We have hit the halfway mark of 2015 and I’ve been thinking about everything I’ve smelled in the first half of 2015. Here are some quick thoughts on the perfumes so far.
-It has been a very green year. I haven’t gone back and made a hard count but a significant percentage of the perfumes I have reviewed this year have had a verdant color to them. The vegetal green of Penhaligon’s Ostara. The completely abstract wasabi green of Olfactive Studio Panorama. Monsillage Eau de Celeri and the cilantro of Dasein Summer. Finally the classic chypre green of Aftelier Perfumes Bergamoss. I have never been happier to go green.
-In my New Year’s wishes for 2015 I hoped Olivier Polge would step up and revitalize the Chanel perfume offerings. With the release of Misia for Les Exclusifs in the spring it wasn’t a home run but it was a solid double up the middle. What I liked was all of the boldness Olivier Polge has shown in the past was still there. It has been a while since Chanel has seen that, which I think I figured out was what I was missing.
-There have been more excellent independent offerings than there have been in a while. Many of these have been from first-timers. Jessica Hannah and her perfume for Canoe Goods, Skive. Andrea Rubini and his Rubini Fundamental team. The established names have also impressed. Bruno Fazzolari Room 237 and Charna Ethier’s Providence Perfume Co. Provanilla.
-Interesting aquatics continue to arrive most of them leaving the Calone on the shelf. Pierre Guillaume’s Collection Croisiere is a great example of this through the first five releases.
-Really beautiful synthetic prominent fragrances have caught my attention. All of the Raymond Matts Aura de Parfum collection are examples of how synthetic does not necessarily mean banal. Kaiwe was my favorite but the entire collection is the best of the half-year. Mathilde Laurent also picked up the synthetic baton with Cartier XI L’Heure Perdue.
– Both Editions de Parfums Frederic Malle and Serge Lutens were underwhelming in their early 2015 releases. Hopefully the second half of the year has something to thrill me again.
-Looking towards the second half I am still eagerly awaiting the first fragrance by Christine Nagel for Hermes. I know there will be something unexpected that will thrill me which is what makes doing this so much fun.
I think the marching band has left the field time to head out for the second half.
–Mark Behnke
