by TOM
This past weekend ScentBar decided to celebrate the upcoming Royal Wedding by having a little gathering celebrating all things Brit, with Penhaligons, Pimms Cups and, well.. something else Brit that begins with “P” that would complete that sentence. Rarely one to pass up free booze (and I love Pimms) of course I showed.
Penhaligons was of course front and center and smelling more of them I appreciate them more and more. There’s something so veddy British about all of them; you can imagine that every character in “The Mirror Crack’d From Side to Side” would wear these, as would a good share of the readers.
Sitting in front of the digestive biscuits, where I was guaranteed to find it, was Azagury. Morroccan-born Jacques Azagury first came into the fore with his “New Romantics” collection in the 80′s and opened his shop in the hyper-fashionable Knightsbridge district of London.
His eponymous scent is all about the white flowers, but in a lovely, muted British kind of way. According to LuckyScent, it’s based upon something called the Mogra flower, a sort of Jasmine grown in Tibet. It’s clear and sort of sweet rather than being heady, and a decent slug of aldehydes, rose and cyclamen make the opening as delightful as a draught of my icy-cold Pimms Cup. It gets peppery as it develops into soft woods warmed with a hint of ginger and amber.
There’s something demure about this that seems entirely British to me, but in a totally modern way. As much as I adore scents that reach out and grab you by the throat, there’s something to be said for ones that are content to just caress your cheek.
$185 for 50ML at LuckyScent, who provided me with a sample. And cookies.
Hi Tom, thanks for posting on this. It sounds really nice. We don’t always need a fragrance that smacks us up-side of the head — sometimes a beautiful, nicely done fragrance is just perfect.
You are so lucky to live within spritzing distance of Luckyscent (and Barney’s and all those other L.A. area perfume hot spots)!! Although I live just outside a big city, it can be a fragrance wasteland at times (no Malles, Lutens, L’Artisans, Amouages anywhere to be found). :(
Tom Reply:
April 26th, 2011 at 9:50 am
Ann-
I count my blessings, trust me.
I’m with you and Ann on this. Sometimes it really is nice just to have a pretty, well-done fragrance. I have a few of those (actually, quite a few now that I think on it…
and I find I reach for them a lot. Especially on challenging days.
Hope the cookies were good, too. That’s very important, you know, good cookies. Or brownies. Or cake. Chocolate cake. With ganache. And a
xo
Tom Reply:
April 26th, 2011 at 9:52 am
I’m also lucky that Paulette Macarons, Magnolia Bakery, Sprinkles Cupcakes and Sweet Lady Jane are all in the neighborhood. I try however to ignore that fact.
Ann Reply:
April 26th, 2011 at 12:29 pm
Merciful heavens, my sweet tooth is throbbing just reading all those names. And Paulette Macarons, my oh my!!
Tom Reply:
April 26th, 2011 at 3:17 pm
And I’m going to be walking by at least one of these on my way home this evening.. :((
Count me in as actually preferring pretty, well-done scents. This sounds lovely! Thanks for the review, Tom.
Tom Reply:
April 26th, 2011 at 9:53 am
It is really pretty, and nice that someone is remembering that sometimes that’s all anyone needs.
And the bottle is very pretty! Almost worth buying (along with Jalaine sp) for the bottle…I’m in search of a pretty scent myself and am thinking about KM’s Hanae as this one seems a little LOV to me, which I adore, but I have many LOVs
Tom Reply:
April 26th, 2011 at 12:16 pm
the bottle is really lovely.
This sounds like something I’d love – I’d rather smell prety than like bodily functions, a point of view some scent-makers don’t seem to understand lately…
Tom Reply:
April 26th, 2011 at 3:18 pm
I think there’s a hole in the market for “pretty” that’s also well done. This nicely fills part of it.
Sounds just divine.
I, too, am just over body fluid scents.
Tom Reply:
April 26th, 2011 at 5:27 pm
I’m hoping it’s a trend..
Ya know…. I have a sample of this around here somewhere …
Musette Reply:
April 26th, 2011 at 2:07 pm
That is because you are Quing – you have a sample of everything!
< )
(your Quing hat, madame)
xo
Tom Reply:
April 26th, 2011 at 3:19 pm
yes, she is!
Tom Reply:
April 26th, 2011 at 3:19 pm
well, I think you should review it!
Anyone know what the connection might be (must be, surely) between Jacques Azagury and Solange Azagury-Partridge? Both London-based, can’t be that common a name. I was figuring this was a new scent from her so I had to go looking it up :)
Tom Reply:
April 26th, 2011 at 5:31 pm
I think they’re brother and sister
Tom Reply:
April 26th, 2011 at 5:34 pm
I’m wrong; They’re Cousins:
Gail S Reply:
April 27th, 2011 at 11:18 am
Ahhh, thank you :)
This sounds just wonderful, and maybe just what I need at the moment-simply lovely works for me!
Thanks for the post, Tom ; )
Tom Reply:
April 27th, 2011 at 1:59 pm
works for me as well!
Not sure if the scent would float my boat, but I do really need to have a Pimm’s and Ginger now. So thank you, and off to the cabinet I go…
Tom Reply:
April 27th, 2011 at 2:00 pm
love it with ginger..