Scents & Sounds this week
A peek at some of the new releases from Stéle NYC
While I was attempting not to buy any more fragrances for a while, Stéle had other plans and dropped a refresh of their inventory for the spring, launching 100 new fragrances from many indie/niche brands from around the world, including many that are available exclusively from them in the US and quite a few that I’ve been wanting to try for some time.
So, I reluctantly whipped out the ol’ card and picked out a selection of things to try + a bottle that I have been after for the better part of the past year. I’ll give a quick rundown of the samples and full bottle below!
Important Note: I am not affilitated with Stéle or any of the brands mentioned below. Everything was purchased with my own money and all opinions are my own.
For the past year, I’ve had ‘Forlorn Embers & Black Reigns’ on my radar for a full bottle pickup, but the small house is fairly consistently out of stock, with only limited supply released occasionally through a few vendors and their official website. Seeing this one available was an immediate buy, despite the fairly high price tag on this one.
The scent is super comforting and will be something I reach for in the fall/winter seasons. Marshmallow, marron glace/chestnut, walnut, tobacco, bourbon, and other notes come together to make this slightly sweet, quite nutty, and woody creation. I’d probably lump this in a similar category as Zoologist Chipmunk or By The Fireplace from Maison Margiela, but I prefer the Toskovot most of all.
Also, out of the many, many fragrances I’ve purchased, the unboxing and presentation of this Toskovat is up there with the best. Unfortunately, it is sold out for now, but I am very grateful to have finally had an opportunity to pick it up!
The samples all arrived in this nice branded bag as well as a little handwritten note on the back of the card. Nice touches! I’ve ordered from most of the major B&M shops in the US online, and the packaging from Stéle has been the most premium feeling to me so far. While ultimately it’s about the fragrances, little touches like this do make a difference!
Anyway, I picked up 18 samples and spent quite some time going through them all. I’m not going to rehash them ALL here, but want to mention my stand-outs from the group, including a few that I plan on buying eventually and some I found super interesting but that aren’t really for me.
My Top Picks:
Tesoro from D: SOL MMXVI - a breezy, herbal citrus with airy woods and leather at the base. This smells like the wind through a citrus grove, and is somehow cool and crisp, yet warm and radiant. I find this one intoxicating and for some reason a bit challenging to describe accurately but I will be buying a full bottle.
Winter in Manaslu from Hima Jomo - this opens with a burst of fresh peppermint leaves, complete with the green, herbal freshness that comes with plucking a fresh leaf off the plant. Some of this herbal freshness may be coming from the basil in the opening as well. This brought back memories if pulling leaves off my peppermint bushes and chewing on them fresh, or bringing in to make fresh peppermint tea. Smelling my hands, the combination of the distinct peppermint oil smell and the green plant freshness is replicated very nicely here. In the drydown, the conifers and sage shine through a bit more, making this feel a bit ‘cold.’ To me, this is the wintery foil to Mantes La Jolie, which was an instant-buy the first time I sampled it, and smells like spring/summer in the garden.
Star trails from Voyag3r - One of the best cola-forward fragrances I’ve smelled. This one opens with a burst of vanilla coke with a squeeze of lime, with a dry down that amps up the spices and almost takes it in a Dr. Pepper direction. There’s even a few minor floral notes mixed in, but they’re very nicely blended. It somehow ends up fresh and not syrupy, however, making this quite a bit different than, say, Tonka Cola from Mancera. While I do enjoy TC (the effervescent opening is really special), it can dry down a little overly sweet and lack much complexity. Star Trails takes cola in a completely different direction and it’s really wonderful. I see this one replacing TC in my collection as the ‘cola of choice.’
Jodhpur 6 AM from L’Entropiste - I’ve followed Betrand Duchaufour for many years, and he’s been the nose behind quite a few of my favorites, so I was excited to see that he was creating his own line independently. I picked up three samples from his new house, and this one was my favorite by a fairly wide margin. While this is a floral fragrance, the tuberose here is blended very nicely with ‘chai’ — bring in a black tea, milk, cinnamon, etc accord — and apricot. The result is a very soft, creamy, and slightly bittersweet floral that is light and complex. While this still leans slightly more feminine, I would have no issues wearing this.
Damp from Agar Olfactory - Do you want to smell like wet dirt? This is for you. Calling all plant people. If you’ve ever been repotting a plant and the strong smell of geosmin from the damp potting soil is something you’ve wanted to have as a fragrance, this is the perfect selection. While I don’t personally want to smell like this, it’s pretty remarkable how photo-real it is. This may actually be a good layering candidate as well — maybe under a warmer incense to give it a little cool, dampness.
Peau from Arquiste - I have tried a handful of fragrances from this house from Architect’s Club to A Grove By The Sea, but so far none have resonated strongly enough with me. However, Peau might just be the one from this house that hits the spot. The recreation of the smell of a lover’s skin, this is a peppery, salty, musky fragrance that sits pretty close to the skin in an intimate scent bubble. Whereas some indie ‘sultry’ fragrances can lean a bit too animalic or intentionally gross, this is clean, dewy skin basking in sunlight. A mirage. A memory. This is very understated, but quite beautiful. While I’ve struggled with most of the ‘your skin but better’ category of fragrances, this might be the one for me.
That’s all for now! I’ll leave readers with a question: what is a fragrance that the first time you smelled it it brought back an incredibly vivid memory?