Niche line Mona di Orio has launched Domaine, a new lily of the valley soliflore. Domaine was inspired by Domaine Sainte Blanche, perfumer Edmond Roudnitska's garden in Spéracèdes, and is intended as an homage to the company he founded in 1946, now known as Accords & Parfums.

Working on recreating mute flowers comes with its pros and cons. It requires the perfumer to combine synthetics and naturals, hiding certain parts and pushing others. Thankfully, it also gives the perfumer the opportunity to interpret it however they want. Edmonds version [ed note: Diorissimo] is almost photorealistic, whereas Mona’s attempt is slightly fresher and more indolic, [perfumer Fredrik Dalman's] creation for Domaine on the other hand, comes, with a rounder floral effect, built on a memory from one especially warm spring morning, on his way into work at Accords & Parfums.

...getting to Accords & Parfums from the village of Cabris is quite the walk. It’s a long uphill hike until you reach the small back gate, that will take you directly into the gardens.

[...] It was after one of these climbs that Fredrik first met that now-famous patch of Lily of the Valley. Who knows if it was the warm weather, the large quantity of them or that they were just in bloom, but to Fredrik, the intensity and volume of the scent itself was simply mind-blowing. It was a less watery scent, with hints of warm spring soil and a warmer, more full-bodied floral effect.

Almost as if they were serenading their own arrival.

Domaine is a fragrance where the past meets the present. It is ode to what has been but also a celebration of what the future will bring. It’s our love letter to Accords & Parfums, our history as a brand, the art of perfumery, and the beauty of life itself. A story told by one of nature’s true miracles, the scent of Lily of the Valley.

Mona di Orio Domaine is available at Luckyscent, $215 for 75 ml Eau de Parfum.

(quote via monadiorio)

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