Good evening, Now Smell This: it has recently come to my attention (to paraphrase actor Drew Droege playing “Chloé Sevigny”) that I crave gourmand perfumes. At least, that’s what a dozen “trend pieces” have recently told me. The trend cycle goes around and around, of course: people have liked wearing vanilla-accented and/or sweet-smelling fragrances for a long time, whether you look back a century to Guerlain Shalimar or just twenty-odd years to Bath & Body Works Warm Vanilla Sugar, Aquolina Pink Sugar and Britney Spears Fantasy (with its then-novel “cupcake accord”). Where to begin, if you’re curious about some of the latest gourmand scents? New releases are spawning at an unprecedented rate these days, and I can’t even pretend to be fully up-to-date, but here are two freshly “baked” fragrances that I’m enjoying, plus one from 2021 that has also captured my imagination.
I’ve been trying for a while to make the term “fleurmand” catch on, but it hasn’t, which is a shame because I’d love to use it here to describe Régime des Fleurs Fleur Éclair (shown below left). This new launch is Régime des Fleurs’ most overtly gourmand scent so far, although it still incorporates a floral thread (in keeping with the brand’s name); its notes include cardamom sugar, cocoa butter, rosewater, cocoa powder, jasmine sambac, orange blossom, white patchouli, blond woods and amber.
If Fleur Éclair were an actual dessert, it might be something more like a napoleon or mille-feuille — its opening phase is like a first “bite” that hits the palate as a dusting of spiced cocoa powder, followed by closely blended notes that suggest thin layers of orange blossom-infused buttercream between delicate leaves of flaky, buttery pastry. If you ever smelled Kilian’s Love, Don’t Be Shy and found the combination of orange blossom and vanilla appealing, but wished for something less over-the-top, Fleur Éclair might make your mouth water. It’s subtly complex, wears easily on the skin, and feels like a “cool-girl gourmand.”
Arquiste has had a busy year, releasing three excellent new fragrances: A Grove by the Sea, Venice Rococo, and Almond Suede (shown just above, right) — the last of which I’ve been wearing a lot lately. Almond Suede was developed for Arquiste by perfumer Calice Becker and its composition includes notes of pink peppercorn, bergamot, honeycomb, bitter almond, cistus, neroli, orange flower, candied sugar, vanilla absolute, pine tar and suede accord. Arquiste describes this one as “an addictive and sophisticated gourmand balancing almond marzipan and suede leather inspired by Medieval Andalusia.”
When I initially sniffed Almond Suede from the sample vial, I experienced a sharp mental image of a shoebox that recently held a pair of new suede shoes — a very nostalgic aroma for me, and a good one, in my opinion! On skin, Almond Suede is still delightful, but more rounded and perfume-y: it initially smells like bitter almond oil (not the cheap candy-like “almond extract” from the supermarket!), then soft leather. It very gradually settles into a dry, vanillic skin-scent. Overall, Almond Suede achieves an ideal balance between its nutty and leathery aspects and never smells as confectionery-like as actual marzipan candy.
Milky Dragon (from 2021), by independent perfumer Isabelle Larignon, is a different kind of gourmand — it’s inspired by milky oolong (Jin Xuan), a tea cultivar with a naturally creamy aspect. (Other notes include bergamot, bucchu, cardamom, rose, jasmine, hazelnut, ozonic notes, clary sage, Virginia cedar, fir balsam and oakmoss.) Isabelle Larignon, who has also been an opera singer, dancer, and writer, has written a short tale to accompany this scent. Milky Dragon’s signature illustration by artist Laurent Pinon was inspired partially by Oskar Schlemmer’s sketches for Bauhaus theater costumes, a black-and-white Ziggy Stardust costume designed for David Bowie by Kansai Yamamoto, and tangram puzzles.
Got all that? Just kidding — even if you’re not inclined to dig into its back-story, Milky Dragon is a sophisticated yet easy-to-love fragrance: a tea-centered gourmand that’s just a touch astringent, served with a swirl of milk and leaving an “aftertaste” of stone fruits and nuts on the tongue. It feels soothing and satisfying, yet not at all sugared. It’s an ideal choice for autumn weather: I recently wore it for a long walk in a city park and it was the perfect olfactory accessory to the natural smells of the earth and foliage around me.
Have you recently worn any contemporary gourmand perfumes that you’d recommend? Feel free to share in the comments.
Régime des Fleurs Fleur Éclair is available as 75 ml Eau de Parfum ($260). Arquiste Vanilla Suede is available as 100 ml Eau de Parfum ($205). Isabelle Larignon Milky Dragon is available as 50 ml Eau de Parfum ($150) via Indigo Perfumery and Sainte Cellier.
Note: top image is Mille Feuille at Troquet 2 [cropped] by Dale Cruse at flickr; some rights reserved.