Top Notes 
Tunisian rosemary
Pink pepper
Heart Notes 
Damask rose
Geranium absolute
Base Notes 
Benzoin
Incense resin
loewenherz
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loewenherz
Top Review
35
High Air
Difficult years lie behind us - behind Penhaligon's and me - years in which I eagerly lifted to my nose almost everything that was shown to me in their stores and at their counters. And time and again, I was not convinced, I was disappointed, and I worried a bit about the future and the soul of the great English perfume house that once created such wonders as Blenheim Bouquet and English Fern. Its new creations of recent years seemed disoriented and strangely lost to me - torn between the overwhelming legacy of the ancestors and the urge (or rather economic pressure) to deliver something new. Only the fragrances of the Portraits Collection 2016 - at least the ones I already know - remind me a bit of its former greatness, they are confident and beautiful again.
And now I am thrilled, almost euphoric. The turning point - the one I have been waiting for so long and sometimes doubted I would ever experience - is here, truly and definitively here. Here is one again, after years, who can become a true great - one with the claim to eternity and to being 'at the forefront' - and yet so elegant, so understated and sophisticated as only the very great ones from Penhaligon's can be.
It is said that Savoy Steam connects to the legacy of the legendary Hammam Bouquet - perhaps the most iconic of all the fragrances Penhaligon's has ever made, a kind of queen mother among the ancestors of the house, nearly one hundred and fifty years old and created in honor of a Turkish bathhouse that was located on the same street as Penhaligon's first shop. To all those who, like me, very much like Hammam Bouquet, I must reveal in advance: Savoy Steam smells different - no musk and not the confident, masculine sweatiness that makes the immortal fragrance from 1872 so special and unmistakable. Savoy Steam tells the story of the oriental bathhouse entirely anew and employs the olfactory language of our present - and it finds clear and beautiful words.
There is the rose - more of an oriental than an English one - and fragrant, fine woods, there is lively hedgerow greenery and a hint of fougère as fleeting as the memory of that bathhouse from the late 19th century. There is urban elegance and a winking masculinity - yet, or perhaps because of this, it is equally well wearable for women - and a subtle expressiveness so balanced and nuanced that overdosing, drifting into the ordinary seems almost impossible. Savoy Steam is the entire story of Turkish bathing culture in English marble halls, polished and gleaming - 2017, here and now. Even its bottle - the iconic bow casually tied from a blue and white striped bath towel - has regained that casualness that the strangely metallic fragrances of recent years never achieved and left us longing for.
Conclusion: a great one. Finally.
And now I am thrilled, almost euphoric. The turning point - the one I have been waiting for so long and sometimes doubted I would ever experience - is here, truly and definitively here. Here is one again, after years, who can become a true great - one with the claim to eternity and to being 'at the forefront' - and yet so elegant, so understated and sophisticated as only the very great ones from Penhaligon's can be.
It is said that Savoy Steam connects to the legacy of the legendary Hammam Bouquet - perhaps the most iconic of all the fragrances Penhaligon's has ever made, a kind of queen mother among the ancestors of the house, nearly one hundred and fifty years old and created in honor of a Turkish bathhouse that was located on the same street as Penhaligon's first shop. To all those who, like me, very much like Hammam Bouquet, I must reveal in advance: Savoy Steam smells different - no musk and not the confident, masculine sweatiness that makes the immortal fragrance from 1872 so special and unmistakable. Savoy Steam tells the story of the oriental bathhouse entirely anew and employs the olfactory language of our present - and it finds clear and beautiful words.
There is the rose - more of an oriental than an English one - and fragrant, fine woods, there is lively hedgerow greenery and a hint of fougère as fleeting as the memory of that bathhouse from the late 19th century. There is urban elegance and a winking masculinity - yet, or perhaps because of this, it is equally well wearable for women - and a subtle expressiveness so balanced and nuanced that overdosing, drifting into the ordinary seems almost impossible. Savoy Steam is the entire story of Turkish bathing culture in English marble halls, polished and gleaming - 2017, here and now. Even its bottle - the iconic bow casually tied from a blue and white striped bath towel - has regained that casualness that the strangely metallic fragrances of recent years never achieved and left us longing for.
Conclusion: a great one. Finally.
Updated on 04/25/2017
3 Comments
Godfreywilde
Bastian
Pluto
Leloup
Salva
Gold
FrauMieze
Stanze
CharlAmbre
Schnüffel27
