Tag: garden

Step into Les Jardin Français with Officine Universelle Buly’s vegetable-inspired scents

As we predicted last year in the (now Jasmine award-winning!) article for The Scented Letter Magazine, How to Spray your Five-a-Day, vegetable plots have been a place of much inspiration for perfumers. Now, there’s a whole new bumper crop of L’Officine Universelle Buly Les Jardins Français fragrances to explore and enjoy – and we promise, you’ll really dig them…!

‘The French Garden’ is a new collection of six fragrances from L’Officine Universelle Buly that garland vegetable notes with flowers and musks, all giving off a morning dew freshness. The launch happily coincided with the publication of our own garden themed latest edition of the magazine, The Perfumer’s Garden – because really, ever since the pandemic, it has all been about how much we get from our gardens and green spaces we can access for our mental health; how they inspire us all.

‘A garden is like a perfect universe,’ agrees Buly’s co-founder, Victoire de Taillac (pictured in her own garden, below). ‘A paradise. A haven… Gardening means being outside in all weathers, with all your sense awakened. The smells come together and surprise you…’ Also taking the senses by surprise are combinations like Indian Cucumber and Syrian mint, offering ‘crazy minty joy’, in a cloak of musk, and Iraqi Beetroot and Egyptian Rhubarb, tethered to the earthiness of patchouli. Or enjoy that note du jour, geranium, adding an extra dash of green to Oriental Watercress & Sardinian Parsley.

 

 

 

 

 

Some of the notes (like rhubarb, carrot and cucumber) have been used for many years by noses in their creations, while others seem more peculiar at first: sweet potato? It seemed incongruous, but oh it works amazingly well! They all do, having been expertly blended to achieve an almost photo-realistic encounter at first sniff, which then melds with your skin to become the fine fragrances they truly are. Basically put, no matter which you plump for, we promise you will NOT end up smelling like a soup or bowl of salad!

The project began when Buly co-founder Ramdane Touhami bid on an antique seed box in an auction. Having won it, he wondered if these precious seeds collected over hundreds of years could still be planted. Sadly that experiment didn’t flourish, but it did plant the seed of an idea: what if their next fragrances could reflect the love we all had for our gardens and green spaces during lockdown? A scented escapism in every spritz?

 

“Les Jardins Français” brings back to life an intoxicating and unique palette of garden fragrances. They all seem to be seized by the morning dew during a morning stroll through the vegetable garden and orchard, between rows of plants coming from the farthest ends of the world, acclimatised since Antiquity by patient monks, meticulous collectors and erudite healers, all genius gardeners and gatherers. Like a miraculous harvest in a universal garden, with freshly raked paths adorned with rare flowers, these armfuls of familiar vegetables and simple herbs, these aromatic and sunny delicious bouquets delight the senses and the heart.

 

 

 

 

Les Jardin Français is available online at www.buly1803.com and at their Selfridges counter: £145 for 75ml. La Sizaine collection of six x 9ml travel perfumes is also available for £108. The perfect way to sample the while collection (because you will need to smell them all!)

Since the launch of the fragrances, there’s been another crop of newness with Savon Superfin soaps and the divinely moisturising Lait Virginal to complement. One thing’s for certain – this growing L’Officine Buly Les Jardins Français collection is un-beet-able. [Apologies]

Written by Suzy Nightingale

Blooming marvellous! A flower garden extravaganza of scents & scintillating reads

During the recent torrential summer downpours in the U.K. a phrase oft’ repeated was “…well, it’s good for the gardens!” Which may have been less than welcome to hear while staring forlornly out of the window, but IS true nonetheless.

 

A bit of sun these last few days has perked us all up no end, and now finally we might wear the summer dress we’d been saving and sit in our own gardens, if we’re lucky enough to have them – sans raincoat and brolly. The thrill! All of this has us appreciating our gardens all the more, and despite the weather, all things garden-centric really has been the trend of the year thus far…

Coinciding with the opening of an extraordinary new outdoor space at the Palace of Versailles, we themed our Summer issue of multi-award-winning magazine, The Scented Letter, around ‘The Perfumer’s Garden’. Talking to green-fingered perfumers, sharing recommendations for scented plants for your garden and showcasing a round-up of glorious modern florals (for the home and for the skin) that evoke gardens or greenhouses – bringing the outdoors in and savouring a garden’s verdancy on your skin, too, is all we want to do right now.

 

 

 

Here’s what you can enjoy in this 60-page PRINT issue celebrating the garden’s ability to inspire and delight…

  • The Perfumer’s Garden – inspired by a fragrant garden just opened at Versailles, our 10-page florabundant extravaganza celebrates gardens, florists and flower scents
  • #Smellfie 2023 – to mark International Fragrance Day 2023, our fans and followers got snapping to share their love of perfume
  • A Working Nose – natural perfumer Delphine Thierry
  • Gelat-eaux! How to wear one of the ultra-cool new gourmand scents – without smelling like Mr. Whippy
  • Memories, Dreams, Reflections – British supermodel turned scent and skincare creator Kate Moss shares favourite perfumes and blooms
  • When Your Back Garden is a Tuberose Field – we join Aurélien Guichard at the harvest-time of this heady flower

Plus, as always, discover ALL the Latest Launches – in home fragrance, as well as perfumes to wear – and get a whiff of news, in Nosing Around

And don’t forget: you can now take out a yearly Print Subscription to The Scented Letter, the world’s only magazine for fragrance-lovers, here.

 

Master Perfumer Alberto Morillas enjoying his own ‘Perfumer’s Garden’ in The Scented Letter magazine.

 

Meanwhile, can we encourage those of you who THINK you don’t like ‘floral scents’ to explore the contemporary delights of Floral Street’s Discovery Set for only £16? This groundbreaking, hugely sustainable and so-likeable British house has wowed the world with their modern take on a floral – using this family as inspiration rather than slavishly following old-fashioned notions of how such fragrances should smell. Get ready to have your pulse race with these blooming wonderful perfumes…

 

Wonderland Peony This not only features armfuls of that flower, but pink berries and violets, Anything but cutesy, it’s given a woody-balsamic warmth by cedarwood, alongside vetiver.

Chypre Sublime An utterly modern take on this sophisticated fragrance family, blending incense with Damask rose absolute, midnight violet, pink pepper and geranium, on a stunning base of benzoin, labdanum and olibanum.

Black Lotus The classic English-Rose dressed in a black leather jacket. Intoxicating, spirited, bohemian and alive. Complex and multi-faceted, the sweet honeyed scent of centifolia rose adds depth to lighter, spicy nuances by way of red peppercorn and saffron.

Iris Goddess There’s nothing shy about these violets. An explosion of powdery petals collide with ripe red fruits. Black vanilla, warm musks and earthy carrot seed bring exoticisim and depth, sparkling lemon zest and red chilli pepper add a jolt of life.

London Poppy A love letter to London: a city as tough as ever-lasting poppies. The scent that opens with a bright beam of light. Sicilian Lemon and Florida Orange bring the zing. A salt-spray marine note adds an unexpected sea-facing view.

Neon Rose You will never have smelt flowers like these. Freshly chopped jasmine draped around your neck. Roses around your wrist. And yet no roses were harmed in the making of this showpiece – these buds were cooked up in a lab for extra punch. Crisp, green Angelica leaves bring a botanical dimension, while fresh Bergamot floats overhead.

Wild Vanilla Orchid It’s vanilla, but not as you know it. A raw-edged confection of creamy vanilla beans, blossom, cassis and citrus, dressed in a bunch of just-plucked jasmine. Offsetting the lingering sweetness; bamboo and sandalwood bend and fold underneath.

Ylang Ylang Espresso  A strikingly modern blend of red rose, ylang ylang and jasmine cross paths with a soothing cloud of just-brewed coffee, fresh cream and Sichuan pepper – sustainably harvested from the foothills of the Himalayas. A fragrance to get lost in.

PS: It it isn’t just the fragrances which are strikingly innovative, but the packaging. Each of Floral Street’s full-size bottles showcases a stunning, decadent flower artwork by renowned fashion photographer Matthew Donaldson – whose flower-powered photography also adorns this Discovery Box.

 

 

Finally, those of you who haven’t yet grabbed out latest Garden of Delights Discovery Box [£23 /£19 for V.I.Ps] should sprinkle the seeds of your new scent addictions via this perfectly curated outdoors-inspired selection. Highgrove Bouquet by Penhaligon’s, created with HRH the Prince Of Wales, now King Charles, draws on his own garden at Highgrove. We’d also love to introduce you to new brands Adscenture, EAU.MG and COSMOSSbyKateMoss and Granado is new to the UK. More newness is provided by Floral Street Sweet Almond Blossom. There are also fragrances from Versace, Molton Brown, Mizensir, Juliette has a gun and Shay&Blue all highlighting various flowers and herbs. We’ve also added SBC Arnica Moisturising Gel for other restorative powers from the garden…

Might we suggest a scent appreciation session is in order, where you can sit and relax, perhaps sip a chilled glass of something lovely, and appreciate sniffing each of these garden-centric scents in turn, while browsing through The Scented Letter magazine? How much more salubrious that sounds than battling the throngs of school-holiday crowds – getting to try a whole new wardrobe of fragrances in your own home (or garden!), and in your own time. Bliss!

Written by Suzy Nightingale

Glorious NEW Garden-Inspired Scents from Santa Maria Novella

In our just-published (and rather gorgeous, though we do say so ourselves) Perfumer’s Garden issue of The Scented Letter magazine, the focus was flower-filled gardens. Because isn’t summer all about flowers? It is for every perfume-lover and perfumer that we know.

Coinciding with the opening of a new outdoor space at the Palace of Versailles (below), our themed issue talks to green-fingered perfumers, shares recommendations for scented plants for your garden and showcases a round-up of glorious modern florals, for the home and for the skin, that evoke gardens or greenhouses – a major trend in perfume and home fragrances, right now.

 

 

You can purchase a stunning print copy here (definitely one to keep on the coffee table!) but do also make sure you are signed up to have the free electronic version delivered to your inbox!

 

 

 

We are thrilled to see this garden vibe blossoming across new launches still hitting our desks (our noses aren’t always on the pulse-point of perfumery!) and although this exciting collection from Officina Profumo Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella was too late launching to include in our issue, we wanted to share it with you here, as it SO PERFECTLY fits the Perfumer’s Garden theme!

‘Each of our Eau de Parfums expresses a close harmony between the most precious perfumery ingredients. A deep expertise in crafting and combining olfactory notes, and the desire to write the new chapter of a unique heritage. Discover the intimate and powerful homage to the flower and symbol of Florence with L’Iris Eau de Parfum. Discover the most bizarre and fascinating flower and fruit varieties. Immerse yourself in a world of treasures and discoveries, that are expressed through the olfactory senses…’

With the brand celebrating over 800 years of heritage, research and tradition – Santa Maria Novella presents this new collection comprising four Eaux de Parfum – L’Iris, Bizzarria, Gelsomino, and Magnolia – which inspired the Florentine Maison to trace the roots of different flower and plant varieties to produce the beautiful collection.

 

 

 

‘“I Giardini Medicei” is a collection that epitomises the quintessential roots of Officina, starting from its very own, most intimate spirit. And for doing so, it chooses perfumery art as the means of its expression. The most direct of all art forms, that directly envelops the fortunate “visitor” of this splendid and audacious realm.’ Inspired by the stunning Medicean Villas, they beckon us forth to step into the garden and smell these…

 

 

L’Iris (£160.00, 50ml) – ‘The Officina’s very first Eau de Parfum which debuted in spring 2022 earns its place in the ‘I Giardini Medicei; collection. L’Iris Eau de Parfum will now be available in the exclusive double-bottom illustrated box of the collection. The iris flower connects many cultures, it has been a potent symbol of protection since ancient Greece. It carries many names, too: iris, lily, gaggiolo…’

 

 

Bizzaria (£160.00, 50ml) – ‘An original, unexpected Eau de Parfum that pairs the Hesperides traits with resounding notes of Cedarwood. Bizaaria is the most peculiar citrus tree of all: lemon, bitter orgaqn and etrog.’

 

 

Gelsomino (£160.00, 50ml) – ‘Strong notes of Jasmine, this is a floral, woody and spicy scent.’

 

 

 

Magnolia (£160.00, 50ml) – ‘Magnolia Eau de Parfum embraces all the characteristics of the tree that defied time into a powerful olfactory landscape. Notes of white rose and geranium, it confers a multi-layered depth with the heart of magnolia grandiflora paired with the absolutes of magnolia champaca…’.

 

Written by Suzy Nightingale

Forage – Stop to smell the flowers… then eat them, too?

Forage for your food, lately, or too scared to pick your own? There’s a whole world of edible plants growing around us, but if the closest you’ve ever been to foraging for food is scrumping apples (or more recently, scrabbling at the red-stickered items in your supermarket’s Reduced section), you need this beautiful book…

Yes, it’s another book we’ve eagerly added to our Fragrant Reads shelves, but although the publishers of Forage: Wild Plants to Gather and Eat say ‘Anybody can enjoy the increasingly popular back-to-nature activity of foraging’, the truth is, very few of us feel confident enough to start picking some of the foliage we see on our daily walks. Thanks to author Liz Knight’s clear descriptions, and the stunning botanical illustrations of Rachel Pedder-Smith, the identification is made far easier and reading this, you’ll really feel encouraged to explore and diversify with wild ingredients.

What’s more, it’ll certainly make you look at flowers in a different way. From honeysuckle cordial (which sounds like something the fairies would drink in A Midsummer Night’s Dream), pickled cherry blossoms, linden leaf madeleines, dandelion petal cake to damson and rose petal preserves, the accompanying recipes sound like a feast for all the senses.

 

Forage: Wild Plants to Gather and Eat by Liz Knight, illustrated by Rachel Pedder-Smith [Laurence King Publishing]
Buy it at Waterstones

There’s such an elegant and understated confidence to Forage, and no wonder – Liz has a wealth of experience, having spent years learning the ways of foraging, founded Forage Fine Foods – a business she runs from her kitchen in rural Herefordshire – where she teaches courses on foraging and cooking wild ingredients, and also sells some delicious foodie finds. You may also have seen her appearing on the eight-part series of Channel 5’s Escape to the Farm with presenter Kate Humble. But if you’ve the idea that Liz was born in the bosom of the country and learned such skills at her mother’s knee, it certainly didn’t come naturally.

 

 

‘I grew up in normal street in a normal town just outside London,’ says Liz, and it turns out she gradually grew to love freshly picked food having tasted the tomatoes from a neighbour’s greenhouse, and later, worked in care homes and talked to the older residents. Explains Liz:

‘These people knew food; they taught me how to make butter, what cuts of meat to buy and how to cook it, what leaves to nibble on and what food should really taste like…Thanks to them I got a fire in my belly about the wild, wonderful food of Britain and that fire turned into Forage.’

Nowadays we’re becoming used to seeing ‘foraged food’ celebrated on menus of fine dining restaurants, but really Liz wants everyone to feel confident enough to try their hand at picking ingredients growing wild locally. Because Liz’s life now truly is spent searching the local hedgerows in search of scrumptious finds, and we’re sure reading this book will sew some more seeds of the passion for foraging. Now you won’t only want to stop to smell the roses (and wild cherry blossom, linden trees, honeysuckle, gorse…) but eat them (once safely identified!) too.

By Suzy Nightingale

Explore the stunning new scent & watch the gorgeous new film

Gucci have been blowing us away with their fabulously opulent catwalk collections, and now continue that trend with the launch of their sumptuous new scent, Gucci Bloom…
The first fragrance developed under the complete control of Gucci’s Creative Director, Alessandro Michele, this is a lusciously modern white floral we couldn’t wait to get our noses on.
Alessandro Michele says: ‘I wanted a rich white floral fragrance, a courageous scent that transports you to a vast garden filled with many flowers and plants, a bouquet of abundance. The garden is as beautiful as women are; colourful, wild, diverse, where there is everything. Gucci Bloom smells of this garden in order to travel to a place that is not there.’
So what does it smell like? Well it’s gloriously soaring right from the first spritz, with the mysterious scent of the (exclusive to Gucci, as far as we know) note of Rangoon Creeper – a white flower that only opens at dusk, gradually transforming to pink and finally a deep, blood red. A sparkling bouquet of tuberose and juicy jasmine garland the fragrance throughout, before soft musk slowly rolls in to billow beguilingly…
Now, feast your eyes on the eye-poppingly gorgeous mini-film – and if the sun’s not shining where you are right now, we’re sure you’ll feel a virtual glow.

Gucci Bloom from £52 for 30ml eau de parfum
Buy it at Harrods
Written by Suzy Nightingale

Which are the most fragrant roses on earth? Read our guide to a heavenly scented garden…

Is anything more disappointing than spotting a voluptuously gorgeous rose, cupping it gently in your hands and going in for the sniff… only to discover it’s completely without scent? Obviously we adore fragrance here at The Perfume Society, and roses just have to be in our Top Three Flowers Ever – so as part of our on-going celebrations we’d love to share with you a particularly fragrant feature on the very best scented roses you can grow, to make your garden smell like heaven on earth…
Written for us by Country Living Gardens editor, Stephanie Donaldson, The Most Fragrant Roses on Earth was previously an exclusive feature in our award-winning magazine, The Scented Letter… From interviews with the world’s top perfumers, a round-up of the latest launches you absolutely must sniff right now and a plethora of perfumed features – we have our finger firmly on the pulse to bring you all the news your nose should know.
Available in flickable-format online to subscribers, so many of you told us you were laboriously printing it out at home, page by page, that we listened and also made it available in a gorgeously glossy print version to satiate your scent-reading lusts (and save your printer cartridges!) In fact, we’re honoured to have readers worldwide, with the launch of our International Subscription, and now you can join the ever-growing throng to see the sort of thing you’ve been missing out on so far.
So, settle back with a cuppa and breathe in the heady scent of possibility for the rose garden of your dreams…




 
Written by Suzy Nightingale

Mid-week hump? We guarantee this will cheer you up! Man plants scent garden for blind wife, to make her smile again…

Tissues at the ready, because this is all just too lovely…

After his wife lost her sight at the age of 52 within just a week, following complications from diabetes, Mr Kuroki wondered what to do to make his beloved smile again. Locking herself away and living a life of seclusion after going blind, Mrs Kuroki was utterly distressed not to be able to enjoy the outdoor life she was so used to – the couple were dairy farmers in Shintomi Town, Miyazaki Prefecture in Japan, married since 1956 and working hard every day – a life that seemed lost to her, now.

Her husband thought that if he could perhaps tempt her outside again, if perhaps a few visitors might come every day, that her life would be improved. Little could he have known what a huge and lasing impact his next decision could have on both their lives…
husband-plants-flowers-blind-wife-kuroki-shintomi-2Vowing to connect his wife to the nature she so loved, Mr Kuroki set about picking a highly fragrant plant that she could enjoy smelling even though she couldn’t see the flowers anymore. With this in mind he began clearing the land, a process that took two years in all, eventually creating the perfect environment to grow a huge carpet of tiny pink flowers called ‘shibazakura’ in Japan, or more commonly known as phlox to us.

ScentgardenAs the buds began to bloom, word spread of their touching love story and the mass of colour and scent it inspired, ‘a few’ visitors has now, more than a decade after the first phlox was planted, become a must-see (and smell!) destination for up to an incredible 7,000 people on any one day, during the peak season of late March to April. What once were the cow sheds have now been transformed into an information building to house pictures of the couple and their story, and of some notable local dignitaries who have visited them. The couple often receive the visitors in person, and from the pictures, it certainly seems as though his wish came true:

Mrs Kuroki has a lot to smile about, now.

scentedgarden
Do have a look at the official website for more stunning pictures of this unashamedly heart-warming story – the text is all Japanese, and though we know of several readers who are fluent, here’s the all important address details for those of you who aren’t, and are planning a trip to Japan:

Miyazaki-ken, Koyu District, Shintomi, Nyuuta 17180-1
One teeny word of warning for people wishing to recreate this carpet of colour is that the scent of phlox is apparently quite similar to that of the cannabis plant – read more here – so we may be playing safe and enjoy looking at the pictures, or hopefully one day visiting in person, instead.

Written by Suzy Nightingale