Perfumer Mandy Aftel of indie natural line Aftelier calls her new Candide “a bright, uplifting floral, expressing its theme of optimism through sublime jasmine and age-old frankincense”. I’ll second the description. This is a resolutely happy scent — just the sort of thing to add some cheer to a dreary winter day — with a simply lovely citrus opening (blood orange and grapefruit) that lingers far longer than you’d expect from an all-natural fragrance, and then some. It’s juicy and bright, and sweetish in that citrus jam sort of way that doesn’t give you a toothache. The jasmine is slightly indolic but not too dirty,1 and the incense is light and airy.
Candide has knocked Aftelier’s Cepes and Tuberose into second-favorite status, although I tried Cepes again this week, and in a perfect world I’d have piles of money and own bottles of both. It’s Candide in particular I’d like to bathe in, though: it’s that happy…
The 