Sunshine & Pancakes

It being the third warm day in a row, I am continuing my themed perfume reviews. As I live in England (and we had snow here less than four weeks ago), I feel obliged to maintain and confirm the stereotype that all Brits talk about the weather all the time. It is even warmer today (upper 20s), so I can guarantee that we'll be complaining about the heat in a day or so and there'll be a hosepipe ban in East Anglia by the end of April. So - Sunshine and Pancakes: I will echo Kmam (two reviews below); this is a "summer go-to" for me, too. It's not summer, but it's hot enough to be summer (see what I did there?), so I'm wearing it today. Pancakes are traditionally served with lemon juice and a sprinkle of sugar in England, so it makes sense that, on first spraying, there's a burst of lemon citrussy goodness - the juice, that is. I can smell orange too, but it's more like the slightly oily residue which remains on your skin, after you've rolled the orange between your hands, to loosen the skin from the pulp. Sometimes honey can be a little urinous on my cool skin, but this doesn't happen when I'm warm. So I have a delightful honey note coming to the fore (it's especially evident if I breathe warm air onto my skin and inhale immediately), after my lemon and orange have retreated a little. This adds a little sweetness to SaP; jasmine may be contributing a little floral sweetness too, but I can't smell flowers at all. I love the smell of jasmine, but it can overwhelm other notes - great if you want a soliflore, not so much if you want something more complex. On drydown, there is a creaminess to SaP, which I attribute to a combination of sandalwood, vanilla and benzoin. I feel this creaminess is the sole contribution of vanilla, though; this is not a cupcake vanilla. To be honest, I wouldn't have thought vanilla was in SaP, if I hadn't looked at the pyramid. I can't pick out sandalwood either, which I normally find very distinctive. Sillage borders soft/moderate and longevity is also moderate. I don't ascribe to gender assignation in perfumery, but SaP can easily be worn by anyone - it's truly a unisex perfume and a lovely choice for a warm, sunny day.

This is a beautiful light scent just made for a hot sunny day. This opens with lemon, vanilla and honey and a slight, faint almost woody note, albeit an incredibly gentle one. Despite the lemon vanilla and honey this does not smell to me a gourmand fragrance at all. The jasmine here is very gentle and clean. The lemon is very light and not at all overpowering, I really like here how lemon can be a dominant note and yet also so gentle. I am repeatedly finding that 4160 Tuesdays are deceptive - they appear, at first glance at the notes and at first sniff, to be very simple...they aren't. These notes are played with and constructed in such a way as to seem almost effortless, as if Of COURSE these notes are together! What else?! Yet the apparent simplicity is done with such care and skill that a concept and notes list that could have been a screeching cloying disaster instead manages to smell like clean skin after a day at the beach in the sun. This is very much a skin scent. I have read reviews before where people say "this smells like skin, only better", well now I get it. This really does smell like my skin after being in the sun, just better! Cleaner! It is lovely. You could possibly enhance longevity and projection by layering with a simple but warm amber or salty amber - it would become more sultry but would work well I think. Overall this is a lovely scent, not one to shout to the crowds, one to wear for yourself, inhale, and be enveloped in beautiful sunshine*. *and pancakes??! If these are pancakes they are those little small round ones that you can make or can buy in a pack of 6 to put in the toaster and spread with butter ETA - mine is from a dab on sample bottle not spray, so spraying may increase sillage. Might decant my sample into a spray bottle to try.

Not a sweet gourmand, nor a photorealistic one, Sunshine and Pancakes is more impressionistic--I think of it as a sandalwood perfume first. Imagine a sunny breakfast scene with the emphasis on a freshly polished table--and the scent of lemony/orangey/waxy polish, like Orange Glow--on which rests the titular breakfast items. The window is open, there is a breeze, and you only catch little whiffs of pancake batter and zesty citrus. At least this is how I experience this perfume. I really appreciate that this perfume doesn't charge straight into the land of Big Vanilla. I love me some vanilla, but I have so much already (if I really want vanilla, I'll wear my Bois 1920 or my SDV, you know?) and it's not like there isn't enough out there; I think a significant percentage of new launches are still (sigh) vanillas. It's not even a straightforward vanilla-orange, of which there are also soooo many out there already. The clever, kind of savory sandalwood angle provides its unique personality. I recognize this compositional move from Tart's Knicker Drawer, where Sarah McCartney takes a similarly familiar accord (in this case a powdery makeup violet/rose) and adds a deliberate twist of wood, including just enough cedar to give some aromatics. It's kind of her thing. If I were Luca Turin, I would take this moment to point out how wonderful it is that we now have citrus accords that last, and last, as this one does-the orange seems to get juicier the longer I wear it. I also appreciate its clever placement in the composition, as the citrus disguises any metallic facets there might be in woody ambers in the sandal base. S & P really is a fun perfume to wear, very much in keeping with this house's aesthetic and attitude.

Hello, I'd like to declare that I made it. I don't enjoy stating "notes" because I hardly ever meet anyone who agrees what mine smell of. I can state what I put in, but what your brain detects is based on your own experience. But I do it because I get asked and as I don't do focus groups or the like, I just say what I put in. I've learned that British pancakes are very different from US ones. For starters there's no sugar in the batter, and we squeeze fresh lemon juice on them. Does that help to explain? How do you capture sunshine? I went for its effect on my skin. The name came from a request for a scent to make someone I know happy by reminding her of summer at the British beach. She likes it. It's great if other people like it too. It has the name she gave it. So what I was after is the smell of warm skin at the end of the day at the seaside. I make that with Atlas sandalwood, which I find to be very animalic and smooth with sharp edges. I'm thinking that it's probably this plus jasmine which is the decider. If you don't like that heart accord it might make you feel uncomfortable. If you embrace it's slight dirtiness, then I think that might be what tips the scales in its favour. As well as lemon, there's quite a lot of orange. I didn't put caraway or cumin in it. :-) I'm always interested to read what others think, and I worry that the name might have mislead some of you. That's why I write up the story on the website. Anyway, I hope this helps.

I'm not very good at writing reviews but I did want to say that I find this to be a lovely scent! I find the lemon to be refreshing but not sharp and perfectly suited to the cooler summer day that we so often get in the UK. the sweet floral/woody/honey/vanilla drydown is so lovely, I've been getting gentle wafts of it throughout the day. the note that accompanied my samples says: "in perfumers' terms, Sunshine & Pancakes is an Oriental fragrance, with a benzoin & vanilla base, soft but not that sweet. But is doesn't smell the slightest bit eastern. Oh no. Sunshine & Pancakes is the scent of the end of the day on a British beach, when you're packing packing up the buckets & spades and walking to the pancake shop. It has a heart of rosewood, Australian sandalwood & sacred jasmine, to capture the scent of warm skin. The the pancakes: lemon & orange and real honey absolute for a fresh, tasty top note that makes you lick your lips"