Byrehoe

Hunky and hydrated. A clean, musky aquatic. I feel like fig usually takes on a creamy, matte character. But the fig in Snowbird is a balmy, gel-like green – almost an aloe vera. Reminds me of Vacation’s After Sun, only lowered an octave. The pear is sweet and beaded with dew. Fruity, without feeling femme. One of those scents that convey a temperature, and this is a crisp coolness. Think convertible ride on a costal morning, catching the first sparkles of sun as the marine layer ebbs away. I could see this scent working for both a Friday in the office and a long weekend in Cabo. Sillage is intimate and longevity hangs around six hours. My favourite Binaurale to date.

Mental Snapshot: A welcome beverage. A trip equally business and pleasure. Catching a conference call in a cabana. Suits and suntans. George Clooney checks in to see if you’ve had your eight glasses of water a day. (You’re on your ninth).

tl;dr: hydrated holiday

Glizzy Water is the Byredo I was most longing for as a beefed-up Absolu. While the MoGho Absolu is a near clone and the BdA Absolu a sibling scent, this creature is maybe a second-degree relative. The OG is twinkly, cuddly, and very lemon cupcakey – basically a vanilla citrus. The Absolu is an evergreen incense, prickling with pepper. If you’re looking for a grown-up Glizzy Water with less sugar, more bite, and a proper lifespan – this delivers. It really shines in the drydown, when the incense matures into a silken spice. If I had to liken it to any other scent it’d be Stora Skuggan’s Mistpouffer, which also does something smokey, sweet, and boreal. That said, the first hour of ambroxan got my hackles up (the same salient amber note I found in Alto Astral and the BdA Absolu), and was enough to keep me from shelling for a bottle.

Mental Snapshot: If the OG feels like a gnome feeding you a cartoonishly small lemon cake, the Absolu is Lee Pace as King Thranduil, fixing you with a lingering side-eye for eating it.

tl;dr: spicy elf

Handsome, brooding leather with a cheeky pinch of raspberry. The sugar daddy to Babycat, the hot professor to Bibliotheque, or perhaps the masc evolution of Black Saffron. It’s dapper, smoky, undeniably luxurious. It smells like a leather briefcase full of fat stacks of cash. Fortunately, the raspberry and pepper are just sharp enough to keep all the leather and saffron from crushing you under its huskiness. Lingers on skin for a day and clings to fabric for a week. I spray this in my ‘07 Prius and imagine I’m piloting a freshly-detailed vintage 911. (And one spray is all you need, trust me). Hey, $300 scented water vs a new car. It’s a fiscally-responsible choice.

Mental Snapshot: A scenic travel montage in a Bond film. You’re travelling somewhere ~exotic~. There’s a sepia filter applied. You’re canoodling in the back of a private jet, on the deck of a speedboat, deep within the sculpted leather cavern of a limo. He feeds you a single raspberry.

tl;dr: moneybags

Where lavish, drunken vanilla rendezvous with rich, musky leather. It’s syrupy, it’s smoky, it’s undeniably sexy. It’s bottle service and crème brûlée. Some saffrons take on a sort of “mechanical” lean to my nose – think rubber, metal, motor oil – and it’s at its best in Babycat. Very vroom vroom. Feels like it could be the cousin to Byredo Black Saffron, if you substituted the raspberry for vanilla, and the more masc, more luxurious answer to Black Opium. Surprised she was born in 2022, because there’s something so Hedi Slimane (‘12-16) about her. An indie sleaze heiress. This is for the girls that reblogged Lana gifs on Tumblr and had a Prada Marfa sign in their NYC loft. I can’t be the only one pining for Polyvore. Probably opaque enough to keep its sweetness the whole night out, but can confirm it lasted a weekend-long Netflix bedrot on my pyjamas.

Mental Snapshot: Half Bond Girl, half Cheetah Girl. Leopard-print mini, over-the-knee suede, stolen leather jacket. A trophy wife on a motorbike. A cat burglar in couture.

tl;dr: smokey-eyed vanilla

A voluptuous vanilla-almond confection, with a side of rice. Top accord for me is this snow-white, waxy vanilla candle. It hovers above a thick layer of amaretto, which might be borrowed from Of True Minds. However, this is far more warm and treacly. Think Byredo Bibliotheque, but gone gourmand. I am such a hype girl for the new rice wave sweeping perfumery, and the starch plays beautifully here, gentling the potency of the almond. It’s a cozy scent, but not quiet about it. Found it also shares OTM’s longevity, lasting a full workday on skin and well over a weekend on my clothes.

Mental Snapshots: Being hugged by Mariah Carey in a fluffy bathrobe. The holiday aisle of a Home Goods, but in the most luxurious way. You’re the hottest little elf at the North Pole cocktail party.

tl;dr: holiday hug