Around the world in five aftershaves
If you’re stuck on what to give Dad for Father’s Day — and his chest of drawers simply cannot accommodate one more pair of personalised ankle socks — this might be the year to give him the gift of travel, well kind of. Send him on a journey through the Middle East, the member’s clubs of old England or even to Timbuktu (if he’s really doing your head in), all at the wallet-friendly price of around 50 quid. You’re welcome.
Sicily
Dolce & Gabbana are heavily positioned around Italian staples such as black lace, Sicilian oranges and lemons, the smell of the sea, tobacco and herbs. Light Blue pour Homme transports men to their own Mediterranean paradise, with top notes of Sicilian mandarin, juniper, grapefruit and bergamot; middle notes of rosemary, Brazilian rosewood and pepper and base notes of musk, oakmoss and incense. The bottle is simple and unassuming, inspired by Mediterranean homes, with its fresh, blue top and its white, misted bottle. The inspiration behind the scent was Mediterranean sensuality, noted in their unforgettable ad campaign in which David Gandy, donning a very tiny pair of white briefs, has a ‘Light Blue love affair’ on an island in Capri with Anna Jagodzinska.
Persia
An intense yet suave illustration of sensuality, Tom Ford Extreme exudes an impeccable sense of style, enforced with the mysticism of the Middle East. A truly luxe perfume, Extreme boldly explores an uncharted path by blending ultra-pure Persian lemon, lush sweet fig, decadent black truffle, vintage patchouli and rich cedarwood in a marriage of old and new. Think traditional Middle Eastern incenses blended with the intricacy of modern craft. Like all of Tom Ford’s ventures, this fragrance is tailored for the true connoisseur, with each ingredient individually chosen for the most discriminating of tastes.
Cutting ginger snaps (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
England
In Five O’Clock Au Gingembre, Serge Lutens adds candied ginger to an afternoon tea at The Mayfair hotel setting, including many English foody notes such as bergamot, tea, honey, cinnamon, glacé fruits and vanilla. It opens as ginger cough syrup, then develops to reveal a moist ginger cake, drying up into crisp ginger cookies. This is a scent for the man who likes his whisky on the rocks and his cigar waiting in the smoking room. Five O’Clock Au Gingembre has good lasting power, and like high tea itself, it is both elegantly presented and a real treat.
India
Comme des Garcons launched Series 3: Incense in 2002, consisting of five unisex fragrances, each painting an “olfactory portrait of a particular milieu.” This one in particular, Jaisalmer, transports its wearer across the world to Rajasthan, India, where the fortified town of Jaisalmer was once an important stopover on the camel trade routes known as the Silk Road. The fragrance has notes of cardamon, cinnamon, pepper, benzoin, ebony wood and gaiac wood.
Green mango. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
L’Artisan released Timbuktu in 2004, the second in a series of travel-inspired fragrances, the first of which was Jean Claude Ellena’s Bois Farine. It was said to have been inspired by the West African practice of wusulan, a seduction ritual in which women “…concoct a magical salve, with scents of wood, spices, resins and roots. After first letting it macerate, they then let the potion boil away, while their skin absorbed the richly scented swirls of smoke.” The fragrance notes are green mango, pink pepper berries, cardamom, karo karounde flower, incense, papyrus wood, balms and spices, patchouli, myrrh, benzoin and vetiver.
