Simon Waddell with guests

My second afternoon was a lot of fun, starting with a sniff of the Harrod's-only Piguet exclusive Knightsbridge, CaFleureBon's Best scent of 2013 and which was being kept under the counter. Simon Waddell, who is a UK rep for the brand, told me he had given the perfume its name. It is as rich and beautiful as it has been described, and I'm going to erase it from my memory banks so I don't start coveting it. I believe I am, however, fairly free to covet the perfume I got a sneak peek of, which has yet to be named, unless it's the next one for Harrod's. Simon told me one name kicking around is Gardenia Noir, and I blurted out, "No noir! Everything is noir now even if it smells fresh as a daisy." This new perfume is full-bodied, but not noir. He agreed and said another name being contemplated is Opera. I said that was much better, because I could envision the ladies in their finery wafting the perfume, which is kind of the gardenia version of Fracas, rich and opulent. I'm definitely looking forward to its release.

I had been walking past an enchanting woman in a cute hat a number of times and I was finally able to approach. It was Naomi Goodsir, whose brand I had heard about but never experienced. Bertrand Duchaufour, who has been very busy at this show, was able to give a rundown on their new fragrance he created, Or du Sérail. It's a deep, almost wet, tobacco, laced with dried fig and sweet ambery notes. This one is definitely in my wheelhouse and I think my eyes may have rolled back a bit. This was actually my third encounter with M. Duchaufour of the show (my second is below), and I told him I'd been stalking him. He seemed to enjoy my reactions to and off-the-cuff descriptions of his new fragrances, and he gave me a friendly arm squeeze as he took off. Naomi herself is really lovely, an Australian transplanted to France, who makes hats and used to be in couture, and I enjoyed finally being able to try the line.

Sometimes the best-made plans fall flat. Perfumer Cécile Zarokian was there to talk about an art collaboration she did with illustrator Matthieu Appriou, which is a series of six illustrations that each have a perfume accompaniment, and I had been looking forward to meeting her and seeing her presentation. The description says, "The two artists decide to express their creativity away from any commercial or marketing approach by setting the brief themselves. They alternate leading and setting up rules for each other." When I arrived, Ms. Zarokian was giving a tour of the work, but it was in French, so eavesdropping didn't help, and she had a few people waiting, so I smelled the perfumes and looked at the compelling images. I could smell the fragrance on paper or from a small fan diffuser, and both methods worked. I liked all of the perfumes, and wouldn't mind if they added a bit of commercialization and marketing to the project so I could wear them.

Alexandra de Montfort

I stopped by to see the Rouge Bunny Rouge line, since I had never smelled them. We have already reviewed everything new, but founder Alexandra de Montfort gave me the scoop and a sniff of four scents coming up later this year. In May, two scents, Tundra and Silhouette will be released. Silhouette is a soft, warm, rounded scent that contains no flowers at all. Tundra smells like it sounds, like moss underfoot, grass, vetiver, and permafrost. In October, two more come out, Timeless and Arcadia. Timeless is vanilla, rum, and an almost plush suede, and Arcadia is what she called a "sci-fi" perfume: a bit edgy, with metal, carrot and amaretto notes. All of these were interesting and unique, and I am hoping to try them all on skin at some point.

Carlos Huber

I was very excited by two new releases from Arquiste. Founder Carlos Huber was able to tell me about the scents, L'Etrog Acqua and Architect's Club. L'Etrog Acqua was created by perfumer Rodrigo Flores-Roux for himself as a summer scent. He liked the citrus of the regular L'Etrog but for a summer scent didn't want the dates and warmer elements. Carlos smelled it on him one day and said "What is that?" With a bit of tweaking it became what he calls "not a flanker, but a brother from the same gene pool." It is so juicy I wanted to drink it, just bursting with great citron, grapefruit, and petitgrain. Architect's Club is by Yann Vasnier, and is a wonderful dry vanilla with a crisp gin opening. It is inspired by the idea of a posh Art Deco smoking room, and is really appealing. Both of these new fragrances are excellent.

Sunset outside the Triennale, First Day of Spring

I wandered a lot today, and visited with some people I didn't manage to get a picture of, or I was just introducing myself. My second encounter of the Duchaufour kind came at Ann Gerard's table. He composed her latest fragrance, Rose Cut, which is a balsamic rose fragrance with patchouli, oak wood absolute, rum and other yummy notes. I also had to meet Ulrich Lang, who instantly made me feel like his BFF. We are born two days (and several years) apart, both Libra babies. He's just fun. Maria Candida Gentile, whose perfumes I like very much, was happy to meet me, since I had reviewed some of her work. Before I left, I went back to see Olivier Durbano, and spritzed myself with Rose Quartz for the evening. Still more to come tomorrow, my last day! Side note: young Italian businessmen are some seriously stylish guys.

Tama Blough, Deputy Editor