The Way To Blue: “Ode To Nick Drake” + Penhaligon’s London Blues Draw

 

The flower I associate with the blues and  the color blue is lavender.  One of my saddest memories is connected with this scent.  So, perhaps one might guess that I have no lavender perfumes in my wardrobe. For a while I did not.  I would tell everyone, “I don’t like lavender,” and I would not try perfumes with lavender in them.  But later I started trying perfumes by the line.  A Penhaligon’s lineup – how could I possibly try it out  without Blenheim Bouquet and Lavandula?

 

Henri Magritte le beau monde

I couldn’t, and as soon as I opened the door, I found many ways to smell lavender and found out that there are many bright places on the way to blue. I’ve always said and will say again: unless it is a health issue, if you don’t love a note or a genre, don’t force it but keep trying when you have a chance – you might not have found just the right perfume featuring a particular note or genre yet. And it will come.

 

I would love to lead you on the journey to my way to blue, a story of different colors of lavender.  “The Way to Blue” is a song by Nick Drake, my favorite singer/songwriter who was not famous during his lifetime but became more and more known after his tragic and untimely death on November 25, 1974.  He was right that

 

Fame is but a fruit tree
So very unsound
It can never flourish
‘til its stock is in the ground.
 

 

Most of his songs sound simple, but his simplicity is not achieved easily. Nick Drake invented many guitar chords, experimented with many alternative guitar tunings and practiced his technique incessantly, reaching for a clear sound which is illuminated from within. I turn to his songs to center myself, to turn a reflective eye to the world and myself. I heard some people say his songs are sad. I’ll say they are not any sadder than lavender, and even though lavender is my personal way to blue, I have discovered that the way to blue often lies through many lovely places.

 

 

Have you seen the land living by the breeze
Can you understand the light among the trees
Tell me all that you may know
Show me what you have to show
Tell us all today
If you know the way to blue?

 


That’s Blenheim Bouquet by Penhaligon’s. This is one of my favorite Summer perfumes and one of my favorite perfumes ever, and this is the one that describes the songs by Nick Drake  the best . Transparent, minimalistic, built on the bare bones of several notes at a time (pun intended), reflective, deliberate, and deeply drawing you into their rich imagery and seeming simplicity. It is my happiest stop on the way to blue.

 Nick Drake (19 June 1948 – 25 November 1974)

 René François Ghislain Magritte (21 November 1898 – 15 August 1967)

–Olga Rowe, Contributor

-Michelyn Camen, Editor-in-Chief,  art director

Lavender has known aromatherapeutic properties to relieve anxiety and is nature's anti depressant. Courtesy of Penhaligon's Ltd., this draw will cheer you .Please leave a comment about this article, your own journey to blue-  through your own personal experience, through art, through music and/or scent  By November  25, 2011 EST

Reader's Choice of :

 1 50ml Blenheim's Bouquet

or

1 50ml of Lavandula

Like Cafleurebon  and use our RSS option…or your dream prize will belike crying over spilt perfume

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22 comments

  • winston says:

    I love lavender year ’round, in perfume, and in oil form in my aromatherapy oil burner. It’s a real pick-me-up, as I live in a cold climate, and get serious winter blues.

    I am relatively new to hard-core perfume love (I fell in love with Gris Clair nearly two years ago, and more dollars than I care to admit later, am still exploring the 8th art) but from general media am under the impression that lavender does not get the love it deserves. I would love to try Lavandula.

  • Cheesegan says:

    So sorry to hear that lavender has so many negative associations for you. To me it is a hopeful scent and a a favorite spice that I like to add everything from beef stew (great) to canned peaches (heavenly)
    Nick Drake is great. I can only listen to him when Im feeling up. Don’t care to wallow in sadness, it feels so self indulgent, too easy, too seductive. I’d rather listen to Nina Simone when I want to die, she good for a quick slap and a straight back bone.
    This might interest you Elton John did a demo of Nick Drake songs, it was also produced by Nick Drake
    http://youtu.be/QGG1N6uryCI

  • sandi L says:

    Perfect example of how memory is associated with the sense of smell. Truly touching, great article. All of the sense’s can be coddled very easy, with the right stimuli, be it Art, Music, Scent’s, or even touch. Funny thing with true Lavender, is a small amount is sedative, larger amount is stimulating you have to find your balance. Loved the article…

  • Alica says:

    I like lavender scents but nothing tops real lavender plant/flowers. Yes, it’s really associate with calming down and balance, it works this way. Nick Drake is wonderful, I’ve listened to the song and it is really very sad, very “blue”.

  • angie Cox says:

    Blue is not the colour of sadness to me. I associate grey with sadness . I adore Lavender it is a cure for headaches , it lifts my mood . Blue is a clear sky , a lovely sea , blue eyes . I grow lots of lavender and the bees also love it 1

  • Michelyn Camen says:

    Olga was associating lavender with a personal memory and then learned to love it
    So why DO they call it the blues?
    Color is very subjective but an entire musical genre was named after a color evoking an emotion
    Lavender can be beneficial to migraines and can be calming as well

  • brigitte says:

    A poignant, honest and beautiful review…thank you,Olga. Nick Drake sounds like he was a wonderful artist. Funny, but I also associate certain fragrances with certain songs. There are certain perfumes I have worn in the past that I no longer do (despite the fact that I once adored them) because they represent individuals/places/times in my life that I would rather not revisit. I think I speak for many when I say that certain scents can literally move one to tears.
    Lavender, however, has always been a cheerful scent to me and I associate it with the colors green and purple. In fact, every morning I spray my office with a blend of spring water and lavender essential oil to calm not only those I work with but myself as well 🙂 I agree with Winston that lavender does not get the love it deserves. It’s nice to see it as a prominent note in fragrance once in a while.I would like to win lavandula

  • Paul-Laurentiu says:

    I can’t say that blue is my favourite colour, for I, as Proust once said, think that the beauty of colours lies in their harmony, but it surely is one that I appreciate more, together with green, than others because the only thing I love and that makes me calm is to lie down, in the forest near my house, and watch the endless blue sky with all its white clouds that are in different shapes. I associate blue with deep meditation, relaxation, with the serene days full of the eternal sun that never seem to end. Things like that, when you are one with the nature, makes the little wonders in your life, makes you say that life is beautiful no matter how many problems you have.

  • Isa says:

    I have always loved lavender. Its smell, its color, the beauty it brings to countryside… When I was a child, lavender was my favorite color too. So I don’t associate it with sadness. Even now, each year I go to take photos of lavender fields, and the only annoying thing is the great amount of bees lavender attracts!
    On a side note, I can’t see why blue is considered as a sad color. There is even a Spanish song which says “the cat which is sad and blue…”. It’s curious.

    However, I can see the poing in associating a scent with sad times. I think it has happend to all of us. There are scent which we can’t smell for a long time, if they bring sad memories.

    Oh, I almost forget to say that, when I’m with anxiety, headaches, nerves, unrest… I have found very useful lavender oil. It really works!

    I would love to be entered in the draw for Blenheim’s Bouquet. Thanks!

  • mim says:

    Hmmm, interesting reviews and associations here…. I’m listening to the songs while I type.

    Nick Drake and Jeff Buckley are two artist I love who I’d never have heard about without recs like this (which is also how I found out about the big wide world of perfume). Their lives were too short and their talents outsize, and when I think about that I get a bit blue partly because the world is richer for their having lived and poorer without them, and partly because I don’t think I will ever affect anything like that.

    My life is stalled, I started out with some talents and energy but have being stuck with a chronic illness for many years. I get down because of it, but try to make room for beauty and enjoyment whenever I can because life is very short.

    One thing that cheers me up is wearing perfume, even if I’m lounging around and don’t ‘need’ to. I think of it almost like having a personal soundtrack, it can be quieter of louder, linear or changing, and hopefully gives one some pleasure without putting off others who don’t share one’s taste. Some days I don’t have the energy for so much sensory input but even vanilla lotion makes the day a little brighter.

    Also music, every day, because I like it and there is some research about it helping to alleviate discomfort. I don’t really associate sound and scent directly but they both tie to colors quite strongly….To me there are many blues, and I don’t find many of them sad. A wide open sky blue suggests calm and expansive acceptance, something for which I strive.

    When my grandmother was dying, I tried to help her out whenever I was there, and that included doing her nails and helping her with makeup so she could feel a bit better about herself. I remember she had a nearly-full bottle of Joy on her vanity, but whenever I tried to convince her to wear it she said no, she wanted to save it for special occasions. It was still full when she passed away. I sonetimes think i have too much perfume to use in a lifetime because I collect samples and wear a very small amount at a time, but as I try to take the time to stop and smell the roses outside, or notice leaves on the breeze, or wear a scent which may be ephemeral or persist to the next shower, but which is by definition impermanent, I am using up my metaphorical bottle of Joy. I want it to be empty when I’m gone. Even if I leave behind an awesome collection of helf-empty bottles for my sisters.

    I like how impermanent scents are, I think, and music as well. The experience or performance has a time limit but the composition endures….it’s very bittersweet, as is the experience of smelling her perfume on a scarf long after she has passed. I don’t think of this as really sad though because there is joy even in feeling an ache of absence.

    That got way heavier than I meant it to. Enough about life the universe and everything. Clearly, I should think about important things like perfume.

    I’m not big on lavender in perfumes either; not because of memories, just because it can be too strong/sharp for me. But, I do love Pour un Homme de Caron which is a fairly simple lavender/vanilla. I find it clean, refreshing, and soothing all at once. Like Blenheim Bouquet, it’s an older composition, and like Lavandula it features facets of lavender paired with vanilla.

    I’m not familiar with this house because I don’t really like most florals on me and that was always my impression of Penhaglion’s, but after reading the descriptions, these both sound like I might really love them. I like pepper and spices in perfumes (and food) and both of these have pepper and some interesting bits like basil.

    The point about trying even if you think ‘no, I always hate this note/genre’ is well made; I only tried one of my versatile now-favorites because I was on a Caron kick at the time, and wasn’t expecting to like it so much. I’ve personally found that if there is a house or perfumer’s aesthetic which works well for me, I might find a whole range of things I never knew I loved. So, even though I tend to shy away from florals with some lovely exceptions, I would like to try a few scents from Penhaglion’s….

    If I won, I’d prefer Lavandula.

  • Cynthia says:

    My lavender scent memories are some of my happiest. When my children were young we lived in Scotland for three years. It was one of the happiest times in my life. We lived in a little village on the River Dee and weekends were spent visiting castles which were scattered plentifully around the area, and hiking the hills. In summer and autumn the lavender would grow wild in the fields we tromped through. I’ve never been to the lavender fields in France, but they always look like warm, sunny places. Scottish lavender was a different experience. The sky was usually gray, and even though it was summer there could be a distinct chill in the air. The lavender had a more stringent, medicinal smell but I loved it. I would love to own Lavendula. I’ve smelled it, and when I do a rush of happy memories follows.

  • peggy says:

    I think, Olga, you have poetic, bitter-sweet luck to have experienced circumstances which cause you to associate naturally-uplifting lavender to sadness. I associate the smell of frozen wetness with sadness, probably because I get winter blues. I think I found the smell in CB I Hate Perfume Winter 1972 – it vanished on me nearly instantly, though, so it’s hard to say for sure.

    I used to volunteer for a elderly blind woman, and we had long, interesting sessions talking about smell and perfume. She had grown up in the Caribbean, so had different associations to scents than I did.

    Interesting that you associate lavender with the colour blue; it’s always been bang-on the lavender colour of the flower, for me. I guess I’m not very creative!!

    I would love to try Lavendula! Thanks 🙂

  • zendadachick says:

    Wow that’s weird! I just wrote a review on a perfume that had it’s own soundtrack. As a musician, I rarely equate sound with scent. Maybe I should do it more often. The perfume also evoked a sense of melancholy. I actually cried while as I was writing my review because it made me tap into a personal place…my mother is fighting her battle against stage iv lung cancer and it is very painful to watch.

    I love Nick Drake, his music is pure raw emotion. It’s a shame he killed himself, he still had so much to give to the world.

    I don’t associate lavendar with sadness or the color blue. The color blue is the color of serenity for me, lavendar has the same effect.

    I’d love to try Blenheim Bouquet.

  • Blue Lotus Flower says:

    Blue is my favorite colour. Any hue, shades will calm me down and bringing me peace. Lavender it’s a poweful scent of pure plesure and also blue…. When I’m feeling in the blues, both the colour and the flower works magic to bring me back to live.

    My choice would be Blenheim’s Bouquet

  • Perilously Pale says:

    Various shades of blue have always been some of my favourite colours. I have never found it to be overly sad but more calming and peaceful. I can even find it uplifting at times. I’ve yet to try and Penhaligon’s and I would LOVE to try Lavandula. The notes sound incredible.
    Thanks for the great draw!

  • Claudia says:

    Lavender is a staple in my perfume wardrobe. Yes it is definitely a calming scent. My favorite Lavender fragrance is SL Fourreau Noire. I remember my grandmother planting Lavender in a flowerpot on a balcony at her home. So Lavender to me has happy and calming memories. Lavandula would be my choice.

  • Tama says:

    Lovely article, Olga!

    I love the smell of lavender flowers. It is interesting how smelling certain things can be so emotionally charged, and it is also interesting how you associate the color blue as well. I think learning to accept and even love the things that have made you sad are a great step toward healing.

    I would want to try the Lavandula.

  • Lisa says:

    When I was a little girl, I had prints of Gainsborough’s Blue Boy and Thomas Lawrence’s Pinkie in my bedroom. I always preferred the figure of the Blue Boy, and the blue sky background in Pinkie. Those beautifully-rendered, ice-blue silks in the Gainsborough painting always made me think that they’d be cold to the touch.

    Blenheim Bouquet for me!

  • Olga says:

    Thanks to everyone who liked this article! It feels good to be back on cafleurebon 🙂 Special thanks to those of you who liked Nick Drake and enjoyed listening to his songs. Cheesegan, Nick Drake is not a downer for me. I can actually feel better if I listen to his music, it has a power to center me.
    Michelyn was right, I had a personal sad memory connected to lavender. Amazingly, Mim mentioned dying Grandmother, this was the content of my sad memory too. Peggy, your wonderful point on poetic bitter-sweet luck is not missed on me. Thanks! you provided me with a lovely way to think about it.
    I do love the color blue, too, and always thought about lavender more “blue” than “lavender” in color, if you know what I mean.
    By the way, Cheesegan, I also cook with lavender. The most recent thing was lemon-lavender pound cake.

  • Holly F. says:

    I agree, to keep trying with a certain note or genre, until you get it. There is grace in perseverance.

    I have been grateful for fragrance as a comfort to lean on during blue times in my life- but blue does not always have a negative connotation for me. Being introspective, some of my most creative moments happen when I’m feeling blue. I would compare it to a blue-grey day when the fog hangs heavy, blanketing the horizon with its heft. The world feels a bit softer and more tune in with the right side of the brain. I could sit by the bay for hours, lulled by the wavelets lapping at the beach, letting myself sink into a state of wistful solitude.

    I enjoy lavender, and would love the Lavandula!

  • d3m0lici0n says:

    I love lavender and have some lavender based fragrances in my wardrobe, blue is one of my favorite colors, and Nick Drake is one of my favorite singers, he was amazing and very sad that he didn’t get any recognition in his lifetime, but his music has been and is very influential to a bunch of new artists, I am happy to see that a lot of people likes and appreciates his music.
    I want to share that I did have a sad memory connected not to any smell but to music, now that we were talking about it, but the night before my father died I was listening to Bright Eyes and now is really hard for me to listen his albums since I have it associated with this really sad memory. By the way I think Bright Eyes is really influenced by Nick Drake.
    Oh and I got some really good lavender tea the other day and I am really enjoying it!
    Thanks for another amazing draw.