Ease yourself into the array with Eight and Bob: the perfect introduction to niche perfumery, a familiar trio of woody notes which soften at the touch with vanilla, injected with a salty aquatic counterpoint. Niche perfumery speaks of quality and interest; indeed, the fragrances say something. The maximalist approach of Nasomatto is encapsulated in the enduringly popular Black Afgano, which dares to combine the sticky green of hashish with the raspy texture of cedar, wrapping this up in incense, tobacco, coffee, and oud, giving the perfume incredible length. Pardon (Nasomatto) takes this principle and employs sandalwood, sublimating its quieter facets by highlighting its affinity with dark chocolate, pumping this up with spices, tonka bean, and other clever sandalwood materials. Finally, Nasomatto perfumer Alessandro Gualtieri sees this idea to its conclusion with Baraonda (Nasomatto). Italian for ‘uproar’, Baraonda surprises with an overdose of musks – the most rounded musks possible – nuanced with fruity, earthy, ambery impressions so to furnish the central whisky note. This is good whisky, and is combined with ambrox to both bring out and temper the smouldering fire. We move from fire to water in Gualtieri’s Megamare (Orto Parisi), which evokes the image of sublime thunderstorms, using similar amber molecules to electrify notes of seaweed, cedar, musk, and calone – a molecule famous for spearheading the aquatic/marine trend.
Freshness takes on many forms. Evoking the sea without drawing upon the muscular power of thunderstorms, Heeley’s Sel Marin is a meditation surrounded by sea breeze. Like sunlight, a reviving lemon note merges with seaweed, followed with woods impregnated with salt water. The total effect is an image of scented ingredients seeping with brine and roasted under the sun. Move further towards land with You or Someone Like You (Etat Libre d’Orange), an urban(e) scene and an ode to the city of Los Angeles. It is indubitably contemporary: a scent with an open and amiable disposition, a clean and dreamy aroma that invigorates with a central mint note combined with rose, offering radiant freshness – like solar rays on manicured grass. Day turns to night with Hermann a Mes Cotes (Etat Libre d’Orange), which offers a bounty of shadows: a play of aromatic materials creates presence amongst absence; an olfactory trick. Lashings of black pepper, woods, and mineral effects are engulfed in incense, creating a spicy-balsamic-amber frame that ultimately houses a classic accord of rose and patchouli.
Return to history with Eucris from Geo. F. Trumper, a timeless composition of inky shady oakmoss, beguiling sandalwood and the charmingly rich fruitiness of blackcurrant. For a slightly fresher take, consider No. 88 from Czech and Speake, which builds further sumptuousness in the heart through the dark spiciness of rose otto extract lifted with minty geranium. An eternal favourite, a modern classic if you will, Tauer's L'Air du Desert Marocain will take you to the Magreb, mixing coriander seed, cumin, cedar wood, and ambergris to conjure up images of infinitely long lengths of sand, clear blue skies, and hot desert air. It is the scent of respite after a long voyage, in the shelter away from the sweltering heat. To conclude, return home to the Aussie bush with Naomi Goodsir's Bois d'Ascese, with its note of smouldering campfire woods, pipe tobacco, peaty smoky Isley single malt Scotch, and a purifying wash of incense.
