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Visit to Ineke's Garden - July 6th

Tobacco flower
Thursday night, after an afternoon in Golden Gate park with Lisa's family (mostly at the famous Japanese Tea Gardens), I went to meet Ineke & Bill for dinner at Zazie's, where we indulged on grilled Mission figs. As we sat down, I could detect a heady floral note, that reminded me a bit of Ineke's Angel's Trumpet accord. Before short, and way before we could decide what to order, I found myself sniffing a world-premiere of not just one but two perfumes that Ineke will be launching this year. The first one is Hothouse Flower, a green and creamy gardenia which you may have heard of, and was available at the Salon. The second was still a secret, otherwise I would have began my praise before any delay. All I will say for now is that it's absolutely lovely!

Fig Salad

It's always been my dream to visit Ineke's garden, which is a source of inspiration to all of her perfumes - and although it was dusk (hence the very poor quality of the photographs, my apologies!) it was very enjoyable and inspiring. The garden is so pretty and well designed (by Ineke) and tended by Bill (who's got the green thumbs). I also got to meet their two adorable dogs, who seem to enjoy the garden as well.

So imagine my delight when smelling the tobacco flower (Nicotiana fragrans - see image above), and discovering all the other lovely flowering plants they collect: Poet's Jasmine
Sweet William (a type of carnation, and the next installation in the Floral Curiosities for Anthropologie), Angel's Trumpet, Osmanthus and Midnight Candy (used in Evenings Edged in Gold), Tobacco Flower (used in Field Notes From Paris), Goldband Lily (Gilded Lily) Honeysuckle, Star Jasmine, Lilac and Heliotrope (appear in After My Own Heart), Magnolia - and, last but not least: inside of Ineke's studio, there was a whole Gardenia bush, which she brought in especially for designing her newest perfume: Hothouse Flower (review of this will follow shortly).


I also was privy to the very new purse-sized atomizers that will be launched by the holidays for "Floral Curiosities" line for Anthropologie. These are beautiful travel-sized interpretation of Ineke's signature bottle, and are encased in a book-shaped box: how very appropriate for Ineke's story-telling style.

Tagets at Ineke's garden
Tagetes (Marigold) was strangely the plant that left the strongest impression on me. It was a full-grown bush, and very fragrant. Leaves and flower smelled alike: fruity, like fresh green apples, dabbed with citrus and almost chocolate-like undertones. Quite luscious, actually. It would make a very unusual theme for a perfume, for whomever dares to take it on.

Mock orange flower
Mock Orange Flower

Angel's Trumpet at Ineke's garden
Datura (Angel's Trumpet), whose accord Ineke replicated and used in her perfume Evenings Edged in Gold, and also the main theme of Angel's Trumpet in the Floral Curiosities collection.

The most precious moment though was smelling the osmanthus, although only very few flowers were in bloom at the time I visited. But it smelled exactly like the incense my friend Noriko brought me back from Japan, which she says is the most dead-on imitation of the real flowers. She was right.

Ineke & Bill
Ineke & Bill at their booth at the 1st Artisan Fragrance Salon in San Francisco, July 8th.

Smells of Summer, or Something Like That... + GIVEAWAY

Linden & Rain by Ayala Moriel
Linden & Rain, a photo by Ayala Moriel on Flickr.

It's been a lousy summer in Vancouver. There, I said it. Please don't hate me. July is almost over and we barely had a week and a half of descent weather. It's been rainy, cold, and even felt like October at times.

On the bright side, the linden blossoms are having an extra long blooming season. There are linden trees all around Vancouver, and usually they bloom in mid to late June. This year, they bloom from mid to late July, and probably will keep scenting the air well into August... Linden blossoms and rain... Mmm... And I'm now feeling inspired to work with the Linden Blossom CO2 that I got from Mandy Aftel when I visited her studio in Berkeley in late June. Wait - that was exactly a month from today!

So, no beach pictures to illustrate what should have been a cheerful "Best of Summer" type of article here on SmellyBlog. You'll just have to tough it out with this strange collage of linden blossom branch that I found on a wet newspaper stand last Saturday, as I was getting ready for my Orcas tea party. I brought the branch home to decorate the place, which turned out to be an innocent act of luring ants into my house... They simply love linden trees, and they love everything about my house. I should add "ant killer" (as well as "cacti killer") to my resume.

Even the rhubarb had a super short season (hardly even three weeks...!) so my new love of last summer is all forgotten, in hopes that it will return next year stronger and brighter, with its fabulous calone smell.

Today was the first day I actually sat in my porch and write while burning incense and drinking iced match latter that I fixed for myself instead of lunch. I've avoided my porch for months now, due to the horrific weather AND the roofers constantly scouring the area. There was one roofer peeking through my porch at one point, but I think I managed to scare him away, simply by taking him by surprise...

Thankfully, there were still lilacs (for a very short time) and the peonies this year were as pretty as ever. The roses, on the other hand, don't seem to be doing too well this year... All of these are smells that I've learned to associate with summer in Vancouver. But, alas, as previous summer's memories are replaced by a new summer, for better or for worse - here's how my summer smells like:

Basil, Nectarines & Blueberries - better together, in a green salad.

Wild Salmon, which I've finally succumbed to eating after 13 years of lack-of-sun, abundance-of-rain. I was born and raised vegetarian, but now I eat local fish. And there's nothing better than BC's salmon (the smoked one is to die for).

Pinot Noir and other strange red wines I stumble upon when in Sonoma county. Like the fish, this is new to me, because the only wine I could somewhat enjoy till recently was white.

Sweet Peas, with whom I fell in love all over again after spotting a bouquet in a little antique shop in Graton.

Sugar Peas, which when grown properly (cold, wet summers make for ideal conditions), are the perfect beach snack, all on their own. They have a fragrant crisp green yet sweet smell. Not a substitute for green string beans (a summer favourite that I terribly miss and that have been absent because of the lack of sun and heat in BC to grow them).

Watermelon with Feta Cheese - well, when the local fruit is lacking (the cherries this year - also not so great...) - then there is no choice but to get some not so local fruit, and pair it with creamy, uber-salty Macedonia feta.

Perhaps I will just have to create my own summer, in a bottle... So here's a partial list, which I admit to be extremely biased as it mostly contains perfumes that I made myself, and most of them are more on the greener side (Orcas and Smiling Country and Grin body oil is how you should expect me to smell these days). What else can you wear in a summer with constant April showers?!

The others are made by other perfumer friends/colleagues of mine. In the light of the previous article, my sentiments towards handcrafted perfumes are becoming increasingly fonder.

Fleur No. 1 by 1000Flowers - green, delicate floral that begins boldly with galbanum and surprised with pine bud and narcissus absolute. At its base are quiet musks, moss and the haunting violet of alpha ionone.
But I must confess that even more than Fleur No.1 I was touched by another creation of Jessica Buchanan, which is not officially released except for among friends who are privy to this beautiful, all-natural concoction of white flowers and resinous base. It's very cheerful and sensual - so perfect for those rare hot days we're getting this summer...

Honey Blossom by Aftelier - bright, delicate floral focused on the tea-and-honey notes of organic linden blossom CO2.

Parfum Privé by Aftelier - with precious aromatic treasures such as beach harvested ambergris, osmanthus, orange flower and ambrette. I love its muskiness and overall rich roundness.

Le Parfum de Thérèse - basil, jasmine, melon and under-ripe plum - for me there's no summer without this masterpiece by Edmond Roudnitska.

Ineke's Angel's Trumpet from her new Floral Curiosities collection for Anthropologie - if it wasn't for Ineke I would have never paid attention to this curious plant - whose flowers turn into citrus candy heaven only after dark.

Incense Lily by Sonoma Scent Studio* - I understand this perfume has been out of production for a while, but I have a feeling that it will make a come back... Someone at Estee Lauder must have spied on Laurie when they created their Azuree de Soleil, because it's a dead ringer to that. Except that it's hand made with much care and love by Laurie Erickson.

Sombre Negra by Yosh - dark, smoky vetiver at its best.

What scents make your summer? Post a comment and enter to win a mini of Liz Zorn's Ankhara.
Draw will take place on Friday, August 5th.

Ineke's Garden


Angel's Trumpet, originally uploaded by Ayala Moriel.

It was a cold-gray-wet mid-November day in 2007. Ineke and I sat at the Starbucks across from Vancouver Public Library (the main branch, which Moshe Safdie has humorously designed to resemble the Colosseum and give my city an imposed air of culture). This was my first time smelling Evening Edged in Gold and my immediate reaction was that of familiarity. I couldn't quite pinpoint it at the context, so Ineke mentioned the influence of the grand woody-floriental scents from the 90's - Feminite du Bois and Dolce Vita, both with a pronounced cedarwood and fruity notes.

Months later, Ineke kindly sent me a sample of her new opus (by the way - Ineke has a new and beautifully packaged sampler set, with all her 5 fragrances, titled “Volume 2” and meticulously wrapped and packaged in their miniature matchbox-like case within a larger drawer-type box), as well as the three floral bases used in the perfume. Two of the bases are ones that Ineke has created “from scratch” so to speak, using flowering plants in her garden as a reference and inspiration.

Although these floral bases play a modest role in the formulation percentage-wise (the woody and musky notes play a more dominant role here, accounting for more than half of the composition), they sure are what sets Evening Edged in Gold apart from, say, Dolce Vita and Samsara.

The Angel’s Trumpet (aka Datura) base is reminiscent of lilies and reminds me greatly of the lily-and-orange blossom saturated Lys Mediteranee, yet with a far more pronounced lily-of-the-valley note (most likely from Phenyl Ethyl Alcohol and other muguet molecules).

The Midnight Candy base is a lot less floral that I expected it to be and smells very candy-like indeed, and has a dusky, smooth ripe-plum-like texture which goes very well with the more complex, apricoty-osmanthus base (Ineke used both osamnthus absolute and an osmanthus base for Evening Edged in Gold - I have to say I personally prefer the absolute as it is).

The Angel’s Trumpet I’ve taken pictures of (see above) did not have much of a fragrance (at least not in broad daylight). Keep in mind that I've met in in mid-day; according to Bill (Ineke's husband and business partner), it is at night time when the flower releases it's lily-like scent into the air, and the yellow variety is the one to look for (the bush I've found being peach coloured may not be as fragrant but I'm bound to check out if it's still in bloom this very evening).

Midnight Candy is the flower that “stars” in this fragrance’s packaging. Unfortunately, I haven’t smelled it either. Again, according to Bill this finicky dusky flower will only show off its olfactory capabilities on a hot day after 4pm. In a cooler day it won't be as generous sharing its fragrance. I am very curious to hear if any of you who have tried Evening Edged in Gold are familiar with these two fragrant flowers and could “find” them within Ineke’s perfume. I would love to hear from you more about the plant inspiration for this perfume.


Zaluzianskya capensis. Midnigth Candy. (Nattstjerne-balsam), originally uploaded by Tess_.

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