We open our new series, The Expert Perspective, with Nicola Thomis, a UK-based fragrance writer and three-time Jasmine Award Finalist, whose synaesthesia enables her to experience scent as colour. Currently drawn to florals, soft woods, and refined vanillas, she contributes to Fragrantica and is the founder and lead writer of The Sniff, a niche perfume blog and podcast.
Author: Nicola Thomis
Website: the-sniff.com
Podcast: The Sniff
Instagram: @thesniffwebsite
As a fragrance journalist and scent designer, I smell hundreds, if not thousands of fragrances a year, so something has to be pretty special to catch my attention. What I enjoy most about the Sarah Baker line as a whole is that the fragrances are unashamed and unapologetic. A lot of new releases on the market today smell very similar to one another but Sarah isn’t afraid to forget her own path with memorable and unique scents. They’re challenging, but in the best possible way - they challenge preconceptions and they challenge stereotypes. I love that!
When I was asked to pick my favourite Sarah Baker scent, there were two that immediately leapt out to me as contenders: Peach’s Revenge and Flame and Fortune, and I could have legitimately picked either because I wear them both a lot. In the end I have plumped for Flame and Fortune though, just because I think it’s a little bit more under the radar and definitely deserves a moment in the spotlight.
Flame and Fortune opens with this heady, buzzy, intoxicating feeling. Orange blossom and pink pepper but with a gritty, almost dirty note hiding underneath it - it’s described as motor oil, but it reminds me of the smell in the air at a petrol station. I really enjoy this duality of light and shade, clean and dirty, it’s both happy and uplifting but also has a growl of attitude.
The scent mellows as it wears, but it’s always rich and luxurious smelling. That buzzy, energetic orange blossom note I get at the start calms down and is joined by an appealing tuberose. The two work perfectly together, and both are gutsy rather than floaty and ethereal. I read somewhere that the scent was ‘a field of tuberoses set on fire’ and that really resonates with me. It feels like it could have been just a pretty scent, but instead has been spun and twisted into something sensational, something powerful. It’s nice to have a floral beefed up rather than gussied up for a change, and when the hints of smoke wander through the picture, that’s me sold!
The most unique thing about Flame and Fortune though, is not necessarily the petrol-station undertone, or the flaming florals, it’s the fact that sometimes I get a warm candle wax vibe from it. Who knew that that would be such an appealing and unusual addition?
I had previously worn this fragrance mostly in the autumn and winter, but this year I have reached a lot for it in the summer and it has performed really well. It lasts forever on my skin, even on warm days, and it just oozes radiance and warmth with those touches of smoke helping it shine. This is a fragrance I will always keep in my collection as both an off-the-beaten-track and yet very wearable scent.
Explore Flame & Fortune.