Let’s face it, as the nights get darker, we long for a little mystery in our autumn fragrance. This week’s latest launches will have you falling truly, madly deeply in love. Fragrance Du Bois Cannabis Intense feels like a velvet cloak over your shoulders, whilst Ella K Cri de Kalahari will transport you to its woody depths. Meanwhile Dior quenches your oud thirst with the masterful Oud Rosewood. The night is full of possibility…
BYREDO
DEEP VIOLA
On-trend with the contemporary revival of violet (see p.XX), this Harrods exclusive beautifully evokes both violet’s delicacy and its tougher side. (Violets may appear fragile, but they’re resilient little darlings.) Saffron, angelica and bergamot introduce a pretty-pretty softness, rendered even fluffier by orris, before leather notes, agarwood, incense and vanilla swagger in. As with all BYREDO creations, it’s shareable – and we think this would wear beautifully on a man’s skin.
£170 for 100ml
harrods.com
DIOR
MAISON CHRISTIAN DIOR OUD ROSEWOOD
Such an apt launch for this edition of The Scented Letter, since ‘The very name sounds like an enveloping piece of music, like the echo of a voice as haunting as a few bass notes escaping from a cello.’ Creamy sandalwood and animalic oudh are an olfactory cymbal clash, balanced by tender top notes that are ‘sweet as quince paste and raspberry-sharp’, in an exclusive for the Middle East and UK only.
From £89 for 40ml eau de parfum
dior.com
ELLA K
CRI DU KALAHARI
Inspired by founder and perfumer Sonia Constant’s olfactory memories of her travels, here we pack our trunks and take a trip with her to Africa and the monumental baobab tree. An ancestral symbol ‘which carries all the history of Africa in its thousand-year-old trunk’ the woody depths feel almost textural with the perfectly crafted backdrop of sandalwood and cedar further enriched by a sprinkle of green pepper to set the senses tingling.
£175 for 75ml eau de parfum
harveynichols.com
FRAGRANCE DU BOIS
CANNABIS INTENSE
Once you’ve fallen for the charms of Cannabis Blue, we guarantee you’ll be reaching for something deeper, darker and even more grown-up. The green-spiciness is turned up, here, and saffron used to deploy an extra layer of leathery smoothness. Pink pepper, this time, for a playful tingle, and the warmth fairly billows – a velvet cloak of woody oudh enveloping you in a bubble of protection, like a much-needed hug from a wise friend.
£249 for 100ml parfum
fragrancedubois.com
DIESEL
SPIRIT OF THE BRAVE INTENSE
Elegant masculinity is celebrated with all the crisp sophistication of a traditional fougère granted the supreme opulence of an Ambrée in style. A wonderfully green apple joins citrusy bergamot, at first, the heart notes later revealing the herbaceous drift of aromatic sage leaves and a walk through a forest of cypress trees. For us it’s the base that beckons, though, a dry amber accord generously swirled with vanilla and patchouli: mysteriously magnetic.
£53 for 50ml eau de parfum
theperfumeshop.com
