Goldfield & Banks Wood Infusion
Goldfield & Banks make perfumes that seem ridiculously luxurious but smell familiar at the same time. Inspired by Fraser Island, Wood Infusion is probably the most exotic of their releases and could certainly provide a vision of Abu Dhabi desert dunes without much effort. It’s all due to the oud, a warm, musky, sexy and seriously intense woody note prized in the middle east for centuries. In concentration, it can verge on the dirty end of sexy but here, the agarwood that produces oud is expertly blended with more familiar, Aussie woods to create a cleaner effect. There’s a slightly bitter juicy orange over the top and a floral edge from lavender to keep it light, but it’s still the kind of scent that sinks right into your skin, all warm and buttery, and stays there. A signature summer scent just made for road trips or beach house escapes, hot verandas, sandy toes and bonfires.
www.goldfieldandbanks.com
Shawn Mendes Signature
Shawn Mendes, in case you’ve been living under a rock, is an ear candy producing, YouTube borne singing sensation from Canada. Hence, here we have a sweet Gen-Z appealing scent somehow related to apples and maple syrup. Alarm bells ring. But I guess Mendes isn’t planning a white Christmas because actually, this is a gorgeous cocktail gourmand perfect for the Australian festive season – it’s positively tropical. Signature opens with juicy pineapple shaken with that tart Canadian apple and bitter lemon. Maybe perfumer Celine Barel was thinking of the young singer’s honeyed voice when she generously drizzled maple sap and dolce de leche over the fruit, but frangipani flower wafts above this sweetness and keeps it fresh. The apple note does come back later in the wear, and a white cedar base note helps ground all that sugar. Yes, it’s sweet, but tis the season, right?
www.chemistwarehouse.com.au
Juliette Has a Gun Sunny Side Up
Beautiful, warm, delicately fragranced sandalwood is having a moment right now – and for good reason. While in Wood Infusion it’s used to lower the intensity a little, in Sunny Side Up, sandalwood dials up the smooth sexy vibe of this hazy happy-fest of a fragrance. It also contains a decent dose of iso e super, which as its name suggests has super powers of scent, creating a skin-like, sexy, dewy-yet-magically-fluffy atmosphere wherever it goes. It’s the Christmas fairy of fragrance notes and it’s used here to make jasmine blossom and creamy coconut – in danger of smelling a bit like they should have gone home a round of cocktails earlier – instead feel utterly modern and luminous. Like the scent of skin just back from the beach or a clean towel picked up off its spot on a warm rock, Sunny Side Up brings a mood lifting dose of virtual vitamin D, wherever you may be.
www.libertineparfumerie.com.au
Aerin Lauder Tuberose Le Soir
Wear this of a sultry evening but do not blame me if a trail of admirers begin to follow, entranced by the intoxicating scent of this tuberose, harvested by night and therefore brimming with moon magic (OK the moon bit may not be entirely true but you get my idea). This is a really exquisite rich floral, the nocturnal sister to De Jour, but still treated with Aerin’s clear, clean approach to scent. Cool bergamot keeps the opening of Le Soir quite fresh, twilight-tinged almost, and mandarin orange adds a delicious, slightly bitter juiciness. Even the tuberose that is the obvious hero also retains a green, leafy characteristic despite its inherent swooniness. An amber base spiked with a dose of realistic vanilla creates a rich, warm, lingering finish to this absolutely divine summer scent, surely designed to be worn with creamy palazzo pants, a deep tan and twinkle in the eye.
www.esteelauder.com.au
Amouage Beach Hut
So two things to say first about Beach Hut. It’s the boyfriend shirt of scent, a guy’s fragrance that smells amazing on women. Secondly, this scent is huge: like all day, all night, throwing out the most captivating must-lean-in-to-sniff effect that doesn’t remind me of a beach house as much as a lush tropical cabana. Coming from the legendary perfume house established by the Sultan of Oman, Beach Hut is a complex scent categorised as a woody aromatic, and it sure fits that bill. A bright, savoury minty opening is sharpened right up with the super green smell of galbanum, which also gives Beach Hut a slightly retro 80’s cologne vibe at the start. Around this is entwined the earthier green of ivy and that earthiness kind of settles into the skin as the drier, more aromatic character of vetiver kicks in (the vetiver in Beach Hut is to die for). Slowly over the wear, Beach Hut dries out into a smooth, weathered wood, masculine but warm. For the luxe-lover on your Christmas list.
www.libertineparfumerie.com.au
