This week’s latest launches are a sensory feast for the artist within. Histoire du Parfum Unexpected Mona takes its inspiration from the most famous Mona (Lisa) of all, whilst Goldfield & Banks Bohemian Lime celebrates the tropical beauty of Byron Bay. Meanwhile, Guerlain Absolu D’Orient Patchouli Ardent breaks the rules in all the right places.
ELLA K
REFLET SUR L’OKOVANGO
Next, we take a ride with talented nose Sonia Constant to Botswana, where the Okavango is apparently known as ‘the river which never gets to the sea’. Abundant floral aqueous notes fill the air, whispers of papyrus and honeyed acacia borne aloft in the humidity, a shimmering haze of sycamore’s sappy sweetness following endless rivulets of water to create a scented oasis of serenity that widens your horizons as you wear it.
£175 for 75ml eau de parfum
harveynichols.com
FRAGRANCE DU BOIS
CANNABIS BLUE
The way this house works with sustainable oudh – and the number of characteristics they coax from it – is truly remarkable. A swirl of cardamom-infused smokiness is immediately freshened by camphorously fruity eucalyptus and a double-shot of sparkling elemi and grapefruit. Sichuan pepper and nutmeg add shadowy coolness to the spice mix, with fuzzy sage leaves presaging the herbaceously sweet cannabis accord. The woody base is lightly done, too – hazy drifts dancing on a breeze.
£249 for 100ml parfum
fragrancedubois.com
GOLDFIELD & BANKS
BOHEMIAN LIME
We love the way this Australian-based niche house highlight native ingredients – here celebrating the finger lime, a citrus like no other you’ve smelled. Tart green apples kicked up with a zing of zest flow into silvery ripples of cool Haitian vetiver. Inspired by Byron Bay’s lush tropical canopies, if you close your eyes you can almost feel the spray-back from cascading waterfalls, the cedar and sandalwood echoing dappled shade and glorious sunshine.
£135 for eau de parfum
selfridges.com
HISTOIRE DE PARFUMS
UNEXPECTED MONA
Inspired by the dimensions of the Mona Lisa painting, this is about the woman in the portrait and what lies beneath the surface of her painted visage. HdP explain it’s the scent of ‘…this undecipherable glance, of her immersive power drawing us in.’ Italian bergamot, and tuberose are entwined by ivy, opulently heady heliotrope lapped by Barbary fig milk and darker shades of vetiver lurking within the oakmoss base. Wear with an enigmatic smile.
£132 for 120ml eau de parfum
At Harvey Nichols
GUERLAIN
ABSOLU D’ORIENT PATCHOULI ARDENT
Is it for men? For women? All we know is this smells darned fabulous on every skin we’ve spritzed it on – and in the Middle East, to which Guerlain’s Absolus d’Orient give more than a nod, there are no fragrance gender rules. The patchouli here is surprisingly understated, simmering beneath elements of pink and black pepper, green fig and armfuls of roses, a leather-musk accord making its presence firmly felt in the dry-down.
£142 for 125ml eau de parfum
guerlain.com
