Quartz (1977)
by Molyneux

Great citrus style scent overlooked by the masses. The fragrance is somewhere in between Bowling Green and Dolce & Gabanna Masculine... distinctly unique and one of my office wear favorites.

Visiting my friend Marcel in his sanatorium the other day, I found that they had moved his bed out onto the balcony. A pale sun shone through the crisp mountain air and a few early flowers peeped shyly through the snow. I inquired as to his fragrance. 'It is Quartz, mon cher Nitram,' he whispered. 'I am not at all sure that I greatly like it but it is a perfect fragrance for an invalid. To me, it exudes the quintessence of the sanatorium: a chemical, medicinal smell interfused with pale flowers and long clean corridors.'

For some reason, I'm so drawn to these semi-forgotten, generally overlooked fragrance houses -the Weils, Worths and Molyneuxs of the world - and their creations. Molyneux Quartz is most definitely one; folks, this is a fruity floral that's more distinctive and exciting than 99% of those fruity florals that have come since! Quartz has some characteristics in common with the equally flawless Chanel Cristalle, the same general pairing of refreshing, rounded fruitiness and sexy underpinnings. But where Cristalle is lemony-mandarin citrus with a sprig of basil balanced on chypre and a mysterious lash of leather somewhere in there, Quartz is more about juicy, watery fruits - peach and melon - spiked with cassie and hyacinth and transitioning into a decidedly spicier, sweeter, more woody and even slightly incense-tinged base made up of, among others, amber, benzoin, sandalwood and cedarwood. If you enjoy Cristalle, I can't recommend Quartz (whose name, I'm convinced, derives from Cristalle, which was launched one year before; quartz, crystal - see the connection?) highly enough. It's the same yet different, and a definite winner for spring and summer wear.