The honeysuckle I "analyzed" is plain "Loniceria caprifolium". As many other white flowers the honeysuckle has different smells during daytime and nighttime and also between fresh and fading flowers. In Paris their morning smell is very "exotic" with a touch of frangipani/tiaré (a mix between coconut and ylang). It's also very jasmine, not like the flower but more like the molecules found in the jasmine - all cyclopentane molecules with fresh white shades from Hedione to cis jasmone. Maybe the closest in smell to Paris honeysuckle is jasmolactone, a molecule that I adore and that is used a lot in modern gardenias. During the night or when the flower fades (it becomes yellow) the intoxicating smell of indole is more present. The flower starts to smell like night jasmine, Diorissimo drydown (!!!) and hot female skin in the sun.
In Romania the flower is a different story. First none of the exotic jasmolactone variation but … a full orange flower. Think a branch of orange flower without it's "decoration" and contrasts! But the biggest surprise is indole. At certain hours the flowers smells like the purest dilution of supreme indol. It has no fecal note, no jasmine connotation - as if the flower was built only around this molecule. 100% floral while indole in Paris is more animal. All the notes in orange flower GC are present, from ocymene, terpenes and green notes to the characteristic methyl anthranilate and indole. To exaggerate the differences between honeysuckle smells in the 2 countries I would say the virgin and the women or, as Napoleon once said, "come to Paris and become a woman!" Anyway, what a difference with the spring honeysuckle (lemon sorbet, green rosy and hedione, slight ionone)!
The most famous honeysuckle in the world is without doubt that one living in Cabris. It's Roudnitska's honeysuckle, the flower that inspired some famous perfumes and accords.
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Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art
