Jo's Scent Notes: La Pyae Apothecary Catch Me If I Fall

This isn’t the fragrance I was planning to feature today. That can wait. Because I am sitting at a desk in a hotel room (Premier Inn Hub Marylebone, FYI), following a dinner for the launch of Catch Me If I Fall, last night – and I have to share. It is quite simply the loveliest thing I have smelled in… aeons. And I’m in such a hurry to write about it, I was forced to take the photo to illustrate a review with a less-than-glam Paddington roofscape, as a background, rather than my usual lightbox at home.

If you loved Antonia’s Flowers, you’ll love this. If you’re any kind of floral-wearer, you’ll love this, too. But… I’m not a floral fragrance-lover AT ALL, and yet I’m absolutely swooning for (indeed, bewitched by) this.

It’s a chiffon scarf, caught by a breeze. The scent of a vase full of flowers – as you walk by in a hallway rather than burying your nose in the bouquet. It’s turning the corner and finding a jasmine plant, scrambling over a wall, while if we’re talking flowers, there’s a freesia note, too (that’s where it gets its Antonia’s Flowers vibe.) But wait, because I get a hint of chai in there, thanks to a cardamom note – I truly love chai – and loads of sandalwood: creamy, woody, loudly demanding a nuzzle.

So, this scent was actually created by a beauty editor colleague and friend, Kathleen Baird-Murray (below), who I’ve gleefully sat next to at a gazillion launches (not to mention rabbited away to in the chair at our joint favourite colourist, Nicola Clarke). But actually, when a friend launches a fragrance, it’s pretty terrifying. I mean, there are so many perfumes out there that I DON’T love – what if Kathleen’s didn’t push my buttons? Should I smile politely? Put a brave face on it? Lie?

Not necessary. I am literally, compulsively sniffing my own skin, as I type this. (And I sprayed my pillow with it last night, for sweeter dreams.) Big ‘PHEW’.

It’s been Kathleen’s dream to launch this fragrance for nine years, and Catch Me If I Fall has been waiting for its moment for almost that long. The perfumer is the stellar Frank Voekl, whose CV includes the cult favourite Santal 33, for Le Labo (this man clearly knows his way around sandalwood).

Together, I think they have produced an absolute masterpiece. (Note to Kathleen, you need to enter this for next year’s Fragrance Foundation Awards.) On a start-up budget, the first batch is just 2,000 bottles; for now, its only bricks and mortar retailer is swanky Estelle Manor, but the fragrance can be bought online from La Pyae’s website, here. (‘La Pyae’, BTW, means full moon, in Burmese.)

I know that it takes a leap of faith to buy a fragrance, un-smelled (and we’re definitely not talking a pocket money price-tag, here.) But the collective feeling of the country’s most experienced fragrance journalists and beauty editors, last night, was universal love for this.

So my bet is that Kathleen will have to order a fresh batch, soon. And I’ll certainly be adding my name to any waiting list.

£185 for 50ml – buy here