Daring Perfumes

Over the weekend, I visited New Farm. Originally intending to take photos of the area’s abundant jacaranda trees, my attention diverted to the Powerhouse Museum (pictured). During the last few weeks, and ending in October, the Powerhouse hosted the Brisbane Portrait Exhibition. So, before the exhibition’s close, I decided to visit. But, before I entered the museum, I was again distracted. If you look at the above picture and the edge of the roof area, you can see some tables and seats.

The tables and seats form part of an outdoor vertical dining experience called Vertigo. It’s probably not something for those folks scared of heights. Diners are taken to the roof and tied down via harness to their seats to enjoy various gastronomic delights and views of Brisbane City. And as one final act of stupidity, once you’ve finished your meal, you abseil down the four stories back to the ground. Unequivocally something for the adrenaline junkies. Would you do it?

What in the world has this got to with perfume? Well, nothing really, but here comes the segue. You’d have to be daring to take the “Vertigo” challenge. I envy those with that sense of fearlessness. Honestly, it isn’t for me; I prefer to dine with both feet firmly planted on terra firma. Something I’m much more adventurous with is my perfume choices, though. Therefore, in tribute to the brave, unshrinking souls among us, I decided to look through my collection and choose three perfumes (one designer, one niche, and one celebrity perfume) that take a risk or dare to be different.

So, let’s get started, and the first cab of the rank comes from the much-maligned celebrity category. It’s the least daring of my three perfume choices. Nevertheless, Stash from Sarah Jessica Parker deserves a place here. The vast majority of celebrity scents get a bad rap. Fair enough, too. Most of them are candy-sweet scents with little backbone or originality. I tend to give the bulk of them a wide berth. 

My celebrity scent snobbery extended to Sarah Jessica Parker (SJP) scents, too. Perhaps it was because I didn’t know that much about her film or television pursuits, but I’d never taken heed, until recently, of her perfumes. My bad. Scents such as Lovely and Stash are brilliant. By all accounts, SJP takes quite a hands-on approach to the perfume-making and development process. She’s got interesting ideas, and it shines through in the final product.

Stash comes together around a smoky, creamy wood accord. Massoia wood, famously used by Jean-Claude Ellena in the Hermessence scent, Santal Massoia, is to the fore. It creates a toasted coconut effect over Stash. Complementing these woods, incense, pepper, patchouli, and herbal notes cast a spicy, earthy, medicinal spell. Pistachio’s nutty and creamy influence permeates into the dry down. Stash is a beautifully blended celebrity scent with a dark and mysterious character. It’s well worth a try and may impress those with even the most experienced noses.

Next up is Gucci Guilty Absolute Pour Homme. This beauty is a return to the halcyon Tom Ford Era Gucci releases. Medicinal, resinous, woody, dry, dark vetiver characteristics form the perfume’s core. They combine with cypress, patchouli, and leather accents, delivering a fireball of a fragrance. Gucci, perhaps unfairly lumped it into the somewhat lacklustre “Guilty” Line as a flanker. 

I’d eat my loafers if the Gucci Marketing Department signed off on this concoction becoming part of the “Guilty” lineup, though. Maybe Alberto Morillas went rogue and swapped the vats and vials containing the “original preferred batch” with this daring mix at the last minute while they weren’t watching. Don’t expect the usual pink pepper, bergamot, and grapefruit top leading into a tonka and woody amber base. Instead, what we have here is a scent that deserves to be an entirely new pillar for Gucci.

Gucci Guilty Absolute Pour Homme is a scent that, alongside the Pour Femme and the “Bloom” series, marked an overdue return to form for the Italian house. It’s tough stuff that evokes the environment of a grimy mechanics workshop. And it hammers most recent men’s designer scents into oblivion. Of course, it sold poorly for the brand and went the way of the Dodo. I’m glad I have a bottle.

Finally, to the niche world and a market sector where daring, unwavering, adventurous scents should be custom. Indeed, it’s only sometimes the case with sugar bombs starting to infiltrate this commercial space with higher regularity. Fortunately, though, we have Masque Milano. And they bring the heat with Montecristo. If you’re a fan of perfumes like Muscs Koublai Khan, Cuir Mauresque, and Knize Ten, you may enjoy Masque Milano’s Montecristo.

The opening salvo of animalic leathers and musks in Montecristo is not for everyone. However, the contrast of sweet notes (cabreuva woods, benzoin, and rum) and dry resins/woods (styrax and cedar) provides brilliant balance, tempering the perfume’s animalic edge somewhat. Make no mistake, though, the intense hyrax note here gives one the impression of the skanky fur of a feral creature.

The tobacco in Montecristo is leafy and dry. Indeed, it is atypical of those overly sweet perfumes, where the note comes dripped in honey. Though, as noted, it isn’t completely devoid of sweetness. Montecristo encompasses everything I would want in a niche perfume: challenging but still wearable, just not something for every day.

So there you have it, my three challenging, daring scents. Good fragrances to wear for dining at Vertigo or even the upcoming spooky season (I don’t celebrate Halloween, by the way). What are your most daring perfumes?

Incidentally, Vertigo and the Powerhouse Museum distracted me so much that I only took 1 photo of the jacaranda trees. Oh well, the best-laid plans go astray. No matter, the brilliant portrait exhibition and the museum’s ambiance were more than a pleasant way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

All the pictures are my own. I purchased all the perfumes featured in this post.