david apel
Editor’s note pending — every credited perfumer eventually gets a written profile here.
The compositions
Or/18
Egeo ON You
Bleecker Street
Violet leaf and thyme open with a green, slightly metallic sharpness—urban garden herbs rather than meadow flowers.
Black Orchid Voile de Fleur
Tom Ford's Black Orchid launched with a certain reputation for darkness — truffle, black orchid absolute, something vaguely illicit.
Ralph Lauren Blue
Melon and grapefruit open with a fresh-aquatic brightness, gardenia adding a creamy tropical counterpoint and jasmine and lily of the valley keeping the floral register present from the very first moment.
OR/18 A. N. OTHER
Checkmate
Gap Established 1969 Electric
Lyra
Ralph Cool
Ralph Cool opens with a crisp, almost aquatic clarity—bright and uncluttered, like linen dried in open air.
Paradise Homme
Black Orchid
Black Orchid opens dense and narcotic, a heavy pour of ylang-ylang and gardenia thick enough to coat the air.
Gilded Fox
Hei
The opening pulls you in with mint and violet leaf—green, sharp, and surprisingly watery, like standing near a bamboo grove after rain.
Caissa
Caissa opens with a brisk shimmer of pink pepper and cardamom, the spice more aromatic than hot, setting a precise and slightly cerebral tone.
Driven
London Rain White Jasmine & Mint
Avon Luck for Him
White Jasmine & Mint
The opening is a jolt of cool mint, almost medicinal in its clarity, tempered by cardamom's warmth and a whisper of bergamot.
Trussardi A Way for Her
A Way for Her is Trussardi's entry into the clean, contemporary floral-oriental genre — a composition that earns its elegance through simplicity of intention.
Paradise
Cuddle Punk
P's I Love You
P.S. I Love You Bath & Body Works
Pinrose
Egeo on Me
Egeo On Me O Boticário
Sunflowers
A melon-drenched opening announces itself immediately—dewy, sweet, and unmistakably early nineties.