Despite having grown up in Florida I have come to enjoy the bite of winter. There is always a moment as the days become shorter where the air seems pregnant with ice crystals. I’m not talking about snow. There is a climate condition where I can smell the amount of ambient water in the air right on the edge of freezing. Mrs. C laughs at me because I describe this as “chilled but not frozen”. It is a cold with purity. Molton Brown Juniper Jazz also shares that quality.
Nathalie Koobus
According to the press release Juniper Jazz is inspired by the 1920 Galaxy Ball. This was a London Holiday Gala where the décor and fashion was silver while the jazz flowed as freely as the gin. I could describe this based on that because it is a silvery gin-based perfume. Except perfumer Nathalie Koobus also finds a chill to the entire fragrance which is even more appealing.
That comes through a metallic accord which smells the way I think cold metal does. Mint is used to add a bit of frost over the drier coolness. The juniper berry provides the callback to the gin the designers desired. I found it to be an alcoholic iciness to complete the supercooled top accord. Over the top of this a light powdery iris snowfall adds a light coating. It is as if snowflakes of powder drift in lazy swirls over a crystalline icy surface. It goes a bit warmer as sandalwood comes to form the base before a whoosh of white musks bring back the ice.
Juniper Jazz has 10-12 hour longevity and average sillage.
Juniper Jazz is a cool perfume in every meaning of that adjective. The frozen effect that winds through this is really compelling. It’s because Mme Koobus is able to impart her own interpretation of chilled but not frozen.
Disclosure: this review is based on a sample provided by Molton Brown.
–Mark Behnke
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