The British perfume house Atkinsons 1799 recently launched Love in Idleness, one of three new fragrances recreated from the company’s archives for its Legendary Collection. Love in Idleness is “a neo-Victorian love philter for those who believe in the magic of fragrance,” developed by perfumer Fabrice Pellegrin. Its composition includes notes of raspberry and violet leaves; violet, orris and heliotrope; and tree moss and patchouli.
This fragrance’s name was one of the factors that lured me into trying it. So poetic, right? It’s another name for the wildflower viola tricolor. And it turns out to be a literary reference, too — in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, love-in-idleness serves as a love potion. As Oberon, king of the fairies, says in Act II, “The juice of it on sleeping eyelids laid/Will make or man or woman madly dote/Upon the next live creature that it sees.” Love at first sight…
