Patricia de Nicolaï’s take is a perfect soapy-aldehydic white-floral froth with facets of lemon and raspberry. Yet when you smell rose soliflores, they do tend to let you down: flat or thin, a whisper of phenylethyl alcohol or a mere goofy fruity fantasy. Rose Royale (Nicolaï) ★ ★ ★ ★ soapy rose Tomes of perfumery prattle are churned out annually on the subject of the Her Royal Majesty the Rose, Queen of Flowers, and all associated romance and grandeur. Or you could pick up the Perfume Guide and let it light the way.

In terms of specific perfumes, for classical richness they can go try Tauer, Parfum d’Empire, Lubin, Bogue for the unusual, they can try Kerosene, The Zoo, Lush/Gorilla.” “I would advise them to try a lot of things while hanging on tightly to their pocketbooks, and to remember that price is not correlated with quality. Thomas Fontaine (he did Korrigan), Patrice Revillard (Iris de Fath), Eugene and Amrys Au (the guys behind Auphorie), John Pegg (Kerosene), Marc-Antoine Corticchiato (Parfum d’Empire), Marie Salamagne, Mathilde Laurent, Delphine Thierry, Antonio Verdoni, and Tanja Bochnig (of April Aromatics).” Advice to Niche Fragrance Newbies Mine were Hermès Twilly, Lancôme Jasmins Marzipane, and Cartier XI L’Heure Perdue.” Perfumers To Notice

“Luca’s were Parfums de Nicolaï New York Intense, Parfum d’Empire Le Cri de la Lumière, and Cloon Keen Atelier Castaña. Such as what were the authors’ favorite fragrances as they were working on the Guide, what perfumers do some of the best work today, what would Tania & Luca recommend to someone new to fragrance as well as some of their own favorite reviews. I’ve reviewed Perfumes: The Guide 2018 for my FT Magazine column (please click here to read it), but after I finished the piece, I had more to share from my interview with Tania Sanchez. Their Perfumes: The Guide 2018 includes more than 1,200 reviews of fragrances, along with tips on navigating that overwhelming perfume counter. Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez are the other brave souls. One such individual is Michael Edwards, whose Fragrances of the World, aka The Fragrance Bible, has been cataloguing and classifying perfumes since 1983.

Thankfully, there are people who work tirelessly to make sense of the fragrance market and save us from experiencing choice overload. When I stand in front of a perfume counter, I’m reminded of something I learned in my university psychology course – too much choice leads to anxiety. Every year brings us a few thousand new perfumes.

Luca turin top 10 perfumes