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Browsing by tag: peony

Aroma M Geisha Botan ~ fragrance review

Posted by Jessica on 26 July 2018 10 Comments

Just imagine: enchanting peonies, transformed into invisible irezumi to beautify the skin and its surroundings.

This is the introductory line in the press release for Geisha Botan, the newest fragrance from independent perfume house Aroma M.1 This scent is an homage to the peony (“botan” in Japanese) and its cultural significance in Japan and China, where the peony is an auspicious motif and has appeared for centuries in art forms from porcelain and tapestry to printmaking and, yes, traditional tattoos.

The mention of irezumi (tattoos) and these other visual arts is telling, because Botan is much more an artistic interpretation of the peony’s color and texture than a literal recreation of its scent…

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Stella McCartney Stella Peony ~ fragrance review

Posted by Jessica on 26 April 2018 16 Comments

I’ve been a fan of Stella McCartney’s Stella since it was launched in 2003, so I’m not sure how I missed the Stella In Two fragrance duo that was released as a flanker set in 2006. (Was it really that long ago? Yes.) The peony half of Stella In Two was reformulated and relaunched as Stella Peony in late 2017, so I thought I should catch it this time around. I’ve loved peonies since I was a child and spent time examining the peony bushes in my grandparents’ backyard. Peony flowers have become something of a cliché in recent years (“basic,” as the kids say), but I’m still partial to the idea of a peony-inspired perfume.

Stella Peony was developed by perfumer Alberto Morillas and includes notes of mandarin, freesia, lotus flower, peony, geranium, amber and patchouli. (Jacques Cavallier was credited with the original In Two duo.) The card for my sample describes it as “a daring blend of peppery florals and amber gris.” To my surprise, that description is pretty accurate…

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Dawn Spencer Hurwitz Peony and White Lilac ~ fragrance reviews

Posted by Jessica on 18 July 2014 22 Comments

Watercolor SL

Independent perfumer Dawn Spencer Hurwitz recently launched two new floral fragrances, Peony and White Lilac. I have to confess that I don’t always stay abreast of this line’s new releases and projects, only because Hurwitz is quite prolific and the line is still primarily online-only, so I was happy when these two samples came my way. In case you were wondering: no, I will never tire of feminine floral perfumes!

Peony is an evocation of an entire day in the life of this springtime flower, from a dewy bud at dawn to a duskier blossom at nightfall…

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Jo Malone Peony & Blush Suede ~ fragrance review

Posted by Jessica on 20 September 2013 16 Comments

Jo Malone Peony & Blush Suede

The latest fragrance release from Jo Malone is Peony & Blush Suede, a fruity floral developed by perfumer Christine Nagel. Its official description reads: “Peonies in voluptuous bloom, exquisitely fragile. Flirtatious with the juicy bite of red apple and the opulence of jasmine, rose and gillyflower. Mingling with the sensuality of soft, blush suede. Luxurious and seductive.”

Peony & Blush Suede does open with apple, but it’s a pleasantly cider-y apple, not anything like the Jolly Rancher green apple note that shows up in so many mass-market perfumes. The rest of the fragrance is a soft floral with musky underpinnings. The peony is honeyed and a touch dusky, not the lemony-bright flower that some other peony fragrances have tried to evoke…

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Penhaligon’s Peoneve ~ fragrance review

Posted by Jessica on 2 August 2012 25 Comments

Penhaligon's PeoneveManet, Bouquet of Peonies

The English house of Penhaligon’s offers several floral fragrances for women, yet I’ve never really fallen for any of them. Bluebell is too astringent for my taste, Elisabethan Rose is pretty but fleeting, Violetta is weirdly herbaceous, and I’m just not a Lily of the Valley person. However, the press release for Peoneve caught my eye. This new launch is described as “an exquisite portrayal of an English garden in summer, bursting with lush green foliage and heady with the scent of blossoming flowers,” and was developed by perfumer Olivier Cresp, with notes of violet leaf, peony, Bulgarian rose, hedione, vetiver, musk and cashmere wood.

Although peony isn’t my absolute favorite floral note, I do like it, and I’ll usually give it a try when it appears in something like L’Occitane Paeonia (which is a bit dull) or Parfums de Nicolaï’s Rose Pivoine — or Estée Lauder’s new-classic Pleasures, of course. The main problem with interpretations of peony, for me, is that they tend to err on the side of watery-lemony freshness, when I’d prefer a little more pollen and petal in the mix. Peoneve seems to take the latter course…

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