Day and night. Beachy sun and evening fog. Sunshine pop and a cello concerto. This is how I think of Imaginary Authors Sundrunk next to Masque Milano Luci ed Ombre. (Kevin reviewed Luci ed Ombre here, but I’ve recently discovered it, and I can’t resist bringing it to your attention again.) Both brands deliver stories with their fragrances, and, no surprise, they’re stark complements…
Italian niche brand Masque Milano will launch Hemingway, a new vetiver fragrance intended as an homage to author Ernest Hemingway…
“Manly, yes, but I like it, too.” Anyone remember those old Irish Spring commercials? Perfume aficionados know that “male” and “female” designations serve best simply as markers — like “rose” or “fresh,” for example — on what to expect, not whether the perfume only suits a particular gender. On the traditional male-female fragrance spectrum, Masque Milano Montecristo weighs heavily male in the leather, wood and tobacco manner, right next door to Hermès Bel Ami. Despite my earlier reference to Irish Spring, believe me, Montecristo doesn’t smell anything like soap. But I like it, too.
Montecristo launched in 2013 and was developed by perfumer Delphine Thierry. Its notes include cabreura, ambrette seeds, rum, tobacco leaves, celery seeds, cistus, benzoin, golden stone, styrax gum, gaiac wood, cedar wood and patchouli.
Montecristo opens herbal, musky and almost vinegar-like before relaxing into leather spiked with tobacco, salt, cinnamon and cumin…
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…
Italian niche brand Masque Milano has launched two new fragrances, Times Square and Mandala…