New Perfume Review Parfums de Marly Oriana- Girls Just Want to Have Fun

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Even though I retain my belief that perfume is not gendered I am not blind to others who think differently. There are brands which seemingly know they are popular with one gender over the other. One I would put in that category is Parfums de Marly. For the last decade they have been producing fragrances which resonate with the guys. Creative director Julien Sprecher has leaned into this popularity. One of the things it has resulted in has been a slow drift towards the desires of that audience. In the most recent releases there are pieces which seem intentionally designed to appeal to their main demographic, the guys.

Julien Sprecher

What that has meant is when they design for a female audience there is some freedom to try things. The last two releases for this audience, Delina and Cassili exemplify this. The most recent feminine release Parfums de Marly Oriana continues this creative trend.

Nathalie Lorson

M. Sprecher works with a team of perfumers this time. Nathalie Lorson and Hamid Merati-Kashani combine to create a fun-loving gourmand. What I have always admired about this brand is M. Sprecher understands what a mainstream perfume lover might be looking for in trying to breakaway from the mall. Oriana displays this as it captures the current trends without seeming to hew to them too strongly.

Hamid Merati-Kashani

Oriana opens with a fresh citrus top accord built around mandarin and grapefruit. This is a lively attention getter for what comes next. The brief was to create a fragrance around Chantilly cream. The heart is where this begins to come together. Raspberry and blackcurrant form an array of juicy berries. Orange blossom captures the citrus from the top and swirls it in a creamy spiral. The cream accord rises to this and is further elaborated through marshmallow water. This is a fully realized gourmand as it feels like a bowl of cream and berries drizzled with marshmallow water. A subtle musk through ambrette adds the final piece.

Oriana has 10-12 hour longevity and average sillage.

Oriana once again shows the creativity at the brand when allowed to have a little more leeway. I’m happy to wear these over the men’s designed ones because they are just more interesting. I guess it’s because girls just want to have fun.

Disclosure: This review was based on a sample provided by Parfums de Marly.

–Mark Behnke

New Perfume Review Thierry Mugler Alien Goddess- Adept Adaptation

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In 1945 author HG wells wrote a truism, “adapt or perish”. He was talking about bacteria changing to resist antibiotics. I’ve always thought of it as I’ve watched perfume brands make their choice. One brand which has gone wholeheartedly for “adapt” is Thierry Mugler. They readily understood the change to transparent styles was not just a fad but a trend which would last. They have been modernizing their line one pillar at a time. Right from the start with Angel Muse in 2016 they’ve been designing to meet the desires of the younger generation of perfume lovers. Thierry Mugler Alien Goddess continues this.

Nathalie Lorson

While this has Alien in the name it feels more kinship to the series of recent summer flankers of Angel. This also has a tropical cocktail aesthetic like those do. Perfumers Nathalie Lorson and Marie Salamagne were given the task to design an Alien for gen-z. The overall effect is a fragrance which knows how to have fun.

Marie Salamagne

The fun gets going right away as coconut and tropical fruits over an aquatic accord put you smack-dab at the tiki bar. A little citrus adds to it all. A fresh indole-free jasmine and heliotrope add a floral breeze. This does remind me of lots of summer nights drinking pina coladas under the flicker of torches. It turns significantly sweeter as vanilla and light woods complete things. At this point it reminds me of a frozen cocktail most of all.

Alien Goddess has 8-10 hour longevity and average sillage.

This is another sure step into the trend of transparency for a brand which has become adept at adaptation.

Disclosure: this review is based on a sample provided by Thierry Mugler.

–Mark Behnke

New Perfume Review Maison Violet Compliment- The Epitome of Balance

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One of the characteristics which separates a great perfume from a good perfume is balance. When every ingredient used is part of a delicate construction built upon a keynote that is modern perfumery at its best. A recent heritage brand, Maison Violet has been showing their desire for fragrances which are like this. The creative team of Paul Richardot, Victorien Sirot, and Anthony Toulemonde have been behind the rebirth of this heritage brand. What they have achieved through the first five releases is re-imagining of the idea of translating vintage to contemporary. Maison Violet Compliment is the culmination of this effort.

(l. to r.) Paul Richardot, Anthony Toulemonde, and Victorien Sirot

Since the resurrection of the brand they have been exclusively working with perfumer Nathalie Lorson. She has collaborated on a blueprint for how to keep a vintage brand from feeling old. Throughout the releases they have understood this is 2021. Which means they take the intense ingredients that typified early 20th century perfumery and modernize them. Most of that comes through working on an opaque template. These perfumes are relevant because they hew to the current trend of transparency. They do this without becoming so ephemeral as to be unmemorable. These have just a couple extra pounds of weight. Which is why Compliment is such a beauty because the keynote is one of those hallmarks of the early days of modern perfumery, tuberose.

Nathalie Lorson

Tuberose is one of those gigantic white flowers. It can be a narcissistic scene stealer if you’re going to make that less obstreperous you have your work cut out for you. Mme Lorson does it by using smart choices to tease out parts of the tuberose to make a dynamic fragrance.

The tuberose is here throughout. The one she has chosen is light on the indoles and high on the creamy quality it displays. In the opening she uses orange blossom as a complement to that. Eucalyptus acts as an activator for the green streak inherent to tuberose. She adds it in and like a sputtering filament of green neon the floral’s hidden piece peeks out. Two sources of jasmine come next; this is the pivot upon which Compliment moves. The jasmine confronts and harmonizes with the tuberose. With ylang-ylang pushing the rotation it arrives at a base of vanilla and benzoin. The sultry quality of tuberose has found a place to smolder on the resinous sweet base accord.

Compliment has 10-12 hour longevity and average sillage.

This is the best perfume this brand has produced so far. It is such a marvel of placing each piece of the formula in just the right place. It also is a summer weight tuberose which are rare. I wore this on hot days expecting to find it difficult. It is at such a level that it was fantastic in the warmth. That’s what you get when you prioritize balance.

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

–Mark Behnke

Flanker Round-Up: Ralph Lauren Polo Cologne Intense and Viktor & Rolf Spicebomb Nightvision EDP

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When flankers come out of what I consider the pillars of masculine marketed perfume I look closely. These can be signposts of how the mass-market brands view the current market. They count on the affection for the original to get a consumer to try a new version. This is the reason for the existence of flankers. This month I am going to look at the new flankers Ralph Lauren Polo Cologne Intense and Viktor & Rolf Spicebomb Nightvision EDP.

Ralph Lauren Polo Cologne Intense is the latest flanker to the masterpiece Polo released in 1978. The brand has not been shy about releasing flankers of this. There are years where there are multiples. The quantity makes it a hit-or-miss effort. Polo Cologne Intense is a hit.

Perfumers Carlos Benaim, who did the original and Pascal Gaurin take the strong herbal woody leather of the original and interpret in a lighter form. Even though it is labeled “cologne intense” this is a classic cologne construct using the ingredients from the original which fit the theme. What that means is a citrus top of grapefruit. It means an herbal piece of clary sage and thyme. It ends on the modern equivalent of woods ambroxan. This is a nice warm weather version of Polo without slavishly nodding to it.

Polo Cologne Intense has 12=14 hour longevity and average sillage.

While I know calling Polo a masterpiece finds wide agreement, I am not sure how many thinks 2012’s Viktor & Rolf Spicebomb is. I think it is the 21st century equivalent to Polo. The brand here has been much more judicious in releasing flankers. When they released the Eau de Toilette (EDT) version of Spicebomb Nightvision in 2019 I was disappointed. This was a lighter version, but it lost a lot of the DNA of the original. This recent Spicebomb Nightvision Eau de Parfum (EDP), by perfumers Pascal Gaurin and Nathalie Lorson finds the middle ground closer in style to the original.

Spicebomb Nightvision EDP retains the spicy core of the original as the hot pepper is part of that. In this case it is used to coalesce around grapefruit. The differences come in an herbal lavender meshing with all the spices and a mixture of balsamic notes in the base in place of the leather. This all adds up to a darker shaded version of the original which is a nice change of pace without straying too far astray.

Spicebomb Nightvision EDP has 10-12 hour longevity and average sillage.

Disclosure: this review is based on samples provided by the manufacturers.

–Mark Behnke

New Perfume Review Fusion d’Issey- Fusion not Feu

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One of the great unicorns in perfume is 1998’s Le Feu D’Issey. A perfume which was too far ahead of its time it was a huge commercial failure. It was also seen as an artistic success. A fragrance which seemingly wanted to push at multiple boundaries simultaneously. If there is one piece of that experience which has been most divisive it is the raw coconut milk accord. Even I have days when I’m not in the mood for it. It is part of the dichotomy of Le Feu D’Issey is it can be polarizing and transcendent. Imagine my surprise when I see the brand try again with that coconut water ingredient in Fusion d’Issey.

Nathalie Lorson

Modern perfumery ingredients have come a long way in twenty years. There have been many successful coconut milk accords because of new ingredient options for perfumers to use. I was curious to see what perfumer Nathalie Lorson might try for here. It is a mixed bag of some imaginative choices early on before coalescing around a bland finish.

Mme Lorson opens with a modern version of that coconut milk accord. It is a much more accessible version that the one presented twenty years ago. This carries a suntan lotion vibe. To keep it from going too far in that direction lemon provides a citrusy contrast. A bit of fig leaf makes the coconut trend towards its creamier side. A fantastic heart accord of cardamom, geranium, nutmeg, and eucalyptus give a spicy energy around the floral core. It picks up on that same energy from the lemon in the top accord. At this point Fusion d’Issey is a well-done different summer refresher of a scent. Then the synthetic woods arrive. The press release has a lot of talk about mineralic effects. In this instance they come through that hard-packed dusty earth the synthetic woods bring. Ambrox is the named ingredient but I think there are at least a couple more to refine that mineral quality. The problem is it throws the balance off as these powerful ingredients overwhelm everything else.

Fusion d’Issey has 14-16 hour longevity and average sillage.

I know they wanted the mineral effect based on the brief, but it is all you smell after a few short hours. I wish there were a way the nicely done earlier accords could have found some space to linger. If you also look at an Issey Miyake perfume with coconut milk in it and think to yourself, “Le Feu?” it isn’t that. It is a Fusion all its own.

Disclosure: This review is based on a sample supplied by Issey Miyake.

–Mark Behnke

New Perfume Review Maison Violet Nuee Bleue- A Blue Cloud, Indeed

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As the number of heritage brands continues to expand there is a burgeoning road map on how to succeed. The best path is to apply a modern sensibility to the aesthetic of the heritage perfume. That is the one chosen by Paul Richardot, Victorien Sirot, and Anthony Toulemonde with Maison Violet. That they learned about the brand while in perfume school gives them a little more freedom to experiment. Many of the heritage brands are in descendant’s hands making it feel like a family decision. The Maison Violet team was driven by their own vision of what a modern heritage perfume should be. Throughout the first four releases there was an admirable attempt to provide a vintage-y undercurrent. Maison Violet Nuee Bleue is a flag planted firmly in the 2020 world of modern perfumery.

(l. to r.) Paul Richardot, Anthony Toulemonde, and Victorien Sirot

As the trend towards transparency has taken hold, I have been most interested in perfumes which take classic sets of ingredients while imposing this new aesthetic upon them. Perfumes from the time of Maison Violet’s previous heyday were not delicate. Nuee Bleue is something much opaquer, suitable for the present day.

Nathalie Lorson

Perfumer Nathalie Lorson is again behind the composition of Nuee Bluee; as she was for the previous four new releases. Working with the creative directors it took them over two years to finalize a formula, according to the website. The original Nuee Bleue was the last release of Maison Violet before it disappeared. The new version is the last release looking back towards the origins of Maison Violet. As such it signals a new direction.

Mme Lorson uses iris and orange blossom as the heart of Nuee Bleue. If there is anything which has a callback to the past perfumes it is the way she uses lemon as a whetstone to sharpen the iris into a silvery floral scalpel. There was a time when this kind of sharp iris was all the rage. Mme Lorson takes that sharp iris and softens those edges by making it more expansive. A series of white musks don’t allow those edges to cut. It creates a lightness to it all which is immensely appealing to me. The airy citrus tinted iris cloud lives up to the translation of the name, blue cloud. A sturdy sandalwood keeps the cloud from drifting away.

Nuee Bleue has 12-14 hour longevity and average sillage.

Nuee Bleue is a remarkable re-interpretation of that classic vintage iris and orange blossom heart of many perfumes of the early 1900’s. The creative team has modernized it by hewing to the current trend for opacity while keeping it from falling into insipidness. Lots of time I think the name of a perfume has nothing to do with the liquid inside the bottle. This time the perfume allows to me ride on a scented blue cloud all day.

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

–Mark Behnke

Discount Diamonds: Hugo Boss Deep Red- The Simple Gingerbread

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I love gingerbread; it is one of my favorite parts of the Holidays. It was one of the first My Favorite Things columns I did after starting Colognoisseur. All the ones I chose were higher priced brands. I received an e-mail a year later asking if there was a less expensive gingerbread perfume choice. Because I enjoy the scent, I have a lot of them. I looked at the shelf where they are all clustered and I noticed a tall red bottle that I thought might fit the bill. It is a great choice for a Discount Diamonds column at the beginning of the Season. That fragrance is Hugo Boss Deep Red.

Of course large perfume brands being large perfume brands Deep Red was released in the middle of the summer in 2001. It also came out when ginger was not as commonly used in perfumes, especially mainstream ones. A trio of perfumers Alain Astori, Nathalie Lorson, and Beatrice Piquet decided to take that ginger and transform it into gingerbread.

Deep Red has a seasonal feel right from the top accord. The perfumers take the rich tartness of blood orange and give it a more intense fruitiness via cassis and clementine. It is like that orange potpourri which scents many homes this time of year. The ginger appears first in its most recognizable energetic version. Ambrette adds in a subtle muskiness before the ginger gets folded into a gingerbread accord as vanilla and sandalwood make a soft gourmand base accord. It gets softer as cashmeran and musks form a pillowy foundation for it.

Deep Red has 10-12 hour longevity and average sillage.

Deep Red is available from most discounters for less than $25. If you are similar to me and want to be swathed in gingerbread; Deep Red offers a modest way to achieve that.

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

–Mark Behnke

New Perfume Review K by Dolce & Gabbana- The Right Twist

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Sometimes all I need to enjoy a new perfume in an overexposed style is just one twist. As I spend most of the summer releases smelling one fresh fougere after the other one, something different stands out. As I was wearing K by Dolce & Gabbana I was thinking this is the opposite of designing a summer flanker. Instead of shoehorning in summery ingredients K goes for something un-summery roughing up the staid fougere architecture.

Daphne Bugey

I am surprised perfumers Daphne Bugey and Nathalie Lorson could take that risk for a commercial release. They stay very true to the formula until they added one specific ingredient in enough concentration to make it noticeable. That ingredient is pimento. The way it is used here is like Buffalo sauce on chicken wings to provide a spicy kick to the bland.

Nathalie Lorson

K opens on a nice duet of blood orange and juniper berry. The tartness of the citrus and the bite of the juniper berry are a refreshing top accord. Then the pimento sizzles into view as lavender and clary sage give an herbal foundation for it. K really gets interesting as the patchouli enters the heart accord. The heat of the pimento and the earthiness of the patchouli are an ideal match. I liked this as the core of K because it had a little more heft then the typical summer fougere. A woody combo of cedar and vetiver make the foundation.

K has 8-10 hour longevity and average sillage.

K is another recent commercial release taking a risk by using a heretofore “niche” ingredient in a mass-market perfume. I’ve seen more of this lately and I’m wondering why the brands have decided to start striking out by using some of these less safe ingredients. I am happy to find them because the right twist can make me enjoy the commercial releases so much more.

Disclosure: this review is based on a sample provided by Dolce & Gabbana.

–Mark Behnke

New Perfume Review Maison Violet Tanagra- Personal Grace

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When it comes to heritage brands if they are working for a retro nouveau style they sometimes lean too hard on the retro. To be relevant in today’s market I think a heritage brand has a challenge to keep the past as part of the future. Easier to write than achieve. One which has done it is Maison Violet. I was quite impressed with their first three releases for finding this sweet spot. It made me look all the more forward to trying their fourth release, Maison Violet Tanagra.

(l. to r.) Paul Richardot, Anthony Toulemonde, and Victorien Sirot

The same creative team has returned for Tanagra. The three Parisian perfume students who acquired the name, Paul Richardot, Victorien Sirot, and Anthony Toulemonde, collaborate with perfumer Nathalie Lorson. Because the creative team never found any of the Maison Violet perfumes to smell themselves, they combed the newspapers and magazines of the time to get an idea of what the original was like. For Tanagra what they found it was named after small statues of Ancient Greece which celebrated femininity. This provided a wide-open opportunity to compose something for Tanagra which captured that.

Nathalie Lorson

What I wasn’t prepared for was Tanagra is a skin scent. It is a risky play for consumers who desire projection. After wearing Tanagra I can’t imagine it any other way. Mme Lorson creates a beautifully subtle floral surrounded by fruit and wood also dialed way back.

It is those fruits which show up first. Mandarin and pear form a delightful juicy pair. Out of that a shimmering iris shaking powder off itself arises. That is supported by fresh floral notes of freesia and peony. Jasmine provides a little depth. It finishes on a clean foundation of cedar and vetiver.

Tanagra has 10-12 hour longevity and very little sillage. On the days I wore it Mrs. C thought I wasn’t wearing anything.

I know many are not fond of close wearing scents. Tanagra might change that notion for some. If it was more intense the gorgeous grace inherent would be lost, I think. As I walked around wearing it, I felt like I had my own bit of personal grace with me.

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

–Mark Behnke

Flanker Round-Up: Boss Bottled Infinite and Givenchy Gentleman Cologne

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As much as I spend the first few months of the year complaining about the avalanche of new spring rose perfumes; I’ve been asked if there is a men’s corollary. The answer is, kind of. As Father’s Day in the US gets closer, I get a significant increase in colognes from the big perfume brands. The reason it doesn’t bother me as much is there are more variations within a cologne architecture. Most of them are flankers of established best sellers which try to freshen and lighten things up. Boss Bottled Infinite and Givenchy Gentleman Cologne are two recent examples.

Boss Bottled Infinite

Hugo Boss has surely milked the popularity of 1998’s Boss Bottled. Boss Bottled Infinite is the thirteenth flanker. I was not one of the fans of the original. I felt perfumer Annick Menardo overloaded things. I was in the minority as it has been a consistent best seller. Usually a flanker keeps much of the original formula while adding in a couple new ingredients. Which is a description of most of the Boss Bottled flankers. What made me give Boss Bottled Intense a second look was that it went in the opposite direction by stripping it down to the essential keynotes. Mme Menardo was again behind the wheel for the new flanker.

For this new version the top accord is simplified to mandarin and apple, with the citrus out front. Cinnamon and sage form the heart with some lavender as underpinning. This is more spicy than previous versions without becoming heavy. The significant change is olive wood for sandalwood. What that adds is less dry woodiness. It has a richer quality which complements the early accords nicely. If you’re a fan of the original I believe this will be a nice summer alternative.

Givenchy Gentleman Cologne

The Givenchy Gentleman released in 1974 is one of the masterpieces of that decade of perfume. When Givenchy decided to release a new perfume with that name in 2017, they did it in Eau de Toilette concentration. I was not happy it shared nothing of the sophistication of the original; it was a mess. A year later they released an Eau de Parfum version. This felt like the heir to the original I was looking for. When Givenchy Gentleman Cologne arrived it fell in the middle but closer to the Eau de Parfum side.

Perfumers Olivier Cresp and Nathalie Lorson continue to design the new Givenchy Gentleman collection. They keep it simple, too. In the Eau de Toilette there was a pear note on top that really turned me off. For Cologne the top note is a brilliant lemon in high concentration. It is a summery blast of sunlight. Some rosemary provides the herbal component of the cologne recipe. The perfumers substituted iris for the more typical lavender. It is a fantastic choice. The early moments are as good as it gets. My only drawback is a high concentration of synthetic woods. It lands like a sledgehammer. The lemon and iris nearly get obliterated holding on by a thread. If there was a bit better balance to the base, I would have liked this as much as the Eau de Parfum. Whether it is for you will come down to your tolerance for the synthetic woody in high concentration.

Disclosure: These reviews are based on samples from the manufacturers.

–Mark Behnke