Spotlight – personal best of fragrance in 2015

2015 is almost over which naturally makes me want to stop for a few minutes and take a look back at what happened over the course of past 12 months. A year of 2015 has been very intensive and very busy for me. After being assigned at work to look over all fragrance projects in Central & Eastern Europe I had more things to do and much more responsibility to take for my actions. But I think I passed this test and that I gave it all my best. Due to working full-time my family and I decided I should move to Poznań, instead of spending 3 hours on a train on my way between lab and family home; Since February I live by myself in a singular apartment that I’m renting. Of course there are good and bad sides of that fact, biggest disadvantage being the fact that I don’t have too many friends in Poznań after we graduated and everyone went their own way.

This year we had the hottest and most dry summer that I can remember and during that season I was in worst mental condition in my entire life. I wasn’t depressed but I was going through a phase of lacking the right purpose to continue to go on day after day. Once the summer was close to an end and the heat wave was gone I finally recovered my peace of mind. It was also thanks to my long-awaited vacations. For those were summer holidays of a lifetime – during 13 days I visited Berlin, Paris, Rome and Florence. This year I also managed to go to Esxence and Pitti.

Perfume-wise, after spending some time going through my blog archives I conclude that 2015 hasn’t been as good as 2014 when it comes to new launches and innovative concepts. Even if 2015 was slightly worse for fragrance industry doesn’t mean it was a bad year. Just this morning WordPress has sent me “my year in blogging” with some statistics – according to it I wrote 77 posts this year meaning there were perfumes worth writing about! Of course I only managed to cover a small part of this year’s novelties. I wrote even less because of our super hot summer.

Following a tradition that started in previous years I would like to share with you a list of the best perfumes in 2015. Of course it’s a subjective list, created according to my taste. But I think it’s the best way to do it because each perfume blogger can highlight different creations and bring our attention to things we didn’t manage to discover. And we cannot forget that this year over 1600 perfumes were launched. I wonder how many did I try. I might try to count next year!

Many fragrances seemed to catch my interest in 2015 but in the end many of them were becoming less significant to me as I spent some time smelling them peacefully at home after all the fragrance fair excitement was gone. Some of the perfumes had a wonderful start but a disappointing drydown or vice versa when you had to wait until drydown to feel the charm. Luckily there were also perfumes that kept me sniffing from the opening until the very end. In 2015 only two perfumes joined my wardrobe at my own desire. Those are Prada Infusion d’Oeillet which is my number 1 this year for being a multifaceted spicy, floral and oriental composition at once. The other one I bought this year was Diptyque Oud Palao – it caught me by surprise as not being an oud fan I found that when combined with rose and spices – it really suits me.

Roses and irises were still nicely present in this year releases. Among my favorites you will find such beauties as opulent, dark, oriental and liquory rose in Jul et Mad Nin-Shar, chic, elegant and sophisticated Puredistance White where precious rose is surrounded by tonka, sandalwood and vanilla. Another fantastic one was Rose Omeyyade by Atelier des Ors, a brand debuting this year. Among iris creation Huitieme Art Parfums Shermine was the one that stood out for sure. Other ones that were worth noticing included Naomi Goodsir Iris Cendre or even Ambre Cashmere from Parfums de Nicolai with its buttery facet.

In 2015 many white flowers bloomed on the field of niche perfumery. There was a theatrical Jardins d’Ecrivains Marlowe, Neela Vermeire presented Pichola – an intoxicating tuberose inspired by India. Also Andy Tauer made a tuberose in his Sotto La Luna collection. There were some more but these three are the ones I rememeber the most. This year was also rich in leather creations. Le Galion launched Cuir and Aesthete, Atelier des Ors presented Cuir Sacre and we also had Memo African Leather.

2015 in my opinion can be considered a great year for independent fragrance creators from Indie houses. Tanja Bochnig of April Aromatics successfully launched Tempted Muse and Purple Reign. Giovanni Sammarco introduced Ariel while Mandy Aftel composed Bergamoss and Vanilla Smoke. I think my favorite indie this year is Hiram Green Voyage.

Other fragrances that I enjoyed wearing this year include Arquiste Nanban, Carner Barcelona Palo Santo, Altaia Yu Son, Atelier Cologne Oud Saphir & Mandarine Glaciale, Gabriella Chieffo Acquasala. Of course there are more from this or earlier years but it’s hard to remember it all.

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At the end I would like to say that I hope that you enjoyed these 12 months of little fragrance journey by my side. I wish all of you a wonderful and happy New Year’s Eve as well as fabulous time in 2016. If you wish, please share your own favorites of the year, I’ll be glad to know what you liked to wear.