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

The winner is Cousin Katie! I guess she got some good karma points for having a sense of humor regarding my use her perfume comments in the Rose Jasmine Perfume review.  Congrats, Katie, on scoring this Rose Jasmine Perfume and Passionflower gift set and thanks to everyone for your thoughtful comments and follows.

Posted by ~Trish

One of my favorite natural perfumers, Laurie Stern of Velvet & Sweet Pea, has created gift sets for spring that would make an ideal gift for Mother’s Day. My choice would be the one pictured above, the Rose Jasmine Perfume & Passionflower Gift Set and I actually have one tempting me. But it’s not for me to keep, it’s for me to send to the winner of this giveaway.

The set includes Kashmir Rose Body Frosting which I personally can’t get enough of. (Read more about it in my review of Kashmir Rose from May 2009). The set also includes Passionflower Bath Salts made with blood orange, lime, spearmint, and ylang ylang. I have not experienced Passionflower yet, but love V&SP’s Snow Forest and Kashmir Lavender Bath Salts so I’m sure Passionflower makes for a sublime bathtime as well. I can tell you about Rose Jasmine though since Laurie sent me a sample for this review. But first, a quick story.

My cousin and I visited The Perfume House not too long ago, and I showed  her the Serge Lutens line. She was drawn to Fleurs d’Oranger which is shockingly indolic given its rather innocent sounding name. Let’s just say there’s a good amount of dirty jasmine in Monsieur Luten’s creation. As we left the boutique and headed down the boulevard for more shopping, my cousin sniffed her arm and exclaimed, “My skin smells like sex!”

She’d probably feel the same about Rose Jasmine, a wonderfully juicy jasmine scent that exudes more than a little sensuality. The indoles in this luscious fragrance are booming and present throughout its skintime.  There’s only a mere wisp of rose that appears within the drydown, just in case you need a little something to tame the wild jasmine beast. But to be sure, there is no clean-freshness in Rose Jasmine. It’s a saucy number, dripping with dewy jasmine. It wears close to skin though, rewarding only those who lean in close enough to share in your delight. So make sure if you get this gift set for the mom in your life, that she likes to be a little naughty.

And if you’re a little naughty (and live in the US…sorry it’s a very heavy package) you should enter this fabulous giveaway:

To be entered, go here to V&SP’s site and let me know what Spring Gift Set you would choose for the special mom in your life. You get extra entries if you follow Scent Hive on Bloglovin, Twitter, Google Friend Connect, Facebook’s Networked Blogs, or subscribe to Scent Hive. Please let me know in your comment what you did so you get the entries you deserve! You’ve got until Sunday April 11th 9pm PST to enter. The winner has been chosen!

Rose Jasmine Perfume & Passionflower Gift Set is available at Velvet & Sweet Pea for $90.

Disclosure: V&SP sent me a sample of Rose Jasmine for review. The opinons in this review are my own. I was not financially compensated for this review or any other.

If you’ve read Scent Hive over the past several months, you know that I adore Velvet & Sweet Pea’s Face and Body Frostings. (You can find my praise for Kashmir Rose here, and Tuberose Gardenia here). Although I have not given Tuberose Gardenia the full attention it deserves, nor have I reviewed V&SP’s Orange Blossom, until now.

The common scented thread amongst all of them, is the vanilla infused organic jojoba oil that is sublimely smooth and creamy, and very sensual. Tuberose Gardenia benefits from this milky velvet base as it grounds the unbelievable tropical decadence of tuberose and gardenia enfleurage. (Enfleurage is a very expensive and lengthy process that you can read about near the end of V&SP’s web page here). The blend of pure gardenia, tuberose and Tahitian vanilla beans that have been infused in the jojoba oil for at least 6 months is intoxicating, and only a tiny amount is enough to send me into a blissful stupor.

But I digress. The focus of this post is Orange Blossom, another incredibly gorgeous Frosting that Laurie Stern, the artist behind V&SP, has created for us orange-loving fools. Orange Blossom is a bit of a chameleon. One moment she has me sitting on a comfy couch, ’round the fire at a holiday party… hints of mulled spices in the air. Neroli sometimes has that effect, it can be slightly herbally and aromatic. Then within a moment, Orange Blossom will hasten me away to a beachy holiday that’s all tangeriney and breezy. I love that about Orange Blossom, its dichotomous nature.

Of the three Frostings, Orange Blossom has the smoothest vanilla quality. It is luscious. It’s easy to think Creamsicle because of the orange/vanilla duo, but don’t. All of them have a very sophisticated vanillic base that lean gourmand, but never in a foody or cloying manner. Only in a swoon-worthy, I-hope-I-can-always-get my-hands-on-this-stuff kind of way.

V&SP’s Body Frostings are available at V&SP’s website.

Posted by ~Trish

Matisse Odalisque at galanart.com

Disclosure: Samples from the company were provided for this review. The opinons in this review are my own. I was not financially compensated for this review or any other.

As a mom, the focus of Halloween tends to be on costumes, post trick-or-treat candy negotiations, and not so much on grown-up-time fun. I’d like to change that with this post, and focus on some delicious treats for those of us out of our tweens. So pull up a chair, and get to deciding which scent you’d like to wear for Halloween.

Aftelier’s Chocolate and Saffron Body Oil

I almost needn’t say more after you read this product’s name, right? Chocolate and Saffron Body Oil. It’s luscious, luxurious and very sensual. But there is one element missing in the name, and that’s jasmine. The oil smells as if it’s been infused with jasmine, bittersweet cocoa, and a boozy-honeyed quality that I’m assuming the saffron imparts. The chocolate oil is so dense, you must shake it vigorously to disperse it before using, and it’s beautiful to see it mix and meld with the golden saffron tinged oil. On the skin, the fragrance is decidedly chocolatey, in a dark and sexy way. Imagine walking down a tropical moonlit path with night blooming jasmine surrounding you, and impossibly, the blossoms are dusted with bittersweet cocoa powder. Like a dream, the cocoa melts into the petals and the petals into your skin, and you’re far far away from any children asking you how much candy they can eat on Halloween night. And…end dream sequence. Go get some Aftelier Chocolate and Saffron Body Oil, it’ll make trick or treating much more pleasant.

Velvet and Sweet Pea’s Black Cat

As I’m sure many of you have noticed, 100% all natural perfumes can run on the expensive side, and Laurie Stern, the artistic mind behind Velvet and Sweet Pea, has answered her clients’ calls for something a little more affordable. Black Cat is one of Laurie’s newest offerings, and not only is it appropriately named for Halloween, its scent is perfect for the coming festive winter months. Cocoa, ylang ylang, aniseseed myrtle and biodynamic Italian blood orange blend beautifully, like biting into a bittersweet chocolate-orange holiday confection, spiked with anise. The drydown is gorgeous as the base of this Eau de Parfum is Tahitian vanilla infused organic grape alcohol. This freshly crushed vanilla bean essence alluringly opens in the fragrance’s final stages, and lasts for hours.

Anise has become one of my favorite notes over the past few months, most notably in Honoré des Prés’ licorice tinged Sexy Angelic , Ayala Sender’s The Purple Dress, and now in Black Cat. Its anise component is from Aniseseed Myrtle, a tree whose oil smells just like anise, and its bitterness tempers the beloved chocolate/orange duo perfectly. I have a feeling that at $35 for 6mls, Laurie Stern’s Black Cat will get much play throughout this fall and winter from many a perfume lover, including me.

Soivohlé Oudh Lacquer Parfum

This is a fragrance that brings together oudh and chocolate. Some might feel this is a meeting of exasperation and the ultimate in comfort, respectively. I have not had the experience of oudh being unapproachable or difficult to wear. Maybe it’s because I have mostly worn it in all-natural formulations which possibly gives it a warmer, rounder impression. So while Liz Zorn, the nose behind Soivohlé, has created a fragrance that boasts a dry and robust oudh, the perfume will not keep you at arm’s length. From the get-go, dark chocolate envelopes you and guides you into this deep, spicy, smoky scent encounter.

Anise and orange are subtly blended in Oudh Lacquer Parfum, steeped into the tangy woody texture of the perfume, and imbued into the cocoa absolute. An expert hand and artistic mind was clearly used in achieving the fine floral balance of the honeyed linden blossom and spicy/heady champaca. Several other blossoms are present, such as orange blossom, rose, aglalia, as well as orris butter, but the linden and champaca are the florals that give luster to this Oudh Lacquer. And thankfully, the warm, rich cocoa never strays from beginning to end.

Please visit Nathan Branch’s blog for his two part review of Oudh Lacquer. It truly deserves a Part I and a Part II. All three of these fragrances merit more words than I have room for here. They are all sophisticated, compelling, and most importantly, beautiful to wear.

Aftelier’s Chocolate and Saffron Body Oil is available at Aftelier.com $40 for 4.6 oz.

Velvet and Sweet Pea’s Black Cat EDP is available at Purrfumery.com $35 for 6mls.

Soivohlé’s Oudh Lacquer Parfum is available at soivohle.com for $95 for 4.5mls or $260 for 1/2 oz.

Posted by ~Trish

Skyclad Witch by WinonaCookie on etsy.com

Disclosure: Samples from each company were provided for this review. The opinons in this review are my own. I was not financially compensated for this review or any other.

The name for my blog, Scent Hive, is clearly inspired by bees. I’m no expert on these insects, but am fascinated by their amazing ability to communicate with each other and of course their attraction to (and need of) scent and flowers. Communicating about natural scents and beauty products, and a maybe a little sharing of information, is why I started Scent Hive, hence the tagline, “Collect your pollen. Fly away inspired.” I’ve collected a little pollen from the New York Times on colony collapse disorder, or in other words, the disappearance of honeybees. Most of the nitty-gritty behind the vanishing of bee colonies is way over my head, so I appreciate the common sense advice given by Marla Spivak, a professor of entomology at the University of Minnesota:

What can we do to help bees? Plant lots of flowers that provide nectar and pollen for bees, and reduce pesticide use. These two tangible and relatively easy actions, when implemented by many people, can save our bees and restore health and diversity to our agricultural and urban landscapes.

So let’s heed Dr. Spivak’s call to plant more flowers and support perfumers who use real flower essences in their perfumes to get more bees buzzing shall we?

Ayala Moriel Parfums’ The Purple Dress

For this bee focused post, I’ll be reviewing perfumes that have honey notes in them, and Ayala Sender, the creator of Ayala Moriel Parfums will release honey tinged, The Purple Dress, in December 2009. For those of you who love champaca, oud, anise and honey, you might want to go ahead and purchase a sample as they are available now.

The Purple Dress is an elegant tannic brew steeped in anise that is unique in its own right, but is of the same ilk as Aftelier’s Tango, another honeyed perfume. Both are dark and smoky, moody and sexy, and have gorgeous powdery woodsy drydowns. But Tango’s opening exploits champaca’s headiness to its fullest whereas The Purple Dress is probably more versatile in its smoothness. Its champaca is tempered by the lightheartedness of magnolia and an easy touch of honey but also grounded by black tea’s continual presence. According to Ayala’s website, this fragrance is a salute to Alexander Argov, who composed the famous Israeli song, The Purple Dress. You can hear an excerpt of it here and enjoy its evocative melancholic beauty, similar to its namesake perfume.

Artemisia Natural Perfume’s Yuzu Citrus

Yuzu Citrus is the creation of Lisa Fong, founder of Artemisia Natural Perfume. With a description like “honey, lemon verbena, in a subtle grassy base,” you’d think Yuzu Citrus would be all citrusy and green, which it no doubt is. It’s sparkling and uplifting. I feel like a young girl with flaxen hair (I’m a brunette by the way), running amuck in a late summer’s wildflower meadow with grass so dry you can smell the need of rain in the air. But it’s more complex than that thanks to galbanum and frankincense. In the opening and in the heart, there’s an expansion of the grassy/honey pairing that’s warm and haylike and reminiscent of beeswax. Ahhh beeswax! Such a sweet resinous scent that embodies heat and depth. After several hours of skintime, Yuzu Citrus morphs into a delectable liquid honey skinscent. I love it, and it’s most definitely full-bottle-worthy.

I’ll declare Artemisia’s Yuzu Citrus seasonless. A perfect warm weather citrus perfume that’s not too sweet and most certainly not ordinary. And beautifully comforting for those colder days to remind you of the sun’s toasty glow, but grounded enough to not be a tease.

Velvet & Sweet Pea’s Honey

How could I write about bees and honey and not include Velvet & Sweet Pea’s Honey perfume? Honey is a rich, glistening, golden honey perfume. Laurie Stern, the creator of V&SP, uses the word opulent to describe Honey on her website, and I am in full agreement. It strikes me as a wearable vintage perfume. It speaks with a regal tone, but it’s not going to put anyone off. Quite the contrary. Honey will entice with its luxurious notes of French orange blossom, Moroccan and Bulgarian rose, vetiver, and Madagascar vanilla. Bees are offered the chance to use their charms in three different ways in this fragrance, via honey, beeswax and Laurie’s “bee guru’s” propolis. Not one note in particular stands out on its own in Honey, but rather all are joined together harmoniously and expertly in a floral gourmand with a vintage edge.

And the best bit? Laurie is a bee keeper, enabling her to use the honey and beeswax from her hive for use in her Honey perfume and other products. Additionally, as with all of the aforementioned perfumers (Ayala Moriel Parfums, Aftelier and Artemisia Natural Perfumes) V&SP perfumes are 100% all natural. That means nothing synthetic, no petroleum products and no phthalates. So enjoy your honey!

Many thanks to Roxana of Roxana Illuminated Perfume for organizing this Bee Celebration. I am honored to be included in such illustrious company. Please check out the following list of bloggers for their posts inspired by bees and their honey:

Roxana’s Blog

Perfume Shrine

The Non Blonde

Beth Gehring

Donna Hathaway

Posted by ~Trish

Bee Illustration ©Roxana Villa

I have never considered myself a rose type of gal. Certainly I enjoy strolling through our rose gardens here in town, and in our front yard we have the most gorgeous rose bush and its fragrance is one of my anticipated summertime pleasures. But while I have a nature lovin’ appreciation for this classic flower, I have never sought it out in my fragrances, or so I thought. Over the past several weeks, I have noticed that in my collection of perfumes and body products, there’s a lot of rose I was not appreciating.

Daybreak Lavender Farm: By U, 4 U- Aromatherapeutic Rose & Rosehip Facial Cleanser

I have to thank Dain over at ARS Aromatica for her post on Daybreak’s skincare, or I might never have found this fabulous cleansing oil. Jody Byrne, the owner of Daybreak Lavender Farm, created By U, 4 U Facial Oil because so many of her customers were clamoring for a cleansing oil and she listened. From what I understand, she took input from the customers via the forum board on Daybreak’s website to help formulate the cleanser. And the end result is my new favorite cleanser. I have been looking for an all natural cleansing oil since I feel in love with Shu Uemura’s, but unfortunately found that its main ingredient is petroleum derived mineral oil. Luckily, I enjoy Daybreak’s even more and am happy to support an independent business woman who runs an organic farm!

The oil itself is infused with chamomile, comfrey and calendula. The vibrant and vital rose scent comes from rose otto and rosehip seed oil, also known as rosa mosqueta. The rosa mosqueta endows the facial oil with its wild, almost thorny fragrance, as if you’d been out in the garden all day with the essence of the entire rose plant surrounding you. According to Jody, rosa mosqueta contains fatty acids that help maintain healthy skin and natural tretinoin that aids in cell regeneration. After only using the oil for a short while I’m not ready to comment on life changing results, but it’s an effective cleanser, leaves my skin soft and smells absolutely wonderful.

Update: I have since discovered that the “wetting agent” used to make the By U 4 U Facial Oil is Polysorbate-20, a chemical derived from petroleum.

Roxana Illuminated Perfume: Rosa

I have only a sample of Rosa, and would never have thought I’d be pining for a full bottle of something based around rose. But I reach for my little vial frequently enough that it’s just about gone, and it would be fabulous to have an Illuminated Perfume French flacon arrive in one of its hand crocheted pouches filled with this woody rose natural perfume called Rosa. Rosa’s rose is comprised of an otto (essential oil) from Turkey and an absolute of rose bourbonica from India. But before you sense the full blossoming of those gorgeous flowers; woods, agarwood (oud), vetiver and subtle leather introduce the fragrance. The woods/agarwood begin slightly sharp but rich, and then mellow into vetiver’s deep earthy vibration. When the rose finally blooms at the drydown, Rosa’s bouquet is full but close to the skin. It’s complex and provides a beautiful evolution on your skin.

Bonny Doon Farm: Rose Creme Parfum

This creme parfum was quite a surprise to me. I had never heard of the company, but gave it a try when a little sample pot arrived in a Beautyhabit order. I was blown away. To begin with, the creme is like a balm that spreads over the skin readily, absorbs quickly, and provides hydration. (I’ve been applying it to the top of my hand). And the scent is pure rose heaven. It smells as if freshly picked rose petals have been infused into your skin, so tender and yet so vibrant. Aromatherapists believe rose can calm, relax and even open one’s heart to love. This little pot of creme has made me a believer! It also feels good to support Bonny Doon, a farm in Santa Cruz, Ca. owned and operated by Gary and Diane Meehan. A true mom and pop business.

Velvet & Sweet Pea: Organic Kashmir Rose Neck & Decollete Whipped Frosting

Laurie Stern of Velvet & Sweet Pea has really outdone herself with this body butter. She calls them frostings, and they are decadent enough to deserve the name. Each one is hand-made by Laurie with organic shea butter, organic virgin oil de coco creme, vitamin E and organic jojoba oil that has been infused with vanilla bean. The lovely rose scent comes from Himalayan rose otto and Moroccan rose absolute. Smoothing the luxurious frosting on my hands is a ritual reserved for those times when I feel like I really need some pampering. The rose is subtle and mixes well with the not too sweet, perfectly spicy hint of vanilla. I love this rose treat and will be sure to always have a little jar at the ready. I say little, because the jars are only one ounce, but a tiny dab is all you need to moisturize both hands and to delight in Kashmir Rose’s redolence.

Please come back to Scent Hive later this week for more of my Rose Discoveries.

4 U By U oil is available at Daybreak Lavender Farms

Rosa is available at Roxana Illuminated Perfume’s Etsy shop

Bonny Doon Farm Rose Creme Parfum is available at Beautyhabit

Velvet & Sweet Pea’s Organic Kashmir Rose Neck & Decollete Whipped Frosting is available at Velvet & Sweet Pea’s website.

Posted by ~Trish

Orange Crush photograph by beatriceclay on etsy

The fragrance began dark and bitter, like pulling up a half-buried stone covered with rich soil and moss. Beautiful and haunting woody notes swirled around as well, like deep oily resin from an old-growth forest. I had to ask the creator of the fragrance, Laurie Stern, about this and she confirmed that Blue Spruce is in the mix which I can assure you is not piney, but deep and earthy. Ms. Stern has used narcissus absolute in this fragrance which allows for narcissus’ pungency to shine through in the opening, but not overpower it. Once the soil dried and dusted off, the narcissus subdued and made way for the fleshy sweetness of osmanthus and the green charm of violet leaves. The drydown evolved into an alluring floral blend that retained hints of the initial earthiness, but rather than being linear, the remaining darkness became slightly smoky and weightless. What a complex and stunning fragrance!

Narcissus absolute is very rare and very expensive, so Narcissus Poeticus is a special perfume to have in your collection if you are so lucky to have it, or plan to own it. It is a limited edition, and there are not many bottles left, so don’t delay in your decision to buy a bottle.

Velvet and Sweet Pea’s Purrfumery has loving care and attention in every last detail. The sample sets that I received from Ms. Stern were impeccably and gorgeously packaged and her website, scent descriptions and handwritten notes exemplify her dedication to natural perfumery and her joy of creating beautiful fragrances. One only needs to read her FAQ page on her website to discover more about her devotion to 100% all-natural perfumes, humane treatment of animals, and use of rare and limited essences. You can also read an inspiring and educational interview with Laurie Stern at Sniffapalooza Magazine: The Natural’s Perfumers Corner where you will learn many things about this perfumer, including her early days of hand making lingerie for high end stores like I. Magnin. (A big shout out to those of you who remember I. Magnin!!) Once you hit the link, you’ll need to scroll down past a few of the interviews to find Velvet and Sweet Pea’s.

Posted by ~Trish