My Spring with Artisan Perfumers, Part I

                              As a perfumer, what is scented Spring for you?

Anya McCoy: April in Miami is jasmine heaven! That signals Spring to me after the relatively scentless winter season. Yes, we have flowers in Winter, but the arrival of really warm days in Spring brings the many varieties of jasmine at my home, Casa Jasmin, to life. The fragipani also starts to bloom now, and the Clerodendron by the front door, so I have a garden perfume of jasmine, fragipani and a clove carnation scent.

Mandy Aftel: Scented Spring to me is the flowers that I grow in my garden  -  I have many kinds of roses, jasmine and iris, and when they’re all blooming the air is full of lush spring fragrances. Whenever I smell those fragrances in another environment, I am instantly taken back to spring in my backyard.

Ayala Moriel: Yellow wild flowers of the Mediterranean (i.e.: broom, mimosa, wild yellow chrysanthemum) and orange blossoms blooming all together at once. This explosion of pollen and scents can be overwhelming, especially in the heat of the Mediterranean spring sun.

Rohanna Goodwin Smith: The green, moist air of an April shower; richly fertilized earth as I ready it for the spring planting of my vegetables; the soft  sweet scent of freshly cut tulips and the heady richness of a potted narcissus near my desk.

Emma Leah: Spring for me, as a scent  inspiration, is an overall sense of  the metallic saltiness of wet rich earth, a juicy sweet green of new shoots and leaves, a soft powdery note on the air mixed with the ozonic crispness left from winter and the promise of fruits and blossoms. I don’t like to associate just one set of flowers or notes with a season. My mind relates better to a larger olfactory visual of any time of year so I can gather a more diverse set of ideas.

                                                    What is your favorite flower?
 

Anya McCoy: Well, you can guess by now - it's jasmine. Nothing defines a garden like a jasmine, with rose a close second. Jasmines have, through antiquity until now, and I'm sure for the future, defined the narcotic power of a tiny flower to take over our body and mind. It's pristine white beauty, shiny with dewdrops, or viewed by moonlight, can pull the eye towards it, unfussy in appearance, but somehow transmitting its power of its soul, the beautiful fragrance.

Mandy Aftel: My favorite flower is the oriental lily because of its gorgeous aroma. It is clean and floral and lightly spiced. When there aren’t flowers in my backyard, I always like to have cut lilies in the house to bring in fresh and natural fragrance.

Ayala Moriel: I have many favourite flowers, but the single flower that represents spring for me in the most powerful way is orange blossom. I grew up with that smell coming back every spring and it always makes me feel happy.

Rohanna Goodwin Smith: It's difficult to choose but certainly one of  my favourites is the orange blossom which gives us two gorgeous fragrances-the  deep, delicious, sensual  and sophisticated  orange flower absolute and  the radiant, ethereal, uplifting citrus notes of neroli essential oil. Orange blossom probably ties with jasmine which sends me over the moon!

Emma Leah: I always find this question difficult as a perfumer because I adore so many flowers for their scent but the flowers I get the most joy from personally are not fragrant. Instead I appreciate them for their spectacular visual display. My favorites are tulips, hibiscus and bougainvillea. They look as if they should smell because they are so luscious and that is inspirational in its self. Their beauty is such that you can imagine a scent for them. Tulips would be a rich but sparkling clear floral, Hibiscus makes me think of oriental notes of spicy sweet and smoky florals, and I would always imagine Bougainvillea as bursting with ginger and fruity berry notes over a woody base.

                                
                                 What fragrance(s) do you wear during Spring?

Anya McCoy: I rarely wear perfumes since I work with the raw aromatics all the time - I save them for a special occasion. Spring is a very hot time here, often very humid, so at most, I would spray boronia or jasmine or another light floral, nothing heavy or very strong.

Mandy Aftel: I always wear the last perfume I created, so this Spring I’ll be wearing Lumiere. It happens to be a very appropriate Spring-inspired fragrance that I can’t get enough of at the moment. 

Ayala Moriel: Diorissimo in early spring when it's still cold (I particularly prefer the Extrait), Zohar when I'm visiting Israel, and Le Parfum de Therese when it gets warmer.

Rohanna Goodwin Smith: As a botanicall perfumer I am  enchanted with all of my raw materials and I don't tend to have seasonal favourites.

Emma Leah: Spring is about waking up and putting your face to the sun and sky so I choose uplifting and energetic scents.



                                 Suggest a fragrance for our readers and your fans.

Anya McCoy: I would advise Fragrantica readers to select, first of all, a fragrance that blends well with their skin chemistry. Expand your fragrance wardrobe, if you haven't already, to wear a lighter scent in the Spring. Pretend you are in a garden of flowers and choose accordingly. Most of all, love and live with your fragrance and your joy will radiate along with the perfume. 

Mandy Aftel: For those who like me love the smell of lilies, I would suggest my Orchid fragrance. It has fresh and spicy notes layered with orange flower absolute. It’s a floral with a bit of an unexpected edge. Orchid works especially well in the Spring, but is also lovely throughout the year. It’s available only as a solid perfume, in either a sterling silver compact, or an antique watch case.

Both are portable and ideal for carrying in a purse. Reapplying perfume throughout the day can become a wonderful sort of ritual to calm body and mind.

Ayala Moriel: Zohar, my orange blossom soliflore with three types of orange flower, blood orange, yuzu and amber, which is quite a realistic portrayal of orange groves in full bloom while the overripe fruit from the winter is still hanging on the branches. Now that I'm visiting Grasse in the south of France I'm mostly wearing my Les Nuages de Joie Jaune which is a very light, sheer mimosa soliflore with a hint of vanilla.

Rohanna Goodwin Smith: If I may suggest one of my own creations, I have a special fondness for my solid perfume called Blossom. Zesty wild sweet orange bids its greeting before introducing the beautiful and sophisticated orange blossom and jasmine grandiflorum. Supported with rich, mossy undertones.

Emma Leah: From my range for spring I would suggest - Mint Julep, Imp, Equinox, Sylph or Nymph, along with White Flowers and Poeticus. All of our amazing range will be available for purchase from our website very soon.

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