This is a brand I had heard of many times over the years and smelled distractedly one or twice. Now a big sample set came, all individually wrapped like candies. The natural color of the fragrances, indicative of a high percentage of non-decolorised naturals, is already a sight for sore noses. I was planning to smell then four by four, to give me time to rest, but they were sufficiently interesting that I could not resist smelling every one of the eighteen samples I got.
Many niche houses produce a lot of perfumes, every one of them trivial: they are effectively, naively or cynically, scavenging the “shelf” (unsold submissions) of oil houses. Some commendably try very hard to produce a few exceptional things. A few, like 4160 Tuesdays, strike a happy balance, try to do good stuff, tolerate a few near misses and just carry on happily. The overall feel of 4160 Tuesdays I would describe as jubilant and unpretentious, a happy wallowing in the richness and beauty of fragrance materials. This guilt-free good time spirit, and the humorous names that come with it, are reminiscent of Lush fragrances, though perhaps a bit more classical.
Actually classical is the wrong term, because a more appropriate musical reference might be baroque. These fragrances are like 17th-century concertos (Bach, Vivaldi, Corelli, etc.), every one well crafted, none falling below a satisfying level, some really wonderful. In those days people used to order concertos by the half-dozen, like eggs, and expected them to be delivered promptly. The nineteenth century invented Romantic Constipation, which required the Artist to die of a wasting illness, having just written the last bar of his Viola Concerto in his own blood, etc. and it took another half century of Modernist Fiber to restore normal intestinal transit to music with Prokofiev, Martinů and Respighi. Lush and 4160 Tuesdays are pioneers of the neobaroque fragrance revival.
My favorites among the subset of the 4160 lineup I have sampled are:
Lady Rose Lion (Monkey Unicorn) TS nailed this one before I could say a word, calling it an inverted Mitsouko. It is indeed full of oakmoss and peach, and has a tremendous start, a solid rosy middle and a lovely drydown.
A Kiss by the Fireside: TS, in our perfume guide, stated that men’s favorite smell was bacon. I had not realised how true this was until I smelled this one. If you like smoky notes as I do, this one is a dream come true: guaiac wood, birch tar, vetiver and some kind of actual smoke extract all piled up on top of another to make a huge bonfire on your skin.
Ealing Green: an intense, crisp, woody citrus with plenty of oakmoss and thyme. Very nice.
What I Did On My Holidays: One of the most exhilarating topnotes in living memory, with mint and candyfloss playfully fighting one another for our attention. Lovely stuff.
Categories: niche houses
perfumesilove 