The pristine white of Cow celebrates musk, exploring its synergy with floral, fruity, grassy, and lactonic notes, granting this category its proper dignity. It envelops the wearer in a sedate creaminess, this spell broken with the soft acerbic bite of apple and the vernal green of lily of the valley, evoking an image of luscious pastures and blue skies. Cow stands for a comfort that is never flimsy nor lacking: the world in which Cow derives is a world under the magic spell of the imagination. Hummingbird in contrast is a polite frenzy - an energetic bird drunk after gorging on the nectar and pollen of the most colourful fruits and flowers. The notes in this fragrance are lustrous, enriched, yet natural: bursting notes of apple, cherry, lilac, plum, rose, and peony - to name but a few - settling on a serious base of oakmoss flecked with vanilla, amber, and cream. Hummingbird is beguiling and dizzyingly joyous. Whilst Chameleon moves into the tropical, the luminescent skin of this creature the inspiration for this glistening fragrance. An ‘ambre solaire’ accord of ylang-ylang and vanilla marks the body of this fragrance, its impression of salty sunkissed skin and tropical feeling is furthered with mango, coconut, star fruit, frangipani, vanilla, and sandalwood – fruits that are sweet-and-sour, and woody notes that are milky-yet-dry. Chameleon is complex and well-composed, its many transitions are clear and distinct.
Nightingale is most clearly a chypre from amongst this assortment, an incredible opulence marvellously balanced as is typical of the category. A fantasy note of plum blossom is constructed from ylang-ylang, rose, and geranium, and all of this is lifted with bergamot as it passes through a mossy heart that slowly shifts into incense, oud, and patchouli. Nightingale is surprisingly versatile - and however you wear it, it imparts a sense of occasion. The wildly popular Bee similarly showcases a serious side amongst its playful top. Impressively realistic notes of sweet and floral honey, beeswax, and ‘royal jelly’ reveal an underside that is smoky, musky, and animalic. Bee is a marvel, an utterly gorgeous study of its thematic animal. It is variously textured as its oozing syrupy notes concentrate the sunny warmth of flowers, and slowly unfurls with wear. It is a must. Finally, Snowy Owl turns to cool textures and sensations, playing with water, snow, and ice. Snowy Owl is glacial, transforming floral notes of lily of the valley, rose, and iris root into something else entirely, away from typical springtime associations, crushing its petals into a cooling ice. It contrasts this with a fluffy base of musk - evoking the rich plumes of this mighty bird.
