Agonist The Infidels, Absolument Absinthe, and a lot of perfumes beginning with 'V': Sidmouth's Woodforde Perfumery revisited

So last weekend I travelled down to stay with friends in Sidmouth, a sort of Devonian Cheltenham-on-sea with a disproportionate quota of palm trees and mobility scooters.  Although I avoided the Easter rush by setting off on Saturday, the journey was not without incident - I hadn't even reached Worcester when a warning light came on that I had never seen before. Nerves a-jangle, I pulled off the motorway and consulted the handbook, which was ambiguous on this point.  On Page 8 it stated that this particular yellow flashing light - the so-called 'runflat indicator' - meant you had sustained a puncture and should stop driving immediately!  On Page 59 it said that the runflat indicator only means that the tyre pressures are out of alignment, and that the sensor triggering the warning light 'cannot detect damage by external influences'.  This I took to mean the sort of sharp object which might cause a tyre to puncture...  So, in the face of such comprehensive uncertainty, I conducted a visual inspection of all four tyres, and checked and adjusted the pressures at a nearby Tesco filling station....though not before I had rung three local garages and a car showroom, my friends in Devon, my own garage and car dealership back in Stafford and BMW's emergency out of hours helpline (which also covers Minis).  This straw poll - okay, not all of them answered their phone, with it being Easter - suggested that having taken the aforementioned action I could chance the remaining 149 miles of my journey with relative impunity, and so it proved.

The next two days were very mixed weatherwise: Sunday was spent watching old films and knitting hats for my hosts - my friend's husband actually wanted his!  On Monday the weather was glorious, and in the morning I was taught how to use a log splitting machine and store wood in a large converted dog kennel - my spatial awareness has come on by leaps and bounds as a result. ;)  That afternoon we went for a spectacular coastal walk, and on the following day everything was open again, so we could hit the town's shops in earnest - not least Woodforde Perfumery, the Les Senteurs of East Devon.  I was eager to see what new lines or individual releases the store had got in since my visit last July - or indeed, what perfumes that were new to me I had missed last time.

Do those Amouage factices look big to you?

As ever, my friend hovered patiently beside me as John, one of the owners, passed me blotters.  I had a good old go of sampling a couple of ranges: Profumi del Forte and Agonist.  Profumi Del Forte I had tried in Berlin in 2011, when nothing had particularly caught my fancy, but this time John was steering me towards scents in my preferred fragrance families or ones which he felt were a bit distinctive or original.

Note to self to write the names on the blotters a bit more legibly next time, but I appear to have tested a whopping total of 11.  Apart from anything else I was struck by how many begin with 'V' (almost half!), which to my mind compounds the confusion already surrounding those perfume houses with 'Profum-' in their name:

Fiorisia / Frescoamaro / Roma Imperiale / Tirrenica / Vittoria Apuana / Versilia Aurum / Versilia Platinum / Versilia Vintage Ambra Mediterranea / Versilia Vintage Boisé / Forte by Night Bianco /150 Parfum

My favourite was Forte by Night Bianco, a powdery, musky, vanillic floral that was pleasant without being groundbreaking.  There were one or two oddball marine scents in my selection, namely Frescoamaro and Tirrenica (I have written 'dentist' on the blotter of the latter, a reference to its sharply spicy quality rather than a reminder to myself to change my appointment, which I do also need to do).  One or two others I could imagine being quite nice on a man, though I can't for the life of me remember which now.  Only one fragrance smelt 'mainstream' rather than niche - another musky floral called Fiorisia.  I accept that I may have tried all the perfumes too quickly, and made very snap judgements based on the opening notes on card, so if anyone has a favourite from the Profumi del Forte line - on this list or more generally - I would be interested to know if I have overlooked a gem.

Agonist, meanwhile, is a tortured Scandiwegian house of which I have only recently made the acquaintance. This is thanks to Neil Chapman's recent talk for Perfume Lovers London on vanilla scents, in which he featured the 'Play-Doh cathedral' that is Vanilla Marble.  Now I had a chance to try most of the range (Liquid Crystal, Black Amber, Dark Saphir, Isis, Solaris and The Infidels). My overall comment is that they shared a house style that I would describe as rather 'cold', clear and edgy - as befits their gloomy Nordic ethos, I suppose - but only one attracted me on a visceral level. This was The Infidels, which was also Jane, the other owner's personal favourite of the line.  She kindly let me sniff it from her own personal bottle, as they were out of testers, and I tried both The Infidels and Solaris (a curious rhubarb and grapefruit number) on skin.

The Infidels had a number of distinctive phases, all of which I enjoyed, and though I can't do it justice retrospectively, I did read a number of reviews while its vestiges were still on my skin, and would align myself most closely with this one from Kevin of Now Smell This.  The Infidels was elegant and subtle at all times on me.  Steve of The Scented Hound wasn't so impressed, however, and found it too hippie-ish for his taste, while Kafka was afflicted with a Juicy Fruit chewing gum note that I must say I didn't detect at all.

Ref the list below, these are very much my kind of notes, though I could manage fine without all that provenance information, to be frank.  The blackcurrant was very well behaved - Kevin refers to it as 'blunted', ditto the cumin. This duo of notes is mentioned by several reviewers, although I didn't pick up specifically on either - this may be precisely because the blunting was so expertly done. ;)  I was just aware of a spicy citrusy opening with a vaguely fruity facet, followed by a patchouli interlude, segueing into the smoothly sensual woody-amber drydown.

Notes: pink peppercorn, Sicilian lemon, cloves, Indian davana and elemi, May rose, Turkish rose, Sambac jasmine, Egyptian jasmine, Burmese magnolia, iris, Comoros ylang-ylang, Somali myrrh, opoponax, patchouli, sandalwood, vetiver, cistus, Peruvian balm, Lebanese cedarwood, Virginia cedarwood, Indian amber, Bourbon vanilla

John holding Absolument Absinthe and its vibrantly green leather case

If The Infidels was the scented highlight of my visit, in terms of sheer novelty value it was another line that wins the prize: Absolument Parfumeur and its flagship scent, Absolument Absinthe Le Parfum d'Interdits, which contains two banned substances we were told - absinthe and cannabis!  Well, I can't comment on the banned aspect, as I haven't been keeping up with the ins and outs of the latest IFRA regulations, but it felt quite daring to try this perfume, and the name 'd'Interdits' certainly fosters the impression that this is risqué stuff!  Absolument Absinthe is a briskly herbal / green scent and was a surprise hit with my friend, who had only been testing the odd thing along the way.  She also quite liked Absolument Homme, which had a marked tobacco note.

Having exhausted our noses' capacity - and pausing for a moment on the way out to admire the humungous Amouage factice bottles in the window display! - we spent the rest of the morning poking around the many independent shops in Sidmouth, which offer some pretty decent gifts and souvenirs, as well as seaside clothing brands like Seasalt and Fat Face.

And there was one more bonus scent experience to come, as the smell of freshly made fudge lured us into Roley's Fudge Parlour!  We both ended up sampling and buying some...the lemon meringue variety, studded with fizzing white bits infused with 'natural lemon oil from the Mediterranean', as the owner took pains to point out, was an absolute taste sensation.  If I needed another reason (and I don't) to return to Sidmouth with its sleepy, sedate charm, the lemon meringue fudge was right up there with Ladurée's best macarons, and a shade cheaper at £1.70 for 100g...

Ooh look, I see they do online sales too...;)

By George! - and By Terry - Woodforde Perfumery in Regency Sidmouth

So I have come back from my mini-break on the South Coast to find that I have three new followers - hurrah! - and my patio plants haven't died.  I actually had a lady lined up to water them, but in the end nature did the job for her; it also comprehensively watered my holiday destinations in several counties, though it couldn't put a dampener on my enjoyment.  The novelty hat party was a great success, featuring some very fine specimens, including an entire beach scene, an allotment with integral garden tools and vegetable matter, a traffic cone, a putting green, and a funny construction fashioned from a low slung fez lavishly accessorised with bunting and sailing pennants.  (Picture on request.)

Next stop was Devon, where I stayed with an old school friend who has recently retired to the Regency resort of Sidmouth.  Apparently the demographic profile of the town exactly represents how Britain as a whole will look in 2050, when my generation will also swell the bulging ranks of the elderly - if we are still about!  It is the sort of place where the fish and chip shops do 'pensioners' specials' and 'senior suppers', and where you are never more than 100 feet from a seller of mobility aids - even the charity and 'pound' shops had a selection, prominently displayed.  Well, not 'pound shops' exactly, but those bargain chains that stock a changing kaleidoscope of stuff they got in cheap.

Sidmouth town centre

As well as being an architectural delight, and rather sedate and slow-paced - the mobility scooters have a top speed of 8mph I gather, and that's only certain models - Sidmouth boasts a traditional-style niche perfumery called Woodforde & Co, of which my friend thoughtfully apprised me within minutes of my arrival! What a serendipitous bonus to my weather-challenged holiday, and Woodforde's was our first port of call as soon as the shops opened the next day.

Situated in a picturesque spot opposite the church, Woodforde's is run by John and Jane, who made us very welcome.  We chatted about the latest releases from the various houses they carried.  On the shop's website I found this summary of their brand strategy:

'Sourcing original ranges from small, individual perfumeries that rarely make it to department store shelves, some of our fragrances are the creations of new, up-and-coming perfumers; others perhaps are the neglected classics from small, historic perfume houses that modernity has (thankfully) passed by.'

Serge-on-Sea!

Just eyeballing the brands in store, I would say the emphasis was more on the historic houses (eg Houbigant, Rancé 1795, Caron, Grossmith, E Coudray, Lalique, Acqua di Genova, Molinard), which felt in keeping with the town's Georgian heritage.  Newer brands included Serge Lutens, Annick Goutal, Etro, Juliette has a Gun, Profumi del Forte and Terry de Gunzburg.

So without further ado, here is a brief run down of what I sniffed in store - mostly on card - as my friend stood patiently by...

Carven Le Parfum - a pretty, generic, sheer and slightly watery floral.  I was reminded of Balenciaga Paris L'Essence - it was very much in that light register.  In hindsight, I do think I should have tried Carven Le Parfum on skin, for Robin (whose taste is very similar to mine) is pretty complimentary here, and counsels against testing this one on paper, where it reads as too clean.

Carven Ma Griffe (reissue) - fierce green chypre in that general 'retro' Fidji / Givenchy III vein.  I could imagine this being much like the 1946 original, though I haven't smelt it.

Acqua di Genova Contessa di Castiglione - Lucy Raubertas of Indieperfumes bottled!  Well, it has her Facebook avatar on the box, certainly.  Woodforde's helpfully explain the background to the scent on their website here.

Notes: bergamot, cardamom, lotus blossum, lemon peel, Turkish rose, redcurrant, violet, white musk, almond blossom

This was an instant 'high level like' for me, and it was the only fragrance I tried on skin.  I should have asked for a sample really.  I should have had one of my little snap-on vials with me in case the owners didn't have any samples, or the wherewithal to make one. Contessa di Castiglione was a milky, slightly almondy - but not too much, as I don't usually care for the note - delicate floral.  A bit like PG Bois Naufragé without the fig or the wood - and with extra flowers.  I know that is a totally lame description, but my blotter doesn't smell of anything anymore!  But let's just say: 'Lucy, if you are going to be a perfume, you could do a lot worse.'

Terry de Gunzburg Flagrant Délice - check out the lovely metal pebble tops on the bottles - a cunning stylistic leaf out of Armani Privé's book?

Notes: almond milk, mediterranean fig, bitter almond, bergamot, mandarin, redcurrants, tonka bean, white musk 

Well, well!  Another almond, redcurrant, musk composition - who'd have thought it? And I also liked this one very much indeed - it was the highlight of the line, and were I not in possession of not one but two bottles of Bois Naufragé I would have been very tempted to make a purchase.  It had a sparkling quality that Bois Naufragé lacks, giving it a bright, upbeat aspect in addition to the comforting milkiness that I enjoyed in Contessa di Castiglione.

Of the rest, I would like to try Lumiere d'Epices and Parti-Pris again (respectively a spicy orange floral and a big floral oriental).  Ever the good sport, my friend tried Parti-Pris on card and likened it to high end bath and body products - which I can kind of relate to - though I liked it as a perfume all the same.  Rêve Opulent, a very diffident gardenia scent, also fitted that bill for me. It was extremely faint, and the not remotely the grand kitchen sink production its name suggests.   Then the opening of Ombre Mercure reminded me hauntingly of Lalique le Parfum, noted for its bizarre cumin-heliotrope accord.  That said, I am becoming increasingly suspicious of card-only trials, so I wouldn't pass up the chance to try this or any of the line again on skin to be sure.

So as with Sidmouth the town, I would like to spend more time with the Terry de Gunzburg range - and the milky almond Contessa / Lucy. ;-)  Meanwhile, here are a couple more holiday snaps, as if any further enticement to the area beyond a bijou niche perfumery were needed...

Elegant townhouse in Coburg Terrace

Coastal walk to Salcombe Regis

If anyone else has stumbled across a niche perfumery in an unexpected spot, do let us know in the comments!