Sedley
Parfums de Marly (2019)

A minty, citrusy shower gel lavender. Very designer-y, very masculine, very youthful. Its not bad, but it smells like a copycat of 2000s designer fresh releases.

While Percival wasn't for me, Sedley hits the mark! It's a lovely, unique fresh/spicy fragrance that avoids any sickly sweetness on my skin. This smells sophisticated yet fresh, making it an excellent summer/summer date night winner. I get solid projection and 6+ hours of sillage, especially with a few additional sprays on clothing. Sedley might not break the mold entirely, but it stands out in the crowd.

There is a great orangey citrus note that sits on top, the mandarin. Then there's a spicy aromatic freshness that just lasts. This scent uses mint and while I don't like a lot of mint scents, this one is done just right.

This is fresh and clean, less potent than Percival but a freshie citrus scents none the less. Great for outdoors during spring summer seasons. I think this scent is understated. It's simple but it gets the job done.

This can definitely be layered just like most citrus scents can. I decided to add another orange natural scent to this one from Atelier Clementine California and I smell like edible fruit all day with some strong woody vibes.

Do I recommend this scent: yes
Does it last? Yes
Should it make the top 10 list for summer freshies? Yes
Is this unisex? Despite how it's marketed I'd say smell is in the eye of the smeller!!!

Overall: good scent, good sillage and longevity

An aromatic masculine scent with spearmint and citrus top notes. The spearmint stands out and lasts beyond the citrus through the heart of the fragrance. A herbaceous geranium and lavender give Sedley a retro feel that hints at barbershop but never completely gets there. A dry wood and soft leather base round out the main accord. I get a generous dose of ambroxan, but not offensively. Nothing groundbreaking, yet quite well done and lively enough to be noticed. Very office safe and a good work day fragrance that has versatility. Thumbs up.

Updated aftershave

It smells like a 90s aftershave. Which I actually quite like. It almost has a sort of Gucci Envy mint thing going on. It covers the same territory as Viking by Creed, but does so in a bit more of an aromatic way to me. Updated retro 90s scent that is unmistakably masculine. This is a pretty good offering by PdM, much better than the average of theirs. Its not grating, or obnoxious. Fairly well behaved, it doesn't shout. I got fair longevity. After a full work day I could smell it under my shirt, but it was not something thats presence could really be felt with movement or anything. I'd say it was so withdrawn that if you were not searching it out it would not be there after 4 hoursish. Its nice. Thumbs up for the fragrance. You can decide for yourself whether Parfums de Marly is something that you would be willing to spend your money on, that is not for me to judge.

I'm either imagining things, or Parfums de Marly is actually making a serious go out of being a niche house almost a decade into its existence. Now I'm not saying it's being a good niche house, but at very least it seems to be trying its hand as of 2018 onward at offering something to the Western market you can't readily get in the mainstream, not counting the mostly Middle East-exclusive oud blends (and we are really kidding ourselves when we say that the concept of oud isn't mainstream). Sedley (2019) is one of two new masculine releases I have seen in major department stores handling the Parfums de Marly brand, with the other one being the peppery-dry Kalan (2019). Sedley isn't exactly groundbreaking, but shows the first sparks of trying to do something that isn't a designer redress amped to 11 since the early days of scents like Lipizzan (2010), Ispazon (2010), and Godolphin (2010), all of which earned the house the niche credibility it has woefully milked through releases like Pegasus (2011), Herod (2012), Byerley (2014), Galloway (2014), and Layton (2016). All told, this is a fresh sort of fragrance, but has a really nice and complex sort of development, on a base that isn't irritatingly over-amplified with aromachems (even if they are still the mainstay of the PdM formulae).

The opening of bergamot, mandarin, grapefruit, lemon, and mint really sort of draws me into some mid to late-2000's fragrances like Cartier Roadster (2008) with its smoothness, and even wisps of Versace Eros (2012), but designer comparisons end there as a host of really robust barbershop herbs and florals enter the equation, conjuring images of more recent Penhaligon's masculine scents but with more heft than anything that house has released outside its oud lines. A rich rosemary and geranium heart note is smoothed by lavender, juniper, and heated up with olibanum, until a thick but moderated semi-oriental base appears. The slow fade from fresh and sweet minty citrus to shave foam then creamy woods is an interesting olfactive jawbreaker of sorts, with layers of increasing intensity until a polysantal/cashmeran foundation appears, cooked up with ambrox super and seasoned with the green robustness of a vetiver/patchouli pair. It's not master perfumery, but Sedley is really competent and not cloying, plus distinctive unlike a lot of stuff you could be buying in the places it's sold. This jack of all trades vibe works in the office, club, or cooler casual days for me, with endless longevity combined with more considerate sillage than normal for the house. This won't blow off anyone's socks, but it does smell better up close than from afar, which is part of the charm.

Parfums de Marly has come full-circle with this one, although I won't say they've redeemed themselves just yet, because it only takes another wave of releases to place them back in the doldrums of "upscale designer knockoff" where they've been since the mid 2010's. Sedley is at least a good step in the right direction alongside the more-controversial Kalan, giving fans of the house a taste of something they haven't had since the beginning, and some doubters of the brand (like me) a few new things to consider. I still wouldn't plunk $300 down for this, but if Sedley showed up somewhere on clearance, I'd be tempted as this scent could fill a particular hole in my olfactive arsenal. This is just a nice and surprisingly "complete" masculine perfume full of layers, transitions, and a nice fresh start that only hints at its own complexity. I'd put Sedley thoroughly in the realm of designer-adjacent niche, like modern Guerlain masculines and most of the Lalique line, but that isn't a bad thing. If you like citrus, smooth mint, and traditional barbershop elements over a modern oriental base, plus have the cash to blow, this could be a serious option. With that in mind, I give Parfums de Marly Sedley a thumbs up.