SWEET FLORALS
helena lee, features director
ambre nuit, £200 for 125ml, dior
Now it is colder, I have been seeking out the warmth and spicy headiness of ouds and oriental fragrances – scents with depth that cling joyfully to thick scarves. My starting point was Dior’s Ambre Nuit – a gleaming oriental-floral balancing amber with delicate Turkish rose. My new introductions were to Chanel’s Coromandel and Aerin’s Ambrette de Noir. The former revels in intrigue, inspired by the flower-adorned screens Coco Chanel used to decorate her Parisian apartment; like the Dior, it has a strong amber embrace, but is distinctly darker, laced with frankincense. Aerin’s is sweeter, swirling with musk and white peonies; to wear it feels like treasuring the last days of autumn. sycomore, £155 for 75ml, chanel derby, £188 for 100ml, guerlain
I claim two mossy signatures. The first is Jean-paul Guerlain’s Derby, a sublime chypre featuring spice, Indian woods and carnation, with a birched-leather and patchouli base. The second is Jacques Polge’s Sycomore for Chanel – a glorious true wood that is all juniper, vetiver, cypress and pink pepper.
Yet the grubbily haughty Duel by Goutal is rapidly claiming the status of an old friend. With green maté absolute, petitgrain, iris, absinthe, musk and leather, it conjures up the image of a gauntlet dashed to the ground, while horses stomp in the undergrowth. Juliet Has a Gun’s Metal Chypre, comprising bergamot, pink pepper, iris, patchouli and amber, is weird yet beautiful, drying down to an intriguing skin scent. And Robert Piguet’s Bandit Suprême is a 2020 spin on his 1944 S&M original. I can’t quite see what it’s bringing to the party, but a party it remains.