Monday 15 October 2001

Pic of the day: The tell-tale pattern of Burberry.

Burberry Touch

Yes, the sniffer has checked out yet another manly fragrance. Actually, this new and original series exist in two variants: Burberry Touch for Women, and Burberry Touch for Men. For practical reasons I have only tested Touch for Men. I guess it would have been more useful to have a woman test that, and a man test Touch for Women, if the point of perfume were to impress the complementary sex. But for some of us it is just as important to like the way we smell. And besides, it is a well-known fact that modern perfumes at least react with the skin to give slightly different fragrances from person to person. And I had, regrettably, no female skin around for repeated sniffing.

I also want to apologize in advance for the hazy descriptions when it comes to the real point, the smell. It is a sad fact that commonly spoken English (and indeed any western language I know) lacks a good vocabulary of smell. We tend to resort to expressions such as "smells like fruit" or "smells like pine needles". What would the fashion business be like today if a red cape were described as "looks like blood" and a yellow as "looks like pee"? I suppose the experts have a vocabulary of smell, but I know only a tiny fraction of it and some of you may know even less.

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About the name: Mr. Burberry supposedly invented the British trenchcoat late in the 19^th century, though it first got its name in the trenches of WWI. The company has jealously guarded the special pattern used in their textiles ever since. This pattern is also found on the Burberry Touch boxes. If you make believe that you recognize it, you can score bonus points for in depth knowledge of the higher levels of western civilization. Provided, of course, that you speak with one of those who also recognize it.

Branching into fragrance is a rather recent "touch" for the Burberry company. Unless I am mistaken, they first diversified into this area around 1980; the Touch series is from 2000. I am sure they have had help – there is no obvious path from textiles to perfume – I guess this "inter perfums" may be the mysterious collaborator. I do know the result, though. And it is pretty good.

Burberry Touch is fairly competitively priced in its segment. (We are still not talking about the small drugstore here – specialty perfume shops or large department stores, perhaps online boutiques.) There is a fairly broad range of products, all with virtually the same fragrance signature: For men there is shower gel, after-shave lotion, deodorant and of course eau de toilette. This completeness comes in handy, since you would not want to combine it with just any random fragrance.

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So how to describe the smell, beyond "nice"? My first impression is that it is sort of "dry", and very civilized. You might expect a fragrance named "touch" to be sensual to the point of animalism; and indeed there may be a basenote of musk in it. But it is well masked; and the head note, the first smell when you spray it on, is very clinical and far from intense. It does not immediately fill the room, unlike some older fragrances (Habit Rouge springs to mind).

Once the skin is dried and returned to normal temperature, the heartnote – the main body of the fragrance – asserts itself. It has an earthy wood quality with a hint of leather, which is particularly easy to sense in the after-shave. In the eau de toilette, the citrus element from the head note continues to be noticeable for a long time. The early heartnote reminded me a little of Aquaman by Rochas, a very fresh and modern fragrance but a bit dominated by the citrus element. Touch is not nearly so strong in the citrus, though, and it is neatly balanced by the heavier, earthier elements. All in all, my subjective impression is one of balance, restraint, and cultivation. Gentlemanly.

In terms of sheer strength, Touch has neither the intensity nor the duration of Habit Rouge (by Guerlain), which is anyway a very different scent indeed. It is also somewhat more subdued than Aquaman, which seems a bit upbeat in comparison. I'd say it has about the same strength as Boucheron pour Homme, that is to say, it won't dominate the room. I guess this is kind of fitting – that it only becomes noticeable when you are close enough to ... touch.