Imagine opening Nature’s exquisitely scented love letter written to cherish your physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual being. Engage in any one of her many fragrant dialects: a spicy cabernet chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum x morifolium), the fresh sweetness of lilac (Syringa vulgaris) in springtime, the subtle clove of a pink Firewitch dianthus (Dianthus gratianopolitanus) flower, and we can momentarily experience physiological and psychological changes.
I’m not here to argue the existence of a benevolent universe, but who can dispute the artistry of a magnolia or exuberantly herbaceous lavender, the peace of cedarwood or tender violet? What is created is its own Self. Defined by itself. Like no other yet made from all other. Nature is effusive, expressive, and wildly passionate about self-manifestation and interdependent procreation.
Extravagant Cream Blossoms
When it comes to breathing in flower aromas, it is the waxy passionate scents of visually understated cream flowers that surprise me. Think of the narcissus, gardenia, honeysuckle, lily, and the many kinds of ubiquitous white flowering hedges. While it might be natural to assume that colorful flowers are the most deeply fragranced, it seems that the subtle ones must project further. Perhaps to grab a pollinator’s attention?
We planted a small loquat tree (also called Japanese plum) when we first built our home over twenty years ago. A neighbor told us that in Greece a loquat (Eriobotrya japonica) is often planted in the front yard to bring good fortune and harmony to a family home, like how a magnolia may be planted in the southern United States. The loquat’s flower is seductive and pungent, as if all the pheromones Nature might invent in one rather drab cluster of creamy blossoms say ‘come hither’ to the pollinators. Indeed, the flowers hum with honeybees full of druglike sweetness reminiscent of honey, balsam, leather, and vanilla.
I may devote an entire page to magnolias one day, (with gratitude for the ample time to love them so), but for now I recall their citrus sweet elegance and respect the ways their startling graphic architecture stir something akin to steadfast hope and faith, the endurance every union or marriage requires.
During a fast walk last autumn, I was arrested by an unusual scent. Osmanthus is a fun word to say, like a power lifter and plant poem all in one. ‘Oes Man Thus’ or winterberry, sports tiny white bell flowers like fairy hats, and a seductive floral scent that starts with a heady mix of lily, jasmine, apricot, orris, and ylang ylang all in one wowzah fragrance that ends with an undercurrent of leather and tobacco. It’s a middle-base note that is key to many well-known colognes. Ants and honeybees descend giddily on this luscious fragrance clearly delighted by the flower feast. The branches shoot out every which way as if trying to cast flares of their scent.
Osmanthus Osmanthus americanus
Osmanthus americanus recently volunteered in our neighborhood and caught on in our yard. It grows in the native park and wildlife refuge land, in fact there’s a pleasant 2.5 mile loop Osmanthus trail in First Landing State Park. The flowering season may be brief, but those diminutive white bells bestow an incredibly rich spice that is sweet and tantalizing unlike anything I’ve experienced. I wonder if osmanthus would also capture your imagination as you pass by.
Personal Perfumes Play in Nature’s Passionate Arena
Do you surround yourself with essences that make your heart resound? Are you energized by bright fruits and zesty peels or transfixed by deep rose and somnolent sandalwood? Do you follow trails of wild jasmine dropping golden bells in the forest or sniff out the vines of honeysuckle on a warm breeze before you can see them?
Damask Rose Rosa damascena and Honeysuckle Lonicera caprifolium
Essences extracted from plants feel different than synthetically engineered fragrances. This may have something to do with life energy, sometimes called prana, breath, heartbeat, the inhale and exhale of the universe. Our passion for creating personal essence perfumes is love and gratitude for that vital energy.
To be you, just for you, is a delicious gift just as life was intended to be. Personal essential perfumes capture Nature’s concentrated chemistry and vital forces; they invite our senses out to play in her arena. When we co-create your scent blend with Nature’s impressive repertoire we’re doing so on your terms.
We work with 12, 16, sometimes 20 essential oils for each perfume to fully round out the top, heart, and base notes. It happens over the days as these scents develop and marry together. The nose is partial to individual identities and the attention to each one shifts as the volatile top notes intermingle. The blend matures, deepens, and at last the base notes fix or anchor the whole. When you apply the blend, it melds with your unique chemistry and transforms into something else yet again. It’s quite alchemical and fun!