Someone asked me the other day via private email if I could recommend the perfect gardenia.
I can’t. No perfumes I have encountered smell like the actual flowers – the consensus seems to be that enfleurage solids from artisanal batches, where the living flowers’ smell is soaked into fats and oils – are the most lifelike, but I am fine with artificial approximations.
Today I wore a base of Nivea with the lovely Penhaligons Gardenia from 1976 and a spritz of the original Marc Jacobs for a fresh aquatic touch along with a freshly stolen – a Chapman trope I know – gardenia or two stowed in the wallet, the combined effect – I felt good all day I must say – not a gardenia, but very gardeniaish.
Apologies for the lack of personal response and deserts of posts generally: this is the busiest time of the year for me, I have had what I was sure was Covid but is probably a lingering bronchitis, the party took a lot out of me and also, post Hawaii, which involved a lot of preparation and toil I felt rather overexposed and perfumed out.
My actual obsession with smell, and scent, if not the constant promotion/ self promotion involved in perfume writing/blogging/ YouTubing – so fucking meaningless and tedious, sorry, I give myself permission to dismount the carousel – is genuine, abiding, and for life. As Steely Dan once said, you Can’t Buy A Thrill, but who needs to, when they are just glowering at night at you from the hedgerows ?
Wish you get better soon. I had bronchitis long time ago. It was no fun. By the way, I like gardenia too and have a bottle of Penhaligon’s Ellenisia.
I half know / half liked that one – must retry.
This combo today was rather nice I must say
Bronchitis is fine as long as it gets better not worse : working through it but anything pulmonary freaks me out having had dangerous pneumonia twice in the past
I found Ellenisia has both notes I like, gardenia and tuberose, so I got it instead of Gardenia. Did you take any antibiotics? It took me more than 2 days to get out of bed, so painful when I got up. Don’t talk, just write. Talking will trigger the coughing and pain.
Past that stage now and teaching – i am ok, thanks.
Antibiotics ; my god yes
I would have died long ago without them – world’s greatest ever discovery !
Sometimes that English prettiness is just the ticket I think – a bit prim n proper but also cooling and genteel
Just a note to say how much enjoy reading your words. Thank you for writing. It is always a delight to find something from you in my In box. 🙏
Thank you.
I do wish people would sometimes not just gloss over what I am actually trying to say though ( ie the pointless ongoing deluge of perfumes and the extreme fatigue it engenders) rather than just talking about the gardenias
Ugh, feel better soon! I agree, there’s nothing like a real gardenia, though there are nice gardenia-adjacent scents.
Nice way of putting it.
But yes – somehow gardenias are uncaptureable, though I would still definitely like to try a natural enfleurage : even just in my wallet, the way the flowers seep into the money is exquisite so I can imagine heaps of them being absorbed into oil just smelling divine
I hope you will feel better very soon. As for the Gardenia, I remember wearing a real one on Easter Sunday years ago. In perfume, Andy Tauer once had a series of Gardenia perfumes, which I know are no longer available, but I still have some left in my bottle. I also still have a bottle of the long discontinued Gardenia perfume by Chanel. I also have a tiny roll-on bottle of Black Gardenia oil perfume by Michele Bergman.
I don’t know the latter (sorry for rudely late reply – a bit flaked out at the moment )
Oh dear, wish you a full recovery soon. And I often wonder how you manage to keep this up! In any case, your love of perfume and your enthusiastic and always interesting writing give a lot of joy, however frequently or infrequently you post. I spent the day yesterday wreathed in Vetifleur, for instance. My only gardenia is Isabey’s; I really have to be in the right mood for that, usually hot amd sweaty, or else it’s just too creamy.
Hmm. I think my first scent impressions of the gardenia note were from synthetic recreations – creamy white florals, which I rather liked. Not sure I’ve ever smelled the flower itself. The Caswell-Massey x New York Botanical Gardens living flower perfume is supposed to be true to it, but it wasn’t creamy, more greenish and earthy.
Nah just wear the flowers !
I feel real tuberose is far less sultry in real life than portrayed in fumes and gardenia the opposite
perhaps enfleurage is the way to go
You know that your long-time friends/followers have no expectations other than hearing from you whenever you feel like posting. I know (I trust) it goes both ways, since lately I’ve been away from much of any online action while doing other things. Like you, dear N., it’s not any indicator of a waning interest in fragrance — or in my case, in The Black Narcissus. Just life has been wonderfully varied, busy and occasionally draining. One must recharge.
I love the scent of real gardenias. For Ric, I drench myself with Chanel’s feeble attempt at it in its current edp formulation, which he loves and I (with a bit of shame) love, too. xoxo R
Glad to hear it. That version IS feeble – the perfect word for it – but it must still have some Polge magic lurking in its DNA
as for perfume, there is just too much, and I can’t be bothered to keep up with it all- the daily YouTube videos endlessly promoting something new – it makes me ill
P.S. Still labouring under the duress of this friggin tablet!
My god seriously …. our internet connection has produced so much WOE I have almost given up the narcissus ghost altogether
The absolute exasperation extinguishes any instantaneous creative pleasure
I once bought two huge bottles of Pierre Bourdon “Sous les magnolias” and “La fin d’un été”. Forever, they have been standing around at the very back of the perfume cupboard: handsome boxes, stately flacons, impressive scents. And yet, nothing connects me emotionally to them. Yesterday I sprayed his Magnolia. Yes, a delightfully floral crème de citron, and mind you, longevity is just fine. So why am I so indifferent?
… hopefully, not too woeful a comment, eh?
So, to brighten up things: feeling very, very content with my last eBay purchase: 30 ml of Nicolai, “L’eau mixte” for na couple of Euros. What an impressive scent shouting out aloud in a very confident way: here I am!
because ultimately = chemical horror
Have tried many gardenias, and the most remarkably close to the real flower is Jeffrey Dame’s creation. He has several now, all very good, but the “gardenia” original is so real.
Need to smell !
Thanks for the info !
Gardenias are one of my favorite flowers, truly gorgeous scent. I just wish they could really capture said scent the way your wallet and money do.
I know you are probably feeling chipper as possible now, but sorry for the health woes.