Goodbye Summer – My Summer In Photos and Perfume

Summer is over, so I wanted to summarise what bottles I wore, what fragrances I sampled, and what I photographed during the sunny season.

The air was filled with the scent of frangipani, as it is every summer in Brisbane.

My garden came to life with lemon verbena, bougainvillea, roses, and many more plants.

Riverwalks and eucalypt-lined parks made up my weekends.

There were birds and butterflies.

And now to the nitty-gritty. Over the three months, I sampled many perfumes in stores, both designer and niche. Below are some of the highlights and lowlights.

I like Tom Ford’s old stuff better than his new stuff. Vanilla Sex was the first perfume I tried in 2024. I remember thinking to myself that the year could only improve from here. It must mark a low point for the Private Blend line. The gutter-level, schoolboy humor can surely go no further. It probably will, though. Sadly, the perfume quality has now caught up to the level of juvenility.

If you want to walk around like a human-sized slab of marzipan mixed with some cheap vanilla extract, this Tom Ford is the one for you. Of course, it’ll cost you an arm and a leg, and you’ll be lucky to receive any samples with your purchase. Many better/cheaper vanilla/almond scents exist, including Dior’s Hypnotic Poison and the underrated Mandorlo di Sicilia from Acqua di Parma’s Blu Mediterraneo range.

I discovered this interesting brand called Versatile Paris in, of all places, a streetwear store. The bottles are tiny 15ml size with roll-on applicators, perfect for travel. My pick was the creamy, savoury gourmand Rital Date. It combined basil, pesto, and olive oil with a base of pistachio, vanilla, tonka, and a whole shopping trolley of other notes, comprising ice cream, paprika, and sesame! Despite the weird amalgam of notes, it remained creative but wearable.

There were so many “Elixirs” on the mainstream shelves that I lost count. Most were awful. I’ll single out the overly sweet Jean Paul Gaultier’s Le Male Elixir as the worst offender. Hugo Boss Bottled Elixir was the best—a dark, resinous, smoky, woody composition that was best in the opening before fading a bit towards the end. It intrigued me enough to want to go back and try it again sometime.

As for what I wore, three bottles ruled the roost.

The scent I turned to most frequently was Mugler’s Hot Cologne. I’ve not talked about it before on the blog. But it was the perfect accompaniment to the humid, sticky summer days. I don’t log what I wear, but I must have worn it at least 20 times. It contains all the usual citruses and herbs (lime, lemon, and petitgrain) one might associate with a cologne-style scent, then contrasts them against a bitter, spicy accord of ginger and coffee. The hero note is the bitter coffee, which kicks in after a few minutes and elevates the scent above competitors such as Tom Ford Neroli Portofino or some of the fresh scents in the Armani Prive line. It doesn’t remind me of their classic Mugler Cologne. Indeed, it’s excellent if you’re looking for something different in your summer lineup.

I’ll do a full review of Hot Cologne at some point. And speaking of reviews, I’ll have some upcoming first impressions and reviews on some of the other stuff I tried over the summer in the coming weeks, including:

1. Claus Porto – Agua de Colonia collection.
2. Astier de Villatte – Various perfumes.
3. Aedes de Venustas – Café Tabac.

Until then, thanks for reading!

Note: All pictures are my own.