Summer is my favorite time to wear natural perfumes. This is the season when everything is in bloom, so it feels especially appropriate to wear botanical essences; also, the warm weather and warmer skin seem to make the perfumes themselves “flower.” In any case, I’ve spent the past week rotating between several fragrances from indie line Roxana Illuminated Perfume, and the two I’m going to review here are Aurora, an early Illuminated Perfume (first offered in 2006) that keeps drawing me back, and To Bee, the latest release.

Aurora is a floriental with a mood of “vivid light polarized and magnetized.” Its notes include mandarin, jasmine, rose, spice, and amber; like all Illuminated Perfume creations, it is formulated with “plant essential oils, absolutes, and CO2 extracts with tinctured plant material in a base of pure organic grape and grain alcohol.” Aurora’s opening is a nicely blended citrus-spice accord with a touch of clove, followed by some lush ylang ylang (as well as the jasmine). The base is a woodsy-spice blend with a slightly powdery feel and perhaps just a hint of tonka or vanilla. As promised by Illuminated Perfume, Aurora does give off a carnation-like effect by its dry down…

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