There are a few flowers that should arguably never appear in the name of a perfume. Jasmine doesn’t matter so much — you can call a fragrance Jasmin de Nuit or Jasminora or Ikat Jasmine or whatever and it’s no big deal if it’s something other than a realistic jasmine soliflore — after all, there are plenty of realistic jasmine soliflores already. If you’re developing a new jasmine fragrance, going for interesting over realistic might be the better approach.

Magnolia is more problematic. The smell, in nature, is incredible, yet really lovely (and realistic) magnolia soliflores are as hard to find as leprechauns. Some perfumistas will automatically resent a fragrance called Magnolia-something-or-another that doesn’t, in fact, smell much like magnolias. Gardenia, ditto. The first thing a perfumista wants to know is: does it really smell like gardenia? And if the answer is yes, the next question is: for how long? Gardenia perfumes that smell like real gardenia for more than say, 10 or 15 minutes, are rare indeed…

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