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Fragrance campaigns often spin a make-believe narrative—two models caught in a budding romance, say, or a sly nod to postcoital languor. But Penhaligon’s new Portraits collection lays out a very different sort of olfactory fiction, one that seems to draw on the Jane Austen canon and Downton Abbey, with a dash of the cult-classic murder mystery Clue thrown in.
This is a family of perfumes in the most literal sense: Each of the four scents plays the role (and takes the name) of a colorful personage in an aristocratic household. The Tragedy of Lord George tells of a patriarch confident in lineage, if aloof in marriage—a combination that translates to a woodsy mix laced with brandy, tonka bean, and shaving soap. Next comes The Revenge of Lady Blanche: While she carries a certain refinement and nobility—expressed in a lilting green floral, pairing narcissus and hyacinth—that outward finesse conceals an inner fire. The Coveted Duchess Rose, their just-wed daughter, has a scent to match her blossoming state of being, with musk and mandarin lending weight to her namesake flower. Rounding out the quartet is Much Ado About the Duke, a rich rose bouquet warmed up with leathery, peppery undertones, evoking the theater-loving dandy she (somewhat reluctantly) calls her husband.
If all that elaborate characterization adds up to more than the typical litany of fragrance notes, it follows that the packaging doubles down on personality, too. Each bottle comes topped with a gilded head—stag and panther for Lord and Lady; hound and fox for Duke and Duchess—which collectively nods to hunting-lodge taxidermy and royal menageries. And if those spirit animals and the gendered backstories seem too prescriptive, rest assured that the blends inside are subject to creative interpretation. After all, the next chapter in this winding tale is yours to write.
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