Succumb to the charms of this week’s latest launches as freedom beckons and happier times pave the way. Contradictions in Ilk Virtuous transports you to Tuscany while Bentley For Men Silverlake entices you to roll down the windows and enjoy the ride. Skandinavisk Kapitel 12 Freedom to Roam invites exploration and adventure and we are more than ready for both!
ARMANI/PRIVÉ
IKAT BLEU
We have few excuses to get dressed up, right now – but we can still enjoy when our fragrances get an haute couture outfit. Giorgio Armani’s latest pair have been designed in homage to the ancient Indonesian dyeing technique of ikat. Ikat Bleu’s mood is Ambrée-spicy, first tempting us with spicily fresh bergamot and pink pepper, embroidered with iris and patchouli that ultimately give way to Bourbon vanilla and guaiac wood. Just 1300 pieces, worldwide.
£565 for 100ml eau de parfum
harrods.com
SKANDINAVISK
KAPITEL 12 FREEDOM TO ROAM
We’ve come to love the great outdoors more than ever over the course of 2020 – catching up with our Scandinavian contemporaries, here. Now Skandinavisk, a much-loved bath, body and candle name, set out to capture that spirit of wilderness with a debut trio of scents. First up: Freedom to Roam reflects an ancient Scandinavian law which invites exploration and adventure, imagining heather-line trails above the tree line via notes of wild berries, herbs and woods.
£45 for 50ml eau de toilette
skandinavisk.com
BENTLEY FOR MEN
SILVERLAKE
As we’ve lately abandoned boardrooms for bedrooms (or front rooms/kitchen tables/wherever we can #WFH), this launch feels pertinent indeed, inspired as it is by escaping the city and driving to the mountains. Iced lemon and peppermint shiver delightedly to foresty, verdant violet leaf, with sheer lavender evoking the silvery sheen of a distant lake. Finally, the amber-rich base of musky woods makes us want to roll the window down and whoop, joyously. Impressively done.
£69.50 for 100ml eau de parfum
bentleymotors.com
CONTRADICTIONS IN ILK
VIRTUOUS
Transported to the Tuscan countryside via an aromatic herb garden, this personality-led house invites you to ‘follow in the shadow of a Carthusian monk.’ Contrasting scentscapes of dewy leaves and incense-infused leather books are linked via oakwood and moss for spiritually uplifting experience. But wait; don’t be bound by one ‘type’. Explore your less than pure side by layering with their passionate Libertine scent – or any of the six others waiting to tempt you.
£118 for 50ml eau de parfum
ilkperfume.com
OFFICINE UNIVERSELLE BULY
EAU TRIPLE OUD DE MEDINE
A second new Eau Triple, from Buly. (Whose stores, by the way, as and when we can freely travel again, are worth putting on your perfume bucket list.) Here, saffron – also known as ‘red gold’ – is showcased alongside oudh, a pair of ingredients chosen to conjure up the legendary Silk Road that snaked through Isfahan, Cairo, Damascus and Samarkand. You’ll leave behind a sensual trail of patchouli, sandalwood, amber and musk, in your (or your camel’s?) wake.
130 euros for 75ml eau triple
buly1803.com
