Bibliothèque: the new room spray from Byredo

Byredo has always been one of the most forward-thinking perfume brands – and their new Bibliothèque home fragrance shows that its charismatic owner, Ben Gorham, is still thinking ahead of the curve.

What we like about it – apart from its appealingly chunky dark-grey bottle and minimalist graphics created by M/M Paris – is the fact that it’s a room spray rather than a scented candle. That might not sound like much to get excited about, but with the scented-candle market reaching saturation point, it’s refreshing to see a home fragrance in a different format.

Released in time for the holiday season, Bibiothèque is based on one of Byredo’s most popular scented candles. Given its name you might expect it to smell of dusty old books, but in fact it has a fruity scent based on peach and plum notes in the base, mixed with peony, violet and patchouli and a touch of vanilla as well.

That might not sound – or smell – very bookish, but this otherwise rather sweet fragrance (originally created by perfumer Jérôme Epinette at fragrance house Robertet) is tempered by a leather note that’s redolent of plush leather book bindings. One for the bookshelf, we’d say.