Left: Delicious sculpture by Artist Will Cotton

"Today there are so many gourmand fragrances it is hard to imagine a world without them.  In the 1990's,one of the important factors in this trend was coined by Faith Popcorn, who wrote of the lifestyle concept of "cocooning"; a general feeling of happy times spent at home with friends and family. Watching movies at home, cooking, dining  and throwing lavish parties  became very popular again.  People began to seek out new and exciting things to eat and drink. This Macro trend also connected well with fragrances, and the first modern gourmand Thierry Mugler's Angel debuted (Angel is thought by many perfumers to be the child of Shalimar.  This was archieved by removing the old fashioned powdery notes and replacing them with chocolate, adding more vanilla and then removing the classical citrus notes and introducing a juicy dewberry accord. It seems that was old  became new again)".-Kevin Verspoor, Independent Perfumer and Contributor

 

AlexLaw aka Masterofstyles, Contributor

Hilde Soliani's Doolciiisssimo is based on an unconventional Milanese desert, a vanilla custard cream wrapped in cherry tobacco. Rare is the perfume where every single wearing feels like the first but rarer still is the one that screams "this perfume is me" Doolciiisssimo achieves this tireless affinity, never failing to melt me on the spot in the best gourmand tradition

Nancy Knows, Contributor

 Dark Queen  via designaemporter.tumblr.com

I have a love-hate relationship with gourmands, as on first spray they appeal to me as comfort fragrances, but most of them cloy after a few hours’ wear.  Serge Lutens Arabie is one of the few sweet scents that never becomes sickly or insipid.  Its inspiration is a mid-Eastern spice shop, but it reminds me of the version of faerie from my beloved urban fantasy novels.  Smoke tendrils curl in and out of a dark wood over plates of candied fruit and rare spices left out as tribute to a dark queen.

Valerie Vitale, Contributing Editor

Great gourmands speak to opulence, tap our imagination, and concentrate on the sensuous side of gastronomy. Arquiste Parfumeur Anima Dulcis by perfumers Rodrigo Flores-Roux and Yann Vasnier delivers this and more in a formula whose core is based on a recipe for spiced hot cocoa that Carlos Huber rediscovered while restoring a 15th century convent in Mexico City. Ornate notes of Chocolate, Vanilla, Cinnamon, and Chili are kept in line by striking animalic and subtle smoky strokes, creating kindling warmth, and making it an almost edible fragrant flame.

John Reasinger, Sr Editor

When it comes to something yummy warm and ultra-comfortable I always reach for Hungry, Hungry Hippies by Brent Leonosiso of  smell bent. With its delicious and decadent blend of dark cacao-cannabis brownies dusted with robust cassis it truly takes my breath away and warms my soul at the same time. An unusual addition of a soil tincture adds to the already earthy dark patchouli and a sublime woodiness reminiscent of sandalwood remains on the skin sprinkled throughout with powdery hints of chocolate.

Ever on the cutting edge, far outside the box, Etat Libre d’Orange’sTilda Swinton Like This is the perfect gourmand that, technically isn’t one. An amazingly inspired perfume that is creamy, yet smoky, and has a superb balance in the maple-heavy immortelle flower and softly spiced pumpkin capturing a collection of smells more like grandma’s kitchen than any one particular food. Soft flowers, including a sweet and nutty heliotrope, augmented with musk and vetiver make this a wonderful potion and a true olfactory treat.

Kisses 2004 Artist Will Cotton

Tama Blough, Sr Editor

There have been perfumes with edible notes for ages, but the modern perfume that launched a thousand imitations is Thierry Mugler Angel. Chocolate, vanilla, caramel, all kinds of yummy ingredients combine to make a perfume masterpiece that has polarized the perfume community, but found a late-bloomer fan in me. I own it in several iterations, and enjoy all of them. When I wear Angel, I remember to apply discreetly, and it is a warm cloud of delicious.

 

Cocoa is an interesting note in perfumery; one that I have come to appreciate over time. One of my first experiences with cocoa as a note was in the divine Cocoa Tuberose by Charna Ethier of Providence Perfumes. The combination of the cocoa with the heady, tropical tuberose was a stroke of perfumery genius. I remember the first time I smelled it, my perfume world was expanded tenfold into whole new ofactory territory. I cherish my bottle.

Mark Behnke, Managing Editor

Despite my profligacy when it comes to perfume I am a creature of habit in many other parts of my life. One of those is my morning coffee from Starbucks. I drink a Hazelnut Macchiato replace the vanilla flavor with even more hazelnut. I love the aroma and flavor of hazelnut. When I want hazelnut in my fragrance I turn to 2006’s Parfumerie Generale Aomassai. Pierre Guillaume also knows how to hold the vanilla and add in an overload of hazelnut as the opening phase of Aomassai is all about hazelnut contained in a lush candy coating of caramel and licorice. A pinch of spicy cinnamon and the resinous woody base make for my favorite hazelnut fragrance.

If we’re having hazelnut then I need some coffee and for that Bond No. 9 New Haarlem is the right cup of olfactory java. Maurice Roucel created one of the great gourmand perfumes in 2004 with New Haarlem. M. Roucel doesn’t make a still life of coffee he creates an impression of coffee and swirls in fascinating add-ins like lavender and patchouli along with the obvious like vanilla. His use of patchouli, in particular, is brilliant here as it is the linchpin which turns this into a piece of olfactory art.

Ice cream Cavern Artist Will Cotton

Michelyn Camen, Editor-in-Chief

I am a candy girl in a Mitsouko world.  Which is ironic because I don't have a sweet tooth and I seldom eat desserts. Blame it on the calories; I rather waft than ingest.  Vanille Aoud by Parfums M.Micallef is a stand out gourmand and is the first  Parfums M.Micallef I bought, back in 2006 (before the bazillions of ouds flooded the market).  Billowy clouds of vanilla and ylang-ylang bathe in benzoin then  swirl around a barely there oud note which adds depth and richness to a seamlessly blended composition (created by Jean Claude Astier,2005). A  hint of  dried fruit and a sprinkle of spice makes Vanilla Aoud perfect for the Oud-phobic and those leery of yet another cloying generic vanilla perfume. There is really nothing else I have smelled like it.

Art Direction: Michelyn Camen, Editor in Chief

 

For our favorite Gourmand Perfumes Draw:

100ml of Like This Tilda Swinton  courtesy of Etienne de Swardt and the team at  Etat Libre D'Orange  Worldwide

 75 ml of Vanille Aoud courtesy of Martine Micallef and Geoffrey Nedjman of Parfums M. Micallef WORLDWIDE Available at Parfumerie Nasreen

Merci to Laurice & Company for 100 ml of New Haarlem from Bond No.9 USA ONLY

Courtesy of the Beautiful Nasreen of Parfumerie Nasreen 1.7 oz of Arquiste Anima Dulcis USA ONLY

Thank you to our friends at fragrancenet.com for 1.7 oz of Serge Lutens Arabie. USA ONLY

With gratitude to Natural Perfumer Charna Ethier for 30 ml of Cocoa Tuberose. Available at Twistedlily.com USA ONLY

Our generous friends at Clarins USA, who are the US distributor for Thierry Mugler Fragrances are sponsoring 1.7 oz of Angel in the refillable Shooting Star flacon USA ONLY

To be eligible please leave a comment with your thoughts on gourmand perfumes, our perfume reviews and which of the 7 above (list as many as you would like, country restrictions)  you would like to win. We can't guarantee it, but we will try to match you with your selection. Happy Halloween from all of us at CaFleureBon. Draw closes November 4, 2013

 

Editor's Note: I asked Fragrance Expert and author Michael Edwards for additional insight into Thierry Mugler's Angel. He wrote, "Thierry Mugler expressed the concept of a gourmand fragrance most poetically in  the book Perfume Legends by Michael Edwards:I want something mouth-watering and tasty, which reminds me of my childhood¹, he said. The scent of a fairground, candy floss, little cakes, chocolates, caramels and things like that¹. Initially, it surprised us. Imagine, a couturier¹s perfume which conjures up the scents of childhood. But the more we thought about it, the more interesting the idea seemed. And so, Yves de Chiris,[former vice president of fragrance marketing at Quest International], perfumer Olivier Cresp and I started to work on the idea".-Michelyn

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