Extraordinary Blooms

A famous pastry-maker uses lychee to give his creations a rose flavor. Although the result is actually very tasty, the idea could seem odd. Yet there really is a rose facet in lychee. And the other way around seems to be true, too. Far from the stereotypical EngIish rose, the rosy-chypre scent of Guerlain’s Idylle does in fact have a lychee tonality. Roses are complex flowers with multiple facets, including some totally unexpected ones. Annick Goutal fell in love with a pear-scented rose. And when smelled blind, rose is often found to have notes of lemongrass and… artichoke. These past few years, rose has made a comeback, and the challenge for perfumers is to find an unusual or heightened new way of presenting it. In new creations, rose has been evolving towards white, almost aldehyde-like facets lately, as in Narciso Rodriguez’s Essence or Byredo’s Blanche. Although it has also gone in the exact opposite direction, towards sparkling-fruit tonalities, as in Jeanne Lanvin La Rose, with its crisp, green cassis opening.

But other flowers can also be reinvented by perfumers. In Balenciaga’s latest scent, violet reveals new features in a sweet, modern composition. The green tone is still there, but it has lost its hard edge, and has been prettied up with sweet, fruity notes and woodsy musks. Violet is often thought of as a clichéd scent. But it has mischievous, surprising facets too. It can smell like candy or a powder puff. Violet can smell like raspberry… and vice versa. And in fragrances like Fahrenheit and Grey Flannel, violet can even take a masculine turn.

Reinventing floral accords can also mean proposing new kinds of single-flower scents, sometimes even imaginary ones, like Eaux de Fleurs de Chloé’s green, untamed capucine (nasturtium). Or lavender, an ingredient that perfumers don’t usually categorize as floral, perhaps because it’s more often used in the men’s range. But that may be just what makes Eau de Fleur de Lavande so interesting. It’s a neo-single-flower scent: a single-flower with an un-flowery floral note borrowed from cologne. And with its distinctly clean, woody-musky facets, it may well appeal to men, too.

Although frankly floral scents haven’t yet caught on with men, perfumers are attempting some subtle floral accords. For Frédéric Malle, Dominique Ropion worked with geranium, a note that is sometimes referred to as “rose for men”. But it’s a rosy note with minty facets, and in Geranium pour Monsieur, the mint is highlighted. For Paul Smith Man, Nathalie Lorson worked supple, powdery iris with dryer, more aromatic notes, like patchouli and lavender. A number of creations for men have violet tonalities or a touch of iris, sometimes even jasmine or lily-of-the-valley.
In the latest creations for women, flowers are also getting spiced up. For Si Lolita (Lempicka), Christine Nagel worked with two atypical spicy blooms: gillyflower and sweet pea. You’ll find a touch of spice amongst the flowers in Armani’s Idole too, with a saffron accord and a note of davana, an exotic flower with aromatic and candied accents.

Flowers are sometimes subjected to creative madness. Pour Frédéric Malle, perfumer Carlos Benaïm dreamt up a floral home fragrance named Jurassic Flower. This ‘prehistoric flower’ was composed around magnolia, something of an It Flower just now*, presented here with facets of lavender and apricot.
And how will flowers surprise next? Blogger Denyse Beaulieu mentioned an interesting new trend: carnivorous tropical florals. “Carnivorous,” because they eat the skin of those who spray or dab it on. For concrete examples of her concept, she mentions Manoumalia by LesNez, with its fagraea-blossom note and Penhaligon’s Amaranthine, a very spicy floral oriental bouquet.

* the note is found in Helena Rubinstein’s Wanted, Acqua di Parma’s Magnolia Nobile, Chanel’s Cristalle Eau Verte and more