Best Sartorial by Penhaligon's Alternatives & Similar Perfumes

This extrait is named for the archipelagic country in the South Pacific Ocean, source of the sandalwood in the base. Vanuatu is a lively, confident blend of spices (black pepper, cardamom, cumin) dappled across characterful woody materials (sandalwood, patchouli, cedar and papyrus). Putting meat on the bones is fig milk, with violet leaves adding sharp sparkle. A fragrance for unexpected adventures.

A collaboration with Anselm Skogstad.

Monopteros, an architectural term for a circular colonnade supporting a roof but without any walls.

In this perfume the dome is made of a giant coconut shell, the columns are made of coffee and spices and there is an icy aldehydes fountain in the center. The perfume is trippy, but in fun way.

A high-contrast fragrance: metallic/vegetal, bitter/sweet. Copper opens as a galbanum bomb: the sap of the Persian perennial producing its characteristic grassy bite. Copper elicits strong impressions: from “peas growing in a sun-baked greenhouse” to “a cashmere scarf permeated with cigarette smoke”, with the unifier being “comforting”, due to its soft path to a faded tobacco-vanilla drydown.

An electrified lily-of-the-valley spark, modern molecules reanacting a vintage theme. Also a romantic scented scetch on kings giving in to the magic of love.

Notes from the brand:

"The curtain rises on a state at the corner of 69 rue des Archives, in the Marais, Paris. A place that is like a frontier, where the old world ends and the new world begins. The pale moon can be seen lowering over the towers of Notre Dame in the distance. A man and a woman are in a perfumery, surrounded by bottles. He has yielded in submission to a fallen sovereign and is condemned to the ultimate fate. She is the new soul, the new role, she is desirable and she has conquered. She is the denunciation, a touch condescending. The fluttering of her eyelashes declares she is the one whose hour of glory has arrived, a scent testing blotter in hand."

Santal takes its inspiration from a Sandalwood fragrance originally created in the 1800s which has then been given a distinctive contemporary edge.

“Zelen” translates to “green” in Serbian. This is vetiver as it was meant to be celebrated, energised by the natural world. The emerald earthiness of vetiver is lifted toward the sun on a cloud of lime, bergamot and pink peppercorn. Green cardamom and beeswax absolute deepen the allure of Mysore sandalwood and Virginia cedar.
 
This composition is 25% parfum concentration, of which nearly 75% are natural ingredients. Capped with Italian Carrara marble in a delicately etched glass bottle. 

A pile-up of contrasts: cinnamon along with tropical florals frangipani and ylang ylang, against the earthy bitterness of artichoke and leather. This almost-gingerbread, almost-cement perfume confuses the senses with its animal/vegetable/mineral mystery.

It is the energy of myth and the elegance of the garden that inspire a refined and vigorous essence.

Bergamot and juniper berries become full-bodied on a carpet of incense, fading into the persistent fascination of oriental wood.

The presence of a marble Hercules in the garden of the perfumer’s house, triumph of courage and immortality, elevates to myth the creations of Agatho and the Giardinodiercole becomes a perfume.

Masa is the Arabic word for a one-of-a-kind diamond, and this EdP embodies the diamond’s luminosity through a balance of herbal freshness and ambered wood notes. Masa opens with a crisp combo of bergamot and grapefruit highlighted by the warm spice of ginger root. Mirabelle, a sweet golden plum, becomes the focal point, its honeyed floral charms suspended in a radiant amber syrup of cardamom, vanilla, guaiac wood and patchouli. A stealth violet leaf, a throwback to vintage elegance, steers Masa towards leather.

A kaleidoscope of metal, volume and zest, with zest provided by yuzu. Alive in an ethereal dream of shimmering clarity, Resonant pulses with addictive hot iron and ozonic citrus, sharpened with ginger.

Master perfumer
David Chieze