Every week we talk you through exciting new fragrance launches that are getting our pulses racing! Check out this week’s fabulous five…
ANIMA VINCI
NEROLI WISDOM
Come to the cool courtyard of a fine Moroccan riad and nibble cornes de gazelle pastries while sipping heavenly scented tea – your fragrant invitation from the first spritz of this neroli and orange blossom-drenched delight. Plucked from the same (bitter orange) tree, neroli freshens and soothes the soul as the more honeyed orange blossom suggestively sashays into view. Created by CPL Aromas perfumer Beverley Bane, this is a fragrant reverie you’ll willingly succumb to.
£150 for 100ml eau de parfum
lessenteurs.com
ELIZABETH ARDEN
SUNFLOWERS
A second Elizabeth Arden classic is getting a fleeting – and fresh – special edition, for summer 2018. Sunflowers Summer Air sets out to capture the coolness of a summer breeze, making ‘petals dance and leaves sway’ with a delicious simplicity. Lemon, apple and a green mandarin note offer an instant cool-down, with the breeze getting up via cyclamen, rose, jasmine, osmanthus and outdoorsy ozone, warmed by cedarwood, amber and musks as the finale gusts in.
£30 for 100ml eau de toilette
elizabetharden.co.uk
KENZO
FLOWER BY KENZO RED EDITION
Imagine a perfect bloom bathed in sunshine, red petals almost neon bright as they reflect the sun’s rays. Trickles of juicy blood mandarin speckle tendrils of red frangipani, plucked to inhale their heady aroma; salt crystals cling to warm skin fresh from a cooling dip in the sea, and as the fragrance melds to your body a whisper of white musk will trail softly as a caress from the beach towel you hug closely, smiling.
£55 for 50ml eau de toilette
johnlewis.com
MUGLER
LES EXCEPTIONS MYSTIC AROMATIC
Yes, this is fresh – a gust of invigorating green herb notes of Provence thyme, clary sage, oregano and basil that’s completely shareable. But it’s much more complex and ethereal than that initial sun-drenched, crushed green herbal encounter might suggest (and we’d expect nothing less from perfumer Jean-Christophe Hérault and Mugler’s Les Exceptions collection). Smoothing out the herbal elements, he added resinous Peru balsam – making for a dry-down that’s sweet, Ambrée, and a masterful study in contrasts.
£140 for 80ml eau de parfum
mugler.co.uk
ABERCROMBIE & FITCH
FIRST INSTINCT BLUE MAN
You’d expect new-clothing crispness from Abercrombie & Fitch – but First Instinct Blue also succeeds in melding effortlessly into a deeper, more adventurous rural scent. A fougère with two sides, initially fresh from frozen apple and bergamot, it’s mellowed with lavender, descending deeper into fresh aromatic depths of cardamom and finally amber – perfectly capturing an adventurous soul, confidentially moving from brighter days at work to long evenings in the outdoors.
From £33 for 30ml eau de toilette
debenhams.com