It seems Sunset Riot is in it for the long haul. My boyfriend’s assessment came a good six hours after application, by which time I’d battled the crowds of Oxford Street and journeyed the two-hour commute home. But Sunset Riot does have staying power – I kept getting wafts of it hours after I’d sprayed myself. I think what he was trying to say is that the oud perfumes I usually wear are more intense, more powerful. I like it when your perfume is more incense-y.” Sniffing around me like a bloodhound, he took a moment to ruminate before deciding: “It’s not as nice as your other ones. “You smell different,” he declared as I arrived home. My boyfriend’s verdict wasn’t as positive. I could wear that,” chimed Stylist’s fitness editor Meriam Ahari. “I don’t wear perfume because I don’t like anything too heavy, but that’s lovely. Neither overtly floral nor fresh, it makes for a nice daytime fragrance that certainly had my colleagues impressed.Īfter liberally spraying it through my hair and onto my clothes in the office, a wave of approving “Mmmm”s went up.
With notes of orange flower, pink pepper and amber, it smells warm like sunshine. I was given All Saints’ Sunset Riot, one of five in their new range and the one I was most drawn to. So when I was asked to try a high street fragrance, my nose was firmly in the air. That’s why I only ever have one or two perfumes on my dresser, each costing £100 or more.
Growing up, I was taught that perfume isn’t a last-minute present idea or a chance to make the most of a Superdrug deal – to me, it’s a part of my identity. The perfume: All Saints Sunset Riot, £49 for 100ml
People are looking for authentic, real creativity,” says Malone. Jérome Epinette (Floral Street, Byredo and Atelier Cologne) has also blended fragrances for & Other Stories. “People would be surprised to know that big-name perfumers compete to create high street products as much as high-end ones.”Ĭase in point: H&M’s perfumer, Olivier Pescheux, has worked with Diptyque and Yves Saint Laurent, while Beauty Pie teamed up with Frank Voelkl (the nose behind Glossier You and Le Labo’s cult Santal 33). “With Zara, bringing me into the relationship did cause people to think, ‘Wow, this is interesting’.” Nick Gilbert, director at fragrance consultancy Olfiction, agrees. “These collaborations have been going on for a while,” says Malone. It’s not the first time she’s joined forces with the high street (she worked with French Connection in 1998) but it is the first time we’ve sat up and paid attention. Last year, it launched Emotions, an eight-strong fragrance collection with iconic perfumer Jo Malone. In fact, the perfumers behind your favourites are often the same people who work on the high street’s finest.