Emmanuelle Varron, Sr. Contributor and  Nicoleta Tomsa, Sr. Editor

Now that you have heard from Ermano and me, (our ten best perfumes of 2021 here) and (The Best Fragrances of 2021 here), Ida and Lauryn’s we continue our Ten Best Perfumes of 2021 lists today with Sr. Editor Nicoleta Tomsa and Sr. Contributor Emmanuelle Varron; their choices are very different. Now it’s time to reveal their respective Ten Best Perfumes of 2021 –Michelyn Camen, Editor-in-Chief

As opposed to other years – where I organized traveling sample boxes, actively swapped and meticulously tested hundreds of fragrances – in 2021 I tested far less, travelled far less, opened up to the world less. For many of us, the chaos and uncertainty of the new reality made us turn inwards, to some sort of feeling of safety and the need for (some) predictable patterns. But still, now more than ever, I turned to the escapist world of fragrance, and found immense and intense joy in testing, wearing, and weaving my tales around scented worlds I was fortunate to discover.-Nicoleta

In alphabetical order, Nicoleta’s Ten Best Perfumes of 2021

Christèle Jacquemin (Cristele Jacquemin )Memory Lane: Christèle Jacquemin’s creations are one of my favorite discoveries this year, reminding me what amazing portals perfumes they can open between people, transcending language and experience, as her perfumes spoke to me, loud and clear, with intelligence, raw emotion, and an authentic unfiltered voice. Memory Lane has alternating contrasting layers between the light-as cloud meringue vanilla and the dark oud and chypriol and is complex, complicated, bittersweet, and ambivalent, like any return home – inspired by Valliguières, a village in Southern France.

Christian Provenzano Parfums Musc Poudré (Christian Provenzano): Powdery musks are my Achille’s heel, and Musc Poudre was a sigh-inducing perfect example of the genre, that went straight to my “need” list. A Proustian madeleine, slowly turned into the finest milled powder by the sands of time – sheer memory dust that keeps the imprint of your silences, down to the last unspoken sighs in its texture. An ambery – musk experience, with orris, rose, violet, softwoods shavings, and the most deliciously mischievous raspberry breath interwoven between its particles. (featured in the JOVOY x CaFleureBon “Make it musk” box)

Der Duft Match (Anne Sophie (Behagel): Architectural, abstract, and both fun and challenging at the same time, just like a Rubik’s cube, Der Duft Match is a woody construction that rotates and reveals new facets on each wear. If you want a smart, ASMR-like olfactive experience, where the notes evolve, flow, and collide among themselves and the background, ever-changing yet playing within the same realm, do give this Match a strike.

Parfums Dusita Anamcara (Pissara Umivijani) means “soul friend” in Gaelic – a person to whom one turns for life advice and spiritual guidance. The story behind the fragrance is indeed one of friendship, old-as-the-ages but ever-new, born in a modern, digitalized context – the Facebook group “Eau my soul” where Pissara laid out her toys and invited everyone to join in and play along. The result is a perfume that manages to perfectly freeze-frame moments of comfort and reassurance, in a cocoon of safety and love that is to be experienced again and again. A floral-fruity-woody experience with notes of fruits (blood orange, peach, apricot), flowers (orange blossom, freesia, jasmine, rose de Mai) mixed in with a delicious black tea accord and grounded by patchouli, sandalwood, cedar, vetiver

Etat Libre d’Orange ghost in the shell (Julie Masse): Surprisingly easy to wear, comfortable, and luminous Ghost in the Shell is a “strong but silent” type of sidekick, wafting close to the skin, hugging the curves of the uncanny valley of “identically natural” fruits and flowers.  Etat Libre d’Orange’s latest launch delivers an airy experience that effortlessly slides from mineral to fruity, and from floral to mossy.  With the ease and fluid movements of an olfactive exoskeleton, build to reduce the effects of gravity, but with enough of an androgynous android wink to keep things interesting and subversive.

 Frederic Malle Synthetic Jungle (Anne Flipo): Technicolor deep greens, re-constructed nostalgia, and re-imagined nature all merge into Anne Flipo’s stunning first entry in the Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle collection. With raw natural materials and engineered synthetic notes, Synthetic Jungle is a must-try if you are a chypre lover.

Laborattorio Olfativo Vanagloria (Dominique Ropion): Mister Ropion’s creation is a mystical and aristocratic, yet joyous and natural take on vanilla. A good perfume, he says, must always appear obvious.  Vanagloria has the potential to be a holy grail for any vanilla lover, a fragrance that can be worn either if you want an atmospheric, confidence-boosting epic anthem or a soft and comforting lyrical whisper.

Maison Tahite, Vicious Cacao (Luca Maffei): Vicious Cocoa is the kind of perfume I would gift a decant of to a “gourmand nihilist” perfumista friend and slowly watch them cave into temptation. Intelligently balanced, playing between spicy and floral accords, on the backdrop of the most epicurean chocolate experience, this pulse-raising Vicious Cacao is to be indulged in, time after time, guilt-free.

Masque Milano Lost Alice (Mackenzie Reilly): Lost Alice is a game of proportions and perspective – an intriguing gourmand experience constructed on tension and release: a more challenging bucolic note of broom makes the minimalist posh perfection of orris shine through; and the bitterness of the black tea accord and the prickly pepper sharp angles play in perfect contrast to the sweet roundness of the carrot cake.

Nishane Nanshe (Cecile Zarokian): Nanshe is the Sumerian goddess of fertility, dreams, and prophecy. Her scented re-incarnation can summon a powdery elevator that will lift you to cloud number nine level of zen. Unearthly soft, milky, and familiar yet empowering and reassuring, Nanshe has been a scent hug that I have turned to so often this year, that it will surely be a time capsule of 2021, looking back from the future.

Nicoleta Tomsa, Sr Editor

As for many people, 2021 was quite a difficult year for me: confined at my mother’s house in the South of France, I experienced perfume news from afar, cut off from everything (or almost: thank you Instagram!), fed by dozens of sample orders. Back in Paris in mid-August, I spent my days at a frenzied pace visiting perfumeries and attending multiple launches. A year of changing rhythm, I became attracted to more animalic fragrances and those with more subtle and fresh notes. And a brand-new love for galbanum! This allowed me to fully appreciate many marvels launched in 2021. -Emmanuelle

Here is my Top Ten 2021 Fragrances in alphabetical order

 Corps Volatils Magnified Narcissus (Caroline Dumur): Part of a 24 fragrances collection (twelve 100% natural and twelve 100% synthetic) launched at the start of the year by Nicolas Chabot, I immediately had a crush on Caroline Dumur’s Magnified Narcissus. To such an extent that this 100% natural fragrance was one of the very few I was able to wear during lockdown, at a time when, like many of us, my pace of life was turned upside down. Magnified Narcissus made me feel like I didn’t have to deprive myself of all the little pleasures of everyday life (wearing beautiful jewellery, a pretty lipstick …), and reassured me. But it is in no way a “medicinal” perfume: its aromatic and spicy start (mandarin and pink pepper) is actually a red herring because as soon as the narcissus sets in, the fragrance takes a completely different direction, this time enchanting and sensual. A bit narcotic, even! Caroline Dumur added notes of vanilla and tonka bean bringing roundness and softness. The whole thing gives a perfume of perfect harmony on the skin, reassuring and addictive.

 Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle Synthetic Jungle (Anne Flipo):  was one of the most anticipated perfumes of the year, and the challenge was huge for Anne Flipo, who signed her first collaboration with Les Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle! But the bet is won with style, as this fragrance, at first divisive, is of a complexity that has become rare in the perfume industry. Synthetic Jungle is an astonishing perfume, playing between a vintage spirit and a modern composition where synthetic notes are FINALLY celebrated. The reference to Estée Lauder Private Collection is assumed, but in its chypre and flowery aspect (jasmine, hyacinth and ylang-ylang), which develops after a few minutes. The opening is fresh and dashing, thanks to basil, lily of the valley and blackcurrant, with the addition of styrallyl acetate (similar to rhubarb) which plays an in-between role. A very beautiful tribute to a timeless nature, where the multiple tones of the raw materials, whether natural or synthetic, go together wonderfully.

Eris Parfums Green Spell (Antoine Lie ): I discovered Green Spell a few months before Eris Parfums arrived (finally) in Paris last July, thanks to a box to which I am a subscriber. Usually not at all drawn to green scents, I fell in love immediately with this fragrance created by Antoine Lie. A kaleidoscope of greens, in perpetual motion and full of contrasts. Mandarin, blackcurrant bud, galbanum, violet leaf, narcissus, tomato leaf, fig leaf, vetiver: the textures intermingle in a perfectly mastered choreography, but also a lot of fantasy. Green Spell is a joyful and shimmering fragrance, full of multiple tones. A feat that has radically changed my outlook (and my nose!) on this category of perfumes!

Les Bains Guerbois 1992 Purple Night (Dominique Ropion): Tuberose lover, Prince Rogers Nelson fan and the year I turned 20: before I even smelled it, I liked everything in 1992 Purple Night! Inspired by a true story (a surprise aftershow given by Prince at Les Bains Douches nightclub after one of his Paris concerts in July 1992), this fragrance created by Dominique Ropion is sensual, chic, wild and suave at the same time. Here, the tuberose is carnal, omnipresent and vibrant: it’s impossible to escape it! After a few minutes, it drapes itself in a gourmet tobacco note reminiscent of the famous Amsterdamer. Dominique Ropion also added a note of leather and patchouli, giving even more depth to this festive fragrance with vintage accents, in the spirit of those we wore at that time, powerful and ultra-sensual. Its sillage is impressive, especially as over the hours the tobacco facet becomes prominent, still with its sweet and honeyed notes. That’s why I especially like wearing it at night, for its sassy and exhilarated tuberose; the next morning, 1992 Purple Night is still on my skin, but like a second scent that I love to wear when I wake up. A very daring fragrance full of contrasts, like we won’t find much in 2021.

Matière Première Oud Seven (Aurélien Guichard): Still an Harrod’s exclusive, it is thanks to CaFleureBon that I was able to try (and review) Oud Seven, Aurélien Guichard’s most recent composition for his brand. An extremely sophisticated fragrance, in which oud is freed from the animal facets that have often caricatured, even distorted it in recent years. Here, Oud Assam Bangladeh is associated with seven raw materials which give the perfume a very subtle complexity: vetiver and violet leaves (for the male-female contrast), tobacco (for a smooth honeyed facet), patchouli and cypriol (to create a woody tryptic base), labdanum and amber (for sensuality). All of them contribute to making Oud Seven a fragrance of great density, both intimate and intense, of which you quickly become addicted to. Without doubt the most urban oud I have ever worn, and now an essential in my Parisian olfactory wardrobe.

Naomi Goodsir Corpus Equus (Bertrand Duchaufour): After the sublime Nuit de Bakélite in 2017, Naomi Goodsir aficionados were impatiently awaiting her new fragrance. It took several years of work with co creative director Renaud Coutaudier for Corpus Equus to be launched, composed by a very inspired Bertrand Duchaufour. Corpus Equus is an intense and wild fragrance and masterful, evoking both Pierre Soulages famous Outrenoirs and the white Arabian horse that Naomi Goodsir rode during equestrian competitions. A dark scent, sensual and mysterious like frankincense, benzoin and myrrh. Racy like leather,  but here covered with rose petals. Generous, with notes of iris, amber and patchouli. Composed of noble and powerful raw materials it is a multi-faceted perfume in the purest Naomi Goodsir style.

 Parfum d’Empire Mal-Aimé (Marc-Antoine Corticchiato): His creations have long been favorites, as the founder of Parfum d’Empire he reinvents himself in each fragrance. For Mal-Aimé (Unloved), which is part of the L’Héritage Corse collection, tribute is paid to weeds (often… unloved) and especially to inula, omnipresent on the Isle of Beauty and usually used in aromatherapy. As the star of the fragrance, inula is the first raw material you catch on skin, quickly followed by galbazine as an evocation of thistle and brambles, and nettle absolute for a surprising earthy side. Inula then develops its multiple facets, from honey to musk and then… rose! One of the most precious flower surrounded by weeds. It is a true work of art from the heart of Marc-Antoine Corticchiato and evidence that ALL raw materials are beautiful.

 Parfumeurs du Monde Les Larmes d’Eden (Thierry Bernard): I had almost completed my top 10 when Les Larmes d’Aden was launched in early December. I could only make room for it, as it heartened me so much in its composition and the emotions it aroused in me. This fragrance is a tribute to Yemen and its historic port of Aden, the starting point of the spice route that has crossed Europe, Africa and Asia since Antiquity. Incense is at the heart of this mystical fragrance, as Thierry Bernard wanted to reproduce as closely as possible the famous Temple of Jerusalem Ketoret incense. The masterstroke is the perfect balance of this round and sensual opening with a crackling galbanum, giving a contrast of striking beauty on the skin. And this masterpiece is a magical olfactory bridge between Aden and the rest of the world.

Sous le Manteau Odisiaque n°6 (Nathalie Feisthauer):We are often attracted by a perfume that evokes memories, emotions, or even scents of the past. But you can also be unsettled, then conquered by a fragrance that is unrelated to anything familiar, like jumping into the void with a (hidden parachute). This is exactly the sensation I felt when I first tried the magnificent Odisiaque n ° 6 created by Nathalie Feisthauer: an androgynous aphrodisiac potion, impetuous and shy at the same time. There is a graceful bergamot-geranium opening that coils in mystery with elemi, mate and vetiver. Then the notes of tobacco, hay and tonka bean bring a shiny and warm light full of audacity and originality. A surprising scent, which arouses curiosity and makes me succumb every time I wear it.

Voyages Imaginaires La Couleur de la Nuit ( Camille Goutal and Isabelle Doyen): Camille Goutal and Isabelle Doyen’s new brand is dedicated to 100% natural fragrances. My absolute favourite is the highly sensual La Couleur de la Nuit, that evokes Hong-Kong filmmaker Wong Kar-wai movies and their enigmatic nocturnal light: a surprising ambery lavender, sweet and soft, that could be shared as a common fragrance by secret lovers hiding from the crowd. Hints of vanilla fir balsam and patchouli add some sensuous warmth that smooths over the minutes and stays a long time on my skin. A fragrance of incredible charm and infinite beauty that invites travel and love!

Emmanuelle Varron, Senior Contributor.

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What did you think of Nicoleta’s and Emmanuelle’s Ten Best Perfumes of 2021?

We will be back with Despina, Rachel, Steven and Olya who will award their favorites from 2021.

Thanks to Anselm Skogstad of Der Duft for a Worldwide draw  of 50 ml of MATCH for a registered reader

 Grazie Mille to Masque Milano  who is offering a 35 ml bottle of Lost Alice for one registered reader in the USA, EU and EK. You must register here or your comment will not count

Big Merci to Christele Jacquemin for 50 ml of Memory Lane in the EU or USA

Thanks to the generosity of Etat Libre D’Orange we have a 100 ml of Ghost in A Shell in the USA, EU and Canada 

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