Wealden Times | WT233 | October 2021 | Kitchen & Bathroom supplement inside

and fresh. There’s a wonderful backstory
to Eight & Bob: the fragrances were
originally created by French aristocrat
Albert Fouquet, who would surprise
his loved ones with exquisite homemade
perfumes, blended lovingly
with the help of his family butler (yes,
really!) One evening in 1937, Albert
met an American student named John
F. Kennedy. Mesmerised by Albert’s
scent, he persuaded him to leave eight
samples for his friends ‘and one for
Bob’ – meaning his brother, Robert
Kennedy. The rest is perfume history…
Floris Private Collection Set, £35.
Heritage London fragrance house
Floris – a family-owned business which
has been creating out of their original
premises on Jermyn Street since 1730
– recently put together a couple of
discovery sets in lovely cylindrical boxes,
with the Private Collection showcasing
five of their most-loved scents
(including two favourites of mine, the
zesty Bergamotto di Positano, and A
Rose For…). Just lovely, all of them.
The other point about all these gift sets
is that you can ‘trade up’ to a full-size
bottle for a birthday or a Christmas
present, knowing that you won’t be
making a pricy perfume mistake.
Alongside discovery sets, there are
several fragrance collections which prove
definitively that you don’t need to break
the bank to enjoy haute parfumerie.
First up, Zara, yes, ZARA, who enlisted
Jo Malone (the perfume designer
who sold her brand to Estée Lauder,
some years ago), to work on a range
of ‘Emotions’ scents. The full 90ml
sizes are priced from just £5.99 for the
10ml sprays up to £25.99 (and are now
available online). If you love woody
scents, I’d point you in the direction
of zingy Vetiver Pamplemousse.
Orange blossom lovers will love Fleur
d’Oranger, while my favourite, as a lover
of Chypre scents, is Fleur de Patchouli,
a deliciously nuzzleable play on that
ingredient. Definitely worth exploring.
So, too, is the Floral Street
fragrance
range. Founded by industry disruptor
Michelle Feeney, it offers impressively
high-quality fragrances at non-silly
prices. They’re all created by stellar New
York-based perfumer Jérôme Épinette,
with the bottles and packaging strewn
with ravishing flower photography
by top snapper Matthew Donaldson.
As Floral Street like to say, these are
‘bunches’ of flowers, rather than
bouquets, and for autumn I’d invite
you to bury your nose in some of their
more ‘snuggleable’ creations, such as
woody-spicy Black Lotus, Ylang Ylang
Espresso (keep your nostrils tuned
for the intriguing coffee note), and
Chypre Sublime, as chic, smart and
wearable a rose scent as you’ll ever
encounter. A 10ml size is £24, here,
but even the full-size 50ml fragrances
are £60 – far less than the industry
average, for niche perfumery.
So, is there ever a time to splurge,
any more, when there are affordable
scents like these on the market?
Answer: YES – whenever you have a
big occasion coming up. Because of
the way that memory and smell are
entwined, you’re creating an olfactory
imprint in the brain when you wear
something for a wedding, a party, or
a holiday – and a luxurious, blowthe-budget
fragrance that you wear
when you’re getting dressed up again
(rather than for everyday), brings those
memories flooding pleasurably back,
and instantly gets you in the mood.
So: more on ‘splurge’ scents
that you might want to explore
in time for writing that ‘Dear
Santa’ list, next month.
Visit beautybible.com for Jo’s
daily ‘loves’ and features.
priceless-magazines.com
106