Colognoisseur Best of 2020 Part 3: The Top 25 New Perfumes of 2020 and One Extra Award

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To keep this list in perspective, I tried 634 new perfumes since January 1, 2020. That is about a third of all new releases. Nobody can try them all. I enjoy the winnowing down to produce this list. I usually make the hard decisions on which perfumes make the Top 25 without resorting to ties or other ways of expanding the list. Except 2020 presented me with a dilemma like no other. After struggling with how to resolve it I just thought I’d come up with a fun way of recognizing the problem. The list is going to start off with a new one-time only award.

Yaas Queen!

Perfume Queen of 2020: Dawn Spencer Hurwitz of DSH Perfumes– The pandemic affected the industry in such variable ways. In Ms. Hurwitz’s case it was the catalyst to a year of remarkable creativity. She released 32 new perfumes this year. I reviewed eight and I’m only hitting 25% just on her. She has always been prolific, but this year there was an extra inspiration in her collection. In my case she connected with me on an emotional level more consistently than anyone ever has. Read my reviews of Tea and Charcoal, Adrenaline and Scorched Earth, or Couverture d’Hiver to find examples. Her years of experience also translate into a familiarity with certain materials like iris. She released an Iris Trilogy of which I reviewed L’Or(ris) and Man Root. I never got around to writing about her Frida Kahlo inspired set or any of her Heirloom Elixirs. Each of them was worthy of it but it would have turned this blog into “DSH-onoisseur”. So consider this a cheat as you won’t find these perfumes in the list below, but they surely do belong. For 2020 DSH has her own category.

The Top 10 (Perfume of the Year Candidates)

10. Amouage Meander– Young perfumer Mackenzie Reilly showed she could be one of the new noses for the new Amouage under creative director Renaud Salmon.

9. Frassai El Descanso– Creative director Natalia Outeda releases a series of perfumes of her native Argentina. This fragrance of wide-open wheat fields is like nothing else this year.

8. Puredistance Rubikona- Creative director Jan Ewoud Vos wanted a perfume expression of red. Perfumer Cecile Zarokian made one with a faux-gourmand accord in the base which was amazing.

7. Hiram Green Vivacious– Hiram Green has added violet to his impressive collection of all-natural florals. Another standout from a line replete with them.

6. Masque Milano Le Donne di Masque Madeleine– Alessandro Brun and Riccardo Tedeschi asked perfumer Fanny Bal to create their favorite Paris tearoom as a perfume. She returned a confection with a tuberose center.

5. Rasei Fort Cielito Lindo– Rasei Fort laid down an audacious marker to the best gourmand of 2020 early on. Nobody risked more within the genre. Nobody reaped the rewards of taking those chances more.

4. Aftelier Violet Ambrosia– Mandy Aftel adds violet to an aged version of broom flower. The result is like nothing I’ve tried featuring this floral.

3. April Aromatics Lotus Rising– Tanja Bochnig also broke out her special materials with two sources of aged lotus. It formed the lushest floral of the year.

2. A Lab on Fire Freckled and Beautiful– I’ve been waiting for the first great transparent floral gourmand. Perfumer David Apel has set the standard for the future.

  1. Shalini Iris Lumiere– The longer explanation can be found in Part 2. The simple one is it is the best iris perfume of a year which had a lot of excellent ones.

The Rest of the Top 25 in Alphabetical Order

Abel Cyan Nori– Perfumer Isaac Sinclair wraps soft musk in a sheet of nori.

Berceuse Allegretto 7.2– Antonio Gardoni finds the rhythm.

Cartier Pur Kinkan– Mathilde Laurent makes a fragile citrus bubble which is compelling because of it.

Estee Lauder Beautiful Absolu– Mackenzie Reilly boldly edits the original Beautiful into a modern version.

Gallivant Bukhara– Ralf Schwieger puts iris under his magnifying glass.

Imaginary Authors A Whiff of Wafflecone– Josh Meyer makes a high-quality salted caramel ice cream treat.

Jazmin Sarai Fayoum– Dana El Masri made one of the most unique accords of the year as she takes you into a pottery shop at the oasis.

L’Artisan Couleur Vanille– The first salt air and vanilla release of the year.

Maher Olfactive Tempo Rubato– Shawn Maher shows off his near limitless potential in a perfume of changes built around iris.

Maria McElroy for American Perfumer Desert Rouge– One of two releases for Dave Kern’s American Perfumer store. Maria McElroy returns to the desert and her childhood memories of pastry.

Nishane Nanshe– Perfumer Cecile Zarokian puts on a masterclass on how to construct a powdery accord.

Roberto Greco Porter sa Peau– Not for the faint of heart. I didn’t know I wanted a perfume which captured the post-coital milieu. Rodrigo Flores-Roux gave it to me.

Shawn Maher for American Perfumer Madame Chouteau– Shawn Maher told a glorious story of his hometown history in bold perfumed calligraphy strokes.

Stephane Humbert Lucas 777 Isra & Miraj– This is a perfume that should be a train wreck. Stephane Humbert Lucas gave me a spiritual experience instead.

Zoologist Musk Deer– Everyone wanted a skanky musk. Victor Wong and Pascal Gaurin throw a cleverly evolving soft pillowy musk in its place. They made the right choice.

The Rest of the 2020 Short List

4160 Tuesdays Dark Queen– Sarah McCartney gloriously colors outside her boundaries.

A Lab on Fire A Blvd. Called Sunset– A dry leather on a Santa Ana wind.

Aether Arts Perfume Dia de Muertos– Tropical trick or treating.

Beaufort Terror and Magnificence– An old church full of smoke and history.

Bogue Douleur!2– I hated it. I admire it to death.

Maher Olfactive Treachery– Shawn Maher goes really big.

Courreges 2060 Cedar Pulp– Fanny Bal’s 21st century cologne.

DS & Durga Jazmin Yucatan– A night with the Aztecs

Etat Libre D’Orange Exit the King– Soapy and uniquely so.

Ignacio Figueras Palm Beach– An afternoon watching the polo ponies

Laboratorio Olfattivo Mandarino– A joyful interpretation of mandarin.

Lazarus Douvos Rose 1845– The most interesting rose of the year.

Maher Olfactive Orris Forest– Stepping stones to iris.

Maison D’Etto Macanudo– The exhilaration of being on horseback

Maison Sybarite 720– The best of a new brand.

Maison Tahite Sel_Vanille– Another new brand working on a salt air and vanilla construct.

Masque Milano Le Donne di Masque Dolceaqua– Another intelligent transparent floral gourmand

Masque Milano Le Donne di Masque Petra– This is the first Masque gourmand perfume.

Masque Milano Ray-flection– Mimosa puffballs on a river of honey.

Monique Lhuiller– Best mainstream floral of 2020

NEZ Hong Kong Oolong– A history lesson told through tea.

NEZ Folia– The smell of wet cardboard isn’t supposed to be appealing.

Olfactive Pharmacy Betula– Mark Buxton’s interpretation of birch is fabulous.

Olfactive Studio Iris Shot– The best of the three Sepia Collection releases this year.

Zoologist Koala– Hanging out in an Australian treetop munching eucalyptus leaves.

That’s a wrap for 2020.

You can find my overview of the year here.

You can find who I named Perfume, Perfumer, Creative Director, and Brand of the Year.

Thanks to everyone involved in allowing me to keep writing this entire year.

–Mark Behnke

Colognoisseur Best of 2020 Part 2: Perfume, Perfumer, Creative Director, and Brand of the Year

Posted on by in Mark Behnke, News and tagged , , , , , , , , .

After yesterday’s broad overview, in Part 2 I get very specific naming the best of the year in four categories.

Perfume of the Year: Shalini Iris Lumiere– One of the joys of writing about perfume for over a decade is I’ve been able to watch brands develop. My favorite is when a creative director and long-time collaborator find that magic moment when all their hard work produces a transcendent perfume. Shalini has been making fragrance since 2004. In 2020 it made my Perfume of the Year, Shalini Iris Lumiere.

Iris Lumiere is the fifth perfume from fashion designer Shalini and master perfumer Maurice Roucel. I have enjoyed the other four releases a lot. Iris Lumiere took a quantum leap over those. It achieved that by showing me a different version of iris. As mentioned yesterday I write a lot about the powdery or rooty nature of the ingredient. Iris Lumiere showed me something I had never experienced before, an intensely greener version.

It has always been one of M. Roucel’s strengths to find new ways to showcase well-known ingredients. His choice to use galbanum and muguet as green interrogators of orris formed something captivating. It was if a fresh green rhizome had been harvested with moisture dripping off it. Months away from being the dried version we are familiar with. By using the overdose of galbanum it creates a sparkling set of jeweled facets among the irises. The final piece is to shine silvery moonlight on it using frankincense.
M. Roucel has been making perfume for decades this is among his best perfumes ever and not just the Perfume of the Year for 2020.

Perfumer of the Year: Maurice Roucel– It was clear to me heading into the fall that my Perfumer of the Year was going to have the initials MR. Throughout the year it seemed like Maurice Roucel and Mackenzie Reilly kept having a competition in my head. They both worked creatively across every sector. What tipped the balance is M. Roucel did make my Perfume of the Year.

Besides that he also did an artistic composition in NEZ Hong Kong Oolong. Monique Lhuiller was an entirely different version of the mainstream fresh floral.  A Lab on Fire A Blvd. Called Sunset is a fabulous dry leather via California car culture.

I could’ve written a similar resume for Ms. Reilly as her year was also impressive. They say you are judged by who it is you competed against. M. Roucel was pushed all year by one of the most impressive new perfumers we have. In 2020 it was the old master who is the Perfumer of the Year.

Runner-Ups: Fanny Bal, Dawn Spencer Hurwitz, Josh Meyer, Mackenzie Reilly, and Cecile Zarokian.

Creative Director of the Year: Victor Wong, Zoologist Perfumes– There is no better story in independent perfumery than that of Victor Wong and his Zoologist Perfumes brand. 2019 was an extraordinary year for Mr. Wong including Squid being named the Fragrance Foundation Perfume Extraordinaire at this year’s awards. He entered 2020 with a dilemma. He chose to re-invent one of the flagship perfumes of the brand with a new perfumer. The 2020 version of Bat shows why I hold Mr. Wong in such high esteem. Working with perfumer Prin Lomros they created a different species of bat as the environment was shifted from cave to jungle. It was every bit as enjoyable. He would follow-up with three new releases Sloth, Koala, and Musk Deer. The latter is an expectation shattering take on musk. It is that ability to take chances that makes Mr. Wong my Creative Director of the Year for 2020.

Runner-Ups: Alessandro Brun and Riccardo Tedeschi of Masque Milano, Carlos Kusubayashi of A Lab on Fire, Natalia Outeda of Frassai, Renaud Salmon of Amouage, and Celine Verleure of Olfactive Studio.

Brand of the Year: Masque Milano– Alessandro Brun and Riccardo Tedeschi are always looking for ways to evolve their successful enterprise. In 2020 this involved creating a new collection called Le Donne di Masque. They re-invented the first two releases of Petra and Dolceaqua before adding Madeleine at the end of the year. This provides a new way of looking at Masque Milano. Just to make sure we didn’t forget the old way Ray-Flection joined the Opera collection. This was another fantastic year for one of the premier brands in artistic perfumery which is why they are Brand of the Year for 2020.

Runner-Ups: Amouage, DSH Perfumes, Frassai, Imaginary Authors, and Zoologist.

My broad overview of 2020 can be found in Part 1 here.

The Top 25 perfumes of 2020 will come tomorrow.

–Mark Behnke

New Perfume Review Shalini Iris Lumiere- Iris by Moonlight

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I have always enjoyed being outdoors late at night when the moon is effulgent. The silvery moonlight changes the way things look. It provides a new perspective over the light of day. Just walking around my yard seeing what is illuminated by the moon is fun. There are lots of perfumes which also want to capture this effect. Most of them miss something. Shalini Iris Lumiere gets it just right.

Shalini

Shalini is an Indian-born fashion designer who entered the fragrance game back in 2004. Her first perfume, Shalini, remains one of the best tuberose interpretations I own. She worked with perfumer Maurice Roucel and has continued the partnership with Iris Lumiere representing their fifth fragrance together. Through all the pieces of this collection there has always been an haute couture sensibility with which Shalini has found a willing interpreter in M. Roucel. Iris Lumiere represents the pinnacle of their collaboration.

Maurice Roucel

Iris Lumiere is a luxurious version of the named flower. So often a perfumer chooses the powdery part or the rooty part of this dual-faced ingredient. M. Roucel discovers a new face by interrogating his iris with two intensely green questioners. What they wring out of iris is unique.

Iris Lumiere opens with a large overdose of orris absolute. Before it can dissolve into powder or become earthy an equal amount of galbanum appears. The intense crystallinity of that encases the iris causing it to have to rise up to be noticed. In that early struggle there is that new face of iris. This seems to me like the smell of what a freshly harvested rhizome of iris would smell like. The green leaves are what you notice because the root needs months of drying to transform itself into the perfume ingredient. If the galbanum was allowed to stand alone this would have become strident. M. Roucel adds in a softening source of green in muguet. It smooths out the rough edges polishing the galbanum to a glittering shine. It also imparts a slight chill. This gets picked up as the moon rises and its representative frankincense covers it in silvery light. The resin adds waves of argent moonbeams. It is an ideal compliment as it adds a soft light to the iris encased in green crystal. It forms an amazing accord that lasts.

Iris Lumiere has 12-14 hour longevity and average sillage.

I have enjoyed all the perfumes Shalini has produced. Iris Lumiere is on its own level. It is the best perfume of the brand and among the very best perfumes I’ve smelled this year. Of all the florals iris is one of my favorites. I don’t remember having smelled anything like this before. To create a new way of seeing this floral the creative team just had to present iris by moonlight.

Disclosure: this review is based on a sample provided by Shalini.

–Mark Behnke