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Cult of Raw Materials Independent Perfumery Musk Oud Patchouli Resins Review WoodsThe Cult of Raw Materials: Treewitch by Teone Reinthal and Antiquity by Areej Le Doré
A common assumption in evaluating all-natural fragrances – thanks in large part to the Cult of Raw Materials that has sprung up around top-tier artisanal, distill-it-yourself houses such as Bortnikoff and Areej Le Doré…
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Amber Animalic Balsamic Chocolate Honey Incense Independent Perfumery Iris Leather Oriental Patchouli Resins Review Sandalwood Spice Tobacco TonkaSticky Fingers by Francesca Bianchi
The more I wear Sticky Fingers by Francesca Bianchi, the more I’m convinced it is the Bengale Rouge of the Bianchi line, by which I mean a deliciously thicc n’ fuzzy oriental that’s characterful…
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Aldehydes Amber Ambergris Aromatic Balsamic Citrus Floral Jasmine Musk Review The Discard Pile White FloralOrmonde Jayne Jardin d’Ombre and Ambre Royal
Neither of these 2016 Ormonde Jayne releases – Jardin d’Ombre and Ambre Royal – are my kind of thing, even though there are interesting and even beautiful moments in both of them. But I’m…
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Collection Fruity Scents Gourmand House Exploration Musk NeroliOrmonde Jayne La Route de la Soie Collection
As you might have guessed from my recent series of posts, I am a big fan of the house of Ormonde Jayne. After having invested in several full bottles and having worked my way…
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Amber Aromatic Balsamic Chypre Citrus Collection Floral Floral Oriental Green Floral Herbal House Exploration Iris Jasmine Musk Orange Blossom Resins Review Rose Round-Ups Spicy Floral Summer Violet White Floral WoodsThe Ormonde Jayne Core Collection
Ormonde Jayne set out its mission and values in its original core collection, and to this day, it remains the standard bearer for the brand. I’ve written about some of the perfumes in the…
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The topnotes of Serge Lutens Serge Noire‘s smoky, dried fruit incense draw me in every single Goddamn time, like a mermaid’s song. And then I am dashed cruelly against the rocks that are this…
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Ambrette Aromatic Blogging Carnation Citrus Collection House Exploration Iris Jasmine Musk Oud Review Rose Sandalwood Spicy Floral Suede Thoughts Vanilla White Floral WoodsThe Ormonde Jayne Gold Collection
Rose Gold Rose Gold opens with a fiercely fresh green rose that briefly hints at the rose in Ta’if before folding its lemon-rind-and-black-pepper topnotes into the folds of a richer, pulpier rose that smells…
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Aldehydes Ambergris Aromatic Balsamic Citrus Collection Floral Floral Oriental Fougere Green Herbal Iris Leather Osmanthus Oud Review Rose Sandalwood Spice Spicy Floral Suede Tea Tobacco WoodsOrmonde Jayne Four Corners of the Earth Collection
Ormonde Jayne Four Corners of the World collection upped the ante on the already amazing core line, exploring key raw materials drawn from, well, the four corners of the earth: oud from India, tobacco…
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Aromatic Citrus Floral Fruity Scents Gourmand Green Green Floral Osmanthus Review Suede Tea Thoughts White Floral WoodsOrmonde Jayne Love Trio: Sensual Love, Passionate Love, and True Love
Ormonde Jayne is a brand that I turn to for sophistication and polish. I'm looking past the core collection of original releases and asking: what did Linda do next? Part I is on the…
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Animalic Aromatic Floral Independent Perfumery Jasmine Review Rose Tonka White FloralQuasi Un’Absurdia by Chris Rusak
Quasi Un’Absurdia by Chris Rusak is a rare joy. In the modern hodge podge of brutal woody ambers and syrupy eau-de-department-store florals, instances of classical beauty are few and far between. So a minute…
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Balsamic Coffee Fruity Scents Gourmand House Exploration Independent Perfumery Leather Oud Review Smoke Spice Vetiver WoodsParfums Prissana and Strangers Parfumerie: A Sampling
I’m fascinated by the individuality of the models at play in the indie perfume sector. Some houses, like Diane St. Clair and Papillon work slowly, releasing an average of one perfume a year (if…
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Ambergris Animalic Aromatic Balsamic Chocolate Independent Perfumery Review Sandalwood Smoke Spice WoodsEris Parfums Mxxx.
Mxxx. by Eris Parfums is an almost embarrassingly sexual scent – the result, I imagine, of an experiment to cross breed the silvery, driftwood aroma of a far-off beach bonfire with the boudoir-ish scent…
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Chypre Floral Fruity Chypre Green Floral Independent Perfumery Iris Review Smoke Spice Spicy Floral VetiverEve and Pandora: Two Perfumes by Diane St. Clair
I don’t know how to say this without sounding condescending, but one sniff of Eve and Pandora, the new duo of perfumes from Diane St. Clair, is enough to tell that there has been…
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Aromatic Floral Green Green Floral Hay Herbal Independent Perfumery Iris Milk Review WoodsDusita Le Pavillon d’Or
Although I’ve always worn make-up, my reasons for doing so have varied dramatically over the years. As a teenager, my first and only concern was to make my face into a blank mask to…
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Amber Animalic Balsamic Hay Herbal Independent Perfumery Myrrh Oud Review SaffronFallintostars by Strangelove NYC: A Review
Fallintostars by Strangelove NYC is clever because it pairs the 15th century smell of Hindi oud – the dank, rotting, wet wood smell of animal hides piled high in a medieval dungeon – with…
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Douleur! by Bogue, a collaboration between Freddie Albrighton, a tattoo artist and erstwhile perfume blogger, and Antonio Gardoni, the beloved beardie of Bogue Profumo, has already garnered quite a bit of reaction on the…
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Have you ever been walking along the street and suddenly feel so good that you burst into a run? Zoologist Bee is that for me – a burst of positivity that settles on you…
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Hiram Green Voyage 2019, huh. I remember little of the original Voyage other than (a) I liked it a lot – or at least enough to spend €25 on obtaining a precious 5ml decant,…
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Ambergris Animalic Balsamic Floral Hay Herbal Honey Independent Perfumery Iris Leather Musk Resins Review Smoke Spicy Floral Suede Vetiver WoodsFrancesca Bianchi Lost in Heaven and The Black Knight
The amount of depravity Francesca Bianchi subjects orris root to, I don’t know to be scared of meeting her in a dark alley – or take her out for an Aperol Spritz. People are…
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Blind Smelling Blogging Review ThoughtsAdventures in Blind Smelling: Rose et Cuir, the Fragrance Foundation Awards, & Other Stories
I used to think that fragrances were like books, in that the more you experienced, the more your mental library expanded. But that’s not true. When I read a new book, the bookshelves in…