Do you remember the first time you fell in love? Not with someone, but with a smell or a taste or a sound? Like my little girl who yesterday tried pomegranate from our tree for the first time, and loved them so much she put a plate of them on the dinner table with the chicken schnitzel. Pretty sure she won’t forget her first taste.
I fall in love all the time, so its hard to remember some of those moments, but I remember when I first fell in love with natural perfumery, and it was all because of magnolia…
michelia alba
At the time, I owned an organic aromatherapy and skincare store, and custom-blended for clients all the time. Back then, around 2004, we were mainly using the better-known essential oils, like peppermint, orange, patchouli and so on, but as my interest in blending grew, my pallette for scent expanded and I started to yearn for something more.
Then I discovered a boutique natural extract supplier, and spent a whole weekend pouring over every item in their catalogue, making a mile-long list of everything I wanted for the store.
With my first order came, among others, boronia, blood orange and my sweet, sweet magnolia. I was smitten from the first drop. (as a side note, I am also near-obsessed with boronia, but magnolia was my first love).
image from myfirsttimesa.com
I blended it into everything, and launched a best-selling body cream, Mandarin & Magnolia Shimmer Lotion.
Fast forward a few years, and now, as a perfumer, I still love magnolia. It features heavily in One Seed’s Courage eau de parfum as a voluptious yet playful sweet, floral heart, and as a sherberty support to rose maroc in our Freedom eau de parfum. I love magnolia for its curves, its divine sweetness with a sour and herby edge, its playful candiness and its floral strength. It serves me well and I will love it forever (can you tell?)
You can read about other first fragrance loves from my fellow Natural Perfumers Guild members by clicking the links below.
