Sedley

Sedley opens with an icy blast of spearmint that's been sharpened on wet stones, its menthol edge cutting through a haze of bergamot and mandarin. This isn't your grandfather's fougère—Nathalie Lorson has stripped the genre down to its aquatic bones, letting watery notes blur the boundaries between freshness and synthetic transparency. The spearmint never quite relents, even as geranium's metallic rose facets emerge alongside lavender that's been bleached by solar notes, creating an almost blindingly bright heart. There's a fizzy, ozonic quality throughout, like tonic water poured over crushed mint leaves, with just enough aromatic heft to remind you this is technically a masculine release. The base is where Sedley reveals its modern pedigree: ambroxan provides that now-ubiquitous mineral warmth whilst cedarwood and sandalwood sketch the faintest woody outline, all wrapped in white musk's scrubbed-clean embrace. This is for the man who wants to smell impeccably fresh without reaching for another citrus cologne, who appreciates that mint can be elegant rather than toothpaste-adjacent when handled with restraint. It's boardroom-appropriate yet beach-ready, performing admirably in warm weather whilst maintaining enough presence for air-conditioned offices. The Parfums de Marly opulence is toned down here—this is their entry point for those who find Layton too honeyed or Percival too spiced, offering instead a crystalline freshness that hovers in that sweet spot between natural and unmistakably niche.