There needs to be brands who gently coax along a mainstream perfume consumer down the niche rabbit hole. One of the most effective ways to achieve that is to give that person something like what they find at the mall but made with more imagination. This has been what Parfums de Marly seemingly have been happy to do. Their latest, Parfums de Marly Greenley, takes fresh up a level, or two.
Julien Sprecher
It has been thirty years since the fresh trend of perfume began. The desire of the mainstream customer for this style has never waned. One thing I have learned over time is what the independent and niche perfume community offers is a variation on those trite styles. Creative director Julien Sprecher has always had a good sense of how to do this. In Greenley he produces a riff on the ubiquitous “freshie”.
Most of these fragrances lean hard on the same set of ingredients to produce fresh. For Greenley the choice is to find a new source of fresh. To achieve this they take a trip to the apple orchard.
As someone who smells my share of the mainstream fresh perfumes the opening of Greenley is a refreshing change. It opens with the crisp tartness of green apples given some support through a diffuse citrus. This is just the kind of change this brand excels at. They also seem to know that their customers also want woods with their fresh. Using two synthetics, Cashmeran and Amberwood, a warm long-lasting woody accord forms the second half of Greenley.
Greenley has 12-14 hour longevity and average sillage.
I like this because it doesn’t allow the woods to obliterate the fresh green apple accord. Because of that it is going to be a great choice as we begin to transition from winter to spring. Parfums de Marly adds to their repertoire this time by letting Greenley develop a better fresh.
Disclosure: this review is based on a sample I purchased.
–Mark Behnke
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