writer | journalist

The Different Company
De Bachmakov

Looking out over Russian taiga and tundra, it’s sometimes difficult to tell where one thing ends and another begins. Such is the case for this scent, made in tribute to these very landscapes. One could list notes like the leathery green coriander leaves on first smell, or the fig and freesia that function less like individual notes and more like conjoined accords making up the open sweetness of mountainous air, or even the subdued, musky cedar appearing after the vegetal, airy symphony fades (but never completely), but that would almost be missing the point. This gorgeous scent’s magic lies in its ability to truly transport you to an expansive landscape where notes are less the notes themselves, and more pieces of total harmony. This is a scent that takes you to a tangible, felt place, to spray and keep coming back to. You will smell something different every time you visit.

Ramon Monegal
Ambra Di Luna

Do you ever miss the way perfume used to smell? That opulent, spicy powder, and cashmere dryness that wafted through a room back when we still used to dress up to ride the train? Well, we found your bottle. Ambra Di Luna is a solid vintage fragrance, inspired by the oriental perfumes of the early 20th century. Incredibly, as true as it stays to the genre, it doesn’t feel out of place now, on either a man or woman - a feat not many could pull off. But in the hands of Ramon Monegal, we are transported back in time, carried on a cloud of traditional ambergris radiating its salty animaliac musk from the first spray, jam-packed with an Egyptian jasmine absolute that’s almost as animal as the ambergris. You can detect hints of some mysterious, unnamed, powdered spice in every corner, an enchanting phantom you know is there, but can’t ever point out. All of this is is streaked through with leathery, vanilla-smoke castoreum as a very tangible axis of this blend, which Monegal balanced on a plank of true Mysore sandalwood. Cozy, warm, and gently jarring, Monegal lets us go back in time without ever having to give up our smartphone, or Olfactif subscription.

The Different Company
Aurore Nomade

You’re on an island in the middle of the ocean. It’s 7:00 a.m., and the sun is just rising, slowly warming the sand. This is where Aurore Nomade starts, showering us with banana flower, cinnamon, and rum so true and delectable, there’s almost a taste. As this delicious curtain is slowly pulled back, traces of marine notes begin to intermingle with white, indolic flowers cozying up to a gentle clove and nutmeg, under the shade of a blooming frangipani tree. The base quickly rises up and wraps the melange of fruit, flower, and light spice in a warm sand blanket effect of sweet-spiced vanilla, sandalwood, and the radiant amber-floral of immortelle absolute. The Different Company are masters at creating sense of place, and each note quickly begins to weave in and out, chasing each other along the island until you have no choice but to simply sit back and watch the show. Buying a bottle should count as a vacation.

Amouage
Journey Man

We here at Olfactif absolutely love perfumes that know how to dance - having notes drift in, out, and back again, spin, pirouette, do a solo, fade to the background, and do it all over. In this way, Journey Man is not so much composed, as choreographed. At first, a synchronicity of notes come to the foreground, bringing a mellow-spiced bitter orange into a shadowy view. Just when we think we’re about to get a very clear picture of this accord, a juicy juniper comes marching in, hand-in-hand with a sensually smoky incense. Quickly, we realize even this is veiled by sweetly smoked, honeyed tobacco leaves, bound, and bunched up, by geranium flowers. None of this chorus line ever completely fades to the background, yet weaves in and out of the supporting base role of an amber-hued, oud-ish, leather-studded, bittersweet vanilla tonka bean knot, tying it all together into one single piece, with many disappearing and reappearing acts. This piece is a dance of gold and red, fruit, woods, smoke and spice, and mesmerizing complexity.