11 DEC 2020 | BEAUTY
More than a perfume range, Vilhelm Parfumerie is a multisensory library of tales that has stars like Victoria Beckham gushing (and smelling amazing). The niche fragrance house founded in New York and bottled in France has crafted a luxurious line-up of artisan fragrances that takes you on a journey of scents, transporting you into the intoxicating memories of the brand’s founder, Jan Vilhelm Ahlgren.
Crafted in collaboration with the prestigious perfumers Jerome Epinette and Marc-Antoine Corticchiato, each exquisite scent is a standout, housed in a stylish bottle of spun glass with a flower symbol on the cap, and has an intriguing story behind it. Every scent recreates a biographical or mythical moment, full of feeling and emotion, with colours, energy, and rhythm embodied in the captivating aroma. From the lush warmth of Swedish summer mornings to the glamorous Hollywood of old, the secret basement of Studio 54, or London after a rainsquall, each fragrance is a blend of vintage and contemporary encounters.
Equally stunning is the minimalist saffron-yellow packaging with striking black symbols that first appear to be unique codes for each fragrance; however, if you turn the box on its side, the name of the fragrance emerges in a pattern like the hidden story behind it. Infused with the rarest of ingredients, pairings, and tastes, each Vilhelm perfume exists as much for its sense of dreamy storytelling as for the pleasure it is to wear. All Vilhelm Parfumerie fragrances are Eau De Parfum with an average 20% concentration and are composed with the most beautiful and precious ingredients of the Haute Parfumerie.
A PASSION FOR PERFUME
Born in Sweden and now living in Paris, Vilhelm Parfumerie’s founder Jan Vilhelm Ahlgren leaves no stone unturned in his pursuit of an idea of luxury. A former model who was once the face of the feminine scent of a prominent French house, Jan embraces a lifestyle composed of simple pleasures, lavish items, and gentle elegance. The smell of coffee at sunrise, Duke Ellington’s fingers on ivory keys, the memory of childhood summers in Sweden, a voyage to the Gilded Age of New York – there are so many worlds that Jan makes his own in these suave scents that captivate the senses long after they’re applied. He named Vilhelm Parfumerie in honour of his grandfather, a debonair, charismatic figure who helped shape Jan’s appreciation for timeless elegance and early twentieth-century glamour. From its dynamic scents to the heritage design and timeless prints, Vilhelm Parfumerie is Jan Vilhelm Ahlgren’s personal nod to the past, expressed in a contemporary olfactory language and aesthetic that turns heads and stirs the senses.
THE FRAGRANCE LIBRARY
All these amazing fragrances from Vilhelm Parfumerie are available in two bottle sizes: 50ml and 100m
My Collection
From the scent of tobacco to the memories of a dapper grandfather, Jan’s inspirations for this collection are deeply anchored in the moments of his life that left their mark on him.
MORNING CHESS EDP
My Swedish summers
Bright, endless mornings in a cottage, minds battling in wit over a chessboard, are memories of Swedish summers spent with Jan’s grandfather. The ripe, green lushness of summer on the Swedish coast, where grassy notes are light enough to hint at the evergreen sharpness of the distant winter air.
Fragrance notes:
Top: Bergamot
Heart: Tuscan leather, galbanum
Base: Patchouli, black amber
DEAR POLLY EDP
Tea for two in the morning
Distance is nothing to the heart: the scent of black tea, brewed just as she likes it, and the crispness of morning light, slowly easing away the night that still clings to the senses. Ceylon black tea immediately warms the skin while sensuous musk simmers below.
Fragrance notes:
Top: Bergamot, apple
Heart: Ceylon black tea
Base: Oakmoss, musk, black amber
MANGO SKIN EDP
Have you ever really tasted one?
With a single bite, you can feel the tango in your veins. Wild colours, endless skies, and untamed happiness: breath-taking South Africa becomes the backdrop for this expressionist burst of blackberries, mango, and black pepper. A ripe fruit that reveals its complex flavours – a cocktail of wild orris, black lotus, and jasmine that leaves behind patchouli, vanilla, and a hint of pink sugar.
Fragrance notes:
Top: Blackberries, mango, black pepper
Heart: Wild orris, black lotus, jasmine
Base: Patchouli, vanilla, pink sugar
BODY PAINT EDP
* Exclusively available at Central, Harbour City & Pacific Place stores
A cocktail to arouse the senses
A thrilling scent that takes you back to Paris in 1988. A cocktail of memories to ignite the skin: a secret cult of women, Matisse’s triumphant La Danse, ritual dancing, whispered sounds, and the ecstasy of burning skin… a maddening collision of ice-cold pear juice and chilli.
Fragrance notes:
Top: Pear, green pepper, lemon
Heart: Iso E Super, nutmeg nut, clove
Base: Cedar, Ambroxan, oakmoss
BLACK CITRUS EDP
The triumph of London rain
A sudden shower cooling the air: the romantic smell of London after a rainsquall when water has washed away frivolity, leaving only a zesty and triumphant breeze with a soft echo of the storm. The strength of bergamot, cardamom, and violet is tempered by birch tree and a dusting of patchouli.
Fragrance notes:
Top: Cardamom, Calabria bergamot
Heart: Mate leaves, violet
Base: Birch, Indonesian patchouli
Flower collection
For each elegant fragrance in this collection, Jan wanted to be as close as possible to the actual flower, offering a naturalist bouquet as a portrait.
DON’T TELL JASMINE EDP
* Exclusively available at Central, Harbour City & Pacific Place stores
We all have secrets
She changes everything she touches. For some, she is the storm: the air around her alive with bold electricity. For others, she is an awakening: a slow seduction that ignites deep connections. Inspired by her, an unveiling of Egyptian jasmine absolute and camellia becomes petal musk on warm skin.
Fragrance notes:
Top: Lemon, kir
Heart: Egyptian jasmine, camelia
Base: Petal musk
MOON CARNIVAL EDP
Love to the moon and back
His love was a dancer with golden skin who loved tuberose more than any other flower. So, he travelled the world in search of all the tuberose to fill the moon. For seven days and seven nights, the moon scattered this enchanting scent of pears, patchouli, Ambroxan, orris, and musk across the universe.
Fragrance notes:
Top: Passion fruit, bergamot, pink freesia
Heart: Tuberose, gardenia, orchid
Base: Marshmallow, tonka bean, vanilla
FLEUR BURLESQUE EDP
Cherchez la femme (“look for the woman”)
Tantalisingly alive in the spotlight of the Moulin Rouge, enchantingly aglow in Maxim’s soft candlelight: she is the exquisite, feminine spirit of the Belle Epoque – the “beautiful age” in France. The lingering scent of her fragrance is an unmistakable hint of gardenia, jasmine, sandalwood and amber.
Fragrance notes:
Top: Gardenia, jasmine
Heart: Sandalwood
Base: Amber
OPUS KORE EDP
The rites of spring
Persephone had been warned there was a price to pay for her otherworldly love, so when she returns to the living, she brings a gift of springtime – a bracing gust of Sicilian lemon and acai that blooms into raspberry blossom, pink magnolia, and violet leaf followed by the sensuality of sandalwood, skin musks, and crisp amber.
Fragrance notes:
Top: Sicilian lemon, acai
Heart: Raspberry, magnolia, violet
Base: Sandalwood, skin musks, amber
Jazz collection
For jazz fans like Jan Vilhelm Ahlgren, you can imagine what the Harlem Renaissance represents in terms of music – all those big names in a whisky-filled, leathery environment that are revived in this collection.
SMOKE SHOW EDP
* Exclusively available at Central, Harbour City & Pacific Place stores
The jazz soul
Vibrant spotlights, smoky rooms, the brassy notes of a saxophone: an evocative cocktail brings alive the energetic soul of a musical genre that broke boundaries and hearts. Leather and rose take centre stage with bass notes of agarwood, vetiver, and saffron.
Fragrance notes:
Top: Pink pepper, saffron
Heart: Rose oil, leather
Base: Vetiver, cedarwood, agarwood
125TH & BLOOM EDP
Gardens of Harlem
Arching above the entrance of formidable brownstones or flourishing in secret backyard oases, here are the flowers of Harlem. Follow the intriguing whiff of angelica seeds and saffron to the intoxicating beauty of damascene roses and violet, which reveals a heart of ebony wood and leather.
Fragrance notes:
Top: Angelica seeds, saffron
Heart: Violet, damascena rose
Base: Ebony woods, wild leather
DO NOT DISTURB EDP
Studio 54’s secret room
We travel deep into the basement of Studio 54, a place with no boundaries and a Do Not Disturb sign on the door. Rumour has it that Freddie Mercury, David Bowie, Halston, and Grace Jones were spotted here. The only certainty is that those who dared to enter say it was like stepping into the world of Alice in Wonderland.
Fragrance notes:
Top: Schinus molle, carotte
Heart: Iris, jasmine petals
Base: Ambroxan patchouli, white musks
DIRTY VELVET EDP
* Exclusively available at Central, Harbour City & Pacific Place stores
A deep tango with Miles Davis
One summer night, in a suite at New York’s Chelsea Hotel, red rose petals litter the floor and cigar smoke fills the air. Miles Davis plays the trumpet, while two Andalusian flamenco dancers move to the beats of the tango. Strains of music spill onto the hot street below, dirty with deep soul and as smooth as velvet.
Fragrance notes:
Top: Bergamot, elemi
Heart: White leather, labdanum
Base: Patchouli fraction, papyrus
Cinema Collection
A swirl of emotions is the hallmark of artists who enchanted and thrilled the world through their enigmatic and charismatic personalities. This glamorous collection pays homage to rarities of the silver screen.
THE OUD AFFAIR EDP
* Exclusively available at Central, Harbour City & Pacific Place stores
Burning for you
Ava Gardner and Luis Miguel Dominguin: the actress and the bullfighter, a tempestuous and passionate love affair with the heat of a thousand suns awakens an intoxicating scent blending wild honey, ginger butter, and tobacco leaves with the warmth of agarwood and black vanilla bean.
Fragrance notes:
Top: Wild honey, ginger butter
Heart: Tobacco leaves
Base: Agarwood, black vanilla bean
BASILICO & FELLINI EDP
* Exclusively available at Central, Harbour City & Pacific Place stores
Life, with extra basil
The unmistakable smell of risotto bianco and a minty, peppery kick as ultra-fresh basil warms on the dish. A bon vivant who wanted to show life in all its glorious reality – people eating, sleeping, and making love – Federico Fellini was said to request extra servings of this herb that’s rumoured to be an aphrodisiac.
Fragrance notes:
Top: Dragon fruit, basil
Heart: Violet, wild fig
Base: Vetiver, green hay
ROOM SERVICE EDP
Greta Garbo’s rose bath
A favourite of Victoria Beckham, this glamorous fragrance evokes an image of Greta Garbo alone in her hotel room, attired in a drift of satin and poignant allure, waiting for her ultimate luxury: a bath of flower petals, with the warm water releasing a collision of citrus and red fruits, bamboo, violet, black amber, and sandalwood.
Fragrance notes:
Top: Mandarin nectar, blackberry
Heart: Pink orchid, bamboo, violet
Base: Black amber, musk, sandalwood
PURPLE FIG EDP
One last bite of life
What would you do if it were your last night on earth? For Johann Friedrich Struensee, a doomed doctor of the 18th century Danish royal court, it meant a picnic with his love and their friends. As always, champagne and figs – his favourite fruit – were on the menu, as dusk turned the sky purple. What followed was joy and tears, sorrow and laughter – a bittersweet cocktail that lives on in this Purple Fig.
Fragrance notes:
Top: Sichuan pepper, angelica seeds
Heart: Galbanum, green fig, jasmine absolute
Base: Vetiver, cashmere woods
DARLING NIKKI EDP
* Exclusively available at Central, Harbour City & Pacific Place stores
Burning for you
Hop a time machine to Moscow in the eighties, where you find an anonymous door, a coded knock, and a distant beat. Then, a rush of black pepper, saffron, leather, and Sicilian tangerine – a smoky, spicy promise of what’s still hidden that captures the effervescent thrill of secret parties, then and tomorrow.
Fragrance notes:
Top: Sicilian tangerine, cassis, black pepper
Heart: Carrot seeds, saffron, black lotus
Base: Leather, wood smoke, tonka beans
City Collection
Inspired by Jan’s life story, this collection is profoundly influenced by his intimate connections with the cities he’s lived in.
POETS OF BERLIN EDP
* Exclusively available at Central, Harbour City & Pacific Place stores
A Bowie state of mind
Berlin in the seventies: a city alive with the same kinetic, magnetic energy that attracted David Bowie for a few formative, recuperative, and prolific years. A perpetual, creative movement embodied in a bold collision of blueberry, lemon, bamboo, green wild orris, and Haitian vetiver.
Fragrance notes:
Top: Blueberry, lemon
Heart: Vanilla, green wild orris
Base: Vanilla, sandalwood, vetiver
STOCKHOLM 1978 EDP
Give me ABBA
The right place at the right time, that summer in the Swedish capital: a serene and intoxicating moment in a city that was to become a place of congregation and celebration. The scent of the ABBA era: crisp lemon, warm almond, an uplifting spray of geranium with the tang of patchouli, and a drift of faraway green fields floating on a summer breeze.
Fragrance notes:
Top: Black pepper, lemon, almond
Heart: Geranium, rosemary
Base: Patchouli, black amber, moss
BODY LINE
ALL OVER SPRAY | 100ml
A new scent gesture
Available scents: Dear Polly, Morning Chess, Basilico & Fellini
Envelop yourself in a luxurious Vilhelm Parfumerie scent throughout the day with this perfuming spray for the hair and body. Choose from Dear Polly with notes of warming Ceylon black tea and sensuous musk, Morning Chess that conjures chess games and endless mornings on the crisp Swedish coast, and Basilico & Fellini – Fellini films in a fragrance with a touch of basil!
Tips: Spray over your hair and body, avoiding the face and eyes.