It's almost surreal to see the huge magnolia trees covered with huge flowers that look so artificial and big like a Philip Treacy hat. The flower of magnolia grandiflora is delicious this year and shows delicate nuances from the bud to the blooming flower and the almost fading flower wide open like a lotus. The scent is lemony, rosy (nerol like), with something like an oily sensation but also fresh spicy, green and terpenic on top. The vintage formula of a magnolia note I presented in the past is quite close but I would eliminate some ingredients and add other new to keep within a simple shape. Some flowers (from the same tree) show even the spicy green top note of Un Matin d'Orage.
Michelia alba is a small flower, like a bonsai magnolia but its scent and beauty is devastating. 4 small flowers had such a power that the entire greenhouse was full of perfume. To me this is to the big magnolia what damascone is to rose - an over concentrated essence of the scent, a metaphor. Michelia alba (also called White Champak) smells something between champacca, magnolia and then osmanthus and maybe jasmine-neroli. Inside the flower there is even a delicious apricot jam note and a sensual green note. On the market there is an extraction product of the flowers and it's very close to the real. It's the perfect scent for a sensual feminine skin in summer. A drop of oil with a rich cream or a flower garland and you do not need anything more to hypnotize the audience. There is even a sacred mountain magnolia in Yunnan (China) that is between the magnolia grandiflora and michelia alba in terms of scent. The odor of michelia alba is in fact a mix of many types of notes: lactones, spicy notes, ionones, rosy elements, indole.
Sambac jasmine was in bloom in the same green house and its small flowers were offering that special, exotic sweet jasmine note, so different from the European. Rich, indolic (but not animalic), fruity peach and apricot, very sweet, it shows common elements with another white flower in bloom now - the pittosporum (but this one is more orange flower). It has also that tea note - the jasmine tea note. I put a light amber perfume on me and than the flowers. The combination is exquisite and one can understand the work of Dominique Ropion in Alien, a daring and sensual creation. Sambac jasmine exists also in absolute and the note is very close to the flower.
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Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art
