One of the major scents of October for me is the smell of apples. I will be spending a lot of time in local orchards picking apples for use in making pies. When it comes to perfume apple is one of several fruits common to the fruity floral genre. For this edition of My Favorite Things here are five apple perfumes which fit in with my October activities.
I have been asked over the years for apple pie perfumes. Until 2015 my answer was Boss Bottled. After 2015 it was Boss Bottled Intense. In one of the rare occurrences where the flanker was much better than the original. Annick Menardo, who did the original, created a more fully rounded apple pie effect using orange blossom as a floral contrast that fits surprisingly well. I’ve been on a visit to the orchard and walked by someone who remarked, “ooh I can smell the pies out here.”
Another staple of the fall are caramel apples and there is a perfume for that too; Nina by Nina Ricci. This is a forerunner of the current floral gourmand trend as perfumers Jacques Cavallier and Olivier Cresp create a caramel apple central accord given a fresh floral contrast in peony. It is a little more substantial than the current transparent floral gourmands, but it makes it nice to wear in the fall.
When you just want your apples straight no pie spices or caramel covering. In that case DKNY Golden Delicious is for you. If there is a reason apple is a featured ingredient it is probably due to this DKNY Delicious collection. Each and every one features apple. Why I appreciate Golden Delicious is it captures the richness of the real thing. Perfumer Jean-Marc Chaillan puts the lush juicy apple out front and surrounds it with a bouquet of florals.
There are a few niche examples of apple perfumes both of which evoke apple pie in different ways.
Creed Spice & Wood uses apple as the crisp fruit in the top accord before delving into the spices. The lead spices are allspice and nutmeg. It reminds me of when the apples are all freshly sliced and tossed in the spice blend before being put in the pie shell.
Hermes Hermessence Ambre Narguile is another abstraction form perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena. It is a swirl of the steam rising from fresh baked apple pies. It is made more compelling because it is so transparent it is like you want to lean into the pie you think is nearby.
Disclosure: This review is based on bottles I purchased.
–Mark Behnke
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