Wild Candy

Mancera built its reputation on oud, leather and heavy amber, so Wild Candy sits slightly apart from the rest of the range. The house files it as Gourmand Fruity and describes it as a sweet, fruity opening full of fun, with caramel and red fruit creating a bold trail. It is the most straightforwardly enjoyable thing Mancera makes and it does not pretend otherwise.

The opening is fruit and sugar, bright and slightly sticky, with a citrus edge that keeps the first few minutes from becoming syrup. What saves it from being just another sweet fruity is the heart, which Mancera lists as Tahitian flower, ylang-ylang, Bulgarian rose and iris. That is a genuinely floral middle, and it changes the character completely: the ylang brings a creamy, tropical banana-and-custard warmth, the Bulgarian rose adds depth the fruit alone cannot supply, and the iris introduces a cool powder that cuts across the sweetness. The base is Siam benzoin, amber and white musk, so the last hours are balsamic and vanillic rather than sugary, with a soft, resinous finish. Some wearers pick up a faint saltiness against the sweetness, which is what stops it cloying.

It is a young fragrance in feel and it works best in cool air, which sounds counterintuitive for something this warm. Summer heat amplifies gourmands unhelpfully, so a Highveld winter afternoon or a Cape evening suits it far better than a February beach day. Consider it a weekend and social scent rather than an office one.

Performance is generous, as it is with almost everything from this house. Eight hours or more is standard, with substantial projection in the first two, and a single spray on clothing will still be there the next day. Restraint is essential: gourmands of this weight go from pleasant to overwhelming with one extra press. It divides opinion more than the rest of Mancera's catalogue, which is what you would expect from a caramel-and-rose fragrance, so try it on skin first. Sold in Mancera's standard 120ml and 60ml sizes.