Pell Wall: Best Discovery of 2014

Pretty in Pink by Pell Wall

As 2014 races to the finish line, I’m pleased to report that Pell Wall has featured as the Best Discovery of 2014 on the much respected Perfume Shrine blog by Elena Vosnaki, who has also just published a fantastic review of Pretty in Pink on the Fragrantica website: not only does she like the perfume, but she writes about it in the most entertaining possible way.

Beaver from Zoologist
Composed by Chris Bartlett

Speaking of Best Discoveries, ÇaFleureBon Editor in Chief Michelyn Camen has voted Zoologist Perfumes (featuring Beaver, created by the Pell Wall Perfumer) as her best discovery of 2014 in their Best of Scent 2014 Awards. And Speaking of Zoologist Perfumes, you can also read an interview of Chris Bartlett on their blog and a review by Steve Johnson of Beaver, also on ÇaFleureBon  in which we are reported to have achieved the impossible (an animalic scent he can wear without cringing).

Better still Beaver was awarded a Best Scent of 2014 award on the very last day of the year!

So, all-in-all not a bad end to 2014.  

My sincere thanks go to the reviewers and publishers responsible for these and my best wishes to everyone reading for a wonderful New Year and a happy and prosperous 2015.

Zoologist Perfumes, Beaver

It’s common knowledge in the industry, but not so common elsewhere, that perfumes are frequently composed by perfumers who are not associated with the company that markets them.  Commonly those perfumers work for one of the big ingredients houses, perhaps under the guidance of a designer from the brand for which the perfume is being made, perhaps not.

Beaver from Zoologist Perfumes

I do this kind of work too, and it’s a significant aspect of the business of Pell Wall perfumes.  What’s rather unusual is for the house commissioning the work to publicise the perfumer behind it, but that’s exactly what Zoologist Perfumes of Canada have decided to do and I’m very proud to be associated with their brand.  The brief was a great one to work on, expressed as a single page mood board, it gave enough room for creativity yet made their intentions perfectly clear.

You can read a great review of Beaver, the fragrance I produced for Zoologist, on the Cafleurbon website where they are also running a competition for samples.

Furthermore you can read an interview with me, where I talk about the work as well as more generally on the Zoologist Perfumes Blog.

I can add, without any trace of bias, as it’s an aspect I had no hand in, that the bottles labels and packaging for this line are truly gorgeous.

Better still Beaver was awarded a Best Scent of 2014 award on the very last day of the year!

Green Carnation by Pell Wall

Green Carnation

                        Eau de Parfum

Green Carnation by Pell Wall

Top-notes of cut grass, green mandarin and clove are fresh and clean.

 Quickly followed by a soft, powdery carnation scent with green notes of galbanum. 

The base notes are a very complex amber and floral musk blend with olibanum and a prominent note of oakmoss.

Capturing the concept of the carnation more than imitating the scent it is immediately recognisable nevertheless.

A great fragrance to bring out the wit and bon vivant in you.

“The only way to deal with a temptation is to yeild to it”

                                         Oscar Wilde

If you have tried Green Carnation and would like to comment on it, please do so here. If not, why not buy some?

Orange Spice by Pell Wall

Orange Spice

This is a bright, clean, long-lasting fragrance suited to both men and women.  

It opens with the orangy-citrus you’d expect supported with precious neroli, mandarin and tangerine.  

At its heart are exotic spices, dark orange flower, petitgrain and a lasting fruity orange note.

The base notes are a sophisticated blend of ambergris, frankincense, sandalwood and vetiver with a subtle note of leathery castoreum bolstering the dry-down.


If you have tried Orange Spice and would like to comment on it, please do so here.  If not, why not buy some?

Haiku - a hypoallergenic fragrance by Pell Wall

Hypoallergenic Fragrances 

Some of the materials used in perfume can cause allergic or sensitising reactions in a small number of people. For those who suffer with such allergy wearing a perfume can be difficult, so I've set out to design perfumes with the minimum allergen content. It is of course impossible to be certain that any material will not cause a reaction in someone, but this is designed to give the minimum possible risk. 

Haiku by Pell Wall

Haiku 

My first hypoallergenic perfume is also an unusual and interesting scent. Rich with tropical fruit and precious woods it is as distinctive as it is useful. 

Haiku is designed to provide a light, fresh, clean and lasting, unisex scent with dominant fruity and woody notes and enough complexity to maintain interest without including ingredients liable to cause skin irritation even in those with very sensitive skins. 

A scent for those who usually can't wear cologne or perfume. 

If you have tried Haiku and would like to comment on it, please do so here. If not, why not buy some?

St George’s Day Fragrance

It’s the day after St George’s Day so I have a year to gather ideas, build a design and make it ready to release a fragrance for St George’s Day 2013.

This idea started when a friend of mine bemoaned the fact that St George’s Day isn’t much celebrated and wondered whether corporate sponsorship might change that . . . I rather flippantly asked if, failing a big corporation, a tiny one-man firm would do.

picture via Wikimedia Commons

Soon we got to wondering what a dragon might smell like at which point I thought the discussion belonged here and made this post.

Dragon Family - Varna

Ideas here please for what should go into a fragrance fit to celebrate England’s national saint?

Persian Prince - The Spring Flowers Collection - PWP Product

Deep Purple - The Spring Flowers Collection - PWP Product

Deep Purple by Pell Wall

Crowdsource - Spring Flowers Collection - PWP Product

Artemis - PWP Product

Devana

Built around the unusual essential oil of Artemisia absinthium, with it’s unique herbal, dry scent and blue-green colour it gives a fresh opening to this distinctive cologne. Green mandarin provides sharpness with blackcurrant and freesia following on. 

The long-lasting dry-down reveals subtle dry overtones and the softness of sandalwood, white musk and a hint of pink pepper. 

Devana is a slightly heady, very fresh, clean and rather muscular interpretation of the key ingredient of Absinthe – presented here without the familiar aniseed note so that it can shine clearly through. Likely to appeal to fans of the Fougère style sharing as it does some of the characteristics of the classic masculine fragrance group, despite being made in an entirely novel way. 

Named for Slavic Goddess of the Hunt this is as sharp as one of her arrows yet as soft as the dry forest floor, fresh as a breeze rustling summer leaves. 

The turquoise blue colour of the cologne is a natural result of the essential oils used to make it, the shower gel is coloured to match. 

If you have bought this product or a sample of it - in any of the forms available in the range - and you would like to make comments about it, please do so here.

Lasting Lavender - PWP Product

Lasting Lavender

Lasting Lavender
by Pell Wall
(pictured on a piece of carved fluorite)

Designed to give a distinctive, firmly feminine note of lavender in a long-lasting form without compromising the quality of the note or rendering it into a more masculine complex with moss and wood. 

Natural lavender oil is a top-note and as such tends to be quite fleeting. Artificial lavender can last longer but tends to smell synthetic - I wanted to create something that would feel natural and last well too. 

Part of the answer is lavender absolute - longer lasting than the essential oil and even more true to the scent of fresh lavender, the amount in the blend is limited by its strongly green colour. Together with some top-quality lavender essential oil, in Lasting Lavender this is supported with rose geranium, crushed violet leaves and a little rosemary. 
A complex base of white musks, ambergris and subtle woods with some special ingredients to improve longevity keep it fresh, feminine and floral for hours and hours, staying lovely even after the lavender starts to fade.

If you have bought this product or a sample of it - in any of the forms available in the range - and you would like to make comments about it, please do so here.

Home Fragrances - PWP Products

Home Fragrances

The Simple Essence - PWP Product

The Simple Essence

Pretty in Pink - PWP Product

Pretty in Pink

Jacinth - PWP Product

Jacinth

Equisetum - PWP Products

Equisetum

Tuesdays - PWP Product

Tuesdays

Tempus ludendi - PWP Product

Tempus ludendi

Relaxed repose . . . PWP Product

Relaxed repose . . .

Minted Mornings

Minted Mornings