Our Top 25 Perfumes  (and 5 more) of 2014: Senior Editor The Silver Fox and and Michelyn Camen, Editor in Chief

 After our  CaFleureBon Best and Worst Fragrances of 2014,  The Silver Fox and I  wanted to spotlight our favorite fragrances, the ones we found ourselves returning to, again and again. We have similar tastes and personalities although Foxy is much more experimental when it comes to fragrance. We both love gourmands and tend to wear scents from independent perfumers.  However, this year a surprising number of designer fragrances adorn our shelves.  We live on different continents, but our love for perfume crosses the pond.   Sometimes we surprise each other!   Our Top 25 picks and 5 more in alphabetical order. –Michelyn Camen, Editor in Chief

Architects Club – Arquiste (Yann Vasnier)

A near perfect exercise in vanilla. Varnished wood and Carlos Huber’s deco diamond, this is the Arquiste scent that was MC’s favorite of the year and a top five for Foxy. Yann Vasnier’s truly delicious play of sweet golden vanilla  poured over a cold gin accord. The use of chilly juniper and the anisic breath of angelica in this fragrance is masterful. Greater than Gatsby. –MC and TSF

B Balenciaga – Balenciaga (Domitille Bertier)

First new Balenciaga scent launch under artistic tenure of US designer Alexander Wang and it’s a winner. Stylish and unusual, a brilliantly green textured lily of the valley with green pea and iris. Like dusting sugar on salad. Brilliant. Beautiful frosted bottle too, inspired by the marble floor of the Balenciaga showroom in Paris. –MC and TSF

Copal Azur– Aedes de Venustas (Betrand Duchaufour)

Two outstanding launches this year from Aedes de Venustus and both made my list of best fragrances of 2014. I will start with Copal Azur.  Loved this smoky aquatic from Bertrand Duchaufour, who pulled something different out of his bag of perfumer’s tricks for his second scent for Karl Bradl and Robert Gerstner's must-visit NYC bijou boutique. Not your normal hazy touch of smoke used here,  rather the highest quality frankincense I have smelled in quite some time. Bertrand Duchaufour is a magician and conjured up a copal accord that had me swooning.  An offbeat and delicious roasted scent of tangy salt and green shifting Yucatan winds. No one knows their way around frankincense like Duchaufour and Copal Azur was as fascinating a fragrance as I have encountered this year. Smoke on the Water –MC

Cuir d’Ange – Hermès (Jean Claude Ellena)

12th Hermessence and a brilliant return to form for one of all the time greats, Jean-Claude Ellena, my hall of fame inductee for 2014. Butter soft leather in liquid form.  Homage to Jean Giono, Ellena’s favourite writer and of course leather, the lifeblood of Hermès. Silky, saddle stitched, tanned and blushed. Who wouldn’t want to smell like a vintage Birkin while wrapped in a grand cashmere carre. My favorite Hermessence since 2004.

Foxglove – HYLNDS/D.S. & Durga (David Seth Moltz).

This dazzled me and was my perfume of the year. David Moltz can do no wrong in my eyes and this very different scented launch, a haunted, wild and wind-scoured homage to the legend of Oisin and his lady love Niamh just obsessed me and did not let go. The use of peach skin and iris, wild carrot and musks was both delicate and oddly profane. A scent of love lost and poetry in olfaction. I will wear it forever. -TSF

Knot – Bottega Veneta (Daniela Roche Andrier)

Gold, cold and drenched in sleek style, this aloof essay in orange blossom by Daniela Roche Andrier was sublime and another beautiful addition to Bottega Veneta’s pefume line after Michel Almairac’s gorgeous 2011 leather infused masterpiece, which won my best bottle of 2014 award as well.-TSF and MC

La Panthère – Cartier (Mathilde Laurent)

Mathilde Laurent has paid homage to the elegant Cartier panther with chic and radiant juice. The more we wear it, the more we like it, it feels right on the skin, made for wearing when we want to feel a little naughty; the seamed silk stockings of scent (for Michelyn of course). And, ahh that bottle!  An outstanding reinvention of the fruity chypré for contemporary times.-MC and TSF

Liqueur Charnelle – Huitieme Arts (Pierre Guillaume)

TSF and I agree that any fragrance by Pierre Guillaume automatically gets our attention and usually has us digging deep into our wallets.  Pierre's  work never fails to impress me. This boozy homage to cognac is lush and magical. A scented crush of berries and smoky leather to drown in. If Bryan Ferry wore a scent he would ooze this carnal aroma.  –MC

Maai Bogue (Antonio Gardoni)

In some ways ‘Maai’ is almost indescribable, barely scent at all, more an experience of dirty, mulchy olfactive collision. An underground cavern of pissy earth and dank, sweet walls. A whiff of 70s backroom, an abandoned greenhouse, rusted scissors; sweat on a loved one’s thigh. And it is also immensely magnificently beautiful, a truffly chypré style odour that coats the skins and demands  attention from start to finish. Not for the faint of heart. A friend who wore it the other night worried she might get arrested for indecency. How fabulous is that? –TSF and MC

Nevermore – Frapin (Sophie Ann Behaghel)

A shadowed rose, inspired by Poe’s macabre masterpiece ‘The Raven’, Something different from Frapin, a cellar damp rose and wine-stained books. The unsettling verdancy of Florazone and aldehydes in the top is the creep of dark garden fluttering into the room on raven wing. –TSF and MC

Oeillet Bengale –  Aedes de Venustus (Rodrigo Flores Roux)

"Œillet" is  French for carnation, but Bengale Oeillet is actually a type of China rose. It was the flower’s arresting appearance, not the scent that was the inspiration for the fragrance. Karl Bradl came across a rendering of the flower by the 17th Century botanist Pierre Joseph Redoute and found himself “seduced by the shape-shifting blossom.”  Rodrigo Flores-Roux is one of my favorite perfumers and brings brightness and radiance to his fragrances even when he is working with a powerful palette. Oeillet Bengale is an oriental that does not play hard to get, it pounces but ever so softly; it is a  rose and incense perfume that stands out in a crowd of a gazillion rose and incense perfumes. Rodrigo Flores-Roux brings both luminosity and smolder in this "flower on fire". –MC

Promethée – Olivier Durbano

 Why aren’t Olivier Durbano’s perfumes more recognized? Olivier Durbano is a French jeweler, specializing in lapidary, the use of gemstones. His Bijoux de Pierres Poèmes (Perfumes of Poetic Stones) launched in 2005 announced his unique scents to the world.  Promethée is his 10th and his most beguiling jewel.  Like a necklace, herbs, spices and precious resins are strung together with a wild fennel note. A smoky, myrrh tinged marvel. –MC

Rose Cut – Ann Gerard (Bertrand Duchaufour)

Rose Cut is defiantly beautiful, raging against the vanishing bloom and conformity with velveteen poise and the dignity of a single petal dropping oh so quietly to rain-torn ground. This is a glittering rose to burnish quiet skin. – TSF

 Rozy Voile d’Extrait – Vero Profumo (Vero Kern)

When Vero told me in 2013 she was creating a rose scent I was overjoyed, one of my favourite blooms in the anarchic hands of a unique sensualist. ‘Rozy EDP’ and the ‘Voile D’Extrait’ were both inspired by the Italian actress Anna Magnani, a performer like none other, real, emotional and deeply sensuous. I preferred the plasticised jammy creativity of the Voile, it smelled like spilt sweet rosé wine on a hot summer’s day.- TSF

 Ragù – Maison Gabriella Chieffo (Gabriella Chieffo)

An utterly unique savoury gourmand scent, capturing the slow simmering magic of ragu sauce cooking over a pensive, languid weekend. A concept fraught with pretention, but pulled off with heavenly aplomb by Gabriella Cheiffo through a mix of delicate notes, wit and personal belief. The Cheiffo quartet of scents explore themes intimately connected to Gabriella, yet somehow make them deliciously universal and approachable. Ragù is weird and lovely, a soft rub of memory that delights and moves. –TSF

Russian Tea– Masque Milano (Julian Rasquinet)

It was tough choosing between this and Cécile Zarokian’s ‘Tango’ from such a impressive house. Riccardo Tedeschi and Alessandro Brun have assembled a sexy company of noses to build their operatic vision of perfumes. But ‘Russian Tea’ has a wild almost druggy mint note floating over the animalic tea and sweet raspberry. I normally loathe mint in scent. So for me to be this in love with a mint perfume demonstrates Rasquinet’s seductive skill. Everything about ‘Russian Tea’ is texture and ambiance, a scent of ritual and stillness, beauty and careful art. – TSF

Sadånne – Slumberhouse (Josh Lobb)

 I laughed out loud when I first sprayed this. Josh is the reclusive scented maverick of niche perfumery. His work is extreme and brutal. After the huge bloodstained cranberry shock of ‘Zahd’ I wondered what would come next; the answer was ‘Sådanne’, a viscous boozy strawberry-wine drenched thing that reeked of seared Haribo. (I know this as I experimented and scorched giant Haribo Strawbs with a cook’s blowtorch and yep… bang on…). I love Josh’s refusal to play the game, to refute top notes. He is interested only in the sublime fade as the notes coalesce and die. This is brave perfumery and ‘Sådanne’ is uncompromisingly addictive –TSF

Salt Caramel – Shay & Blue (Julie Massé)

Shay and Blue’s cultured gourmand is one of the finest I’ve worn for a while. Skin smells seriously halcyon and lickable. In the talented hands of perfumer Julie Massé, the thoughtful alliance of caramel and salt has been raised to the olfactive equivalent of classic French patisserie. –TSF

 Simply Jil Sander – Jil Sander (Christophe Raynaud)

A whisper of leather is wrapped around the central violet motif like a modernist Bauhaus bouquet. It serves to liquefy the notes, taming the massive nostalgic punch of Fahrenheity violet. I can’t deny how much I love wearing this right now, both as an example of a fine modern launch but also obviously as a scented shard of teenage biography. –TSF

Sunshine  – Amouage (Sidonnie Lancesseur and Christopher Chong)

Most unusual Amouage in years, bright and smiling in the most divine creamy royal golden hued flacon. First of the Midnight Flower collection, an oriental gourmand, it delivers a big punch of blackcurrant and almond with sophisticated white flowers, and just a whisper of resins resting on  the most fabulous vanilla base. A scent created to celebrate Creative Director Christopher Chong’s desire to bottle happiness. He did. –MC

Tango – Masque Milano (Cécile Zarokian)

 The most beautiful of perfumes from my Best Perfumer of 2014, Cécile Zarokian. Tango is part of Masque Milano’s (Cafleurebon’s Niche house of  2014) ongoing operatic project with a collection of some of the best noses around. Tango, as its name suggest is an  ambered dance, a dark duet of spice and flower, swoon and resistance. –MC

 Tobacco Rose – Papillion Perfumery (Liz Moores)

Foxy loves his roses and Tobacco Rose is a sexy, full-blown clinging rose, ideal for sex and drama. ‘Tobacco Rose’ is velvet darkness, a scent of illicit rendezvous. Her rose petals burn like flames in the night. I love it. –TSF

 Wisteria Hysteria – Commes des Garçons x Stephen Jones (Nathalie Feisthauer).

 I have been wearing Comme de Garçons fragrances since my late teenage years; they are part of my olfactory landscape. I watch everything they do with interest. This frozen veil of floral desire, homage to the snowy falling tendrils of chilly wisteria was my CFB collaboration of the year. Stephen Jones is arguably one of the most influential milliners of all time and has worked with Rei Kawakubo of CdG many times over their long and respective careers. This brilliant, icy work was authored by Nathalie Feisthauer and captures the rather terrifying beauty of perfect millinery whilst reflecting the oddly wintered drop of wisteria’s alien charm. The scent is one of icy powder and shattered white carnations imbued with steam and starch. Distant but fabulous. –TSF

Yesterday Haze   – Imaginary Authors (Josh Meyer)

 A wonderfully arranged story of fig, walnut, dust and musks set against a luminous fictional backdrop of orchards, crop dusters and adultery. Josh’s use of imagined allows the mind to soar and olfactory notes to roll, flow and linger. My skin loves his work and ‘Yesterday Haze’ is a balmy evening walk, dusted in nebulous figgy woods, wondering if love is worth the price of pain. –TSF

 Violettes des Czars – Oriza L Legrand (Frank Belaiche & Hugo Lambert)

Outstanding resurrection of a vintage royal Russian violet. I smell a gamut of effects from lemon balm and spearmint tea to licquorice and shattered macaroons. Everything coalescing into a deeper, more mysterious metallic version of itself, weary but radiant with night and memory. –TSF

Five More Best of Scent (because a Top 30 sounds awkward)

Blanche Immortelle – Atelier Cologne (Jerome Epinette)

My relationship with French niche house Atelier Cologne started from their first sale; a display on a cramped corner at Bergdorf Goodman in 2010. Creative Directors Sylvie Ganter and Christophe Cervasel have jazzed up the genre of cologne, blending classic citrus notes with the highest quality materials, creating serious niche scents with cross over appeal.  My choice in a year that saw four releases from this Maison de Parfum is Blanche Immortelle from the Collection Métal, a complex homage to one of perfumery’s most precious notes, the bittersweet scent of immortelle. Under less deft hands immortelle can smell like maple syrup, but perfumer Jerome Epinette created a delicate beauty which I believe may not be the crowd pleaser and is much overlooked–MC

Dirty Flower Factory – Kerosene (John Pegg)

An unsettling and powerful floral, one that sits in air, waiting for words to form. It has its own sense of seduction in the glint of ambered jasmine, an opiate radiance that really seems to stain the air around you. I smell a lot of fuzzy musks amid hydraulic accents easing out a potent drydown, the musks are oddly pollen-tinted, with a oily mimosa hit. John Pegg’s masterwork, mature and intensely moving. –TSF

Eau d'Hongrie–  Parfums Viktoria Minya (Minya Viktoria)

The grapes of rapture. I am besotted by this sophisticated gourmand, a honeyed brew of ambrosial floral notes and Tokaji Azu dessert wine.  Pure decadence in a bottle, from the perfumer who created a company called Hedonism. I feel like Alice in Perfumeland with a bottle labeled "drink me". –MC

 Junky – Jardins d’Ecrivains (Anais Biguine)

 Anais’ best scent yet in our opinion and the most arresting. The more we wear this inky floral wraith of a composition, the more we realize how unconventional and skilful it is. Inspired by Willam Burrough’s scrapingly honest drug memoir, the potency of the couture gardenia note dressed up in iris folds and violet dust belies the power of the expansive cannabis resin head note that digs down richer and deeper as it settles on the skin. An ongoing addiction –TSF and MC

 

Myrrh Casati – Mona di Orio (Melanie Leroux)

 TSF choice for best name and my choice for  best bottle and Creative Director accolades went to Jerouen Oude Sogeten and Myhrr Casati.  Homage to the flamboyant Marchesa  Luisa Casati.The marriage of seductive saffron and the muted, ancient hymn of myrrh are elegantly staged against a fumy tapestry of shadowed tribute.For those who are comparing this with Mona's work,I urge you not to. She was one of a kind  A wonderful debut for Melanie Laroux, who is a promising perfumer and infuses this scent with Mona di Orio’s signature chiaroscuro  Like the demonic wreathed muse herself, Myrrh Casati deserves an audience –MC

–Michelyn Camen, Editor in Chief and the Silver Fox,  Senior Editor and editor of The Silver Fox

Editor’s Note: The ÇaFleureBonTeam of Steve Johnson, Einsof and Susie Baird weigh in before the end of the year with their top ten so stay tuned

Thanks to Carlos Huber of Arquiste we have a 100 ml bottle of Architects Club for a US reader and thanks to Josh Meyer of Imaginary Authors we have a 60 ml bottle of Yesterday’s Haze.  for another US reader. For all our EU , Canada and USA readers, 100ml of Gabriella Chieffo Ragu. To be eligible please leave a comment on the fragrances we chose as the best of 2014, if any were your favorites, where you live and which you would like to win. You can read and still enter CaFleureBon Best and Worst Fragrances of 2014 where we have a draw for Masque Milano Tango, Russian Tea (both in our top five best perfumes of the year) and Mona di Orio Myhrr Casati. Draw closes January 2, 2015

We announce the winners only on site and on our Facebook page, so Like Cafleurebon and use our RSS option…or your dream prize will be just spilled perfume.