Bloemenmarkt, Amsterdam, stock photo

If you’ve ever been to one of Europe’s great flower markets, you’ll know the intoxicating medley of floral notes mixing with city aromas: mineral concrete and lush jasmine; cigarettes and roses, carnations and car fumes. Atelier Bloem (from Matthew Malin and Andrew Goetz of Maelin & Goetz) is inspired by Amsterdam’s floating flower market, the Bloemenmarkt, whose light and water seem to filter into 2017's Half Moon, a fruity floral, spice-inflected Iris and stemmy Atelier Bloem Black Tulip.

Photo by Erik Madigan Heck for Harper's Bazaar UK, May 2017

Atelier Bloom Half Moon is named for that ship of that wandering Dutchman, Henry Hudson, a strange moniker for this peachy debutante of a fragrance. Opening with pirouettes of peach juice and syrupy honeysuckle, and followed by the lotus-like smell of cut green stem, Half Moon is sweet but with enough verdant buoyancy to keep from cloying. While it smells nothing like either DSH Perfumes swanlike D’Anjou or Annick Goutal Petite Cherie, it shares a similar style: sylphlike, spritely, an Audrey Hepburn fragrance. It is fairly linear in development, coasting on that airy honeysuckle and peach for some time before mixing in with some downy musks. Notes: Bergamot, peach, white jasmine, honeysuckle blossom, and fresh greens, amber, musks and amberwood.

Photo by Erik Madigan Heck for Harper's Bazaar UK, Sept 2014

 Atelier Bloem Iris: As much about cardamom and violet as iris, Atelier Bloem’s version of a flower often known for chilly elegance is warm and woodsy. Violet is immediately apparent in the opening, its woody velvet smell embraced almost immediately by a dose of cardamom. In the middle stage, the violet joins up with a buttery iris, bestowing a hint of lipstick. This accord is joined by a transparent, water-lily sweetness that may be the orchid. While similarities between Iris and Le Labo’s dessert-spice Iris 39 might come to mind, Atelier Bloem’s Iris has a fluffy, cocooning quality that sets it apart from its predecessor. The cardamom and woods are softer and subtler here, and that violet-iris accord brings in a touch of vintage. Notes: Cardamom, rain forest orchid, violet flower, iris petals, star jasmine, pimento blossom, and rose from Grasse, iris wood, vetiver, tonka bean, musk.

Flower House fashion editorial, photo by Gun-Ho Lee for Vogue Korea, Mar 2013

Atelier Bloem BlackTulip: Tulip is always a creative conundrum for perfumers as its sleek blossom has no fragrance. A number of houses have given their spin – the drowsy narcissus of Byredo’s lovely La Tulipe, I Profumi di Firenze’s heady, velvety Tulipano Nero. Atelier Bloem’s reading of that sultry flower is an alluring combination of flower shop and violet that grows subtly darker and woodier. When it opens, it is as if you just walked into the ritziest florist in town; that enclosed, bitter-green smell of dew, freesia, branches and crunchy cut stem. With time, Black Tulip’s green notes grow more prominent and weighty. But the diaphanous sweet trill of freesia keeps the bouquet from getting heavy. Atelier Bloem Black Tulip slowly dries down to the smell of crushed green leaf and silky violet. My favourite of the Atelier Bloem line. Notes: Ivy, freesia, bergamot, atlas tulip, violet, water jasmine, vetiver, amber, skin musk, blonde woods.

Photo by Ruven Afanador for Town & Country, Mar 2013

The breezy, uncomplicated florals of Atelier Bloem fit nicely with the Malin & Goetz ethos of simplicity and quality. Every fragrance wardrobe needs its ingenues as well as its grande dames, and Atelier Bloem perfumes are dewy, bright and easygoing, made just for those days for when you need a bit of pretty or an early dose of spring.

Disclaimer: Samples of Half Moon and Iris provided by Barney’s New York – many thanks. My opinions are my own.

– Lauryn Beer, Senior Editor

Thanks to the generosity of Barney’s New York, we have carded samples of the three Atelier Bloem reviewed: Half Moon, Iris and Tulip Extraordinaire for one registered reader in the U.S. To be eligible, please leave a comment saying what appeals to you about any or all of the three Atelier Bloem perfumes in Lauryn’s review, if you have heard of Atelier Bloem and whether you have visited any flower markets in Europe or elsewhere. Draw closes 2/5/2017.

We announce the winners only on site and on our Facebook page, so Like Cafleurebon and use our RSS feed … or your dream prize will be just spilled perfume.