celebrations Archives - The Perfume Society

Scents of Occasion: Jubilee street-party perfumes

With crowds witnessing the Queen’s spectacular Platinum Jubilee procession, and thousands busily preparing trestle tables filled with homemade food for street parties around the country for Her Majesty’s incredible 70 years as monarch – we’re scenting our Jubilee celebrations with two quintessentially British (fragrant) flavours as inspiration…

Cucumber:

Served in sandwiches (crusts cut off, obvs) or popped in a refreshing G&T, the choice is yours – but do seek out these deliciously cool cucumber-infused scents.

4160 Tuesdays Scenthusiasm
Originally created for a private gin company’s event, fragrant inspiration fizzes via orris butter, rose absolute, lemon and orange, cucumber extract, juniper absolute and coriander, boosted with musk for longevity.
From £40 for 15ml eau de parfum
4160tuesdays.com

Kilian Roses on Ice
‘Anyone for notes of gin, distilled with rose and cucumber?’ Kilian ask. A rhetorical question, as we enjoy the icy freshness of juniper berries, contrasting with the velvety warmth of rosa Centifolia, sandalwood and musk. Chin, chin!
From £165 for 50ml parfum
bykilian.co.uk

Perfumer H Cucumber
Opening with a gust of juicy greenness: a touch of galbanum and sea moss, alongside notes of watermelon, bergamot and lemon rind. A breeze of cedarwood and vetiver in the base is wrapped in a shrug of warm musks.
From £110 for 50ml eau de parfum
PerfumerH

Garden Fruits:

Slathered on Victoria sponges, enjoyed in a bowl of Eton Mess or stirred in a jug of Pimms, the piquant pop of fruitiness is a delight to wear in fragrant form, too.

Christian Louboutin Loubidoo
Daphné Bugey’s fruity, feminine strawberry, rose and cedar blend beckons good (fragrant) fortune being finished with a lucky cat symbol. They say it ‘Tip-toes on velvet paws…‘ We say: Mischievously moreish!
£235 for 90ml eau de parfum
selfridges.com

Juliette Has a Gun Lipstick Fever
Raspberry, iris, and violet absolute evoke the comforting scent of a precious leather handbag, before the addictive sweetness of vanilla slowly emerges on the skin. As for the suitably scarlet flacon? Mwah, mwah!
£120 for 100ml eau de parfum
harveynichols.com

Maison Margiela Replica Springtime in a Park
Dappled light through branches, a crisp breeze, pink cherry blossom tumbling on pears, bergamots and black currants; aqueous blooms, lily of the valley and dewy roses – a perfect perfumed portrait of happiness.
From £49 for 30ml eau de toilette 
selfridges.com

Fragrances For… celebrations!

Our Fragrances For series continues with a look at perfumes we think are perfect to celebrate with. We must admit the theme was inspired by our recent trio of Jasmine Award wins, but let’s take time to celebrate the every-day wins, too. Scents have soothes frazzled nerves, reminded us of happy holidays and people we love, and they can add much-needed razzle-dazzle to the dullest of days. Now, what do YOU deserve to celebrate with…?

CAROLINA HERRERA
212 VIP Wins Woman
Symrise perfumer Emilie Coppermann definitely evokes the vibrant green of the bottle in her verdant composition. Can a fragrance smell ‘shiny’, too? Somehow this does – the bracing chlorophyl of the top notes freshened further by a squeeze of mandarin’s juiciness. Luscious pomegranate marries perfectly with a fruity rose, while the fizzy delight of the heart mellows to a smooth base as it warms to a trail of musk and silky woods.
£89 for 80ml eau de parfum
carolinaherrera.com

JEAN PAUL GAULTIER
So Scandal!
Unapologetically naughty: a scandalous interlude conducted on silky raspberry velvet, the milkiness of warm, bare skin caressed by softness and ‘a threesome of white flowers.’ Oh, my! Bright orange blossom, opulent jasmine and heady tuberose are dusted in powder, a feeling of feathers exploding from the tussle of a pillow-fight. Most of all this is fun, fun, FUN – and gosh, how we’ve needed frivolity, granted by perfumers Daphne Bugey and Fabrice Pellegrin.
£68.50 for 50ml eau de parfum
boots.com

MUGLER
Angel Iced Star
Housed in what is possibly Mugler’s most stunning, kaleidoscopically colourful flacon yet, this latest twist offers up a cocktail of mouth-watering deliciousness from the get-go. Imagine celebrations by a pool (oh, HOW we imagine!), sipping a cool concoction of coconut water and juicy pineapple. The praline base feels suitably icy – a freshly-scooped gelato, perhaps, and not over-sweet – and we’re sure the many Angel collectors will be snapping this up, pronto!
£50 for 50ml eau de toilette
escentual.com

PACO RABANNE
Lady Million Fabulous Intense
Perfume Anne Flipo goes deeper and darker with this iteration of the golden scented success story. Pink pepper-flecked mandarin and orange fizzes appealingly to the addictive note of tuberose. Jasmine is again described as ‘solar’, its luminescence draped in the liquid, languid glam of ylang ylang. Toasty tonka bean and vanilla are finally swathed in moss as the base swoons on warm skin. One for the roof-top parties and VIP areas.
£87.50 for 80ml eau de parfum
pacorabanne.com

BVLGARI
La Gemme Azaran
The polished-in-every way counterpoint to La Gemme Astrea, this celebratory creation is by none other than Jacques Cavallier – more usually to be found pursuing his craft elsewhere in the LVMH empire, nowadays, for Louis Vuitton. Taking fiery aventurine as his mineral muse, this eau de parfum showcases leather, precious saffron and red cedarwood, to create (in Cavallier’s own words) ‘a sophisticated and powerful fragrance leaving a luxurious woody signature in its trail.’
£268 for 100ml eau de parfum
harrods.com

Fancy a second helping…? We chose three favourite fragrant features to celebrate our birthday

As part of the continuing celebrations for our third birthday (already – can you believe it?!) we’d love to share with you three of our favourite posts from over those momentous years.
We cover everything from just-launched fragrances to the history of perfume itself, with exclusive interviews and those ever-insightful (dare we say psychologically revealing?) chats in which the world’s top noses reveal their ‘five favourite smells’ and we delve deep in to the psyche of a perfumer’s imagination.
With an ever-growing features list that spans an encylopaedia of scented ingredients, a stack of fragrant reads and a worldwide perfume shopping guide – our archive is teaming with thousands (millions?) of words, so we can hardly blame you if you missed them the first time around!
We sadly can’t supply birthday cake for all, but might we suggest you treat yourself to a slice of something delicious and settle down with a cuppa for an evocatively fragrant catch-up of some of our favourite moments…?

Year One: that time we won an award that we weren’t even nominated for…
‘It’s not every day you get to say ‘today, as we breakfasted at BAFTA…’ but this morning, that’s exactly what we did while attending The Jasmine Awards – the premier awards for journalists writing on the subject of fragrance, and ‘The Oscars’ of the perfume world…

And (believe it or not), we were actually rendered speechless for quite some seconds – for at The Perfume Society, we were utterly thrilled/flabbergasted/over-the-moon (insert your own synonyms for giddy happiness, we’re still thinking of them!)…’
What got us so giddy? Read on to find out!

Year Two: that time we ate a scented supper created by a Michelin-trained chef…

‘American author, writer and pioneer natural perfumer Mandy Aftel is a force of nature, an inspiration to many and a good friend of The Perfume Society. So when she recently announced she’d be making a rare trip to our shores, we leapt at the chance chance to welcome her. And more than that, to introduce her to the brilliant chef behind our Scented Suppers – Pratap Chahal – who was, himself, inspired to explore the world of fragrant cooking through reading Mandy’s books…’

How can you eat perfume ingredients? Get set to drool…

Year Three: that time we found out what makes Guerlain’s Thierry Wasser tick…

‘We’re proud to say that he has not only become a friend to The Perfume Society, over the years – but proudly carries a Perfume Society VIP Subscriber card, number 001, in his wallet. We caught up with Thierry on his travels – and he found some time to share the answers to our ‘nose’ questionnaire…’

Thierry’s tip for improving your own sense of smell? Find it, here…
So what’s in store for the next few years? Well, we don’t need a crystal ball to tell you we’ve some fantastically exciting events coming up, a wealth of intriguing Discovery Boxes for you to delve in to and all manner of finger-on-the-pulse perfume news and exclusive features in our award-winning magazine.
And just like you, we’re always hungry for more…
Written by Suzy Nightingale

Tag: celebrations