Tag: honey

Floris Honey Oud – Celebrating Nature’s Gift

Floris Honey Oud is one of those rare scents that manages to wrap you in opulence without weighing you down – the perfect fusion of an approachable, contemporary decadence and centuries-old expertise. Now that Floris has gloriously extended the line to include indulgent body care rituals, we think now is the perfect time to allow yourself to be enraptured by this honey-haze, no matter if you were already a fan of this cult scent, or are ready to experience it for the first time.

Let’s start at the delicious beginning, shall we…?

 

 

 

 

 

From the very first spritz of the Floris Honey Oud eau de parfum and you’re met by the velvety aromatic nuance of English honey, with a bright lick of bergamot and subtle golden sweetness, before settling into a cashmere-soft bed of rose and oudh. The oudh here is subtle, never brash, with the honey whispering over the top to soothe and soften. Anyone who’s ever flinched from oudh’s famous punchiness will find this heartwarmingly smooth – think of a velvet-smoking jacket rather than a bonfire’s blast of smokiness. Vanilla and amber round off the composition, making it cuddly, grown-up, and thoroughly moreish.

Floris Honey Oud eau de parfum £160 for 100ml 

 

 

 

Extending the experience, the Floris Honey Oud Bath & Shower Gel is rightly described as an invitation to indulgence. It elevates a simple shower to a private ritual – think fluffy clouds of golden lather, enriched with olive oil to keep skin soft as a whisper. The scent is instantly recognisable, lighter but full of promise, as honey’s warmth and smooth oudh fill the steam. It leaves skin clean, refreshed and tenderly scented, ready for more. This is one of the easiest ways into honey and oudh layering for a daily dose of luxury.

Floris Honey Oud Bath & Shower Gel £32 for 250ml

 

 

 

 

Completing the heavenly honeyed harmony, Floris Honey Oud Body Moisturiser is as lush as honey-rippled cream. Quick to absorb and never sticky, this lotion cloaks the body in a gentle sheen – courtesy of sweet almond oil, jojoba, and vitamin E. The fragrance, as with the other matching products, balances the duality of comforting honey and woody oudh. Slathered generously, it secures hydration and radiance, all while turning one’s daily routine into a delightful, multi-sensory escape that makes every limb feel worthy of its perfumed poetry.

Floris Honey Oud Body Moisturiser £35 for 250ml

 

 

 

 

It’s impossible to talk about Floris without touching on their remarkable heritage. Established in 1730 by Juan Famenias Floris and his wife Elizabeth, the house is a living symbol of British perfumery, still operating from its original Jermyn Street boutique nearly 300 years later. Royalty, writers, and anyone with a refined nose have made their fragrant pilgrimage to the door. If you’d like to know more, do drift over to our page dedicated to the house of Floris and its fascinating history.

 

 

 

And for those with a curiosity for honey far beyond toast and tea, our senses were spirited away at a recent workshop at Floris, helmed by the brilliant Sarah Wyndham Lewis [aka the ‘Honey Sommelier’. Follower her @honeysommelierlondon on Instagram]. It was a revelation to discover just how many personalities honey could have, depending on flower, region, and even the temperament of the bees.

 

 

One spoonful might taste and smell like toffee or fresh hay, while another edges towards citrus peel or old leather-bound books. The nuances were astonishing, and they made it clear why honey brings such rich, malleable character to Honey Oud’s composition – it binds, tempers and elevates the oudh with each expertly-blended drop.

 

 

When Floris laces such a historic ingredient with modern craftsmanship and offers it in a suite you can layer – fragrance, shower gel, body lotion – something marvellous happens. It’s a little like being enfolded in the golden afternoon sun of late autumn’s embrace. The world outside may be as unpredictable as ever, but within these honeyed clouds, we’re sure you’ll find nothing but pure contentment.

Written by Suzy Nightingale

Further honey fragrances for the hive…

Our theme this month has been honey fragrances, and as you’ll have learned in our first fragrant edit, honey is creating quite the buzz [sorry] in the world of perfumery lately. It can add such a unique character to a scent’s composition. Possessing floral, blossom-y or addictive and even animalic qualities along with the touch of sweetness the synthetic recreation of the aroma offers a perfumer, there really is a honey fragrance for every taste.

Here, we showcase seven further delicious, honey-centric scents we feel our fragrant hive mind of Perfume Society perfumistas would welcome trying…

 

4160 Tuesdays Honey Jasmine Karma

A blissful blend to whisk you somewhere lovely and conjure sunshine even if the weather’s not behaving, this white floral wafts forth a vegan honeyed aroma for which (as their website delightfully describes) ‘no bee has been bothered’. The sticky sweetness is tempered by a drowsy luminescence that keeps it from being cloying, and the Karmawood™ adds a powdery sandalwood feel that proves incredibly grounding in the dry-down. Instant ‘om’.

From £40 for 15ml eau de parfum 4160tuesdays.com

 

 

 

Marc-Antoine Barrois Tilia

Tilia is the Latin name for the linden tree, whose blossom is honeyed, seductive, and surely the true embodiment of summer. Created with Marc-Antoine’s long-time creative ‘accomplice’, Quentin Bisch, this solar masterpiece is dusted with pollen and drizzled with honey, but with the green of leaves, crushed in a palm, and cool vetiver offering welcome shade. It is, we’re told, ‘Simple. Solar. Smiling. The scent… of holidays that never end.’ Oh, yes!

From £105 for 30ml eau de parfum lessenteurs.com

 

 

Redolescent Hive Mind

Redolescent Hive Mind

Picture fresh honey dripping from combs while worker bees fill the air with rhythmic hum, creating a refined and sophisticated aroma. The perfume, a luxurious blend of beeswax, cedarwood, jasmine, and lemon, exudes a classy, gilded warmth. As the scent settles, it connects you to the natural world, grounding you in summer moments and cloudless skies. Not just a perfume; it’s a golden glow for special occasions, a connection to nature, and a tribute to the vital role of bees in our world.

£145 for 50ml eau de parfum in our shop

 

 

 

Paco Rabanne Lady Million

Captivating at first spritz, Lady Million the brightness of neroli is immediately trailed by charismatically seductive orange blossom narcotic jasmine and creamy gardenia pulsing to deeper tones of patchouli and an opulent drizzle of honey melding beautifully with the woody base notes. Amber glows to become all enveloping, a swathe of sweetness that lasts for hours. Presented in a bottle to represent a diamond (and spawning many follow-up fragrances for its huge success) it’s a bestseller for a reason.

£86 for 50ml eau de parfum boots.com

 

 

Initio Addictive Vibration

Don’t be deceived by the innocent-sounding blend of orange blossom and honey in Addictive Vibration: this is seriously naughty…Unveiling a body of lustful scent in ‘a magma of flesh and fiery blend of musk and honey. Addictive Vibration captivates with its heart of orange blossom and vanilla orchid.’ Well golly, this is a steamy scent and will certainly get pulses racing. As they say… ‘The bodies succumb to arousing waves of attraction lingering in their wake, a trail of carnal dependance.’ Wear with caution at the supermarket, then!

 

 

 

JEAN_PAUL_GAULTIER_SCANDAL_A_PARIS

Jean Paul Gaultier Scandal

Fusing the sparkle of blood orange, gilded honey, patchouli and gardenia to a musky base reflects the light and shade found in ‘the endless fun of Paris.’ At first the gardenia shines through, diffusing the honey as though backlit by golden sunshine and punctuated with the darkly glimmering juice of a fleshy blood orange. As the sun dips lower, the patchouli comes out to play, weaving a honeyed, chypre trail that still billows with the gardenia’s flirtatiousness.

From £62 for 30ml eau de parfum jeanpaulgaultier.com

 

Kajal Joorie

‘In working on the creation of Joorie,’ says founder Moe Khalaf, ‘ I kept having flashbacks to the farmhouse where my family would go during our summer holidays.’ Here we are invited to relive the halcyon days via ‘berries, figs, jasmines, petunias, chamomiles, and lavender’ plus fresh wild honey eaten while gazing blissfully at the sky, surrounded by the hazy buss of bees and smiling in the sunshine. Woven throughout is Moe’s favourite rose bush, the velvety petals now dipped in honey for us to enjoy, here.

£186 for 100ml eau de parfum kajalperfumes.com

 

Written by Suzy Nightingale

Guerlain’s honeyed history… and the origin of that iconic ‘Bee Bottle’

Honey (and bees) are at the heart of the house of Guerlain, and have been since its founding. With much of their skincare imbued with the healing properties of honey, their iconic ‘Bee Bottle’ inspired by beehives, and now, one of their best-selling fragrances, Tobacco Honey, infused with the scent; Guerlain’s history is abuzz with the scent of honey…

 

Guerlain’s Bee-autiful History:

‘The founder of the House, Pierre-François-Pascal Guerlain, dedicated a citrus Eau de Cologne to Empress Eugénie to celebrate her marriage to Napoleon III. Naturally, he named it “Eau de Cologne Impériale”. He then entrusted glassmakers Pochet du Courval to create a bottle adorned with his majesty’s coat of arms, the bees, and a festoon pattern, inspired by the Place Vendôme column. The Bee Bottle was born. It would become an icon.

 

 

The Empress was so impressed with this gift, that she named Pierre-François-Pascal Guerlain “Supplier to the Empress” (“Fournisseur de l’Impératrice”), which helped to rapidly spread Guerlain’s renown throughout Europe’s great royal courts. A legend was born. Today, the emblematic Bee Bottle is still made in the Pochet du Courval ateliers and now lends itself to colour and personalisation. The perfume bottles can be refilled time and time again in a celebration of how luxury can meet sustainable development as guided by Bees. The “Dames de table” continue to seal and hand decorate this historic bottle, creating some exceptional versions that perpetuate tra-ditional craftsmanship, art and artisanship.’

 

 

 

With bees so central to their heritage, it was only natural for Guerlain to create a buzz for the conservation of bees, because… ‘If bees were no longer to exist,’ Guerlain explain, ‘most fruits, flowers and seeds would disappear forever, taking with them an infinite number of irreplaceable colours, flavours and smells. Across the world, intensive farming, vanishing habitats, climate change and so forth are drastically impacting the health of bees, both wild and domestic.’ Hence why they set up the Guerlain For Bees Conservation Programme.

In order to preserve a future for bees – and for fragrance – Guerlain remind us that ‘It is crucial for us to protect them, but this alone is not enough. We must also raise awareness around the importance of bee conservation for the world of today and tomorrow. This is why Guerlain is committed to teaching children about the cause of bees, thanks to its Bee School. Its programme Women for Bees, in partnership with UNESCO, also aims to train new women beekeepers at UNESCO’s biosphere reserves.’

‘Since 2021, Guerlain has made a symbol of this day initiated by the UN. Each year, the House raises no less than one million euros to donate and accelerate the actions of its “Guerlain for Bees Conservation Programme”. A very special day in which one of the House’s friends, Angelina Jolie, has participated since the beginning.’

 

 

Needing more of Guerlain’s honey-infused heritage? You can read all about the gloriously honey-rich Guerlain Honey Tobacco in our previous exploration of honey fragrances, and the differing ways honey is used to coax particular characters from other perfumery notes. There’s a whole hive of Guerlain’s history to explore in our page dedicated to the founding and development of the house, and did you know there’s even a comic book dedicated to Guerlain’s heritage?

 

 

 

Choose your own Guerlain Bee Bottle, which you my have personalised for a special occasion, or for a gift, in-store or online. You can select any fragrance, then decide on the size and style of bottle, and even choose the cord and seal for the scent – what a way to memorialise a wedding or anniversary – or simply savour your all-time favourite fragrance. And given the current buzz around that Honey Tobacco, we reckon many a bee bottle will be housing that scent for years to come…

 

Written by Suzy Nightingale

 

Honey fragrances – get ready to bee inspired…

Our theme this month is honey – warm, luxurious and comforting, honey works wonderfully in fragrances to emphasise floral notes, or add touches of amber richness.  There’s a whole hive of honey and beeswax scent notes in fragrances, and perfumer  Christine Nagel explains why she loves using it…

‘Honey has two facets – half devil, half angel. In Ambrée structures, it has a sweet, comforting effect, taking you back to childhood. But a small touch in a feminine structure can be extremely sexy…’

There are so many varieties of honey, each taking their smell (and colour) from the flowers on which the bees that produce it have feasted.  Orange blossom honey.  Eucalyptus honey.  Acacia honey:  the variations are almost limitless, sometimes woody, flowery, herbal or even tobacco-y.  The ancient Arab perfumers were the first to capture honey’s sweetness in perfumery, but today the honey featured is generally a synthetic note – one that’s drizzled sensually over quite a few fragrances in the past few years.

Now, can you envisage getting sweet on any of these honey-centric scents…?

Guerlain L’Art & La Matière Tobacco Honey

There’s something about honey which goes beyond delicious to downright irresistible in this fragrant nuzzle-me-closer scented experience, which had us purring from first spritz. Imagine a fine tobacco that’s been kept dry in a precious, carved wooden box, yet somehow suffused with nectar; enrobed in a nugget of glowing amber, but sliced with shards of light. Defiantly rich, yet it it floats in drifts around you like a gilded cloud.

£295 for 100ml eau de parfum guerlain.com

Parfums de Marly Oajan

Talk about a honeyed charm, this fragrance has it by the jar-full! Silky honey slinks to a sizzle of cinnamon, with apricot-tinged fruity osmanthus sweetly gliding to the smoothest amber, resinous (incense-like) labdanum and and rich benzoin. Swirled with addictive vanilla and toasty tonka bean, the earthy patchouli and dried fruity note of davana grounds the base. An all-day wist or neck-sniffer, for sure.

£245 for 125ml eau de parfum selfridges.com


Floral Street Sunflower Pop

Celebrating their collaboration between the Van Gogh Museum, Floral Street unveil a scent inspired by the artist’s most famous painting. The very definition of optimism, it’s sunny to look at and sunny inside, vibrant with fresh mandarin, Calabrian bergamot, and accords of vegan honey and Bellini cocktails. We’ll raise a glass to a fresh scent that allows us to hang onto summer for a wee while longer.

From £110 for 100ml eau de parfum floralstreet.com

Or

Enter our GIVEAWAY here for the chance to win the Sunflower Pop products!

Floris Honey Oud

A really good introduction to how oudh can be used in a nuanced way – almost as a seasoning instead of the main flavour – this one is actually delicious (as in, if it came in a jar, you’d want to lick it off your fingers, or slather it on buttered toast and guzzle it, ). The spiced honeyed note intensifies as oudh softly adds depth.. Intensely nuzzle-able, there’s nothing whatever to frighten the horses, here, even if you’ve avoided oudh!

From £30 for 10ml eau de parfum selfridges.com

[NB: Also available to sample as part of the Floris Private Collection set, for only £35, and including some of their most iconic scents].

 

 

 

 

Thameen Bravi

What if the diva lost her voice and needed the power of perfume to regain her bravado? This imagined story was the starting point for the third in Thameen’s ‘Britologne’ series, Bruno Jovanovic adding aphrodisiac ginger’s tingle to decadent tuberose, seducing with the decadent wild honey, and wonderfully smoky toasty-ness of walnut throughout, this packs a seriously addictive gourmand punch. Encore!

£250 for 100ml Cologne elixir selfridges.com

 

Written by Suzy Nightingale

Oh honey, honey…

Rich, warm, luxurious and comforting, honey works wonderfully in fragrances to emphasise floral notes, or add touches of amberiness.  And with the profusion of gourmand fragrances out there, honey-lovers can easily find themselves in sweet heaven. We love what the nose Christine Nagel has to say about this ingredient:

‘Honey has two facets – half devil, half angel. In Ambrée structures, it has a sweet, comforting effect, taking you back to childhood. But a small touch in a feminine structure can be extremely sexy…’

Are you already a honey-lover…?  Then you’ll know that honey comes in so many different varieties, each taking their smell (and colour) from the flowers on which the bees that produce it have feasted.  Orange blossom honey.  Eucalyptus honey.  Acacia honey:  the variations are almost limitless, sometimes woody, flowery, herbal or even tobacco-y.  The ancient Arab perfumers were the first to capture honey’s sweetness in perfumery, but today the honey featured is generally a synthetic note – one that’s drizzled sensually over quite a few fragrances in the past few years.

It’s over 15,000 years since man first harnessed bees’ busy-ness to produce this natural sweetener. (According to cave paintings in Valencia in Spain, anyway.)  Symbolically, honey stands for ‘the sweet life’, prosperity, even immortality;  the word itself comes from the ancient Hebrew word for ‘enchant’…  When man and bee teamed together, it turned out to be a win-win situation:  bees got a safe place to live (and a reliable food source, in the form of flowering crops) – and we got to harvest honey and beeswax in unbelievably impressive quantities:  a single beehive can produce up to 200 kilos of honey each season.

Guerlain are known for their love of bees of course, featured in their utterly exquisite and iconic Guerlain Bee Bottles, which have been… ‘An icon for nearly 170 years: timeless, the Bee Bottle is more than a bottle, it’s a statement: a precious Guerlain signature and a craft symbol between tradition and modernity.’ What’s more, apart from using honey in their skincare and as a note in fragrances, Guerlain also fund a number of Bee loving projects to ensure the future of bees (and, therefore, crops – and humankind! For without the bees we are truly lost).

 

 

 

 

Guerlain explains: ‘First founded in 2018 and launched globally in  2021, Guerlain’s Bee School initiative was founded as a result of the brand’s ongoing mission to teach children about bees and how they positively affect our environment. Nearly 6,000 children in over ten countries have been able to learn about the various issues facing bees and biodiversity conservation. After discussions, question-and-answer sessions, workshops, and games to test their knowledge, each child receives a Bee School certificate at the end of the session. The programme encompasses meaningful initiatives and partnerships…’

With World Bee Day having been celebrated recently around the globe, and with summer scents in mind (now the weather finally seems to be playing ball), what better time to explore honey fragrances, with scents that evoke both the flirty innocent sweetness and the deeper, more ‘devilish’ side of honey’s character, as Christine Nagel so beautifully put it…?

 

 

Guerlain Aqua Allegoria Nettare Di Sole

A deliciously unusual icy floral honey absolute that sings of summertime, the magnolia, rose and Sambac jasmine bathed in honey, as if infused with the sun itself, and rippled with that deliciously cool note evoking dappled shade in a courtyard. Glorious to wear at any time, I especially adore wearing this when the heat properly simmers.

£89 for 75ml eau de toilette guerlain.com

 

 

Floris Honey Oud

A really good introduction to how oudh can be used in a nuanced way – almost as a seasoning instead of the main flavour – this one is actually delicious (as in, if it came in a jar, I’d want to slather it on buttered toast and guzzle it, or perhaps slather myself in it and roll on a meadow). The dark, spiced honeyed note deepens as the oudh kicks in. Intensely nuzzle-able, there’s nothing whatever to frighten the horses, here.

From £22 for 10ml eau de parfum florislondon.com 

[NB: Also available to sample as part of the Floris Private Collection set, for only £35, and including some of their most iconic scents].

 

 

 

Manos Gerakinis Methexis

The name ‘MEΘEXIS’ derives from ancient Greek, translating as ‘the communication between the divine and the human’. A feast for the senses, cocoa and honey luxuriously swathe fig, while blackcurrant ensures the perfect balance of sweetness, swirled into the reassuring woodiness of cedar. A sprinkle of cinnamon ensures this so-sophisticated, intoxicating indulgence of a scent is seasoned to perfection. Divine!

From £50 for 10ml eau de parfum shymimosa.com

[NB: Try samples of the rest of the collection in the Manos Gerakinis Discovery Set, where for £35 you can explore his other scents].

 

 

 

Sarah Baker Charade 

An absolute stunner of a scent, there’s a mellifluous segue between hypnotic floral notes of tuberose and ylang ylang, generously drizzled with honey that brings forth their headiness and makes them swoon into the dry, grassiness of vetiver and tea. Nestled in the base are deeper notes of leather, amber-y warmth and resins resting on smooth sandalwood and snuggly moss. Completely beguiling…

£145 for 50ml extrait de parfum in our shop

 

Marc Jacobs Honey

Created by master ‘noses’ Annie Buzantian and Ann Gottlieb, the sunny fragrance opens with a refreshing bouquet of green pear, juicy, ripe mandarin and a cool, fruity punch. Then at the floral heart you’ll find a composition of orange blossom, peach nectar and honeysuckle, followed by a warming base of that gloriously golden honey, creamy vanilla and silky woods. Scrumptious!

Currently £39.99 for 100ml eau de parfum at theperfumeshop.com

 

Written by Suzy Nightingale

This fragrance is the bee’s knees – literally!

Scientists have discovered that certain types of bees actually create their own ‘perfumes’ in order to attract a mate. And what’s more, a niche brand has just launched a Bee fragrance that’s already creating a buzz…

A new article in Science Daily reveals that scientists at the University of California have discovered male orchid bees don’t sipmply flit among the flowers collecting pollen to make honey back at the hive – they’re also using their wings ‘…to disperse a bouquet of perfumes into the air.’ And their studies have concluded that ‘the aromatic efforts are all for the sake of attracting a mate.’

Associate Professor Santiago Ramirez, UC Davis Department of Evolution and Ecology, explained that while they already knew many animals produce pheremones, the unique factor for the orchid bee is that ‘the majority of their pheromones are actually collected from plants and other sources like fungi.’ Science Daily suggests that ‘Orchid bees are master perfumers,’ and goes on to explain that the scientists reserach suggests that ‘the perfumes males concoct are unique to their specific species’.

Ramirez,and recent Ph.D. graduate student Philipp Brand, from the Population Biology Graduate Group, have been studying the mating habits of orchid bees for some years, in the course of their studies, ‘unraveling the complex chemicals responsible for successful procreation.’ What they didn’t expext to find, though, was a brand new discovery that possibly explains the evolutionary divergence of bee species: environmental perfumes (and we’re not talking ‘clean’ or ‘green’ beauty claims here, folks!)

In the study, which was first published in Nature Communications, Brand, Ramirez and their colleagues set out their case to suggest that the evolution of sexual signaling in orchid bees can directly be linked to ‘a gene that’s been shaped by each species’ perfume preferences.’

Brand commented that, ‘Our study supports the hypothesis that in the orchid bee perfume communication system, the male perfume chemistry and the female preference for the perfume chemistry can simultaneously evolve via changes in a single receptor gene.’ And this could explain why a single species split into two distinct species that we knew were linked, but had no idea why they had diverged. Ah yes, the power of that scent sillage is strong, it seems, even for bees. But how did one bee’s perfume-making prowess suddenly woo more of the female bees to his partiular, er, honeypot?

 

Green Orchid Bee

 

Explains Ramirez: ‘Imagine you have an ancestral species that uses certain compounds to communicate with each other,” said Ramirez. “If you have a chemical communication channel and then that chemical communication channel splits into two separate channels, then you have the opportunity for the formation of two separate species.’

Do make time to read the full article in Science Daily – it’s a fascingating read, and yet another notch in our understanding of the power of smell. But let’s not only focus on fragrances that makes bees feel like getting busy (buzzy?) with it; we perfume-loving humans have a brand new sweet-smelling scent to explore that’s perfectly themed – and although not inspired by the reasearch, as far as we know, happens to be perfectly timed, too. The Canadian-based niche house of Zoologist have just launched the latest in their animal-centric scents: behold Bee…

Perfumer Cristiano Canali has created a perfume that showcases luxurious amounts of labdanum, dollops of honey, a leathery orange blossom dusted with powdery mimosa, delciously rounded by nutty tonka and heady heliotrope.

Zoologist Bee, £195 for 65ml extrait de parfum (1ml samples £3)
Try it at Bloom Perfumery

So which honey-based fragrances are likely to get you buzzing? Read our page all about the history and use of honey as a fragrant ingredient, and discover other perfumes to try, for the scent perfumer Christine Nagel describes as ‘half devil, half angel…’

Written by Suzy Nightingale

Mitchell and Peach – outstanding in their field(s) of lavender. We loved them so much, we invited you, too!

For five generations, the incredibly photogenic Mitchells have been farming the same land deep in the heart of Kent – The ‘Garden of England’ – and cultivating everything from apples, strawberries, cobnuts, honey and chamomile. But it’s the lavender they’re perhaps most famous for – a swathe of purple shocking commuters into delighted squeals who glimpse it from their packed train carriages (ourselves included!) and gaze longingly as it hurries past…
introduction_2015
Imagine how thrilled we were, then, to receive an invitation to a press day at Mitchell and Peach. We immediately envisaged ourselves wafting through the fields wearing white summer dresses and straw hats, perhaps carrying a wooden trug brimming with the fragrant blooms – like a 1970s shampoo advert bathed in sunshine. Of course it rained (of course!) cometh the day, but it was absolutely impossible not to feel ridiculously happy surrounded by such beauty (seriously, even their barns are beautiful) – and by people who clearly cared so much about their crops and the gorgeously scented products they now make with them.
lavender
From 1923 to 1972, the Mitchells ran a thriving market stand on the south-west corner of old Covent Garden in London. Having celebrated 100 years at Foxbury Farm, it still remains the centre of their estate to this day, and continuing in the family’s tradition while diversifying their offerings, Ian and Jod Mitchell (see main picture) planted fine lavender on the estate.
photo copy
Such great quality were the essences distilled from this plantation, they were inspired to create a bath and body range, planted more lavender to keep up with demand and trial crops including chamomile – so wonderfully soothing and far more fragrant than you’d imagine when the petals are crushed beneath your fingers – and beehives for their fragrantly delicious honey. Here’s “Brett the Bee Man” (below) who guided us around the hives and so proudly explained his work…
Brett the Bee man at Mitchell and Peach
 
Far from the slightly fusty image some may have of a family business in such idyllic surroundings engaged in creating fragrances, skin-care and scented grooming products, this is no kitchen-table job. The perfumes are exquisite and so reminisent of their surroundings, yet totally contemporary and wearable by all. The streamlined, stylish packaging also enhances their no-nonsense ethos, and we left seriously impressed by everything we’d seen and smelled (and tasted – we highly recommend lavender as a swizzle stick!)
M&P drink
In fact, so impressed, we knew we just had to invite our VIP Subscribers along to share the treat with us – and what a treat it proved to be. Even the sun shone for our return visit…
13‘A sophisticated floral structured around rose, ylang ylang, peony and lavender, emboldened with larkspur and sweet fennel. This outstanding perfume is hand-blended in England with pure essential oils from the Mitchell estate. The result is a distinctive fine fragrance with a singular depth, warmth and elegance.’
Mitchell and Peach Fora No.1 £75 for 50ml eau de parfum
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‘A bright “green floral” inspired by the lush countryside of Foxbury Farm, the home of Mitchell and Peach. This unique scent is hand blended with natural extracts including soft citrus, coriander leaves, basil, mint and floral oils from the Mitchell Estate. It possesses an uplifting, aromatic freshness redolent of ‘mown meadows’, with a hint of musky cedar wood to lend complexity and depth.’
Mitchell and Peach English Leaf £55 for 50ml eau de toilette
Buy them at Mitchell and Peach
Written by Suzy Nightingale