MDCI Chypre Paladin

By Tom Well, I think everyone has heard that ScentBar has moved, to a much larger location about a mile east on Beverly Blvd. It's a good thing for them: the location has more than twice the space of the old store which was, frankly, cramped. The new location also is right in the middle of a strip of shops and restaurants, so there's a lot of walk-by traffic. The old location was in a strip of Beverly that had a ramdom mix of stores selling everything from paint, fabric, furniture and tires; it was the sort of location that you went to specifically. This one many more people who'd never heard of them will wander in. So that's good. I wandered in and immediately fell in love with the titled scent. It's a 2012 release that was concocted by Betrand Duchaufour. From Fragrantica: "Top notes are lavender, labdanum, hyacinth, galbanum, sage, clementine and aldehydes; middle notes are iris, jasmine, gardenia, rose and plum; base notes are styrax, benzoin, tolu balsam, vanilla, castoreum, leather, costus, oakmoss and immortelle." It's all in there, and it's gorgeous. The opening has an almost swooping theatricality to it, like Haute Couture. I gasped with delight at the idea that in 2012 when we're drowning in a sea of mediocre fruitchooli that even a niche house would be daring enough to put out a scent that is this dressy. It honestly smells like something vintage. The middle calms down quite a bit, with the iris and plum softening the sharp cheekbones of the opening while the drydown is where it really becomes unisex, in the best tradition of the chypre: that Katharine Hepburn sort of way that I love. Easily the best thing I've smelled this year. I tested at Scent Bar, but it's not up at the LuckyScent site yet, so not sure about pricing, but I am assuming it will be $250 for 50ML. Ouch.