SPRITZ up your olfactory wardrobe with our pick of the latest colognes and scents – from scents designed for self-care and others to intrigue and impress.
Officine Universelle Buly 1803, Eau Triple Medina Oud
£138 75ml – available at Selfridges
Composed of a gentle alcohol-free, soft water-emulsion formula, Eau Triple Medina Oud from cult French brand can be used to scent the hair or beard as well as your skin. From the French heritage brand originally established in 1803, which was revived more recently by creative powerhouses Ramdane Touhami and his wife Victoire de Taillac, Eau Triple Medina Oud is a very wearable and long-lasting rich and exotic oud fragrance with hints of agarwood, rose, saffron and amber.
Gabar, No. II Ground
£120 EDP 50ml -available from Gabar
The debut collection from Gabar, a company founded by two friends with South East Asian heritage, is inspired by three locations in Myanmar. No. II Ground celebrates the awe-inspiring ancient capital of Bagan, an UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Mandalay Region of the country.
Composed by the leading award-winning British perfumer, Ruth Mastenbroek, Ground, as you might imagine, is woody, earthy and fresh with spicy accents of coriander, saffron, pink pepper and ginger; orris, fig and cedar in the heart; and agarwood sandalwood, vetiver, musk, guaiac wood, patchouli and thanaka wood holding it together. As a side note, the company gives 10 per cent of its profits to support Prospect Burma, an educational charity.
The Nue Co, Water Therapy
£85 EDP 50ml – available from the Nue.co
Exploring the link between the brain, the sense of smell and your emotional state, the second “functional fragrance” from British luxury wellness company The Nue Co., Water Therapy, (created by award-winning perfumer Linda Song), aims to create the calming effect that being in marine environments can bring. This is done by deploying unique olfactory technology, which triggers primal protein pathways in the brain that then make a neurological connection to blue spaces to imitate a sense of peace.
Aside from the therapeutic benefits of this scent, Water Therapy, which is also made of sustainable and upcycled extract, is a great scent. It’s breezy aromatic, aquatic – very splashable – with accents of sandalwood, seaweed, clary sage, cardamom, rose, vetiver, ambrofix, salt and fir.
Initio Parfums Privés, Paragon
£240 extrait de parfum 90ml – available from Selfridges.com
The third perfume in the Hedonist collection from Initio Parfums, Paragon is healing and balm-like – intended to surround the wearer with a “protective aura” to safeguard not only your physical and emotional state but spiritual wellbeing too.
Indeed, at the launch in London, there was a healer who taught us about how to smudge with sage and burn palo santo wood (a central ingredient of the perfume) to cleanse and purify environments of any negative energy. Paragon contains top notes of bergamot, white sage, lavender; plum, palo santo, black pepper in the heart, and a base of smooth sandalwood and agarwood.
Dries van Noten, Orange Smoke Cologne
£150 EDT 200ml – available from selfridges.com
Belgian fashion designer Dries van Noten entered the fragrance space earlier this year, launching 10 genderless eau de toilettes, all created by leading perfumers and intended to be layered, each outstanding in their subtle sophistication.
Recently, he has introduced two more to the line. I particularly like Orange Smoke Cologne by master perfumer Annick Menardo, an intriguing blend of juicy citruses and incense-like wood – with hints of mandarin, petitgrain, neroli, orange blossom, jasmine incense and myrrh and musk.
Memoize London, Concordia
£177 extrait de parfum 100ml – available from memoizeperfume.com
Memoize London is a British fine fragrance brand founded by the perfume business insider Holly Hutchinson in 2016. Concordia, from her most recent collection, the Colours range, is a highly concentrated extrait de parfum containing 20 per cent oil concentrate.
It perfectly blends sparkly citrus fruits with orris, vetiver and jasmine for complexity, while a touch of fig and plum with a rich patchouli, vanilla and musk complete this unique luscious juice.
Histoires de Parfum, Encens Roi
£156 EDP 120ml – available from Harvey Nichols
Encens Roi, or the King of Incense, is the most recent launch for Histoires de Parfum, the brand founded in 2000 by Gérald Ghislain, to be an “olfactive library” that tells myth-like stories in scent. Encens Roi is a fabulous churchy scent – majestic, spiritual, immortal and solemn – evoking cool stone, ancient woods and bosky undergrowth.
Encens Roi is composed of Olibanum CO2, roman chamomile, schinus molle; a heart of saffron, pimento berry CO2*, and atlas cedarwood; and white cacao, oud, cistus and vanilla in the base.
Marc-Antoine Barrois, Encelade
£170 EDP 100ml – available from Marc-Antoine Barrois
Composed by master perfumer Quentin Bisch, the perfumer behind blockbuster scents by Jean Paul Gaultier, Bottega Veneta and Kenzo, Encelade is the most recent perfume from French fashion and accessories designer Marc-Antoine Barrois’ eponymous company that promotes excellence in fashion and fragrance design. It’s potent, captivating, balmy and rich – and totally seductive.
Encelade contains accents of rhubarb, vetiver, atlas cedar, tonka bean and Australian sandalwood.
Sunspel, Sea Moss
£115 EDP 100ml – available from Sunspel
The British garment-company Sunspel, founded in 1860 in Nottingham, has recently and successfully expanded into fragrances, working with the celebrated Yorkshire-born perfumer, Lyn Harris.
Its new scent, Sea Moss, evokes coastal Britain with elemental notes from the sea, sky, blustery breezes and rugged green, green earth. Sea Moss has accents of galbanum, vetiver, patchouli and cedar wood, cardamom lavender, black pepper, rose and bergamot, lavender and rose.
D’Orsay, G.A. Dandy or Not
£110 EDP 50ml – available from Harrods
The noted French heritage fragrance brand D’Orsay – founded in Paris in 1830 by man-about-town and dandy Alfred d’Orsay – is available in the UK for the first time.
Centred in the artistic milieu of the 20th century, its campaigns were designed by Jean Cocteau, Marie Laurencin and Georges Lepape, and its flacons were made by Baccarat, Daum and Lalique. At one time, one out of eight French people wore D’Orsay.
These days, the line has 16 fragrances – the latest being G.A. Dandy or Not. Composed by Sidonie Lancesseur, it offers a pleasing contrast between a spicy citrus and smouldering leathers with grapefruit, orange blossom and black tea notes.
By Caroline Simpson