You are remarkable, and Etat Libre d'Orange wants to remind you of that with their fragrance Remarkable People. It begins with the citrusy energy of tart grapefruit mingling with dry Champagne, with the convivial energy of a toast in your honour. Around this are flashes of interesting spices: black pepper, cardamom, and even curry leaf, drying down on a base of resinous and ambery labdanum and warm sandalwood. Remarkable indeed; charming and cordial? Definitely.
A similar effect is achieved with Creed’s Original Santal, perfectly taking on spice notes. Cinnamon, juniper berry, and lavender create an unmistakably captivating spice accord, that - when combined with milky sandalwood - is like pouring warm cream over fresh wood.
For a fresher and less decadent take on woods, try Koala from Zoologist. Koala explores the possibilities of the woods category, working at a primary accord of vetiver, sandalwood, and spicy oakmoss that is smoothed of its rough edges. Touched with the fresh notes of sharp cooling eucalyptus, geranium, and the fine astringent features of black tea – this essential heart of Koala is fortified and yet feels to be weightless; its fresh features lift heavy notes into the awakening cool of the atmosphere.
It is the precise moment where the scent of sunburnt earth, gumnuts, and twigs are cooled by the camphoraceous, sappy, and resinous breeze of eucalypt trees.
Finally, Amouage's Interlude Black Iris gives you pure and pristine smoke balanced with the tender softness of iris root, or orris, which achieves the effect of superimposing a lustrous varnish over the heart of the fragrance, taming the intensity and leaving it to smoulder, making it perfect for the workplace.
If beguiling is less your style, and quiet and understated is more like it, Silver Musk from Nasomatto is a clean and shimmering second skin scent that makes use of a large cocktail of white musk molecules that are effervescent with a citrusy counterpoint. Silver Musk sinks into the skin and radiates a soft and clean soapy aroma; subtle but not weak.
Orange x Santal from Essential Parfums is ingenuous and sturdy, emphasising the freshness of basil leaf and bright orange citrus against a long and dusky background of sandalwood, cypress, and oakmoss. This is a woods fragrance, with a slightly retro charm reminiscent of a number of classic masculine fragrances - from Aramis to Antaeus and a whole range of classic fern fragrances. This twists the Fougere to become a Chypre, which is to say, to add the drama of many contrasts, all held together in the perfect balance.
For woody understatedness, 1828 from Histoires de Parfums appeals to typical masculine demands for both cleanliness and freshness. 1828 is like a marine breeze over a wild heath, as scratchy cedar is combined with tender nutmeg, pepper, and enlivened with crisp eucalyptus.
For the traditionalist, Rogue offers a range of deeply interesting, timeless, and deeply traditional masculine perfumes. Consider Bon Monsieur, its simple beauty of lavender absolute respected, its innate complexity allowed to unfurl without distractions. Tabac Vert, on the other hand, is a tobacco scent true to its name: exploring its vegetal and spicy green freshness as opposed to its more popular smoky and amber-sweet interpretations. Its sense of refinement is of the highest order.
This is similarly made popular in classic masculines such as Trumper's Eucris and Czech and Speake's No. 88 - where beautiful barbershop accords of refined woods and powders and lifted up with spice - in both instances cassis, and a deeply gothic floral heart, in many ways reminiscent of Victorian England.