I think that it was last Spring that the flowers started calling. More than ever before, I’ve wanted to engage in the realm of the flora. Perhaps it started with Instagram coinciding with my daily walks with Xander. I suddenly had an incredible visual outlet to use that was so easy, fun, portable, and interesting. It was a way to make art on the spot when, these days, studio time is so difficult to come by. The flowers infiltrated my psyche through visual art and now it seems that my whole world, in perfumery as well, is just FLOWERS. {I’m in love, can you tell?}
Last years White Lilac, Peony, Scent of Hope, Jacinthe de Sapphir, and Rubis Rosé have given way to a flood of floral inspiration around the studio. I’m just beginning to complete some of the new designs for release, but I promise you, there are some big bouquets in my future. 🙂 If you follow my facebook stuff, you’ve already seen the first glimpse of the new “Fleuriste” perfume that is all carnations and chilled rose leaves. I’m really enjoying the modern aspects and variations on the carnation theme and it’s so different from one of my best loved florals: Oeillets Rouges, which is a warm, honey-kissed carnation. {By the way, have you noticed the HUGE resurgence of interest in carnation perfumes? It’s outrageous. Now that Malmaison, and Blue Carnation are no longer in production and Bellodgia isn’t what it used to be, the carnation lovers are on the hunt for a new love}. We’ll see how the cool-green / modern Fleuriste fares compared to the classic style of Oeillets Rouges. I’ll be interested to see.
I’m also really excited that at last (!) we’ve had a stellar lilac season so that I could complete an all natural / all botanical perfume based on the French lilacs that bloom in my front yard and the Persian lilacs that bloom just outside the back door to my studio. I’ve been working on this design for about 5 years now, since the lilacs in Colorado haven’t fared so well over the past few years {with all of the late Spring snow we get, so many lilac seasons are doomed!} But this year, even with a Mother’s Day snow storm – Yes, I did say MOTHER’S DAY – we had a fabulous crop and I reveled in their glory. Anyone who loves lilacs will know that they are heavenly, but oh so temperamental, and vexingly chameleon-like as the scent changes from the first bloom on the tree, to a later full bloom aroma, as well as how they change their fragrance after they have been picked. I had to go through many a lilac season to attempt to nail them down into some kind of formula. It’s been an intoxicatingly wild ride but I’ve arrived at something that *I* think is beautiful. And really speaks to late Spring in all it’s splendor. I’ll be writing more about “La Belle Saison” soon.
For now I’m hoping to spread the love and flowers. They make me happy and I hope that they do for you as well. ox
image credits: crab apple blossom image, from dsh_artscent; carnation image found here; Persian lilacs and French lilacs images from dsh_artscent.
DSH notebook 