Orange squash, orange Wine Gums, the orange-filled Fry's Chocolate Cremes and Quality Street sweets from the enorous tin at Christmastime... As a child, orange was definitely my favourite flavour. My predilection stopped short of the fruit itself, leading my mother to genuine concerns about scurvy and rickets, but an orange sweet or treat whilst grubbing around in the garden is an enduringly wonderful childhood memory.
It's no wonder then that orange and all things citrus are notes that I have long-enjoyed in my fragrance choices. Orange is such a happy scent. Indeed, Clinique created a scent bursting with oranges, in a bright orange flacon with their 1999 Happy For Men. But I'm afraid this is one of the few orange fragrances that doesn't work for me. Like seemingly every other men's release from the nineties, Happy For Men is swathed in that calone-freshness that makes it far too dull and conformist.
No, it's big, unashamed oranges that I like in my scent, like Jean Claude Ellena's Cologne Bigarade for Editions Frederic Malle (and the slightly better Bigarade Concentrée). This was a must-buy as soon as I smelled it. It's full-on, bitter, zesty orange, propped up with a bit of light wood. Wonderful.
Orange also seems to work for me when its bright cleanliness is put against the foil of something more dirty or sinister. The 1951 classic Eau d'Hermès with its fetid orangey-leather and cumin-sweatiness is amazingly schizophrenic. It was created by Edmond Roudnitska whilst Ellena was working as his apprentice and JCE's Déclaration for Cartier from 1998 is definitely his modernist take on that 'dirty orange' theme. Déclaration isn't obviously an orange scent and its skank is quite subtle too but it's that understated, cryptic interplay alongside the cardamom and woods that makes it so uniquely interesting. Arguably, Terre d'Hermès is another development in this vein too.
Orange remains a staple note in perfumery and Andy Tauer's Orange Star is a wonderful reworking of its capabilities, packing more of a punch than you'd imagine. Orange is one of those smells that always seems to 'reach' you - when somebody's tackling a satsuma in the office or on a train carriage, chances are you'll smell it sooner or later. Orange Star seems to be one of the few scents that really draws upon that power.
Last summer, Cartier released a flanker for their wonderful Eau de Cartier which replaced the fizzy Parma Violets of the original with a smooth, clean orange scent - Eau de Cartier Essence d'Orange. It's very good, if resolutely 'fake' in its oranginess. However, this year's big mainstream newbie Boss Orange is, like every other Boss fragrance, a cynical "don't scare the straight boys" shower gel concoction that flirts with a bit of nondescript fruit. It's just dull.
No, I like my oranges with at least a nod to reality but preferably with a bit of dirtiness as well. I wonder why...
[by ANDREW]
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