Author: Suzy Nightingale

What’s new? Fragrance shopping – Part Two

Yesterday we found Amanda Carr experiencing Part One of her fragrance shopping in ‘the new normal’ adventure. Today, we continue her olfactory odyssey, as she makes her way to some of London’s most-loved independent perfume boutiques to find out what’s in store…

‘By the time I left Jovoy, I was both skipping and singing my way along the near-deserted London streets. A quick stop at Penhaligon’s had me admiring its smart and witty advisory graphics, aiming to ‘Keep you as fit as a fiddle” while you browsed. They were undoubtedly the best I saw all day, providing reassurance for any unsettled customers and also added a much needed touch of humour to the newly weird normality of shopping. Bravo Penhaligon’s and well done on the regal musky-mimosa launch, The Favourite.

 

 

Covent Garden, normally a bustling haven of fragrance testing opportunities, is an altogether more subdued place currently, with many still-to-reopen stores and few tourists – perhaps because the tube station had yet to reopen. But Floral Street, one of the most cheerful fragrance shops you’ll ever enter, was its usual colourful self. The staff were wearing covetable and very cute floral masks that coordinated with their heavily flower-printed aprons, both styles I think Floral Street should consider selling. [NB: we agree!]

 

 

I was here to try the newest scent, Arizona Bloom, a deliciously sunny, salted musk launched at the end of lockdown and inspired by ‘wilderness, neon skies and eternal sunshine,’ according to Natalia, my helpful Floralista. It riffs on the sense of grounded contemplation founder Michelle Feeney experienced on a recent trip to the Atacama Desert, and aims for a slower, more thoughtful vibe, one we can all relate to after the last few months.

 

 

Once again, the shopping experience here was almost better than normal, with Natalia happy to help me try as many fragrances as I wanted, as well as pointing out some excellent value deals the store was offering, such as the make up bag, a 10ml perfume of your choice and body cream for £30, while I sat and enjoyed the personalised sales treatment.

I luxuriated in being the only person in the store, and because I’d slowed down a touch, I noticed more, including the new refill service available, with 20% off if you take your bottle in for refilling, which is definitely strong motivation for visiting.

For customers who can’t come to Covent Garden, there is an innovative Virtual Florista experience available, where you book in for an online meet-up with one of the experienced in store Floralistas. One of its discovery boxes is sent to your door and you are then talked through the fragrances while inhaling at home, so do contact the store if this might appeal. How heartening to see a bit of scented innovation for those of us who have to self-shield more seriously.

 

 

My final stop – with my step count now well into five figures – was Bloom Perfumery, tucked away in Langley Court, where there’s always something interesting to sniff from its roster of hard-to-find brands. Careful hygiene and common sense prevails here, explained founder Oxana Polyakova, who told me “When you need to use your nose you can use it’, so masks can be discreetly dropped and potions inhaled with enthusiasm.

Customers are encouraged not to touch the bottles too much – there’s always someone around to help you spray- and the store does an excellent sampling service so you can take tiny bottles home to try. I inhaled Bee, the newish launch from Zoologist Perfumes, an extraordinary, honeyed smudge of waxy, powdery loveliness, featuring ginger syrup, Royal Jelly accord and a warmly mimosa-ish drydown, it was almost worth the trek across town just to inhale this.

So tired but happy, I finished my day with renewed enthusiasm for scent shopping.

If you are able to visit then stores are very pleased to see you and you may even find you prefer the quieter, more personalied service you receive. Remember that these new shopping rituals are new for everyone, and the slower pace will require patience from all of us.

If you are considering visiting any of the smaller independent stores I’d recommend a quick phone call beforehand to check the lay of the land, as some services – such as Jo Loves Tapas Bar and Les Senteurs Private Consultations [mentioned in Part One] – are restricted.

We hope that you will carefully and thoughtfully emerge back in to the wonderful world of fragrance shopping in ‘the new normal’ – and thank you, Amanda, for conducting such an encouraging report for us!

[Words & pictures by Amanda Carr, edited by Suzy Nightingale.]

What’s fragrance shopping in ‘the new normal’ like? Part One…

What’s fragrance shopping in ‘the new normal‘ like right now?

If – like us – you’ve been a touch cautious about returning to the high street to shop for fragrance in an actual store, we’ve some reassuring news: Our roving reporter (and co-founder of We Wear Perfume) Amanda Carr, visited central London this week and found it was not just safe, but surprisingly enjoyable…

‘Sat on an empty tube, masked-up and slightly anxious is not how I usually approach fragrance shopping, but this pandemic has turned everything upside down. What would my first foray into scent stores be like? How would I inhale fragrance through my home-made, Liberty print face mask? I clutched my portable hand sanitiser – Perfumer H, Orange Leaf Hand First Aid, since you’re asking – and nervously headed out.

My first stop was Les Senteurs in stylish Elizabeth Street, and there’s a polite notice on the door explaining the ‘two guest’ policy for socially distanced shopping. Using the hand sanitiser as you enter is a must and masks must be worn, but your nose can peek out to allow you to inhale. All done, according to manager Clair Wills, to keep you safe while sniffing.

But oh what a joy to be back in a store!

 

 

On the central display was the newly launched Tauer fragrance Phtaloblue, exclusive to Les Senteurs. Trying it felt like a reward for just being there, as a new Andy Tauer fragrance is always a treat, Phtaloblue is like a cool, sea breeze, lightly tinged with orange blossom and geranium, with smudges of herby notes as if you were on a cliffside walk.

Although closed during the pandemic, Les Senteurs has remained busy selling fragrance from its website due partly, Clair claims, to the weekly e-newsletter the store continued to send out and its free-post service. ‘I think people slowed down a lot during lockdown and had time to properly read about and consider the fragrances we featured,’ she told us. ‘We do a good tester services so customers had the time to order samples and consider them at home, then they treated themselves.’

 

 

Store visitors experience a similarly ‘slowed down’ shopping experience, I had the store to myself, since foot traffic in the area is still low, and the staff seemed delighted to see a real-life customer, so it all felt quite special. I browsed happily through fragrances from Cloon Keen, a charming Irish brand I’d been meaning to properly try, again exclusive to Les Senteurs, including the delicious new tuberose-heavy candle Étaín candle. I almost didn’t want to leave.

But with a new skip in my step, I continued my tour, including a brief trip across the road to the wonderfully air conditioned Jo Loves, where it’s business as usual, albeit it at a masked-up and quieter pace, and where I caught an energising spritz of the new Mango Thai Lime fragrance, another winner during the heat.

 

 

Over at Jovoy on Conduit Street, the store has spaced out its many fragrance collections and displays to allow up to two groups at a time to navigate the shop floor. Visitors also get their own pot of blotters and a pencil to take round with them, which is such a good idea – I hope this continues when we get back to normal – and there are vinyl gloves to wear for when you pick up the fragrance bottles to spray.

There have been a number of new launches at the store since lockdown including a wonderfully cheering medley of song-inspired fragrances from Musicology, a brand that stimulates the senses, memories and vibrations via music. Anyone who has read the recent Music & Perfume edition of The Scented Letter will feel slightly smug at already knowing the strong connection between sound and scent. I tried ‘Caus I’m Happy, a veritable rhythm of grapefruit, orange and bergamot citrus, and found myself humming Pharrell’s catchy tune of the same name for the rest of the day.

 

 

The store is also trialling a pre-selling service (a bit like stores would create a waiting list for an ‘it’ bag, although doesn’t that seem and age ago now?) for highly anticipated fragrances suffering from postponed lockdown launches.

For example, store visitors can get an exclusive sniff of Widian’s Limited Edition 71 Intense, and put down an order before its autumn launch, grabbing one of the never-to-be-repeated bottles. Store manager Ines Serracino explained that they hope to do more pre-selling as the team has noticed an increased demand for hard to get fragrances.

Watch out fashion, it looks like fragrance is now the hot item creating wish lists…’

We continue Amanda’s ‘new normal’ scent discovery shopping trip TOMORROW.  So come back then to have your senses further temted back in store…

(Text and pictures by Amanda Carr, edited by Suzy Nightingale).

Floral Street supersizes: go BIG (and go to Harrods!)

Floral Street have already thrilled us with their Discovery Set samples and pocket-size scents, but die-hard fans will squeal at this news: they have also ‘GONE BIG’! with the launch of their NEW 100ml sizes!
During August, Harrods customer can experience these exclusively as they discover ‘who will I be today’? And because there’s expected to be a rush for these supersize-me scents, they will then roll out into stores nationwide from September.
Of course we always love trying sample sizes and minis before we commit to a full-size – and it’s something we have always championed at The Perfume Society. There’s nothing like being able to explore the full range of a house’s fragrances from from the comfort of you own hme, and deciding which of them makes your eyes roll back into your head with pleasure. And when you know, you know you’re going to need more, more, more…
That’s when you want a bumper bottle, to spritz with abandon (espcially duing this heatwave, we’re finding!) And it’s something customers have been calling out for. Michelle Feeney, the founder of Floral Street, and a passionate perfume aficionado herself, explains that:
‘After only two years in business we are thrilled that demand for a larger size has led us to launch our 100mls. We are finding that consumers often want three sizes of their favourite scents – 100m for home, 50ml for the desk and a 10ml on-the-go travel size’. 
Take two bottles… No, actually, we will take all three!
If you’re yet to try these incredible fragrances – each of them a stunning and so-modern take on a floral theme – we suggest you start small, with that brilliant Floral Street Discovery Set, but please know that you WILL be falling hard for at least one of these florals, and then you know what to do: supersize that scent and maximise your perfume pleasure.
Floral Street 100ml bottles, £98 exclusively at harrods.com
By Suzy Nightingale

Bodyguard hand sanitisers: made by French perfumers (you’ll LOVE how these smell!)

There are so many hand sanitisers out there now, but when we were looking for a special extra gift to pop into our Treat Box, we wanted something that would be incredibly useful and smelled beautiful (of course we did!)
So as soon as we heard the BODYGUARD Protect hand sanitisers are made by French perfumers at an atelier in Provence, we knew we had to get our noses on them. Let’s face it – if we have to use them every day, we’d rather our hands smelled fabulous. And this is a fragrant ritual we can get behind.
Founder Celia Nicolosi explains:
‘Our heritage and all our expertise comes from creating fine fragrances in Provence, France. We use traditional techniques passed down through generations that take time and patience to deliver.
Our BODYGUARD anti-bacterial hand sanitisers are fragranced with a fresh Eau de Cologne formula, with each bottle made in our own L’Atelier in Manosque, Provence, this allows us to maintain the quality standards of our product. Our formula is also incredibly gentle on your hands, this is because we use a very high grade moisturising glycerin, which we don’t filter so that you receive all the added goodness to care for you hands.’

 

As we’ve discussed before, fragrant Colognes were traditionally used for health purposes – the alcohol was cleansing to the skin and many of the ingredients added additional anti-bacterial properties (though people didn’t realise that, then. They simply thought pleasant smells warded off sickness).

The BODYGUARD anti-bacterial hand sanitiser contains a powerful 70% alcohol formula with moisturising properties, to cleanse and calm your hands, each beautifully scented in four unique fragrances, and priced at £4.95 each.

Which will you choose as a daily fragrant pleasure…?

MORINGA BLOSSOM
The gentle clean scent of the tropical moringa flower subtly enhanced with violet and a touch of cedar.

MARINE
A breezy sea fragrance, of fresh Mediterranean bergamot, with a hint of woody cedar and musc.

COCONUT
Our coconut fragrance is an irresistible, dreamy, exotic cocktail of coconut, vanilla, jasmine and amber. A holiday must have!

CITRUS
Bursting with orange, bergamot and lemon, this classic citrus fragrance is awakened with notes of lavender and epice.

bodyguardprotect.co.uk

Meanwhile, if you’d like to try the always reviving Citrus Bodguard Protect Hand Sanitiser as an extra goody in our fragrant Treat Box, you can buy the whole box of THIRTEEN perfumes and two scented treats for just £23 (or £19 if you’re a VIP Club Member)

By Suzy Nightingale

Gucci Bloom: the FREE arcade game!

Did you know Gucci has a Gucci Arcade App, where players can download free (ultra glam) retro style arcade games? Well now Gucci Bloom has its very own game added…

We are excited to announce today the release of the Gucci Bloom Game in the Gucci Arcade on the Gucci App! It is the first game dedicated to fragrance!

In the Gucci Bloom game, players embody their favorite fragrant fashionistas from the new Gucci Bloom advertising campaign – entering a mysterious garden and using magic to bloom the blossoms.

 

 

 

The game takes inspiration from the just-launched and stunningly surrealistic campaign video for Gucci Bloom, of which Gucci says: ‘The new Gucci Bloom campaign opens with Florence Welch exploring the abandoned theatres of La Scarzuola, a surrealist architectural compound built around an old Franciscan convent. Award-winning photographer and director Floria Sigismondi creates a garden of dreams where magic blooms and intensifies to its crescendo with a floral explosion showering the four protagonists: award-winning actress and director Anjelica Huston, singer songwriter Florence Welch, actress Jodie Turner-Smith and designer Susie Cave. Some scenes take inspiration from the popular French musical film ‘Peau d’Âne,’ directed by Jacques Demy. The stop motion flower sequences in the campaign are animated by the Brothers Quay.’

 

 

And in the flower-filled Gucci Arcade game, the appealingly 80s-style retro graphics continue the story and explore the whimsical Gucci aesthetic as ‘…players enter a mysterious garden and using a fairy dust light beam are able to magic the blossoms to bloom.’ Players can choose a character created in the likeness of the new talents featured in the campaign, and really it’s just the most delightful way to pass the time – particularly in these enduringly strange days of social distancing due to the glocal pandemic of Covid-19 still wreaking chaos.

 

In fact, gaming figures have risen by a whopping 65% globally, according to statista.com, who report that ‘While cinemas and theaters closed their doors to try to stem the spread of the disease, many people turned to home entertainment during periods of self-isolation.’ So if you’ve never explored the fascinating world of online and app games, now is the perfect time to give it a go.

 

 

Gucci explain that, ‘…the Gucci Bloom game is accessible from the Gucci Arcade map on the Gucci App, where players can choose between a lineup of different games. Employing and displaying the hallmarks of the House, all of the games on the App are unique, while sharing a common spirit of entertainment.’

#InBloom

And really, if we’re gonna start gaming, could there be a better way to begin than a FREE perfume-inspired Gucci Bloom Arcade game…?

Written by Suzy Nightingale

Floral Instagrammers we love to follow…

Floral Instagrammers are on the rise – and no wonder, with all of us desperately seeking solace in gardens (if we’re lucky enough to have them) and open spaces, of late. Scroll down for some of the *most* exquisite flower-filled feeds we love to follow, and think you will, too…

Once upon a time, Instagram seemed full of pictures of avocado toast and cats, but it’s the floral Instagrammers really making it their own, right now. If you search for the hashtag #garden, it currently has over 56.4m posts attributed to it, while #flowers has 190m. And there are so many more, similarly floral-themed hashtags, each with several million posts (and counting).

So why are we seeing such a floral show on Instagram (and oither social media) right now? Well, it’s been proven that even looking at pictures of nature and open spaces can dramatically lower your blood pressure and improve your mental health. But more than that, we think people are just craving nice things to focus on for a while each day. We certainly are!

 

 

That’s why we devoted our latest issue of The Scented Letter magazine to all things bright and beautiful, inviting you to Step In To the Garden and explore with us, which you can do for free online if you’re a VIP, or in print if you want a glossy, gorgeous magazine to sit in your own garden with.

Meanwhile, here are just a handful of the brilliant floral Instagrammers we follow, and if you scroll through their feeds you’ll see exactly why we’re so in love…

 

@cultivatedbychristin
Christin Geall is enormously talented and here shares her beguiling ideas on design, nature, culture, horticulture. The kind of floral feed that makes you want to immediately dance barefoot into a meadow and turns floral arrangements into a pure art form.

 

@cnliziqi
These stunning (and so relaxing) IGTV films follow Li Ziqi’s adventures as she strolls through flower-filled meadows, picking blossoms to cook with, to arrange into stunning, so-simple floral arrangements, and even make her own floral hydrolates with a copper still in her garden.

 

@honeysuckle_and_hilda
A florist, writer and brilliant teacher based in Oxfordshire, Claire Victoria Bowen taught our own Co-Founder, Jo Fairley, how to create the most beautiful (yet seemingly effortless) bouquets. Truly inspirational, you’ll never look at your plants in the same way: here, everything in the garden is beautiful.

 

@goldfinchelson
Looking for all the world as though you’ve stumbled across some undiscovered Vermeer paintings, the work of artist and photographer Tracy Goldfinch Elson is filled with ethereal light, love and touches of great humour. We’re regularly stopped in our tracks by their other-worldly beauty.

 

@kristengvy
Head judge on the Netflix series, The Big Flower Fight (which we’ve binge-watched with joy), named one of the world’s top florists by Harpers Bazzar; Kristen Griffith VanderYacht’s feed is filled with the exuberance and artistry he’s become (rightly) famed for.

 

@swallowsanddamsons
A patchwork quilt of quintessence, Sheffield-based florist Anna Potter’s account is a glory of colour and style, featuring just the kind of artfully rumpled and ‘undone’ arrangements we favour, and providing a wealth of inspiration to brighten up your every day. How we revel in it.

 


@her_dark_materials
Cotswold-based Ros is one of those photographers who conjures magic from every subject she turns her camera to. From gorgeously swooning bouquets to simply capturing the cracking of an egg or pasta drying, draped nonchalantly over the back of a chair: flowers seem to glow in the gloom for her.

 

@tangleandthyme
A floral design studio, eco-florist (with gift subscriptions available) and cutting garden in North Essex, we marvel at the skill of show here – and how much fun they seem to be having! Also, absolutely any feed showing donkeys (and humans) wearing floral crowns gets our vote. Instantly smile-inducing!

 

@jamjar_flowers
A riot of colour and creativity, Jam Jar Flowers create the most jaw-dropping floral instillations, seasonal floral arran gements and dress gorgeously glam events. We dream of re-creating their coloured glass bottle-filled window (though kind of dread the dusting, so might just gaze in wonder, instead…)

 

@my_botanical_heart
Dianna Jazwinski is a professional garden photographer based in Sussex, and oh my gosh, her work is laden with the kind of imagery that makes our faces turn into the heart-eyed emoji. Ravishingly laid out and perfectly captured, flowers look so perfect in her hands you’d swear they were crafted by angels.

 

@everdandysilverfox
Alex Musgrave combines two of our favourite things – lovely reviews of fragrances, often thoughtfully themed around poetry and art, and simply beautiful pictures of flowers in various settings. Our favouites are those captured as they become blowsily over-bloomed. Always a treat to read and see.

 

@commonfarmflowers
Delivering across the U.K. – ‘Our dream is that everybody should assume that they can buy exceptional quality, British grown flowers year round, that ‘grown not flown flowers’ should be the norm,’ say husband and wife team, flower farmer and author Georgie Newbery, and artist Fabrizio Bocca. Bravo!

Written by Suzy Nightingale

Yardley London launch ‘Fragrance Diagnostic Tool’ to find your new fave (plus a discount!)

It can often be tricky navigating your way through a range of new fragrances, so Yardley London has launched a Fragrance Diagnostic Tool online, to provide personalised fragrance recommendations (AND a discount code!) via your favourite ingredients, and a signpost to your perfect scent…

Celebrating their 250th anniversary (an incredible heritage you can read all about on our page dedicated to their history), Yardley London’s Fragrance Diagnostic Tool is a quick and simple way to guide you to your new favourite fragrance. All you need to do is pick some of your favourite notes from a list, and the fragrances that most closely match your taste will be presented to you.

I got matched to April Violets, which shows it works, as that’s one of my all-time favourites – all powdery/pretty with verdant violet leaf adding shade) –  and Blossom & Peach, which I must admit to not knowing so well, but it sounds utterly perfect for me. Blackcurrant, rose, peach, lilac and geranium with woody notes, patchouli and musk? Yes please! So that’s on my must-try list.

Even better: Once the diagnostic has been completed, customers receive a 10% off discount code valid on the Yardley range of eau de toilettes. So maybe my ‘must try‘ list is suddenly ‘must buy right NOW’…

Written by Suzy Nightingale

Penhaligon’s Language of Flowers

Love’s language may be talked with these
To work out choicest sentences,
No blossoms can be meeter
And, such being used in Eastern bowers
Young maids may wonder if the flowers
Or meanings be the sweeter.

ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING, 1806 – 1861 

 

With our ‘Step in to the Garden‘ issue of The Scented Letter Magazine hot off the press, and more of us craving the colours, textures and (of course) scents of flowers more than ever in these uncertain times… floral inspiration is springing up all over!

Penhaligon’s have published a fascinating guide to the ancient ‘Language of Flowers‘ – the hidden meanings attached to seemingly innocent blooms, and how these could be used to send secret messages that bypassed stringent social ettiquette in the past…

What’s more, Penhaligon’s are inviting you to construct your own virtual bouquet to send to someone special, and when you sign up to their Penhaligon’s Times newsletter, both you and your friend will receive a £10 gift voucher to enjoy.

 

 

The newsletter is always packed full of interesting scented snippets, and here is their explantion of that secret scented Language of Flowers, first printed in the Penhaligon’s Times:

‘What could be more pleasurable than receiving an unexpected bunch of flowers! A bunch of bluebells to brighten a day. Lily of the Valley to celebrate a lover’s return, or a simple rose to nurture a budding romance. How much more pleasurable may be if the flowers themselves carry a hidden meaning. From ancient times flowers have been symbolic. The Romans honoured their heroes with laurel wreaths and Greek mythology tells how many flowers were created.

Poets have always extolled the virtues of flowers, and since Elizabethan times have written on their meanings. But it was the Victorians who turned flower-giving into an art. Inspired by a book entitled Le Langage de Fleurs by Madame de la Tour, the Victorians practised the new floral code with the same dedication with which they built their cities and furnished their homes.

The choice of flower was all important, but so too was the manner of presentation. If the flowers were upside down the opposite meaning was intended. Thus tulips presented with their stems uppermost meant blatant rejection from a lover. If the ribbon was tied to the left, the meaning referred to the giver, if tied to the right, to the recipient. On the other hand, one could always respond by wearing the flower in different ways – on her heart of course meant love, but worn in the hair implied caution. Both are acceptable locations for a light mist of scent.’

 

 

So now, what will your virtual bouquet say in this secret Language of Flowers, we wonder…?

Written by Suzy Nightingale

Stories Parfums: a guided scent discovery, LIVE online!

Stories Parfums is a house filled with evocative, emotional story-telling through scent. And now you are invited to join a private VIP Scent Club, where you can ‘…receive samples of our fragrances and learn how to connect with your own story through the art of fragrance, live online with Tonya.’

Tonya Kidd-Beggs is the Founder and Creative Director of Stories Parfums, and right for the get-go, she knew she wanted to create a house where the fragrances were unashamedly emotionally driven – reaching into the depths of mislaid memories, childhood dreams and long-forgotten hope.

 

 

Stories Parfums say this is ‘a unique opportunity to experience STORIES Parfums first hand alongside our Founder and learn a little more about the art of fragrance and the development of our gender-inclusive brand, and invite you to join us LIVE online, from the comfort of your home.’

This intimate exploration of scent with fellow fragrance lovers is £5 per person and for that, you will be sent 4 x deluxe 2ml samples of STORIES No.01 and STORIES No.02.

‘Tonya will host a guided group discovery of each of the scents to experience together the unique notes and ingredients in each eau de parfum’.

Tonya will welcome your questions and scent stories in this one-off online group session via ZOOM on Friday 31 July at 4pm BST.

In addition, there will be a sneak preview of upcoming product launches and participant exclusive offers. But hurry! There are only 20 places in this very special session, and you will need to book your ticket in time for your samples to arrive!

 

Written By Suzy Nightingale