The perfume world is rife with brands all vying for your attention (and your dollar!) so its sometimes easy to feel bamboozled by limitless choices… however, once in a blue moon a brand emerges which produces consistently great fragrances; ones that should be coveted and enjoyed! Italian nose Alessandro Gualtieri has created such a collection by way of the exclusive niche brand Nasomatto! With scents that dart back and forth across the line of decency whilst exploring the taboo world of hardcore drugs, Nasomatto’s China White (2008) is an olfactory hymn to pure heroin.

Confused? Curious? Outraged?! Well, Gualtieri’s creations - if anything - are often controversial or polarising, but one can never fault the artistry and quality of his work.

With no fragrance pyramids published, China White  is a unique and rousing fragrance for men and women in pure parfum concentration. Presented in a smart glass cube with crackle-glazed porcelain cap, it has a universal appeal, opening with sharp floral-woody notes, with a searing musk/powdery trail. It rolls over the receptors at the back of the nose, producing a response that is both narcotising and addictive. There is a dance between natural and synthetic (chemical) accords which makes China White all the more intriguing.

It’s certainly not my intention to glorify drugs or drug use, however this scent is incredibly long lasting, with incredible persistence. Here, I can’t fault China White as an incredible artistic achievement. Definitely one to be experienced first hand.

In 2016, the Italian fashion house Versace is still going from strength to strength, but many 30-somethings and 40-somethings can easily recall the brand back - in what was arguably its hey-day - under the masterful directorship of Gianni Versace. Who can forget that dress that Liz Hurley wore, or the supermodel elite like Linda Evangelista and Naomi Campbell who struck iconic poses in his kitsch-but-chic couture? Even the Versace scents of that very same era seemed to possess more body and personality! Versace l’Homme, launched in 1986 is well loved by young and old alike and still turns heads today!

A leathery, earthy masculine, l’Homme is a modern classic with a crisp yet aromatic opening of citrus, pimento berries and leafy basil. It’s flight belies a much warmer heart however, comprised of patchouli, rose, cedar and cinnamon – the latter proving a prominent sweet/spiced vein that meanders through the composition. Leather, vanilla, labdanum and oakmoss make for a gruff masculine trail – one that is bitter yet sweet at the same time. The dry down is as glorious as it gets! Versace l’Homme (named as such as the archetypal male fragrance from this celebrated house) is sensuous, assertive and comforting – all qualities a woman looks for in a guy!

With above-average projection and a definite attractiveness to those around, this scent is an unanticipated bombshell (without being bombastic).

Classic, self-assured and charming.

In the 20th century, perfumer Ernest Daltroff authored many iconic perfumes for the Parisian house of Caron, and at the time of the second world war he created Royal Bain de Caron: a scent intended to celebrate the ritual of bathing. Presented in a flacon resembling a generous champagne magnum, Royal Bain de Caron is meant to be used with excessive abandon… splashed into your bathwater to perfume your body; applied directly to warm, wet skin after stepping from the shower, or pulled through damp hair. Caron maintains this intimate bathing ritual to this very day, as this scent is still in production some 75 years on!

Perfumed with the scent of lilac and rose, Royal Bain has a dense floral feel, but one that is diluted by a resinous heart of opoponax, incense and benzoin… these notes bring with them, a richer, ambery quality. A foundation of vanilla, musk and cedar provides a velvety, textured feel. When one uses this fragrance precisely as intended, you will find yourself enveloped in the most sumptuous ‘Caron-ade’ cloud for the best part of an entire day.

Royal Bain de Caron is a wonderful relic from decades ago – a reminder of the pleasures of bathing before we all became time-poor and turned to 3-minute showers. Sometimes, however, I find it’s nice to revisit these traditions. At such a good price for very generous sizes, this is certainly one to be experienced.