Charlotte Tilbury is a perfume lover, and there is no question about that. Her first perfume, Scent of A Dream was drop dead gorgeous and quite brave in this age of clones and smell alikes. Scent of a Dream always reminded me of my favourite eighties chypres like Ungaro Diva, Paloma Picasso and Patou 1000. They don’t make sexy patchouli roses like these anymore, and no surprise really as Francois Robert, the nose for Scent of A Dream, created a ton of the lovely rose based Rosine perfumes, the stunning Mary Greenwell Plum, and the beautiful Nicolai Sacrebleu. Francois Robert is the son of Guy Robert, who is an icon in the industry with perfumes like Hermes Caleche, Madame Rochas, and Amouage Gold Woman, among others,. Charlotte Tilbury does not play with amateurs when it comes to her perfume. And, as fun and amazing as indie stuff is, she comes from my generation, and in our world perfume just smelled a certain way. I get it. Sadly, Scent of A Dream is discontinued, as the perfume consumer wants caramel coated fruity-laundry musk these days and unless a perfume is leaning at least a little in that direction, it will gather dust, unsold.
Tilbury’s latest perfume offering is a collection of six perfumes based on the idea that the perfumes will enhance certain moods. I’m not so sure about that exactly, but most of the “story” of the perfumes speaks to scent association and how they trigger memories. And there is no question that scents can make us feel things, be they good or bad, so Tilbury is hoping we all feel the good vibes. I will add right now that they hit it out of the park with the colour story here – WOW! The bottles are simply gorgous and make me think of stained glass. The pointy caps and tarot – tattoo style artwork is cool to me and frankly fun. We can have fun and everything doesn’t have to be so damn serious.
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The IFF, or the International Fragrance Foundation, has a trademarked tech called Scentcube that has been tracking “consumer habits” regarding fragrances and feelings and something something emotions and perfumes. That sounds…dubious at best. But in the end, it’s a fun story and it’s how the perfume smells and makes YOU feel that really matters.
What I am here for is Charlotte Tilbury’s unbridled enthusiasm – I mean DARLINGS! She is so clearly in love with what she does, it’s contagious. I’ve been on a couple Zoom product launches with her and I kind of want to be her best friend. And as I mentioned above, Charlotte is all about hiring the best talent and she did not mess around with this line *wolf *whistle*
First we have Dominique Ropion – on top. Cosmic Power in the purple bottle is his creation. You may know him for a little perfume that Frederique Malle put out called Carnal Flower. Maybe Portrait of A Lady? Mugler Alien, Givenchy Amarige, Kenzo Jungle among so many others and yes even Mugler Alien. God he even created Ralph Lauren Safari which I have been wearing lately. The man is a genius.
Bottom right is Juliette Karagueuzoglou, the nose behind Magic Energy in the green bottle. She is a little younger than M. Ropion so her portfolio is not as vast, but clearly a perfumer of note. She created 21 for Costume National, which is an unusual artistic lactonic perfume, artistic. Bon Parfumeur encens, lavande, bois des cachemire and Un Air de Bretagne by L’Artisan Parfumeur.
And on the lower left is Anne Flipo, one of my absolute favourite perfumers! She created the other four perfumes in the collection, the aqua sea glass Calm Bliss, the gold mirrored Joyphoria, the scarlett More Sex and the rose glass Love Frequency. All winners, although Joyphoria is more of a fancy occasion scent for me, she’s a heady sweet ylang ylang. It is no wonder I vibe with this collection so much. I love Ropion but I adore Flipo. Her L’Artisan Parfumeur La Chasse aux Papillon is one of my most favourite perfumes in the world, and I hoard Mimosa Pour Moi and Verte Violette because nothing smells like them anymore.
My quick reviews:
Cosmic Power (violet bottle) is handily the most “interesting” of the collection, from it’s spicy peppery top notes to the resinous incense to the dry down of the sweet vanilla, powdery amber and skin musk. I think it is beautiful, and I detect the ghost of somew Kenzo Jungle Elephant in there somewhere. The spices, the vanilla and amber maybe, but absolutely gorgeous. Just give it an esoteric name, a bland bottle and sell it for twice the price at a fancy boutique and ta-da it’s niche!
Calm Bliss (turquoise bottle) is my favourite to no one’s surprise at all. It is the brightest, most sparkling soapy happy perfume I own. It is sunshine dappled on a lake, fresh fluffy towels off the line on warm skin that’s been swimming and boating all day. It’s a citrus and aquatic fragrance that’s grounded and warmed with woodsy incense – which feels like a signature of the line. At first I was confused by this perfume as lavender soapy-neroli don’t usually vibe with these kind of fresh-cool then warm-woodsy notes with this balance. It’s hard to describe and I highly recommend trying this one if any of this sounds appealing. I find Calm Bliss addictive and can’t spray it enough. Gourmand smoky soap? Is that it? I don’t know but I love it.
Love Frequency (in the soft rose pink bottle) is the other one I find myself weirdly drawn too. In my humble opinion, this is what in the old days we in the fragrance industry would call “a masculine” lol. Yet the rose bottle and initial blast of peppery rose can fool you into thinking you’re getting a “rose perfume”. Well just let that settle on your skin a bit until the cumin-y dirty patchouli comes out. Don’t get me wrong, I love it but it definitely feels carnal. But not in a pretty sexy coquette way, if that makes sense, more of like a Drakkar Noir way.
More Sex (the scarlett red bottle) is the black pepper juniper berry cocktail with aldron, an animalic molecule (vegan – see? science is good) as well as ambroxan which is a love it or hate it thing. I love it. Add some leather and soft sexy musks and I’m fully on board with the scarlett red sexy vibe. It’s not especially original, but it’s certainly on trend for those who love Tom Ford’s richer offerings, Le Labo Santal (the santal that launched a thousand santals) but not as prim and “laboratory” as Le Labo. More Sex has a smoky dry down that smells a bit like my incense drawer. I’ve been storing boxes of Satya incense in that drawer for twenty years, it’s a solid walnut drawer, with multiple varieties of incense powder ground into the bottom of it.
Joyphoria (the rose gold mirror bottle) is a heady ylang ylang that feels, on first spray, like a distant relative of Mugler Alien (Ropion was part of that one) but Joyphoria is softer and gentler, with coconut water as a lovely soft element. It is a tropical floral, with the white florals and vanilla having a golden syrupy effect. But the common element running through this line, which is a woodsy musk, keeps Joyphoria from becoming too sweet. The woodsy musk is sort of “cedar-y’ so it’s cozy, and hours later Joyphoria settles into a yummy powdery classic floral cold cream note but with a twist. I also have to mention how un-girly this is. Charlotte really tapped into women’s desire for slightly more masculine leaning scents.
Sidebar- I remember when YSL M7 launched at a local department store, that was Tom Ford’s first fragrance for YSL and the first mainstream fragrance with “oud”. When the new stock arrived, it came without any of the promotional matierals – just a crate of fragrance. It was assumed M7 was a woman’s scent because it was a little sweeter than the typical men’s offerings….anyways they sold almost all the stock off the women’s counter before the rep came in and had to straighten it out.
Magic Energy (the emerald green glass bottle) my first impressions of this one was woodsy, green spa type of scent. And figs. I didn’t really wear it much because of my fixation with Calm Bliss and since my daughter loves fig perfumes and Charlotte Tilbury I offered it to her when she was visiting. It is one of the softer perfumes from the collection, more green and herbal, with that calming spa vibe. I asked her what she thought of Magic Energy. “It reminds me of shopping in a fancy store, like on a nice street in Europe”. Close your eyes and imagine. All that to say it is understated and elegant, like you’d walk past someone in an elegant Parisian hotel lobby who smelled like this.
All of this to say I love the collection. My mother in law cannot get her beloved Kenzo Jungle Elephant in a 50ml (for travel) anymore and is looking for a replacement. I’m going to suggest she try the Cosmic Power. Meanwhile I will defintely empty Calm Bliss and Love Frequency. And probably More Sex in cooler weather? These perfumes are funny shape shifters so who knows how I will feel a few months from now. And I love that. I love the fun of this line, the magical thinking, and the whimsy. Some may think the whole molecule science stuff is bunk. It’s the least offensive marketing I’ve been sold and like I just said – I LIKE THE WHIMSY GIVE ME MORE WHIMSY OK?
Charlotte Tilbury’s perfume collection is sold on her website and at Sephora, on-line and in-store.