Editor Ermano Picco and I began with an overview of the best perfumes as well as the top trends of 2021. Ermano lives in Milan, Italy and I live in New York City. We haven’t seen each other in two years!!! Often, I am asked is there a difference between how people from different countries judge perfumes? In compiling our top ten fragrances of 2021, it’s apparent that a good perfume is universal.  In alphabetical order our top ten favorite perfumes of 2021 and ten honorable mentions. –Michelyn Camen, Editor-in-Chief

 Michelyn and Ermano’s Top Ten Fragrances 2021 (we overlap on many).

Amouage Epic Woman 56 (Cecile Zarokian): Amouage Epic Woman 56 is every bit as glorious as the original, Cecile’s 2009 opus and first professional fragrance of her career. Richer, deeper darker and simply glorious with its 56 percent concentration -Michelyn

Amouage Material (Cecile Zarokian): In a year filled with “smell alike overly sweet  gourmands”, Cecile Zarokian has created the vanilla  of the decade. Dark and resinous, I want to bathe in all its benzoin glory as swirls of frankincense twirl and entangle me in a web of fine honeyed smoke-Michelyn

Francesca Bianchi Luxe Calme Volupté: It’s hard to tell where the inspiration from Baudelaire’s Les fleurs du mal ends and where the reference trail of Must de Cartier begins. In the year marking the 100^th birthday of Coty’s Emeraude, Signora Bianchi definitely set the bar concocting an opulent, yet refined green amber that is amazingly wearable and balanced. -Ermano

Frédéric Malle Synthetic Jungle (Anne Flipo) Since its name, lovers of contrasts and duality had great expectations. Fortunately, this is not just a crowd pleaser, but a clever fragrance nod to 70’s strong feminine green chypres.-Ermano and Michelyn

 Grandiflora Saskia (Christophe Laudamiel) is the 6th and final fragrance for the Australian brand, so this award is is bittersweet, as a long-time fan of the collection. While past compositions focused on a single flower, Christophe Laudamiel and Saskia Havekes wanted to encapsulate the entire flower shoppe in Potts Point, Sydney Australia which celebrated its 25th anniversary in February of this year. Imagine every flower you might smell entering a flower shoppe and the complexity of their aromas. For a less skilled perfumer, that would be overwhelming. Christophe Laudamiel, who developed his own special gardenia accord for SASKIA, not only succeeds in composing a harmonious floral, but the entire environment of the store itself using native Australian ingredients such as Tasmanian Myrtle and Boronia leaves. Mineralic petrichor gives the impression of the damp wetness of the environs and floor. An unforgettable experiential and multi faceted perfume.-Michelyn and Ermano

Indult My Ju Ju (Nathalie Feisthauer): Soft, sensual and sheer My Ju Ju, is my new perfumed talisman. Unexpected notes of coffee and green cardamom create a multi-faceted vanilla skin scent that lingers for hours. I can’t stop smelling myself. -Michelyn

Masque Milano Lost Alice (Mackenzie Reilly): Down the rabbit hole, there’s a mad tea party, but oh, so fragrant. One could simply tell how good the honeyed sandalwood drydown is. But the peppered Earl Grey tea opening, along with the unique carrot cake core of the fragrance are enough to say Lost Alice is one of the most refined and original gourmands of the last decade. -Ermano

Naomi Goodsir Corpus Equus (Bertrand Duchaufour): “Nuit de Bakélite is somewhat  of an UPO, Unidentified Perfume Object.  Naomi Goodsir Corpus Equus is “another kind of composition, “REALLY interesting.” This is how Renaud Coutaudier, Naomi Goodsir’s co-Creative Director, introduced  me  to Corpus Equus.  Naomi Goodsir Corpus Equus is Bertrand Duchaufour’s tour de force (he was involved from the start nearly eight years ago.  Naomi Goodsir Corpus Equus was love at first spritz, just like Nuit de Bakélite: a scent both wild and mastered, fiery and elegant, dark and luminous, moving and full of complexity. This deeply animalic, smoky leather was inspired by Naomi Goodsir’s white horse named Tequila. Duchaufour workmanship is apparent, and rarely has such an intense leather shown luminosity and so many facets- smooth and incredibly supple. – Michelyn and Ermano

Parfum d’Empire Mal Aimé (Marc-Antoine Corticchiato):  Parfum d’Empire Mal-Aimé is mostly built around weeds that you can find on hillsides when you walk in Corsica. These are weeds that you would never touch, nor smell, but Marc-Antoine Corticchiato) treats them like olfactive treasures and pays tribute to unloved nature. -Michelyn and Ermano

Parfums Dusita Cavatina (Pissara Umivijani): Parfums Dusita Cavatina is an impressionist muguet- a perfect balance of fleeting beauty and gentle emotion. An impressive lily of the valley that captures the ephemeral and embellishes it with everlasting emotion. – Michelyn

Puredistance No. 12 (Nathalie Feisthauer):The flacon may be blue but this chypre floral gleams with gold. Its sophistication reminded us of no less than the otherworldly elegance of Je Reviens by Worth.  A thing of of Beauty is a Joy Forever -Michelyn and Ermano

Rubini Profumi Nuvolari (Cristiano Canali) exudes its Neo-Futurism melody of bubbling steel, adrenaline and horsepower since the topnotes. Composed as a tribute to car racing legend Tazio Nuvolari, as known as “The flying Mantuan”, Nuvolari starts smoky, leathery and rubbery with precious Laotian oud, vetiver and burnt resins. Intoxicating Bulgarian rose and rum throw in that dizzy vibe, yet the fragrance is boosted by a peppered neroli wind. Oud had a great revamp this year, but this definitely is the most daringly sexy and wearable take on it. -Ermano

Olivier Durbano Quartz Quantic 17:8: Inspired by the need for truth, enlightenment and rebirth in dark times this fragrance showcases the signature Durbano incense that shines on the tender rose – a centuries-old metaphor for the Virgin Mary at the heart. Purifying frankincense embraces sparkling florals over a meditative relaxing fir balsam. -Ermano and Michelyn

Voskanian Pêche Chyprée (Tsovak Voskanian) The jewel in the first row of eau de parfum created by this talented Armenian perfumer is reverses the codes of fruity chypres and goes peachy all the way. The opening is an orange-tinged titillating burst. You can almost bite it, feel the pulp down your throat, sprinkled with a spicy touch and cocoa tinged patchouli that gives way to a sophisticated mossy shade. Joyfully chic!-Ermano

10 Honorable mentions from Michelyn AND EACH WIN AN AWARD BECAUSE  THEY ALL  DESERVE ONE: Jorum Studio Elegy,  OUD 7 by Matiere Premiere,  Maison Crivelli Hibiscus Mahjad, Parfumeur du Monde Les Armes d’Aden, Rogue Perfumery Vetifleur, Evernia from Ormonde Jayne, Sous le Manteau Odisiaque n°6, Don’t Explain (DSH Perfumes) by Dawn Spencer-Hurwitz,  Maher Olfactive Treachery Barrel Aged and Gallivant Naples

Now that’s a wrap for Ermano and me. We hope you enjoyed our top ten Fragrances of 2021 (plus) and Best Fragrances of 2021.

Tomorrow, Ida and Lauryn will step in with their respective top ten fragrances of 2021, followed by Nicoleta and Emmanuelle, Despina and Rachel and Olya and Steven.

What did you think of  Ermano’s and Michelyn’s ÇaFleureBon Top Ten Fragrances of 2021?

Thanks to the generosity of Pissara Umavijani and Parfums Dusita, we have a draw for a 50ml Cavatina (value:150€) for one registered reader in EU, USA and UK.

From Marc-Antoine Corticchiato of Parfum d’Empire, we have a 50 mml bottle of Mal-Aime for one registered reader worldwide

Thanks to Naomi Goodsir we have a 100 ml of Corpus Equus for one registered reader in EU, USA and UK.

Please leave a QUALITY comment with your thoughts on our selections, where you live and which you would like to win. You must be a registered reader. Draw closes December 30, 2021

 

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