In theory, I’d love to be one of those people who stick to a single scent. You know the sort: they will usually have a signature lip colour, perhaps a wardrobe whittled down to a few colours that combine well, maybe they even operate a one-in, one-out policy when it comes to products. These people intrigue me enormously, and I’d like to be among their ranks.
Only I’m not. I just can’t; to my mind different occasions demand different Madeleines to go with them — complete with a scent to direct my mood and complement whatever I’ve gone for, vibe wise.
If, for example, my plan is to take up residence in Soho for a night of merriment, I need something pretty high octane to accompany the occasion, and just as I would turn up the glamour in the form of sequins and shimmery eyeshadow, I would likely reach for something containing a good whack of leather and oodles of oud.
Equally, a day spent wandering around a museum demands something rather less heady, something that’ll gently tag along with me. Maybe lilacs are involved. Possibly vanilla. Absolutely rose.
Seasons also influence which scent I reach for.. In the summer I am one sort of creature, all sunshine and energy powering me through the day, while the autumn sends cooler air to encircle me while I walk around London, and I need a warmer, more comforting hug of perfume to brave it all.
These deliver, but without going down the hackneyed route of straight up smoky or musky. In fact, they all pack a bit of a punch, on the one hand drawing you in to their molten depths, on the other sprinkling unusual and often more piquant elements that elevate matters.
The thing they all have in common, my loving them aside? They’re seductive, holding you in their thrall.
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Penhaligon's The Dandy
It would be impossibly to wear this wooded whiskey and not want to go to a jazz club. In fact, the scent practically demands it, while adding surprising shimmers of raspberry and patchouli that flirt through the haze of oaky, smoky base notes.
Buy now £175.00, Selfridges
Givenchy L’Interdit Absolu Eau de Parfum Intense
When L’Interdit was created for Audrey Hepburn, she inadvertently named it when she forbade Givenchy from releasing to the general public - a decree ignored by the fashion house. This latest incarnation takes the classic florals of that original and underpins them with intriguing lavender and cardamom.
Buy now £123.00, Look Fantastic
LOEWE Earth Elixir
Hiding out under all that rich, resonant oud and truffle: LOEWE’s new Accord, drawing on Spanish Rockrose wildflower to add a liquid, amber warmth that renders this instantly the perfect choice for autumn.
Buy now £144.00, Liberty London
Byredo Desert Dawn
A clash that proves two disparate elements coming together can be unequivocally a good thing, Desert Dawn derives its power from smoky vetiver and cedarwood mingling with sweet, warm rose petals and cardamom.
Buy now £150.00, Byredo
Balmain Bleu Infini
To be whisked away on an olfactory trip to the Mediterranean, try this one that evokes sea breeze carrying cool, oceanic clary sage and enlivening pink peppercorn hugging hot, earthy stone.
Buy now £220.00, Selfridges
Jo Loves Black Cashmere and Tonka
Orange, rum, ginger, cardamom, and tonka bean may call sumptuous confectionary to mind, but they here combine forces to make this spicy, sweet, moreish scent that feels like the scent equivalent of slipping a velvet cloak on.
Buy now £105.00, Cult Beauty
Parfums de Marly Palatine
Just like the defiant, rule-breaking Elizabeth-Charlotte of Bavaria, aka the ‘Princess Palatine’, this is an unexpected scent, marrying sweet, terrifically seductive violet petal and herbal, crisp lavender, one whispering recline and the other rousing the senses.
Buy now £245.00, Parfums de Marly
Aesop Virēre Eau de Parfum
Given that Virēre is derived from the Latin for ‘to be green’, it’s unsurprising that this is calls an armful of herbs and plants to mind - but the sweet fig and homely hay tug it out of being even a little bit predictable; once on the skin it morphs between aromatic and sparklingly verdant.
Buy now £115.00, Space NK
Creed Centaurus
Rather than pair tobacco with its more common bedfellows like leather or oud, Centaurus casually adds fizzy starlight via cinnamon and pink pepper, adding a sense of galloping, untamed joy to this sensual scent.
Buy now £330.00, Cult Beauty
Kilian Paris Old Fashioned
Rounding out The Liquors collection, Kilian have worked their magic to make the Scotch whiskey at the heart of an Old Fashioned covetable by tugging threads of woody barrels and lighter floral aspects around its robust core.
Buy now £205.00, Cult Beauty
Dior La Collection Privée Rouge Trafalgar Esprit De Parfum
The revered perfumer Francis Kurkdjian playfully upped the ante here by bringing ripe cherry with hints of spice to the fore, letting it take the reins from the medley of roses.
Buy now £380.00, Dior
Jo Malone London Hinoki & Cedarwood Cologne Intense
This medley of woodland scents hinges on the titular cedarwood for warmth spiked through with lemony Hinoki. The resulting cologne is clean and serene and airy - think sauna rather than damp earth.
Buy now £160.00, Cult Beauty
Edeniste Oud Ghazal
The idea of oud probably calls the idea of a big and intense scent to mind – and you’d be right, it is a note that is undeniably potent. Great perfumers play a little with it, tugging it into different territories by combining it with unexpected notes, by fiddling with its place in the pecking order of the scent. In this, you’ll find oud is the base upon which black cherry and musks sit, leather hemming them into a scent that’s undeniably sensual once on skin.
Buy now, Harrods
