The Pierre Benard Challenge Continued: Coppertone

For every Baby Boomer who grew up near a beach there is one scent which will immediately conjure childhood summers: Coppertone. Coppertone was the leading suntan lotion/sunscreen throughout the 1960’s and 70’s. As far as I can tell it remains #1 in 2020. Which makes me wonder if it will be as indelible to the current generation.

My first memories of going to the beach was as a five-year old. We made the short drive out to Cape Florida State Park. I was ready to go. I wanted to run into the crashing surf. Before that could happen, my mother took out the brown plastic bottle of Coppertone and applied it all over my exposed skin. Putting an extra layer on nose and cheekbones. I share the experience with millions who grew up in this time.

I have read that Coppertone spent a lot of time refining the scent of their product. To find something which would mask the chemical smell of what performed the protective reason for wearing it. What they settled on was an orange blossom focused accord. The interesting part is the chemical part blends with that to form something still pleasant while being completely unique. The smell of Coppertone was part of my wardrobe for most of my life in S. Florida. In a lot of ways it felt like a more solid version of the Florida Water which scented our home. I should probably consider making Coppertone the answer to the question of what my first fragrance was.

It is such a unique scent, perfume has not allowed it to pass by. There are two that I own which capture it dead to rights. One is Bobbi Brown Beach where perfumer Claude Dir also mixed in a healthy dose of Calone to put some sand and surf into the bottle.

CB I Hate Perfume Day at the Beach 1966 is the closest to capturing that childhood memory I have. Perfumer Christopher Brosius’ Coppertone accord is so good it feels photorealistic. He chooses to create his beach accord without relying on Calone which makes it closer to what I remember.

There are few scents which can immediately call to mind a specific product. Coppertone is hard wired into my memory of the beach.

Mark Behnke

New Perfume Review Zaharoff Signature pour Homme- Behind the Curve, Again

1

I think those who read this blog regularly know how much I enjoy finding new perfumes. It is one of the things which keeps me going that sense of search. Even though I try I just keep ending up behind the curve of certain brands. There is one brand I keep finding out about because someone else is wearing or talking about it.

George Zaharoff

In 2006 I was told about Zaharoff pour Homme by a friend who told me it was the only perfume he owned. At the time I had never heard of it. Once I tried it, I wondered why I hadn’t heard of it. George Zaharoff was a men’s fashion designer who made classic men’s clothing. I knew of him because of my time in New York City. I had no idea he had made a men’s fragrance in 1999 called Zaharoff pour Homme. When my friend introduced me to it, I was impressed at the niche-quality construction in a mainstream release. Perfumer Claude Dir made a fantastic men’s Oriental which has remained one of my favorites since obtaining a bottle in 2011 when it re-launched. Zaharoff pour Homme is one of the most successful fusions of niche sensibility inside a mainstream framework.

Claude Dir

Now in 2019 I was going through a couple of my favorite vloggers on perfume and what do I see there is a new release; Zaharoff Signature pour Homme. It took me a couple of months to finally track down a sample. When I did, I had a bit of déjà vu as the same creative team of Mr. Zaharoff and M. Dir have again taken current niche trends and fused them into a mainstream style fragrance.

What is also quite nice about Zaharoff Signature pour Homme is it is a clear follow-up to Zaharoff pour Homme sharing a central axis of lavender, allspice and ginger, along with oud and sandalwood. Where it is very different is M. Dir adds in some newer trends to that foundation.

Lavender is used as the focal point of the top accord but this time M. Dir spears it with twin spicy prongs of black pepper and cardamom. These add a freshness to the lavender by teasing out the herbal quality. The transition to the heart comes via a precisely balanced iris it matches the lavender in intensity as the ginger and allspice make their return. The base accord become a paean to woods with some resinous depth thrown in. Sandalwood, oud accord, cedar, and balsam provide that sturdy masculine woody base loved by many.

Zaharoff Signature pour Homme has 12-14 hour longevity an average sillage.

Like Zaharoff pour Homme, Zaharoff Signature pour Homme is the kind of perfume for the man who only has a couple of bottles of perfume on his dresser. What sets it apart is Mr. Zaharoff and M. Dir know how to make that style of perfume smell just like it could be your signature scent, as well. I have enjoyed this new Zaharoff Signature pour Homme even though I am hopelessly behind the curve, again.

Disclosure: This review is based on a sample provided by Nordstrom.

Mark Behnke

New Perfume Review Malin + Goetz Dark Rum Eau de Parfum- Concentration Effect

I always feel overwhelmed at this time of the year as I look at my list of reviews left to-do and the number of days left on the calendar. I also realize there are perfumes which have been getting pushed down the queue since I received them. It’s now or never to get my thoughts down and so I’m going to gather my thoughts on a perfume I received back in the spring, Malin + Goetz Dark Rum Eau de Parfum.

Andrew Goetz (l.) and Matthew Malin

Malin + Goetz is a full-service beauty brand founded by Matthew Malin and Andrew Goetz. I have used their facial scrub from the moment I first discovered the line. That affection does not extend to the fragrance part of the line. The earliest releases were short lasting bursts of energy. Nice, but gone before I got to spend more than an hour or two with them. After 2005’s Rum Tonic it looked like they might have given up on the fragrance game. Except starting in 2015 they made a comeback with some new releases. This time the fragrances were a little more complex, but they still had the same issue with longevity. I liked many of them, but this was one of those cases where the longevity was a flaw I couldn’t over look. My favorite of this second round was last year’s Dark Rum. I kept thinking if it would just last longer this would be great. Which leads to the release this year of Dark Rum Eau de Parfum.

Claude Dir

Both versions of Dark Rum were composed by perfumer Claude Dir. The Eau de Parfum (EdP) is at 20% concentration as opposed to the 12% of the original Eau de Toilette (EdT). The perfume is meant to be a contemporary twist on Bay Rum. M. Dir uses that as a base but adds in some extras which make this memorable.

Right from the first moments the rum is apparent as it swirls in a boozy haze. A bit of star anise brings some spice to the booze. Then the real star of this perfume comes to the fore as a rich leathery plum comprises the heart accord. M. Dir replaces the rum with plum liqueur on a leather coaster. This is heady and is the major difference between the two concentrations. I wanted to spend time lost within this jammy plum and in the EdT concentration it is gone quickly. In the EdP it allows me to luxuriate in it. The base is a very modern accord of milk, patchouli, and amber. It comes together in an outre kind of hot milk cocktail.

Dark Rum Eau de Parfum has 8-10 hour longevity and average sillage.

My profligacy in getting around to this review turned out to be useful because this is much more of a cooler weather fragrance. For the first time Malin + Goetz manages to stick around for awhile without overstaying its welcome.

Disclosure: This review is based on a sample provided by Malin + Goetz.

Mark Behnke

New Perfume Review Clean Air & Coconut Water- Right Time, Right Season

There are times that new perfume samples have the unfortunate timing of arriving at the wrong time for me to appreciate them. This was what happened when I received the Clean Eau Fraiche collection at the beginning of March. They were meant to be easy-to-wear fragrances meant for warmer weather. Except when they got to me it was thirty degrees out. The other thing was five of the six were overused tropes; just the names give you that idea: Rain & Pear, Skin & Vanilla along with an entire linen cabinet of Fresh Laundry & Lavender, Warm Cotton & Mandarin, and Cool Cotton & Grapefruit. These were all comprised of the usual suspects of the laundry musks matched with fruit. There was one which stood out for being different than these. I told myself I would give it a try once the weather got warmer. This time events allowed for me to be reminded of it while the mercury soared above ninety degrees. Wearing Air & Coconut Water in the past couple of weeks turned out to be just what I needed to enjoy it.

Claude Dir

What I found interesting about this fragrance composed by perfumer Claude Dir was the press release mentioned they wanted the air to be “mountain air” while the coconut water is evocative of the beach. What M. Dir manages to do is to marry a top accord of sparkly citrus to a beachy floral heart before heading up into the mountains for a deep breath of fresh air. It all surprisingly comes together nicely.

Air & Coconut Water opens on a sunbeam of bergamot and lemon it is typically bright and lively. There is a thready green pulse courtesy of blackcurrant buds but it is flooded by the citrus. The coconut water appears and it is that very beachy note of coconut made more transparent while retaining some weight due to a humidity that comes along with it. A light freesia freshens up the coconut water. Then we head up into the mountains for a deep breath of fresh musks. These are not the laundry musks as M. Dir combines a few of the different synthetic musks into a very fresh accord. What is very nice is tonka bean is also present to add in the hay-like effect of the dried grass. Instead of just being air instead it is a breath of the grass as well.

Air & Coconut Water has 6-8 hour longevity and moderate sillage.

They say timing is everything. For Air & Coconut Water returning to it at the end of June turned out to be the right time and the right season to appreciate it.

Disclosure: This review is based on a sample provided by Clean.

Mark Behnke

New Perfume Review Banana Republic 17 Oud Mosaic-Fragrance Safari

When I got my first professional job in 1984 a large amount of my wardrobe came from the store Banana Republic. The whole adventure safari vibe of the store appealed to me. By 1995 when the brand branched out in to fragrance I had moved on. It wouldn’t be until 2006 when I seriously checked out a Banana Republic fragrance called Black Walnut. Perfumer Harry Fremont made a well-balanced tobacco and cedar fragrance that was good for the price. It was time for me to check back in another ten years on as they release a new five fragrance collection in celebration of their upcoming 40th anniversary of their founding in 1978.

The collection is dubbed the Banana Republic Icon Collection. It is made up of five different fragrances each representing one of the five decades of the brand’s existence. Each fragrance leads with the last two numbers of the year and decade they represent. Some, like 90 Pure White, is so emblematic of the rage for clean white musks in the 1990’s it seems historical. Most of them are straightforward but there was one which stood out 17 Oud Mosaic.

Claude Dir

17 Oud Mosaic is meant to represent 2017 and was composed by perfumer Claude Dir. Now don’t get fooled by the name there isn’t even a tiny bit of oud here; there isn’t even an oud accord. What “oud” must be shorthand for is Oriental. If it was re-named 17 Oriental Mosaic that would be more accurate. M. Dir combines some interesting choices to form a contemporary Oriental.

Those interesting choices come right from the top as M. Dir chooses white pepper and plum to open 17 Oud Mosaic. The spicy fruitiness leads to a heart of Turkish rose along with cardamom and saffron adding to the spiciness. It is this spicy fruity floral accord which captured my attention. There are hints of leatheriness from the saffron, the cardamom provides a freshness, the rose radiates in waves throughout. It ends on a generic musky amber base accord.

17 Oud Mosaic has 4-6 hour longevity and average sillage. The longevity is pretty low but for $25 you can freely reapply.

If you’re kicking around the mall I would suggest giving the Icon Collection a try. 17 Oud Mosaic is the least derivative but the others also have appeal, too. Well worth taking a fragrance safari on a shopping trip.

Disclosure: This review was based on samples provided by Banana Republic.

Mark Behnke

New Perfume Review Amouroud Safran Rare- Going There

There are times when I just want a perfume I’m trying; to go there. What I mean by that is for it to stop attempting to be accommodating by being polite. Sometimes a perfume which is the equivalent of a loud talker has its pleasures. While it doesn’t happen often there are creative teams who do “go there”. One which does is the team behind Amouroud.

Gun (l,) and Donald Bauchner

Amouroud was released in 2016 as an auxiliary brand from The Perfumer’s Workshop. The Perfumer’s Workshop is known to many as the brand behind 1971’s Tea Rose. Tea Rose is one of the best examples of rose soliflore which remains relevant to today. The creative mind behind Perfumer’s Workshop and Amouroud is Gun Bauchner who with her husband Donald created the company. What I like about the idea of Amouroud as an extension of Ms. Bauchner’s previous work is she took on an overcrowded sector of niche perfume and stepped into it with her own vision. Within the name, you can tell that oud was going to be a focal point but it is more than that. It seems like Ms. Bauchner also wanted to take the fundamentals of Middle Eastern perfumery and blend them to her own personal Western aesthetic. Over the six perfumes of the original collection there was an admirable fearlessness to work towards that. To a degree, they all succeed but there was one which rose above the others, Safran Rare.

Claude Dir

For Safran Rare Ms. Bauchner collaborated with perfumer Claude Dir. It shows what Ms. Bauchner’s vision for the brand is. Too many people who made “oud” fragrances made it the centerpiece without really understanding the note, trusting on its uniqueness to carry the day. Ms. Bauchner doesn’t want to lose that quality but she does want to find something else within oud. In Safran Rare she uses the oud primarily as the linchpin of a leather accord suffused with saffron to provide a sweaty lived-in leather fragrance.

If the perfume is called Safran Rare M. Dir surmised you should linger on that ingredient in the early going. The bronze filigree of the spice is presented on a pillow of olibanum which anchors it. Saffron can be the most ephemeral of perfume ingredients, by encasing it in resin M. Dir allows it to persist as the leather accord arises. M. Dir uses oud as one of the pieces which brings sandalwood, benzoin, and vetiver together to form a rich leather accord. What is nice about this accord is it isn’t refined, it is the smell of your favorite leather jacket after you’ve been out dancing and it has the smell of your body in it. It isn’t musky or body odor but it is a dead ringer for the scent which escapes my sleeves when I remove my leather jacket after a night out. The trapped in resin saffron then spreads out over the leather accord into a lusty duet which lasts a long time.

Safran Rare has 10-12 hour longevity and average silage. When I say Amouroud goes there it is this leather accord I am talking about. Most of the time leather is refined or tipped firmly to the animalic. In Safran Rare Ms. Bauchner and M. Dir provide a leather that has lived.

Disclosure: This review was based on a sample provided by Osswald NYC.

Mark Behnke

New Perfume Review Kenneth Cole Mankind- Department Store Differencemaker

About once a month I take a field trip to the local mall and stroll through the fragrance counters at the major department stores. It is a valuable experience for me to find out what is selling, to see the influence of trends, and to try whatever is new since my last visit. The department store fragrance counter has become a fairly monolithic collection of fruity florals and sport fragrances. The sales associates are pretty used to my blank stare as I am handed a strip and smell the tropes that are endemic to this segment of the market. It is because of this sameness to the fragrances being sold which makes something different stand out. So when I went on my field trip at the beginning of this month I was surprised to find the new Kenneth Cole Mankind is one of those which separates itself from the crowd.

claude dir

Claude Dir

Perfumer Claude Dir under the creative direction of Jennifer Mullarkey has somehow created a department store fragrance which trends towards being as quirky off-beat as any niche entry. If I handed you this note list: cardamom, pineapple, ginger, cinnamon, tarragon, sandalwood, vetiver, oakmoss, tonka bean, and musk; I would bet the department store isn’t where you would look first. Ms. Mullarkey is one of the more accomplished creative directors in the masstige area because she isn’t afraid to take risks in a risk averse situation. For Mankind she collaborated with M. Dir on a top notch fragrance that feels like an oddity with its weird green quality and spice.

jennifer mullarkey

Jennifer Mullarkey

Mankind follows the blueprint of many commercial fragrances to grab you with the top notes. M.Dir using cardamom and ginger, while not common, has shown up here and there. The pineapple is what really makes the opening feel not quite as boring as most of its neighbors on the fragrance counter. The cardamom persists and the cinnamon intensifies the spiciness and then the tarragon completely transforms Mankind. It adds a really deep herbal green quality which along with the spices turns the middle development into a different shade of green than you normally find here. This stays on my skin like this for a long while and it seems to have a number of subtle qualities which are nudged along by vetiver and oakmoss for a while. It finally settles down into that typical combo of musks and woods typical in this sector.

Mankind has all day longevity but the interesting parts last for about 4-6 hours. The sillage is above average.

Mankind is a surprising department store fragrance and worth a try. It is definitely one of the best new things I’ve tried an all of my field trips for this year, so far. Next time you’re in your local mall give it a try I think you might be surprised at what you find.

Disclosure: This review was based on a sample provided by Macy’s

Mark Behnke

Discount Diamonds: Juicy Couture Dirty English-Claude Dir Brings Niche to Mainstream

1

There are times I need a lot of encouragement to overcome an erroneous snap judgment I have made. One of those instances was back in 2008. On Basenotes there was a lively discussion about this new mainstream fragrance from Juicy Couture called Dirty English. Now this, at the time, nearly 50-year old man was not going to wear any perfume from Juicy Couture. I remember being quite vocal about it on the forum, too. All of this was without ever having tried it. Then I was in my local department store and a sales associate approaches me with a bunch of strips in her hand and hands one to me. As I sniff the strip picking out caraway, cardamom, leather, sandalwood, and oud. I was running through which niche house this could have come from. Then the rep told me what it was. Yes you guessed it this was Juicy Couture Dirty English and my jaw had disengaged itself from my face and was dusting the floor.

There have been a few valiant attempts to bring a niche aesthetic to the department store counter, Dirty English was the attempt for 2008. So far there has not really been a breakout success for any of these and this is why Dirty English is easy to find at the discount fragrance purchase points. I have regularly found it for less than $30 for a 3.4 oz. bottle.

claude dir

Claude Dir

Claude Dir was the perfumer behind Dirty English and this was in keeping with his very mainstream career to this point in 2008. He had made one of my favorite mainstream fragrances, Zaharoff pour Homme a few years earlier. Later on in 2008 he would start working on the niche side of the street when he composed Bond No. 9 Andy Warhol Lexington Avenue (now just called Lexington Avenue). With hindsight one can look back at Dirty English as the real start of M. Dir’s niche values.

Dirty-English-Juicy-Couture

Dirty English mixes pepper, cardamom, and caraway. The caraway adds an exotic tenderness to the spices and again I wonder out loud why this isn’t used as a substitute for bergamot more as a top note. All of the spice dusts the light woodiness of cypress. M. Dir then uses a leather accord called Santal Fatal which uses sandalwood, vetiver, and cedar to form the leather accord. M. Dir makes a fascinating choice of using marjoram as an herbal contrast to the Santal Fatal. He then uses the combination of nagarmotha and patchouli to make an oud accord and right here with the combination of all of these components you would be hard pressed not to feel this was a top of the line niche fragrance. In the end a very close-wearing musk finishes this one off.

Dirty English has about 4-6 hour longevity and above average sillage. This makes it an ideal evening out scent.

I was, and continue to be, impressed with the choices M. Dir made for Dirty English. If he was less disciplined with the choices he made this could have easily turned into a mess. Instead he turned out a fragrance I still look to wear for an evening out. I still can’t believe there is a Juicy Couture anything I like as much as this.

Disclosure: This review is based on a bottle of Juicy Couture Dirty English I purchased.

Mark Behnke

Bond No. 9 101-Five To Get You Started

There are few perfume houses as prolific as Laurice Rahme’s Bond No. 9. Since she founded it with sixteen fragrances based on New York City neighborhoods in 2003 there are currently over 70 Bond No. 9 fragrances to choose from. I am going to suggest five of those to start your exploration of this uniquely New York perfume house. Bond No. 9 has some exclusives for Saks Fifth Avenue and Harrod’s and I’m not including any from those collections because of their exclusivity. The main collection Bond No. 9 fragrances are some of the most accessible niche perfumes to be found and they should be easier to find than many other niche brands.

laurice rahme

Laurice Rahme

Chinatown is arguably the best perfume in the entire line. Perfumer Aurelien Guichard was a rising star in 2005 and his modern chypre underneath a soft fruity floral opening is incredible. If I was making a list of the best perfumes released post-2000 Chinatown would be near the top.

New Haarlem was one of two perfumes by perfumer Maurice Roucel for Bond No. 9, the other is Riverside Drive. M. Roucel creates an abstract version of a coffee gourmand fragrance. There is definitely coffee at the core but he adds in things no barista would think of like lavender and patchouli. The latter is really what turns New Haarlem into one of the better gourmand fragrances on the market.

high line bottle

2010’s High Line by perfumer Laurent LeGuernec is inspired by the recaptured railroad line turned into urban green space in downtown New York. M. LeGuernec composed a fragrant sonnet to springtime and growing things. The opening freshly cut grass accord is joined by a fresh bouquet of spring flowers most notably tulips. This is all laid over a base accord of sun warmed concrete after a spring shower. The smell of nature in a big city setting makes High Line one of my favorite spring fragrances.

In 2007, Aurelien Guichard created Silver Bond (aka Andy Warhol Silver Factory) it is a sheer incense fragrance with a metallic twinge throughout. It opens with a very sheer citrus, lavender, and incense opening. A combination of violet and iris are used to enhance their sharper more metallic facets which adds the sort of weirdly artistic flourish to what could be a straightforward incense fragrance without it. The base notes go towards a much deeper incense vibe.

Success is the Essence of New York (aka Andy Warhol Success is a Job in New York) is a grown-up version of Calvin Klein Obsession for Men. Perfumer Claude Dir takes a softly spicy opening centered on cardamom into a floral accord of tuberose, rose, jasmine, and orris to fashion a depth form those notes without becoming cloying. The warm base of amber, vanilla, and patchouli serves to round this out.

If you’ve been itching to take a perfumed tour of New York courtesy of Bond No. 9; grab the olfactory subway and make your first stops on the five suggestions above.

Disclosure: This review is based on bottles of these fragrances I purchased.

Mark Behnke