99 Regent Street (2006)
by Hugh Parsons

A fresh and sparkling blend of florals, resin, musk, and amber. This is a stimulating scent, which energizes with its unique blend of orris, geranium, and white florals skillfully blended with sweet violet and rooted in mastic resin, vegetable musk, and amber. The orris plays its powdery note against the resin in a surprising harmony, as the other notes chime in to balance and blend. This has good longevity and moderate sillage; it's just the thing for the office on a mild,sunny day.

A fresh violet scent much like Dunhill Fresh with a bit of a sandalwood top note.

I find this scent to be very well made. It is classified as a woody floral. Although the listed pyramid includes notes of Mastic, Violet, Geranium Leaves, Jasmine, Freesia, Orris, Musk, Amber Seeds and Ambergris, it could almost be called an orris soliflore. For those who are looking for a dry masculine floral, you may have hit the mother-lode with this one. I find that orris as a fragrance note becomes both boring and irritating after a time. I do think I will find occasional rotation in my wardrobe for this scent, but only on those days when I want a wistful hit of orris.

This scent is very recent only by its strictly chronological lauch year, but it captures, somewhere in the very essence, the very basic idea of its fragrance notes, unseen yet constantly present memories and influences of Brithish traditional Brithish art of fragrance and British old-school distinction. The right scent for a dandy walking up and down the most elegant boulevards of Europe( not just regent street) with no other care than showing his off-beat, extravagant elegance, yet mature, sober and discreet enough for office wear or formal social calls. A dignified but at the same time lavish mix opf refined spices and persistent, well-structured yet inoffensive woods. A very creative use of wonderfully rich and fulfilling fragrance notes, adding to flawless class also notes of applealing yet dingnified courteousness, a certain flair for the intellectual and artistic delights, and a touch of well-bred, elaborate hedonism. As there are a few gourmand Orientals i would define this as one of the first gourmand woody ( or rather artistic, gourmet, niche, even ultra-luxury woody fragrances), and while other scents are often listed and percieved as powerhouse, this one is defintely art-house.