Released in 2019 as a Selfridges exclusive, Silver Blue is a branch off the A*Men tree of nineties-era subversive masculines. There isn't a "natural" note to be found in its glacé quasi-gourmand composition, although its synthetics are pellucid and seamless, and it took my nose all of three seconds to discern its familiar blend of almost-mint aldehydes, buttery caramel, and earthy patchouli. It smells dissonant yet congruent, the exact thing that made Angel and its flankers so compelling in the age before smart phones. Its mishmash of burnt sugars over indigestible woody resins lifts the banality of perfume candy into a higher realm of contrasts. Successful perfumes harness contrasts: Caron Pour un Homme's strident lavender pulses gorgeously against its cushy vanilla backdrop; peach nectar glistens through an oakmoss gloaming in Mitsouko; Silver Blue's caramel smiles sweetly through a bitter bushel of patchouli and woods. It's a subtle but pleasant way of creating nonchalant freshness, and it's very nice.
I'm 41 years old, and I remember the nineties well. A*Men (the silvery-blue star) was the expensive and very weird sorta-niche gourmand frag with an intense rubbery tar note boldly contrasting with caramel, chocolate, and coffee. Conversely, Silver Blue offers a relatively timid contrast without full commitment, and its constituent parts aren't vibrant enough to make up for the lack of daring necessary to make this sort of thing fly. It did win me a couple of compliments, so it's undeniably persuasive, but I still prefer A*Men. Anything that attempts to emulate the Mugler effect needs to go hard, or go home.