Plumeria, pikake, gardenia — these fragrant tropical flowers seem to make people either swoon with joy or retreat to a cool, dark room with some extra-strength aspirin. The scents of these flowers are extravagant and are often described as: sultry, intoxicating, enticing, suffocating. I enjoy these flowers’ fragrances on the air, outdoors; in a greenhouse or in a bouquet, they can overwhelm me and even, up close, smell unpleasant.
Since I would never wear a perfume that features these flowers (too feminine), I enjoy their opulent, creamy floral aromas in room sprays, candles and soaps.
Mālie Kaua’i is a new company based on the “Garden Isle” of Kauai, Hawaii. ‘Mālie’ means “beautiful, calm water”. The flowers and fruits used in Mālie Kaua’i’s products are water rich, and do not possess much essential oil. The company uses a high-tech distillation process (a patented vacuum technique using high pressure but low temperature) that preserves the “integrity” of the plant aromas it gathers. The end result of this process is called a hydrosol…
Is there a room in your house with “bad breath” — a stuffy attic or closet, a damp basement, or maybe a hallway where the dogs sleep, or the nook where the litter box is kept? Even an entire house can suffer from architectural halitosis: a mountain cabin or beach house that’s been closed for months has a stale, musty smell. We’ve all entered a hotel room, inhaled too deeply, and smelled yesterday’s cigarettes and coffee, the previous guests’ hairspray or perfume that’s permeated the carpets, curtains, upholstery.
Jacques Garcia’s home fragrance is a rainfall of orange blossom petals delicately underscored by a smoky vanilla note. A honeyed breeze embraces gentle floral accords, accentuating their sweetness and radiance. A melody of orange blossom usually fades rather quickly, however in this case, smooth resinous cedar grounds the ethereal opulence of the flowers.
A flame inside a beautiful cobalt glass on my dresser unleashes not only a blue tinged soft light, but also a wonderful scent. The fragrance is tart and crisp with enough sweetness to lend a nice balance and to meld all the notes together. One moment, it is a plate laden with grapefruit slices sprinkled with sugar and lemony coriander seeds; the next, it is a bouquet of garden herbs about to be chopped in the course of dinner preparations.