Hello Fellow Fumies.

I have a great online fragrance buddy, Undina from Undina’sLookingGlass, she is smart, cool and always a step ahead. Sometimes I am lucky enough to get a small Undina curated frag pack in the mail of things she thinks I will like, or that I must sniff. This one got slightly lost in transit but when the shiny blue package arrived I was over the moon. Swapping is a great way to find out more scents with only the charge of some decanting supplies and postage. Thank You Undina again

Hothouse Flower by INeKE 2012

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Green tea, green leaves and cypress
Heart: Gardenia, galbanum, fig and olibanum
Base: Guaiac wood, musk and corn silk

My first thought upon spritzing is gardenia, I so love that fresh fragrance and when it feels green, broken branch, sap and crushed leaves overlaid with gardenia I am in fragrance heaven. There is a luscious creaminess in Hothouse Flower that hovers above the green making our cool, sunny Autumn day here in Sydney feel like Spring. I feel as if I should walk outside to see the daffodils and spring runner iris in bloom instead of the Camellias flowering and the Liquidamber just starting to turn red at the top. A fresh gardenia with only the very slightest nod to its skanky, animalic deep notes, Hothouse Flower is a fresh burst of crisp that warm slowly over time but not a lot. It sweetens and the resins add a hint of amber or caramel, maybe it’s the fig adding a sweet milky note? We have a long waist high gardenia hedge four doors down the street and when it’s in flower we get a beautiful soft and elegant waft of an evening that drowns all other natural smells in the street, this smells like that hedge from our front yard. It is both fabulous and alluring, no wonder Billie Holiday chose it as her signature flower. In case you haven’t got the message, I freaking LOVE Hothouse Flower and will make it my first purchase from Scentsation in LA, May 11.

Though I can smell Hothouse Flower and feel extremely fragrant it doesn’t have a huge projection, nor does it take over a room quickly but half an hour later I come back to the room and I can smell a tiny pretty faded gardenia memory. About 4 hours of fragrant before I am left with only a whisper.

Raw Umber on Fragrantica said it excellently: Hothouse Flower smells like Spring erupting on all sides. It’s Spring on steroids. It is extremely uplifting and soothing….. It’s like natural anti-depressants. If you like gardenia, but dislike those heavy, sneeze-inducing, overpowering florals, this variation on a true to life green gardenia should help you begin your day on the right foot.

Photo Stolen INeKE

Further reading NowSmellThis and Undina’sLookingGlass
INeKE has $95/75ml in the USA but doesn’t ship to Australia
SurrenderToChance starts at $3/ml

Have you tried this line? I liked Field Notes from Paris and thought it excellently done. Have you a favourite from the line yet?
See you tomorrow,

Portia xx