Yves Saint Laurent Oriental Collection

Answering the call and response in the European fragrance world for elaborate, Arab-styled perfumes, Yves Saint Laurent have launched their Oriental Collection. Following on from Armani Privé La Collection des Mille et une Nuits, Christian Dior La Collection Privée, Guerlain Les Deserts d'Orient, and way after By Kilian's gorgeous and comprehensive variations on an oudy theme, the Arabian Nights collection, YSL's easterly-tinged trio provides three respectable tries to woo the lucrative Arab market.

Majestic Rose eschews the crash bang wallop of bludgeoning rose ouds from Dior (Rose Ispahan), Armani (Rose d'Arabie) and Bond No. 9 (Signature). YSL's take is smoother and creamier, heading in the direction of By Kilian Rose Oud (the most beautiful and nuanced Euro-Arabian oud perfume I've ever experienced).

Majestic Rose isn't as buttery and burred as the By Kilian, but they share a dusting of saffron and a honeyed nuttiness that makes it soothing to wear. The oud in Majestic Rose glows of warm latex, rather than the industrial-strength oily bleach stank of many commercial oud fumes. Majestic Rose does a wipeout in the drydown, though, when a monolithic sweet wood smell asserts itself.

Supreme Bouquet is boisterous bunch o' flowers with lashings of bright, syrupy jasmine and candied fruit. Out of the Oriental Collection's three offerings, SB provides the best “halo” in the air around the wearer: it's a festival of sweet florals and heady femininity. It's too beyond-Fracas sweet for me, but if Miss Lady Flower Power is your bag, then Supreme Bouquet will be your bag, too.

Noble Leather lingers on the skin like a hug of spicy earth, and is the corrective to Supreme Bouquet's floral flibbertigibbety-ness. As sober as it smells next to the other two members of the Oriental Collection, Noble Leather is still a busy little bonanza of elements: a dried fruit/tobacco deal plushed out with amber and arid vanilla. It develops at a stately pace, is coherent to the end, and wears like a less cloying version of Serge Lutens Chergui.

The Oriental Collection is exclusive to Harrods until June 2013, when it will be more widely available. Price £185 for 80 ml

Painting: The Beloved ('The Bride') by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Decennial Santal Sacre

Santal Sacré is one of four perfumes in the new Decennial line, launched by perfume e-tailer Lucky Scent to celebrate their tenth birthday -- and their home in Los Angeles.

Baby Lucky Scent grew up to encompass Scent Bar, the Hollywood smell spot where celebrity fumeheads include Morrissey (Comme des Garçons Avignon), Tilda Swinton (Etat Libre d'Orange Like This) and Debra Messing (Bruno Acampora Musc).

Lucky Scent lads Adam and Franco invited me to have a sniff round the Decennials and swoop in for a close-up on my favorite. I liked them all: Nuit Épicée -- an earthy, boys-y gourmand; the dry sweet powder of Lys du Desert; Bois Bourbon, with its creamy saffron/almond booze cloud.

But it was Santal Sacré that seized me. It's a pleasing, peppery swirl of incense, sandalwood, cedar and musk. Santal Sacré's underlying vegetation indicates that one's sacred space might be found in the chaparral of the Hollywood hills, somewhere between the Hollywood Sign and Griffiths Observatory.

Fans of robust, outdoorsy incense fragrances like Satellite Padparadscha and Sonoma Scent Studio Incense Pure will enjoy holy-rollin' with Santal Sacré.

Santal Sacré is available from LuckyScent.com at $150 for 75 ml

Katie's Perfume Collection Update: Part 4

This is the final installment of my stream-of-consciousness ramble through recent additions to my perfume collection. Fragrances discussed in Part 4 are:

1. Black Orchid Voile de Fleur by Tom Ford
I've rekindled my interest in Voile de Fleur due to the recent ylang-ylang kick I've been on. VdF has fun-fun with ylang-ylang.

2. L'Agent by Agent Provocateur
This is the one based on a perfume created expressly for an Oscar-nominated and Golden Globe-winning actress by fragrance designer Azzi Glasser. Leathery apricot tropical teasyness. (That's my description of the scent, not of the actress.)

3. Old Spice by Proctor & Gamble
My late father Augie's signature fume, his olfactory jam. He wore it well.

4. L'Homme Sage by Divine
A very satisfying amber, saffron, and incense affair.

Please click on the perfume names for prices and more info.

For Part 1 of my perfume collection update, click here. For Part 2, click here. For Part 3, click here.

Katie's Perfume Collection Update: Part 3

Here is Part 3 of my perfume collection update. Topics discussed:

1. Eating beans while surrounded by goats on a Mediterranean hillside.

Viewer Mail: A Mother's Fragrant Legacy

Dear Katie,

My name is Emily, I’m 26 years old and I'm from Baltimore. I wanted to share a story with you that I hope you'll appreciate.

My incredible mother, Robyn, passed away on January 10th of this year after an over thirty year battle with multiple sclerosis. She was a beautiful woman inside and out, and while my heart aches that she's gone, I know she's no longer in pain.

For as long as I could remember, my mother had her perfume collection on her dresser. The one that sticks out clearly in my head is Van Cleef & Arpels First -- that was her signature scent.