Okay so this perfume represents the golden ratio of EDC, the absolute perfect proportions of fruity, floral, woody, mossy and musky, in so much as you could say they cancel each other out, creating an effect that is to most people, lacking originality and spark. Well, here's why they're wrong. Hahah...so I just made someone up, so I can argue with them about a perfume, as good as it is...I can't defend too vehemently because it's just a citrus, white floral trope and not much else at the end of the day. For arguments sake though... you can say that about MANY fragrances, it's the execution which is important here. I don't really like overly waxy white florals....this isn't. I love that sense of reality and naturalism you get with good bergamot oil, this has that effect. There's a moment of moss, a wee clump as it settles, never reaching the point of an eau sauvage or anything but just reassuringly, classic. I can smell the signature rounded, iris/orris/vanillic/woody base, juuust peaking through and then even later, vetiver!!!! Yes even that rears it's head later on. It has a musky, carrying base materials which are ambrox/type but doesn't overstep it's bounds into modern, cheap, shite. I love what this perfume does, a balancing act. That's what good perfumery is and the clarity of this one is apparent, Parade has real intent and it delivers. If you were to buy any of these perfumes retail, I couldn't critisise you for it, you'd be geting a great perfume, if you know where to get better for cheaper then that's fine too, but I'm okay. I'm okay with Celine. They've done nothing to annoy me so far and everything to be happy with, they are a class act.

Dans Paris is lovely. I hate to keep reducing my reviews down to this smells like... X.... but in this instance it was immediate and striking association for me with L'Occitane Eau des Baux. Not a bad thing to smell like at all, in fact something of a community darling and sort after (I think discontinued right?) fragrance. You could say... Booooo! Celine charging top dollar for what is a clone of what was quite an affordable and unique fragrance, but I think all that does is to speak to the quality of L'Occitane really and just how good their products are. The difference here being a softer, very slightly more refined vanllic/powdery/smooth effect but it's only very slight because I get that wholly resinous, herbal amber which I associate with REAL, NATURAL vanilla materials anyway, but there's something of spiced, herbaceous, tonic to the Eau de baux accord, it's very medicinal to me, but the kind of medicine you might get in medeval times and I don't know if it's because of the chic packaging and the fact I know it's a Celine that I don't quite get that rawness. It's actually to it's detriment because I'd say Eau des baux is marginally better and obviously the innovator in this olfactory space, but frankly it's nice to see this represented at any price point and if you bought this fragrance I wouldn't blame you, you'd be getting a really good perfume.

Such a subtle balmy, fragrance opening with that typically vanillic, orris signature, sweet but not overtly so. I'm surprised no one has mentioned the looming spectre of TF's tobacco vanille. I mean this is a million times classier and plain doesn't even smell like it at all immediately but as it settles to a skin scent I can't help but get the association and I'd be the first to say I hate these crude comparisons but that 'tobacco' accord exists in perfumery and similar components come together to conjure this in quite a few fragrances, whether overtly, covertly, intentionally or unintentionally. I think Black tie has more mainstream appeal while simultaneously being one of the richer/bolder/spicer ones in this collection (from what I can tell so far) clearly well made and nuanced. I like it obviously but I'm more interested in others from Celine if I'm honest.

For me Celine have joined an elite group of designers who rarely seem to put a foot wrong with ultra chic, subtle and classical but still not devoid of creativity, perfume. La peau nue is very much in my wheelhouse and a pleasurable, powdery iris floral perfume it is too. There's a woody undercurrent without decending into papery, ionones which even a couple of the best Chanel iris/violet perfumes can have a tendancy to do. I've seen La Pausa in the smells like and without having smelled that in a while I'd say sure, okay, because the chanel synergy (without plagiarism) throughout Celine is evident. I think Polge made some of these didn't he? A minor critisism could be that this is almost too refined, refined out of existance and if you maybe want something which smells more of violet, iris/orris, luxury leather handbags and cosmetics, lipsticks etc... there are other fragrances which fulfill that brief better. That's me playing devils advocate though because for me this strikes the perfect, quiet, unassuming tone, I think it's a lovely perfume.

Oddly enough just as I think I'm sick of sub fougere nonesense from niche brands, this comes along and actually turns out to be one of the better ones in this collection, if not only for the fact that it's bold and lasts on skin, and not even all that well. Jeez. What has come to? Right so the opening is a mass of fresh citrus (assuming elemi) & orangey stuff (assuming that's the orange blossom accord?) and a great wallop of custardy, ethyl vanillin driven, fuckery. However it's encapsulted in a fougere warmth, a kind of medicinal, balsamic effect which is HEAVY. It's hard to know what to make of it really? Sickening triffle of vanillic notes or in actuality quite a rough, dense, hardcore coumarin fougere thing. I'd say this is more of a tonka fragrance than anything else, leaving a slightly coffee infused, spun sugar aspect, certainly more and moreso as it dries down. I can say that at least this has some balls to it, without totally annoying me, but in truth is, I can take it or leave it. It is the one in this collection which I found had a bit of tenacity, but it;s a twisted, dirty vanilla tenacity many folks won't like.

Stunning opening!!! Lush, fruity floral accord with LASHINGS (and I do mean lashings!) of pink pepper. Even for me a big fan of pink pepper, it's a massive overdose. It's an invigorating mixture which explodes out of the gate at first and as it transpires actually has better legs than some of the others in this line but unfortunately is top loaded in that way Penhaligon's seem to be guilty (or at least accused...) of doing. As it settles I get something of a 'shower gel' association which is probably just the clean musks and floralising stuff driving this perfume along. But as I mentioned... again....not for long. Hate to be a length Qween but yeah...hour or two and barely owt there.

I feel I've a lot to say about this line, campaign... whatever...and it's largely positive, putting the most important thing to one side for a minute (the actual perfume) and looking at all the peripheral stuff I have to say that concept wise I like what Penhaligon's are doing here. The design and marketing is all on point, the bottles look great and clearly they must've spent a staggering amount promoting the potions and remedies collection, because either I'm stupid and can't tell augmented reality or photoshop from real life, but I could've sworn they had 100ft tall factice bottles on London's iconic Tower bridge. I mean hats off to them for that. Last general thing worth noting, I found the collection to be one of the quickest & easiest to review, understand whatever, and have compared it to a high concept movie pitch. If you can't explain the synopsis (or at least the general plot points) in 30 seconds or less then your idea is not by definition high concept. I'm often reluctant to jump in and review perfumes without a proper wear or two under my belt but these seemed easy to 'get' and subsequently wearing them I discovered no hidden secrets, or depth and take from that what you will. This is the first one I've properly worn and as usual I didn't consult with any notes or marketing bumpf even, I dive right in and give raw opinions, then look at that stuff later and compare notes (quite literally) and stuff and such. So immediately having just tried their newest portraits one (Mr Thompson) I was struck by the similarity in this one, being that it does have a prominent iris leaning vibe to me which perfectly embodies the feeling of calm and somewhat 'balm' as well, so the name is an apt one. My interpretation is of a figgy top note, with almost too smooth lavenderesque, lightly nutty iris, but without the leathery aspect or opulence of the Mr Thompson one, so in effect for all it's initial similarity they are very different perfumes in actuality. I'm getting strange hybrid of Valentino Uomo, Vera Wang, Ferregamo uomo and maybe even Le Male parfum, but also a host of other recent shit and I'm kinda thinking this is a little bit too commitee'd out of existence. It's difficult and unfair to quote all this stuff as reference context, because I'm despirately trying to mark balm of calm on it's own merits and comparing it to perfumes which I feel do mark themselves out. I like all those perfumes so I'm not having a huge downer on this, I'm just not sure this gourmand/amber/fougere hybrid stands out enough at this pricepoint to convince me. It's just a bit 'meh' if it took this concept and elevated it, I'd be singing it's praises gladly, but it's not a bad perfume, it's just not good either. Okay so looking at the notes now and clary sage, lavender and cardamom are not entirely unexpected in a perfume of this name and 'smooth' is often what I associate with cardamom, lavender here but they only chime after a very 'generic' opening, This is a much better perfume when settled on the skin, rare for Penhaligons and rare for this collection as it will become apparent. Rum? Okay Iris accord was clear to me right away and the rest of the sandlwood, vetiver and oak is it? represent the woody balast at the base of this perfume, fine.

So many people want to berate Penhaligons for this collection, these characters and stories and such but I actually think they're good natured, well packaged and the design is always on point, but most of all they're good fun. Not so much for me but I've been to the penhaligons store and seen the glee with which the staff recount the marketing blurb and the positive response from the punters, so I say live and let live. (Yes I'm not a totally grumpy bastard!) It's better customer service and enthiasm than most luxury department store SA's can muster, I mean usually they just stand beside you and ask 'Do you like it? I think it's really nice, Do you want to get that?' displaying zero knowledge of the brand or willingness to engage. I do understand the critisism, as I alluded to to above, I don't particulaly connect with this line myself and even less so as it sprawls further and further out and I get that the worst of this line are a million miles from the staples which Penhaligons built it's brand upon. However, every so often there's a decent one and this is definitely one of the better ones I've tried. Mr Thompson is basically a powdery, classic, iris perfume with elegant top notes and a sort of feel of fleshy, gourmand inflected, leather. The formula immediately had me thinking of Dior Homme parfum, in that there's an exaggerated heft to this vibe, not very diffuse, more of a low lying skin thing, being a 'niche' brand and as such expensive, this was probably the intent. Wearing it today I got some of that nutty aspect of Valentino Uomo but in truth that was fleeting and if I'm studying this perfume formula down to it's minutia, I'd say that this rides a middleground between Uomo & Homme. But does that mean it's 'unique'??? (the word the lady in the Penhaligons shop said to me) No. Not really, I don't find it as elegant as dior homme original it's more like the INtense or Parfum in that regard but there's more of a tonka prominant thing in the base and the way it's clinging to my clothes has a slightly off kilter, wheaty sort of vibe. It's a lovely collection of notes and accords that opening pink pepper is lovely and it gets all fleshy with orris right quick like, all of which compliment one another to conjure that luxurious leather thing, what maybe lets this down is also like many of this collection, the top end is loaded with intrigue and the base is just going through the motions, but don't get me wrong it's a stong outing and if ever you were compelled to buy one of these for the stopper alone I'd say the Omniscient Mr Thompson would be that one. The elephant head is massive!!!! like three times the size of some of the more modest heads in this line, it's massive dumbo ears and tusks are fucking cool, let's face it, glad the juice somewhat lives up to it.

How 'in' of Lebreton to have a perfume named perfumista because that's exactly who this brand seem to be for, by my estimation. I mean this certainly tickles my fancy, you can tell by the opening that it's a classical perfumery trope turned up to 11 and that would be hyper, chypre, powder with musty, aloof, haunting of roses which comes on stronger and stronger until it's almost Arabian in stature. Not for the faint of heart and certainly not for those who moan about folk smelling like an old lady. To me this perfume opens in such a bright, powdery way with hints of exotic floral like ylang or something but it's so shortlived before locking into a much less spacious but much more diffuse musky rose and patchouli, which I have to warn you although not loud is pretty prominent for the next 12 hours or so (at least it was on me) then the dank in the base!!! It was there all along but genuinely couldn't smell it until the 14 hour mark or so....and reminscent of Amouage gold in this sense, the animalic base comes chiming through but in quite a muted, skin scent sort of a way, exactly how it should do!!! I found it to be that spicy, dirty hair and civet, saliva skin thing of the costus based, Kouros/animalis type of base, but very subtle and nestled in to a pretty huge, dark-ish powdery rose perfume. This is the reason why this perfume is so good, that lurking depth which sets it apart from a billion and one overly strong and silly rose perfumes. What a ride!!! Highly recommend this, even though you may mistake it for another rosey dominator, the subtle differentials and progression make this perfume great. The relatively, cleanliness of the opening, evoking fruity, powdery chypre, to the more hardcore perfume fan heart and the dirty bird base, perfumista should appeal to perfumistas, it definitely does to this one and I didn't think I could get so enthused over a massive, fairly opressive rose like this but I did!!