COSMETIC CRAVING

THERE’S a reason so many of us are addicted to Diptyque’s candles. They smell sublime, with 60 hours of proper perfume that can be ‘tasted’ in the way that connoisseurs taste wine. I once spent an evening with the critic Jonathan Meades blissfully engaged in this activity.

The firm has launched ten city scents, from Paris to Tokyo, Miami to Shanghai — each available in

its ‘home’ stores for £60. London (right) is a dream; a paean to Columbia Road flower market, all heady hyacinth laced with lilac, heliotrope and juniper.

I am besotted with New York — cedarwood, vetiver and patchouli offset by incense, conjuring speakeasies. I’ll just have to jet over and invest.