Penhaligon's has launched the Penhaligon's Anthology, a collection of fragrances from their archives reworked by perfumer Bertrand Duchaufour. Four fragrances, Extract of Limes, Eau de Verveine, Gardenia and Night Scented Stock make up the first group; eight more fragrances are expected to join the collection over the next two years.
Extract of Limes (shown above left) ~ "Originally created in 1963, Extract of Limes is shattered sherbet and blossom honey. A classic citrus, penetrating and pure, with straight up West Indian lime, lemon oil and neroli. High, clear and instantly uplifting." Additional notes include petitgrain.
Eau de Verveine (shown above right) ~ "Originally created in 1949, Eau de Verveine is a grassy aromatic, with citrus and woods. The scent of an Indian Summer, shimmering heat haze, soft metallics, crumbled herbs, spices, musk and vanilla. In the distance echoes the evocative promise of rain." Additional notes include lime, lemon, petitgrain, bergamot, coriander, clary sage, armoise, clove, lavender and cedar.
Gardenia ~ "A soliflore, originally created in 1976, Gardenia is a translucent watercolour in soft washes of tuberose, jasmine, gardenia, ylang-ylang, spice and vanilla. A radiant magnolia-tinted portrait of one of nature’s most sensual blooms." Additional notes include violet, rhubarb, bergamot, hyacinth, magnolia, green leaves, rose, orange blossom, clove, cinnamon, lily of the valley, benzoin, sandalwood and musk.
Night Scented Stock ~ "A soliflore, originally created in 1976, Night Scented Stock is an edgy unfolding of pungent floral enchantment, deep with clove, heliotrope, violet, vanilla, musk and tonka bean. Hazy with arresting uncommon beauty." Additional notes include cinnamon, lily, ylang ylang, jasmine, benzoin, vetiver, patchouli and sandalwood.
Penhaligon's Extract of Limes, Eau de Verveine, Gardenia and Night Scented Stock are available in 100 ml Eau de Toilette, £95 each. (via penhaligons.co.uk, additional information via basenotes)
Update: see a review of Penhaligon's Extract of Limes.
These sound delightful, but I haven’t fallen in love with any Penhaligon’s fragrances as of yet. I am intrigued by these though.
Did you try the new Elixir? That’s probably my favorite.
Actually, I think I have a sample of it and haven’t tried it yet! I should get right on it. 🙂
Haven’t managed to try ANY Penhaligons yet, though there are several on “the list”. That EdV has my name all over it, though!
That one sounds nice.
The Night Scented Stock peaked my interest. I am not a great fan of the Penhaligons line and have tried several, i guess maybe they are just not for me.
They’re mostly not my style either, although as I said above I really liked the Elixir.
I have smelled the original- Night-Scented Stock – it’s really wonderful if you like that style, which I do. Think SL Datura Noir only sweeter and more clove-like. 🙂
Eau de Verveine sounds like something I’d only be mildly interested in but… but… Bertrand Duchaufour!
Man, though. Loving one of these would really set back your perfume budget.
Yep. Wonder what the price will be in the US…
Love this line, and I am lemming the Night-Scented Stock already! It’s one of my favorte flowers, and if they have managed to capture the scent well, I’ll probably buy a back-up bottle, too.
It is a lovely smell…I used to grow them.
I, embarrassingly, had no idea that was the name of a flower. I kept reading and thinking, “A soliflore of WHAT exactly?” Well, you learn something new every day. I guess now I’ll have to find out what that smells like.
Same here, A, don’t feel bad. 😀
Oh, I do so love the smell of stock. It is heavenly!
don’t expect too much, I didn’t recognize the night stock fragrance at all, neither did a good friend of mine, who adores these flowers and has a very discerning nose…
These all sound worth trying, to me, because they are made by Duchaufour. The notes lists sound intriguing, too. The lime fragrance sounds like the stuff of my husband’s dreams.
They are big bottles, however, and high-priced.
Good reminder to try the Elixir. I have a sample.
I do wish they’d done them in 50 ml!
I forgot all about Stock – I love the smell of those! Nice and spicy. These all sound fabulous. Wasn’t someone just bemoaning the lack of lime? I have a couple of samples of their stuff to try but have somehow managed to skip them. Hmm. Maybe today.
The lime does sound really nice!
I’d love to try the Night Scented Stock … although it will have to get to the end of a long line. 🙂
Ditto…
Has anyone tried their Bluebell fragrance? I am very intrigued, since I read about a beautiful bluebell perfume in “I Capture the Castle”.
Great book, by the way! 🙂
I haven’t…but it’s at the top of my list to try from this line (well, now second perhaps to the EdV – grassy aromatic sounds fab).
No, but that one sounds good to me too!
I used to own the Bluebell ages ago. I though it smelled like straight-up hyacinth, very pretty and innocent.
Oh my, I love that book and I ordered a sample of Penhaligon’s Bluebell because of it… and was very sad when I didn’t like it at all. I can’t remember why and I will have to go back and retry it I think.
Love that book! Lilydale’s description as “pretty and innocent” is right on target. I’d add “clean”.
I love Penhaligon’s old-fashioned very-British bottles and graphic design. Some day I will succumb and buy a bottle just because of that… They have a nice sample set packed in a stylish metal box, have tried a few of them and found them interesting but no must-haves so far. Just as well as their shipping costs are completely over the top…
I liked the etched bottles, although don’t know if they make them any more.
The Night Scented Stock sounds lovely. I have purchased Artemis and like that floriental, but none of the fragrances last. It’s gone within an hour.
The perfume seems to have a lot of alcohol, so perhaps that’s why.But for the price they ask for, it should have longer staying power.
They don’t tend to be powerhouses, it’s true.
Tuberose, jasmine, gardenia and ylang-ylang sure doesn’t sound like a soliflore to me! But I love Penhaligon’s packaging (although I have yet to be totally smitten with any of their scents) so I’ll try these next time I’m near a Penhaligon’s store. I want to buy one of their scent libraries for £15 actually. Seems very good value for 10 samples.
It is a good deal for samples.
Farah, would you please report back? It would be interesting to hear your impressions.
Sure! It might be a couple of weeks though 🙂
Oooh, I want the Night Scented Stock!
Sounds like that one is the winner…
i am very happy to have their lavandula and violetta in my fragrance collection…the lavandula is fresh, summery and the violetta straightforward violette fresh/green and summery and receives so many compliments. i find these frags simple(i just enjoy the smell and don’t do much brainwork with them) but always feel i am wearing good quality. have just found a store that has them on 50% and bought artemisia (the powdery feel reminds me of teinte de neige) and a friend loved the lily of the valley.(i found the dirty smell in the drydown too much for me…i have a problem with lilies) i am really excited to smell this new range….each one of them, but the night scented stock seems the most me!!
Congrats on the 50% off, that’s a deal!
P’s Violetta is indeed lovely. It’s my favorite violet soliflore of the six or eight or so I tested. Too bad I can’t find a bottle without having it shipped from England. (And to be honest, don’t know that I need a full bottle anyway.)
Mals! Ask and ye shall be enabled!
Londons Bathecary carries Violetta. Great prices and specials at that place too (I’ve ordered from them): http://www.shoplondons.com/violetta.html
You can thank me anytime, and perhaps I can count on you to some day return the enabling favor. 😀
Mals, I am pretty sure Luckyscent carries it. And have you tried their Elisabethan Rose? A defintie keeper!
ps am going to see if they have elixir and smell that one
Spendy but worth it for the Night-Scented Stock – I have grown these flowers and they are amazingly fragrant and not very much like the regular fragrant Stock that you see at the florist – they have a piercing and spicy sweetness like no other. The perfume itself is really intense too – I smelled it a long time ago the first time around. This is GOOD perfume news! (The lime sounds fab too – and yes, some of us were just bemoaning the lack of real lime in today’s perfumes. I can’t wait to try that one!
I used to grow night scented stock, too, and what an astoundingly beautiful smell they have. And, as the name tells you, their perfume comes out at night rather than in the morning, so you get to sit out on the balcony after dark with a drink and just breathe in that gorgeous perfume. I wonder if the Penhaligons version can even come close.
Their scents are (unsurprisingly) a real mixed bag: I like Endymion and Lavandula a lot, am indifferent about Hammam Bouquet and Edwardian Bouquet, and just don’t get Artemesia at all. (I got the sampler set before even thinking about investing, because they’re not cheap.) And nothing I’ve tried of theirs has a lot of lasting power, which makes the price seem even worse.
Yep, we used to grow them right next to the patio.
“And nothing I’ve tried of theirs has a lot of lasting power, which makes the price seem even worse.” pryamus nailed my problem with them.
I grow Night Scented Stock too, and would like to check out how close they come to it.
Funny, I have *never* heard of that flower, and I can rattle off Latin botanical names at the nursery with the best of them. 😉
I speed-sniffed several of the line at Aedes (thus I don’t remember them), but discovered that Lily & Spice is nice via a sample from Daisy. Add my vote to those who like the fact that Duchaufour is doing these.
HOWEVER: Adding twelve scents to the line in two years is just too many, Penhaligons, even though I love the idea of bringing back scents from the “archives.” I hope to try the Lime; I’m in need of one at some point.
Joe, you normally buy it as seed, rather than as a plant; I think it’s Latin name is Mathiola bicornis. The fragrance is amazing. Like regular stocks, but richer and deeper.
I need a new seed source….the palce I normally get them from went out of business.
It does seem like a lot of fragrances in a short period.