Germany has always done herbs and botanicals exceptionally well – many of the best herbal teas, essential oils and plant based medical ointments are assembled or manufactured here (you definitely can’t beat Pompadour’s Pfefferminze for a perfect mint tea); I find many of the best aromatherapeutic essences often turn out to be Deutsch; and Kneipp, a 130 year old institution whose expensive – but incredibly soothing, stimulatingly effective – natural bath salts are very popular in Japan – is no exception ; a company whose products are great for those who like bracing and potent medicinal plant oils to clear their nasal passages or free up sore joints, just unwind( their eucalyptus is unparalleled; I also really like their peculiarly blue forests wintergreen when you need a really long deep soak).
The hand creams produced by Kneipp, though, I must confess, are sometimes somewhat more problematic. From the greasening, emollient point of view when your hands are dry they are of good quality, do the job, and also come in dinky mini sizes that you can easily slip into a small pocket for a crafty drop of scent when you might feel like one. However, the scent of these creams, even when a citrus, is often perturbingly animalic, or at least ‘bodily’ ( a little bit dirty); the plant hormones of the oils used not sanitized and cliniqued out of the final product into something hygienic and more consumer -palatable as they might be elsewhere; The ylang ylang tube I once bought unnerved me – I couldn’t quite place why, but I never used it ; this new apricot cream, which I just picked up on my lunch break, is also carnal, luscious – creamy as an apricot fromage frais ( sometimes I think there is no fruit flavour more delectable : it is easily my favourite jam, and the scent of Fauchon’s apricot tea is to die for …….. — has this note, come to speak of it, to your knowledge, ever been used convincingly in a perfume ? I do remember a gorgeous apricot vanilla confection once by Comptoir Sud Pacifique from back in the day but that is all that is coming to mind right now unless you stretch to the fruit orchards of Femme de Rochas); at any rate, I think I like this, though the scent definitely feels slightly too uncanny – forbidden, almost — to be used in my classroom later this evening.
The Black Narcissus 
Tian Di is the best apricot scent I’ve ever found.
Funnily enough I was looking at my Frassai samples the other day : will have to recheck.
My osmanthue tree will be flowering very shortly so it will soon be apricot hell or heaven depending on your perspective
Lo!
Got home and the tree had just flowered..
I love apricots! My aunt had a huge tree in her backyard in my native California, this time of year the house would be filled with the scent of all things apricot – jam, cobbler, preserves, pie, even steeped in vodka with sugar to make liqueur. The tree was so prolific we dried them in the oven nonstop too.
I wore CSP’s Vanille Abricot from the time is came out (’93?) till the huge bottle was gone -2002? All scents sweet were in fashion then & Vanille Abricot was SWEET, never quite captured the true contrast of tart, sweet, floral, fruity ester of true apricot and the vanilla was a bit wan and synthetic for my adult tastes.
Demeter used to have a good apricot scent. Phlur and Body Shop came out with new scents featuring the divine fruit (Apricot Privee and Apricot & Agave respectively) but I have never tried them. I hope this is a trend because I LOVE APRICOT & feel it’s underused in perfumery.
Oh yes, I also had a huge bottle of Fig Apricot by Fresh. Loved it, just a touch of fig leaf with apricot, lychee & a light velvety white musk. Sadly discontinued I believe.
Liking the sound of that very much. I love lychee too, even in the tooth-aching Yvresse.
What have I unleashed?!
I love it too. x
I don’t think I’ve smelled any perfumes touting “apricot” notes, although many osmanthus perfumes are described that way. The apricot-scented product I remember is St Ives lotion and face wash.
I know it ! You are just plunging me into university nostalgia. That milky abricot – slightly offputting yet also kind of lovely
I had a look at the Kneipp handcream here: it has the same picture of fruit and flowers, says however in German that it is an apricot & marula cream! It also only costs a few measly pennies!! Other favourites are obviously Weleda—strictly speaking Swiss though harvested and produced here in Germany—as well as the high-end Dr. Hauschka. There is honestly no product which I would not use immediately from Weleda or Dr. Hauschka! Both companies have consistently high quality products.
I agree.
Both are pretty much venerable.
I have horrendous eye bags these days, for various reasons; one being not being able to wear my glasses when teaching because they steam up over my mask.
Which of these do a bag busting eye cream or something ?
I’ll have a look.
https://www.drhauschka.de/en/eye-care/eye-compresses-eye-revive/
I use a Canadian no-frill product from the company “The Ordinary”: https://theordinary.com/en-de/caffeine-solution-5-egcg-eye-serum-100412.html. It’s a wee bit fiddly with a pipette but I can recommend it. And it only costs around 8 Euros which considering skin care for eyes is a steal!
hagtastic !
danke x
Ps yes – the marula might be what gives it a nutty, naughty undertone
I think Mugler’s Angel might have some apricot…
But not enough to prise it away from the patchouli chocolate mango vanilla : it’s nice when a nice vividly soft and fresh apricot comes out first
LOVE apricot. I have that Comptoir Sud Vanille Abricot. The best I’ve ever known was by Artemisia, Saveur de l’abricot, a natural perfume. Discontinued tho, the talented perfumer got out of the game and changed her life completely. Retirement to travel and music, years ago, late life divorce shakeup, and is off social media. I still have about 8 ml, it’s magnificent. At the time she still had a quantity but she’s disappeared from perfume. She was so good and her other perfumes were exceptional too. It’s hard to break thru, so competitive, and she was a small hand-batch maker. Wrote about them when i blogged on indieperfumes. Had to change her life, and she did, good for her, but ever since have been on the lookout and never found any other apricot to compare. The vintage Madame Rochas is good but so rare. Wonder why apricot has not been pursued by the more resourced like Malle or others?
So gorgeous to read.
Obviously I would love to smell this, and the others you mention.
Part of me also thinks there is a particular beauty in not being able to.
I adore the scent of apricot so much. I have a few osmanthus scents because of that, but I might have to order this hand creme for more of an apricot experience.