Growing up in Phoenix, one scent above all others sang “spring.” Orange blossoms. Their melody is beautiful and lush and the desert air becomes saturated with the intoxicating perfume of these tender white blossoms every spring. If you’ve never been to the Phoenix area, the orange trees are a funny site as the trunks need to be painted white to protect them from the blazing heat of the Arizona summer sun (as well as bugs). The photo just below is all about my childhood memories of Phoenix which always have a backdrop of white tree trunks and orange blossom redolence.

I live in the Northwest now where orange trees do not grow, so neroli is my go-to scent when I crave the playfulness of childhood and the sensuality of wearing a voluptuous fragrance as an adult.  Neroli is the oil from the orange blossom and has found its way into many of my perfumes and beauty products. The following is a list of those stand-out items from my collection that feature the exquisite orange blossom.

Skincare

In Fiore’s Pur Face Oil Concentré is a fabulous way to pamper your skin as well as your senses. I use it as a nighttime moisturizer when my skin needs the attention of grapeseed oil, rosehip seed oil, evening primrose oil and vitamin E. These ingredients help balance skin that leans oily and is prone to breakouts. While those healing oils do their work on your skin, cold pressed orange peel oil and Tunisian neroli flower oil get to work on your psyche. Pur is pure neroli heaven. When I have it on my skin, I feel like I am lounging peacefully under the shade of an orange tree teeming with blossoms.

Alchemilla’s Neroli Rehydrating Essence is another facial oil loaded with healing ingredients like jojoba nut oil, hazelnut oil; herbal extracts of ginkgo biloba, chamomile, calendula; and rosehip seed oil. All of which are organic. This too makes for a soothing nighttime treatment as the hypnotic essence of neroli lulls you into sweet dreams.

Kahina Facial Cleanser is a creamy, lightly foaming cleanser that I have been using for almost a year, and still love. The organic floral water and neroli oil create a light citrusy floral scent that is refreshing and relaxing. The gentle foaming action gets my face clean, but does not feel stripped dry thanks to the argan oil, oat amino acids and organic honey in the formula.

At the risk of being redundant (regular readers know how much I love this product) I would be remiss if I did not mention Velvet & Sweet Pea’s Orange Blossom Body Frosting. I come back to V&SP’s frostings again and again because they provide luxurious hydration and fragrant pleasure. Laurie Stern, creator of V&SP, uses jojoba oil in her frostings that have been infused with Tahitian vanilla beans for at least 6 months. This bestows a creaminess to all of them, but especially to her Orange Blossom. The result is a flirty, playful, uplifting fragrance that softens your skin better than any body butter I have tried.

I am placing Intelligent Nutrients Focus Aroma in the “Skincare” section because it has many uses. You can spray it on your skin, face, and hair for light hydration and a gorgeous scent. Aside from neroli, bergamot, jasmine, rose, chamomile, geranium, and ylang ylang complete the essential oil list of Focus. Even though that’s an impressive floral cast, neroli commands the fragrance leaving the others, most notably rose and jasmine, to enhance the orange blossom.

Perfumes

Galatea by Strange Invisible Perfumes embodies the intoxicating nature of neroli. Galatea melds neroli with galbanum which gives it a green clarity, tuberose which provides sensuality and benzoin which graces the mix with a soothing warmth. This is a fascinating and intriguing perfume, one that needs to be a part of my collection sooner than later.

Roxana Villa launched her Chocolate Natural Perfumes this year, and her Fleurs de Orange remains my favorite of the lot. Neroli, blood orange, and orange blossom absolute flourish on the skin while dark chocolate gently envelopes the citrusy floral perfume. Fleurs de Orange is not sweet like candy, but it is a honeyed gourmand that gives a new spin on my favorite springtime scent.

Palas Atena by Ayala Moriel Parfums feels very classic to me. It’s a gorgeous blend, created with a skillful hand. Neroli, along with patchouli, lavender, and amber, are radiant in the opening, each note moving seamlessly into the other. The more I wear Palas Atena, the more attuned I have become to champaca and cinnamon in the heart, but again, the essences work in concert, merging harmoniously. I look to Palas Atena when I want a sophisticated scent that uses neroli’s floral elegance, not as a soliflore, but as a traditionally composed perfume with a vintage feel.

Please visit the following bloggers who are also singing about the scents of spring!

Smelly Blog (with a giveaway! check it out)

Katie Puckrik Smells

Perfume Shrine

The Non Blonde

I Smell Therefore I Am

Notes from the Ledge

Savvy Thinker

Roxana’s Illuminated Journal

Perfume in Progress

All I Am A Redhead

Ambre Gris

Olfactarama

A Rose Beyond the Thames

To enter the In Fiore sample giveaway, read my review at Sniffa Magazine, and then leave a comment here as to why In Fiore’s scents sound intriguing. Or….just say hello! It’s vacation time for Scent Hive, so you have until July 12th at 10pm PST to enter. Good Luck! Winners have been announced.

~to leave a comment, simply hit the word comments under the “share/save” button below. Since I’ll be on vacation, I won’t be responding to each comment as I typically do, but rest assured, if you comment you will be entered in the drawing!

Posted by ~Trish

I’m continuing with my mind expansion, opening my world to new roses and the ones I didn’t know I loved so much. So read on for some lovely roses, as well as a great giveaway!

Demeter Vintage Naturals: Rosebush

Demeter has joined the natural perfume ranks with a fragrance line made from 100% natural essential oils. In fact, everything in the Vintage Naturals line is all natural save for 0.2% Bittex, a bitter taste agent used to denature the alcohol. The fragrances are limited edition, as the scents will vary from year to year depending on the character of the essential oil.

The character of Rosebush 2009 is definitely vintage. It has an antique feeling of strolling through an old library with its book lined shelves teeming with stories to tell. This is most likely due to its rose being experienced through a veneer of aging woods and wafts of chamomile’s haylike quality. Detour to the historic library considered, Rosebush stays true to its rose essence, especially in its drydown, and is definitely for the true classic rose lover. If that’s you, consider giving this natural rose a sniff. I’ll make it easier for one of you and send you a 15ml bottle of Rosebush if you leave a comment to enter the drawing! The winner will be announced on Monday, June 1st. The winner has been announced! Woops….I realized after the fact I wrote the wrong date. I have created a new giveaway to make up for my mistake!

Weleda: Wild Rose Creamy Body Wash

Next to Oracle Organic’s Body Wash, Weleda’s creamy body washes are my favorite. In fact, they would be in a dead heat for first place were it not for Oracle’s local edge. Weleda’s Wild Rose Creamy Body Wash is made in Germany and I have been making a concerted effort to buy more locally. But I do like to have a tube on hand when I crave its rambling rose bush scent. Like Daybreak Lavender Farms By U, 4 U Facial Oil that I reviewed in Part I, Weleda uses rosa mosqueta in this body wash that endows it with a “fresh from the garden” scent. The tube is bursting with the scent of the whole plant; petals, roots, stems, and thorns! The earthy creamy mixture creates a luxurious lather that foams very easily, which I appreciate. I just can’t deny that I want my soap to foam… a lot. I also use and love Weleda’s Calendula Shampoo and Body Wash for my boys, and myself.

Pacifica: Egyptian Bergamot Rose

I reviewed Egyptian Bergamot Rose in April, and even though I knew I was reviewing a rose fragrance, it didn’t fully register that I was enjoying a rose fragrance. My assumption that I was not a “rose person” was still clinging on, even though I was taking delight in what is undeniably a spicy, vanillic rose perfume. It’s amazing how steadfast beliefs about ourselves can be, even in the face of new information. It wasn’t until I actually took a step away from my experience that I realized, yes! I do love many rose fragrances. I have finally shed my rose judgement that they are too pedestrian and I will not turn my nose at something in the future just because it’s got rose in the mix. In fact, I just might embrace it. 

In Fiore: Rose Noir

Now here’s a fragrance that will never be accused of being too pedestrian! Rose Noir’s blend of rose and oud is stunning and provocative and utterly gorgeous. Michelle Krell Kydd of Glass Petal Smoke wrote a beautiful piece on oud that is informative and thought provoking. I highly recommend reading it if you are interested in learning more about this fascinating essence that is created in the heartwood of the Aguilera tree when it is attacked by fungus. Isn’t that rife with metaphor? Like the lotus blossoming out of the muck!

I have written several times about Julie Elliott on Scent Hive. She is the owner and creator of In Fiore, and has done a fabulous job melding the oud with the rose in Rose Noir. I don’t want to say too much because I have written a review for Rose Noir in Sniffapalooza Magazine that is coming out in its next issue. So this was just a little teaser…you’ll have to stay tuned.

Demeter Vintage Naturals Rosebush is available at Sephora.com

Weleda Wild Rose Creamy Body Wash is available at Saffronrouge.com

Pacifica Egyptian Bergamot Rose is available at Pacifica.com

In Fiore Rose Noir is available at infiore.net

posted by ~Trish

The Latest Bloomer by pepperminte on esty.com

Vetiver can be somewhat of a chameleon in fragrances. The essential oil from the roots of this grass unfurls as soft and powdery or deep and earthy, sometimes even nutty or bitter. Because it is one of my favorite fragrance notes, I love to seek it out in all of its permutations, and Chaman’s Party and Vetiver Sambac allow vetiver to shine in two very different ways.

Chaman’s Party, created by Olivia Giacobetti, is one of the offerings from Honoré des Prés. Honoré des Prés is a new French line of 100% all-natural and organic perfumes that debuted in Europe last year, but is now available in the States. Chaman’s Party is for the gal or guy who wants their vetiver a little disheveled. It’s full of rich dark soil with some bitterness thrown in with its grassy roots. Burnt woods emerge beautifully in the drydown as well as Chaman’s Party’s spices. Cloves and basil are listed in the fragrance notes, and I admit that I would never have pinpointed them without that prompt. But regardless of what they are, the woody spicy drydown, blended with the earthy vetiver is gorgeous.

In Fiore’s Vetiver Sambac lies on the opposite spectrum of vetiver’s charms. Vetiver Sambac is one of Julie Elliott’s parfum solides, and is encased in a beautiful bronze compact that feels heavy and secure in your hand. As I’ve mentioned in previous In Fiore reviews, all of Ms. Elliott’s products are 100% natural and never contain petrochemicals, parabens or phthalates. Vetiver Sambac begins with a lovely jasmine opening that is full of warm, toasted tobacco leaves alongside dewy floral petals. I don’t think tobacco is actually in Vetiver Sambac, but this attests to vetiver’s superb ability to bear versatile qualities, sweet smokiness being one of them. Vetiver’s balsamy earthy presence begins somewhat like Chaman’s Party, but rather than becoming dark and earthy, Vetiver Sambac emerges as floral and earthy. And it possesses an unmistakably powdery vetiver foundation that is comparable to Guerlain’s Vetiver Pour Elle. A wonderful compliment in my opinion! And how terrific to have a 100% natural option that is readily available in the US.

Vetiver Sambac is available at InFiore and Beautyhabit.

Chaman’s Party is available at Luckyscent, Beautyhabit and Spirit Beauty Lounge.

Stylecaster chose Chaman’s Party as a summer fave!

posted by ~Trish