Today I am testing Costes, the fragrance created by perfumer Olivia Giacobetti and Rami Mekdachi for the fashionable Hotel Costes in Paris. The notes are lavender, bay-tree, coriander, white pepper, rose, incense, woods, and musk.
Costes starts as an aromatic herbal, rather heavy on the lavender and consequently a bit sharp. After a few minutes the coriander and pepper add a heavy dose of spice. I tried this on a test strip last year at Takashimaya, and pegged it as a spicy aromatic, but this is one of those fragrances that really needs to be tried on skin. Over the next half hour, it settles into a lightly spicy, soapy incense-woods scent with just a hint of rose. Eventually it smells like a lovely sandalwood incense soap, very soft and soothing, and close to the skin…