Enjoy 10 olfactive delights for the festive season, illuminated in an opulent photoshoot from photographer Axel Kranz and set designer Stephan Bolz. The end of the year always seems so far off until, suddenly, it’s upon us with just a few short days left before Hanukkah, Christmas, and end-of-year festivities alike. While 2020 is one for the history books in more ways than we can all express, the sudden arrival of this December is no exception.
And although this year’s annual family reunion, New Year’s Eve party, or long-planned winter trip may be on hold, we can still focus on creating a cozy and festive environment inside our homes – and still find ways to stay in touch with those we love. Christmas family dinner over Zoom may not be quite the same, but hey, we’ll make the best of it. We’ll sit in front of our cameras in fancy dress, with wine flowing and tree glimmering behind us, and we’ll have a ball.
And there will be presents, lots of them! Santa will have to work extra hours to handle all those boxes, big and small, that we’ll send on their way. To make sure this vision comes true, we’ve handpicked a selection of scents and home fragrances to get you started. We think they’ll not only make your life more beautiful, radiant, and joyous over the holidays, but they’ll also send a scented smile to your loved ones.
Here at SCENTURY, we always believe in a little magic, and the power to connect through perfume!
PHOTOGRAPHY: Axel Kranz
SET DESIGN: Stephan Bolz
All that glimmers …
10 radiant and giftable olfactive delights.
01. Diptyque: Roses (scented candle limited edition)
Ever since Diptyque opened its doors in 1961, the brand has been famous for a diverse and playful range of meticulously crafted objects from the fields of perfume and interior design. Like few other houses, Diptyque strives to find new and beautiful ways of incorporating the pleasures of fragrance into our daily environment. As a part of this year’s limited 2020 holiday collection, Diptyque is offering a substantial XL candle scented with one of their beloved classics, Roses. Enclosed in a handcrafted porcelain vessel in wintery dusky pink, these 600 grams of snow-white scented wax will brighten up even the darkest days of winter, or make for an impressive gift, a bouquet of fresh roses blooming in the heart of winter.
PERFUMER: unknown
YEAR: 2020
www.diptyqueparis.com
02. Carine Roitfeld: Vladimir
Carine Roitfeld (global fashion editor, Harper’s Bazaar) considers scent the most defining style signature, containing the power of identity and the magic of seduction in its every molecule. Vladimir,from Roitfeld’s collection of genderless fragrances, explores her family’s Slavic background, which perfumer Pascal Maurin translates into the yin and yang of light and dark, rigor and fluidity, hot and cold. The end of the year offers opportunity to contemplate your roots while spending time with family — though this year probably via Zoom or Skype.
PERFUMER: Pascal Gaurin
YEAR: 2019
www.carineroitfeld.com
03. Maison Crivelli: Absinthe Boréale
Imagine yourself sipping a shot of ice-cold absinthe, snow crunching beneath your feet, magnetic movements of the northern lights high above. That is what Maison Crivelli’s founder and creative lead Thibaud Crivelli had in mind when he approached master nose Nathalie Feisthauer to create Absinthe Boréal.The aromatic, musky result contrasts frosted artemisia and polar fern with the comforting softness of musks and sweet resin. An instant journey to the far north where your mind can float in the magnetosphere of aurora polaris.
PERFUMER: Nathalie Feisthauer
YEAR: 2019
www.maisoncrivelli.com
04. Æther: NVRMIND
Paris perfume house Æther teamed up with art fanzine NVRMIND to create this homage to the art of printing and reverence of reading. Imagine curling up in the library of a venerable country house, enveloped in the comforting odor of aged paper and wooden shelves, nose buried in a book (or the latest edition of NVRMIND magazine). Snowflakes softly blanket the world outside the window. For NVRMIND,rich amber notes combine with elegant tonalities of aged ambergris tincture, warm animalic musk, and leathery tobacco.
PERFUMER: Nicolas Beaulieu
YEAR: 2020
www.aetherparfums.com
05. Byredo: Tobacco Mandarin
“I believe the night is something special, a gate to a world of possibilities and to a different version of ourselves,” Byredo founder Ben Gorham explains. The Night Veils collection mirrors the morning routine of applying perfume, entering an evening ritual to instead release the nocturnal animal in you. At a time of the year when night falls early and the bigger part of the day lies in darkness, Tobacco Mandarin and the other three Night Veils offerings will help you celebrate every hour. The fragrance opens with sparkling mandarin before spicy coriander and cumin kick in. Creamy leather and labdanum center it, while a smoky cloak of narcotic tobacco envelops all. The scent finishes off with ancient resins and frankincense.
PERFUMER: Jérôme Epinette
YEAR: 2020
www.byredo.com
06. Les Eaux Primordiales: Particules Imprévisibles
Particules Imprévisibles (unpredictable particles) is a bold tribute to the unforeseeable, chaotic, and surprising aspects of life that inspire us to constantly adapt to new experiences and emotions. To bring this celebration of freedom to you, founder and perfumer Arnaud Poulain created a perfume full of olfactory twists, placing spicy notes of peppers, rose berries, and violet on top of smoky woods, incense, and amber. Opening up to new possibilities – is there a better resolution for 2021?
PERFUMER: Arnaud Poulain
YEAR: 2015
www.leseauxprimordiales.com
07. Berlin De Vous: Cerul
Cerul is inspired by the skies of Berlin, which in winter host dramatic performances by clouds that swirl around the everchanging light. The founder of Berlin de Vous, actress Suzan Anbeh, poured her passion for perfume into this gem of a niche brand where she personally oversees every step of development and production. Berlin-based, Paris-trained French perfumer Marie Urban carefully selected precious ingredients like bergamot, ylang, jasmine, black spices, and patchouly to create this unconventional oriental chypre for men and women. Cerulwas this year’s winner in the Best Artisanal Fragrance category at the 2020 German Fifi Awards Duftstars.
PERFUMER: Marie LeFebvre
YEAR: 2019
www.berlindevous.com
08. Legendär: Bigarade Santal
The brand Legendär offers a small range of carefully considered stationary and writing goods. Their mission is to honor traditional craftsmanship and use only high-quality materials to create design classics for our time. Just as their beautiful leather items or solid brass writing instruments, the two olfactive offerings from their collection are highly giftable. While the lighter Bigarade Santal contrasts warm and soft materials with invigorating bitter orange, the more heady Juniper Leather tunes into the centuries-old tradition of leather making to create a herbal, characteristic formula of unparalleled elegance. Both scents were created by legendary London-based nose Lyn Harris.
PERFUMER: Lyn Harris
YEAR: 2020
www.lgndr.com
09. Amouage: Enclave
The latest addition to Amouage’s Renaissancecollection, Enclaveis informed by the beauty of Musandam’s fjords, an enchanted and warm hideaway in Oman where the land meets the sky and sea. This oriental fougère created by Julien Rasquinet marries spicy mint, pink pepper, and rose (sky and sea) with olibanum, vetiver, and patchouli (earth). A perfect seasonal gift for men and women who prefer the warm shores of the south to dirty northern weather, formerly known as winter.
PERFUMER: Julien Rasquinet
YEAR: 2020
www.amouage.com
10. Ormaie: Le Passant
A passing stranger in the street, just before Christmas. A face, a quick look, a faint whiff of perfume — sufficient to spark your fantasy and create a detailed image of this person’s life in your mind’s eye. With Le Passant, Ormaie celebrates these enlivening moments of encounter. The family-owned perfume house from Paris proudly flies their highly ethical, ecological standards, from 100% natural ingredients down to the renewable energy used for the production of their beautiful handcrafted flacons.
PERFUMER: unknown
YEAR: 2018
www.ormaie.paris
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