Beaut'Air

Beaut’Air is a rare truly unique fragrance. The way the ozone and linen notes interpret is stunning. As someone who is repelled by conventional scented laundry products and for whom the statement “it smells like fresh laundry” is potentially a red flag, the way Christina Christie conveyed the feeling of fresh white sheets billowing on a clothesline, sparkling, cleansing sunshine, and the hope and joy that spring and summer can bring is masterful. For a perfume so fresh and clean, the longevity, sillage, and overall performance is really impressive. Beaut’Air sticks around. It’s one of my most treasured bottles in my collection. I can’t stress enough how unique it is, without leaning on intensity or shock value to accomplish this.

Sampling the latest release from Parfums Quartana, Beaut’air (from earlier this year), a fitting portmanteau of a name for the scent’s aims at a beautiful airy scent, a bit of a cross between fresh laundry and the great outdoors, with notes of linden blossom, rose, pepper, mixed woods, and a curious note of soil that grounds (literally?) the fragrance a bit from its brightest aspects. It leans clean but feels like a good balance between fantasy and reality, quite pleasant yet also with plenty of nuance and intrigue. It’s not my favorite of the recent releases but I like how it adds diversity to the house and certainly is a bit of a floral, airy departure from the other recent offerings. Beaut’air is EDP concentration, sold via the house site and great boutiques like Perfumology, and is priced at $215 for 50ml, similar to the other recent releases in the past two years. 7 out of 10

The last of my Quartana samples brings me to Beaut’Air: a soft green floral, with a comforting cashmere-style musk. There’s something certainly calming about this scent, it’s so gentle and subtle and yet envelops you in its presence. The bright sparkle of linden blossom is present, but flattened and made pillowy by a gentle powdery iris, airy musk and a captivating delicate fizzy nuance. It smells like an ambrette-focused perfume, yet isn’t listed at all. However, this linen accord may well be made up of some similar kind of musk. It smells very much like those comforting musks which scratch your brain in just the right way, as Another 13 is famed for. But this is different, quite possibly my favourite from the house

A lovely fragrance. At first it is giving me a very floral, light extremely feminine vibe, which I didn’t care for. After about an hour it settles into a very “salty, marine over floral” vibe, very lovely but light. I was expecting more projection from this, but it’s just not there on my skin. This will be a pass for me; it’s too feminine, too light and a very close to skin scent for my preferences. But it is a beautiful scent. Two more samples to try. I’m hoping for better projection from the other two.

This is beautiful. Not something I'd normality reach for, but I'm so glad I grabbed a sample of this. Clean but not a chemical assault on the senses. Truly airy and bright, and perfectly unisex.