THE SCENTED LETTER 'LET IT SNOW'

presents s acred g roove

editor’s LETTER

Hoorah for the most fragrant time of the year! We will be wafting a strong perfume sillage, offering fragrant gifts – and we’ll all surely be enjoying the aromas associated with the holidays: the citrus zing of a clementine in a Christmas stocking, wood smoke as the fire crackles, pine from a real tree…

In keeping with tradition, our key focus for this edition is perfumed presents. We like to think we’ve worn out our shoe leather researching the most gorgeous scented gift options, so that you don’t have to. For Christmas 2022, our selection spans fabulous, affordable options right up to more ‘splurge-y’ gift sets, via gorgeous bath baubles, fragrant crackers and seasonally-perfect candles and diffusers. Simply turn to p.17, and start ticking all those names off your list.

On the other hand, you might decide a ‘sniffari’ is in order, to scent-shop in person. It is literally boom time for the launch of new fragrance boutiques, right now, and we’ve had the best fun sleuthing them out, as you can read on p.12. Many – but by no means all – of them are in London, so if you’re within striking distance, you could make a day of it and plan your very own fragrant tour, taking in the illuminations. Scent blotters to the fore, perfumistas!

You’ll sense a snowy vibe to this issue, throughout. Which begs the question: does ice have a scent? We think so – and so does Suzy Nightingale, who on p.37 investigates this, also exploring the clever way by which perfumers deliver a sense of iciness and chill to liquids that are essentially room temperature. May we suggest you snuggle up in your favourite blanket, get cosy, and journey through a magical olfactory icescape with her?

We’re delighted to feature Isabelle Doyen as ‘A Working Nose’, in this issue. Now, Isabelle’s name may not be as familiar as that of Thierry Wasser (Guerlain), François Demachy (Dior) or Christine Nagel (Hermès), but her tenure as resident perfumer goes back way further than theirs, at Goutal. First working alongside founder Annick Goutal, she now co-creates with Annick’s equally gifted daughter Camille. Isabelle shares her the secrets of her working day, and what inspires her, on p.44. Meanwhile, I want to take this opportunity on behalf of The Scented Letter to thank our readers. For the first time this year, we made it possible for anyone – not just our perfume VIPs – to read the magazine online. So The Perfume Society’s Co-founder Lorna McKay, the rest of our talented team and I offer an especially warm welcome to everyone who discovered us this year. We are passionate about putting this magazine together for your enjoyment – and we hope it shows.

Wishing you a fabulously fragrant season,

follow your nose

A SCENTED SNIFFARI

It’s a bumper year for fragrance boutique openings, so join us on a journey of olfactory discovery

Lisa Potter-Dixon

A leading British make-up artist, adored by journalists and her many Insta followers, Lisa is also a scent obsessive whose Memories, Dreams, Reflections she shares on p.48. Three-time bestselling author Lisa has worked with leading designers including Matthew Williamson and Sophia Webster, and with publications ELLE, Grazia and Wonderland. We counsel you to follow her blog at lisapotterdixon.com, as well as her hilarious-slash-informative Instagram. @lisapotterdixon

Isabelle Doyen

Isabelle Doyen trained as a perfumer at ISIPCA, the renowned school in Versailles, where she later went on to teach. In 1985, she met Annick Goutal, creator of one of the very first ‘niche’ perfume houses, becoming resident perfumer – a role she holds to this day, now working on the brand alongside Annick’s daughter Camille, in their small Paris laboratory/studio. Her nose doesn’t have an ‘off’ switch, as you’ll discover in A Working Nose on p.44. @goutalparis

Jan Masters

Jan has written for women’s magazines for over three decades, from ELLE to Japanese Vogue, and was editor of Harrods Magazine for a number of years. Having written a successful column for the Telegraph – her take on modern life – she’s now launched her own blog at www.60.life covering everything from nostalgia and fashion to the odd rant, its poignancy peppered with laugh-outloud humour. You don’t have to be 60 to enjoy it – just be pro-age.

@janmasters1

Jenny Semple

Jenny has now brilliantly designed 53 issues of this multi-award-winning magazine. Formerly a designer on the London glossies, Art Director for IPC/ Time Warner and then Art Editor on The Mail on Sunday’s YOU supplement, she has a wealth of experience creating stylish magazine pages, particularly within the beauty sector. Having relocated to Bath, she now designs from her garden studio for The Scented Letter and many other clients.

@jennysemple

The Scented Letter is produced for The Perfume Society by Perfume Discovery Ltd. All information and prices are correct at the time of going to press and may no longer be so on the date of publication. © 2022 The Perfume Society. All text, graphics and illustrations in The Scented Letter are protected by UK and International Copyright Laws, and may not be copied, reprinted, published, translated, hosted or otherwise distributed by any means without explicit permission.

nosing around

For this issue, a slew of new scent collections to layer and to love, artistic collaborations – and a music icon, in candle form

Amazing race…

...Jones, that is. Still performing at 74 (often accessorised by a hula hoop), always just so, so stylish, and now creator of a signature candle with cult line Boy Smells. Capturing the scent of salty sea air, with floral waves.,Grace calls it a love letter to the natural beauty of her home country, Jamaica. £54 for 240g fenwick.co.uk

What the NatureELLE…?

We love it when fragrance gives back. This trio of sustainable, affordable fragrances from ELLE Parfums – Mira, Indra and Azra – supports young women in the developing world in locations where they source ingredients, through initiatives that ensure they have the right equipment to attend school. £25 each for 100ml eau de parfum superdrug.com

Layers of loveliness

Think of the Experimental Perfume Club’s Essential Collection Trio 03 as ‘building blocks’, with Cardamom Moss (top) Tonka Sesame (mid) and Cedarwood Absinth (base) designed to be layered together for D-I-Y, bespoke gorgeousness. They can also be used, of course, to accent or complement notes in any other scent in your collection – so, happy playing!

£125 for 50ml eau de parfum experimentalperfumeclub.com

SOMETHING IN THE AIR TONIGHT

In time for the festivities, the perfect slow-dance scent – intimate, smoochy L’Air de Rien, created for Jane Birkin and only produced in small batches each year – just launched as a candle, too.

£50 for 220g candle/£120 for 100ml eau de parfum millerharris.com

MOVE OVER, FEBREZE

There’s a new freshener in town. Works on fabrics and stinky spaces, with just three to five spritzes eliminating 99% of the toughest odours within 30 seconds – even cigarette smoke. Choose from Fresh Air, Grapefruit Lychee Vanilla or Lavender Sage (our favourite). There’s a 10% discount for students, too.

(‘Party? What party, Mum?’)

£9.95 for 312ml poopourri.co.uk

Girls, girls, girls

Meet Ted Baker’s new chorus line of fine fragrances: romantic ingénue Mia (fruity-floral); superpretty Polly (a powdery-warm skin scent); tropical babe Amelia (gourmand); and mystical Celeste (aromatic, woody). Floaty, flirty and really accessibly-priced, with it. From £20 for 30ml eau de toilette superdrug.com

OM FRAGRANCE

‘At the crossroads of perfumery and aromatherapy’, Veronique Gabai’s AROMA collection of functional fragrance for Heart, Body and Soul taps into the strongest trend in perfumery right now, including a guided meditation with each bottle. These olfactory tools for modern life are 95% natural, too – 100%, in the case of the rollerballs.

From £45 for 10ml eau de parfum/£48 for 7ml rollerball harrods.com

Oud and proud

Small is beautiful

Diptyque have added new Orpheon to their collection of refillable solid perfumes. Woody, spicy, with whispers of face powder evoking ‘a night club bar in Saint Germain in the early 60s’, the compact is teeny enough for even the slimmest evening clutch.

£48 for 3g diptyqueparis.com

A great excuse to swing by a Guerlain counter – or their nowpermanent boutique in Covent Garden’s Piazza – is this new L’Art et la Matière trio: Cherry Oud, Oud Nude and Oud Khol, poised to seduce even oudh refuseniks. £280 for 100ml eau de parfum guerlain.com

TOM FORD’S ENIGMA

Enigmatic Woods is the designer’s latest trio of Private Blends: spiced sandalwood stars in Santal Blush, coniferous Thuya intrigues in Bois Marocain, while Palo Santo wood and ebony bring a soothing calm to Ébène Fumé. Luxurious yet meditative, and thus totally bang on trend – of course. (We’d expect nothing less from Mr. Ford.)

£195 for 50ml eau de parfum tomford.co.uk

Best in glass

The first-ever scent co-created by an artist, for Lalique: James Turrell – who works with light – has designed crystal pieces with a truly contemporary feel, showcasing two fragrances, Purple Sage and Range Rider, to conjure up the landscape of his Arizona homeland.

POA (edition of 100) lalique.com

Veronique Gabai

PERFUME EXTRACTS FOR URBAN NOMADS

sniffari A scented

ARGENTUM

More of an apothecary, ‘where science meets poetry’, the interior’s stylish minimalism makes for a mindful space in which to browse, sip a brew (we were thrilled they serve Rare Tea infusions), experience a fragrance ‘reading’ or allow yourself to be drawn to one of their alcohol-free, characterful scents – each of which comes with a tarot-esque card, like a scented soul portrait. Exquisite. 119 Portland Road, Notting Hill, London W11 4LN argentumapothecary.com

2022.

Diptyque’s Spitalfields store

DIPTYQUE

2022 saw two exciting new openings for Diptyque: a new outpost in Spitalfields (left), easily accessible for those in the City, and the stunning UK flagship, which has just opened on Sloane Street. Inspired by a Parisian apartment, you are beckoned inside via a French mosaic entrance, before immersing yourself in three distinct spaces, showcasing the much-loved candles and fragrances, Diptyque’s celebrated Holiday offerings, and their décor/homewares.

113 Commercial St., London E1 6BG

161 Sloane Street, London SW1X 9BT diptyqueparis.com

We invite you to follow your nose and enjoy an olfactory adventure, exploring some of the fabulous fragrance destinations that have opened their doors in

Blotters to the fore, perfume-lovers!

ARgENTUM’s tarot-style blotters

Diptyque’s Sloane Street flagship

FLORALIA

Named after the Ancient Roman festival of flowers held in honour of the goddess, Flora, this bijoux scent boutique brims with joy. Offering a great ‘selection of quality, niche, small-batch environmentally conscious fragrances from around the world’, the friendly team is also on hand to provide a personalised, guided service to finding your ‘one’ (or, more like, ‘many’!)

55 North Street, Thame, Oxfordshire, OX9 3BH floraliaperfumeboutique.co.uk

FOREST ESSENTIALS

If you’ve never been to India – well, now you need venture no further than Covent Garden, where the UK flagship for this authentic Ayurvedic brand just opened. Harnessing roses, spices and precious oils, all based around the Panchamahabhuta philosophy ‘to please all the senses and create a transportive, immersive experience’, there are consultations on offer to guide you through the delectable skincare, bodycare and fragrances.

28 James Street, London, WC2E 8PA forestessentials.co.uk

FREDDIE ALBRIGHTON

Proudly flying the fragrant flag for indie fragrance in Stourbridge, the West Midlands flagship store and creative studio for Freddie Albrighton’s fragrance collection (below) includes an open-to-visit lab space to learn how perfume is made. An independent perfumer and brilliant tattoo artist, Freddie’s creations serve scented sauciness, emotive connections and fragrant stories to fall in love with. (NB: Tuesday-Thursday the studio is open by appointment only.)

14 Victoria Passage, Stourbridge, DY8 1DP freddiealbrighton.com

Harrods H Beauty

As part of Harrods’s continuing commitment to ‘bringing its unrivalled beauty authority, expert curation and luxury shopping experiences to a wider audience regionally across the UK’, two new H Beauty stores joined the lineup this year, in Bristol and Gateshead. Fragrance fans are flocking to the shelves to stock up on the scented wares from previously hard-to-find houses. H-urrah!

The Mall Cribbs Causeway, Kessels Road, Patchway, Bristol BS34 5DG

59-63 Russell Way, Blaydon, Gateshead, NE11 9YP harrods.com

The latest Harrods ‘H’, in Gateshead Floralia brings fragrance to Thame

Forest Essentials

– a little bit of India, in Covent Garden

LUXE VIDA

Adding a cool concept store vibe to the bustling high street, with its many indie stores, Luxe Vida’s long central table is a truly inviting space in which to spray and explore some of the fragrance world’s leading niche names. Amidst those trying on relaxed glam fashion and accessories or browsing stylish homewares and gifts, there are regular gasps as new fragrance relationships are made. 66 High Street, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN1 1YB luxevida.co

MARC-ANTOINE BARROIS

Um, yes, that is an upside-down rabbit adorning the window of this boutique – a hint that you may indeed find yourself going down the most delightful olfactory ‘rabbit hole’, at the debut London outpost for the fragrances co-created by Paris fashion designer Barrois and superstar perfumer Quentin Bisch. Don’t miss the teeny dollhouse door to a secret scented room at the back of the shop!

4 Piccadilly Arcade, St. James’s, London SW1Y 6NH marcantoinebarrois.com

Molton Brown

Molton Brown’s revamped flagship may hark back to the brand’s roots and original 1970s South Molton Street hair salon for design inspiration, but the digital experience is state-of-the-art. Check out augmented reality, QR codes sharing behind-the-scenes content, not to mention Molton Brown’s uncannily accurate Fragrance Finder experience, to steer you to a perfect, personality-matched scent. Refills, bottle engraving and personalisation services are also on offer, along with a private salon for consultations.

227 Regent Street, London W1B 2EF moltonbrown.com

A glimpse of Luxe Vida’s niche offerings

Marc-Antoine Barrois comes to Burlington Arcade

Molton Brown’s tech-meetsnostalgia West End flagship

PERFUMER H

Just a stone’s throw across Marylebone from the original Perfumer H store (still very much open, by the way) is this stylish sliver of a scented space on one of the area’s chicest streets, proffering an edit of perfumer Lyn Harris’s fragrances, hand-blown candles (all of which can be refilled), pot pourri, the just-released hand wash and more. A meditative spot and a most welcome peaceful pit-stop, away from the West End’s usual frenzy.

19 Chiltern Street, London W1 perfumerh.com

Pulse of Perfumery

To the delight of northern perfumistas, Knutsford’s fragrance mecca (PoP for short) has moved into an exquisite, larger space, showcasing coveted and often hard-to-find brands. Founders Melanie Seddon and Peter Murray have a combined 60 years in the perfume industry and love nothing more than to share their expertise, with the whole team having an almost psychic ability to point you to your next scent love.

63 King Street, Knutsford, WA16 6DX pulseofperfumery.com

SCENT SHOPPING SECRETS

l Be prepared to give your mission plenty of time, whether you’re shopping for yourself, or others. Initially, spray scents on blotters (all these locations will offer those), always labelling with the scent’s name. Smell them again 15 minutes later. Narrow your choices down to three, then spray those on your skin – two wrists, one elbow. Your nose will tire rapidly if you try out more than that, at one time.

l Fragrances take time to develop properly on the skin, so again, give it a while (several hours if at all possible), to allow the base notes –which you’ll live with – to emerge. You may even find that a scent you initially disliked actually becomes a new favourite.

l Professional noses know this: don’t eat spicy or particularly pungent food for a couple of days before sniffing a new fragrance on your skin; it can alter how it smells on you.

l Never be afraid to ask a sales assistant for further information; they’ve often undergone extensive training to be able to guide you toward your perfect fragrance. Don’t feel pressured though – nobody will judge you badly if you go away and come back later having thought about it (and sniffed some more!)

SCENT LOUNGE

20 years of experience working alongside top brands and exclusive stores really shows, in this beautifully curated selection of fragrances, scented candles and lust-worthy lifestyle gifts from heritage names alongside brand new, ultra-niche houses. The perfect place to pop in just to see what’s new and exciting, then treat yourself to something lovely while shopping for festive fragrant gifts.

28 High Street, Arundel, West Sussex, BN18 9AB scentlounge.com

Perfumer H on Chiltern Street

Pulse of Perfumery’s dazzling new space

We’ve sniffed out the perfect perfumed presents for everyone on your list. Tick, tick, tick!

THE GUIDE

CHRISTMAS

2022

SMALL WONDERS

It’s the little things that count – from crackers to tree gifts via soaps and (non-Christmas-scented) candles

Sana Jardin The Sanctuary Mini Candle Trio (Tiger by her Side, Sandalwood Temple, Berber Blonde) £59 for 3 x 70g sanajardin.com

Bamford Cracker Gift (Body Wash, Bath Salts, B Silent Pillow Mist) £26 bamford.com

Aromatherapy Associates Mini Moment Forest Therapy and Deep Relax £12 for 9ml aromatherapyassociates.com

Neal’s Yard Remedies

Dreamy Nights Sleep Duo £10 (Remedies to Roll, Pillow Mist)

Chase & Wonder

‘Christmas Lady’ Luxury Candle Crackers £55 for six chaseandwonder.com

In place of wrapping paper,why not use fabric offcuts tied with a bow – and spritz the material with a favourite scent,for fragrant unwrapping?The fabric can be reused, too

Gaia The Christmas Cracker Awakening Bath Oil Cracker £12 gaiaskincare.com

Jo

Blackberry

Cashmere) £80 florislondon.com

The ultimate treat for any perfumista: a luxurious gift set featuring body delights that say: ‘You deserve some me-time’

Cartier Les Heures Voyageuses Collection £370 (6 x 15ml EDP) net-a-porter-com

TIP

Inaperfectworld, chooseasetshowcasing therecipient’sfavouritescent. Nextbestthing?Something insamefragrancefamily (see‘Find-A-Fragrance’on perfumesociety.org)

Maison Margiela Lazy Sunday Morning & Jazz Club £96 (2 x 30ml EDP) harrods.com

Parfums de Marly Delina £285 (75ml EDP, Shower Gel, Body Cream, Miniature Candle) harrods.com

Kenzo Kokeshi Doll £67 (50ml EDP) theperfumeshop.com

Maison Francis Kurkdjian Baccarat Rouge 540 £390 (70ml EDP, Body Lotion, Candle) harveynichols.com

Mugler Angel £85 (Refillable 50ml + 10ml EDP, Body Lotion) lookfantastic.com

Jimmy Choo I Want Choo £68 (60ml EDP, Body Lotion) boots.com

Giorgio Armani My Way £112 (59ml + 15ml EDP, Body Lotion) theperfumeshop.com

Guerlain Aqua Allegoria Mandarine Basilic £111 (125ml + 7.5ml EDT, Body Lotion) guerlain.com

Bulgari Rose Goldea Blossom Delight £102 (75ml + 15ml EDP) libertylondon.com

Chloe Nomade Eau de Parfum for Her £111 (75ml + 5ml EDP, Body Lotion) selfridges.com

Juicy Couture Viva La Juicy £52 (50ml EDP in pink evening clutch) boots.com

Billie Eilish £51 (100ml + 10ml EDP) harrods.com

SETS APPEAL

Armani Code Homme £62 (50ml + 15ml EDT) johnlewis.com

Jean Paul Gaultier Le Male £56 (75ml EDT, Deodorant Stick) boots.com

Chanel Bleu de Chanel £125 (100ml EDT, Deodorant Stick) chanel.com

Hermès Terre d’Hermès (75ml + 12.5ml EDP, After-Shave Lotion) johnlewis.com

Guerlain L’Homme Idéal £85 (100ml + 10ml EDT, Shower Gel) johnlewis.com

to

SPECIAL BOTTLES

Limited edition collectibles for the true scent connoisseur, almost too beautiful to spritz. (We said almost…)

M. Micallef x Ruh £235 for 100ml eau de parfum jovoyparis.uk

Jo Malone London White Moss & Snowdrop Cologne £115 for 100ml Cologne harrods.com

Guerlain Black Bee Bottle Baccarat Exceptional Piece £22,000 At Harrods (one piece only available)

Penhaligon’s Trade Routes Babylon £190 for 100ml eau de parfum penhaligons.com

Sisley Eau du Soir 2022 Edition £205 for 100ml eau de parfum johnlewis.com

Dior Miss Dior Blooming Bouquet Bobby Limited Edition £390 for 90ml EDP dior.com

Maison Francis Kurkdjian Limited Edition Baccarat Rouge

Jean Paul Gaultier Le Male Collector £77 for 125ml EDT jeanpaulgaultier.com

Jean Paul Gaultier Classique

Estée Lauder Red Limited Edition Beautiful Magnolia Wonderland

these beg to be displayed

HOME,

SWEET SCENTED HOME

Spices, pine, smoke, incense, citrus and (yes) snow –all the scents of Christmas are here

Diptyque Classic and Small Scented Candles (limited edition) in Sapin (pine tree), Etincelles (sparks) and Neige (snow) £65 for 190g, £38 for 70g diptyqueparis.com

Diptyque Extra Large Baies Candle £300 for 1.5 kilos diptyqueparis.com

For best effect,always place a diffuser on a table in the centre of a room, rather than against a wall.The movement of air around it wafts the scent through the space

Acqua di Parma Candles in Bosco (woody), Parma Magio (incense/woods), Pannetone (citrus gourmand)

Floral Street Black Tulip

Henry’s Townhouse Saturnalia (orange and spices) £65 for 220g henrystownhouse.co.uk

Diptyque Carousel Set (with Mimosa and Roses 70g candles) £111 diptyqueparis.com

Malin+Goetz Get Lit (260g Cannabis candle + votive) £52 cultbeauty.com

Vilshenko Winter Candle £120 for 230g vilshenko.com

Maison Francis Kurkdjian (Pain d’Épices, Pomme d’Amour, Mon Beau Sapin) £65 each for 180g johnlewis.com

Parks Starry Night (juniper, frankincense) £75 for 510g parkscandles.com

LET IT

Frosted leaves, frozen lakes, mystical, whitetipped mountains, and all manner of wintry scenes have inspired a flurry of snow-themed fragrances, reports SUZY NIGHTINGALE

HAVE YOU EVER stepped outside on a frosty morning and, nose aloft, predicted the weather?

Many people report being able to ‘smell’ when it’s going to snow, and while some may dismiss such a claim as folksy, (snow)flakey nonsense, it’s now been scientifically proven that odour molecules in the air change prior to a snowstorm.

Even more fascinatingly, it turns out our sense of smell can be temporarily heightened due to fluctuations in temperature and humidity levels. So, even before the first flake has fallen, we are momentarily granted a superpower and primordially primed to be alert to the scent of snow [see The Science of Snow’s Smell, p.42, for more].

Snow feels uniquely thrilling, even if we expect it, even if the weather people on television have got it right and warned us of it. That awakening to a world blanketed white – familiarity smothered, sounds muffled, known landscapes rendered anew – is something we never quite get used to, certainly in the UK (and increasingly in this time of climate change, when vast areas of the country can seemingly go years without seeing a single snowflake).

But when it happens, if it does, a squeal of childish excitement can spring unbidden from the lips of even the most misanthropic adult. Those Victorian Christmas cardesque scenes may be fleeting, the likelihood of saddening grey slush and treacherous, ice-covered pavements only days (perhaps hours) away. Yet in those moments we might allow ourselves to delight a little and dream of cosy log cabins and marshmallow-topped hot chocolates, sleigh rides through winter woodlands and rosy-cheeked snowball fights.

Wherever our wonderment settles, of course, perfumers like to gather their inspiration. And what we have observed at The Perfume Society is that a veritable avalanche of frosted fragrances has found their way into our winter scent wardrobes over recent years. But here’s something I’ve often wondered about: how on earth does a perfumer get a sense of temperature into their composition – a liquid which is

essentially at room temperature? Because some fragrances do smell cold – and it’s a highly impressive olfactory alchemist’s trick.

When I need to make sense of puzzling perfumery techniques, I often turn first to Pia Long, Co-founder of the British fragrance creation house Olfiction, firstly because she’s a brilliant perfumer, but also because she describes things in ways I can get my brain around. ‘Snow does have a smell,’ she says right off the bat. ‘It’s subtle, like the smell of water, but aldehydic, cold, and has a little bit of earthiness or woodiness, too, depending on where you happen to be.’

Pia should know. Though her home is now in the UK, Pia was born and grew up in Helsinki, where winter temperatures dipped, in 1987, as low as -34.3°C; she still returns to Finland, whenever possible. It’s

Best in Snow

1 LORENZO VILLORESI

Teint de Neige

Now available in sparkling scented body gel form, this crackles like a frost fairy’s mirror coated in face powder, coaxed from its ice layer by a flicker of candlelight.

2 DIPTYQUE Neige Candle

Once upon a winter’s midnight, in the depths of a blue velvet sky, phosphorescent shapes are traced in sparkling heliotrope, a cosmic shimmer of cold white musk.

3 CLOON KEEN

Atelier Frosted Moon

Ethereal moonlight kisses frosted grass, sparkles of ice shards piercing beneath winter’s mantle to vetiver’s welcoming earthiness: spring’s bulbs warmly cocooned.

4 4160 TUESDAYS Doe in the Snow

A crystalline breeze brushes snowflakes on eyelashes, a world tinged white while eating peach sorbet in the midst of a magical forest’s wedding feast.

5 L’ATELIER PARFUM Rose Coupe de Foudre

Pia’s expert observation, then, that the smell of snow may even differ, ‘whether it’s snowing directly on you, or you are perhaps walking along in the forest with snowcovered trees and soil.’

So, in Pia’s work creating scents for many well-known houses and rising-star smaller brands alike, she will turn to differing materials depending on the type of snowy scene she wants to create. ‘I’ve often used materials like aldehydes, of which there are actually several different types,’ she says – aldehydes being the almost surreal, sparkling notes that seem to float within a fragrance, most famously within Chanel No5. Continues Pia: ‘I’ll turn to the classic aldehydes, but also variants like pino acetaldehyde or even cyclamen aldehyde. Or I might use ozonic materials, aquatic materials, as well as some earthy traces,

‘Somewhere between a shiver and a heartbeat,’ L’Atelier Parfum say, ‘an intoxicating passion.’ Frosted magnolia unfurls, buxom buds bursting free; roses, berries, no regrets.

6 THE HOUSE OF OUD Wonderly Snow in the desert? Picture this: warm copper bowls of apricots, almond blossoms blooming, plumes of smoke curling skywards, snowflakes falling on sand dunes.

7 KINGDOM SCOTLAND Albaura

An icy gasp of air, the magnificence of a mountain conquered by a woman ahead of her time, marvelling at fresh snow, wild berries and botanicals, her own bravery.

“ ”

8 ROOS & ROOS

Mentha Religiosa

An interplay of shadow and light, a crackle of mint awakens the fizz of bright bergamot, mellowed by powdery iris, threads of patchouli, and cold, clear incense.

9 SKANDINAVISK SNÖ Candle

A fragrant light to guide you through the darkest winter nights (and days), it fills the room with frosted berries, frozen timberwood and pushes stubborn walls back.

10 MONCLER POUR FEMME

In the chicest ski resort, powdered snow flecks cold metal, a crisp morning breeze bringing the mountains closer with drifts of icy flowers’ frozen petals.

11 AGONIST

Blue North Spearmint-tinged botanicals, ginger-tingled herbs and cardamom-kissed woods pay scented tribute to the startling beauty of remote landscapes plunged in darkness.

12

ZOOLOGIST Snowy Owl

Silvery snow hides life, but in the beat of a white feathered wing the owl swoops, furry voles snuggled in mossy tunnels oblivious as the world sleeps and glistens.

13 CREED

Silver Mountain Water

Cascading alpine streams conjured via chilled cassis, sparkling citrus, iced tea and the mercurial illusiveness of ambergris: purity providing welcome breathing space.

14 FREDERIC MALLE

L’Eau d’Hiver

Soothing whispers of endless comfort swirl in exquisite minimalism, a blanket of iris covering frosted hawthorns, radiant hedione glistening through melting icicles.

like geosmin or Terranol [mossy, damp] or Clearwood [a “clean” patchouli].’

In addition to these ingredients, Pia explains, she likes to sprinkle a sense of contrast and depth, via notes of juniper berry, black pepper and/or cypress. For the recent creation of a new Christmas candle for Parks Candles, for example, by the name of Starry Night (see p.35), Pia wanted to evoke ‘a starlit sky on a cold winter’s night. Snow with some trees and earth, and festive touches of frankincense, too. So I used lots of the juniper, frankincense, woody notes, together with aldehydes, to achieve that.’

To bring out frostiness, meanwhile, she turns to eucalyptol, the bracing, cool medicated top note from rosemary and eucalyptus oils, which delivers ‘the desired cold sensation to great effect in snowy scents.’ Some of these materials definitely

Shaun Russell, founder of candle and fragrance house Skandinavisk, believes that until lately, there has been almost a ‘snobbishness’ about Nordic countries. ‘The fragrance industry has never really looked to Scandinavia,’ he smiles wryly when I speak with him via Zoom. Recalling his initial business efforts to whip up a flurry of creative interest in the landscape that he desperately wanted to capture in candles and fragrances, Shaun recalls the time when ‘a French perfumer said to me dismissively, at a trade show, “Isn’t it all just pine and snow…?” That quote’s imprinted on my brain.’

Skandinavisk’s back story is this: ‘British guy meets blonde, Scandinavian girl, follows her for love to Copenhagen, Denmark, then Sweden…’ It sounds like a Hallmark made-for-TV romance movie –but the truth is, having fallen in love with the woman, Shaun then fell for the Nordic culture and the land itself.

need to be handled with care, however; there is definitely such a thing as too much cold in a scent, says Pia, who warns that while menthol ‘can be used in small amounts, it must not be overdosed, or you end up in toothpaste land’. (And let’s face it: no fragrance lover wants to smell of mouthwash.)

But it is only relatively recently we’ve observed this drift of frost-tinged scents sweeping in. Perfumery shelves have for years groaned under the weight of beachy scents and sunshine-inspired fragrances; summer after summer, we encounter special editions showcasing luscious fruits, coconut and/or ‘solar’ notes. The reason for this might be brands’ penchant for uplifting briefs to perfumers – who doesn’t love to be reminded of blissful, sun-drenched vacations? – but

It’s led Shaun to believe that big perfume brands who consistently turn beach-wards for scent inspiration are really missing a trick. ‘Scandinavia has an incredible wealth of nature and diversity of flora. The region has become famous for innovation in the world of food, with huge successes, such as Copenhagen’s NOMA; those guys reinvented a new approach to sourcing and presenting local food which has transformed the global food industry in the last decade. And so I thought: why don’t we try to do the same thing with fragrance?’

Having ultimately found another (less judgey) French nose who’d been in the industry a long time and was looking for a change, Shaun’s brief included hiking him up frozen cliffs and through magnificent forests, sailing on glacial lakes and meandering silver slivers of fjords, so the perfumer could experience for himself the magnificence of the place Shaun has made home. And it certainly isn’t all ‘just pine and snow’, as the sniffy nose dismissed it, at that trade fair; in Skandinavisk perfumes, there’s an awareness of the region’s orchards and blossoms, as well as a sense of the differences that temperature brings to the aroma of nature around us. ‘My wife helped me understand the arboreal forests, rose gardening, temperate

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flora of Scandinavia in a way neither I nor the perfumer had experience of. And putting the two of them together was really fascinating, to see how they talked about scent, season, regions…’

Ultimately, part of the magic of snow in nature is the blank page it presents to us for a little while – a sudden, stark sense of new possibilities, a reminder that things can change in the blink of a blizzard, and that all is not, perhaps, as we normally perceive it. In a perfumer’s hands, and on our skin, as we now wear their intriguingly cold compositions, we experience a surprise to the senses: the smiling shock of smelling winter weather, bottled. Fulfilling, perhaps, an almost child-like yearning for the magical muffling of reality that only fresh snowfall can bring.

As well as the desire to smell really rather cool – in every way.

The Science of Snow’s Smell

Think you’re able to smell a snowstorm? You’re not wrong, says olfactory scientist Pamela Dalton, who explains: ‘That unmistakable snow “scent” can be boiled down to three things: cold weather, humidity, and particular nerves that are stimulated in your brain.’

When temperatures drop to freezing or below, odour molecules physically slow down, making some smells less pungent. ‘In other words, what you think you smell as snow is, in reality, a lack of the usual outdoor odours.’ Simultaneously, at the approach of snow, humidity levels suddenly increase. ‘That humidity is what causes the flakes to fall – but at the same time, it also boosts your olfactory system, making your nose feel warm and moist. You probably associate that sensation with the anticipation of snow, too.’

These aren’t the only factors at play in the fragrance of snow, though. Unbeknownst to you, your trigeminal nerves (which run down either side of the face) are also being stimulated by plunging temperatures. Explains Dalton: ‘Although the trigeminal nerve is separate from your olfactory system – and typically only interprets sensations like mint and spices – this nerve gets turned on when you breathe in cold air, too. Which is another reason why our brains link snow with a distinctive “scent.”’

Some people maintain that ice has a

The room was suddenly rich and the great bay-window was

Spawning snow and pink roses against it Soundlessly collateral and incompatible: World is suddener than we fancy it.

World is crazier and more of it than we think, Incorrigibly plural. I peel and portion A tangerine and spit the pips and feel The drunkenness of things being various.

And the fire flames with a bubbling sound for world

Is more spiteful and gay than one supposes— On the tongue on the eyes on the ears in the palms of one’s hands—

There is more than glass between the snow and the huge roses.

LOUIS MACNIECE (from The Collected Poems of Louis MacNiece, Faber & Faber)

smell, too. Josephine McCarthy, of artisan perfume house Pairfum, explains that’s not so crazy, either – even though we’re basically talking about water, frozen into a solid state. As Josephine says, ‘Ice will trap and hold odours from its surroundings, and this applies to naturally formed or “home-made” ice. In the case of the ice that we freeze and store in our refrigerators alongside food, it can and may capture the wonderful aroma of your garlic bread.’ Definitely something to remember, when filling your freezer full of ice cubes for the upcoming festive season, if you don’t want your cocktails tasting of pepperoni pizza or anonymous blocks of what you think might be chicken stock. But in a creatively positive way, concludes Josephine, ‘the ability of ice to trap smells or odours is also exciting for us as perfumers. Because it inspires us to infuse certain notes into fragrances almost in the way that Nature does in glaciers, frozen lakes and mountain passes.’ Think: pine cones, mosses, woods – but definitely not garlic.

Yardley London is proud to be donating 1.5% of net sales from these products to national cancer support charity Look Good Feel Better (registered charity No. 1031728) to ensure more people can face cancer with confidence.

A WORKING NOSE Isabelle Doyen

It is almost 37 years since Isabelle joined the Annick Goutal fragrance house, where she has been creating perfumes, ever since. Here, Isabelle shares with us the secrets of her working day – and how she keeps the spark of olfactive creativity alive

ISABELLE DOYEN may not be as familiar a name as Thierry Wasser, François Demachy or Jacques Polge (of Guerlain, Dior, Chanel). But – in common with those perfumers – she has enjoyed a long and distinguished tenure with one single perfume house.

After studying perfumery at ISIPCA, Isabelle worked as an independent perfumer, as well as collaborating with her former perfumery professor, Monique Schlienger. Then, following a a serendipitous meeting with Annick Goutal in 1985, Isabelle joined Goutal’s fragrance house as resident perfumer, while also taking over the olfactory education of ISIPCA’s students from Monique. Isabelle has been at Annick Goutal ever since, first working alongside its pioneering female founder, then as the ‘keeper of the flame’ from 1999, after Annick’s death, when the baton passed to her equally creative and talented daughter Camille. Isabelle has also created fragrances for niche brand Naomi Goodsir, and collaborated with Camille Goutal on Voyages Imaginaires, an all-natural perfume range, inspired by travel (alas not yet available in the UK).

When does your day start?

My day – or should I say my working day – starts at 6.30am, because as soon as my feet touch the floor, my nose starts to work, recognising all the familiar smells of the house or even some unusual ones, for example a scented flower bouquet that is in my home.

My nose analyses any and every smell around, up to the moment when I go to sleep...so after the familiar taste and smell of a huge café au lait and a kiwi fruit (every morning I am still fascinated by the design of the kiwi’s interior!), then comes the smelling adventure of the shower, with a ritual of monoï (tiaré) shower gel or orange blossom shower gel. All that leads to reflections about those delicious scents and some new ideas for new formulas, wondering if something would fit. It makes shower time a very important moment.

And then back to reality when my kids kick me out of the place. So it’s another coffee, and then I drive my little car to the lab (20 minutes ride). Usually it is a quite ‘silent moment’ not thinking too much about smells, listening to the news on the radio.

Where do you work?

Our lab is located not far from Arc de Triomphe and Parc Monceau, on the first floor of an 19th Century building.

It consists of two rooms; the door is surrounded by two varieties of jasmine – officinale and sambac – to welcome us. The first room where you enter is the office, though it looks more like a living room, with a nice old velvet couch, paintings by our favorite artists on the walls, books, all kind of little things on the long table which used to be a farm table. You go through it to get to the second room, with the perfumer’s organ and two scales, one for Camille and one for me. We are our own assistants, when it comes to office work and making up formulas; there is only space for the two of us in the lab.

When does your day break down?

When I arrive in the morning I first smell all the blotters prepared the previous day with the different samples of perfumes I am working on, to evaluate their development. Then I turn on the computer and deal with all the emails, sometimes prepare invoices. During that time I might listen to some music like reggae, Bob Marley or Alpha Blondy, or rap, which is Camille’s favourite, and I like it too. That sets me up in a good mood.

I also have to go to the bank, to the post office, which usually takes us up to lunchtime. One particularly important part of my day: I have to walk five or 10 minutes every two hours to shake up my ideas, think about the formulas I am working on.

But I must say that although this schedule looks the same every day, I’ll sometimes find I suddenly I need to break the rhythm, so I might take the Métro to go to see an exhibition, to make my brain travel. The only times when my brain stops thinking of smells is when I go to exhibitions, to concerts (classical or pop or rock) or watch a football match. (I love it when the World Cup is on; in the afternoons, I go to the café next door to watch matches.)

How many fragrances might you be working on at any one time?

Usually, I am working on two or three formulas at a time. So the space around the scale is always very crowded and looks disorganised, but I always know where everything is, and as I am my own assistant it is not a problem.

How do you work?

I write my formulas in notebooks and I need to have different ones for the different ideas. The notebooks

My nose analyses any and every smell around, up to the moment when I go to sleep

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should be nice and inspiring themselves, with a beautiful cover. In those notebooks I also write down ideas of new accords that come in my mind and ideas for other compositions. The work of formulas happens in my mind all day long, right up to the moment I go to sleep.

What kind of other inspirations do you look for?

Inspiration might be smelling natural ingredients –for example incense, or rose, or orris, or vetiver, or alternatively some synthetic ingredients. Equally it might be what I eat (Ladurée macarons in the old days, but not anymore – they’ve changed). Words and movies can inspire formulas or names of perfumes; the name Mandragore was inspired by Harry Potter.

I am also always inspired by travel. Discovering new countries means new landscapes, new trees, new flowers and so new smells too; naturally the brain records that and will use it when creating. When you travel you discover so many things you didn’t know before. It is an invitation to imagine.

Do you break for lunch?

Mostly I buy my lunch to eat in the lab, but sometimes Camille and I go to a little restaurant nearby that makes very interesting dishes, full of unusual tastes. We discovered a bergamot ice cream there. Then the real part of the day can begin – fixing formulas, searching, smelling. It’s like diving into another world.

How does your afternoon unfold?

I’ve noticed that the best time for me to work on formulas is after 5.30pm, when telephone and email get quiet. I can concentrate and really focus on my work, without any music or other sounds.

What time do you go home?

Around 8pm, I go back home with pockets and bags full of samples to think about during the evening. I really am passionate with what I do and I cannot wait to come back to work the next morning.

Do you need to be in a particular mood, to create?

No, I don’t. I can create in any mood.

Is a moodboard helpful to you?

I don’t need a moodboard; it is in my mind as a puzzle, and my job is to make the pieces fit together.

How long does it take you from concept to finished fragrance, in general?

I used to say that it needs at least a minimum of one year to finish a fragrance, but the reality is that it can take much more than that. For Ce Soir Ou Jamais, for instance, it took us hundreds of tries before we were satisfied. But there is no rule, really; sometimes it is much less. For the Forêt d’Or scent in our Christmas candle, it took us a few days. After a few trials, we realised that the first one was, in fact, the best.

How many materials do you have at your fingertips, to work with? And how many in your regular palette?

I have about 2500 ingredients in my drawers to build a fragrance, but my regular palette contains about 200 materials that I use more often.

You worked with both Annick Goutal and now with Camille. How are those relationships different? When I was working with Annick, whom I considered a member of my family, it was a pleasure every single day. Most of the time we worked alongside each other, we were imagining formulas together in a shared notebook, and I was usually the one working with the scale, measuring formulas, because Annick also had to deal with the artistic direction of Goutal brand.

But sometimes I would arrive in our lab – which was originally on top of the rue de Castiglione shop, then later on the first floor of her house – and she would tell me very proudly, ‘Look! I have been using the scale to create these little formulas. Let’s have a smell and take them further.’

Annick and I were really like two nostrils of the same nose, and now with Camille we are two nostrils of a same nose, too. Camille has been with me for more than 20 years and is also like a member of my family. We share the work on formulas and smell everything together. In fact, we don’t only share working time but also travel together and even sometimes take holidays with our kids. We also go to rock concerts together – which I most definitely didn’t do with Annick!

Goutal fragrances and home fragrances in department stores – Harrods, Liberty, John Lewis and online retailers including escentual.com

Find

I am always inspired by travel; discovering new countries means new landscapes, new trees, new flowers – and so new smells too

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Isabelle’s creations: Eau du Sud

Petite Chérie

Songes

Un Aire d’Hadrien candle

Ninféo Mio

Rose Spendide

MEMORIES, DREAMS, REFLECTIONS

Lisa Potter-Dixon

What’s the very first thing you remember smelling? The inside of my dad’s car. He always had a work car, so it was that new car smell, which actually always made me feel sick. As I didn’t live with my dad, my nervousness was already elevated, going from one house to another.

When did you realise that scent was really important to you? As a teenager, it was something my friends and I talked about a lot, always discussing The Body Shop and all the gorgeous-smelling deodorants that were around. I knew it had become important when I started to save up – even though it was only a couple of quid – to buy Exclamation! Everyone in my friend group would deliberately buy different ones, so we could share.

What’s your favourite scented flower? A gorgeous pink rose. I buy flowers every single week; actually, my husband Theo has only ever bought me a couple of bunches, because he knows how much I enjoy doing it. During lockdown I started getting them from Auction Direct Flowers; their roses come on long stems with proper thorns and smell incredible.

What was the first fragrance you were given? It was from my grandma Doris, who loved fragrance, which she always bought in Derby market. I can’t remember exactly what the perfume was; it was a bit overwhelming and grown-up for me and I think she bought it because she liked it.

What was the first fragrance you bought for yourself? Ralph Lauren Ralph, in the pale blue bottle, bought with savings from my café job.

Have you had different fragrances for different phases of your life…? My first properly grown-up fragrance was Viktor & Rolf Flowerbomb. But to be honest, my true discovery of fragrance is something that’s only happened in the past few years; I can’t even tell you what I wore for our wedding, 10 years ago.

My perfume passion came from being sent fragrances to try as part of my job (I keep everything), and honestly through The Perfume Society introducing me to smaller brands and teaching me so much about fragrance. The Smelling Notes break it down so that you have the technical terms, but also the layman’s terms. It’s helped me understand and describe fragrance. I can now talk about fragrance my way – for instance, how Acqua di Parma Bergamotto di Calabria smells like sitting in a library eating a slice of lemon cake, or that Shiro Perfume Parisian Shirt smells how I imagine Tom Hardy Smells!

I love anything I can share with Theo – all of the Martin Margiela Replicas, especially Autumn Vibes. He also smells great in Maison Francis Kurkdjian Baccarat Rouge, which is one of my most-worn scents, but I try not to let him use that too often.

The smell that always makes me feel happy is… the sea. I swim a lot and as

with any smell, the scent takes you to a moment and brings a peace to me; it just makes me so happy. I also love the scent of rain on a hot day. And a bacon sandwich!

The smell that always makes me feel a bit sad is... cinnamon buns or baked bread, because I’m allergic to gluten!

The scent that I love on a man is… Experimental Perfume Club Rose Charcoal, which smells fantastic on Theo. I think it takes a man who’s confident, to wear a floral scent.

The scent I love to smell on a woman is... Thierry Mugler Womanity. A lot of my friends have worn it, over the years; to me it smells of fresh grass. It doesn’t smell good on me, but I don’t actually find that frustrating because after a while, I stop being able to smell the scents I wear. I love being stopped in the street and asking what perfume I’m wearing, though.

The fragrance from the past that I’ve always wanted to smell is… the original Chanel No5. I’d love to know if it really does smell the same today.

What is your favourite book about fragrance? I’ve never read a book about fragrance – I need recommendations – but the smell of a real book is absolutely one of my favourite scents.

lisapotterdixon.com @lisapotterdixon

Make-up artist, author, blogger, Instagrammer extraordinaire (with over 100,000 followers), Lisa loves to party, loves to dress up – at any time of year – and as you’ll discover, here, has a passion for fragrance, too

RIGHT: scents from her sophisticated fragrance ‘wardrobe’, built after learning about scents and smell from... The Perfume Society!

ABOVE: Theo wears EPC Rose Charcoal.

LEFT: cinnamon buns. BELOW: another faveour scent, by Shiro; the original Chanel No5 that Lisa would have loved to smell

Lisa’s five favourite smells

1 A LOG FIRE The cosiness, the warmth, the pub lunch feel.

2 SEA SALT ON SKIN Nothing more gorgeous than the smell of that on your body, when you’ve been for a swim with friends. When I get back to the room I almost don’t want to wash it off.

3 THEO After 18 years, I still love his smell – so comforting and ‘him’.

4 MY WET DOGS Like me, my Yorkshire terrier and my cockapoo love swimming; even if it’s a bit annoying, I still love the smell of them afterwards.

5 SEQUINS My wardrobe is full of them. Vintage clothes give me such joy – the story, where’s it been, what did that person do before me, in that dress…? So the scent of sequins is a bit metallic, but also a bit vintage clothing-y. Love it.

Lisa’s a sucker for the aroma of a wet Yorkshire terrier

Lisa’s favourite flower: longstemmed, fragrant roses

A sequinned Lisa celebrating her 40th in Greece this summer

latest launches

The Perfume Society’s Scintillating Scents is not only seasonally perfect; it offers over 45 ml of fragrance, worth over £100. Priced £33 (£29 to VIPs), find it at perfumesociety. org/SHOP. Prepare to be utterly scintillated by these, among others...

● BDK PARFUMS GRIS CHARNEL ● COMME DES GARÇONS ZERO

● JULIETTE HAS A GUN EGO STRATIS

● JEAN PAUL GAULTIER LA BELLE

● ROBERT PIGUET V

● EIGHT & BOB CAP D’ANTIBES ● CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN LOUBIMAR LÉGÈRE

THE FRAGRANCE FAMILIES

As scentophiles know, fragrances fall into different ‘families’. So we’ve used the same classification system for launches as on our perfumesociety.org website. Just look for the coloured strip above the name of the perfume, which is your visual clue to the families. These are listed below. Most of us are drawn to a specific family/families: once you know which you fall into, that colour can act as a cue – and help you take a short-cut to the ones you may want to try first.

FLORAL FLORAL-AMBRÉE

AMBRÉE

CHYPRE WOODY GOURMAND

We bring you all the newest scents, for going out-out (or cosying up at home, if you choose)

& OTHER STORIES

Midnight Encore

ANGELA FLANDERS Leather Rosa

ARIANA GRANDE Cloud 2.0

We’ve noticed a trend for ‘high street’ fragrances, with this party-perfect offering singled out for much praise by bloggers. This is sheer and airy, yet surprisingly long-lasting, delivering a gauzy veil of black pepper, coconut water, green fig leaves and jasmine petals, before cashmere woods, Ambroxan and salted musks tether it sensuously to skin. (Even more affordable is the Body Mist version, which can be re-spritzed all day, for frequent encores.)

£28 for 50ml eau de parfum stories.com

The darkest roses are budded black, streaks of scarlet showing as they unfurl to an even richer, sometimes almost fuchsia-toned full bloom. Kate Evans’s latest fragrance for this beloved British house captures that, but is rippled with sizzling spices and supple folds of leather along the way, echoing her mother Angela’s love for fabrics and for telling the stories of textures through fragrance. It smoulders delightfully on the body, whatever its gender.

£85 for 30ml eau de parfum angelaflanders-perfumer.com

She sings, she dances and she creates bestselling perfumes in applauseworthy bottles: here’s to Ariana Grande! Her latest flacon is unlike anything we’ve seen before, set to appeal to her scent fans for looks alone, but serving up a – yes – cloud of bergamot, juicy pear and decidedly un-granny-ish lavender, with a moreish heart of crème de coconut, praline and vanilla orchid leading to a final shimmy of blonde woods, musks, Cashmeran and Ambrox.

£50 for 100ml eau de parfum boots.com

Founder David Benedek enlisted Alexandra Carlin to conjure up the rocky, sun-drenched Mediterranean playground of Capri for the newest in BDK’s line-up – ‘an invitation to live the dolce vita,’ and one that’s certainly welcome as the days shorten and the thermometer plummets. Bring summer back in a spritz via Verdelli lemon, neroli, petitgrain and orange blossom, with vetiver, patchouli, labdanum resin and vanilla drifting in as the sun sets on this imaginary villa.

£155 for 100ml eau de parfum fenwick.co.uk

An intriguing, almost metallic wine note suggests pewter goblets, cold incense merging fog and frost amidst a mythic forest tangled with roses. Are they real or part of this fragrant fever-dream? Hours later, cinnamon sizzles, a flickering heat pulsing through amber. Finally, the sense of smudged lips the colour of bruised petals, a flash of fur and undergrowth; the throaty purr of the hopelessly seduced reverberating through a thicket of thorns.

£115 for 50ml eau de parfum beaufortlondon.com

Disruptively, beauty dynamo Marcia Kilgore’s make-up and skincare line cuts out the middle man, offering ‘factory prices’ on Beauty Pie’s collection for those who sign up as members. She’s now now also moved into scent, here with an initially zesty offering – think, lemon and bergamot – which offers wisps of sweet tobacco, a shake of spicy cinnamon and a breath of vanilla musk, as bright jasmine scampers throughout. £100 for 100ml eau de parfum (Members’ price £28) beautypie.com

BDK Villa Néroli

BEAUTY PIE Angelique’s Letters

BEAUFORT LONDON Acrasia

BYREDO Eyes Closed

CALVIN KLEIN Eternity Eau de Parfum Intense for Her

CÉLINE Bois Dormant

Woody, floral, spicy, ambery and altogether intriguing; Eyes Closed was developed ‘to echo both the ancient and contemporary worlds,’ we’re told. A spice trail of cinnamon and cardamom snakes through this cocooning confection, the sweetness of orris cut through by ginger, with papyrus and patchouli paired in the base. Genderless, we suggest you defy the name to keep eyes firmly open, lest it is, um, ‘borrowed’ from your side of the bathroom shelf. From £130 for 50ml eau de parfum byredo.com

CHLOE Rose Naturelle Intense

Eternity’s is a long, long love story, dating back to the era of the supermodel, when in 1988 Christy Turlington first became the ‘face’ of what is now an iconic floral fragrance. Today, she stars alongside her actordirector husband Edward Burns in the campaign for his ‘n’ hers intensified versions of this classic, reinvented here by Laurent Le Guernec and Pascal Gaurin, with Sichuan pepper spicing jasmine sambac and Turkish rose. Eternally gorgeous, that’s for sure. From £57 for 50ml EDP intense superdrug.com

Just as you might shrug on a man’s blazer, this is eminently shareable, delivering a sense of warmth as it drapes over skin. It is intended to evoke ‘the luxurious comfort and understated architecture of the double-breasted flannel blazer that Hedi Slimane has consistently designed through his career as a couturier’, seamlessly stitching together elements of bergamot, juniper, white orris, vetiver and cedar, for a powdery and super-wearable Cologne.

From £195 for 100ml eau de parfum celine.com

COMMODITY Book+

COSMOSS Sacred Mist

Hurrah for refillables! Here’s Chloe’s offering: a fluted flacon that can be topped up time and again. As for the juice: we’re imagining a floaty, roseprint chiffon Chloe frock, on spritzing this – truly petal-powered, with its exquisitely airy fusion of bergamot, neroli and organic rose. Creamy sandalwood, a dash of cedar and vanilla-tinged oakwood tether it to the skin, with – yay! – 100% of ingredients from natural origin. £108 for 100ml eau de parfum (£116 for 150ml refill) boots.com

Commodity offer three olfactory options for each of their fragrances: Personal stays close to the skin, Expressive radiates further, while Bold (our choice – could you have guessed?) adds even greater bravado. Souls seeking the solace in the comforts of a library will adore Jérôme Épinette’s cedar and sandalwood story, encompassing a forest-y mystery that unravels with dry woodiness and smoke on the breeze. A fairy-tale cottage to nestle in? We’ll take it. £120 for 100ml parfum commodityfragrances.co.uk

So, Miss Kate Moss has tapped into her spiritual side, embracing mindfulness with her signature gusto. And we couldn’t be happier with that metamorphosis, expressed via her Cocomoss skincare, but also this astonishingly accomplished Chypre creation in which subtle jasmine and tuberose fuse with geranium and bergamot. It’s the sense-soothing, calming notes of oakmoss, cedarwood and tonka that we’re spritzing and re-spritzing – on and off the yoga mat. £120 for 100ml eau de parfum harrods.com

Fusing art and fragrance, this niche house explores the intricacies of emotions, creative interpretation, and communication, with colours, shapes and textures turned into wearable works of art. Here, Piet Mondrian’s painting ‘Composition II in Red, Yellow and Blue’ is evoked via honeyed tobacco, Florentine iris and delicate florals juxtaposed against dark birchwood and black flecks of vanilla pod. There’s a real sense of depth, of being pulled into the painting itself. £225 for 100ml extrait de parfum selfridges.com

ELECTIMUSS Vici Leather

ESTÉE LAUDER Oasis Dawn

The utterly unstoppable Rihanna debuts her first fragrance, declaring: ‘This exudes everything I feel, everything I am, and everything I want to be.’ We may never enjoy her success, but we can nevertheless be sprinkled with a little of the songstressslash-entrepreneur’s stardust through a warm, sensual floral cloud of magnolia, Bulgarian rose, geranium and musk, fruity elements of coconut, blueberry and tangerine, and a show-stopping finale of patchouli. Brava! £145 for 75ml eau de parfum harveynichols.com

There’s a wonderful tug-of-war at play in this clever composition by Julien Rasquinet. On the one hand it’s a seductive diva with team tuberose, while pulling the other way is a masculine swathe of leather. Entwined by warm amber, they create a charismatic, sweet smoothness, as leather rounds the edges of this notoriously narcotic flower, the buttery white blooms ramping up the sexiness of skin on skin. Together forever. £240 for 100ml parfum electimuss.com

With availability as fleeting as a Bedouin encampment in the desert, Estée Lauder’s limited edition beckons us to ‘escape to a majestic palace of wonder and awe, where lush gardens brim with exotic fruits lit up by the purple shadows of dawn.’ To build this ‘magical mosaic’, rich and fruity Moroccan fig is deployed alongside bright orange flower absolute and vetiver, with ScentCapture Fragrance ExtenderTM technology promising a life of up to 12 hours on skin.

£138 for 100ml eau de parfum esteelauder.co.uk

Hot Couture EDP

Not new, no – but a timeless and classic new look for a fragrance that is equally so. Created in 2000 by the perfumer dream team of Alberto Morillas and Jacques Cavallier, Hot Couture is still seducing, a juicy scent powered by an almost jammy raspberry lusciousness, the white floral elegance of Grandiflorum jasmine spiced by an almost smoky pepperiness, melded to skin by vetiver. Worth rediscovering – or encountering for the first time. £105.50 for 100ml eau de parfum escentual.com

The latest in founder/creative director Dimitri Weber’s celebration of his adopted home in Australia is ‘Carnal, bountiful, and sumptuous, a wind of exoticism to transport you on a journey to islands beyond the Pacific horizon.’ To which we reply, while encased in opaque tights: ‘Yes, please!’ All aboard for an olfactory odyssey by Amélie Jacquin – tingling ginger and pink pepper warming our cockles while geranium, leather and iris offer a serious woodsiness. £175 for 100ml parfum harrods.com

FENTY BEAUTY Fenty

GIVENCHY

GOLDFIELD & BANKS Island Lush

GRAZIA PARFUM Grazia Eau de Toilette

GUCCI The Alchemist’s Garden A Reason To Love

Cabriole

A delightful, whimsically illustrated bottle – drawn by Italian designer Daniela Gerini – showcases the debut fragrance from that finger-on-the-pulse magazine, Grazia. (Which has been in print for 80 years, and is read in 23 countries.) Says perfumer Karine Dubreuil-Sereni, ‘Grazia means “grace” in Italian, so I tried to create something joyful, happy and feminine.’ She achieves it via blowsy white flowers and lush peach, grounded by cedar, sandalwood, white musk. £48 for 100ml eau de toilette graziaparfum.com

HERMÈS Hermessence Violette Volynka

This latest in Gucci’s most exclusive series of scents delights with its union of Damascena rose, peony, cardamom and oudh accord, enfolded in sweet tolu balsam, ultimately wrapping skin in a spellbinding, enduring, velvety warmth. We also recommend that you check out photographer Paulette Tavormina’s ad campaign, with imaginative imagery featuring clouds of petals and butterflies, perfectly reflecting Alberto Morillas’s olfactive wizardry and the spirit of the house. £240 for 100ml eau de parfum harrods.com

Cabriole has two meanings: a dressage move (very Hermès, that), and a child’s leap of joy. So, it’s the name chosen for Hermès’s first fragrance for children, composed, as Christine Nagel puts it, ‘to create a comforting and highly distinctive scented water that signifies the bond between parent and child.’ The alcohol-free composition makes it suitable for use on young skin, scented with honeysuckle twined around sandalwood and osmanthus. Joymaking, indeed. £82 for 50ml eau de senteur hermes.com

INITIO Paragon

JULIETTE HAS A GUN Ego Stratis

Ah, violet. Sweet, sweet Viola odorata. Not a scent you necessarily associate with winter, but Christine Nagel’s composition brings to mind a vision of a floaty chiffon scarf, tucked into the neck of a leather jacket. She has paired a specific violet flower and leaf grown in Tourettes-sur-Loup, near Grasse, with cuir Volynka, a signature skin used for Hermès’s accessories, which artisans tan with oak bark for a robust yet ultra-smooth leather. Bewitchingly animalic, yet airy. £197 for 100ml eau de toilette hermes.com

Fragrance’s ongoing spiritual mood is expressed in this ‘mantra-centric’ creation within Initio’s Hedonist Collection, drawing on ‘sacred woods and plants’, notably powerfully purifying and protective sage and Palo Santo wood. Close your eyes and meditate on how those notes drift through bergamot, lavender, black pepper, delivering on Paragon’s promise to bestow an ‘aura around the physical, emotional and spiritual bodies.’ Olfactory enlightenment. £240 for 90ml extrait de parfum selfridges.com

With a motto of ‘I am not one, I am many’, this always-exciting house invites us to explore the multiple layers of who we are. Looking within, let us revel in this ultramodern Cologne-style fragrance, revealing sparkling freshness up top via refined yet joyous notes of citrus. With a mysterious marine note in the heart, resting on transparent and reassuring muskiness, here’s a way to discover our true scented selves. £120 for 100ml eau de parfum harveynichols.com

HERMÈS

KAYALI Vanilla Royale Sugared Patchouli | 64

LA PERLA Luminous

Celebrating KAYALI’s fourth birthday, a delectable confection, expressing founder Mona Kattan’s obsession with gourmand scents. As she says, ‘I am addicted to the sweet and captivating qualities that this note brings to a juice.’ A ‘boujee big sister’ to Vanilla | 28, this showcases several types of vanilla alongside notes of spicy rose, crème brulée, sugared patchouli, brown sugar, amber and royal oudh. Darkly decadent, utterly indulgent – but not a calorie in sight. £79 for 50ml eau de parfum sephora.com

If you have the olfactory equivalent of Seasonal Affective Disorder, here’s a radiant shaft of sunlight, bottled for our enjoyment on gloomy winter days (and nights). As luminous as the name promises, this woody-floral blend showcases ambrette seed, reminiscent of ‘tropical bliss’, delivering not only warmth but a hint of fruity wine, then bursting with jasmine and a cloud of steam-distilled cedarwood that makes its presence felt in Luminous’s elegant, almost glowing finish.

From £79 for 50ml eau de parfum beautybylaperla.com

LANCÔME

Idôle L’Eau de Parfum Nectar

Dig that dazzling, almost holographic bottle! Lancôme’s blockbuster of recent years has sashayed in wearing yet another get-up, destined to set its many fans’ hearts a-flutter via floral, aromatic elements of sunlit bergamot and pear, sumptuous rose de Maï, Turkish rose and Indian jasmine, rendered smoochy by a base of white musk, a twist of vanilla and a popcorn accord. Described as a ‘disruptive neo-gourmand’, we are finding it addictively moreish.

From £52 for 25ml eau de parfum theperfumeshop.com

MAISON VIOLET Compliment

We never cease to be thrilled when another ‘lost’ French fragrance house rises phoenix-like from oblivion, for our olfactory delectation. Now, it is the turn of Maison Violet, founded in 1827 by Monsieur François-Étienne Violet, whose six scents you can explore in person at Les Senteurs, where it has made landfall. We’ve chosen this bouquet of white flowers – ylang ylang, jasmine, tuberose, freesia – as encouragement to bury your nose in the whole collection, and explore. £135 for 75ml eau de parfum lessenteurs.com

We admit we squealed a little when we saw the miniaturised rucksack flacon at the UK première for this perfume. Echoing the leather accessories of the so-hip designer house (it’s short for Mode Creation Munich), the scent also delivers much joy. Hyper-realistic raspberry provides a piquant contrast to the powdery peony and jammy apricot, while violet leaf and jasmine quickly travel to the lasting trail of Ambroxan, sandalwood and mossnestled vanilla.

£52 for 30ml eau de parfum thefragranceshop.co.uk

Another fragrance that encourages a kind of scented self-reflection (are we sensing an emerging theme…?), this Ego is an olfactory wake-up call. The bracing green freshness of fig leaf is swiftly followed by the piquancy of cassis. Together, these notes deliver the familiarity of softly crushed tomato leaves, along with a mellowing lap of cool, coconut milkiness that caresses, with silkily and cardamom-speckled rose petals wrapped around ambered, tonka woodiness.

£197 for 100ml extrait de parfum harveynichols.com

MCM MCM

MEMOIZE LONDON Ego

MILLER HARRIS Myrica Muse

MORESQUE Scarlet Rouge

MUGLER Alien Goddess Intense

In time for peak cocktail season, Miller Harris invited Emilie Bouge to ‘capture the essence of the apéritif’, in scented form. In a pleasingly circular way, the launch itself was then marked by a café popping up outside their boutique in Covent Garden, proffering drinks inspired by the fragrance. Upcycled rose is enlivened by a jigger of rum, smoothing tart bayberry and juicy strawberry, with benzoin for sweetness and sophistication. Party-worthy? Oh, yes.

From £95 for 50ml eau de parfum millerharris.com

A synchronicity of sensuality, close your eyes and dare to dream of luscious fruits brushed against scarlet lips, porcelain features passion-flushed as a cherry blossom patterned silk robe slips from your shoulders, cool skin slipping into warm water, a contented sigh, spiced incense curling through the ancient marble palace. Well, it certainly beats looking at the window and wondering when the rain will stop! Presented, as we expect from Moresque, in the most beautiful bottle. €150 for 75ml eau de parfum moresqueparfumshop.com

The Mugler collection strides forth with a fragrance that’s not backward in coming forward, confected to celebrate the iconic Alien’s anniversary with a solar floral, firmly grounded in a glowing, benzoin-rich base. Radiating confidence, longer-lasting than ever, the sassy jasmine remains safely cosseted in creaminess – because even otherworldly be-winged beings could surely do with a hug right now, don’t you think? One to wear when conquering something (or someone…) £88 for 60ml eau de parfum mugler.co.uk

PHLUR Missing Person

SANTA MARIA NOVELLA L’Iris

Continuing Sussex-based perfumer Nancy Meiland’s mindful ‘Awaken’ blends, this latest fragrant attar ‘is a shimmering lilac addition’, and ‘beams with higher frequency naturals that evoke purest, white light, a return to the eternal spring of all life.’ A gentle sparkle from mandarin and mint freshens rose, osmanthus and jasmine, while rare shamama oil (herbaceous yet woody) grounds. Like starlight on water – coolly clearing, calming and centring in the madness of life. £50 for 30ml attar nancymeiland.com

Subject of a great deal of chatter, pre-launch, perhaps the reason this scent has been so popular is (ironically) its quietude. This isn’t a dancing on tables perfume; you need to get to know its hushed hug. With the way things are, sometimes gentleness is called for, and with its soft layers of luminous jasmine, orange blossom and sheer woods make you want to snuggle closer. Maybe we’ve been that ‘Missing Person’ all along?

£96 for 50ml eau de parfum selfridges.com

Oh, this is supremely soft – the caress of a sigh over a long-lost lover’s letter, the touch of the violet velvet ribbon that bound them; held to your cheek for a moment, remembering. A scented milestone, it’s ‘the first Eau de Parfum created by Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella after more than 800 years of activity.’ With oodles of buttery orris, breezy galbanum and fluffy musk, our patience is rewarded. £140 for 50ml eau de parfum uk.smnovella.com

NANCY MEILAND Sofia

SARAH BAKER Gold Spot

SERGE LUTENS Poivre Noir

SUNNAMUSK Golden Dust

‘Why be a star when you can be a legend?’ asks the always artistic, eternally glamorous Sarah Baker, introducing perfumer Chris Maurice’s enticing composition for her house. Balancing bergamot’s brightness with the honeyed headiness of orange blossom, petitgrain pierces through the sweet swirl of butterscotch and a dusting of sinfully dark chocolate. Cradled in Laos oudh, Suyufi agarwood and amber, it’s the ’24-karat glow’ of celebrity’s golden age, made manifest. £140 for 50ml extrait de parfum sarahbakerperfumes.com

The eternally enigmatic Serge Lutens, who very much helped kickstart the entire niche perfume category with his pioneering Palais-Royale boutique, likes to give very little away about his fragrance line. For this newest, the only notes shared are those of black pepper – apparent from the first exhilarating nose-rush – further spiced by nutmeg and smoothed by sharpened-pencil cedarwood. But as ever with Monsieur Lutens, we find ourselves in thrall to its elegance. From £116 for 50ml eau de parfum libertylondon.com

From humble beginnings, the brothers who launched this house first worked on a British market stall, but are now opening boutiques worldwide. If you’re looking for a perfect winter floral that’s warm, smoothly composed and generously lasting: you’ve found it. Grapefruit’s fizz dips to a sunset glow of honeysuckle-swagged vanilla creaminess, flecked with burnished amber, fluffed with musk, and swathed in this feeling of happiness that wraps you for hours. Bliss! £60 for 50ml parfum sunnamusk.com

VYRAO

The Sixth

A rose is a rose is a rose, wrote Gertrude Stein – but this cocreation from Pierre Gueros and Philippine Courtière is so very much more than that. Its blooming heart of Bulgarian rose is suffused by gilded elements of osmanthus, saffron and geranium and amber, cushioned by a pillowy base of Ambrostar, vetiver and patchouli. If this was a fabric, it would be the richest, deepest pink velvet, cloaking skin with its richness. £235 for 50ml eau de parfum selfridges.com

At a time of year dominated by va-va-voom scents, Lethe is like stepping from a party into the fresh air of a roof garden, away from the overwhelm of the throng. New York-based perfume designer Ulrich Lang marches to the beat of his own drum when launching new fragrances, but this is worth the wait, with bergamot, lavender and airy water lily juxtaposing the sensuality of cashmere woods, amber and vanilla. And b-r-e-a-t-h-e, everyone. £75 for 100ml eau de toilette ssense.com

As reported in our ‘Fashion, Fragrance & The Feel-Good Factor’ edition of The Scented Letter, Yasmin Sewell has channeled her passion for wellness into Vyrao. For this sixth fragrance, ‘mindfulness and intuition’ are beckoned via basil, cypress and patchouli (‘for positivity’); fir balsam, peppermint and cedarwood (‘to balance the nervous system’); and fennel, angelica and wormwood, to diffuse negativity. Chanting as you spritz is optional. £165 for 50ml eau de parfum vyrao.com

THAMEEN The Rose

ULRICH LANG Lethe

ARQUISTE Indigo Smoke

BENTLEY Bentley For Men Black Edition

Many an issue of this magazine has been powered by the reassuring strength of Lapsang Souchong tea. Carlos Huber developed this tribute to that brew with Calice Becker, plumes of aromatic smoke swirling through a forest, merging with temple incense, evoking a dramatic Wuyi Mountains vista. Magnificent! We were fascinated to learn from Arquiste that the tea was developed by fleeing monks in 1646, preserving their leafy crops by smoking them over pinewood. £170 for 100ml eau de parfum fiole.co.uk

BVLGARI Le Gemme Orom

A fragrant fanfare to the man who created Atkinsons, back in 1800. The historic house celebrates its founder James with a distinctly sophisticated and characterful scent, but imbued with the cheeky wink of modernity for which they’ve become iconic. We adore the aromatic freshness of the finger lime (rounder than normal lime) with the pops of pink pepper and herbaceous clary sage leading to the the suave woodiness of the dry-down.

£135 for 100ml eau de parfum harrods.com

CALVIN KLEIN Eternity Intense for Him

For this incarnation of the brand’s iconic scent, Dorothée Piot contrasts dark woods, almost resinous patchouli and incense against the luminosity of pink pepper, jasmine and papyrus. A perfect example of the perfumer’s skill in using contrast to enhance textural differences within a fragrance – the light is brighter, the shadows and depth thrown forward for the sensorial tension. Echoing the distinctive curves of the Bentley, the bottle also adds a luxuriously enjoyable dimension. £79 for 100ml eau de parfum bentley-fragrances.com

As ever with ‘Le Gemme’ collection, Bulgari tap into their bejewelled heritage via the use of a semi-precious stone – in this case, labradorite from Madagascar, ‘the geological treasure island’ – embedded in the flacon’s gold-rimmed cap. Reminiscent of the aurora borealis, that gem hints at the preciousness of the juice within, a shareable confection blending Bourbon vanilla with leathery clouds of oudh, buffed by the warm, resinous benzoin. All magic and mystery. £268 for 100ml eau de parfum bulgari.com

We love that one of our real-life pin-up couples – Edward Burns (actor, writer, producer, director) and his wife Christy Turlington – are captured enjoying a romantic seaside clinch, in the advertising for this new Alberto Morillas/Frank Voelkl spin on classic Eternity for Him. That duo added a gourmand twist to the fresh, lavenderpowered fougère construction, via a boozy jigger of rum extract, mellowed by vanilla absolute in the scent’s sultry climax. Huggable, indeed. £68 for 50ml eau de toilette lookincredible.com

Oh, what an absolutely marvellous perfume name, for the times we’re living through! Étienne de Swardt always brings a wry sense of humour to his creations, here with a shareable creation in a striking red glass bottle that offers up a sense-delighting gourmand cocktail of vanilla, cistus resin, Bourbon vetiver and rum, spiced by cinnamon and cumin, the intrigue ramped up by a synthetic, palatecleansing note of vinyl. Spritz before putting the world to rights. £205 for 100ml eau de parfum lessenteurs.com

ÉTAT LIBRE D’ORANGE Frustration

ATKINSONS James

GIORGIO ARMANI Code Parfum

HISTOIRES DE PARFUM Encens Roi

JASPER CONRAN Vetiver & Cardamom

Redefining the original Code while retaining its character was the task of Antoine Maisondieu, who’s performed it with aplomb, tapping into woody depths while radiating a new sensitivity in the heart. Aromatic top notes refresh before revealing the amplified softness of both orris butter and iris aldehyde. Sheer yet powerful, the heart extends to the cedar and tonka dry-down. Refillable, as per Armani’s sustainability drive, and wonderful to wear.

£75 for 50ml parfum theperfumeshop.com

High church, perhaps, for those who’ve sinned and most likely intend to again, this billows the sexiest of scented prayers: a melange of magnificently cool incense, as you’d expect, with the playful addition of white cacao leading us further unto temptation. The peppery fruity freshness of evergreen Schinus molle and piquant pimento berries keep things buoyant, while wisps of cold smokiness are woven through ribbons of vanilla as it warms. Get ready to worship…

From €40 for 15ml eau de parfum histoiresdeparfum.com

JUSBOX Visionary Eye

OK, floral, but not as you’d expect –much like Bowie himself (the muse for this fragrance and music pairing), this fascinating niche house never takes the lazy, expected route. Dominique Ropion deftly weaves an ultra-iononeinfused extraction of the iris that’s purer, less powdery, with bracing wormwood, cinnamon and white thyme for a radiant white scent space inspired by Bowie’s ‘Berlin years’ (which shaped the future of music –and now, fragrance). Stunning! £180 for 78ml eau de parfum selfridges.com

Encelade is all somehow rather David-Attenborough-meets-Brian-Cox: you’re beckoned down a path into the jungle, on the slope of a volcano, only to discover a whole new planet, where mineralic vetiver and dry cedar are energised by tonka and tart rhubarb, for ‘an osmosis between strength and sensuality.’ From a new-to-London perfume house (read more on p.14), Encelade is actually inspired by Saturn’s satellite, Enceladus. We say: buckle up for quite the voyage. From £95 for 30ml shymimosa.co.uk

This is one of those rare scents that manages to be simultaneously uplifting and grounding. Cool cardamom revives flagging spirits, held aloft on fluffy white muskiness as the so-soothing vetiver puts a hand in your shoulders and tells you to slow down. Softly woody, this is a sigh of relief, a second skin that’s easy to wear and has timeless appeal for all ages (and genders: we’re totally borrowing it for ourselves!)

£60 for 100ml eau de parfum jasperconran.com

MATIÈRE PREMIÈRE Crystal Saffron

Aurélien Guichard is unique in distilling ingredients grown on his own land in the south of France, for his perfumes. But he ventured further afield – to the crocus-lined slopes of Greece – for the saffron showcased in this spicy, woody, powerful offering, which is enlivened by frankincense oil and given a warm, snuggly halo of musk. Though technically shareable, this is Matière Première’s most overtly masculine creation yet, we feel. Another triumph. £105 for 100ml eau de parfum pulseofperfumery.com

MARC-ANTOINE BARROIS Encelade

“THE FRAGRANCE your mother wore as she leaned over to kiss you goodnight. A significant memory for many. For me, nope. My mum never wore perfume, unless you count the way she sprinkled 4711 like incense around our clapped-out car as we travelled to Bognor every summer. We would pray the fan belt held up for the Chichester Bypass.

How about nectarous honeysuckle wafting through my window as a teenager, filling my young head with romance? That would be a ‘no’ again – although during the great drought of ‘76, in true Heath Robinson style, my dad diverted the pipes from the bath and sinks so that wastewater flooded the lawn, to the point the whole garden had the faint whiff of Imperial Leather.

Hardware store

Beauty editor and www.60.life blogger Jan Masters is sent down a time tunnel via the nostalgic scent of an ironmonger’s shop

For a scent that truly sends me tumbling down a time tunnel, it is the humble hardware shop. During my childhood, our local ironmonger’s was a beacon of reliability and warmth. In the cold winter months, when I accompanied my dad on one of his numerous forays, it was akin to a reaching a log cabin in the woods, even though it stood in a row of uninspiring 70s’ shops.

Perhaps my dad would buy a ball of string, a box of tacks or a tea strainer. Sometimes he’d just swing by for a chat with the owner, a dependable chap in a neatly pressed, parcel-brown overall. Occasionally, he’d even ask to borrow a fiver (I could never get over how my dad, beloved by just about everyone in the neighbourhood, could enter an emporium, purchase absolutely nothing and exit with cash).

The shop offered every widget known – and mostly unknown – to man. It greased the wheels of domesticity and helped make life tick. When you opened its door, the tinkly bell seemed to gaily announce that most things in life were fixable. But it was the smell that really rushed to greet you, comforting yet intriguing all at once. An odour profile that was top notes of varnish and white spirit, middle notes of polishes, paints and paraffin, all resting on a base of scuffed wooden

floor. It was the smell of making things. Maintaining things. Putting things right. I once heard a story that many decades ago, a woman walked into the Guerlain boutique in Paris and asked the assistant to identify the glorious smell that suffused the air. Slightly bemused, the assistant replied that it was a combination of all the fragrances swirling together. The customer, obviously well-heeled, announced that in that case, she would buy one of everything. Now I’m not sure if that tale is true or not, but when I walked into that hardware shop it felt as if every item was contributing its own fascinating facet to the whole olfactory aura. The crisp cleanliness of fresh cotton cloths and linens; the soapy, sudsy smell of detergents; vinegary rinses; steely cool metals; the plasticky smell of food storage boxes and rotary washing lines; rubbery-dubbery shower mats. All these mingled with the stuff my dad told me to stay away from. Stuff that could harm me – but somehow, never him. Earthy fertilisers. Engine oils. Astringent paint strippers. Items that were the essence of my dad. Pure D-I-Y Pour Homme. Occasionally, I come across old ironmongers and love them still, as I do chemist shops that haven’t completely moved with the times and showcase blackcurrant pastilles and Fisherman’s Friends lozenges by the till. I’m irresistibly drawn towards them like iron filings attracted by a magnet. A chance to survey the gadgets and gizmos I never knew I needed. But mainly to enjoy an approximation of that smell.

What might I come out with? Cup hooks? Four candles? Maybe even a fiver? I never know. I do know, however, that for a few moments I will have reconnected with simpler times from my childhood. When widgets were thingies in boxes behind the counter, not an element of the graphical user interface on a computer. When a bloke in a brown overall had time to talk you through the workings of a bicycle puncture kit. And when my dad was still alive…to take me by the hand and fix things.

“When I walked into that hardware shop it felt as if every item was contributing its own fascinating facet to the whole olfactory aura”

A young Jan with her adored parents