LO sent a neat box containing fourteen fragrances released between 2010 and 2016. The look is reassuringly, indeed soporifically hip, complete with slightly moth-eaten Courier typeface, square-format leaflet, Byredo-type bottles, lots of white space, nice photos. In short, all the perquisites of a niche firm that wishes to be carried in respectable stores, bought by young women in white Capri pants and Superga shoes, and one day be acquired for an eight-figure sum by L’Oréal. This is niche defined as not what everyone is wearing, except of course by now everyone is wearing niche, so I suspect the snobs will soon be spraying RiRi in an X pattern on their chests.
Of the fourteen fragrances —all competent, none unpleasant— the two that stand out for me are: Noblige, an excellent, stonking citrus by Marie Duchêne that seems to have found a way around drastic IFRA restrictions on lemon oil, and smells like the front end of an Eau de Cologne without the swift change of scenery from fresh to sweet that usually follows; and Kashnoir, a subtle and highly original Cécile Zarokian creation that combines orange flower and spices in a novel way, and hits an unusual warm-fresh accord that I love. Both make excellent masculines.
Categories: niche houses
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