Just a little green...

Capturing scent’s sensory impact in words is one of the most challenging tasks a beauty hackette faces. Do you risk the Pseud’s Corner-style pretentiousness of waffling in fluent metaphysics like some farty pastiche of Proust? Try to sound impressive by talking aromachemicals and molecules? Or gush about the bottle because a hot designer label’s splashed across it?

Oh, let’s not lose the will to sniff. It’s Crone’s belief that emotional honesty’s the best policy. Never mind the label - how does the smell make you feel? That’s why right now, you’re gazing at a tranquil but hazy, green and pleasant summer evening scene, just as the dusk pixels down. (Actually, it’s Rutland Water in Leicestershire and the only thing missing from the frame is a long, cool Mojito but Crone was driving after all….)

So this was the image that flashed into Crone’s mind when fashionably edgy Maison Martin Margiela’s [untitled] l’eau arrived on her desk this week. A lighter,  more citrusy version of Margiela’s first [untitled]  Eau de Parfum (which, incidentally Crone adores) this fresh, slightly minty Eau de Toilette still has a tantalising dark side, thanks to a healthy whack of galbanum mixed with a deliciously dirty smidgen of patchouli. Now, galbanum is an intensely sappy, resinous gum with a slightly woody, mossy undertow which  is extracted from a fennel-like, Mediterranean umbelifer. In the tradition of Balmain’s fabulous 1945 classic Vent Vert, it gives scents an exhilarating rush of crushed leaves, while hinting at something much less immediate. 

For [untitled] eau, Perfumer Daniela Andrier (who incidentally is also responsible for a host of Prada ‘infusions’ including the lovely Iris) reckoned she ‘took the existing fragrance and drenched it in water making it even more invigorating and direct, while adding an element of mystery.’ Crone couldn’t put it better herself. She’s still not sure about Margiela’s strategically distressed designs - there comes a time when raw hems and unfinished edges just look dilatory. But if you fancy something green but not naïve, here’s your scent for summer.  Now about that studiedly minimalist bottle….

• Maison Martin Margiela [untitled] l’eau, £60 100ml Eau de Toilette, available exclusively at Selfridges from 23^rd May.