OOOOHHHHH! Mood scent 4 week! YAY! This month Orange Blossom, Fruit and Branch frags are our choice of genre. Thanks Esperanza, super choice. Oranges play a huge role in perfumery and the whole tree has been used over the centuries. Orange blossom, fruit, neroli, leaves and pettigrain all have their place in the perfumers organ.
Can’t wait to read about your fave Orange Blossom, Fruit and Branch frags in the comments too.
So excited to be blogging with these three superstars again: Esperanza L’Esperessence, Megan Megan In Sainte Maxime and Samantha I Scent You A Day. Check theirs out too.
Mood Scent 4: Orange Blossom, Fruit and Branch
Orange Blossom, Fruit and Branch! It’s funny, I thought I would have gazillion bottles of perfume with leading notes that fit the charter for this month but the list is shorter than expected. Especially in the neroli department, colour me surprised. Also, I go check a perfume I always associated with orange and it turns out to be lemon, mandarin, lime or generic citruses. As always, I wanted to show as many different ways the note can be interpreted but I think this time I may have been foiled. So, after searching and searching I came up with a list of about 18 and here are the most diverse set of seven I can give you.
24 Faubourg EdT by Hermès
24 Faubourg is an old favourite of mine. So effortlessly glamorous. While the orange/bergamot opening is fleeting the orange blossom is star of the show. Creamy, rich, heady and lavish, I love the way the vanilla and ylang bolster and fill out the orange blossom till it becomes a super flower. Everything else plays bit parts till dry down where creamy sandalwood and vanilla take front and centre. I wish more guys would wear 24 Faubourg, it’s a perfect fit on a confident man.
Cologne du Parfumeur by Guerlain
In 2010 or thereabouts Thierry Wasser ascended the Guerlain perfumer throne. He apparently created this cologne as his nod to the famous Guerlain Colognes of old. He also updated the style just enough to make it modern. A sweet cologne that includes bergamot among its tart opening citruses but doesn’t make it a leading player. A green herbaceousness that could be basil, and a kick of mint enliven the coming of the heart. The star is orange blossom, but not the lush, creamy, sensual orange blossom we know so well. Here it feels unripe, prim and buttoned up. Longevity is EdT rather than cologne.
Jaipur Bracelet by Boucheron
There is something so delicious about Jaipur Bracelet. It’s been in this house less than a month and I’ve already spritzed about 15ml of it! Bitter orange and petitgrain are swirl into an aquatic, slightly boozy, refreshingly green citrus extravaganza. I think part of the joy of spritzing this is that it cost so little at the discounters and came in 100ml. The floral heart retains whiffs of citrus and the base turns warmer and creamy woody iris. It’s no groundbreaker but totally engaging and, dare I say, beautiful.
Nuit Etoilée by Annick Goutal
Mint and citrus are one of my favourite combinations. Mum used to make a mint, orange and carrot salad that I still make today in her memory, it’s delicious. The opening of Nuit Eloilée is exactly the smell of that salad. Happy, Happy reminders. The opening lasts only a couple of minutes before darkening into a wood/tonka warmth. I’m sure there’s some anise in the mix here too but it might be the greenery and florals putting me off. Nuit Etoilée is a strange fish, ice cold and yet comforting and warm. The orange makes regular reappearances through the fragrance life too.
OE by Bogue
From super fruity to an orange grove. OE has an extraordinary story through the fragrances life. The opening is like very over ripe oranges, or peelmnin the compost bin. It’s intoxicatingly heavy and leads into a thick, spicy, treacle like heart. There is no air between the notes and the sparkling light is smoky and shadowed. Much like a Rembrandt painting. Once you get used to the darkness it’s like sitting in an orange grove at late summer twilight on a Greek island. The fruit, trees, leaves, shadow, earth and decaying leaf litter all seem to be here. You can smell the smoke from cooking and a waft of salty, non touristy beach.
Paris-Venise by CHANEL
Sugar sweet vanilla bean crystals gather around an orange rind. There is a green sharpness that keeps the whole of Paris-Venise floating off into a citrus cupcake fresh from the oven. Smart, tart, sweet and cuddly and incredibly more-ish. This is supersonic traditional modern femininity bottled. It’s also great fun and in pure CHANEL style, restrained outrageousness. Wears like an EdT but smells like a lolly lipgloss.
Source by Hermetica
Hermetica are interesting because they don’t use alcohol, instead it’s an extremely light oil base. Creating a much different wear for the fragrance. You have to wait till it’s properly warmed by your skin and has a much lower initial projection. Source is their base fragrance that you can mix and match all others with if you’d like to amp the fragrance with citrus and woodsy amber. I prefer it on its own. The bergamot opening/heart is beautifully sharp and exciting without being purely refreshing. Already that woody amber grounds and warms it and it stays around becoming more the focus through the life of Source. The story is not big, the heart stays pumping itself out quite linearly to fade.
Don’t forget to go across and read the other three members of the Mood Scent 4 crew:
Esperanza L’Esperessence
Megan Megan In Sainte Maxime
Samantha I Scent You A Day.
Please share your Orange Blossom, Fruit and Branch faves in the comments.
Portia xx
A Bottled Rose 
Off the top of my head, I would list Séville à l’Aube, 4160 Tuesdays Freeway and Orange Tree, and Hiram Green Dilettante. Also A Lab on Fire’s And the World is Yours. Love orange blossom!
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Had I not used Séville à l’Aube so recently it definitely would have been in here TaraC.
Lovely list too.
Portia xx
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Such a great list, Portia! Would love to try this carrot salad. Nuit Etoilee sounds marvelous and original. Interesting you don’t own too many Neroli fragrances. I love this note in perfume and own many with it. Jaipur Bracelet sounds like a must try for petit grain lovers, would never thought of seeking it out but I will! XxxEsperanza
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So funny Esperanza,
We had that salad with dinner tonight. It goes with everything and tastes so different to anything else. Make sure you get the juice from the cutting board into the salad, it holds the flavours all together better.
Also, I thought I loved neroli too but I misinterpret every other tart green accord for it, it was very strange.
Portia xx
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Have to make this salad, Portia, it sounds so delicious, it is nice you make this in remembrance of your mother. Thanks for adding the juice suggestion. That’s what makes perfume so interesting we keep on learning!
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Esperanza, it’s so funny. I’ve never heard of anyone else making this salad. You’d think, with how much of it I eat through the year, that I would have 20/20 vision. Sadly no.
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Nice subject Portia. Hard to go wrong with anything from the orange tree in my book. My faves are Fleur d’Oranger by L’Aritsan Parfumeur and Dilettante by Hiram Green.
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Hey tara,
I never tried Fleur d’Oranger. is it still available?
Portia x
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I don’t think so sadly. I have the Anne Filpo version from a while back.
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Sad face
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Hi Portia! This was a great choice this month, thank you. I haven’t tried a single one of the fragrances you mention, which is fabulous because I thought I was running out of orange flower ideas. Your descriptions really bring them to life, especially Paris-Venise. This is not the first time I wished I lived closer. I’d be that constant guest you could never get rid of! (especially with Jin’s yummy cooking.)
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HA! Sam, our table is always ready for guests. We might often be two but we still cook for a horde. Imagine how fun it would be if you did live closer! Oh the sniffing we would do.
Portia xx
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I knew that I had a Boucheron perfume. I was convinsed it was jaipur bracelet. I spent over an hour looking for it…….it turned out to be Bouquet !!!!
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OOOH! Was that the blue bottles aquatic take on the original femme Matty? I have that too. Summer weight white floral, so pretty, wears well with everything, yeah?
Portia xx
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I’d say that my box is green with turquoise lily like flowers. The bottle is turquoise. If you look on Fragantica you will see which one it is. I can’t post pics. x
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YES! I love this one too Matty and also have a bottle. Perfect summer spritzing.
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Portia so many new scents to try on your list! The Hermetica sounds interesting and Nuit Etoilée and the salad too. I’m going to try that mix! And I completely forgot about Paris-Venise one of my favs. xxx
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Heya Megan!
TRY THE SALAD! Works with vegan, vegetarian, beef, pork, chicken, fish or shellfish and anythingelse you can throw it with. Also excellent as a tropical salsa in baked potato.
Portia xx
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Ooh yes, Cologne du Parfumeur – haven’t thought of that in ages, but it is a good one. Off the bat I can think of favourites like Sweet Redemption by By Kilian, FM Bigarade, Penhaligon’s Castile and Orange Blossom. Also second T’s choice of L’Artisan Fleur d’Oranger – probably the best exemplar of the note of all.
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You know what Vanessa, I thought there was a 10ml of that Malle hanging around here somewhere but I couldn’t find it. It would have been perfect.
Portia xx
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I’m not a big fan of orange blossom, though unexpectedly for myself I liked it in Seville a l’aube (well, decant-liked, I didn’t go for a bottle). Other perfumes where it is strongly represented – earlier mentioned By Kilian Sweet Redemption, Elie Saab Le Parfum and Givenchy Organza are in the category “don’t mind” but I never went for more than a sample. I also got the full set of Sylvaine Delacourte’s perfume built around the orange blossom, but I haven’t spent enough time testing them to say whether I like any.
Orange as a fruit I like in perfumes, for example, in Atelier Cologne Orange Sanguine, By Kilian Prelude to Love, Jo Malone Orange Bitters and Jul et Mad Aqua Sextius.
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Hey Undina,
I also bought that Sylvaine Delacourte set but I haven’t even opened it yet.
In the first couple of years I went through a Seville a l’aube bottle, wearing it but also giving samples and decants to friends. The second bottle seems to be lasting forever.
Portia xx
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