Hi there Looking Glassers, Back in 2017 Jin and I were lucky enough to get to Excense in Milan. It was my first, and only, perfume showcase. I hadn’t realised exactly how much time I would need and we also wanted to do the sightseeing and shopping. One day I’ll go back, solo, and really spend time seeing, sniffing, engaging and learning. On this adventure we basically went and saw all our mates. That was really nice too. It was the last time I got to hang with Vero, the first time I met Pia and Margo and a slew of other perfume peeps. Made a dick of myself fangirling Katie Pucrick. We stayed in a lovely little hotel just around the corner from the event and unsurprisingly there were industry insiders there. One such was the owner of Detaille and his wife. We got to chatting one morning over breakfast and he gave me a tester bottle of his new at the time Bois d’Oud (which is nearly finished now). It’s a fine, simple, scratchy woods, oudh and saffron. There are a lot more expensive renderings that are worse.

Along with that he gave me a few samples of their other work. Because I’ve been going through the perfume room and getting all the lost samples Par 4 jumped out at me and I thought we could spend a moment discovering it together.

Par 4 by Detaille

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Bergamot, Woodsy Notes, French labdanum, Galbanum, Thyme, Fir, Clary Sage, Saffron, Vetiver, Basil

Though I haven’t seen it in real life the bottle looks so beautiful. I love the look of it, modern riff on deco. The fluted lid reminds me of early L’Artisan and Parfum d’Empire, before they went basic.

How does it smell? Opening is very cologne-ish. Crisp, bright, green and citrus. It does become more herbal after the initial fireworks die off. Lovely, surprisingly tapestried and I like the slight resinous sweetness through the herbaceousness. Not mentioned but I smell tomato leaf or a reminder of it. My closest real life analogy as the heart blooms is pesto. Not exactly Pesto but that immediate freshness and healthy goodness you smell as it’s being made.

The woods make themselves known through the heart. It’s not immediately apparent. A subtle rising until suddenly they are prominent and you realise they’ve been hiding under and between the other notes. The resins keep everything to a storyline, if that makes sense. After about an hour, or so, the greenery has become a soft drying grass with the resinous woods. Once this point is met the fragrance meanders comfortably, low key, traditional masculine fading to dry down. Groundbreaking? No. Wearable? Yes. A very nice woodsy aromatic that could easily be a signature scent. Someone who knows smelling good is important and doesn’t want to break the bank. Probably not sophisticated enough for the hard core perfumista but most of us need some easy reach go tos right?

Though I say traditionally masculine Par 4 can easily be worn by anyone who likes the idea of smelling like a day in the great outdoors that ends in the warmth of the 19th hole.

Another good thing: Detaille has the most affordable sample sets. 19 euros will get you all 19 samples, then add postage. What a bargain.

Do you or do you think someone close to you would like to wear Par 4?
Portia xx