Map of the Heart – an Abundance of Creativity

In the recent Esxence fragrance fair in Milan, one of the highlights was smelling the aptly-named Abundance – a new fragrance by Australian perfume house, Map of the Heart.

We’ve long been huge fans of this always-artistic fragrance house, and love the way their scents imbue a sense of the landscapes they are inspired by. Indeed, many of the ingredients are indigenous to Australia and brilliant perfumer Jacques Huclier collaborated with Amelie Jacquin for this latest launch.

For V.8 Abundance, the verdancy and freshness billows forth from the first spritz – it was composed during Lockdown in Australia, so co-founder Sarah explained to us, and was borne of a sense of longing for nature and wildness that we all seemed to experience, no matter where we were based in the world.

 

 

Bitter orange fizzes with pops of pink pepper, a mellow drift of incense on the breeze suggesting adventure, exploration. The intriguing note of Christmas Tree or ‘Flame Tree’ is in the heart, but cast aside thoughts of yuletide celebrations and instead think of wide open vistas clustered by vast forests, shady places, an ancient place of sanctuary. As with all Map of the Heart fragrances, seams of Australian Sandalwood ripple throughout, here, joined by White Sandalwood, deep rivulets of Akigalawood and resinous benzoin, adding to the sacred nature of the scent as it warms on your skin.

This is a sneak-peek, because Abundance isn’t yet available on their website, but you may be sure when it is, there will be a rush of fragrant fans clamouring to own it – either in the heart bottles which made them so famous (and look for all the world as though they belong in an art gallery); or the more conventional bottles they now also produce.

Intrigued? You should be! We are thrilled to say the Map of the Heart Discovery Sets are now back in stock in our shop, and there you may try the rest of the collection to date. The only questions is where will you begin your Map of the Heart journey…?

Clear Heart v.1 – Australian summer: surfing, swimming, hot days, cool breezes and the salt that hangs in the air promising more.

Black Heart v.2 – Smoky. Impolite. Dangerous. It’s smoky heart of mysterious spices is shot through with shards of fresh eucalyptus and citrus to create an impolite mix of opposites.

Red Heart v.3 – Explosive. Seductive. Addictive. A composition of feijoa, tuberose and spices with sensual notes of musk and vanilla.

Gold Heart v.4 – Nurturing. Precious. Ancient. An exotic warm breeze that wraps around to protect and nurture.

Purple Heart v.5 – Brave. Instinctive. Triumphant. Inverying the olfactory pyramid by opening darker and then brightening

Pink Heart v.6 – Mingles on the skin with the spiciness of the sumac accord and cistus absolute for a mesmerising ride.

White Heart v.7 – The ethereal and sharp opening of French lavender, aldehyde and cardamom coolly invite us into the vast landscape of love.

Map of the Heart Discovery Set £35 for 7 x 1ml samples eau de parfum

Written by Suzy Nightingale

Art and Olfaction Awards 2017 shortlist: the fragrant names you need to familiarise yourself with right now…

During last week’s Esxence fragrance exhibition in Milan, the shortlist for the fourth annual Art and Olfaction Awards was announced in a special presentation. Some of the partners and judges for the awards were there in person, to declare the good news for those breathlessly waiting to hear if they’d made the cut – anxiously watching the faces and hanging on every word of Luca Turin, Helder Suffenplan, Adam Eastwood and Franco Wright, Antonio Gardoni, Christophe Laudamiel and Saskia Wilson-Brown, we’re sure!

Celebrating independent, artisinal perfumery and those indie houses that really push the boundaries in exciting ways – we are excited to see names we know well and already admire greatly among some we’ve not yet had the pleasure of getting our hands (and noses!) on and will be following with great interest.
So, for those who weren’t able to make the presentation, here’s the list of those who will be gnawing their fingernails a little longer while they await the finals on May 6, at Silent Green Kulturquartier in Berlin…

ARTISAN CATEGORY

Baraonda
by Nasomatto (The Netherlands)
CD/ Perfumer: Alessandro Gualtieri
Bruise Violet
by Sixteen92 (USA)
CD/ Perfumer: Claire Baxter
Ceremony
by Mirus Fine Fragrance (USA)
CD/ Perfumer: Neal Peters
Fatih Sultan Mehmed
by Fort and Manlé Parfum (Australia)
CD/ Perfumer: Rasei Fort and Al Manlé
Limestone
by Thorn & Bloom (USA)
CD/ Perfumer: Jennifer Botto
Liquorice Vetiver
by SP Parfums (Germany)
CD/ Perfumer: Sven Pritzkoleit
Mélodie de l’Amour
by Parfums Dusita (France)
CD/ Perfumer: Pissara Umavijani
Onycha
by DSH Perfumes (USA)
CD/ Perfumer: Dawn Spencer Hurwitz
Rosuerrier
by Pryn Parfum (Thailand)
CD/ Perfumer: Prin Lomros
Saffron
by Aether Arts Perfume (USA)
CD/ Perfumer: Amber Jobin
Vanilla and the Sea
by Phoenix Botanicals (USA)
CD/ Perfumer: Irina Adam

INDEPENDENT CATEGORY
Absolue D’Osmanthe
by Perris Monte Carlo (Monaco)
CD: Gian Luca Perris / Perfumer: Jean Michel Santorini
Altruist
by J.F. Schwarzlose Berlin (Germany)
CD: Lutz Herrmann / Perfumer: Véronique Nyberg
Anti Anti
by Atelier PMP (Germany)
CD: Stefanie Mayr, Daniel Plettenberg / Perfumer: Mark Buxton, David Chieze
Belle de Jour
by Eris Parfums (USA)
CD: Barbara Herman / Perfumer: Antoine Lie
Civet
by Zoologist (Canada)
CD: Victor Wong / Perfumer: Shelley Waddington
Close Up
by Olfactive Studio (France)
CD: Céline Verleure / Perfumer: Annick Mennardo
Lankaran Forest
by Maria Candida Gentile Maitre Parfumeur (Italy)
CD/ Perfumer: Maria Candida Gentile Team
Maître Chausseur
by Extrait D’Atelier (Italy)
CD: Chiara Ronzani / Perfumer: Not Disclosed
Romanza
by Masque Milano (Italy)
CD: Alessandro Brun, Riccardo Tedeschi / Perfumer: Cristiano Canali
Fathom V
by BeauFort London (UK)
CD: Leo Crabtree / Perfumer: Julie Marlowe
Stones
by Atelier de Geste (USA)
CD: Beau Rhee / Perfumer: Irina Nesa

SADAKICHI AWARD
Is This Mankind
by Peter de Cupere (Belgium)
Perfumer: Various
Osmodrama Berlin / Smeller 2.0
by Wolfgang Georgsdorf (Germany)
Perfumer: Various
Paradise Paradoxe
by Elodie Pong (Switzerland)
Perfumer: Anonymous
Smell of Data
by Leanne Wijnsma (The Netherlands)
Perfumer: Leanne Wijnsma with ScentAir
The Feelies: Multisensory Storytelling – Amazon
by Grace Boyle (UK)
Perfumer: Nadjib Achaibou (Singapore)
 

We were thrilled to see the inclusion of proudly independent British brand, BeauFort London‘s Fathom V on the shortlist! A well deserved finalist, we have been raving about this fragrance since we first sniffed it. Humongously green – imagine a florist-shop filled with freshly snapped stalks, fat buds bursting and white flowers tied raggedly with twine – this would fill an entire fairytale palace with its otherworldly life-force, with echoes of roiling salty waves mercilessly crashing on rocks as lightning tears the sky assunder.
It’s awards season a-go-go in scent land at the moment, with the Perfumed Plume awards also just announced in the US (many congrats to Basenotes for their nominations!) and the prestigious annual British Fragrance Foundation Awards being judged right now. And oh boy, that’s an exciting list of names we absolutely cannot wait to see…
Written by Suzy Nightingale