This week’s latest launches are truly a feast for the senses. From Banana Republic Dark Cherry & Amber to Lalique Velvet Plum, with DSquared2 Red Woods, JusBox Black Powder and Zara Fleur de Patchouli along the way, you’ll delight your nose and eyes with these sublime scents in their fabulous flacons.
BANANA REPUBLIC
DARK CHERRY & AMBER
Black cherries are apparently perfumer Claude Dir ‘s favourite fruit, which seems obvious from the way he garlands them in swags of cherry blossom and pink freesia, before lavishing them delicious dollops of praline and the resinous luxury of a glowing amber accord. A remarkably accomplished gourmand, one for those naysayers who shy away from that family – it’s boozy and rich, but never too sweet. We continue to be impressed by this collection.
£55 for 75ml eau de parfum
debenhams.com
DSQUARED2
RED WOOD
If you like your fruit on the fresh side and plumped up with peppery tingles, you’re in luck: the piquancy of cranberry gets the juices flowing as cool lychee laps at velvety rose, smooth magnolia and a radiantly warm amber dry-down. Dsquared2 conjure up a spacious modernity within all their fragrances, so they never feel cloying. And although this one’s earmarked for women, we’d love to smell it on a man’s skin, too!
£44 for 30ml eau de parfum
harveynichols.com
LALIQUE
VELVET PLUM
René Lalique revolutionised Art Nouveau glassware and jewellery, and the house keep his spirit alive with an annual trio of Les Compositions Parfumées celebrating modern, molecular perfumery. Here, we are invited to wrap ourselves in suede and cashmere, soon to be enfolded bohemian lushness of heliotrope, with iris and osmanthus all snuggled up on a dark chocolate-y patchouli base. And that extraordinary coloured juice! In the frosted bottle, it looks (and wears) otherworldly.
£190 for 100ml eau de parfum
lalique.com
ZARA
FLEUR DE PATCHOULI
Zara have tapped perfume designer Jo Malone (of Jo Loves) for their new, impressively affordable collection of eight fragrances. (Zara’s home fragrances are under-the-radar gems, created by scent superstars like Alberto Morillas.) Initially drawn to sheer musky-floral Waterlily Tea Dress and sparklingly citrusy Amalfi Sunray, but over time, find ourselves returning compulsively to Fleur de Patchouli: a proper, grown-up, fashion-transcending Chypre. Trust us: they’ll never guess it’s Zara.
From £15.99 for 40ml eau de parfum
zara.com
JUSBOX
BLACK POWDER
Blackcurrant, crisp apple and pimento vibrate with an energy that expresses the 90s grunge music which inspired this latest creation from Jusbox. Intense suede, tobacco and frankincense warm to the sweetness of sandalwood, addictive tonka bean and a transparent, resolutely dry use of patchouli heart. Think Kurt Cobain with kohl-rimmed eyes, frantically thrashing about the stage – dynamic, edgy, gender-bending, like nothing else you’d seen, heard – and now, worn on your skin.
£140 for 78ml eau de parfum
selfridges.com
