For today’s top ten perfumes 2020, Senior Editor Lauryn Beer and Editor dana sandu explore the fragrances that brought them comfort during a year that was, at its best, uncomfortable.
There’s no point in belabouring what a ridiculous, hard year this has been. All the days when getting dressed seemed complicated, breakfast difficult, and writing nearly unimaginable. I’ve searched many a corner for talismans to ward off the ache of separation, the sameness of the weeks, the worry about a world suddenly unfamiliar and hostile. And in the perfumes listed below I found respite. These fragrances helped me get through some very dark days with the occasional smile. I thank their creators profoundly – for every bad dream their creations warded off, every concept of beauty they revealed, and every moment of optimism they gift-wrapped for me.
Lauryn’s Top Ten Perfumes of 2020
Despite my irritating sense that the weather of 2020 was permanently grey, the perfumes the past year were Cezanne baskets of yellows and golds (mimosa has really been having a moment), with perfumes that seemed to hold the sun and light. Visions of favourite faraways, abstractions in warm palates, golden bouquets full of resins – these are some of the fragrances that sang me to sleep over these last 12 months (in alphabetical order).
Prosody London Pizzicato Bliss (Kershen Teo): Organic, all-natural line Prosody first caught my eye (and nose) at Pitti Fragranze in 2019. The invention of the talented Kershen Teo, this is a line worth delving into. Teo’s fragrances have a distinctive signature I haven’t quite put my finger on, but they are beautifully composed. Prosody London’s new line of colognes is perfect for hot weather but also for long grey days when you yearn to be at a seaside or in fruit tree grove. My favourite of the lot is the stunning Pizzicato Bliss, studded with golden fruit notes of quince and fig splashed with citrus. A couple of spritzes makes me feel like I’ve wandered into the Garden of Eden just before it all went wrong.