It’s the last Friday in June, plus National PTSD Awareness Day and Canadian Multiculturalism Day. Birthdays: Paul Laurence Dunbar, Helen Keller, Norma Kamali, Vera Wang, Alice McDermott. Also, National Orange Blossom Day, and that’s the subject of our community project for today…you know what to do!
What fragrance did you pick? As always, do chime in with your scent of the day even if you’re not participating in the community project.
I’m in Diptyque Eau des Sens…
The last Friday in March! (It’s also World Piano Day and Pearl Bailey’s birthday.) Our community project for today: wear an orange blossom or neroli fragrance, if you have one.
What fragrance did you pick? As always, do chime in with your scent of the day even if you’re not participating in the community project.
I am repeating last Friday in Hermès Eau de Néroli Doré…
A short film from International Flavors & Fragrances' in house naturals facility, Laboratoire Monique Rémy, about the cultivation and processing of Tunisian orange blossoms into orange blossom absolute and neroli. (If you never understood the difference between the two products, this video will explain.) About 6 minutes; perfumer Anne Flipo appears at about the 5:20 mark.
I may wear rose more often than any other floral note in my fragrances, but I’m also very fond of violet and carnation, and sometimes I really crave an orange blossom perfume. Parfums de Nicolaï recently launched Néroli Intense, Patricia de Nicolaï’s tribute to her own “passion for the orange flower,” and since this house is one I respect, I was looking forward to trying this new scent.
Néroli Intense’s composition includes notes of mandarin, neroli, tarragon, pittosporum flower, petitgrain, beeswax, patchouli and white musk. It does indeed evoke the “different olfactory properties” of the bitter orange tree, while remaining coherent and tightly constructed. Its petitgrain note — evoking the oil distilled from the twigs of the bitter orange tree — is green and raspy, and takes the lead after Néroli Intense is applied to skin…
I once heard perfumer Thomas Fontaine say he considered orange blossom an American note. (Iris and galbanum were French, he said.) Right away, I thought of bars of soap, brides, and piles of white laundered towels. Is that what Americans are about — cleanliness and innocence? Maybe I should have asked, is that what orange blossom is about?
Orange blossom is a lot more expressive than its association with laundry detergent would have you believe. Here are five relatively easy-to-find1 orange blossom-centered fragrances that explore a variety of non-Girl Scout takes on the note:
Serge Lutens Fleurs d’Oranger: Fleurs d’Oranger kicks off as bright and juicy as a grove of Florida Ambersweets in spring…