VisitEngland, "the official website for tourism in England", has launched By George!, a new limited edition fragrance meant to support their Enjoy Every Minute, Enjoy England campaign:
By George features a symphony of the nation’s most evocative smells in an eminently wearable fragrance. The eclectic blend opens with a refreshing cup of camomile tea. The heart of the fragrance takes a journey through an English seaside garden with salty sea air notes mingling with damp earth, garden mint, carrots and beetroots and freshly cut grass. Woodland mosses and freshly cut flower stems of the compost heap sit alongside the sensual wafts of evening jasmine, whilst subtle exhaust fumes of lawnmower petrol break through the idyll.
30 bottles were produced; they reportedly cost £108 each but it is not clear where, or if, you can buy one — looks like they were mostly given away. You can read some of the complaints about the £8,500 cost to taxpayers at the Daily Mirror. (quote via visitengland, additional information via cosmeticsinternational)
Update: the By George! fragrance is not for sale and so has no price associated with it. In addition to By George!, there are also six single note fragrances, including Cucumber Sandwiches, Victoria Sponge, English Lawn and English Seaside Pier. They are not for sale either. Many thanks to Cosmetics International for the correction!
wow are those notes interesting! 2 bad ill never smell it! would have been interesting though.
It is too bad they didn’t make enough bottles to sell some…esp. since the taxpayers apparently funded the development & marketing.
This is reaaaaalllllly something. The carrots, beets and petrol aren’t very tantalizing but I’d sniff it if I could. Interesting that it’s some sort of tourist-marketing scheme but so readily unavailable!
Apparently you can email them and ask for samples, but I don’t know if they’re still available:
“Samples will be available to the public via http://www.enjoyengland.com for a limited period.”
what? no note to represent the Thames? hahahaha that would be some accord…..
How bizarre to create the fragrance with tax dollars to make 30 bottle to give away? That will cut down on my complaining about our wasteful government for today.
Yep.
They need to expand their gourmand line to include the food the English REALLY eat — prawn-flavored potato chips, awful late-night kebabs, baked beans on toast, and mushy peas!
Prawn-flavored potato chips, really?? How have I never heard of this food product?
The food that makes me think of England, though, is Chicken Tikka Masala, and I do think the US ought to have decent Chicken Tikka Masala available on a moment’s notice too. You can’t buy Chicken Tikka Masala at all in my town, decent or no.
why aren’t you thanking your lucky stars that you’ve never heard of that particular food product?? ack!
Oh, what a shame! That’s my favorite, and we have a fantastic little restaurant in a strip mall in my ‘burb. Love their biryani, too…well, really just about everything I’ve tried there, but those are my favorites.
I live in a VERY small town. For Indian, I have to drive 30 minutes. One should not have to drive 30 minutes for Chicken Tikka Masala, LOL…
Agreed!
Oh, you poor thing! Luckily, here in England there’s one Indian restaurant per hundred head of population, and never one more than five minutes’ drive away. I don’t think I could live without onion bhajis.
*sob!* Me too!!! CTM is my fave followed by Saag Paneer. There is a family run Indian restaurant about 25 min drive (each way). When I lived in Seattle I could *walk* to my choice of Indian, Thai and Greek restaurants. Why did I ever move back to small-town Midwest? *sigh*
You need to come to Canada, then. Lots of Chicken Tikka Masala here.
Also, like the Britons, we colonials love our flavoured potato chips. Can’t get prawn here, but you can get Roasted Garlic and Honey, Rosemary and Basil, and Sweet Chili and Sour Cream (all by Miss Vickie’s, yes, really); Feta, Olive and Oregano, General Tao Chicken, and Parmesan Garlic (all President’s Choice); and Dill Pickle, Ketchup, and Roast Chicken (popular flavours supplied by every convenience-store brand).
Roast Chicken???? Hm.
I’ve heard of some of those, but not that one.
OK, OK, I’ll grant that they have amazing Indian food. But their pizza stinks! Then again, I lived there in the grim 1980s, and the food is MUCH better these days — they even have real ice cream now, which to my mind indicates civilization.
Prawn crisps are GRIM (but I guess they are one of the most popular flavours). And they stain your fingers pinky-orange. And make everything in a 2 mile radius reek. Smoky Bacon flavour, now that’s a different story. Love those.
Ok, now I’m really intrigued. I am going to have to see if I can buy those here.
Wasn’t that Onslow’s favorite, in Keeping up Appearances? The bacon, I mean? Love that show…as do my kids. LOL!
On my last visit to M&S I also got Blue Cheese favoured.
Quite… “different”!
Oh no, British crisps (potato chips) are wonderful. They are probably the second best way to understand the British sense of humour. Recently a crisp company ran a competition to invent new flavours and put several of them on the market before the country voted for its favourite, which has now been added to the regular repertoire. The winner was Builder’s Breakfast (egg, bacon, sausage and baked beans), but flavours that were produced included Cajun Squirrel, Chili and Chocolate, Onion Bhajie, Fish and Chips and Crispy Duck and Hoisin.
Me? I’m particularly fond of Lamb and Mint sauce or Hedgehog flavours. And nothing can beat a sandwich made with fresh white bread and roast chicken or beef flavoured crisps.
PS the best way to understand the British sense of humour (IMHO) is to watch our adverts. Or possibly to listen to the Radio 4 comedy slot at 6.30pm.
Hedgehog?? :-O
[faints…comes to]
I’m not sure I am up to a cuisine that one needs a sense of humor in order to understand….
Understand? Sounds like you’d need a sense of humor to survive….
Man-up, guys – they’re only crisps! It’s not like we actually eat real hedgehogs. Well, only on special occasions…
The fish and chips one stinks real bad, it put me off of even trying them. I prefer plain Ready salted crisps, maybe salt and vinegar if you catch me in a special mood.
I like the idea of Chili and Chocolate, not necessarily for crisps but in general.
I had one of the best meals of my life at “The Bridge” in Cambridgeshire. Their roasts are unbeatable.
This is GENIUS.
Why?
Sorry, I imagined like an entire library of country-based fragrances and got over-excited.
LOL…no problem. I actually thought this was genius until I realized you couldn’t buy any.
I don’t understand why. I mean, what a great cheesy yet still kinda cool souvenir! They’d make a killing in summer and recoup all the money spent developing it. Oh well.
I am going to write to the Queen and complain. Cut out the middle man – go straight to the top. I’m sure she’ll listen to reason.
Let us know what she says!
We would have to think of smells for other countries….. It opens up all new creative horizons: What would China smell like? Iran? South Africa? Canada? Usa?…..