Welcome to the weekly Perfume Chat Room, perfumistas! I envision this chat room as a weekly drop-in spot online, where readers may ask questions, suggest fragrances, tell others their SOTD, comment on new releases or old favorites, and respond to each other. The perennial theme is fragrance, but we can interpret that broadly. This is meant to be a kind space, so please try not to give or take offense, and let’s all agree to disagree when opinions differ. In fragrance as in life, your mileage may vary! YMMV.

Today is Friday, September 19, and boy, has it been a week here in the USA. All the chaos and unprecedented actions are affecting my ability to focus, but I’m trying to keep making time and mental space for things I love. AND we’re going to see the Downton Abbey movie this weekend with longtime, beloved friends, so I’ll enjoy a bit of escapism while I plan the letters I will write, the protests I will attend, the modest donations I will make (on top of the modest ones I already make). It really does feel as if we live in a looking-glass era, where bad people are lionized and actual heroes are ignored.

Today I’m wearing a fragrance I got in a grab bag at The Barnes Fragrance Fair outside London this spring. It is a relatively young event; it started after COVID lockdowns, I believe.

It is a showcase for British independent perfumers, like Sarah McCartney of 4160 Tuesdays. She had a display there and she taught perfume-making workshops like the one I did at her studio the week before.

Just going through some of the photos I took does cheer me up, because it reminds me that there are so many creative, kind, interesting people all around the world. If you get a chance to go to the Barnes Fragrance Fair, do it! So much fun!

Back ro my scent of the day: Sunset Riot Intense. As the name suggests, it is a 2024 flanker to the original Sunset Riot, launched by AllSaints in 2018. It is a unisex amber, spicy floral with a strong undertone of cedar.

I suspect this comes from a use of ambroxan, a synthetic molecule that is commonly used to create a dry, amber, musky scent. Some perfumksts really hate it and can’t to.erate it in fragrances, but I don’t have such a strong reaction to it. It’s just not really my thing. As regular readers here know, I’m much more drawn to floral and green fragrances, even chypres.

According to Fragrantica, these are the notes of Sunset Riot Intense: “Top notes are Pink Pepper, Mandarin Leaf and Freesia; middle notes are Moss, Orange Blossom and Jasmine; base notes are Leather, Amber, Musk, Cetalox and Cedar.”

Honestly, I didn’t smell those top notes at all. Of the middle notes, I smell some light orange blossom and jasmine, but not much of either. They do lighten up the listed base notes, though, which don’t smell nearly as heavy as they sound. I don’t really smell leather, unless it’s a suggestion of suede (and I like suede!). I do get the amber, musk, and cedar. So basically, I think I’m smelling a light jasmine-inflected ambroxan. Pleasant enough, but not my thing and not something I’d shell out a lot of money ones to buy. I might feel differently if I were more drawn to masculine scents, though, and I can see many men really enjoying this, and their partners enjoying it on them.

Have you tried any AllSaints scents?