Histoires de Parfums - 1899 Ernest Hemingway

As I've written about before, Histoires de Parfums is one of the most consistent perfume houses around today. They create rich, complex, long-lasting perfumes, not just smells. Their new fragrance, 1899, continues the house's streak of quality perfumes. In fact this is one of their best yet, and intriguingly its success comes from revisiting previous themes. Just as 1889 (Moulin Rouge) revisited and expanded the iris themes found in Tubereuse 1 (Capricieuse), 1899 (Ernest Hemingway) revisits themes from 1969. The two fragrances are quite similar, especially in the near-gourmand aspects of the top and middle notes. But 1899 fixes 1969's big problem - its disappointing base - by filling out the base with vetiver and spices; and it adds a wonderful citrus topnote as well. The good parts are kept: the deliciously warm spicy-vanillic heart of 1969 is also in 1899. I don't know if this reminds me of Hemingway - HdP's tobacco-smoky Tubereuse 3 (Animale) seems much closer to that brief - but no matter, this is exceptional work, and it stands along with 1828 (Jules Verne) as HdP's best evocation of warm spice and woods.