Montblanc Explorer Ultra Blue – The Sense Of Adventure

Cy Sinderson

Blue – it’s the colour of a hungry Siberian Husky’s eyes as they glitter at the edge of the campfire light watching your every mouthful of Arctic hare supper. It’s also the colour of the sapphires in the cloth bag under your shirt that jangle as you sprint across the border into Eritrea. Blue was also the colour of the pigtails worn by that flaxen-haired fraulein who almost broke your arm while beating you in that wrist wrestling contest at Oktoberfest. And who can forget the hue your fingers went as you clung on for dear life for an hour from that ledge on the southeastern face of K2?

Blue is definitely the colour of life’s amazing adventures – and naturally enough, it is also the colour of Montblanc’s new fragrance Explorer Ultra Blue, which is quickly developing a reputation for being the scent of adventure too. The newest addition to the Montblanc Explorer line first unveiled in 2019, Ultra Blue is the creation of three world travellers from sensory creation house Givauden; Jordi Fernandez, Olivier Pescheux, and Antoine Maisondieu. Their brief? Only the coolest request of all time – to develop an original scent that will awaken a desire in the wearer to instantly embark on a voyage of discovery.

These olfactory geniuses approached their mission by attempting to recreate the sense of the palette of blues you find in the different skies, lakes and mountains of the world. Leaving no flagstone untrod on their epic journey to find the right mix of citrus, wood and marine notes, the experts finally found their Shangri La. The top notes of Montblanc Explorer Ultra Blue are a luminous and zesty fusion of Italian bergamot and citrus, with a touch of pink peppercorn to deliver a fresh spicy note alongside the woody facets reminiscent of elemi. The iodine, watery, salty and airy notes deliver a subtle hint of a sea breeze which, when fused with the citrus, evoke the freshness of Alpine landscapes. One final stop under the blue skies of the Indonesian island of Sulawesi to top up with patchouli oil and you have the rich and earthy base notes that underpin the Montblanc Explorer Ultra Blue’s structure.

Delivered in a unique bottle hand-assembled in the Maison’s Pelleteria in Florence, the vessel’s leather-like protective sheath is printed with the same elegant Saffiano motif used on Montblanc leather creations since 1926.

Montblanc Explorer Ultra Blue, it’s an ode to both the blue of nature – and the excitement of adventure – and it’s exactly what you’d expect from a Maison who have been travelling alongside explorers for nearly 115 years now.

Available now from Farmers.