4 stars: 439 posts

Jean-Louis Scherrer is one of the hidden classical gems. In the US, you might have to search for it at the discount shops, but the Europeans can easily find it at most perfumeries where it sits someplace between Ralph Lauren and Stella McCartney on the alphabetically organized  shelves. The tall oblong bottle filled with pale green liquid is not flashy, and the first whiff of the perfume doesn’t reveal anything extraordinary–leafy and peppery, with an unmistakable  wet earth note that you find in many classical green perfumes. It takes a few moments for Scherrer to weave its spell.

Classical is the best way to describe Jean-Louis Scherrer, because it’s a perfumed time capsule. Taking a deep breath of this green, earthy perfume is like stepping back three or even four decades. They don’t make them like this anymore. Scherrer was launched in 1979 by a French couturier who dressed women like Françoise Sagan, Jackie Kennedy, and Claudia Cardinale. Shortly thereafter, he added Scherrer 2 and Nuits Indiennes (now discontinued) to the collection.

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Marni is a ready-to-wear Italian fashion line that recently launched its namesake fragrance, Marni. Rather than attempting to decipher the label’s appeal and its relation to the new fragrance, I will simply say that some qualms about lasting power aside, Marni is excellent–wearable, chic, and refined. And now I want other people to smell a haze of Marni around me and follow me down the street asking, demanding to know, what this marvelous fragrance is.

Perfumer Daniela Andrier created Marni in collaboration with Consuelo Castiglioni, founder and designer of the fashion house. Andrier is the author of Prada Infusion d’Iris, Maison Martin Margiela Untitled, and Guerlain Angelique Noire, among others. Like many of her creations, Marni is a weightless, ethereal blend, despite the fact that the fragrance is based on rich woods and sweet spices.  At its heart Marni is a rose and incense fragrance, something that became clear to me half an hour after I applied it and began to get small gusts of a dry and woody rose rising from the back of my hand.

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The latest Jo Malone fragrance—Blackberry & Bay—is categorized by the maker as “fruity,” but on my skin it’s far more interesting than that.  Blackberry & Bay fully succeeds in conjuring a fantasy English countryside and more precisely a rambling walk down a country lane, with healthy flush to the cheeks and solid walking shoes for skirting muddy patches. Somewhere along this dream excursion there is naturally a hedgerow from which appear fat black berries, their juice tart and edging on sour, their leaves green and sharp.  Just when I found a hole in my fragrance wardrobe, just when I lamented finding a fragrance that would uncannily recreate a specific holiday sensation, up pops this beauty from Jo Malone.

I will confess that I don’t pay all that much attention to the Jo Malone line.  While I love the Red Roses bath oil, I often find the colognes to have standout notes that don’t do much for me, whether that be the smell of stables in Pomegranate Noir or the strong citronella (mosquito candle) in the aforementioned Red Roses.  I wondered if Blackberry & Bay would not be a sweet and musky thing but hearty and possibly “masculine” thanks to a dose of bay leaves.

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Diamond  heists and Gérard Depardieu’s tax evasion tactics aside, Belgium doesn’t make the front page news often, but the Antwerp fashion scene never fails to be noteworthy. Dries Van Noten is one of the top Belgian designers, and his colorful clothes emphasizing textures and  prints are unusual and eclectic. After walking around his store in Antwerp this summer, I felt as if I had just visited an art exhibit. I then spotted a neat row of Frédéric Malle bottles on one of the shelves and learned that Van Noten is a big fan of Editions de Parfums.

So here we have Dries Van Noten par Frédéric Malle, part of a new initiative to create a series of olfactory portraits of artists and other creative personalities. Such projects are only as  interesting as the people who inspire them, and in this case, we have an exciting collaboration. The perfumer interpreting Van Noten’s portrait is Bruno Jovanovic, and the main theme of the composition is warmth.

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I debated whether I should review Shiseido White Rose Natural, because it’s expensive and available only in Japan. For some, this may be a tantalizing combination, for others (and we are in the majority), the ultimate frustration. But if you’re a rose lover, a perfume history buff, or like me, have a strong interest in Japanese fragrances, White Rose is hard to resist. Given Japanese perfume tastes, it’s somewhat of a puzzle–a rose that doesn’t smell at all like the fresh watery roses that grace the regional top seller lists. White Rose Natural combines the boldness of American perfumery with the refinement of French, but the end result is that smells remarkably Japanese, even if it doesn’t follow the established trends.

Last year Shiseido celebrated its 140th anniversary. Its story is full of interesting tidbits. Did you know that the company was founded by the ex-head-pharmacist to the Imperial navy, Fukuhara Arinobu, when he was only 23? Or that Shiseido is believed to have introduced ice cream to Japan? White Rose may not be an expected Japanese perfume, but then again, Shiseido doesn’t always play by the rules.

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