Enter Santa Maria Novella’s Peau d’Espagne.
She’s a real stinker.
This I profess with ardent admiration.
But it is not a parfum for the timorous.
It makes your knees knock and your heart race.
When I usually encounter Pierre Montale’s concoctions I buckle myself in for a fragrant thrill ride. There are some times where the fragrance is more carousel than roller coaster but it is a ride. Imagine my surprise when upon trying his latest release, Roses Elixir, I wasn’t sent to the fragrant amusement park. Instead I was talking with a charming ingénue who smelt of a delightful blend of fruit and flowers but mostly of roses.
I love that Prince Matchabelli Golden Autumn is celebratory, rather than melancholy or dreary.
Spicy, woody, balsamic, animalic- all these facets fraternize beautifully.
With all of its old-school orientalia, it has a deeply calming sense of plenitude, without excessive weight.
Ripe pears and apples and the warm baked desserts they star in are staples of my New England fall. When I had read Christine Nagel’s intention was to create a pear accord that encompassed not only the scents of the skin but also the pulpy juiciness under that skin I was enchanted. The main note she was choosing to pair with it has become one of the notes 2010 will become known for, freesia. Freesia has been adding a fresh green quality to new fragrances, all over, this year and the thought of that in contrast to a fully ripened pear accord sounded delightful. Happily Christine Nagel did not leave me hanging on the tree. Instead she has harvested a fruity floral that focuses on the whole quality of the central fruit accord and in conjunction with a duo of old and new floral accords creates a fruity floral fragrance of quality.
In the Fall of 2010 among my most anticipated fragrances this fall is the new Royal Exclusive from Creed, Spice and Wood. Olivier Creed is the perfumer behind this one and he was inspired by the historical romance between Egyptian Queen Cleopatra and Roman Marc Antony.
This inspiration for Acqua Di Parma Colonia Essenza is confirmed by the press materials where the following statement resides; “Colonia Essenza is a new fragrance that highlights the essence of the original Colonia fragrance. The more recognizable notes and accords that represent the “soul” of Colonia are boosted….” If this was the basic brief the perfumer worked off of, they succeeded and, the first two-thirds of the development of Colonia Essenza take this inspiration and make something inspired until the base unfortunately returns to something all too common and keeps Colonia Essenza from being a complete triumph.
