This sample pack is a fruit bowl of mixed citruses. A most traditional category, reminding us that classical fragrances were at one point in time based upon this style, splashed on abundantly. Heeley’s St. Clement’s is a traditional citrus-rich cologne that has been translated into a chic and contemporary fragrance, combining notes of orange, lemon, bergamot, and neroli with Earl Grey tea and vetiver, which transforms the scent entirely. The wildly popular You Or Someone Like You (Etat Libre d’Orange) mixes tenacious grapefruit with mint, which picks up the citrus fruit’s naturally minty undertone. The result is a bursting and unrestrained freshness. Intense yuzu citrus represents a modern trend in perfumery, and the result of cultural crisscrossing. Note de Yuzu (Heeley) hits the high notes and sustains them, offering a delightfully sour and bitter opening nuanced with piney, earthy, dusty impressions that rapidly softens with a hint of honey-sweet mandarin, whilst a salt note makes the citrus smell like a more intense version of themselves.
The logic of Tauer’s Orange Star is that of contrast: offer the brightest and fizziest medley of twinkling orange citrus fruits – a luminous supernova. Such freshness is reined in by a delicious paste that could almost call to mind caramel, smoked with incense to make it all the more impactful. Whilst Fils de Dieu (Etat Libre d’Orange) continues this gourmand theme, offering a ‘culinary’ citrus where lime imparts an exciting tropical energy. A tropical motif is built with a clever accord of lime-spiked coconut rice that evokes a distinctly humid air, cutting this with an intense freshness via ginger and coriander leaves.
And to conclude, Bergamask (Orto Parisi) pushes citrus-and-musk to its limits. Ultra-modern in style, the fleeting spicy freshness of bergamot and mandarin is alloyed with a monolithic cocktail of musks, sandalwood synthetics and extremely powerful ambrocenide – a dry woody-amber molecule that could almost mimic the sharp textural effect of bergamot. The combined result is an amiable metallic sheen which glosses over the composition; reflective, sharp, and above all else, long-lasting freshness.