Hiram Green has walked a unique path that has resulted in a devastatingly gorgeous natural white floral perfume. From opening and running Scent Systems, a perfumery in central London, in 2003 Hiram noticed that even the most expensive prized scents were made almost entirely from synthetic ingredients. This got our young perfumer thinking. After moving from England to the Netherlands Hiram studied, experimented with and researched natural fragrance materials for several years. Moon Bloom is the result.

Hiram Green

I am not the biggest white floral guy. I love Fracas, of course, and a few others have taken my breath away (in more ways than one). All in all I can truly appreciate a floral perfume, even drool over it…I just can’t find one I can really wear. Many of our fickle white “ladies” have a way of turning on me. Many jasmines sour, tuberoses can become smoking rubbery ash and gardenia is often too loud or creamy for me. To be honest, when I read the notes on this scent I was simultaneously frightened and intrigued. It was only when I discovered that Mr. Green has made his very first perfume entirely natural and hand-crafted that my eyebrows raised and my nostrils began to twitch.

Not only is this perfume entirely natural, but it also has the retro pseudo-vintage thick ergonomic glass flacon with fancy puffball atomizer; even the hue of the juice lets your eyes tell your nose to relax, it’s going to be fragrant, full and rich. Its label says “eau de parfum”; although, on me, it has more characteristics of a pure perfume. The simplicity of the bottle and the plain wax seal on it are further signs, usually, that more attention has been paid to the product than the packaging. Moon Bloom is true to its name. Gardenia has been left out and the focus is on the night blooming jasmine and tuberose. This deep golden liquid is thick with healthy amounts of absolutes from both.

This perfume doesn’t really have a top, a heart, and a base like most scents do. You spritz this on and immediately, with no light fresh citruses or sweet fruits-only a hint of green leaves, you are enveloped in a beautiful sheer silken vapor of thick, but not “loud”, white floral grandeur. The tuberose is just smoky enough while retaining her floral beauty and elegance. Jasmine, sweet jasmine, is blended with the tuberose to tame it somewhat and bring out the best in it, while retaining its own youthful winsome character.  Jasmine, often sultry and carnal, is whimsical and delightful here against the usually much more fragrant “queen of the night”; realized in a beautiful balance between naughty and nice.

The sunny tropical aura of ylang ylang adds just enough pep to Moon Bloom to keep it from becoming morose or overly serious (like Fracas can be). The addition of coconut, as an undertone, adds the creaminess a gardenia would without going all serious and heavy. The coconut here is not like suntan oil. It has the distinct milky fruity thickness of the nut’s meat without adding even a spoonful of sugar. The balmy dry-down of resins and lingering hints of exotic spices are the last wisps to rise from the wrist, almost like the night was coming to an end and dawn was breaking on the eastern horizon.

Reshiram by ~Green042

For someone who is not really I white floral guy, I am beginning to see the draw of the “white light”. Hiram Green has, without being heavy cloying or overbearing, combined two of the heaviest white flowers out there and created a perfume with perfect projection that is poised and elegant, yet on a dime can become playful and exuberant. Although this follows no perfume pyramid or classic structure, it resonates with a distinctly natural beauty and is a sublime mix of notes I would never have thought would play well together or at least this well. Here, the notes are played by nature and they’re directed by an inspired hand.  

When first applying this, dabbing it just twice on my wrists and touching them to my neck, I waved my arms to dry it a bit and someone across the room smelled it. It has very decent projection, dried, yet movement of any kind results in a sheer, almost etheric, trail of subtly perceptible florality. I felt I had to sniff my wrist very closely, after a bit, to perceive it; yet, when I walked outside and a fresh breeze struck me it was all around me once more. Moon Bloom seemed, especially outside at night, to possess almost magical qualities. It may be my overactive Pisces imagination at work here, but I could swear while wearing this I could hear the crickets and see the moths flying madly about the huge tuberose blossom columns and feel the melancholy jasmine floating in the evening air. So real and true are the scents contained in this fragrant philter it made me want to laugh with it, sigh at it and weep over its beauty…all at the same time.  Sillage: magical! Longevity: excellent.

Disclosure: Review based on a sample sent to me by Hiram Green.

–John Reasinger, Senior Editor