New Perfume Review Burberry Hero- More of the Same

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I am always interested when a fashion brand’s creative director chooses to take a part in the fragrance piece. Most just contract it out to a licensee. Previous creative director at Burberry, Christopher Bailey oversaw the fragrances from 2000-2015. During that time the brand became known for making some of the better designer fragrances. For the last five years it has been under the stewardship of their partners at Coty. This has been a span where the brand has been chasing trends. Mostly buying into the transparent style. These have been better than average but nothing overly exciting.

Riccardo Tisci

Riccardo Tisci took over as Burberry Creative Director in 2018. He has spent most of the last three years finding that sweet spot where fashion appeals to TikTok trendsetters and the older demographic they have always appealed to. On that front it is a fascinating work in progress. His collections have been fascinating to watch evolve. Earlier this year Sig. Tisci announced he was going to be creative director for the new summer release, Burberry Hero. If he was aiming for the same intersection this could be equally as interesting as the fashion.

Aurelien Guichard

He chose to work with perfumer Aurelien Guichard. What they produced is a fragrance more pointed towards a younger demographic. Hero continues to hew to the transparent way of designing perfume.

Right from the first moments you understand what Hero is about, cedar. A very fresh accord of three sources of cedar is the beginning, middle, and end of Hero. I received my sample in the summer and cedar works really well for me in the heat. It did the same here. There is a clean woodiness which makes it such a pleasing ingredient. As it develops there is an interesting piece of time where black pepper and astringent juniper berry find some space in the solid woody construction. This is when Hero is at its best. Eventually they fade away and the cedar returns to finish things.

Burberry Hero has 8-10 hour longevity and average sillage.

It isn’t obvious to me where Sig. Tischi’s hand is apparent in Hero. If I didn’t have the press release, I’d be hard pressed to see it as different from the last few years. It falls into that better than average cedar perfume that has become the current standard. Just as his fashion is an evolving aesthetic perhaps the same might happen if he returns to oversee a second fragrance. For now it is just more of the same.

Disclosure: This review is based on a sample provided by Bloomingdale’s.

–Mark Behnke

New Perfume Review Narciso Eau Neroli Ambree- Summer Musk

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I respect brands which know what they do well and stick to it. If there is a drawback it comes as the desire to release annual versions can stretch the concept thin. The fragrance line of Narciso Rodriguez is a good example of this. Starting in 2003 they decided this would be a line of perfumes which feature musk. The first couple of releases remain some of the best musk perfumes I own. Then the pressure of continual release began to extend the concept in ways both slight and large. The problem for me is neither choice worked. Where the brand always seemed to find its best work was in smaller combination of ingredients which had their own muskiness. Narciso Neroli Eau Ambree is one of these.

Aurelien Guichard

This is ostensibly a flanker to 2020’s Narciso Ambree. This was one of the releases which fell flat. It just turned into a generic diffuse woody amber. The same perfumer, Aurelien Guichard is behind this new fragrance. The difference is this is a much more delineated construct taking advantage of the inherent muskiness of orange blossom.

Neroli is where it begins. This is a softer version of this with the green piece made less so through the presence of frangipani. It forms a summery floral pair. The heart is orange blossom and musk. People tend to forget that orange blossom is a white flower with its own set of indoles at its core. M. Guichard finds just the right musk to harmonize with it. This is where Eau Neoli Ambree shines. It is a tiny bit powdery as the citrus-tinted floral with the indolic soul dances with a subtly animalic musk. It finishes on the same amber and cedar base the original did. The difference this time is everything that came before was better.

Eau Neroli Ambree has 10-12 hour longevity and average sillage.

If you are a fan of the other muskier efforts from Narciso Rodriguez this is one to try. It is surprisingly good in the heat of summer. I expect my sample will be finished by Labor Day.

Disclosure: This review is based on a sample supplied by Narciso Rodriguez.

–Mark Behnke

Discount Diamonds: Sean John Unforgivable- The Exception

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Those who have followed my reviews over the years know I think most celebrity scents are cynical. They use the name of the person on the bottle while that person has no idea what is in the bottle. I’ve been told of many celebrities who don’t smell the perfume until their first publicity experience. It irritates me that a fan of the celebrity coughs up their money for a product which has nothing from the person they admire.

Those who have read my reviews over the years know I am not a fan of multi perfumer teams. It may not be true, but it always reeks to me of focus groups and compromises. That the perfumes designed by committee also seem to have no soul anecdotally proves my point.

To everything there is an exception. Sean John Unforgivable manages to prove both of my thoughts incorrect.

Unforgivable was released in 2006 as the first fragrance from Sean Combs aka P.Diddy’s Sean John clothing line. He certainly found a dream team of creative people to work on this. Evelyn Lauder and Karyn Khoury would be co-creative directors overseeing a team of four perfumers; David Apel, Aurelien Guichard, Pierre Negrin, and Caroline Sabas. There isn’t a name I just listed that I don’t admire the heck out of. I just carried my usual skepticism over too many perfumers at the organ serving too many managers. However it happened Unforgivable turned out way better that I thought it would.

It opens with a burst of citrus as lemon and grapefruit add a tart initial impression. A smart use of Calone takes the melon-like quality of it as a lighter fruitiness underneath along with its fresh sea spray scent. It shifts to a fougere-like heart of iris, lavender, and herbs. Clary sage is the most prominent but there are some other green herbal pieces here too. It ends with a light sandalwood focused base accord given some warmth through amber and tonka bean.

Unforgivable has 8-10 hour longevity and moderate sillage.

When it comes to perfume by committee celebrity scents Unforgivable stands out as one of the best. It can be found for less than $20 at almost any discount fragrance seller.

Disclosure: this review is based on a bottle I purchased.

–Mark Behnke

New Perfume Review Carven Paris Alexandrie- Violet Chypre

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If there is one thing which I enjoy about perfumes inspired by place is the opportunity to see a location through fragrance. Some of that comes with expectation. If it is a place I’ve visited, then I have my own memory which can be confirmed or contrasted by the fragrance. When it comes to a place I haven’t visited, then it is my imagination as fired through literature or movies the perfume is working for or against. I have to say though Carven Paris Alexandrie has created a new category where I wonder if I know nothing about a city.

Aurelien Guichard

Paris Alexandrie is part of five new entries in the Carven La Collection after the original seven in 2017 and one added last year. I had the same sensation of whether many of those previous perfumes were representative of the city they were trying to emulate. The other technique within the collection was to go obvious with the ingredient the city was most known for. In these most recent releases Paris Havane goes for tobacco and Paris Shenandoah is a festival of cedar. The head scratchers come when Paris Prague is a similar cedar perfume but with gin or Paris Tanger is a thick woody leavened with a bit of citrus. Paris Alexandrie is also in the head scratching category as it seems like the city between the desert and the Mediterranean smells like a violet chypre?

I’ve never visited Alexandria so perfumer Aurelien Guichard might be spot on with his interpretation. What he seems to find is a beautiful violet centered accord is the ideal contrast to a modern chypre base.

Paris Alexandrie opens on the violet, provided some depth with lavender in a supporting role. M. Guichard adds in a series of fascinating choices as the sweetness of carrot seed and nutmeg tease out that pleasant floral quality to violet. Black pepper and incense provided piquant texture and resinous contrast. All together this is a compelling violet accord. It finds an equally interesting chypre accord waiting for it. M. Guichard uses moss, patchouli, and cypriol to form his modern chypre. In this case the lack of the bite of the old school chypres works. It comes together as a kind of plush green velvet effect for the violet accord to rest upon.

Paris Alexandrie has 10-12 hour longevity and average sillage.

I have no real idea if Paris Alexandrie is an accurate representation of the scent of Alexandria. If I am fortunate enough to visit, I might make the connection immediately. Until then I’ll think of Paris Alexandrie as the violet chypre.

Disclosure: This review is based on a sample provided by Carven.

–Mark Behnke

New Perfume Review Armani Prive Bleu Turquoise- Salt Tanned Skin

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One of the more difficult things for me to do is to become excited for a new perfume within some of the most highly populated genres. It becomes tedious when I receive something new which reminds me of something very similar to it. One of the reasons that happens is the perfumer follows the existing recipe at the recommended concentrations. I have found that what it takes for me to lift something out of the pile is having something more than a tweak to it. The recent Armani Prive Bleu Turquoise shows how to do it.

Aurelien Guichard

In the aquatic genre I could spend a few days naming perfume with a “sea spray” accord. It is usually a focal point, but it is kept balanced. What captured my attention in Bleu Turquoise was perfumer Aurelien Guichard wasn’t interested in the sea spray but the smell of it evaporated on sun-warmed skin. M. Guichard keeps it exceedingly simple around the sea salt accord putting it forward as the keynote with only two significant supporting ingredients.

The perfume opens on a delicate frankincense drifting in soft puffs of slightly metallic beauty. Out of this comes the central accord. M. Guichard uses salt but adds in a musk or two to evoke tanned bare skin encrusted with the ocean’s brine. This is a familiar scent from many days lying on a beach towel as the sun dried off from my swim; leaving swirls of white on my chest, legs, and arms. The choice of vanilla in the base is also a nice twist as it is like applying a sweet-smelling suntan lotion over my sun-dried skin.

Bleu Turquoise has 12-14 hour longevity and average sillage.

Bleu Turquoise is a nice take on the aquatic genre. It isn’t going to change the style but if you want something different for the upcoming summer this is a good choice.

Disclosure: This review is based on a sample provided by Neiman Marcus.

–Mark Behnke

Dead Letter Office: Comme des Garcons Play- Not Around Long Enough

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I have written often how lack of longevity on skin has become inextricably entwined with quality in the consensus of the fragrance consumer. I can write until my fingers tire that the very notes which impart longevity are some of the cheapest and most synthetic; it falls as if a tree in a forest with no one around to hear. One of the reasons this has become a truism in perfume marketing is because in the mid-2000’s a number of brands put this to the test by releasing truly interesting short-lived perfumes. Almost all of them now occupy a shelf in the Dead Letter Office. One of the best examples is Comme des Garcons Play.

Christian Astuguevieille

By 2007 Comme des Garcons had emerged as one of the early pillars of the niche perfume sector. Overseen by Creative Director Christian Astuguevieille they would define many of the core principles of what it meant to be an artistic fragrance. Especially in these first years they were also the most willing to experiment. To their credit they still are. What that meant in 2007 was M. Astuguevieille wanted to see if the idea of longevity could be overcome with something truly avant-garde but fleeting.

The place within the Comme des Garcons brand where something like this might do well was the Play collection. On the clothing side Play was debuted in 2002 as a source of “casual luxury”. Which meant t-shirts and other casual wear done in the Comme des Garcons way. This brand generated one of the most iconic Comme des Garcons images. Shown above artist Filip Pagowski’s heart with eyes is as emblematic of the overall brand as it is for the sub-collection it was designed for. The Play collection were sold in these new outlets called Dover Street Market. To fill up the shelf space accessories were going to be hard on the heels of the clothing.

Aurelien Guichard

Five years on M. Astuguevieille collaborated with perfumer Aurelien Guichard for Play. It isn’t explicitly stated in any of the press materials that they were trying to make a short-lived fragrance. What is sure is Play is the Comme des Garcons aesthetic in short form.

It opens on a mixture of peppery citrus as black pepper and bitter orange provide a lively opening. It transitions quickly to an herbal heart of sage and thyme lifted on a cloud of aquatic notes like Calone. It sets up the truly odd accord that forms the base. If you ever spent time wiring stereo speakers in the old days before wireless made it irrelevant there is a smell of electronics in a wood cabinet. That is exactly what M. Guichard assembles out of patchouli, oakmoss. and musks for the final moments of Play. I’ve always thought of this as an electronic chypre.

Play has 4-6 hour longevity and moderate sillage.

The final accord is a classic odd Comme des Garcons example. It is unlikely that was the reason Play didn’t survive. The longevity was pointed out time and again whenever it was written about. It became a kind of baseline to compare other new releases to, “it lasts longer than Play”. Very quickly the decision came to pull the plug. It would be replaced by set of three perfumes Play Red, Play Green, and Play Black which would not make the same mistakes. What it comes down to is Play was not around long enough because it was not around long enough on a perfume lover.

Disclosure: This review is based on a bottle I purchased.

–Mark Behnke

New Perfume Review Tom Ford Private Blend Sole di Positano- Mediterranean Light

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2017 sees the tenth anniversary of the Tom Ford Private Blend collection. It has been one of the most important perfume collections of recent times. In May of 2007 I remember seeing this group of brown square bottles in my local Neiman-Marcus. It was an audacious attempt to capture this new thing known as a “niche perfume” market. Ten years on it is easy to say under the creative direction of Tom Ford and Karyn Khoury they hit every target, and then some, they probably aspired to. They’ve been so successful it has become an arguable point that Tom Ford Private Blend is no longer even “niche”.

Karyn Khoury

One of the best-selling entries in that first group was Neroli Portofino. Perfumer Rodrigo Flores-Roux presented a luxurious version of the lowly drugstore cologne. It made Neroli Portofino a standard bearer for the vibe the Private Blend collection was aspiring to. Neroli Portofino was so successful Mr. Ford and Ms. Khoury decided to create a sub-collection named after it, in 2014. They also changed the bottle color from brown to blue so to make it visually evident when there are new entries. Since 2014 there have been five more releases each continuing the examination of the Mediterranean Hesperidic style of perfume. The latest release is called Sole di Positano.

Aurelien Guichard

Ms. Khoury invited perfumers Aurelien Guichard and Olivier Gillotin to compose this latest entry. It is based on a quote from John Steinbeck Mr. Ford admires, “Positano is a dream place that isn’t quite real when you are there and becomes beckoningly real after you have gone”. The challenge is to create a very light version of the Neroli Portofino aesthetic.

Olivier Gillotin

Sole di Positano opens on the twinkling of sunlight off the Mediterranean represented by lemon and petitgrain. To keep it from being too tart the perfumers use mandarin to smooth out that character. The green of the petitgrain is then connected with shiso to add a couple shades of verdancy to the citrus. Jasmine and ylang-ylang provide the floral heart. These are cleaner lighter versions of both of those notes. No indoles in the jasmine along with no oiliness in the ylang-ylang. The green returns with moss, along with sandalwood, in the base.

Sole di Positano has 6-8 hour longevity and average sillage.

In the past year, there has been a lightening up of the Private Blend releases. I wonder if it is a calculation for the collection to transition to appealing to a younger consumer. Sole di Positano is the most floral of the Neroli Portofino collection since Fleur de Portofino.  If you like your Mediterranean perfumes on the lighter side Sole di Positano is going to please you.

Disclosure: this review was based on a sample provided by Tom Ford Beauty.

–Mark Behnke

Robert Piguet 101- Five To Get You Started

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Right now, there are heritage brands springing up seemingly every month. I don’t know if Robert Piguet was the beginning of this trend because it never went entirely away. Something somewhat worse happened. The massive tuberose fragrance Fracas created in 1948 by Germaine Cellier would be re-formulated, as ingredients became prohibited, died a slow death. Then in 2006 perfumer Aurelien Guichard became the caretaker of Fracas and the brand overall. He brought back one of the greatest perfumes ever made to something that lives up to that description. Over the next few years M. Guichard would go the same for some of the earlier Robert Piguet compositions with the same care. Plus, the brand would also begin making new fragrances also under M. Guichard’s talented nose. For this edition of Perfume 101 I want to point out five other Robert Piguet perfumes you should try besides Fracas. Because everyone who loves perfume should try Fracas.

Aurelien Guichard

After taking care of Fracas M. Guichard spent the next five years doing the same kind of restoration to six other Robert Piguet originals. Three of them show what a creative brand this had been.

Bandit was the earliest perfume created by Mme Cellier for Robert Piguet. It foreshadows some of what will show up again in Fracas but for Bandit she constructs a white flower accord but she tempers it with a rich leather accord. The leather picks up on the indoles beautifully. It subsides onto a patchouli, vetiver, and oakmoss base. The current formulation is wonderfully faithful to the original.

Visa is the under the radar fragrance of the early Robert Piguet catalog. As M. Guichard presented the reformulation to me it was a radiant proto-gourmand. From a fresh peach and pear opening into an immortelle dominated heart down to an Oriental base of sandalwood, leather, and patchouli flavored with healthy amounts of vanilla. That picks up the maple syrup sweetness of the immortelle forming a gourmand accord.

Calypso is like the lost original Robert Piguet. It was one of a handful of perfumes released after Robert Piguet’s death in 1953. Perfumer Francis Fabron would compose the original formulation which M. Guichard modernized. This is the anti- white flower Robert Piguet what it retains of the past is the green vein of stemminess which is attached from galbanum through to the leather in the base. What comes between is a powdery orris, and rose heart. If the perfumes have sounded too much, so far, Calypso is much lighter in style.

In 2011 Robert Piguet would start releasing new fragrances. These would be designed with a less overtly floral nature to appeal to perfume lovers who wanted something more mannered.

Bois Bleu is a citrusy mix which segues into a fabulous violet heart which is paired with nutmeg. Clary sage and lavender provide underpinning but this is one of the best violet hearts of any violet perfume I own. A very straightforward woody base of cedar and sandalwood finishes things.

I had admired everything M. Guichard had accomplished but when I tried Knightsbridge at Esxence in 2013 I knew this was the modern masterpiece that was worthy of bookending Fracas. It was based on the simplest of briefs; “Imagine what Harrod’s smells like at 2AM.” M. Guichard’s interpretation are three phases of fabulously realized duets. Starting with rose and nutmeg to orris and sandalwood, ending on leather and tonka. Each harmonizes in distinctly engaging ways. One of my favorite perfumes of the last five years.

If all you knew of Robert Piguet was Fracas take another look at these five; there is much more to see here.

Disclosure: This review is based on bottles I purchased.

–Mark Behnke

New Perfume Review Salvatore Ferragamo Uomo- Pick Me Up

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Mrs. C and I became obsessed with the Italian dessert tiramisu a few years ago. We were still living in Boston and we traveled the North End comparing the different versions. From modern chefs to recipes handed down through generations. One of the things we learned during our tasty tour was that despite the origin of the dessert being attributed to the restaurant La Beccherie in Treviso, Italy in 1960 it was widely disputed. The dessert was seen as a layered version of the more classic dessert zuppa inglese. As we learned more I have come to agree with that assessment. Tiramisu roughly translates to “pick me up” The mixture of coffee, cocoa, mascarpone cheese and lady finger cookies is simple but can be made even more complex at whim. When we started making it we added coffee liqueur as a different kind of pick me up over the caffeine from coffee. When I heard the new release Salvatore Ferragamo Uomo was going to be a perfumed take on tiramisu from two of my favorite perfumers Alberto Morillas and Aurelien Guichard I was definitely interested.

Alberto Morillas

Salvatore Ferragamo as fragrance producer has been much more hit than miss for me. If not for the perfumers involved and the tiramisu theme my interest would have been tempered. Even with that, because the brand has been so uneven in the past my expectations were set low. Another reason was the burgeoning of this gourmand mainstream sector in the last year. The great majority of those have lacked focus replacing it with a giant slug of vanilla and ethyl maltol. When I finally got around to Uomo every one of those concerns disappeared. Messrs. Morillas and Guichard have turned in one of the more genial mainstream gourmands of the last few years.

Aurelien Guichard

The first moments of Uomo are a pick me up of a different sort as a snappy spiced citrus is the top accord. Bergamot is enveloped with cardamom and black pepper in a zesty first few minutes. Just as I am ready to ask, “where’s dessert?” here it comes. The mixture of cocoa and coffee is supported with some other sweet notes. I think a touch of maltol provides a bit of toasty sweetness but if not that something else is adding a warmth to the main ingredients. The tiramisu accord is balanced and delectable to experience. Another excellent choice is the perfumers choose tonka bean as the deeper sweet note in the base. Instead of overwhelming everything which came before with vanilla, the tonka picks up the coffee and cocoa transporting them to the final ingredients a cocktail of dry woody aromachemicals. These are the particularly austere versions and they provide a surprisingly good framing set of notes for the final moments of Uomo.

Uomo has 18-24 hour longevity and average sillage.

For a mainstream gourmand fragrance Uomo gets almost everything right. If you are a fan of this style of perfume this is one of the best. If you have shied away from gourmands in the past because the vanilla can become too much give this a try. I give credit to Messrs. Morillas and Guichard for their perfumed tiramisu recipe it has been a favorite Holiday pick me up this year.

Disclosure: This review was based on a sample provided by Salvatore Ferragamo.

–Mark Behnke

New Perfume Review Narciso Eau de Toilette- Civilizing the Musk

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I thought 2014 was a fantastic year for designer perfumes. Part of that wellspring of mainstream fragrances was Narciso. Perfumer Aurelien Guichard used a creamy accord of big florals over what has become the signature note for the Narciso Rodriguez brand, musk. I really liked the way the musk sort of sprung out like something dangerous from among the gardenia and rose. When I received my press sample of the new Narciso Eau de Toilette I was wondering if making a lighter version of Narciso was going to be interesting.

M. Guichard was again asked to be the perfumer for Narciso Eau de Toilette. One of the things about the two fragrances is they share a description of the top, heart, and base notes. The description is “Tender Floral Accord”, “Sensual Musk Accord”, and “Assertive Woody Accord”. For Narciso I would have switched the adjectives in the top and the base. The florals in that fragrance were very assertive and the woods had a tender simplicity. For the Narciso Eau de Toilette M. Guichard does live up to the titles of the phases much more literally.

Givaudan-Aurelien-GuichardAurelien Guichard

For Narciso Eau de Toilette the gardenia has been replaced with peony. In the original the gardenia carried an intense green tinted floralcy. The peony is one of those fresh florals and the green is nowhere to be found. Rose again provides some foundation but it is secondary to the peony. The musk in the heart has been changed for Narciso Eau de Toilette. This time M. Guichard has added some of the higher register white musks to the deeper more animalic musks. This still retains the sensuality of the animalic but with the addition of the cleaner musks it seems tamer. The base notes return to cedarwood and vetiver but for Narciso Eau de Toilette it is a much more transparent accord. The vetiver in particular has less presence than in the original but it provides a more diffusive green veil to the clean lines of the cedar in keeping with the lighter tone throughout.

Narciso Eau de Toilette has 6-8 hours longevity and average sillage.

If I was forced to choose only one I would opt for the original Narciso because I like my musk a little more feral. Narciso Eau de Toilette civilizes it a bit too much for my taste. Even so if you found the original a bit too much to bear the Narciso Eau de Toilette quite possibly is pitched at the right volume for you. It is a worthy follow-up to the original as M. Guichard made some significant changes to the eau de parfum formulation of a year ago without losing the plot.

Disclosure: This review was based on a sample provided by Narciso Rodriguez.

–Mark Behnke