The tattooist turned perfumer is back with another riotous composition.

Listed notes

Bubblegum, cashmere, spices, cedar, sandalwood, musks.

Top notes

The most realistic bubblegum perfume I have ever smelled. That’s the opening to Last Minute Change of Heart by Freddie Albrighton. The scent actually makes your mouth water it is such a good rendition of bubblegum. It has that juicy, simulacre of tropical fruits, a sort of plasticky/waxy feel and even a touch of something a little powdery layered over the top, just ever so slightly giving the sense of the coating which stops the bubblegum sticking to the packet.

There is no doubt that the opening to Last Minute Change of Heart is an absolute riot. It’s fun, flirty, irreverent and glorious. I’ve smelled other bubblegum compositions before, but this one is the most true to life. It reminds you of cheap sweets, school days, polyester uniforms and snogging at the back of the bus. What a lot of fun this is packed into a little scent.

Heart notes

There’s a sort of fast forward sense of evolution with this fragrance. If the start is early adolescence then the heart and base are us leaping forward into the future, becoming more sophisticated, more discerning, but not ever losing that sense of fun which the beginning imbues.

In the middle portion of the scent, warm spices calm the tropical fruit explosion down making it far more sensible and grown up and a gentle woodiness also starts to mingle with the lingering fruitiness. At this stage the fragrance is still fun and flirty, but it is starting to calm down significantly.

Base notes

The final phase of Last Minute Change of Heart is a lingering, warm, fruity and woody concoction which has whispers of an animalic hum about it now and again, albeit delicately so.

Given the sheer magnitude of the opening of the scent, the last part of a wear feels almost subdued in comparison, but it is in fact hard to compare: because the opening is SO big, any dry down phase after that may end up feeling much smaller and taking up less space. If they scent were huge all the way through then it may have ended up being obnoxious, so in giving us a calmer end to the scent, Freddie has ensured that the fragrance is wearable and doesn’t become annoying. It’s a sensible decision and it allows us to really enjoy the start of the scent, knowing that it’s lifespan is limited. That said, the ending feels a bit unsure and doesn’t feel as confident or full of verve as some of the other fragrances in Freddie’s line. It’s certainly not unpleasant, this warm, woody, fruity medley, it just doesn’t feel quite as sure and adept.

The other stuff

The perfumer for Last Minute Change of Heart was Freddie Albrighton.

The longevity of the fragrance is, like all Freddie’s compositions, very solid. It lasts six to eight hours following an application, sometimes longer.

The sillage, or projection, of Last Minute Change of Heart is also good, going to further than handshake distance quite easily upon initial application and then calming down to about handshake distance thereafter.

The brand

We’ve previously written a brand guide to Freddie Albrighton’s original releases, and also reviewed Eleven Candles in Antwerpen.

Freddie Albrighton is a tattooer turned self-taught perfumer who has shaken the UK fragrance scene with his well-developed creations. The brand has an interesting aesthetic which melds the rough, tough world of tattooing with a more sensitive and even vulnerable approach to perfume. It’s an interesting intersection and one which feels ripe for Freddie’s creativity to explore.

Buy it

Last Minute Change of Heart is available from the Freddie Albrighton web boutique where it is priced at £102 for 50ml of EdP.

We were kindly gifted a sample of this fragrance by the brand and we thank them for their kindness.

Header image by whoalice-moore from Pixabay. Images of the product by The Sniff.