Solstice Scents Foxcroft Fairgrounds is an autumnal gourmand which unabashedly celebrates the season with a bounty of sweets: vanilla cake and powdered sugar against a backdrop of crisp fall air, fallen leaves and woodsmoke
The Prix Francois Coty 2021 was awarded to Firmenich Perfumer Fabrice Pellegrin while the special Prix D’Honneur Francois Coty was given to Christopher Sheldrake Perfumer at Serge Lutens and Director of Fragrance Research and Development at Chanel at a special ceremony in Paris December 2, 2021
Decas by Xerjoff is a scented dedication to Italy and to the many regions which are known for their beautiful native raw materials.
The experience of Aedes de Venustas 16a Orchard is a bit like getting lost in a modern art gallery where all the exhibits are watercolour. The notes shimmer individually then merge, separating and joining in a continuous loop that makes me think of Calder’s elegantly kinetic pieces. Frank Voelkl has created a perfectly pitched composition in which is bright and scintillant one moment, dreamy and hazy the next. Its feel is neither urban nor nature but both.
J.U.S Parfums Bloomastral created by Alexandra Carlin is her third for the brand which now has twelve in its perfume collection. She chose a very specific jasmine: the wild and carnal Galant de Nuit, that doesn’t bloom until after sunset and is impossible to extract naturally.
Parfum d’Empire Musc Tonkin opens with the most memorable erotic funk of the past several decades, but it’s far from being a mere muscular exercise on animalcy. Its roaring warmth is interwoven with heady white flowers, possibly tuberose and ylang-ylang along with a luscious confectionery of honeyed rose and osmanthus absolute melts on skin like a sumptuous liqueur. What makes Musc Tonkin really break through is the sparkle of orange blossom boosted by a genius marine note bridging the urinous mineralcy of African stone. The endless salty skin base accord softens in the hay-like hues of coumarin and patchouli, hinting in my mind to the languorous opium smokers of French Indochina. This miraculous balance of immaculate and dirty is the very soul of the XX century French perfumery featuring the (back then) widely available musk Tonkin as a the key ingredient. As many perfume reviews on the web point out, that there is a common ground with classics like Guerlain Mitsouko, Femme de Rochas, 1000 de Jean Patou and many others is no surprise. The vintage vibe is a happy result in this case, not a goal.
