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Velvet & Sweet Pea Luminous Lemurs ~ perfume review

Posted by Jessica on 25 September 2020 5 Comments

Back in June, I wondered whether we'd see any independent perfumers responding to the events of 2020 through their fragrance work. Yes, as it turns out: Dawn Spencer Hurwitz has been creating a series of fragrance "sketches" inspired by her home surroundings (see my review of Hot Masala), and now Laurie Stern of Velvet & Sweet Pea's Purrfumery has released Luminous Lemurs. Laurie writes, "COVID-19 has made it even more clear to me that the purpose of my work is to help animals and indigenous communities," and Luminous Lemurs is a tribute to these endangered creatures and their human neighbors.

I'm a longtime fan of Velvet & Sweet Pea's Black Cat, Honey and Moonlight, so I would have been curious about Luminous Lemurs if I hadn't known that it's being launched for a good cause. Laurie is donating portion of its profits to Centre ValBio, a Madagascar-based organization working to save lemurs through research and conservation. (From the Centre ValBio website: "Centre ValBio works to protect Madagascar’s unique and biologically diverse ecosystems through conservation science and projects that directly benefit the local people, including rural health care delivery.") 

Just in case you were wondering: Luminous Lemurs wasn't designed to smell like an actual lemur, and does not include any animal ingredients! Instead, its starting point was ylang ylang oil from the lemur's native Madagascar, complimented by vintage sandalwood and vanilla essences (obtained before over-harvesting was a threat) as well as blood orange, cinnamon, clove, carnation and nutmeg. This perfume's "luminosity" owes a lot to the blood orange note, which I detected even before I read the full description for this fragrance: it's juicy and tart-sweet and it threads its way throughout the fragrance's evolving spice and wood notes as well. The cinnamon and nutmeg are subtle enough so that I don't end up thinking about holiday potpourri, and the citrus also encourages the ylang ylang to reveal its fruity aspect, rather than its indolic or custard-y facets. Luminous Lemurs' dry down is cheerful and cozy, a gentle amber skin-scent with hints of vanilla.

Luminous Lemurs, like all Velvet & Sweet Pea fragrances, is made entirely of botanical ingredients. On my skin, it has average sillage and staying power for an all-natural perfume, so that I'm ready to re-spritz by mid-day.

One last fun (and appropriate) fact about these fascinating animals, shared by Laurie Stern: "Did you know that male ring-tail lemurs attract their mates with a scent gland on their wrists that exudes a lovely, fruity floral smell?" That scent reportedly evokes cucumber, coriander, and pear more than ylang ylang, blood orange, and sandalwood, but the idea is a perfect footnote to this fragrance.

Velvet & Sweet Pea's Purrfumery Luminous Lemurs is available as 4 ($48) ml, 15  ($110) ml or 30 ($195) ml Eau de Parfum and as 3 ($46) ml and 5 ($64) ml solid perfume. It can be found at the Velvet & Sweet Pea's Purrfumery website.

Possibly of interest

5 Perfumes: unexpected comfort scents
Velvet & Sweet Pea Rose Encens & Eze ~ perfume reviews
Top 10 Winter Fragrances 2017

Filed Under: perfume talk
Tagged With: charity, natural perfume, velvet sweet peas, ylang

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5 Comments

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  1. meredifay says:
    25 September 2020 at 2:37 pm

    Cucumber, coriander and pear? Where is that one, pray tell? 🙂

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    • Jessica says:
      25 September 2020 at 3:50 pm

      hah! I actually don’t like wearing cucumber or pear notes…but maybe someone somewhere will eventually work from this concept!!

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  2. kittyprincesssweetpea says:
    27 September 2020 at 2:57 pm

    Thank you so much for your thoughts and kind words on my new perfume and for letting folks know about Centre ValBio! I love it! You are the best! Since COVID there has been no tourism to many of the countries that are home to endangered species, and the local communities and the animals are struggling enormously. And I love lemurs! XOXO~Laurie

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    • Jessica says:
      28 September 2020 at 10:54 am

      Hello Laurie! Thank you for stopping by! 🙂

      It’s incredible, and sad, how COVID has touched every aspect of life…including the tourism that funds these types of conservation efforts.

      Plus, I had fun just looking at some photos of lemurs while writing this review! We all need a few minutes for a cute-animal time-out now and then!

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      • kittyprincesssweetpea says:
        1 October 2020 at 2:13 pm

        That’s great! Did you see the dancing lemurs? They are beyond!

        XOXO

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