With crowds witnessing the Queen’s spectacular Platinum Jubilee procession, and thousands busily preparing trestle tables filled with homemade food for street parties around the country for Her Majesty’s incredible 70 years as monarch – we’re scenting our Jubilee celebrations with two quintessentially British (fragrant) flavours as inspiration…
Cucumber:
Served in sandwiches (crusts cut off, obvs) or popped in a refreshing G&T, the choice is yours – but do seek out these deliciously cool cucumber-infused scents.
4160 Tuesdays Scenthusiasm
Originally created for a private gin company’s event, fragrant inspiration fizzes via orris butter, rose absolute, lemon and orange, cucumber extract, juniper absolute and coriander, boosted with musk for longevity.
From £40 for 15ml eau de parfum
4160tuesdays.com
Kilian Roses on Ice
‘Anyone for notes of gin, distilled with rose and cucumber?’ Kilian ask. A rhetorical question, as we enjoy the icy freshness of juniper berries, contrasting with the velvety warmth of rosa Centifolia, sandalwood and musk. Chin, chin!
From £165 for 50ml parfum
bykilian.co.uk
Perfumer H Cucumber
Opening with a gust of juicy greenness: a touch of galbanum and sea moss, alongside notes of watermelon, bergamot and lemon rind. A breeze of cedarwood and vetiver in the base is wrapped in a shrug of warm musks.
From £110 for 50ml eau de parfum
PerfumerH
Garden Fruits:
Slathered on Victoria sponges, enjoyed in a bowl of Eton Mess or stirred in a jug of Pimms, the piquant pop of fruitiness is a delight to wear in fragrant form, too.
Christian Louboutin Loubidoo
Daphné Bugey’s fruity, feminine strawberry, rose and cedar blend beckons good (fragrant) fortune being finished with a lucky cat symbol. They say it ‘Tip-toes on velvet paws…‘ We say: Mischievously moreish!
£235 for 90ml eau de parfum
selfridges.com
Juliette Has a Gun Lipstick Fever
Raspberry, iris, and violet absolute evoke the comforting scent of a precious leather handbag, before the addictive sweetness of vanilla slowly emerges on the skin. As for the suitably scarlet flacon? Mwah, mwah!
£120 for 100ml eau de parfum
harveynichols.com
Maison Margiela Replica Springtime in a Park
Dappled light through branches, a crisp breeze, pink cherry blossom tumbling on pears, bergamots and black currants; aqueous blooms, lily of the valley and dewy roses – a perfect perfumed portrait of happiness.
From £49 for 30ml eau de toilette
selfridges.com
Completing the trio of their precious metal inspired scents, the latest is pure sophistication with a haze of jasmine absolute, white musk and orchids – each petal seeming to unfurl with the heat of your skin. Gauzily gorgeous, you’ll certainly feel expensive, and expect to be enchanted for countless hours.
Incredible how some ingredients absolutely smell of particular temperatures, and the warming gleam of precious gold has definitely been evoked here with sun-drenched mandarins and a cashmere soft woodiness that wafts elegantly the whole day through. We loved it when the weather matched and are enjoying even more, in nostalgia.
The French have an expression: ‘Qui a de la platine‘ (literally, he who has platinum) that describes a brilliant and eloquent man, From the classic lavender/rosemary freshness of a fougére pepped up with pettigrain to a striking clary sage and geranium accord at the heart, our interest peaks at the ambery dry down. To be worn by smooth-tongued silver foxes, we feel.
Perfumer Alberto Morillas infuses Damask rose absolute and jasmin with billowingly soft white musk and tendrils of incense for the kind of opaquely resonant olfactory experience you’ll be wanting to wrap yourself in season ’round. Can a perfume smell both warm and gleamingly pink without being too girly? This one does so, effotlessly.
