CaFleureBon Celebrates Spring: April Showers Bring May Flowers + “Under My Umbrella” Draw

 

 

“April showers bring May flowers.” We’ve all heard this verse from childhood. It’s a popular thing to say and hear around the springtime, but one thing you might not know is where the rhyme originated from the mid 1500s, by a gentleman by the name of Thomas Tusser who compiled a collection of writings called "A Hundred Good Points of Husbandry". In the April section he wrote:

Sweet April showers
Do spring May flowers

There is meaning behind the words, as well. “April showers bring May flowers” is reminders that even the most unpleasant of things, in this case the heavy rains of April, can bring about very enjoyable things indeed – in this case, an abundance of flowers in May the sign of renewal. (Editor's Note: can someone send a scented message to Mother Nature that its time to stop raining in NY)

 

The Dandelion/ by Ida Meister, Senior Editor

 

All right, my friends- laugh away.

The lowly-born pissenlit, Löwenzahn, paardebloem, diente di león, kiaulpiené…French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Lithuanian. In any language, it’s a weed, no? Not to me. This little beauty got its English and French name [and many others, besides] because of its many-toothed leaves, resembling the “lion’s teeth”. It is “pissenlit” not only for its known diuretic properties-But because it resembles a little wet spot in the bed- “wet the bed”, if you like 😉

Christopher Brosius [hunky polymath with the glorious head befitting a Roman emperor] captures it perfectly in his composition I am a Dandelion.

Dear to my very soul- small, humble, earthy, and transformative in its late blooming stage-[So magical! You can make a wish, and blow it away, like a birthday candle flame!!!]

 

The dandelion has always been a welcome visage to me- and absolutely terrifying to our eldest.The mere glimpse of its leaves made him cower and avert his gaze. What was it that frightened him so? Those toothy leaves? The way the blooms emerged everywhere, as if by sorcery? The fear of being bitten, as if by some latent lurking serpent? To this day, he is reluctant to say…

 

 

But for me, the inebriating odor of damp soil, slimy sap from the freshly broken stem, and blowsy pollen heart commingle in CB’s creation.

It embodies the joy, the innocence of all that is simple, good- And free. Money can’t buy it.

 Immortelle/ By Mark Behnke Managing Editor

  

When it comes to fragrance I am a fan of almost all of the floral notes. Clove-like carnation, many-faceted rose, indolic jasmine, and mysterious narcissus; to name a few. The one which grabs my attention and holds it is a weird little floral note called The Everlasting Flower, Helichrysum angustifolium or just plain Immortelle. Immortelle has a strong odor which has caused it to be called a curry plant; although it is not used in any curry that I am aware of. Immortelle, when distilled to an oil, and used in fragrance smells nothing like curry. The common comparison is to maple syrup and I find that comparison to be apt.

 

 

My first exposure to the rich syrupy character of Immortelle in a fragrance came when I tried Annick Goutal Sables for the first time. Annick Goutal created Sables for her husband, cellist Alain Meunier; in 1985. I didn’t discover it until twenty years later. The moment it hit my nose I knew I found a note which resonated within like the vibrato of M Meunier’s cello.  Immortelle is not a subtle note and it really seems like it is the only note present in Sables at times. But like grace notes there are hints of sandalwood, vanilla and pepper but always the Everlasting flower is everlasting.There are not a lot of fragrances which use Immortelle because of its ability to overpower a fragrance. Two other excellent examples of its use in fragrance are Christian Dior Eau Noire, and Serge Lutens Chene.The silver lining to being an Immortelle fan is it is pretty easy to own all of the fragrances which contain it.

 

 

 

The Iris/ By Contributor Mary Beth Devine

We seem to have misplaced spring here in the mid-Atlantic region. The jonquils hung in for about ten days, the tulips were torn apart by storms within a week. Now it’s all about the iris starting to bloom. Come on…..you knew I was going to choose iris!!! So – let’s talk about Le Labo Iris 39, shall we?

 

Joan Miro

Lest you sit there and yawn, there’s a brightness in this one…the faint smell of ginger – slightly sweetened – the sort of candies you got when you had a head cold in childhood. Cardamom and patchouli add a smoothness and spiciness to my beloved orris root. Think of cardamom here as a more mellowed cousin of the ginger in this brew. Since some consider cardamom and patch as aphrodisiacs, my guess is that they add a human warmth to the otherwise chilly iris as does the civet. Did I mention civet? Synthetic, I’m sure, but civet nonetheless. I get it a few hours in. This is not a ”in your face skanky civet”.

This is a little dirty, a little sexy. It lingers, but doesn’t overwhelm. Fabrice Penot of Le Labo describes it as the “sexiest human being at a publishing house party of St Germaine des Pres on May 26, 1931 at 11:30 PM”.  I can live with that, I think. For me, it’s totally work appropriate and embodies the ying and yang of spring. Cold, gray mornings; blindingly bright afternoons; and always a surprise if you only take the time to look – or sniff. It seems to not get the love (or the second look) that it somehow deserves.  Rather than the predictable woodsy base engendered by other houses, Iris 39 is packed with small surprises in the same way an unfurling iris  does. The opening is accented by a shot of sweet green – lime peel – unexpected, refreshing, but NOT the run of the mill  galbanum blast. I swear I feel a touch of aldehydes in the opening, though I’ve yet to find official mention of them. No matter. It’s an interesting segue-way to the late spring flowers of rose and ylang-ylang that are scattered on our path. Violets – and dark green violet leaves – create a soft cushion of childhood contentment.

 

 

 

Carnation/ by Leah Strigler, Editor

 My first perfume love is Bellodgia to which I was introduced as a child of seven or so via the collection of a good friend’s mother.  Carnations flowers often get little love, a cheap, accessible flower that reminds many of funerals and sad associations.  

 

 

Anne Hathaway on the Oscars 2011 Red Carpet 

However, dressed up by Caron in this ball gown of this classic perfume (created by Ernest Daltroff and released in 1927) it is sumptuous, an accessory for the red carpet, a bottomless bouquet of rich, spicy elegance.  I have owned this scent through many incarnations, starting with a ridged square bottle purchased as a tween.  Today’s version is not quite as heady/heavy as the fragrance I remember from childhood but it still fills one’s nose and mind instantly with that crisp dark clove-like bite – a sort of ideal disembodied version of the flower, perhaps what carnations were meant to be. 

 

 

 

 

Tuberose / by Senior Editor  Emmanuelle Varron

 

 I'm a not really what you call a "flower woman", speaking of perfumes, of course !  First of all because when I was a child, I considered flowers as something only made for gardens. My parents where fond of ambered, spicy perfumes, which are still, today, my favorites. Second, flowers don't really like my skin. Jasmine disappears as soon as I wear some, same thing for mimosa  or lily of the valley.  The only flower that works on me is tuberose. That's why I love it so much. And thanks to our perfumers great talent, you can wear as different tuberoses as the woman you want to be : "fatale", passionate, sophisticated. Never shy, and always with personality . 

 

My May tuberose is of course joyful, sunny, still feminine, but a bit kinky…. And the best one I found is called "3 Fleurs", by Parfum d'Empire.

 

 

 

Ma rc-Antoine Corticchiato  ensured that  the ensemble of tuberose would create ART, tuberose, jasmine and rose, three magnificent flowers, with a strong identity needed to blend perfectly into one scent. Rose is the symbol of passionate love, dedicated to Venus and jasmine is linked to romantic love, and the sensual but smart Sheherazade. What about the tuberose, the one that, of course, speaks the most on my skin ? Well, it symbolizes the forbidden love. During the Italian Renaissance, young girls were not allowed to walk through tuberoses gardens at night. It was believed they could lest their virginal defenses…

I've been wearing 3 Fleurs since the first sunny days in Paris. I have to admit it makes me feel more feminine, and springful, And so uncommon, as all Parfum d'Empire créations are !

  

 

 

 

 

 

Orange Blossom/ by EIC Michelyn Camen

 No surprise… I am known as the Queen of Orange Blossom ( in truth my favorite flower is the orchid but no jus can be extracted from its bloom, "Only the "fruit" of the vanilla orchid (Vanilla Planifolia), the bean, has any value to the perfume industry,"according to Anya McCoy of Anya’s Garden).  My current favorite is from Atelier Grand Néroli, created by perfumer Cécile Krakower. Grand Néroli opens with a joyful burst of neroli and orange blossom (those two lovely, but differently-achieved, products of the same flower aka the couchon de parfumerie). Ahhh, the galbanum seems to extend the citrus notes without turning them too green, and the vanilla and amber lend an air of mystery and warmth at the base; this is definitely my type of scent (a toe into my beloved fruity floral and gourmand scents…all  redolent of resins).

 

 

Grand Néroli evokes all that is sun-warmed and healthy. It is also the flower best known for a bride, which I am soon to be. It’s the most “feminine” Atelier fragrance (but worn by many men I know), with a permanant spot on my bureau. Pssst CaFleureBon loves this line, so tightly edited  and  we  believe there is a summer scent for everyone(Mark and I wore it even before Sylvie Ganter made her debut at  Bergdorf Goodman during  Sniffapalooza Spring Fling 2010).

 

For our draw: Please comment on your favorite flower and perfume. You may select one of the following to add to your comment, or tell us about your own. In this draw, CREATIVITY COUNTS. A POEM .. A SONNET.. A COMMENT  Draw closes Wednesday May 18th.

  200ml of  Grand Neroli courtesy of www.ateliercologne.com

1.7 oz of  Parfum d 'Empire 3 fleurs courtesy of  www.parfumdempire.fr/

 

 1.7 oz  3 Fleurs  Courtesy of    www.parfumdempire.fr/

 www.parfumdempire.fr/

 1.7 oz of Belladogia Courtesy of  Sudhir of www.eauyesny.com (site under construction). For more information contact sbang@susanbang.com of Susan Bang PR

 www.parfumdempire.fr/

 —Michelyn Camen, Editor-In-Chief

Special  acknowledgement to Charlotte Estes Scheuer the Admin of Facebook Fragrance Friends. Although we have had this at the ready on wordpress and on our editorial calendar since April 27, 2011; we enjoyed Floral Week! It just kept raining and raining….

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39 comments

  • There are many ways marketers (like my brand managing self) cope with the terrors of the blank strategy session. I sniff jasmine. The Bollywood effect is somewhere between an intellectual decongestant and a magic carpet ride. It never fails to leave me transported to those maniacal dreams of finding eternal and to stir my imagination towards evoking some sensory moment in the campaign I am about to embark upon.

    The fleeting jasmine was how I discovered what it meant to be a woman: the embodiment of simplicity and restraint. Ironic, since these both go against the very grain of being a full-bodied Leo…but when I wonder back to the chronicles of broken hearts & love gone awry, it was always complemented with my enduring jasmine scent.
    [Neroli is my next obsession].

  • Dear Emmanuelle, I want to love tuberose…really I do. Creamy, warm, sensuous unlike any other. Every time I take a whiff in the store (The Scent Bar is where I like to get drunk & stumble out inebriated on my new fragrance of the month), wearing it becomes to heavy hearted…to the point I get a headache not from the drunken state, but from the overpowering floral.


    Is there such a thing as a softer, wispy tuberose for wusses like me?

  • taffynfontana says:

    My favorite flower is the Frangipani it is delicate yet lush looking and have a burst of color that cathches the eye and a sweet fruity smell that transports you to the tropics. I really enjoy  Ormonde Jayne's Frangipani it is a creamy floral that begs to be worn in the summer sun. 

  • Oh gosh!  Iris is high on the list, Carnation as well.  Lily of the Valley?  It's Orange Blossom time here in California…Too hard to choose.

  • sonia garcia says:

    I love roses, here in my little garden I have three different kind of roses, and right know I love seeing them bloom, also rose is my favorite note too, my favorite now is Creed fleur du the rose bulgare, I just have a little decant but I love it everytime i wear it.
    I'd love to get the Atelier Grand Neroli, thanks!!!

  • She whispered in my ear, "What is your favorite flower?" I replied, "there is only one flower that I can not live without – the rose." I leaned towards her, brushing her long brown hair away from her pale face, and whispered in her ear, "Take this kiss from a rose." Oh, you smell so beautiful," she sighed, "what is it that you're wearing?" "Rose Barbare," I replied.

  • oh it's the rose the rose the rose …
    but which?
    if i could only wear ONE perfume with rose for the rest of time
    it would be roxanna's illuminated perfumes "rosa":
    exquisite, earthy, beautiful — and natural.
    if you haven't tried it, do.
     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     

  • For me it's tubereuse and SL Tubereuse Criminelle, the queen of all scents and flowers. I would like the Parfum d'Empire.Thanks for entering me.

  • Fabulous post!  My favorite florals to wear: Hawaiian white ginger (awapuhi) and my most beloved violet.  The comment about dandelion made me smile, as I like the smell of 'weeds' too.  🙂

  • jasmine flower of love
    scent full of promises 
    nobody can deny
    your power of seduction
    clusters of white flowers 
    midnight's whispers of passion 
    all you know is ecstasy and love
     
    And that sounds like Nasomatto Nuda, seductive and provocative.  
     
    I would love the Grand Neroli. Summer perfect in a bottle.

  • ode to Roja
    Upon my arm Diaghilev danced
    pirouetted into my heart
    lept there without a pause
    plie-ed
    many before performed there
    going through the motions
    first second and third act
    they played

    yet only the passionate Russian
    performed as eloquently
    ever so gracefully
    stayed

    I'm a chypre girl through and through , but also passionately search
    for the perfect tuberose . I would love to be entered in the draw for the
     3 Fleurs by Parfum d'Empire .

  • My favorite flower is orange blossom. It reminds me of my childhood and my hometown (Murcia-Spain). When the orange trees bloom the scent fills the streets. Sunny days, good weather and orange blossoms. What more could I wish?
    But I can't forget the lemon tree blossom, which smells wonderfully too. And the gorgeous almond blossom! One of my favorite scents is Serge Lutens Fleur de Citronnier.
    In Spain the verse is: "Marzo ventoso y abril lluvioso, hacen a mayo florido y hermoso" (Windy March and rainy April, make a full of flowers and beautiful May).
    I love 3 Fleurs. It's so pretty and femenine!
    And I would love to try the other perfumes in the draw, especially Grand Neroli (it would be my chosen prize if I won).

  • Tuberose (D. Featherston)
    Tuberose’s bit of blue odor
    folded in cobalt crepe.

    Sweet clusters at the tip.
    Bitter’s troughed tongue
    slopes throatward.
    Bitter V
                convulse, convolute.

    Sweet, light, bitter, heavy. As hefted. Faster than the speed of
    language. Prelingual odor.

    To fade is fatuous.
    Tuberose is my favorite flower and one of my favorite scents…some say it smells 'old-ladyish'…I think it it one of the most sensual fragrances I've ever encountered…especially 'Nuits de Tubereuse'…breathtaking…

     

  • in perfume i really like rose. it feels so dark at least several that i have tried (if i'd say in color is dark red). And flowers that i really like are orchid(in my home country) and Dandelion (in my new town in germany).  nearly everyday i pick some dandelions and blow it.

  • Alexander Rachev says:

    I've never worn other flower scent from rose but I realy love the time in may when everything is blooming.Yesterday I walked through a place with a lot of False acacias and I was astowned by their scent.

  • MelissaJane says:

    LOVED this entire article! I'd have to say my favorite flower is the simple daffodil..just when you are not sure winter may actually end, it pokes up with a face like a petite smiling sun, always cheerful and hardly asking for anything to survive. I love Annick Goutal's Le Temps D'une Fete for its daffodil note.

  • After my friend Lynne died, her husband related a story to me about accidentally destroying one of her bottles of perfume, one she had brought back from France. He had washed it with a load of laundry and when he pulled the clothes out of the washer, everything smelled like a smashed bottle of French perfume.
     
    So while he and I were at Disney, on a trip she should have been on with us, we marched ourselves into the "France" perfume store and set about trying to see if we could find that bottle of perfume, or one like it.  The lady at the sales desk asked us what perfume note we were trying to find, Lilac, and after consulting her note directory took us over to a tester and allowed us to smell it.  The look on Frank’s  face as he inhaled that scent made me start sobbing right there on the display floor.  He bought a bottle.  I bought a box that had a series of small samples, of which this perfume was one of them.
     
    I don't remember the name of the perfume, or the house that produced it. I don't remember the scent. I no longer have the little samples. Frank does not even remember buying this perfume, and repeated searching of his house has never brought up the box with the unopened bottle.
     
    But smelling a bottle of Champs-Elysees by Guerlain on Sunday made me remember how I had searched for Lynne through scent once before. I don't know why.  Sticking my nose up to the nozzle is frustrating. There is not even lilac listed in the scent notes. It’s a agonizing sensation. I feel like I had almost found her, and now lost her again.
     
    It's 11 years since Lynne passed. The lilacs are in bloom in my backyard, and I dance here, on the edge of a memory, yearning for a something as concrete and as ephemeral as the scent of flowers and skin, and lost time with those who have preceded me into the dark.

  • When it comes to my favorite flower, I'm on the fence. First, there's muguet, a flower I love since I was a little girl. Being in born in May when muguets bloom, I feel a strong connection to the flower & its heavenly scent. 
    But since about one year, I discovered my love for tuberose. I used to shy away from its heady scent for the longest time, but I've fallen hard & can't get enough of it! It all started with FM's Carnal Flower, but I've discovered so many other lovely tuberose perfumes since & am still in awe how many different interpretations of the tuberose theme are possible! 
    Pease enter me in the draw, I'd love to win the Parfum d'Empire "3 Fleurs" bottle 🙂

  • Leah, you and I are of the same mind!  I have had a sentimental attachment to carnations since childhood.  They are my birth flower (January).  I remember, way back then, that they actually had a smell – that wonderful clove-like spiciness!  Unfortunately that is long gone, and all you can find commercially are the flowers that are bred to pack well, travel far, and last long – the scent got lost somewhere along the way.  However, I was delighted to sniff some dianthus at a local plant nursery, and to find it again, my beloved carnation!  I agree that Caron's Bellodgia captures this note beautifully, as well as Dawn Spencer Hurwitz' Oeillets Rouges.

  • Neroli is my love. And violet.  I love a green violet scent. I love Annick Goutal Neroli and Jo Malone Orange Blossom. I like those for their simplicity. Other neroli or orange blossom scents mix jasmine and tuberose in with it… but I like my orange blossom by itself. Smells like a fresh summer wind thorough an orange grove in Southern California!
    I would love to try Atelier Cologne's Grand Neroli – It's on my must sniff summer list! I'm in love with their Oolang Infini, tea scents smell so scrumptious to me.

  • ************The Challenge To Ryme with Gardenia and Tuberose***********************
    Tuberose, you are a familliar love. You sing to me like a little dove (not the chocolate althought that tastes awesome). I associate you with the scent of new love (true story I wore Fresh Tuberosa sadly a discontinued scent when I dated my now husband). Yes,happily I say  sometimes I still smell you on my glove.
    Oh Gardinia when your scent is done right, I feel great spending time with you all night. Gardinia done on the cheap will put you too sleep (you could pass out from the shock of how your favorite scent just got ruined). Gardinia smells fresh and a bit syrup-y too but when its too strong… your nose may turn blue. Favorite Gardinia ever is Annick Goutal Gardenia Passion.
    My favorite flower: honestly, is any boquet purchased for me or someone else unexpectedly that draws so much emotion tears errupt. Black magic roses are a gorgeous yin/yang available in the universe. I love looking at them:)

  • What an enjoyable read! Side note: anything deemed "kinky" is a MUST smell for me. 🙂

  • Anna in Edinburgh says:

    I've had a go at writing a sonnet for the Narcissi that gladden my heart each early Spring.
     
     
    "Narcissus appears green through ice, forcing 
    its tenacious spikes up from the cold earth,
    withstanding buffeting winds, disdaining
    horizontal rain, enacting rebirth.
     
    Life-force impels it to bloom, to fulfil
    its biological imperative:
    urges leaves to emerge, lengthen, grow till
    the bulb, fed and fattened, is sure to thrive.
     
    But what makes it so graceful, uplifting?
    Delicate blooms in wan sun, shimmering
    fresh scents from cream, gold, yellow, orange heart;
    Catching the eye of Winter-dazed people 
    emerging to smell Spring: the daffodil
    nods to its admirers and stands apart."
    cheerio, Anna in Edinburgh (never resists word-play) wearing Cornubia for its gentle opulence today.

  • The jewels of my garden are nasturtium, whose sun-dappled vines fill the yard with a peppery, vegetal smell. Imagine L’Artisan’s Timbuktu plus the juicy damp of morning dew.
    A humble workhorse, they flower profligately in poor soil, are BFF with other plants for providing unparalleled pest control, and re-seed like rutting rabbits. Nothing makes a salad pop with mouth-watering color and spicy heat like a handful of nasturtium petals.
    I tried Orris Noir for the iris and bought a bottle for the pepper. It’s all about salt’s sassy spouse; Bellodgia, please.

    You suggested a poem, so here’s a nasturtium poem I wrote in NYC after September 11, 2001:
    “Bad Year for Lavender”

    It was a bad year for lavender
    fall came the second week of September
    she held her breath to remember
    then sighed
    If nasturtium can always come
    flaming flowers from the saddest soil
    then she can dig in for a while
    and sometimes even smile
    but the crinkled periwinkle stalks her eye
     

  • My favorite flowers are tulips!!!  Though some say they do not have a scent, I find them to have a soft, spicy fragrance.  I love that they "grow" out of the vase – fun flowers.
    For the draw, I have a bottle of and absolutely LOVE 3 Fleurs.  It's an amazing, rich, vibrant floral, and one that my husband loves on me (always a plus).  🙂  I also love the Atelier colognes – my favorite so far is Trefle Pur…but I have not tried Grand Neroli – I'd love to!  Please include me in the draw for it.  Thank you!  XO

  • @DK : Yes, tuberose is not an easy flower to live with… But I think you can have a try with two of my favorites.
    Of course, "3 Fleurs" by Parfum d'Empire, which is equally devoted to tuberose, jasmine and rose. Your skin will make the choice of which will be the most powerful on you, but the two other flowers won't disappear, strongly being part of it. If the tuberose is my winner one, it's the first time that I can smell jasmine and rose on me ! 
    And have a try with "Nuit de Tubéreuse" by l'Artisan Parfumeur. At first smell, it seems maybe "too much". But it changes on the skin, with both cedarwood and sandalwood making it softer, ans SO sophisticated. You need to wait a few minutes, as it will probably seem too "brutish" on the first "pschiit" ; very quickly, you will get the impression it has all gone. And then, after a few moments, as a nice surprise, it will finally be back, smoother… without losing its tuberose identity !

  • I love so many flowers it is very difficult to choose my favorite! But one of them is the simple Marigold that we plant in our garden every year. We often plant the very large ones in burnt orange and yellow. It would be wonderful to wear Grand Neroli while planting them this year!! Then I would feel like a flower among flowers….

    Marigold
    Let me be bold like the marigold,
    who stands in full glory,
    open to life and fed
    by the milk and honey of stars.
     
    Let me stand bravely as she does,
    bent not broken by the storm,
    emerging full swell
    when the fierce winds pass.
     
    And when I am spent,
    let me wither in grace,
    dissolving to nourishment
    for this earth
    I will so sorrowfully
    leave behind.

    Marlene

  • Michellle Hunt says:

    I love the delicate, dizzy balls of sunshine that are mimosa blossoms.  I love remembering how the blossoms of my bouquet would get tangled in the fur of my dear cat, years ago.  Like a mimosa blossom, he too was fuzzy and a bit flighty, he too made me smile.
    Mimosa Pour Moi is my favorite floral, sunny and cheerful yet soulful (a sunny cheerful perfume without soul simply won't do…..) 
    Would love to try the Grand Neroli, it sounds like a perfect summer scent! 

  • Flowers…are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty outvalues all the utilities of the world ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
    Not sure how I missed sniffing 3 Fleurs…I think the retailer that sells Parfum d'Empire up here did not have that one. It sounds glorious…

  • Oh wow! What a huge opportunity!! I've been dying to get a bottle of the Atelier Grand Neroli for a while. I received 3 decants of the Atelier colognesas a gift and Grand Neroli is my favorite! I'd love to win it!
    My favorite flower is orange blossom, and my absolute favorite perfume at the moment, Grand Neroli is my most desired/favorite perfume! I've tried a lot of perfumes with orange blossom, neroli, orange flower absolute and similar notes but nothing quite compares to the Atelier line. They last all day on me.
    Here's my Ode to Grand Neroli:
    Oh Grand Neroli, dearest perfume of orange flower
    your sweet, lovely fragrance has an exotic power.
    Your petit grain, galbanum and musk accords
    are balanced with oakmoss, which so many adore.
    You last all day on my hydrated skin
    and you're clean and well mannered (never a sin).
    And though you are fun and fruity,
    you're still an elegant beauty
    and I really hope that I win!!!!
     
     
     
     

  • English rose is the Queen of my heart. My opal, peach colored Princess Margreta is a mystery to me. It is majestic yet humble, it`s fragile vines need support, it`s fragrance is intoxicating but brings the heartfelt memories out. The flower is a nature`s mandala, the one you can look at for a long time searching for your inner self.Thank you, Universe, for roses.

  • Paul Kiler says:

    Being a native Californian, and living around Citrus country, I can hardly believe how heaven could smell any nicer than walking through an orange grove in full bloom.  I'm crazy for the intoxication of Orangeblossom too, Michelyn.
    But also, the Tuberose holds sway, whenever I've travelled, such as our honeymoon in Bali, or before our wedding in other parts of Indonesia, going to India, etc, (or even just buying them at Costco) I always seem to find Tuberose to bring home and fill the house with a glorious fragrance that is so fresh and lovely.
    But then, now in the spring, the Broom is in bloom around here and especially in the local canyons, and rolling down the windows and driving slow enough, the scent coming in the windows is really fantastic – it's a favorite olfactory activity…

  • One of my favorite flowers from since I was young has been the night-blooming jasmine. I love the smell, the evening time, and the whole mood I get from the combination. However, orange blossom is my second favorite, and I've been dying to try Grand Neroli, as I haven't found too many orange blossom scents that I don't like. All that being said, my favorite fragrance right now is Caron Pour Homme. 
    But I really want to win the Grand Neroli, so here's a little limerick dedicated to it 🙂
    There once was a scent called Neroli 
    It's Grandness excelled all the lowly 
    Perfumes that I sniffed
    But from it just one whiff

    And I have to scream out Holy Moly! 

  • I know that I've missed the deadline, and winners have been drawn, but I just discovered your page, and reading this article has inpired me as it is sooo timely! I don't have 1 favorite fragrance, and there are so many that I adore. But I do have 2 favorite spring flowers being the peony and lilac. I think the lilac is a little closer to my heart since my bedroom window was just above the tips of our large lilac tree and I remember playing inside and around the large branches and limbs inhaling the lovely lilac scent. My little ditty below:
    Lilac, you're lush & sweet
    I swoon as the spring breeze
    trails the scent of heaven past my face
    I thank you lilac for the memories of innocence
    I will carry forever.  🙂