Let February’s new start transport you to a dazzling world of scent. This week’s latest launches are sure to delight: from the sparkling star shape of Mugler Angel Nova to Amouroud Himalayan Woods and beyond. Add a little Sarah Baker Flame and Fortune and who knows where the magic will take you?
MUGLER
ANGEL NOVA
A sheer, fresh floral take on the iconic classic, this iteration twists ripe raspberry and succulent lychee with petal soft damask rose atop a darker base of Akigalawood and resinous benzoin. Definitely one to try if you clutched your pearls and backed slowly away from the original scent – it’s a very pretty fragrance that feels perfect to wear when you want something characterful yet transparent enough to let your own personality shine through.
£53 for 30ml eau de parfum
theperfumeshop.com
SARAH BAKER PERFUMES
FLAME & FORTUNE
A soft opening for such a strident name, a petitgrain piquancy sashays into the room with an air of insouciance and apricot lip gloss. But wait; there’s something sizzling, and soon a ginger-spiked tuberose begins to bloom, a hip-swinging confidence that grows exponentially and feels subtly sinister in the best of ways. Amber flames lick the insatiably smouldering mezcal base with hints of sweetly burned rubber. The getaway car after a bank heist, perhaps?
£80 for 50ml eau de parfum
sarahbakerperfumes.com
WORLD OF WIMSETT
CIRCE
Gifted muralist Frederick Wimsett has unveiled his first, gender-free fragrance, a floral-woody-Ambrée creation intended to conjure up ‘a stroll on a sun-baked Greek island.’ We’ll take this as a fine substitute for that experience, right now: hand-blended with hyacinth absolute alongside 100% natural essential oils that include cedar, vetiver, coriander, sandalwood and patchouli, it’s named after Circe, Homer’s sorceress/goddess, who used her magical powers to transform the world around her. If only.
£30 for 30ml eau de parfum
frederickwimsett.com
AMOUROUD
HIMALAYAN WOODS
A fresh fall of snow blankets the earth, smothering sounds and making everything seem new. A whisper of cool cardamom presages the unfurling of soft spices – black pepper, juniper berry and clary sage freshened with a sprig of lemon blossom. Melting into a heart of luxurious vanilla flower and jasmine, the layers reveal themselves further – crystal clear guaiacwood and sheer incense with droplets of tonka bean, white amber, oud, patchouli and musk. Transcendentally delightful.
£175 for 100ml eau de parfum
ab-presents.co.uk
LOUIS VUITTON
MÉTÉORE
To quote creator Jacques Cavallier Belletrud: ‘Here, freshness is not only a starting point; it becomes a major vector, a backbone around which all other elements orchestrate and interlace.’ A definite get-your-mojo-back introduction from Vuitton, then, with Tunisian neroli, the zing of several citruses, rendered even more nose-tingling by a cocktail of spices and a trio of peppers, plus a specially-distilled vetiver that exhales ‘fresh, zesty notes of grapefruit and damp soil.’ Utterly magnetic.
From £200 for 100ml eau de TBC
louisvuitton.com
