I stumbled across Perfumes: The A-Z Guide, the well-regarded 2008 book by Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez (Viking), the other day and it must have been time to re-think my scent shelf because I have now sent off for several new-to-me decants from The Perfumed Court.
Turin and Sanchez are olfactory scientist and perfume critic respectively and their book is a refreshingly pull no punches review of about 1,500 scents. Turin's preferences are orthagonal to anything I have been exposed to in the past - he thinks Green Irish Tweed OK but despises Creed's Tabarome Millesime and calls Terre d'Hermes mediocre (those have been two of my staples this past year). Somewhat surprisingly given our differences, he does agree that Ormonde Man deserves its five star rating from the critics.
Not altogether unexpectedly given the relative rarity of eau de perfumes for men, the scents the co-authors rate highly are eau de toilettes, which mean they are unlikely to last on the skin as long as those despicable to mediocre things I have been wearing. But still, to deliberately mis-quote Steve Jobs, each journey is a reward in and of itself and I am now awaiting delivery of samples of:
-Eau de Guerlain ($98), their favorite citrus;
-Guerlain's Mouchoir de Monsieur, ($149), citrus and lavender;
-Pour Monsieur by Chanel, ($113), described as the greatest cologne ever released; and
-Timbuktu, a floral vetiver from L’Artisan Parfumeur ($95) that is called a better version of Terre d'Hermes.
Sniffing notes to follow in about two weeks.
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4 comments:
It's a wonderful book and I love Mr. Turin's writing, but you may find that your taste diverges markedly from his. I share many of his favorites, while many others leave me scratching my head. Regardless, the book is a great way to be led to new samples, and from there you can make up your own mind.
Good Evening Will,
Chanel's Pour Monsieur is what I am currently using, the 75 ml (2.5 fl oz) bottle. It has a classic masculine, light-leather and citrus-musk scent, bergamot is in there.
Mine was €30 (about $44) from a perfumery called 'Douglas'. A bottle like this lasts me about 8 months to a year.
It would be better to probably buy this in the duty free. I did this with Chanel's Egoist and saved near €20. Egoist always seems to last longer too, it's potent and needs fewer blasts.
Hello Will,just to send a note about the scents i've been using.
Pasha de Cartier: I use it for more then 20 years. Wonderful scent that everyone associates to me.
I use two more from time to time just to not get too tired of Pasha.
Tom Ford for Men
Gucci for Men
Well, I gotta confess. I keep a 'stash' of 'English Leather' to last me till I croak. Acqua di Selva, Tabac and Royall Bay Rhum(label says you can use it as a 'Head-Wash' too) round out my scent but the wife hates them; all.
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