GroomingCarl ThompsonMarch 29, 2023Fragrance, spring, Spring Fragrances, Aftershave, Notes, Fragrance NotesComment

What Fragrance Notes are Perfect for Spring/Summer

GroomingCarl ThompsonMarch 29, 2023Fragrance, spring, Spring Fragrances, Aftershave, Notes, Fragrance NotesComment

Jasmine and Rose, Bergamot, Lemon, Mandarin, Iris. I'm highlighting the perfect fragrance notes for Spring/Summer. These notes of course being the leaders in the clubhouse if you like your golfing analogies. (Which I personally do, more so than the game itself actually. I'm with American novelist Harry Leon Wilson who said, Golf is a good walk spoiled. Ironically after an incident on the 18th hole on the Sudbury Golf Course, I have since tweaked that infamous quote to 'Golf is a good walk soiled', for reasons I won't go into other than there is not nearly enough restrooms in the members pavilion).

But whilst those are the more popular ones, what Spring/Summer notes operate within that same eco-system? Which ones project and scream like a fat lady snapping back her gingham curtains and singing out of her terrace cottage window at 8am in the morning to the delight of the villagers? (For context I'm imagining this to take place in a sparsely populated Welsh village sometime when corsets were worn for practical use, rather than for fetish purposes like they are today).

Research

Here are some others I've peeled off certain forums and blogs, as I look to drill down on what makes a perfect Spring/Summer note.

In a thread on Fragrantica on an article entitled Scents for Spring, one reader reflects, '.. For me spring represents muguet, honeysuckle, mimosa, freesia, magnolia, and grasses.' Honeysuckle, love that word, must be in my top ten words of all time. I've not arranged them into any definite list yet but I imagine it would nestle somewhere between titillation and ramifications.

What does Honeysuckle smell like? According to the Perfume Society, it's heady and nectarous, a little like jasmine tinged with vanilla. Sold!

Elsewhere

Stumbling beyond the second page of Google I found this quip on Bon Parfumeur that lists,

'Unsurprisingly, floral notes are perfect for spring perfumes. We love frangipani and lily of the valley and coupled with woody and musky scents. You’ll feel as fresh as a daisy!'

Of course it goes without saying that Floral Notes should be worn with the arrival of daffodils in the garden, cherry blossom on the trees, and delinquent school children outside Oddbins during half term. But are there masculine Spring/Summer notes? As much as I like the sound of frangipani, I'd rather smell like a jockey secure in his sexuality wearing equestrian breaches at Cheltenham Races, than telling his mates at Wetherspoons that he feels, 'fresh as a daisy'.

Here is some further research on…

Masculine Floral notes

In this article by Azeez Jacobs for Jacobs Man on Why Men Should Wear Floral Fragrances, lavender, geranium, tuberose, rose, lily of the valley are amongst the notes recommended. Jacobs for Jacobs Man also goes on to say, '...In a nutshell no fragrance is complete without flowers.' I assume he means the notes in the fragrance, and not a small bouquet of flowers enclosed inside the packaging. That would be impractical and very difficult to implement for global distribution.

In later articles I will go on to recommend some Spring/Summer fragrances that contain these notes. For now a quick recap so I can refer back to it for the aforementioned future articles and plus it's good for SEO.