Best Après L'Ondée Eau de Toilette by Guerlain Alternatives & Similar Perfumes

Orkney, an archipelago located to the north of Scotland, plays host to the inspiration for this fragrance. According to ancient Orkney myth, shapeshifting creatures – selkies – inhabit the bodies of seals who, coming out of the water, shed their skin to walk among humans. Often in these legends the selkie’s skin is found and hidden by local men, and they are forced to marry their human captor.

But in our version of this tale, the selkie takes control. Furious that he has tanned her precious skin, the selkie poisons her captor, reclaiming the leather and returning finally to the tumbling sea.

Sirenide Eau de Parfum is a suitably formidable fragrance: powerful and haunting, with triplicate aspects of ‘skins’ developing on your own. PVC melds with pinseal and an unnerving bitter almond note; water flowers blossom and die, returning to the water.

In 1912, Houbigant's perfumer Robert Bienaimé picked up the ball from Paul Parquet (who earlier invented the whole fougere category while working for Houbigant at the end of the 18th century) and introduced Quelques Fleurs, one of Houbigant’s all-time great fragrances and the first multi-floral bouquet ever created.

The current owners of Houbigant take the heritage and history of the house very seriously and try to adapt the famous formulas from the 18th and 19th centuries to the 21st century's tastes and technologies while keeping the character and old-school flair as close as possible to the originals.

You might have read about Quelques Fleurs in books on perfume and the guides on the greatest perfumes of all time.

The current reincarnation is an adaptation of the original formula to modern times taste and it benefits from modern advances in perfume making.

Meet the 21st century Quelques Fleurs, a gorgeous romantic floral with a big history and an infinite number of floral facets.

September 1757, Casino Venier, Venice

A powdery floral fragrance based on authentic 18th century cosmetic formulas.

A coquettish floral capturing the decadence of 18th century Venice, its rococo interiors and clandestine affairs: a powdery blend of black violet, blush rose, and chamomile nestled on an impossibly soft base of dusty iris and subtle, animalic amber. 

Originally created at the Jermyn Street shop by Mr John Floris in the early 1800s. Devoted wearers of the fragrance have included Florence Nightingale, and Lord Admiral Nelson is reported to have bought Floris White Rose for his mistress, Lady Hamilton.

White Rose is a classic take on a classic theme. This perfume is quite stately in its introvert elegance. Carnations meet a bouquet of other flowers and in the powdery mist of orris it's not quite possible to tell the fresh roses from spicy carnations.

Cool herbs, the sweetness of anise, the warmth of a boozy flame at the bottom of a glass. Blue Flame begins in that glass. It opens bright and bitter, like lemon peel twisted between the fingers. Mint leaves and dry coriander seed steadies it. Then comes sambuca, the anise liqueur that lingers with chilly sweetness, shadowed by bitter/herbal Mugwort. Vetiver and cedarwood trace the outline of dry wood, and benzoin resin adds a low hum. Finally, white musk emerges, turning this cool customer into a warm, languid skin scent, its sweet herbs still held within.

The name of the perfume is a reference to the ancient port of Darin (located on the Tarout island/جزيرة تاروت‎ in the modern day Saudi Arabia).This port was famous in the Middle ages as the musk exchange hub, where merchants from everywhere would come to buy deer musk.

Darin’s musk was legendary (top quality and genuine). Swedoft are treating us to that fabled musk aroma in a poetic modern perfume way. Darin’s Musk is a bright, voluminous fresh musk cloud. It’s not animalic. It’s white musk, clean and exquisite. It did however inherit the outstanding longevity and diffusiveness of the original deer musk traded centuries ago in the port of Darin.

Sun soaked dayz and disco nights, this scent captures the character of Ibiza with white florals and aromatic star anise. Chic, cool, joyful!

Perfumer: Chris Maurice

From the master perfume responsible for most of the Xerjoff range, Moon Glade is a very unconventional take on lavender. The perfumer added a charred coconut shell nuance and poured sweet peach compote to the clean musky vibes of the herb.

Stercus never lies.
A part of the essential body functioning and a natural way to fertilize the soil.
It is the secret sweetness that attracts, and the animalic side that offends.
A sign of an infinite life circle.
The smell of an end and the beginning.

The so-called “Hanamachi” (花街 literally “flower town”) was traditionally the area where geishas lived and worked. This intriguing perfume evokes the allure of an “oiran”, the highest-ranking courtesan, expressing the contradictory charms of innocence and worldliness. Iris adds ravishing powdery notes to a bouquet of rose and violet. The base of sensual agarwood creates a beautiful harmony suggesting bygone decadence.