Best Perfumes 2014

It is that time of year again!  Time to look back at the Perfumes That Were in 2014 and pick out some favorites.  Make sure to visit the other blogs participating in our Best of 2014.

Patty –  I’ve had to dig deep through what came out in 2014 – this is always the biggest challenge, just remembering, researching and digging !  Let’s detour around that a little. What did I wear the most in 2014, which is different from what was released. Le Labo Vanille 44, which is always my go to fragrance, along with By Kilian Flower of Immortality (dear lord, that peach and vanilla are yummy) and Tom Ford Shanghai Lily.  The one that hits both points – something I wear all the time in 2014 and was released in 2014 is Parfums DelRae Wit.  Love, love love Wit.  Things released in 2014 that I loved were Kilian Intoxicated, Naomi Goodsir Or du Serail, and Jo Malone Wood Sage and Sea Salt.  For the overpriced part of 2014, Serge Lutens L’Incendiaire.  I can’t believer  Miss Anita is dissing this. yes, it’s way too much, but dang, I smell amazing all day when I put it on.  But, yeah, $600 is ridic.  The scents falling in the tooting mine own horn faves of 2014 are Surrender and Cold Water Canyon. We loved creating these scents and hope to do more.

What I hated the most this year –  the folding of some spectacular independents into the Estee Lauder group. I don’t hate Estee Lauder, but I worry about what they will do do Le Labo and Frederic Malle.  What I hate the most this year turns into my most fervent hope for 2015 – that Lauder will let these two companies continue to create perfume the way they have – selectively and when they feel they have something new to offer – and not on a Lauder “flanker upon flanker and 14 new releases a year” mode that they have with their own fragrances and what they did with Jo Malone.  Please, please, please.

Anita –  2014 had some real winners!   Not all of mine are 2014 releases – some of them are things I was newly intro’d (or re-intro’d) to – and do you care?  OF COURSE NOT!  Let’s get on to the perfume, shall we?

There is a certain beauty in perfume.  Not ‘a’ perfume – just perfume.  You know how you walk into a Beauty dept and it just smells….Beauty?  Yeah, that.  I love that.  The Diana Vreeland line of scents (which I keep promising to review and still haven’t – sorry!) fit that Beauty bill.  I’ll tell you more about them NEXT WEEK, I promise.  But suffice to say , they were a delightful surprise – and they just scream Beauty.  Which is not a bad thing.   Amouage Sunshine was another stunning surprise for a lot of the same reasons DV scents were:  Christopher Chong take on ‘fresh’ is a total success.  Light, airy, with that unmistakable Amouage quality.  Super Surprise:  Creed Iris Tubereuse.  Portia and I both fell in love with this during my Birthday Sniff.  I could easily see myself with a FB of this – and I nearly never say that anymore.  More tuberose than iris, nevertheless it retains enough rooty earthiness to lift it out of Fracas territory!  eminently wearable.  And gorgeous!  April Aromatics.  The whole line (I’m slow).  My favorite?  Unter den Linden, followed by the gorgeous citrus-y one…hang on…Ray of Light.   Beautiful.  And I think it was released in 2014 proving, once again, that even a stopped clock is right twice a day!

Most Stunning Find of 2014:  Patty & Lisa’s Surrender & Coldwater Canyon.  No, they did not make me say that.   Both of these blew my mind!  And I don’t even like jasmine all that much.  Surrender has all the Sexbombalicious thing going and Coldwater Canyon is…well, it’s just gorgeous, in a green, herbal, jasmine way.   Another WOW!

Least WOW of the year:   Uncle Serge’s L’Incendiare (like he cares what I think).  I remember A Certain Person spraying it on me and saying “Here.  That’s what $600’ll getcha”.  Truer snark never spoken.

Ann — Frederic Malle Eau de Magnolia: I enjoyed this beauty spring, summer and fall in 2014. What’s not to love? Its citrusy, bergamot open that is refreshing and extremely long-lasting; its recognizable, yet somehow slightly abstract representation of the magnolias I’ve sniffed here in the American South; and its vetivery, mossy base, creating an earthy, elegant contrast to the lemony tang. Simply a beautiful scent that’s up for anything.

Hiram Green Shangri La: I adored his Moon Bloom, a gorgeous love child echoing Fracas and Carnal Flower (with SL’s Tubereuse Criminelle lurking close by in the family tree), so couldn’t wait to try his take on chypre. And when a kind friend sent me a sample recently, I nearly turned somersaults. If Moon Bloom sings out joyously, Shangri La purrs with pleasure. After its tangy open, in rushes a slightly peachy, floral yet furry vibe spotted with spices and a musky undertone that get rounded off by vetiver and oakmoss. A sleek, sexy and satisfying chypre beast.

Best mainstream fragrance (tie): Bottega Veneta Knot and Cartier La Panthere. Two lovely, grown-up-leaning scents that give perfumistas hope for the department store counters.

Portia – Heya POSSE! I have given you my fave releases of 2014 already. The one To Die For standout for me was Neela Vermeire’s Mohur Extrait. If ever there was a fragrance that you might think about selling your mother into slavery to be able to afford then Mohur Extrait is the one. Also an honourable mention to Aftelier’s Palimpsest and Amouage’s Sunshine, both fabulous fragrances that bear close scrutiny.
So I too will give you a run down of a few of my Most Worn Fragrances in 2014, I’ll only chat about the ones still available to buy.

Shalimar by Guerlain is still my most worn fragrance by far. Shalimar’s soft swirl of gelato over animalic funk is forever the thing I’ll first think of when you say the word fragrance. It fits me like a glove and the 2014 EdP reformulation has made it smell even better, a lot of extra growl from beginning to end and an excellent vanilla/resinous/mossy dry down.

Amoureuse by Parfums DelRae is still up there at the top of my spritz list. It was rarely taken off the makeup counter in 2014 and due to its gloriously naughty and magically sensual nature this wet white flower bomb got loads of skin time. It is also one of my best compliment getters, that could be because I spritz the shit out of it and wear it like a fragrant bullet proof cloud. BTW you also need to try Wit, it’s even better than Amoureuse though I can’t imagine wearing it as often.

Coco by CHANEL gets heaps of wear too. I have a few variations of it, old and new, EdT, EdP and parfum. Though the fragrance has changed over the years I still get a very real hit of Coco even from my newest formulations. It is a very beautiful oriental fragrance that is both armor and purring comfort kitten. When you find a fragrance that is excellent for work, rest and play it tends to become a super staple.

Ombre Mercure by Terry de Gunzburg is one that I keep thinking I will fully review but every time I sit down to write about it I make it sound completely and absolutely disgusting. The way my nose reads the notes is only attractive through my enjoyment of the wear, on paper it reads awful and yet it’s totally freaking fabulous. Unlike anything else in my collection and one of my 2014 easy spritz and go fragrances. I will do a full review in 2015.
All my photos from Fragrantica

Tom –

This year I’m not nominating one scent as best of 2014. I’m nominating a whole line: smell bent. Not just because I think Brent Leonesio is brilliant (although he is,) but because he manages to make his scents affordable as well as really good.  For hat alone he deserves a “best of” nod.

So what’s your favorite released for 2014 or the things that were your favorites to wear?  Trends, news you hated/loved?  Also – check out the rest of the Best of 2014 lists at Now Smell This, Grain de Musc, Bois de Jasmin and The Non-Blonde.