PARFUMS DE MARLY
CASTLEY
2025
PERFUMER
David Chieze
bergamot
black pepper
ginger
timut pepper
petitgrain
neroli
labdanum
benzoin
akigalawood
‘Castley: The guiding compass that leads you to achieve your goals. From French explorers to modern adventurers. Castley draws inspiration from the audacity and courage of 18th-century French explorers. These gentlemen were noble and truly visionary, challenging themselves and the world to discover new inspiring horizons. They made the impossible possible. This new masculine fragrance evokes memories of the ‘Spice Treasure’ era, when ingredients like pepper, cinnamon or ginger were discovered and imported to France, marking the quintessence of French Haute Parfumerie. Today, it is the same thirst for travel and adventure that inclines the modern man towards Castley. A radiant yet deep fragrance. Thanks to meticulously selected high-end ingredients, this Eau de Parfum expresses the perfect and astonishing blend of luminous freshness, reflecting a vigorous man always on the move, thanks to breezy citrus and mineral notes, contrasting with rich spicy Timut Pepper from Nepal, ambery and noble Labdanum and Akigwalawood that unveil his adventurous and sensual side. A vibrant fragrance, embodying intrepidity and confidence with a unique history, fostering limitless experiences. For a fearless man. Mystery and transparency… The grey smoked clear bottle reflects the authentic portrayal of the man, in his urban environment, conveying sophistication, yet beneath the cover lies passion and sensuality, propelling him toward new horizons.’ – Nicheinternationalgroup’
Parfums de Marly has (in my opinion rightfully) become the face of ‘niche, but not really niche’ and I haven’t been overly impressed with any of their more recent releases. As far as the men’s collection goes leading up to Castley; Althair takes a long time for me to become enjoyable and I dislike the opening. Perseus I like a lot better, but find too generic at the same time; there’s many and better options unless you want a Parfums de Marly per se. When Castley came to light, I was more intrigued and it looked like this would be a step in a less generic or at least, less crowd-pleasing direction. That’s somewhat true, but in my opinion, Parfums de Marly delivered the worst of both worlds here in what may be my least favorite Parfums de Marly of their entire range.
Picture taking the aromatic, relatively-classy and understated Sedley, mixing it with the ginger, more modern Perseus and make it herbal & sweet at the same time. I find it hard to place Castley on a frame of reference. It has mostly aftershave, fougere connections at first, but instantly with a sweeter citrus than most. Then it grows increasingly sweeter, but also herbal green at the same time and a typical harsh woodiness for unnecessary longevity (although I understand that Parfums de Marly is pretty much forced to make strong scents, because that seems to be the most important thing to most of their actual male customers).
I was on the fence about the opening, with the sweetness taking away from the freshness and it’s by no means remotely as nice as Sedley to my nose. Yet, when it starts to dry down, it gets to become a strange Sauvage Elixir-esque mess if it was a greener scent. I see a ton of people referencing Essential Parfums Bois Imperial and fresher, soapy scents, which leads to me to believe they haven’t smelled Castley yet or only smelled it briefly on paper. I find it a lot more ambery, but also more aromatic, than any of the most given references at the time of writing. A lot of this comes from people assuming Quentin Bisch is the perfumer behind Castley, which I have strong doubts about; it takes some of his cues, but this does not smell like a Bisch creation at all to me. A reference that I can get along with more is Mancera Cosmic Pepper, in that sweet aromatic peppery vibe that comes through in Castley as well (I do prefer Cosmic Pepper).
Castley is not your average crowd pleasing profile, but a contemporary take on a retro style. Yet, I definitely don’t think it will appeal to any fans of those classic men’s colognes; far less than a Sedley would. Castley won’t win back over Parfums de Marly sceptics, by releasing a more traditional type of genre with this. It feels like an aftershave fragrance, for boys who don’t have to shave yet. I’ve not been wowed by Parfums de Marly in a long time, but I’ve not been as unimpressed as with Castley in at least as long.