Best & Worst of Niche Perfumery in 2024

Introduction

As brands kept dropping releases in 2023, I set myself the goal of sampling 100 new fragrances - a goal that I achieved. With that goal out of the way, I opted to not chase samples as diligently in 2024. Nonetheless, 2024 comes to an end with the rankings covering 80 fragrances.

Much like the blog post from December 2023, I will cover 4 categories in this post: "Best releases of 2024", "Worst releases of 2024", "Best blending & raw ingredients of 2024", and "Most unique of 2024". The other 4 categories I covered last year didn't generate as much of a buzz, so for now I'm likely leaving that side of the rankings on the backburner.

To formally set the scene, I offer you some disclaimers with some altering from last year’s blog:

• Firstly, I rank from a male perspective and as such, my rankings have historically been topped by masculine & unisex fragrances. However, I believe my ability to rate women’s releases has improved and it has done so continuously over time, given the top women’s release in my rankings has gone from top 15 (2022) to top 10 (2023) and now, top 5 (2024).

• Secondly, my primary categories, those being "Best of 2024" and "Worst of 2024", are ranked all-inclusively, meaning I consider various factors not directly related to the juice itself. This includes factors like originality, performance, pricing and more. While this brings plenty of subjectivity to the ratings, it also serves to protect mainstream products from premium brands/lines from the likes of Royal Crown, Clive Christian, Roja Parfums, Boadicea the Victorious and others who would win these rankings every year, given my belief that better product tends to be higher priced.
  
  Do note that the other categories, i.e. "Most unique" and "Best blending", are entirely ranked on uniqueness and scent respectively, nothing else. Therefore, if you're just looking for the "Best smelling" fragrances, I'd recommend reading the "Best blending & raw ingredients of 2024" section of this post. I will still point out criticisms for why they didn't make other lists when applicable.

• Thirdly, given that my primary categories ("Best of 2024" and "Worst of 2024") rank the entire sampling universe, meaning I have to order 80 products, I believe the edges (i.e. top 10 & bottom 10) are well thought-out, but the stuff in the middle should be taken with a pinch of salt as the discrepancies can become minimal and the ratings become more relative.

To offer a contrast to the results of previous years, I am showcasing the winners from both 2023 and 2022 in the images with the 2023 ones also covered in text. All images have attached hyperlinks to take you to the “Top Picks” lists that I have updated alongside the publishing of this blog.

General sentiment, sampling universe & changes enacted

Much like 2023, I believe 2024 was a poor year in niche perfumery. Dare I say it was a very poor year? Time after time I would go into a release only to land on bad blending, poor performance, lack of originality, meaningless flankers and various other issues. Not only does the product have issues, but I am left with a very bad taste in my mouth when various parties receiving said product for free want to cosplay as if it's the best thing since sliced bread. You can see how negatively I felt about the products at the time I sampled them just by looking at the titles of the reviews on some of these releases. At a top level, many brands are still coming into the market with their takes of mainstream product like Aventus, Delina, BR540, Ganymede and more, a weakness that also applied to the product launched in 2023. Additionally, many brands are releasing flankers of their hero franchises in various forms and in most cases, these flankers are nothing short of underwhelming.

All these negatives serve to paint a dire picture of the year that niche perfumery had in 2024 and a great way to assess the year overall is to look at how many of the scents released in 2024 I own. During the year, I blind-bought 3 releases and 2 of them even landed in the top 10. However, those same 2 were decluttered and the 3rd one is in the process of being sold. This serves to reflect where I am in my journey as well: after having smelled ~900 niche fragrances in the last 3 years, the new releases in most cases either can't match the best products in the market or lack relevant unique angles to justify buying them.

I sampled 80 fragrances (2023: 101) that released in 2024 (note: I am still not including any indie). To offer an overview of these fragrances, here are some interesting tidbits from those 80 based on the Profiler feature:

• Top notes: musk (49), vanilla (37), patchouli (29), bergamot (28), rose (28)
• Top types/accords: sweet (17%), floral (14%), spicy (13%), woody (10%), creamy (10%), fruity (10%)

A relevant thing to point out is that some 2023 releases have snuck in and they are going to make for some interesting twists in these rankings. While I typically avoid including late-year releases in next year’s rankings, I felt like it would be fair for me to include December 2023 launches that I tried early in the year as availability was either zero or they were exclusives within the UK towards the closing of 2023. The rankings include 3 fragrances released in December 2023 with the remaining 77 being strictly 2024 releases.

As for the fragrances that I did not get to, my "Need to test - 2024" watchlist has another 56 (2023: 45) from brands that I am interested in or follow.

While the 2023 list was driven by the products released shortly after Cannes TFWA in late October and early November, the 2024 list features releases all across the year. Availability is a key driver of the list being longer as 2024 had a significant amount of product released exclusively to Harrods, Selfridges, Fortnum & Mason as well as Roja Dove Haute Parfumerie. Such products include "Cuir InfraRouge | Maison Crivelli", Rude Oud, Not Telling, Reflets d'ambre, London Harrods Exclusive and many others. Further, other brands like Memo Paris, Le Labo and Stéphane Humbert Lucas released products exclusive to specific boutiques or countries. Other brands like Arquiste and Pana Dora just have low availability as a whole in Europe. The costs associated with sampling these releases would've been impractical and as such, they remain on the sampling list for now. For certain other fragrances like Lost in Paris and Tea at BG the costs associated with sampling would've been nothing short of astronomical.

By virtue of the unsampled list being this lengthy, for the first time I am featuring a list of honorable mentions at the end of each category for products that I believe have an argument for that category. I am also adding some short-lived commentary alongside why I believe said products are worthy of the mention.

With that all cleared up, I present to you the awards for 2024.

Best of 2024

All fragrances under this category are ranked based on an all-inclusive package of scent (incl. blending quality, raw materials, and syntheticity), performance, value (pricing), and uniqueness (originality).

Winner of 2024: Goldfield & Banks Silky Woods Elixir
Ranked 1st of 80, scent profile 8.0/10

Back in December 2023, Australian niche house Goldfield & Banks launched Silky Woods Elixir, a flanker to the original Silky Woods, as a Harrods exclusive. Recent history has shown us that niche brands are just as embarrassing as designer brands when it comes to flankers, with the changes either being mild around the edges or offering an outright downgrade on the original in an overwhelming majority of cases. While that is not the case here since Silky Woods Elixir as a flanker brings plenty of changes relative to the original, one has to ask whether the changes also alienated fans of the original, given the reception for it after the global launch in February 2024 has remained lukewarm. Alternatively, is there something else to blame?

At the core of the original Silky Woods was the balsamic-woody vanilla fragrance that also gave me some peachy nuances. Those aspects never appear in the same quantities in Silky Woods Elixir as the scent opens with a very prominent fig leaf, so much so that it feels incorporated as a core element in the structure like in Diptyque’s Philosykos Eau de Parfum. That fig leaf is contrasted against a combination of gaiac wood and oud which strongly tilts the profile into a masculine direction. This combination of dark tones is reminiscent of the way that Maison Crivelli has structured their oud scents in 2023 and 2024 as it offers up smoky-leathery nuances without including any incense nor leather. Performance wise, the Elixir doesn’t cut through the winter cold as well as the original with the sillage specifically being closer to average. Price wise, it introduced Goldfield & Banks to a new price point at €250/100ml which is starting to push it for a brand whose roots are in simple fresh scents priced at €150. There’s no clear negatives with Silky Woods Elixir as a product: the uniqueness as a flanker is definitely there, the blending is good, the performance is solid and the pricing is average, so why didn’t I buy it?

I feel obligated to touch on Goldfield & Banks’ presence within the fragrance content creation scene as a brand doing a huge amount of influencer marketing (going forward: PR, free bottles). Last year we saw Goldfield’s Ingenious Ginger, a scent clearly inspired by products in the realm of Le Gemme - Tygar and Vibrato, catch fire in the community through the same people promoting the brand. Needless to say, my skepticism towards such parties has been negative for years now and is one of the primary causes why I continue to spend my money in premium brands and why I am looking to diversify into indie. I am currently in the process of decluttering the two bottles that I own from Goldfield & Banks and cannot find it in me to spend money on a brand who is almost exclusively getting impressions online from paid advertising. Even if PR is one of the things my rankings don’t include, given it is just a part of the content creator scene in 2024, I nonetheless believe that Silky Woods Elixir has earned both the title and my goodwill for creating a flanker that did the niche landscape justice.

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Runner-up: Maison Crivelli Oud Cadenza – read my full review here
Ranked 2nd of 80, scent profile 8.0/10

In last year’s rankings, Crivelli claimed the 3rd spot with Oud Maracujá and in 2024, Crivelli makes top 2 with a new oud release in the Particulière collection. Exclusive to Crivelli’s online boutique and Harrods, Oud Cadenza is a successor to both Maracuja as well as Oud Stallion and takes the same core used in both of the aforementioned fragrances in a more sweet-oriental direction.

Initially, Oud Cadenza opens with a sweet and smooth creamy-chocolatey quality, offering some moderate designer-like qualities like those used in BDK’s 2023 release Pas Ce Soir Extrait. Very shortly thereafter, I get some comparisons to the winner of the rankings, that being Silky Woods Elixir, with both scents utilizing the same woody note. At the heart of the fragrance lies the same dark woody & leathery structure that Crivelli used in both Oud Maracujá and Oud Stallion, but given the contrast by the sweetness, the chocolate and the patchouli; the other comparable to Cadenza is Xerjoff’s chart-topping 2021 release "Tony Iommi Monkey Special | XerJoff". The feminine lean in the top was extremely short-lived as the ultimate profile is just as masculine as Maracuja, but not as masculine as Stallion.

I’ve always felt like the performance on both Oud Maracujá as well as Oud Stallion was overestimated by the overall community and my opinions aren’t different re: Oud Cadenza with strong longevity in the 10 hour range and a moderate-to-strong sillage. Cadenza was one of a few fragrances I blind-bought and subsequently decluttered in 2024. Keeping in mind that Silky Woods Elixir came out prior and was at the top of my rankings for most of the calendar year, as well as the fact that I already own "Tony Iommi Monkey Special | XerJoff", the questionable uniqueness didn’t help with Cadenza sitting somewhere between the two scents from Goldfield as well as Xerjoff. Given my exposure to the content creation side, I saw a lot of fake sensationalism for Cadenza by people likely chasing business affiliations, aptly leading to the title that my review on the product currently has ("It's already overrated"). The overall picture for Cadenza nonetheless remains positive with good performance and value with great blending to coincide. Sans the empty mouth pieces promoting it in hopes of hitting a lick, Cadenza was top 3 since it launched in July.

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3rd: Vilhelm Parfumerie Sparkling Jo
Ranked 3rd of 80, scent profile 8.0/10

Yes, your eyes are not deceiving you – two of the top three for 2024 are fragrances that were actually released in December of 2023. To round out the podium, we have the latest entry from French niche house Vilhelm Parfumerie who claimed the title of “Most unique of 2023” last year with Faces of Francis, yet unlike Faces of Francis, Sparkling Jo delivers on both uniqueness and quality.

The scent opens with a lovely combination of fresh, fruity & boozy tones with the primary notes being the champagne, pear and ginger. With Sparkling Jo, Vilhelm is utilizing the same champagne note noticeable in Chicago High, but the champagne contrasted against the fresh-fruity structure reminds me more of Liquides Imaginaires' Dom Rosa which combines champagne with rose. The blending is done very well with the pear and ginger offering a fruity-fresh core DNA (relative to Dom Rosa's fruity-floral-fresh structure) that in the drydown is met by the oak wood and ambrette. The uniqueness is unquestionable with Sparkling Jo as the scent targets a spring-summer-fall utility and has a mild feminine lean. I view this scent as an alternative to other all-year wearable fragrances that are either easy-going or elegant (e.g. BDK's Gris Charnel Eau de Parfum or many fragrances in the catalogues of both Le Labo and Jo Malone) and would make for a great signature scent in an office environment. Even with the performance being very light with an estimated 4 hours of longevity on strictly intimate sillage, I find myself considering a purchase with Vilhelm's €250/100ml retail being average value.

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4th: Maison Crivelli Tubéreuse Astrale – read my full review here
Ranked 4th of 80, scent profile 7.5/10

Given the strength of the performance, blending, pricing and by virtue, the value, it should come as no surprise that Maison Crivelli has another entry in 2024's top 5. However, Tubéreuse Astrale makes the list as a style of fragrance that I historically would not rate this highly.

My initial impressions are very positive as the scent has a floral opening with some prominently peachy nuances as the osmanthus combines with the creaminess to indicate high blend quality. I also spot some green nuances there in the top, albeit green isn’t an accord voted for by the Parfumo community. On the downside, I find myself struggling more with the scent as it heads into the drydown where I have an easy time pointing at the carrot seed note, adding an ambrette-style vintage tone in the process and thereby making the scent smell more like something released by Dutch niche house Puredistance. This comparability is especially applicable to Puredistance’s previous launch Papilio, given Tubéreuse Astrale also transitions into a more leathery base.

Excluding the product itself, there are a lot of other positives with Tubéreuse Astrale and the main one, as with almost all Crivelli extraits, is the elite longevity and near-nuclear sillage. Given the good blend quality, elite performance and solid uniqueness (within niche at least), value within the line is strong with retail prices at €200/50ml. To me, the vintage aspects are the driver of this scent’s main downside which is the lack of memorability, yet that criticism is more likely to reflect my personal biases as somebody who has a strong distaste for non-modern niche (see: Serge Lutens, Frederic Malle). Nonetheless, Tubéreuse Astrale is a standout in 2024 for people who enjoy product that combines modern edges with an old-school DNA.

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5th: Eight & Bob Le Geste d'Edmond
Ranked 5th of 80, scent profile 8.5/10

In 2024, Eight & Bob released another two fragrances within their Les Extraits collection after launching another 2 back in 2022, those being Agneta and Guéthary. While La Musique de Christie is a fairly standard leather-saffron-patchouli combination, it is Le Geste d'Edmond that earns a top 5 placement for 2024.

In terms of profile, Le Geste d'Edmond is nothing special to those who know what this fragrance is imitating. The scent opens with a blast of oriental tones, primarily driven by the clove note. Initially, the scent is very intense, contrasting warm spiciness and sweetness with a structure that I instantly recognize from Clive Christian's E: Gourmande Oriental. That is to say the scent is primarily built as an oriental one-two of cinnamon and clove, leading to the oriental-spicy-sweet accords. Much like with various market-leading tobaccos, e.g. Roja's Manhattan Eau de Parfum or Amouage's Boundless, there are aspects of cherry in the base with those tones reminding me of cherry or plum bitter in Le Geste d'Edmond.

Le Geste d'Edmond is tied for the highest scent profile rating of 2024 with an 8.5/10, in large part driven by the profile of both this scent as well as E: Gourmande Oriental being the market-leader. The Eight & Bob successfully matches all of the qualities that the Clive Christian features, incl. the blending and the performance. In this market segment, Le Geste d'Edmond is now the top value as it retails for €270/50ml relative to the €400/50ml for E: Gourmande Oriental. Yes, the uniqueness is obviously not there, but when you look at the honorable mentions, there really wasn't a whole lot of that going on anyway among the products ranked narrowly behind. In the end; the price, performance and value are the leading factors for Eight & Bob landing this top 5 slot.

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Non-sampled honorable mentions:
Arquiste A Grove by the Sea; driven by uniqueness and value
Stéphane Humbert Lucas Sea my Love; driven by uniqueness and value
Maison Crivelli "Cuir InfraRouge | Maison Crivelli"; driven by blending, performance and value

My 2024 honorable mentions list:
6. "Deified Tony Iommi | XerJoff" by Xerjoff
7. Old Fashioned by Kilian
8. Chords by Thameen
9. Centaurus by Creed
10. "Alexandria II Anniversary | XerJoff" by Xerjoff

My best of 2023 list was ordered as follows:
1. Aquila Absolute by Electimuss
2. "Astaral | XerJoff" by Xerjoff
3. Oud Maracujá by Maison Crivelli
4. Crop Edition 2023 by The House of Oud
5. Smoking Hot by Kilian

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Worst of 2024

All fragrances under this category are ranked based on an all-inclusive package of scent (incl. blending quality, raw materials, and syntheticity), performance, value (pricing), and uniqueness (originality).

Loser of 2024: Xerjoff "Newcleus | XerJoff" – read my full review here
Ranked 80th of 80, scent profile 2.5/10

Given the amount of Xerjoff that I own (15 bottles with 6 of them currently being decluttered), it might come as a surprise that the biggest loser of 2024 comes from what is the most represented brand in my collection. However, "Newcleus | XerJoff" isn’t just a poor fragrance, but it also steps on my toes for another aspect. In 2024, there were two big marketing scams taken up by brands: wood infusion and alcohol-free. "Newcleus | XerJoff" is one of the fragrances launched in 2024 with an alcohol-free formulation and it exhibits the primary weaknesses that come with the territory.

It is relevant to note that there is not a single positive about "Newcleus | XerJoff" which is a key driver behind it ending up as the worst of 2024. In the top, Newcleus mostly smells of sweet rose and moderate tropical fruity nuances, offering up comparability to fragrances like Thameen's Peregrina and Gritti's Mango Aoud in the process. In its evolution, the primary notes appear to be the white musk and vanilla being contrasted against the rose and milk note with the feeling of tropical fruitiness being mixed in, say an unlisted lychee or mango note. Given this is an alcohol-free formulation, all of this is achieved with the juice having the viscosity of… wherever your dirty mind takes you.

But as indicated previously, the issues appear limitless. In terms of blend, "Newcleus | XerJoff" utilizes the Xerjoff’s white musks that are known to have some screechy edges to them, as visible in a scent like "White on White | XerJoff". The primary negative on alcohol-free formulations is the performance, a key aspect demanded by Western consumers that is completely missing with this product. Sillage is intimate from minute 5 and the longevity is strictly driven by the musks used in the base, I would assess it to have around 3-4 hours of longevity at best. All of this is reflected in the value as "Newcleus | XerJoff" launched at €290/50ml, a price-point where most mainstream niche competitors are either offering 90-125ml or where even Xerjoff themselves have dozens of better products. All that is to say that there is no reasonable explanation for why anybody should be buying this product.

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Runner-up: Goldfield & Banks Mystic Bliss – read my full review here
Ranked 79th of 80, scent profile 1.5/10

There’s always space on these lists for product that smells poor and in 2024, the absolute lowest of the low comes from Australian niche house Goldfield & Banks. A year after landing on a hit with their take of the popular profile from Le Gemme - Tygar as well as Vibrato, and in the same year as their chart-topping release, they also managed to release this complete joke of a product that is perfectly described with the moniker “designer in niche packaging”.

The scent opens with a positive highlight, a contrast between mint and fig that would have you thinking this is one of the top releases of the year. However, the experience takes a sinister turn in its composition once the green-fruity accords fade into what is an intensely designer and very synthetic release with the ultimate drydown being primarily made up of the scent’s heart notes, namely the clary sage and the geranium. What initially felt like a scent that had some Parisian Musc Eau de Parfum comparability and potentially even Le Labo DNA ends up as a standard masculine-aromatic freshie, receiving comparisons to products from the likes of Hugo Boss and Jean-Paul Gaultier with a screechy, dare I say chemical-like backbone. Given Goldfield’s insane PR presence, the scent serves to showcase that the audience isn’t dumb as the sensationalism with which some covered this release was not there among the crowd at large.

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3rd: Roja Parfums Aoud Extraordinaire – read my full review here
Ranked 78th of 80, scent profile 3.5/10

€720 – that is the price you can pay for 100ml of Roja’s latest release into the Aoud Collection, a collection padded with superstar releases like Amber Aoud Parfum, Sweetie Aoud and several others. The price was the first thing I highlighted because Aoud Extraordinaire doesn’t offer anything to even mildly give off the impression that this retails for €720/100ml as you are essentially being offered a fruity hair perfume style fragrance, comparable to women’s hair conditioner. The scent is structured around a creamy-fruity-sweet DNA with the main notes appearing to be peach, vanilla, musk and cotton candy. There is no significant evolution as the scent dries either: the fruits are eventually equaled by various floral notes with vanilla, musk and white florals making up the ultimate drydown. Overall, the scent features no oud (at least nothing worthy of being noted) and the performance is moderate-leaning-weak with intimate-to-arm’s length sillage and 5-6 hours of longevity. Needless to say, Aoud Extraordinaire was 2024’s biggest loser in terms of value, scoring 0/10.

But that doesn’t tell the whole story. While the product doesn’t have synthetic edges, only scoring low due to its generic feel, the brand opted to bite back at the negative sentiment and ratings that Aoud Extraordinaire has gathered. One of the stories that has been circulating regarding this scent is that it was made to be layered with other products within the collection. And I just need to ask: has there ever been a case in mainstream niche perfumery where a brand releases an alternative interpretation for how the product is supposed to be used after it has already flopped in order to save face? To me, that is exactly what Roja is doing with the brand’s sales folk now mentioning this, likely in hopes of driving sales. This product also garnered sufficient rotation among PR influencers, yet not a single one of them had heard of this talking point at the time of release. This accurately summarizes Roja’s success (or lack thereof) in 2024 with a majority of their releases targeting female consumers and nothing sticking.

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4th: The Spirit of Dubai Dubai - Ajyal – read my full review here
Ranked 77th of 80, scent profile 3.0/10

If two winners came from 2023 then it’s only fair that at least one loser does as well. The discrepancy between my experience with the brand “The Spirit of Dubai” and those mostly broadcast by the German side of Parfumo has me thinking that the German market is essentially made up of water boys for the brand’s catalogue. After purchasing the brand’s First Generation discovery set, I could not find a single fragrance that didn’t suggest to me that this wasn’t just another Middle Eastern cheapie house, making me refer to them as “oriental Montale”. My experiences are no different as it relates to this release, even if Dubai - Ajyal is the 6th highest rated (8.3/10) fragrance across the 80 fragrances I am covering in this post based on Parfumo’s community votes.

Expectations are met with disappointment right off the first spray where a blast of sweet-fresh candied apple is flanked by tropical fruity and musky aquatic tones. From the very first moments, you would not associate this with a niche fragrance, instead smelling a lot like designer or even cheapie trash, comparable to the blending quality of Kajal or even Gisada’s Ambassador for Men, yet even the Gisada is blended better in its structure than this (and that is saying something). Comparisons to various other tropical fruity synthetic fragrances, primarily led by Xerjoff's "Erba Pura | XerJoff", are misplaced due to the heavy dose of ambroxan in Ambassador for Men. While the initial drydown has a bitter mint accord that I would associate with Xerjoff’s "Renaissance | XerJoff" and the musky-fruity profile remains throughout the wear, the on-skin qualities for this scent are lacking to the point where it’s embarrassing to think this is a €255/50ml niche fragrance, a sentiment that I also held for last year’s worst release, that being Kilian’s Blue Moon Ginger Dash. Niche brands releasing product like this are unworthy of your time and money.

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5th: Amouage Love Delight
Ranked 76th of 80, scent profile 3.5/10

In the aftermath of COVID, there has not been a bigger decline in brand image across the entirety of the niche landscape as there has been with Amouage. Note that this is not strictly a criticism of them saturating the market with essentially a dozen products per year, but also the underlying product itself. In particular, I'd point to Amouage’s recent creative direction on the women’s side of their catalogue where their new identity is launching teenybopper fragrances for the same audience who express admiration for the products released by Middle Eastern cookie-cutter brand Kayali. Is this a story of Amouage seeking new customers (demand-driven supply) or a permanent change in creative direction?

Similarly to Guidance Eau de Parfum, I struggle with the moderately synthetic open of Love Delight that is not at all reminiscent of Amouage’s quality. The initial scent primarily smells sweet-floral-spicy with a candied sensation, somewhat comparable to sugar & amberwood. Through its simplicity, Love Delight comes off extremely designer-esque from the opening into the drydown. In terms of notes, I am primarily smelling a vanilla-cocoa-cinnamon structure with jasmine and heliotrope being the floral tones layered across. Ultimately, it is a very easy-going women’s product that has a complete mismatch between the basic nature of the scent and the exuberant price (€360/100ml) being charged, leading me to rate the value on this a 1/10. The performance is considerably lighter than it was in Guidance, meaning there’s no performance angle to adjust the valuation either. A massive miss for Amouage coming off the most sensationalized women’s release they’ve ever had.

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Unsampled not-so-honorable mentions:
Kilian Born to be Unforgettable; driven by this being a re-release of an extremely synthetic composition of coca-cola and ambroxan
Gritti Biassanòt; driven by the house's history of poorly-blended product
Nishane Deziro; driven by value and Morillas' history of creating synthetic designer-tier aquatics

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My 2024 not-so-honorable mentions list:
6. Monica by Gritti
7. Dolce Sonata by Sospiro
8. Guilty Crush by The House of Oud
9. Dux Orientis by Pana Dora
10. Tropiques by Fragrance du Bois

My worst of 2023 list was ordered as follows:
1. Blue Moon Ginger Dash by Kilian
2. Mandala Oud by Masque Milano
3. Hidden Shades by The House of Oud
4. Ganymede Extrait by Marc-Antoine Barrois
5. Carmina by Creed

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Best blending & raw ingredients of 2024

Under the "Best blending & raw ingredients of 2023" category, I am ignoring all categories that are not related to scent/blending quality/raw materials/syntheticity, meaning price, performance & uniqueness are not considered.

Winner of 2024: Amouage Outlands – read my full review here
Ranked 12th of 80, scent profile 8.0/10

Outlands is the first fragrance in several years to pull off a so-called “fusion” release, a phrase that I’d use to describe scents that have noticeable elements from several perfumes already in the market. Outlands’ unique offering within this category stems from it being done exclusively within the perfumer’s own portfolio. It’s going to be objectively difficult to summarize all the twists and turns that Outlands features, but at a top level, Outlands is equivalent to a “Best of” album, typically released by musicians at the end of their careers to highlight their most successive tracks. This fragrance essentially combines many products that perfumer Cécile Zarokian has released over the years into one.

In the top, you are initially met with citrusy-gourmand tones which most people will instantly associate with Nishane’s Ani Extrait de Parfum. However, the scent profile here is closer to lemon cookies without the excessive sweetness, so something between Ani and "Casamorati - Lira (Eau de Parfum) | XerJoff". The fragrance evolves and the resinous-spicy qualities continue to strengthen, now offering comparability to another Zarokian scent released under British house Electimuss, that being Vanilla Edesia. At this stage, the scent is some mix of the incense, labdanum and elemi in the base crossed by the lemon and sweetness in the heart/top. Eventually, I notice the lemon give way to the structure that I recognize most from Masque Milano’s III-IV Tango, also released by Zarokian. Ultimately, all of these products play their role in the make-up of Outlands and various other Zarokian scents that I didn’t mention have also been mentioned by reviewers, incl. scents like Amouage’s Material (which is similar to Tango) and Amouage’s Epic Woman Eau de Parfum.

Outlands has a moderate-to-strong performance with the utility being comparable to Nishane’s Ani Extrait de Parfum, but leaning more towards the colder weather due to the resinous-spicy core. However, Outlands has many other issues, leading me to rank it 14th out of 80. The discernably ugly bottle makes me think of body lotion (and other non-perfume beauty products), the valuation is problematic with retail being €420/100ml and availability not having picked up yet with the scent being officially released globally towards the start of December. Additionally, Outlands is one of 3 releases in the Essences Collection, advertised for having a 6-month aging process with double infusion which in the end was nothing more than an empty marketing gimmick with no noteworthy impact on the scent structure. The marketing itself is leading people to think that this is a woody fragrance when so little of that is noticeable behind the spicy-resinous structure of the product. In the end, none of that can take away from the scent within the bottle which is worthy of top spot in 2024.

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Runner-up: Xerjoff "Alexandria II Anniversary | XerJoff" - read my full review here
Ranked 10th of 80, scent profile 8.5/10

Flankers are a tale as old as time itself. However, brands have recently started packaging flankers under various titles to mask their true nature. Xerjoff’s latest style of flanker comes in the form of “Anniversary” products, products made in homage of the original ones. It started in late 2023 with "Elle Anniversary | XerJoff", but subsequently grew with both "Homme Anniversary | XerJoff" and the runner-up for 2024’s best blending & raw ingredients category, that being "Alexandria II Anniversary | XerJoff".

Within the confines of this short summary, I am focusing on the differences that "Alexandria II Anniversary | XerJoff" (A2A) has with the original "Alexandria II (Parfum) | XerJoff" (A2) which I’ve worn as a signature for years now. The core of the scent profile in both fragrances is the rose-oud with that powdered woody tone. "Alexandria II Anniversary | XerJoff" features several changes in the opening, namely the animalic flair that isn’t there in the original as well as the mint note bringing a menthol-esque vibe. One aspect of the original "Alexandria II (Parfum) | XerJoff" that is less noticeable in the Anniversary release is the sweet-creamy artemisia style flair that improves the original’s wearability, making A2A feel mildly more mature in its targeted demographic. Transitioning into the drydown, the scent smells noticeably more aromatic through the clary sage heart note.

Unlike Outlands, the primary weakness of "Alexandria II Anniversary | XerJoff" is its redundancy. While the scent offers some twists in the top, heart and base relative to the original A2, it doesn’t achieve anything already offered by the existing catalogue of Alexandria fragrances, including "Alexandria III | XerJoff" and "Alexandria Orientale | XerJoff". That same redundancy spills over into the valuation with the original already costing €545/100ml and the Anniversary flanker being even higher at €580/100ml. Keeping in-mind that most Anniversary products are targeting existing supporters of the hero franchises they are flanking, it is no surprise that "Alexandria II Anniversary | XerJoff" has left a bad taste in the mouths of the fans of the original A2. If you don’t stand to gain anything from purchasing it then you’re only buying it out of brand loyalty. I had the chance to buy this for half of the RRP and declined several times. If you don’t own any fragrances in the line then it is an option, even with the smaller availability. Ultimately, Anniversary only makes this list because it is flanking Xerjoff’s hero franchise, not because it brings anything new or extraordinary to the table.

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3rd: Amouage Guidance 46 – read my full review here
Ranked 23rd of 80, scent profile 7.0/10

Assuming you followed this blog linearly, you already would have read my skeptical thoughts re: Love Delight. However, at the heart of Amouage’s post-COVID 180 towards mainstream product lies the original version of Guidance Eau de Parfum. While I personally spotted many of the tricks perfumer Quentin Bisch utilized in Guidance Eau de Parfum, incl. the cross-utilization of various accords from Maison Crivelli’s Patchouli Magnetik, Bisch also managed to eliminate many parts of the generic crowd-pleaser by introducing certain complexities you would expect from an Amouage with Guidance 46.

Much like the ultimate takeaway on "Alexandria II Anniversary | XerJoff", I feel like Guidance 46 in its open has huge overlap with the original Guidance Eau de Parfum that makes it redundant. However, on-skin I can sense significant improvements relative to the original with aspects that actually introduce the aforementioned complexity to the profile as the fruity tones being reduced allows for the rest of the structure to get more of the limelight with the scent not having the original’s peachy tan lotion vibe. The floral tones dominate in Guidance 46 with the creamy osmanthus being sided by an aromatic cistus and a spicy backbone. In its targeted audience, I feel like G46 is equivalent to the big sister of the original Guidance Eau de Parfum, bringing a more mature feel and less of the fruity-creamy-sweet structure that the original has. The spicy tones previously mentioned actually carry similarities to one of Amouage’s latest Odyssey Collection entries, that being Lineage.

While it is more skill than luck that Amouage has two entries in 2024’s top 5, these entries come at some steep costs. Guidance 46 specifically carries a price tag of €490/100ml relative to the
original’s current price of €365/100ml. While the price difference between the two isn’t the most significant, the aggregate pricing very much is as it prices Guidance 46 very close to the showstopper and premium tiers of niche. The somewhat mild changes in the aggregate composition and worse sillage relative to the original are additional weak points. Make no mistake, as much as G46 is a flanker of Guidance Eau de Parfum, it gets closer to the type of profile that retains some Amouage DNA and the little that they did change aided in removing some of the more scratchy aspects of the original Guidance.

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4th: Matière Première Encens Suave Extrait de Parfum
Ranked 13th of 80, scent profile 8.0/10

The last brand to release a cash grab collection was Nishane in 2023 with the X Collection, but the Extraits line launched by Matière Première in 2024 is arguably even worse. Predictably, these 5 extraits achieve close to nothing or are outright downgrades to the originals for nearly double the money. However, given that several of the original EDP concentrations are smooth fragrances with few notes, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the brand was able to make mild improvements around the edges for at least 1 of them.

Needless to say, there is a strong amount of overlap between the original Encens Suave Eau de Parfum and the Extrait version with the core of the DNA being made up of the same sweet, dry ambers contrasted against an intensely oriental feel from the labdanum and incense. One aspect that I can separate with Encens Suave Extrait de Parfum that I don’t get in the original is a specific type of woodiness, comparable to sanding a piece of oak which is a scent element that I’ve only smelled in indie oils before.

Much like my commentary on "Alexandria II Anniversary | XerJoff", the placement is driven by the original Encens Suave Eau de Parfum being a very smooth oriental amber fragrance and the Extrait, on its own, doesn’t have much to offer outside of being the flanker of a well-respected franchise. With that said, the reduced level of smokiness as an accord makes Encens Suave Extrait de Parfum moderately less complex and given the reduced sillage due to the higher percentage of oils, this could be of interest for those seeking the more wearable version. On the downside, this will come with a hefty price tag of €350/100ml and by virtue, a value score of 2/10.

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5th: Atelier des Ors Cocoa Kimiya – read my full review here
Ranked 46th of 80, scent profile 7.5/10

Among the 2024 offerings of French niche house Atelier des Ors were two 40% Extraits released in the Abstraction collection, those being Kawa Karda and Cocoa Kimiya. While at the time of writing Kawa Karda is rated notably higher on Parfumo, I am here to say that it is actually Cocoa Kimiya that is deserving of the higher rating.

Given that the note pyramid only lists cocoa and cardamom, it might be somewhat of a surprise that the scent opens with mild medicinal ambers. The chocolatey tones do follow shortly behind and the result is a fragrance that has many aspects reminiscent of product within the catalogue of Serge Lutens, most notably the woody-chocolate contrast in Bornéo 1834 and potentially even Veilleur de Nuit (which I have not tried). In certain stages, the medicinal ambers give off some slight minty nuances too with some comparability to THOO’s limited edition release Crop Edition 2022. Overall, there isn’t much evolution with the scent itself as the ultimate tones in the base, those being the sandalwood and cocoa to my nose, are not that different from various other mainstream scents like Initio’s Mystic Experience and SHL’s Sand Dance.

While the blending is smooth, Cocoa Kimiya has numerous shortfalls. The first one is the valuation, given the €400/100ml price tag. Another issue is the performance which is outright embarrassing for a 40% Extrait as it essentially has zero sillage with the longevity coming from its time as a skin scent. The originality isn’t necessarily there either as the scent has a simple and linear structure, not that different from the various scents I listed, especially those from Serge Lutens. This leaves a lot to be desired when even limited edition indie product like Slumberhouse’s Ore (2022) can be found in the secondary market for less. Therefore, since the overall preposition is poor, Cocoa Kimiya lands firmly in the bottom half of the rankings.

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Non-sampled honorable mentions:
Widian London Harrods Exclusive; driven by the quality of the original & Parfumo ratings
Roja Parfums Tea at BG; driven by the brand's history of blending and high price point
Roja Parfums Lost in Paris; driven by the brand's history of blending and high price point

My best blends of 2023 list was ordered as follows:
1. Aeternum by Royal Crown
2. Jubilation 40 by Amouage
3. Pas Ce Soir Extrait by bdk Parfums
4. Papilio by Puredistance
5. Ani X by Nishane

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Most unique of 2024

Under the "Most unique of 2024" category, I am ignoring all categories that are not related to uniqueness, meaning scent, blending, syntheticity, price & performance are not considered.

Winner: M. Micallef Ma Nature
Ranked 16th of 80, scent profile 5.0/10

Hypothesis: it is easy to make a unique fragrance in mainstream niche if it smells as complex as an indie fragrance. To prove this hypothesis, I present to you Ma Nature, the latest release into the Secrets of Love collection from French house M. Micallef. While the previous release in the collection, that being Oud Provocant, was a fairly standard rose-oud/rose-cypriol scent with slight smoky nuances, Micallef’s latest is anything but standard. However, in exchange for this increase in complexity, the brand has essentially created a hobbyist fragrance with very limited usability.

Ma Nature opens with medicinal ambers and tobacco, smelling mostly spicy-woody-resinous. The initial evolution includes some minty touches coming from the patchouli listed in both the top and the heart which combines with the earthy tones to build a core of earthy patchouli and oud. The scent has an animalic feel throughout which I struggle to allocate to anything besides the oud or the honey, albeit the scent has no sweetness in its structure at all. Somewhat surprisingly, the performance on the scent is moderate with around 8 hours of longevity and average sillage. Ultimately, the key descriptors of Ma Nature are that it is a challenging mature masculine fragrance targeting fans of more complex products either within the indie realm or from brands like Amouage. Just based off the scent profile, nobody would guess this is a product from M. Micallef as the discrepancy between Ma Nature and the rest of their catalogue is very much significant.

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Runner-up: Thameen Chords – read my full review here
Ranked 8th of 80, scent rating 7.5/10

In 2024, I had the unfortunate opportunity of going through Thameen’s collection. I say unfortunate as the experience was not a positive one: while the product itself didn’t lack in blending, the brand showcased a complete lack of originality in the 12x2ml set that I smelled which included dupes of various fragrances, incl. Ambre Nuit Eau de Parfum, Delina Exclusif, Grand Soir and more. But that criticism applies to their original collection: since Thameen started releasing scents in their Britologne collection with Fanfare back in 2023, there has not been much negative for me to say regarding originality and Chords is another entry in that collection that doesn’t have a clear inspiration.

While Chords is no Ma Nature in terms of complexity, we are still dealing with a more complex fragrance as the opening of Chords smells like a floral amber-tobacco. There are additional smoky edges and hints of leather in the composition too, reminding me of Masque Milano’s Ribot at first. On-skin, the primary profile is driven by the woody-spicy combination of cedar and tobacco which is opposed by the floral tones. At this initial stage, I feel like the best comparison for this fragrance is Clive Christian’s Matsukita which similarly has smoky-spicy woody tones opposed by floral ones. Further into the drydown, it’s easier to pick up on the same animalic-sweet honey note that Thameen included in their 2023 release Bravi. In terms of floral evolution, I have an easier time separating the neroli for the first hour with the ylang-ylang being more noteworthy as it dries. Chords is a strong scent with around 10 hours of longevity and will lean masculine by virtue of its more complex edges. Given the pricing of €295/100ml, it’s not exactly a steal, but it’s also not targeting the largest audience possible. A worthy entry for this category and solid enough in all categories to warrant a top 10 placement overall.

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3rd: Amouage Reasons – read my full review here
Ranked 45th of 80, scent profile 6.5/10

While Outlands, the fragrance I crowned as the top blend of 2024, smelled a lot like a combination of various products released by the perfumer in previous years, Reasons carries a different tone, instead combining various products within the catalogue of Amouage as a brand.

The fragrance opens with a intense spicy-green-vegetal type structure that features significant overlap in both feel and accords with Lineage, released by Amouage in the Odyssey Collection back in December of 2023. This similarity is captured by the peruvian pepper tree top note, featured in both Lineage and Reasons. Heading into the initial drydown, there are another two Amouage scents that begin noticeable: the "spoiled fruity" accord that perfumer Quentin Bisch transferred from his previous work with Maison Crivelli into the original version of Guidance Eau de Parfum as well as the sweet-spicy amber structure recognized in the fragrance world through Jubilation XXV Man. In the ultimate drydown, these aforementioned accords and fragrances are met with a woody note as the scent mostly smells of "sweetened pine" which was featured in the opening of Jubilation 40.

To some, the question of uniqueness here might be more relative as we essentially have a fusion product, much like Outlands. To me, the evolution of Reasons and the scents that it combines make for something that feels unique. Ultimately, I find the scent to be a more wearable version of Lineage as the notes from Lineage are the ones I find the most pervasive. Nonetheless, Lineage itself at the time of release was unique as well and didn't make the unique rankings of 2022 only due to it being both a strong year and a time where Ganymede-style scents were still new. The true shortfalls of Reasons in my rankings were the price (€420/100ml) and the very light performance, but if there's anything the reader can take away from Reasons and the Essences collection as a whole then it is the fact that the infusion process utilized by the brand and influencers to promote this product was nothing more than empty marketing speak to milk the consumer.

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4th: Atelier des Ors Blue Madeleine
Ranked 24th of 80, scent profile 5.5/10

The market for complex tea fragrances has been topped by three products for several years now, with those products being Masque Milano’s I-III Russian Tea, Clive Christian’s Matsukita and Arquiste’s Indigo Smoke. The gourmand side of the tea market is where brands have had an easier time and based on both the listed notes as well as the marketing, one would assume that French niche house Atelier des Ors was targeting competitors on that end. However, Blue Madeleine doesn’t really fit into either category in the end.

Comparing my experience to the listed scent pyramid is difficult as the wearing experience doesn’t match the expectations. The scent opens somewhat generic with a contrast between fresh-sweet and mildly spicy accords with the spiciness becoming more prominent and demanding over time, potentially indicating a heavy dosage of sandalwood in the base. The notes initially smell of ginger/mango and milk/balsam before the spiciness kicks in. Ultimately, I feel like the scent settles with a ripe tropical fruitiness being opposed by a sweet-spicy-creamy structure. The final product is not a gourmand fragrance which is surprising, given the brand advertised the scent as being reminiscent of madeleine cookies, leading to the scent being compared to Jovoy’s Remember Me upon launch. Overall, the spiciness in the structure is very overwhelming to the point where I feel like I am smelling incense and that is leading to the harsh rating. While the performance is a letdown with approx. 6 hours of longevity on mostly intimate sillage and the pricing at €230/100ml is largely average, Atelier des Ors did manage to strike a product that in terms of notes would be most comparable to products from Floraiku, incl. 2024 release Rise and Fall as well as one I am yet to experience, that being I Am Coming Home. Ultimately, even if nothing really matches it fully, it is cut down by flaws within its own design.

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5th: Creed Delphinus
Ranked 14th of 80, scent profile 6.5/10

It speaks volumes about the poor year we’ve had in niche when Creed makes an entry in the most unique category. That might seem harsh, given Creed appears to have gone 3/3 with their 2024 releases through Queen of Silk, Centaurus and Delphinus, but in a way, Creed releasing fragrances that would traditionally be viewed as fall-winter scents is already something out of the ordinary. While the latter two appear to be somewhat similar, Delphinus is another fusion product and the profiles being opposed is quite the preposition.

While Delphinus doesn’t list cherry, the scent opens with almond and heliotrope to introduce a cherry-like accord. In terms of feel, it doesn’t feel that distant from a cherry tobacco fragrance like Roja’s Manhattan Eau de Parfum, especially in the initial moments. As it transitions, the scent showcases both iris and leathery notes with the structure being fairly designer-esque with no decipherable edge over something like Dior’s Dior Homme Intense (2011). However, the scent profile remains driven by the implied cherry as well as the various spicy accords listed, primarily the incense. The leather, orris & vanilla make up a prominent percentage of the scent profile in the base which crossing over with the cherry accord offer comparability to Sora Dora’s Mandorle Extrait de Parfum. Ultimately, it is the contrast between the Manhattan-esque cherry tobacco profile and the leather-iris base structure that makes Delphinus a worthy entry into 2024’s most unique list. While the valuation isn’t that convincing at €330/100ml, the performance is average-to-good with around 8 hours longevity as well as moderate sillage. Overall, it’s a solid release by a house now trying its hand at profiles that have traditionally not been released under its umbrella.

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Non-sampled honorable mentions:
Roja Parfums Lost in Paris; given exp. profile of butter croissant & orange liqueur
Arquiste A Grove by the Sea; given listed notes of black olive & olive oil
Stéphane Humbert Lucas Sea my Love; given listed notes of amber, leather & marine notes

My most unique releases of 2023 list was ordered as follows:
1. Faces of Francis by Vilhelm Parfumerie
2. Crop Edition 2023 by The House of Oud
3. Opus XV - King Blue by Amouage
4. Gambling by The House of Oud
5. Mangonifiscent by Unique'e Luxury

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Final word

As another year comes to an end, I appreciate those taking the time to read (or skim) through the blog. Many following my journey know that I am building experience across the niche catalogue with the ultimate goal of one day reinventing fragcom on YouTube. While I won't begin smelling any 2025 releases until Esxence, an annual perfumery event held in Milan, is held towards the backend of February; I will continue to provide hot takes and opinions on various other products that come in my way until I officially start with the 2025 rankings at some point in March. Among my 2025 goals is to finish off the last more-known brands that I have smelled few of, incl. Boadicea, Byredo, Floraiku, Memo and others. This sampling will start with the Electimuss set that I already have in-hand. Once that is over with, indie might be the next step in 2026.

For anybody interested in the fully ranked list of 80 fragrances, refer to this collection on my page. You can find similar rankings for 2023 here and for 2022 here. I am also in the process of doing an ex-post ranking for 2021 with the results likely to be locked in as final once I have tried around 70 of the 104 scents watch-listed (currently on 42). You can keep up with the 2021 rankings here.

I leave you with an annual overview.

~ Stan