New Perfume Review: Thorn & Bloom Stranger in The Cherry Grove + Burning Flowers Draw

burningflowers

Koh Sang Woo credit Tutt'Art

"But he who dares not grasp the thorn should never crave the rose" -Anne Brontë

"Thorn & Bloom Perfume's philosophy was born of the notion that imperfection can elevate beauty in surprising and spectacular ways. I hope Thorn & Bloom Perfume can help take you where you want to go.” Jennifer Botto of Thorn and Bloom believes aroma “…can bring you full blooms in a frozen tundra, fresh grass in a sea of pavement, or a lover's musk when you're all alone.” She proves such concepts with her debut line of all natural perfumes and more so also shows aroma can transport you to worlds of beauty which may not be memories you have actually lived.

eshi otowara dress 2 cherry blossom

Eshi Otowa Smokey Tux Photo:eshiotowara.com

Seattle is burning. The Emerald City turns pink for a few weeks every spring, streets lined with cherry trees… only this spring it's all ablaze. Stranger in the Cherry Grove opens with cherry blossom as one would expect, although it's not the high gloss synthetic rush of ubiquitous bathing stores and high acidic attempts at capturing the scent of a cherry.No. This cherry is black and full of smoke and resin. The Seattle Asian Art Museum has melted down Volunteer Park; its sticky years of Asian resined silk screens are slowly running down Capitol and First Hills. Rivulets of chrysanthemum and almond colored paint leak toward the sea.

burning-flowers-2-psd

 Burning Flowers cdn7.facegfx.com

The cherry wood hangs thick in the air and birch tar and saffron unfurl as smoke signals in the Pacific Ocean air. Birch tar and vanilla give impressions of both burning the city to the ground out of rebellion and burning it as offering- something sweet, something aflame. Perhaps the old Chinese tunnels in Pioneer Square are giving up their aromatic ghosts, years of underground banned and beloved botanicals heaving into Puget Sound.

eshi otawara sacred fire

Eshi Otowa Sacred Fire eshiotowara.com

There is a stranger in the cherry grove, a mad or holy woman with a match stick and a smile. She will be there dressed in leather when the almond, amber and cherry accord have faded; she will be there, grinning, a Diamond Strike in hand. She knows you will agree, with growing enthusiasm: this city must burn… and so you spritz again.

Notes: Black Cherry, Cedarwood, Sandalwood, Saffron, Amber, Birch Tar, Vanilla, Chrysanthemum

Einsof, Natural Perfume Editor

Art Direction:MC Eshi Otowara, painter and designer as well as Koh Sang Woo are not affiliated withThorn & Bloom, or is their art an endorsement. Both Artists depict flowers, women and nature in an almost virtual reality-like manner which seemed to fit Einsorf's review.

thorn and bloom stranger in the cherry grove

Thanks to Jennifer Botto of Thorn & Bloom we have a  draw for 30 ml of Stranger in The Cherry Grove for a registered CaFleureBon  US reader. To be eligible please leave a comment with what appeals to you about Stranger in The Cherry Grove, where you live and if you have a favorite quote  referencing fragrance or flowers (extra credit). Draw closes July 8, 201

We announce the winner’s only onsite and on our Facebook page, so Like CaFleureBon and use our RSS option…..or your dream prize will be just spilled perfume.

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25 comments

  • Very interesting review. I like it. It was so good to read. Sometimes when I smell a perfume, or a flower, it it occurs to me a movie, or a story.
    I live in Europe.

  • madeleine gallay says:

    I love Catherine Deneuve in every way, and what she said about wearing fragrance:

    “you should put fragrance where you would like to be kissed”

    Black cherry, tar and resin… something of this will waft through the air even as you leave, memories.

    Even as it comes with its own.

    I love the story.

    USA.

  • This does not sound like your average cherry fragrance. There is a stranger in the cherry grove, a mad or holy woman with a match stick and a smile. Wow, sounds interesting. Birchtar sometimes scares me, but in combination with the other notes mentioned it may just bring out the dark but not too dark. USA here please enter me 🙂

  • luvmarley says:

    Love this! The quote “No. This cherry is black and full of smoke and resin.” Mmmmmm… Sounds like my kind of cherry scent! Favorite flower quote, ” The Earth laughs in flowers.” RWE. I’m in the US 🙂

  • I like the name Stranger in a Cherry Grove for one. There aren’t enough high end cherry perfumes out there so that appeals to me. “Dignity is like a perfume; those who use it are scarcely conscious of it.” – Christina of Sweden. 🙂 USA

  • leathermountain says:

    Wow, I visited Seattle for the first time about a year ago, and this was especially fun to read as I reminisced about visiting that beautiful city. Smoke and cherries, that’s what appeals to me! I’m in the US, registered, and grateful for this beautiful writing and this draw.

  • fazalcheema says:

    This fragrance is all about challenging conventions..whether it is the name or the notes such as saffron and birch tar that are quite unusual combinations. I agree with Jennifer Boto there is a certain beauty in imperfections…one of my favorite fragrance related quote is “Personality is to a man what perfume is to a flower.”

    thanks so much for the wonderful draw. I am in the US

  • Sounds amazing! The black cherry note intrigues me.
    “A woman’s perfume tells more about her than her handwriting.”-
    Christian Dior

    Thank you! US resident

  • Love the smokin’ burnin’ sound of the smell of this. Love that it’s not the kind of burning that overly synthetic cherry scents do to the inside of my nose! Congrats on the launch, Jennifer! Thanks for the draw. I am in the us.

  • This sounds really interesting, though I don’t like the idea of my beloved Seattle burning! I love cherry blossom and cherries, abd the idea of them tinged with dark smoke is quite intriguing! Thanks for the draw, I’m in the US.

  • Great review! Enjoyed every word, and the fragrance sounds fantastic. It made me look at the Thorn & Bloom website and the whole line sounds fabulous!! I want to try them all!! I have no favorite quote about flowers. Sorry! In the US. Cheers.

  • What appeals to me is the smoke and resin feeling. One immediately would be thinking sweetly blooms the cherry tree but this has a dark side, very appealing. Their website is really great and the range sounds very intriguing. I will be back there in the future! I do not have a favorite flower quote, although if this can become a quote” if you’re going to San Francisco, be sure to wear …some flowers in your hair… much better sung. I am a registered reader in the US

  • pursejunkie says:

    I like the idea of exploring some new favorite notes of mine (Cedar, Birch Tar) woven with old favorites Cherry, Amber and Vanilla.

    (US)

  • I love the city of Seattle, so any perfume resembling that intrigues me! I live in the US. Thank you!

  • Valentine Girl says:

    Several years ago I worked in a restaurant where I was responsible for smoking all of the meats & fish on the menu. One of my favorites combinations was smoking rainbow trout over cherry wood and I was always slipping outside the kitchen to check on the smoker, just so I could inhale the aromatic smoke. I would love to try this perfume as it seems that it has that same burning, smoky, sweet cherry note. Always enjoy the imagery conjured up by Einsof’s reviews – mad woman in leather with a Diamond Strike, match stick & smile – and love the choice of artwork which accompany’s the post. Even though it’s Seattle burning in the review, I have just been inspired to go have a listen to Motorcity is Burning (MC5) after reading the review.

    “The flower that smells the sweetest is shy and lowly”
    – William Wordsworth

    Thanks for the draw! USA resident.

  • Gosh – what a combination of notes this perfume has, from the black cherry to the Birch Tar and Vanilla. I’m trying to put them all together in my head, but to no avail….. a sniff of this wonderous scent is needed!! 🙂

    One of my favourite quotes is “A fragrance is like a signature, so that even after a woman leaves the room, her fragrance should reveal she’s been there.” Oscar de la Renta

    I’m in the UK – and thank you for the draw.

  • I like the complexity of this description. It doesn’t sound like a sweet, faint cherry blossom fragrance, but much deeper. I am in the US

  • A Mad woman with a match ! Such powerful imagery and I have yet to find a cherry fragrance to love. Stranger in the Cherry Grove may be the one
    Such powerful visual and word imagery

  • My favorite perfume quote “A good fragrance is really a powerful cocktail of memories and emotion’ Jeffrey Stepakoff

  • thegoddessrena says:

    I tend to like smoky fragrances though this sounds like it will be too heavy for summer. I’m in the US

  • Cherry wood, birch tar and saffron sound like very unique and appealing notes in Stranger in The Cherry Grove. I live in the US.

    “The Earth laughs in Flowers”
    – Ralph Waldo Emerson

  • rodelinda says:

    I’m having a hard time imagining what birch tar and cherry smell like together, so now I want to try it and see. I’m in the US, and my favorite lines of poetry about flowers would have to be from Ralph Waldo Emerson:

    Earth laughs in flowers, to see her boastful boys
    Earth-proud, proud of the earth which is not theirs;
    Who steer the plough, but cannot steer their feet
    Clear of the grave.

  • JazzBelle says:

    Stranger in the Cherry Grove is a cherry blossom perfume I’ve been searching for! A cherry that’s “dark and full of resin.” What a beautiful description.

    My favorite perfume quite has been attributed to Coco Chanel:

    “A woman who doesn’t wear perfume has no future.”

    I am in the USA. Thank you!

  • Smoke and saffron are two of my favorite perfume components; it’s hard to osmagine them with birch tar and cherry but I’m trying. The imagery and images help me get the whole vibe–which seems quite powerful. “There is a stranger in the cherry grove, a mad or holy woman with a match stick and a smile.”
    !

    USA

    thinking of a quote is hard, but I remembered Whitman had some good ones, so I googled:

    Houses and rooms are full of perfumes …. the shelves are crowded with perfumes,
    I breathe the fragrance myself, and know it, and like it,
    The distillation would intoxicate me also, but I shall not let it.

    The atmosphere is not a perfume …. it has no taste of the distillation …. it is odorless,
    It is for my mouth forever…. I am in love with it,

    The smoke of my own breath,
    Echoes, ripples, buzz’d whispers, love-root, silk-thread, crotch and vine,
    My respiration and inspiration, the beating of my heart, the passing of blood and air through my lungs,
    The sniff of green leaves and dry leaves, and of the shore and dark-color’d sea-rocks, and of hay in the barn,
    The sound of the belch’d words of my voice loos’d to the eddies of the wind,