Precious One Angela Flanders

Uncomment fragrances No. 164

I became aware of Angela Flanders' wonderful scent through Neil Chapman's great book "Perfume - In search of your signature scent" from 2019. The work is a treasure trove for perfume lovers and offers similarly good suggestions as the biting reviews by Luca Turin, but strikes a more conciliatory tone. The title is a bold lie, because Chapman recommends nothing less than a single signature scent, but rather indulges in the abundance of the fragrance world. The compilation is sheer endless and almost encyclopedic.
Of the four fragrances listed by "late perfumer" Angela Flanders, as Chapman affectionately calls the old lady who recently died of old age, two are particularly recommended: the exquisite Earl Grey (a bergamot and patchouli scent; the classic teen note is completely absent in British quirkiness). and as a symbol of English eccentricity, "Precious One".
If you look at the above-mentioned ingredients, then you are led here, by the way, similar light-footed on the flippancy as with Earl Grey - and yet it all has its right: While Earl Grey contains no tea note, but the obligatory for the tea of the same name bergamot note and a hint of patchouli evokes the memory of a wood-paneled English club, where you could take just that drink in style, also strikes Precious One subtle in minor tones. Tuberose blooms here in an appropriately distinguished and orderly manner as in a British greenhouse, the cat purrs but of course doesn't mark, the oakmoss comes from the gentle hills of Cotswold and not from the Alps and jasmine was simply forgotten right away - or dosed so discreetly that it doesn't really want to be noticed. Then there is the vetiver, which is somehow typically British, because it comes from the former colonies - or let's say politically correct from the Commonwealth -, but it seems to be responsible only for the somewhat tart note that underlies everything. It doesn't really make itself felt that way, either.
For all these reasons, though, I'm finally making a plea for this fragrance not to be categorized as a women's fragrance, maybe not even as a typical unisex fragrance, but rather as a fragrance for snobs (would be worth its own category). For those very reasons, I like it.