Arquiste
The Architects Club

The Architects Club description

Arquiste’s Architects Club is a woody, sweet and spicy perfume with hints of lemon and orange citrus.

It exudes an aura of sophisticated, old world luxury,with a refined masculinity that hearkens back to the Roaring 20’s. Which is as it should be, as this perfume’s backstory is about a gathering of architects in a men’s club in the trendy Mayfair district of London.

Arquiste is known for launching their scents with rich, evocative inspirations from every corner of the globe and every time period. Architect’s Club takes you right back to the early part of the 20th century, where men unself-consciously wore ascots, top hats, and monocles. It’s woody sweet reserve is an excellent take on a traditional style of men’s fragrance, and the addition of the vanilla absolute and amber in the base updates it for today’s world.

The opening of bitter orange, lemon peel and angelica has an old-world style all its own – the bitter orange and angelica let you know this fragrance is dialing the Wayback Machine several decades. It could have led off with Vitamin C brightness and no musky, peppery angelica. But the spice of the angelica sets up the rest of the fragrance wonderfully; it’s sharp presence prepares you for the crackling wood notes in the heart.

The heart of Architect’s Club is a wood note lover’s paradise. Pepperwood, guaiacwood and oakwood all make an appearance, and instantly transform this perfume into the paneled interior of an exclusive men’s club. Woody notes can be utterly luxurious when grouped together, and here they are electric in their suave sophistication. The caramel, pepper and tangy facets from the wood give the heart depth and balance the palpable dryness well. The guaiac wood’s smooth caramel also introduces the vanilla absolute sweetness waiting in the dry down phase.

The last phase of this fragrance offers a smoky vanilla and amber duo that both highlights and tempers the woody heart. The texture change from dry to sweet comes at you with a subtly enticing, low-key energy. But one that is a defining contrast to the gentility in the rest of this scent.

You can feel the stuffy, old guard of London being confronted by the young turks as they invade the member’s only- world of Mayfair. The vanilla playing against the pepper is a wonderful olfactory stand-in for youth vs. experience, young vs. old, the new world versus the ancient order. Architect’s Club is a fragrance with finesse, charm, and a sly sarcasm buried inside that elevates it into a truly unique perfume.