The best perfumes of the last 5 years

Yes, the last 5 years of perfumery have been eventful, despite all the difficulties and obstacles. The industry suffered from the epidemic, lockdowns, disruption of global trade and transport links. It will inevitably change and learn to work in new conditions, but we will see the results of the changes next year. In the meantime, we try and discuss the launches that have reached stores or with the help of the valiant mail, planned back in safe and fun times.

There were many good ones. In each niche and price category there are brilliant finds, not one-day ones, truly talented works of perfumers and creative teams, so the best perfume will be named more than one.

La Belle Season Houbigant. Delight! A magical wind, a floral whirlwind, young and fresh perfume with good genes for connoisseurs of perfume history. A very accurate shot by Celine Ellena and Jean-Luc Perris, carefully creating a new history for one of the oldest perfume brands.

Mandarino Laboratorio Olfattivo – A breakthrough! An example of how a simple, seemingly mono-aroma can hide an entire costume party with perfumed ladies, gallant gentlemen, dances and the most exquisite alcohol. There has never been so much life and bright colors in the compositions of Laboratorio Olfattivo. I hope that the brand's joint work with Jean-Claude Ellena will continue. It is a pleasure to see and smell what they create together.

Rouge Comme des Garcons Parfums is the long-awaited sexiest perfume with the scent of cold beetroot soup with ice, fresh tops, incense and truffles. A hooligan and incredibly comfortable scent that sounds modern and, at the same time, very Garcon-like.

Panthere Le Parfum Cartier. A gentle and thoroughbred apricot chypre. I already wrote when I first tried it that I felt a new, animalistic and complex chypre base in Panthere instead of the already boring patchouli sourness from the early 2000s. So there is an understanding, there are materials with which you can create truly beautiful modern chypres, and Panthere is the first of them.

Collection of the year.

In the niche, it is of course The Liquors by Kilian, which reconciled both the smart and the beautiful. The new bottles are good, the theme is chosen correctly, and almost everyone falls in love with the cognac-tobacco sweet Angels’ Share, regardless of age, gender and olfactory experience.

The best collection among the boutique lines of heavy luxury is Les Eaux Armani Prive. All the transparent watercolors turned out well, but especially the new product of 2020 - spring and fresh Jasmin Kusamono.

The mass market also has a successful collection - Color Feeling Brocard. Bright photogenic bottles plus fragrances, the perception of which is really influenced by color. My favorite is the iris with pepper Orange by Bertrand Duchaufour.

The theme of the year is the transformation of gourmand fragrances from simple sugary sweetness into something deep and complex that is joyful to wear and fascinating to study. Perfumers dissect tobacco, wine, cognac aromas and cocktails, all exotic fruits and spices. I will note here S’il Vous Play Francesca dell`Oro – bitter resinous vanilla and the spicy spirit of baking gingerbread. The holiday is coming to us.

Scandal of the year Bitter Peach Tom Ford, about which no two people have the same opinion. As for me, it is young, cheeky and uplifting. Exactly what (and not notes, pyramids, sex and status) normal people are looking for in perfume.

In the nomination of perfume for normal people, the winners are a warm woody, finally understandable aroma from Parfums Dusita - Moonlight in Chiangmai and fashionable, creamy and innovative for its segment Illuminea Mary Kay.

The best luxury perfume (and here I am biased) is Love Chopard. Too good for its price and probably too complex. But you won’t find sweet roses with amber and golden saffron anywhere else.

The best flankers are YSL Libre Intense and Chanel Coco Mademoiselle L’Eau Privée. Both sound more interesting than the originals. Libre Intense turned out to be deeper and spicier, and L’Eau Privée is recognizable, but more modern.

The best perfume stylization: the powerful vintage chypre Pogia Tiziana Terenzi and the “daddy” fougères Beau du Jour Tom Ford and Pasha parfum Cartier, which will suit those who know about those times from James Franco’s TV series.

The format of the year is travel. And the most successful implementation is 15 ml. bottles in leather and with beautiful illustrations by Roberto Greco on the boxes at Olfactive Studio.

Project of the year – Dolce q.b. Adjiumi – launch of their own perfume by an Italian group of perfume maniacs. The perfume is controversial and complex, but I bow before the authors.

Purchase of the year Fol Arôme Guerlain – it’s scary to say how much restored vintage perfumes, found in Paris, cost. I really want to hope that such a release is not a one-time action. That in the future it will be possible to buy at least a little bit of Guerlain classics.

What's next? Those who can tune in to new formats of trade and communication with the user will survive. There will be less money and energy for adventures, more attention to packaging and descriptions. If people, due to widespread restrictions, choose perfumes without free access to boutiques and testers, they will choose with their eyes.

Brands that are unable to come up with convenient mini-formats and sample programs will die out.

The French, who do not know how to fill out customs declarations on parcels and indicate a phone number, will die out first.

We are in for an invasion of body-oriented, light, natural scents and scents for personal pleasure and mood.

Everyone who understands at least something, has thought about lines of home fragrances - diffusers, candles. Next fall, as far as I know, such a line will be released by by Kilian, and those who were already strong in this topic will expand even more. Life goes on.

OUR SHOP