Olive

We’re used to slooshing this onto our salads or into our frying pans – but spritzing it onto our pulse-points?  Well, yes:  the fragrant use of olive goes back millennia:  the early Arab perfume-makers used it as a base in many of their scented creations, and the Egyptians used it to steep jasmine blossoms, to produce a fragrant oil.  Olive has had many other therapeutic benefits:  as an aphrodisiac, in healing balms and creams, as sedatives and tonics.  (And we’ve noticed that lately it’s having a moment in the sun in the form of olive leaf tea, packed with health-giving antioxidants.) Symbolically, olive leaves represent abundance (as well as glory) – and that’s certainly true of this Mediterranean tree, which is quite a multi-tasker in perfume-terms.  The leaves, bark, fruits and flowers all offer different nuances:  earthy, peppery, fruity, buttery or subtly herbal.

Smell olive in:

4160 Tuesdays The Gin Garden

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