SCENTS FOR SUMMER
New perfumes liven up the season with intriguing blends and unexpected notes.
It’s the busiest time of the year in the fragrance world, at least from the perspective of new launches. The Northern Hemisphere might be hunkering down for autumn and marking the change by choosing to wear richer and more intense scents, but we’re embracing the longer, sunnier days by reaching for fresh, bright notes, and everyone is looking ahead to Christmas and lining up their gift ideas.
This is why you’ll see a host of new arrivals on shelves that reflect both styles, as we receive both global launches as well as ones timed to better suit our region. It really is a win for everyone, if your personal tastes – or those of the person you’re buying for – are at odds with the classic approach of the season.
FLOWERS & SWEET SURPRISES
Modern florals are harder than ever to group into the likes of ‘fruity floral’ or ‘woody floral’ as we once would have done. Some now put the spotlight on one single bloom; while others prefer to blend a bouquet of floral notes with unexpected base elements, where once soft woods like sandalwood and cedarwood reigned.
For example, classic Gucci Flora Gorgeous Gardenia has been reimagined as an eau de parfum. In addition to the obvious bloom at the heart of the perfume, there are also notes of jasmine absolute, pear blossom accord and, surprisingly, brown sugar. Vanilla, too, is popular: sometimes at the fore and other times
as an underlying element to a variety of flowers. In Dior’s revamped, re-released Miss Dior Eau De Parfum, it holds up more obvious rose, iris and peony notes, but in the French luxury brand’s Vanilla Diorama, a new addition to its high-end La Collection Privée Christian Dior line, it is front and centre. A gourmand delight, Vanilla Diorama’s composition pays tribute to a dessert that was one of Monsieur Dior’s favourites.
Marc Jacobs’ new Intense version of scent Perfect chooses cheery daffodil – a rarely called-on bloom – and jasmine, but rounds them out with the warmth of toasted almonds. For a fresher take, orange blossom leads the pack for white florals. In
Giorgio Armani’s My Way Intense, it is extracted using enfleurage, a method that infuses the flowers in bitter orange for a more intense personality.
STATEMENT SCENTS
After a perfume that will ensure you won’t soon be forgotten? Givenchy’s L’Interdit Rouge is a sensual and spicy number, with top notes of blood orange and ginger and rounded out with pimento leaf and patchouli.
The latest iteration of YSL’s extremely popular Black Opium – Black Opium Extreme – is sweet, creamy and rich with black coffee mixed with jasmine and bourbon vanilla. Byredo, always a top pick of fragrance-ophiles, continues to take interesting and unexpected olfactory approaches. Two of its latest include Mixed Emotions, a scent designed to ‘reflect the tumultuous nature of our times’ with smoky blackcurrant, spice and tea, and Open Sky, meant as an ode to the ‘romance and seduction of travel’, with aromatic pomelo mingling with hemp leaves, pepper and vetiver.
COOL COLOGNES
In contrast, colognes are not into reinventing the wheel right now, even if the campaign for Burberry’s new Hero fragrance caused many to do a double take. The promos feature actor Adam Driver appearing to turn into a centaur while swimming in the ocean. Head turning – or head scratching – it may be, but not so evocative of the actual scent, that calls on bergamot, juniper, black pepper and woods for a bright, woody mix that will go down well with many regardless of gender.
Clean and fresh is the common denominator in the category: the ubiquitous ‘blue bottles’ that line counters with zesty citrus on soft woods are still the most popular approach over heavy, musky scents. Elements of saltwater and sea breeze like in Montblanc’s Explorer Ultra Blue also help inform these releases.
Still, there are outliers. D.S. & DURGA’s Burning Barbershop is intended to incite the aroma of a 19th-century barbershop caught ablaze. It’s smoky with hints of zesty spearmint, lime and spruce.