Each category of fragrance is a rich world of its own, diversely populated with scents. This pack is designed to offer faithful representations of each respective family - brilliant benchmarks on their own, or the beginning of a bona fide fragrant adventure.
[Fresh] Our citrus pick, Azemour Les Orangers (Parfum d’Empire) is a true hesperide: the brightest, realest orange - adorned never at the expense of its freshness, surrounded in moss that recalls the richness of a chypre. Acqua di Scandola (Parfum d’Empire) transforms the citrus to arrive at a water ‘aquatic’ - evoking the most pristine waters with its unique bouillon of lemon, juniper berry, and algae extracts. Finally, Corsica Furiosa (Parfum d’Empire) is a proud green display of tomato leaf, lentiscus resin, mint, and moss, which altogether builds a luscious display of tempestuous nature. It is one of the greenest fragrances we know.
[Floral] We approach the floral category with the perfumer’s flower, the rose. In Eau de Protection (Etat Libre d’Orange), a brilliant rose - a deadly red - is enlivened with ginger, pepper, and cumin, resting on patchouli. This lends intensity to the scent, but also body - it is lively and ornate. Unspoken Musk (Francesca Bianchi) is built from flowers, spices, and animal. Softness and intensity, as the name suggests this is an authentic musk fragrance - built from powder soft florals, brightened with bergamot and rounded with tonka bean and sandalwood.
[Amber] A celebration of resins, incense, spice, and vanilla, the softest version of this category leads with incense in Heeley’s Cardinal, which twinkles a pure light, carried on extracts of pink pepper and sparkling aldehydes. While Ambre 114, a true amber from Histoires de Parfums, opts for full-bodied opulence with a classical amber accord of benzoin, labdanum, patchouli, and vanilla - gorgeously spiced and stirring evocations of elsewhere. That is, until we end up in Morocco with L’Air du Desert Marocain (Tauer Perfumes), a woody amber that adds robust cedarwood to a spicy-ambery complex of coriander seed, cumin, and oozing resins.
[Woods] There’s no doubting the woodiness of Bois Imperial (Essential Parfums), but it’s no wood in particular - rather - a slightly abstract amalgam of woody force, between cedar, vetiver, and patchouli, freshened with grapefruit, pepperberry, and Thai basil. Coat woody notes in oakmoss to extend the forest feeling, and you arrive at the Mossy Wood, or ‘Chypre’ category. A complex schema of dusky bitterness, contrasted with a ringing freshness up top. Chypre Siam by Rogue Perfumery retains the gloriously retro feeling of this family, creatively tweaked with Thai ingredients such as holy basil, lime leaf, and ginger. By emphasising the dry qualities of these woods with leather and tobacco notes, the Dry Woods category earns its name. Lonestar Memories (Tauer Perfumes) is an intense yet gorgeous leathery fragrance, evoking the scent of a Texan cowboy at sundown - leather jacket, worn denim, a sleepy fire, and the horse in its stable. Notes of clary sage, orris, birch tar, and geranium create this inimitable leathery effect.
Finish with the Aromatic ‘Fougere’, something of a chameleon that draws from every category - offering brilliant contrasts between cool and warm, light and dark. Fresh notes dive into warm base notes, with a fern-like heart of lavender and geranium. Bon Monsieur (Rogue Perfumery) is an unmistakable example of this beloved style.
