Where I live, it is the first day of autumn, and this year, September is the new August: after a wet and confusingly mild vacation season1, we look likely to celebrate a glorious Indian Summer. I have always loved the early fall, so I'm tempted, each time I select the autumnal Top 10 at Now Smell This, to stack it with all my favorite chypres, floral ambers and woody orientals. This time, to avoid boring you with repetition, I've chosen fragrances released in the last two to three years. I can't promise there will be any less oakmoss than usual, but I do think I'm fruitier and more craft distilled today.
4160Tuesdays Up the Apples & Pears: North Americans are generally suspicious of any slang phrase that starts with "up", but "apples and pears" is just Cockney for "stairs". We're talking about a second floor pub, because besides the eponymous fruits, this scent includes hops, gin, whiskey, bread and woody accords. It is indeed a boozy fragrance, but it's crisper than those notes might indicate, with a yeasty, close-wearing dry down, perfect for those of you with My Little Pony's Applejack as your spirit animal.2 Sweet and lightly musky, Montale Wild Pears is a similar pleasure for our season of mist and mellow fruitfulness.
SP Parfums Violet Moss: Sven Pritzkoleit's German indie line is my favorite find of the last year. Violet Moss is a big, beautiful, descriptively named balance of airy green violet and bitter moss. Pritzkoleit uses apothecary-style bottles to reference his pharmacy training and the "good old times"; the scents inside recall those bygone days when nobody messed with your Balmain Jolie Madame.
Masque Milano Times Square: Ignore the title on this one. On Frédéric Malle's website, perfumer Bruno Jovanovic has a bio where Kant is paraphrased with "beauty is universal and has no concept". But the perfume lover is forced to wade through quite a bit of concept in the Masque Milano marketing here: the glossy lipstick accord evoking the bachelorette parties and peep shows of pre-Giuliani NYC, styrax to cue pleather and cheap gas, a mystifying reference to the luridness of street food and a strong blast of hazelnut, bringing to mind, uh, hazelnuts, the junked excess hazelnut harvest that clogged the urban gutters and garbage bins in that heady era. Still, this is a strange, fun and coherent fragrance.
Vero Profumo Naja: Inspired by the cobra-like Nāga of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, Vero Kern's Naja is a shape-shifter: Kevin found it dominated by blond tobacco in his review, while Luca Turin called it "mostly a colossal vetiver" in the accompanying comments. I rather thought it was a honeyed, powdery linden perfume, more syrupy and funky than the standard summer tisane of lime blossom. In any case... nice for fall.
Zoologist Bat: With a cave atmosphere conveyed through soil tincture, tropical fruit notes, leather and musks, Bat might be the perfect Halloween fragrance. Banana-friendly souls may also enjoy dearly departed Lush Ladyboy, and should share some with me if they find a bottle.
Galop d'Hermès: What is a quince fruit? I always confuse it with a kumquat and then I am taken aback by pictures of the great, lumpy yellow apples that quinces really are. Galop is a very accurate olfactory representation of the russet-colored leather and Pantone Marsala sand of its print advertisements. It's as spicy, grained and Spanish as a slice of quince cheese.
Rubini Fundamental: With just two green florals over as many years, perfumer (and former pharmaceutical chemist) Cristiano Canali has turned me into a gushing fan. In addition to Masque Milano's beautiful Romanza, Canali has created this apparent tribute to Italian fruits of the vine, with its bold opening of bitter grape and a nutty, golden-green background that holograms olive oil. These odd bookends are centered by a powdery, retro heart of Florentine iris. Fundamental reminds me in spirit of vintage Diorella: they both share that overripe chic that says "if smelling so novel is wrong, I don't want to be right."
Hendley Perfumes Mown: Having swanned around lately in Hans Hendley's glamorous, musky Gia, an indoor scent if ever I smelled one, I was curious to see how the Brooklyn perfumer would conjure a harvest moon and sun-ripened fields in Mown. On first sniff, it materialized: Fig Newtons! Surprise! I suppose hay bales do smell vaguely of Fig Newtons, now that he points it out. After the initial fiber-filled moments are past, this is a very, very quiet, grassy fougère.
Cartier L'Envol: Just when you thought it was impossible, a feather-light honey and patchouli fragrance.
Dusita Le Sillage Blanc: Perfumer Pissara Umavijani's fifth fragrance is a comically misnamed update on green leather. To mangle Dostoyevsky, in this genre, we all come out from Germaine Cellier's trenchcoat.3 Like Robert Piguet Bandit, Le Sillage Blanc is a dry, elegant leather with smoky and herbal accents. Maybe it was decided that 'Le Cuir Chartreuse' would trip up Anglophones?
Do add your own picks in the comments! And you can find more top 10 of fall lists at Bois de Jasmin and Grain de Musc.
1. Not that I'm complaining that it has been cooler, damper late summer for me; with hurricanes tearing up the east and west in the United States and the Caribbean, I've been grateful to be a landlocked central Canadian.
2. Everybody tells me I am Twilight Sparkle. As a Sparkler, I can't believe it just dawned on me how weird it is that Hasbro named a child's toy and cartoon after an American colonial cocktail.
3. Ed. note: Dostoyevsky reportedly said "We all come out of Gogol's 'Overcoat'.
Note: top image is Autumn is in the detail [cropped] by www.ruffrootcreative.com at flickr; some rights reserved.
If we are talking favorite fall fragrances I would toss in Atelier Cologne Silver Iris, Carner Rima XI, Hiram Green Arbole Arbole to your lunch.
I thought about including Arbolé Arbolé! Great minds think alike (we’ll forget that concluding bit about fools.) OTOH, I can’t remember if I’ve tried any of the Carner Barcelona scents.
There are a few that are worth attention
I’m loving getting back into my leathers for autumn – Cuir d’Ange, Cuir Pleine Fleur, Cuir X, Cuir de Lancome…
Fall does seem to be a very leathery time, doesn’t it? I love Cuir Pleine Fleur, too, but find it very restful, so I tend to wear it in the winter more.
Amen corner here. BUT- sob! I am on the last few sprays of my Cuir de Lancome! There a light sweet hay like character that you DON’T get in Cuir de Russie. Why does it have to be discontinued! *sob*
Cuir de Russie seems much more a handbag / gloves leather scent to me, and it’s been getting dryer and just slightly more bitter over the years, I think. This makes it attractive to *me*, but is distinctly different from the Lancome.
Oh agreed!
Celebrating Indian summer as well.. Its hard to get into the fall scents when its beach weather outside, but here is my fall roundup for this year.
On Robin’s list from either summer or spring Tenue de Soiree
Some other by Goutal Vanille Exquise & Heure Exquise and my beloved Songes
No 19, and the Poudre flanker.
Samsara
Tea for the fall: Pleine Lune, my inlaws homemade Chai and Rouge d”automne, Good Earth tea bags
Make up: Some beautiful eyeshadows and a lick of mascara. Red lips
Oh, AG Heure Exquise – I always forgot about that one, but it’s so nice. As for No. 19, it dawned on me just the other day that Chanel has quite a number of good fall options, it’s kind of the brand’s season: No. 19 (especially the parfum), 31 Rue Cambon, Sycomore, Cuir de Russie, Antaeus, etc. etc.
I like Mariage Freres Pleine Lune, too. Along with Bolero, Karikal and Lune Rouge, it is among the handful of my favorite blends from them.
I like my SSS Champagne des Bois and Equestrian; and as it inches closer to winter with the temps I start working ambers into my rotation.
I avoided discussing the ambers this time, but they’ll definitely be coming out in my household as the weather gets cooler.
Whoever cropped the image, Brava!
I see lips
I see a leaf
I see lips
……
I don’t imagine Robin cropped it, but isn’t it perfect? She does pick the very best images.
Yes! Lips were the first thing I saw????
I do want to read everyone’s lists of favourite fall perfumes, but I admit I’m not into the Friday project today. We just don’t get fall here very much in southeast Texas, just more heat and humidity. So I don’t feel inspired. In addition, yesterday I got my sample box from Phlur. I am trying Hanami, Moab, and Siano. So far I’ve liked the last one the best. But may I take this occasion to rant about their website? It’s oh-so-designy and oh-so-politically correct, it ends up being very off-putting. So many young and beautiful (and mostly blond) people in nice clothes wandering around grand country estates. I am not surprised to read that their founder used to work for Ralph Lauren. Somehow I find their whole marketing schtick with little cutesy notes and Facebook follow-up messages very off-putting. And I’m not sure I like these perfumes well enough for that to overcome my innate distaste.
Going to look this up
I happen to really like all of the Phlur fragrances and the marketing schtick doesn’t bother me so much as I feel that so many perfume houses are doing the same exact thing. What I do like about Phlur is that the bottles are opaque (no letting light in) with a magnetic cap, they support various worthy causes, there are no phylates and nasty hormone disrupting chemicals and that they provide full disclosure of ingredients for each of their fragrances and for niche the fragrances are decently priced.
I am sure you are right that these are all good points. And yes the price is also relevant. I probably over-reacted. Being old, grey-haired, non-cool, and not on a country estate, I felt a disconnect between the very pc ideology of the brand and the elitism of their imagery. (Yes other perfume companies are egregiously guilty of that kind of ridiculous fake imagery too, to a far greater degree, but they don’t combine it with the healthy wholesome rhetoric; it’s the disconnect that I guess bothers me.) And yet we “old ladies” like perfume, too!
Ha! ha! Calypso, I hear what you are saying..but I will tell you that I am also in the “old ladies”, thinning grey haired, non-cool camp…I guess I just kind of gloss over the marketing stuff because it seems to be par for the course these days. But some of the imagery is kinda cool…have you looked at the Hepcat page? One of these days someone will market a great fragrance and present ladies that look like Calypso and Chocolate Marzipan
Those models are groomed within inches of their lives and a little generic-looking. It’s a little too Lulu Lemon for me, particularly the “chatty” marketing copy – please, just tell me a few notes. (Also, this sounds terrible, but I don’t really care about nasty hormone disrupting chemicals. I’m one of those people who isn’t worried about dying of vintage Je Reviens.) Siano does sound good on Fragrantica, though, and I like the pricing and, as chocolatemarzipan writes, the opaque bottles.
I don’t actually want to re-imagine my fragrance, I want to buy and enjoy wearing it. Nor is it a lifestyle choice, it’s a how-I-want-to-smell choice. I think it more useful to worry about hormone-disrupting chemicals in what I eat, than in a few ml of perfume, which is mostly alcohol and water anyway.
But hey I finally found the notes! Scroll down through a couple of pages of selling the fragrance as a lifestyle choice with lots of handy aspirational dress and lifestyle hints, and there is a 2 inch by 2 inch square about the actual scent. Yeah, whatever, lost interest by the time I found it.
I’m glad this brand has found champions, but it is ‘lifestyle’ marketed just as overly thoroughly as everything else targeted towards the millenial age group. The useful bits included about the actual product seem like an afterthought, which is the bit that puts me off this approach.
I happened to be at their website yesterday looking up Olmsted & Vaux and was equally put-off. I’d visited their site before and don’t remember that particular fragrance being “visualized” by a millenial male at a marketing dept meeting, dressed by Banana Republic. I don’t get it at all. And I swear they used to list notes but I couldn’t find them yesterday.
That said, I got 2 samples in a swap and the packaging is great.
hey there, kpaint…scroll down a bit and you will see “note on notes”which lists the notes-
https://phlur.com/products/hepcat
this is my favorite page of the site….reminds me of when I used to live in the big Apple…and yeah they are young and gorgeous..but the guy sure is nice to look at
Sorry, I didn’t notice some notes were listed! I guess I didn’t realize you had to scroll past the various mission statements, Spotify playlists (?!), etc. Honestly, it looks like *too much* energy and thought went into the webpage, which always makes me wonder about the juice, but that’s just me: not hip, rapidly aging, skeptical and diction focused. I’d be the worst focus group participant ever.
Ha I’m in the same group as far as “rapidly aging and skeptical”. Get off my lawn. My daughter used to drag me into Urban Outfitters and yikes, but once in awhile I’ll order something from them. I think Phlur scents are nice, and I like Hepcat enough to order a bottle.
Honestly, I don’t find what Phlur is doing any different from what many other perfume companies are doing….a very thin, young blonde model running and jumping while wearing a very sheer dress for the video ad for Galop d’Hermes or the adspeak for Masque Milano Times Square –
https://nstperfume.com/2017/08/09/masque-milano-times-square-mandala-new-fragrances/
I guess with the market flooded with so many perfumes and new releases daily it is all about the hard sell and targeting to a certain market. The ads and descriptions for Galop and Times Square definitely turn me off but I am all for giving the juice a try and looking past the “schtick”(if not, I would not be buying anything-LOL!) . I am glad I did with Phlur, because like Flopper I have found a few that , for me, are full bottle worthy.
Here we go….and actually the dress is not as diaphanous as I thought
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FA0jMjIWFUM
And this really takes the cake-
https://theblacknarcissus.com/2012/12/01/the-bewitched-carnations-diamond-waters-golconda-by-jar-2001/
Neil aptly describes this as “shenanigans” and to that I would agree. I will definitely pass on this one!
Hey, I totally made fun of the Times Square marketing in the post. I dislike most high concept advertising, as should be apparent from my (infrequent) posts. What I said about the Galop ads is that the caught the spirit, color-wise, of the scent. As for whether one prefers Spotify playlists or scented chamois, etc., your mileage will vary / YMMV, as perfume lovers say.
Also, if we’re being honest, I think you made a point against yourself with the Hermes YouTube ad: the model /dancer is not generic-looking at all (kind of odd-looking, really), not blonde, is wearing an atypical leather dress, is doing flamenco-ballet, etc.
So much is distasteful these days. Perfume sites/ads are the least of my concerns. The nose says it all.
I’m totally odd one out on this. I like their site. Looks like a lot of energy and thought went behind it. I do remember the site did list the notes at some point when I ordered a couple of weeks ago.
I agree with you 100% Calypso. This site could be used to sell anything to the target market. Condos, clothing, jewellery, food, restaurants, furniture, or alcohol. These products are all using the same cliched design elements in their packaging and marketing. Minimalism, sans serif typefaces, clean white backgrounds, generic looking photography and models. It’s so buffed, sterile, politically correct, a bit uptight and staged, and smug, as in ‘Hey… We’re so cool.’ Im tired of this aesthetic and disappointed that it’s everywhere. Nothing stands out anymore. Being a graphic designer and a creative person I wish we could be a lot more individualistic and unique.
Ha! That’s how I feel about Chanel ????
For transparency, I will admit to buying Box of Eels, so apparently I’m able to overcome my distaste! Maybe I’m just weak…
LOL!
I just looked up L’Envol, and I think I need to get my hands on that. It sounds right up my alley.
I’ve been meaning to try the Sven Pritzkoleit line, specifically Licorice Vetiver. Violet Moss sounds like it’s more about the leaves than the flower. Is that accurate?
I have a sample of SP Liquorice Vetiver and it’s quite nice and summery, heavy on the licorice, but I’m probably not the right wearer for it, as I’m not a big fan of unaccented vetiver and am a classicist about the vetivers I do wear (Chanel Sycomore, Guerlain, and on the niche side, something like Nishane Sultan Vetiver.) Violet Moss is really more about the flower, it’s just not very sweet, not a candied violet. I haven’t found a dud in the SP Parfums line yet, but my favorites so far are Violet Moss and Sunmilkflowers.
I’ll add that my experience with L’Envol is 180 degrees away from everything I’ve read about it. I hesitated to try it because it’s almost always described as “quiet” (or some other form of that word) which I try to avoid as my skin doesn’t project well. On both me and my husband it’s huge, massive and overwhelming (and a bit sour.)
He liked it; I did not, so I hid it away. I’ve got a decant I can send you if you’re in the US (click on my username.)
hey, so glad you shared that as it’s what I experienced with l’Envol. I spritzed some on my arm while I was in my kitchen. I could smell it days later when I stood in the same spot. I think it’s the musk.
I know several people who weren’t wild about it. If people are smelling massive musks, that certainly explains the differences of opinion, because I know I have some musk anosmias.
Thanks for the reply. I was able to give it a sniff over the weekend at Neiman Marcus, and I liked it quite a bit. It wasn’t massive on me, but it wasn’t *too* quiet either.
My favorite fall fragrances are recent discoveries…Phlur Greylocke, Hepcat and Moab. Phlur has become one of my favorite perfume houses and for niche the full bottles are highly affordable which is very important to me right now. I will also add Chergui to that and Field Notes from Paris. Will also bring out my Dame Perfumery Black Flower Mexican Vanilla and Bergamot, Jasmine& Labdanum. And not to forget Berdoues Grand Cru Colognes in Arz el Rab and Oud Al Sahraa. Finally, straight up dark patchouli oil from Eden Botanical.
I quite like the sounds of Moab, as I love sand and/or solar notes. And I need to try more of the Berdoues Grand Cru Colognes; I’m not much of a bottle hound, but the Arz el Rab, Oud Al Sahraa, Assam of India and new Maasaï Mara ones are absolutely lovely.
Moab on my skin is far from dry…in fact it is quite sweet as my skin really amps up the cinnamon and spices…it has a kind of Andy Tauer vibe to it…I think it would be great in the Fall/Winter….same for Hepcat…it is boozy and tobacco-y and perfect for cold weather.
And yes, the Berdoues are lovely…both the bottles and the fragrances…and like Phlur highly affordable for a niche brand.
Fave fall fragrances:
1) The outdoors in the PNW: Yes, it’s cliched, but true: Rain, mossy damp, microbial earth, ripe figs, plums and apples, woodstoves.
2) Okay with that out of the way, the Cuirs: Lancome and Chanel. Lancome is slightly sweeter and softer, Chanel’s more elegant and rounded. Beautiful to wear layered under silk shirts, soft sweaters and yes, of course leather jackets.
3) Orientals: I kinda cringe, to be honest, using this category, even though I understand WHY it is used.
Boucheron: one of faves year round but seriously- so lovely to wear in the fall- the white flowers keep it light BUT the creamy powdery spice dry down is so perfect. So nice on a sunny fall afternoon.
Obsession: YES.
Queen: Just get this, for real. Spray a couple of time. Out the door. Cheerful, sunny and spicy, like Ms. Latifah herself. Queen of Hearts is EVEN better because yummy plum.
Marc Jacobs Decadence : Plum and vanilla, lifted by citrus and grounded in amber. Actually VERY pretty, very plummy and as decadent as a baby’s kiss.
Oops, my reply to your comment went below. Don’t know how that happened.????
Ooo, even thinking about silk shirts right now makes me sweat. I am looking forward to sweaters later in the fall, though.
I have trouble wearing Boucheron, because it “belongs” to my Mom, but it is a beautiful scent and very appropriate for fall, agreed. And I need to try Queen! Never got around to it, even though I love Ms. Latifah.
I blind bought a mini spray of Queen based on comments here and I agree it’s totally worth it. Need to try the Boucheron because I gravitate toward anything spicy.
So glad to see some love for Obsession. I have a 100 ml vintage bottle that will probably (hopefully) last me a lifetime because 1 spray lasts me the entire day. I swear if MFK were bottling this stuff today and selling it for four times the price, it would still sell like hot cakes!
Also YES to apples and wood stoves.????
Yes! You know, even after all the hoopla and whatnot, it’s a damn good scent, beautiful and easy to wear and you are so right, it does last all day! And layers beautifully under a sweater!
But MFK couldn’t bottle it because it isn’t a citrusy woody orange blossom thing! I jest, I’m actually very fond of the MFK house style and particularly féminin Pluriel, Amyris and Ciel de GUM and he went out on a limb with Abolsue Pour le Soir (which I love, as well, just could never use even half a bottle of) and I understand that hasn’t worked commercially for him.
Thumbs up to woodstoves.
It’s going to be 39C here in Montreal with the humidex tomorrow… fall is nowhere in sight. But I am looking forward to incense, leather and amber as soon as things calm down.
I love, love Montreal just as it is (even the weather) and don’t expect it to be San Diego, right? I’m only kidding, but 39 C is rough. I hope you enjoys your incenses and ambers when it gets more fall-like.
2 more days of high heat and then it will drop to 12C.
4160 Tuesdays Up the Apples and Pears sounds nice to me. Also, SP Parfums Violet Moss peaks my interest. I need some nice fall/winter fragrance. I will seek these out. I am trying to find something that will replace my beloved Slumberhouse Pear & Olive that was discontinued.
Apple or pear notes often come off as fairly air-headed or shampoo-like in mainstream scents, but the 4160 Tuesdays is quite nice. Of course, the Slumberhouse one was rather unusual, as well. I didn’t realize it was discontinued. I have a bottle and don’t wear it much because my daughter has sort of taken it over as one of her favorites, but I’m always sad to learn that one of the funky indie/niche offerings is out of production.