Top Notes 
Heart Notes 
Base Notes 
09/06/2013
Apicius
222 Reviews
Apicius
Helpful Review
3
Where is the Fish?
Working in the IT business, I know that it is not enough to have a new idea, develop the product and launch it. Very often, the market is not ready for innovation, and many entrepreneurs had to cease their projects – only to see others making lots of money with the same idea a few years or even months later.
In perfumery, Mark Buxton's English Breakfast may have been such an innovation that came too early. It did not make it into the second edition of Mark Buxton fragrances. Nevertheless, I would call it an “office scent 2.0”.
English Breakfast IMHO is the first Eau de Parfum which has a development that was designed along the needs of a typical day in office.
No matter where on this planet– if you enter an office building in the morning and walk through the floors, you will eventually encounter the different variants of what people regard as “fresh”. We would find sharp and cold aquatic odours spread by the gents and equally synthetic freshness, only more on the melon and cucumber side, spread by the ladies, sometimes mixed with a cloying candy-like “feminine” touch.
People use what is available to them, and in the morning everybody wants to show that he or she is fit and awake. And not all of these fragrances will gently fade away during the day – I have experienced that very often the supposedly light and fresh synthetic notes can have lots of longevity.
Mark Buxton's English Breakfast also starts as a good morning fragrance, but different to the aquatics. The top and heart notes seem quite complex according to the pyramid, but what I am getting is something like a green, hardly floral milky accord with a light and discreet freshness: quite sexy, it reminds me a bit of those lucky few who have that natural milk and honey body odour. Of course, these milky notes may also stand for the traditional English breakfast. You could also feel reminded of oat flakes or porridge, scrambled egg and of milk rice.
Except for the name, Mark Buxton never went deeper into that association. Instead, when launched, the PR texts drew a picture of a businessman sitting in a Tokyo suburban train with a sushi box on his lap! Probably not a too good idea to link a perfume to raw fish. I once heard that in Japan people think that if a food is smelly, then it must be putrid. In a way, it does make sense: the relatively odourless appeal and the discreet taste of fresh sushi may be linked to the idea of a discreet but detectable cleanliness, and this is what we get here in the top and heart notes as well.
While English Breakfast starts your day smelling discreetly clean and fresh, it is interesting and complex enough to draw some attention. This not-so-common way to say “Good morning” excels the usual aquatics by far.
English Breakfast is a true Eau de Parfum, it lasts throughout the whole working day. After lunch break, morning freshness does not make lots of sense to me. Instead, you are looking for something that might help you cope with the impositions of an either boring or stressful day. Sitting in a meeting, you'd need a fragrance that gives you energy.
And this is what English Breakfast does. After lunch, the top and heart is gone, and the base notes reveals a completely different character. A well-known woody and aromatic accord steps forward. This is usually denominated as cedar and vetiver in the pyramids but I believe it might as well be something different. It is the stuff that defines the successful Terre d'Hermès!
With the milky yet dry top and heart notes transferring their vibes to the base, the Terre d'Hermès accord appears to me more transparent, lighter, and very dry. What I have experienced very often with true Eau de Parfums is that towards the base, the fragrance will conceal itself. At times, you will not be aware that you are still wearing the perfume. But then, maybe due to a slight movement somewhere around you or a breeze coming from the air con, you get a waft of it again, and it hits you like a bolt. This is also the capability of English Breakfast.
Slight freshness and cleanliness in the morning, energy shots in the afternoon – is there another perfume on the market that does just this?
You may hold it against Mark Buxton that he – like so many others – plagiarized Ellena's popular fragrance to some extent. Ironically, one could say that Ellena fought back. If Mark Buxton took some notes from his French colleague, Ellena took the concept from Mark Buxton. I am talking about Eau de Pamplemousse rose that came out one year later. Also there, we have that strict separation between a fresh top (in this case pink grapefruit), and the power of the ever so popular Terre d`Hermes accord. I have no idea if those two perfumers deliberately copied from each other, but comparing these two fragrances it seems somehow conclusive.
While English Breakfast has its character change exactly at noon, Ellena's Eau does this a little bit earlier. Maybe this makes English Breakfast the slightly better office fragrance.
Having a good idea is not enough to be successful. You need the market power that Hermès and Ellena have. And please, Mr. Buxton, never ever mention one of your perfumes together with fish!
In perfumery, Mark Buxton's English Breakfast may have been such an innovation that came too early. It did not make it into the second edition of Mark Buxton fragrances. Nevertheless, I would call it an “office scent 2.0”.
English Breakfast IMHO is the first Eau de Parfum which has a development that was designed along the needs of a typical day in office.
No matter where on this planet– if you enter an office building in the morning and walk through the floors, you will eventually encounter the different variants of what people regard as “fresh”. We would find sharp and cold aquatic odours spread by the gents and equally synthetic freshness, only more on the melon and cucumber side, spread by the ladies, sometimes mixed with a cloying candy-like “feminine” touch.
People use what is available to them, and in the morning everybody wants to show that he or she is fit and awake. And not all of these fragrances will gently fade away during the day – I have experienced that very often the supposedly light and fresh synthetic notes can have lots of longevity.
Mark Buxton's English Breakfast also starts as a good morning fragrance, but different to the aquatics. The top and heart notes seem quite complex according to the pyramid, but what I am getting is something like a green, hardly floral milky accord with a light and discreet freshness: quite sexy, it reminds me a bit of those lucky few who have that natural milk and honey body odour. Of course, these milky notes may also stand for the traditional English breakfast. You could also feel reminded of oat flakes or porridge, scrambled egg and of milk rice.
Except for the name, Mark Buxton never went deeper into that association. Instead, when launched, the PR texts drew a picture of a businessman sitting in a Tokyo suburban train with a sushi box on his lap! Probably not a too good idea to link a perfume to raw fish. I once heard that in Japan people think that if a food is smelly, then it must be putrid. In a way, it does make sense: the relatively odourless appeal and the discreet taste of fresh sushi may be linked to the idea of a discreet but detectable cleanliness, and this is what we get here in the top and heart notes as well.
While English Breakfast starts your day smelling discreetly clean and fresh, it is interesting and complex enough to draw some attention. This not-so-common way to say “Good morning” excels the usual aquatics by far.
English Breakfast is a true Eau de Parfum, it lasts throughout the whole working day. After lunch break, morning freshness does not make lots of sense to me. Instead, you are looking for something that might help you cope with the impositions of an either boring or stressful day. Sitting in a meeting, you'd need a fragrance that gives you energy.
And this is what English Breakfast does. After lunch, the top and heart is gone, and the base notes reveals a completely different character. A well-known woody and aromatic accord steps forward. This is usually denominated as cedar and vetiver in the pyramids but I believe it might as well be something different. It is the stuff that defines the successful Terre d'Hermès!
With the milky yet dry top and heart notes transferring their vibes to the base, the Terre d'Hermès accord appears to me more transparent, lighter, and very dry. What I have experienced very often with true Eau de Parfums is that towards the base, the fragrance will conceal itself. At times, you will not be aware that you are still wearing the perfume. But then, maybe due to a slight movement somewhere around you or a breeze coming from the air con, you get a waft of it again, and it hits you like a bolt. This is also the capability of English Breakfast.
Slight freshness and cleanliness in the morning, energy shots in the afternoon – is there another perfume on the market that does just this?
You may hold it against Mark Buxton that he – like so many others – plagiarized Ellena's popular fragrance to some extent. Ironically, one could say that Ellena fought back. If Mark Buxton took some notes from his French colleague, Ellena took the concept from Mark Buxton. I am talking about Eau de Pamplemousse rose that came out one year later. Also there, we have that strict separation between a fresh top (in this case pink grapefruit), and the power of the ever so popular Terre d`Hermes accord. I have no idea if those two perfumers deliberately copied from each other, but comparing these two fragrances it seems somehow conclusive.
While English Breakfast has its character change exactly at noon, Ellena's Eau does this a little bit earlier. Maybe this makes English Breakfast the slightly better office fragrance.
Having a good idea is not enough to be successful. You need the market power that Hermès and Ellena have. And please, Mr. Buxton, never ever mention one of your perfumes together with fish!
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