From the looks of so many celebrity fragrances, it must be easy to turn out a tropical, fruity floral fragrance. It’s almost become a cliché. Not that there’s anything wrong with a jumble of white flowers, roses, and grape juice, it’s just that it gets boring. In Penhaligon’s Amaranthine Eau de Parfum, perfumer Bertrand Duchaufour shakes up the tropical fragrance game by adding a distinctly sweet, milky note; a kick of spice; and a healthy portion of naughtiness to the fruity, banana-inflected flowers most people associate with tropical fragrances. The result is a sort of tropical-oriental, like Jayne Mansfield Jane Russell in Macao.
According to Wikipedia, amaranthine either relates to amaranth, a gorgeous plant with dripping reddish-purple stalks from which you can harvest grain; or an imaginary flower that never fades. Another online definition said amaranthine stands for “eternal beauty”. Penhaligon’s website lists Amaranthine’s top notes as green tea, white freesia, banana tree leaf, coriander seed oil, and cardamom absolute; its heart notes as rose, carnation, clove oil, orange blossom, ylang ylang oil, and Egyptian jasmine absolute; and its base as musk, vanilla, sandalwood, condensed milk, and tonka bean absolute. (Props to Penhaligon’s for listing perfumers on their website.)
When first on my skin, Amaranthine smells like green tea and kiwi with a trace of cumin…
